Threadings.

in which ismatu delivers a free-styled, spoken essay where they realize Grief as a seed blooming their bones. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe

The primary goal of this essay is to argue for a healthy skepticism of sponsorship-saturated media amidst a new age in information sharing, with secondary goals as following: * to commit myself to The People and my people publicly by way of refusing to sell my word online, and * to name explicitly the ways refusing traditional sponsorship places me in a decent amount of precarity. * I’ma spoil the...

Since y’all stay asking me for resource lists. The here, damn! of it all. Full list and links associated at ismatu.substack.com. happy reading!! jazz of the episode: Tony x Larry Nozero, Dennis Tini Souvenir d’Italie x Lelio Luttazzi He Knows She’s Good For You x Cyril Chambers Two For The Road x Eddie Daniels, Bucky Pizzarelli I Cover the Waterfront x Joe Pass Zen x Philippe Sarde, Toots Thielema...

In which Ismatu Gwendolyn, new to the healing profession and rooting in revolutionary thought and action, provides structure for their studies in public. As my Auntie Dequi says, “Struggle is protracted.” What we are not about to do is sit up here and study five things for five seconds. And I’m guilty of this! I constantly fight the desire to be fresh and topical and marketable. I want to be widel...

sharing an old piece of creative writing because I, a mountain dweller, am stuck in the city and think of the sea. Originally written June of 2018 This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe

In which we: unpack the “is she mad?” mentality, contemplate informed consent for a podcast space, and be explicit about the care infrastructure and needs of Ismatu Gwendolyn. Thanks for listening <3 Read the full transcription, annotated, at ismatu.substack.com. Jazz of the Episode: My One and Only Love x John Coltrane, Johnny Hartman Say It (Over and Over Again) x John Coltrane Quartet Manhat...

notes on refusing to charge for client services. Cited: In Pursuit of Revolutionary Love by Joy James | Oshun’s Flight Cliff notes: stop asking me to settle for manna when the opportunity for community arises. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe

[The Preview]: Oh, then in regards to mutual aid, I keep faltering with this series because I can't, like… I think I need to find a balance between what I wanna talk about and what I feel like the public needs. Because I keep curriculum planning and then realizing we are way behind as a public where I thought we were when it comes to understanding the importance of mutual aid and what it does....

No stripping did not ruin my relationship with men but you should hear how many hours in a row I can work nonstop hahahahah <3 on treating myself as a body that breathes and moves slowly. Much love. Jazz of the Episode [incomplete list]: Hour of Parting x Sun Ra Send In The Clowns x Pat Martino Lena’s Song x The Sweet Enoughs Cicada Season x Fuubutsushi Why, Buzzardman, Why? X Alabaster Plume S...

Therapists are part of the Soft Police (signed, an MSW). Read the full essay at Ismatu. Substack.com. Thank you for listening with an open mind! Sources: No Soft Police! Event Recording organized by Interrupting Criminalization " No Soft Police,” a chapter in No More Police! written by Andrea Ritchie and Mariame Kaba (please email me if you would like assistance accessing the text or if you wo...

I feel like i am in a zoo. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe

Musings from my porch in Chicago that ask: am I good at hosting happiness? Am I the right shape to hold onto the life that I want? What noise do I make when I get knocked around? read this episode at ismatu.substack.com. Jazz of the episode: Why, Buzzardman, Why? x Alabaster Plume The Jordan River Song x Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru Lena’s Song x The Sweet Enoughs You Go To My Head x Billie Holiday E...

on what we owe to each other in the grief. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe

a conversation about survival, archival, and the intimacy found and lost when you grow up in the public eye. request the full transcript at ismatu.gwendolyn@gmail.com This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe

this is the next essay in the study of self series. listen to the previous episode here. Content warning for: mentions of suicidal thought and intent, allusions towards self-harm. Nothing graphic, but it is a recurrent theme of the piece. The first time I got recognized from TikTok, I was at a porn convention. [insert the really cute but compromising picture of me at said porn convention here. I m...

A child model turned grad school stripper speaks openly about the reality of being shackled to Beauty (and the negotiations you make at the top of the hierarchy). Read the full essay at ismatu.substack.com. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe

Welcoming in Season II of Threadings. Notes on my the orbit of my personhood. An essay once titled, “how do I love myself?” (but I didn’t know what I meant by “love,” so first i sound it out) Themes of the essay: love is the feeling that compels you to action and the action itself. Poetry is the thesis of my life and practicing it is an act of love. Black feminism and love studies are, in many way...

in which I tell you about where I've been, where I've ended up, and where I'm going from here. Jazz of the episode: Send In The Clowns x Pat Martino On the Sunny Side of the Street x Johnny Hodges For All We Know x Ahmad Jamal Lilacs in the Rain x Junior Mance Dat Dere (Theme) x Bobby Timmons Trio The Summer Knows x Bucky Pizzarelli Down and Out x Joel Lyssarides Tangerine x George Van...

musings once entitled, “a therapist reflects on the whiplash of finally having relationships with my parents i am grateful for, despite it all.” In which I watch the love I have for my parents bloom and die and bloom again. Full transcription available at ismatu.substack.com Jazz of the episode: Cicada Season x Fuubutsushi Manhattan x BLOSSOM DEARIE Melancholia x Wynton Marsalis The Single Petal O...

We owe the children of this world tangible and lasting justice— and economic justice touches every kind of oppression there is. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe

an open letter to everyone fearful and exhausted, sent with love. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe

Ismatu Gwendolyn, clinical social worker and former impoverished child, doubles down on the ugly (and obvious) truth of why poverty exists in the first place. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe

If you’re reading or listening this, that means I’ve decided to pull back one of the veils of my life and tell you a little bit about my family history. My name is Ismatu Bangura, I am a Sierra Leonean Black American, and I am also the granddaughter of Paramount Chief Alhaji Bombolai [may he rest in peace]. Here is how my lineage affects my politic. Full transcription at substack.ismatu.com. This...

Introductions to a month-long series about poverty eradication, labor rights, and reproductive justice. Partnered with a fundraiser to help agricultural production for indigenous folks in Sierra Leone! Link to donate: gogetfunding.com/ismatu-gwendolyn Read the full essay: substack.ismatu.com SOURCES 2022 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index, linked in article Portela, J. (2021, January 15). 70% o...

I do not set goals in January and I never will. I love myself too much to rush myself out of my winter hibernation. Why do we impose so much on a year that we just met? How do I hope for the harvest when I have not even tilled the earth yet? The ground is frozen! What if we just... sat and rested instead? In which Ismatu Gwendolyn discusses treating January gently and changing the name of the podc...