About Face

Today we are sharing a guest episode from Filter Stories by James Harper about Raymond, a former member of an Amish community who left his home and his country. Raymond's family want him to spend his life using a horse instead of a car, to live off the grid and have little contact with the outside world. But young Raymond is curious and explores the outside world. His father reacts by moving the family into an even more isolated community. How did Raymond escape?

Christine McAlister has endured one of the most horrible and traumatic experiences that I can imagine, and yet, her retelling of the experience and how it changed her is admirable and profound. This is courage, strength, and power in the face of adversity and it’s what I love to learn about from people who have really been through some of life’s toughest lessons. 

Lisa was an ambitious 20-something working for the United Nations when a sudden and chronic illness became debilitating, leaving her unable to work. This the story of facing her illness, a shocking diagnosis, and her ability to let go of expectations of life and self. It's a story about losing loved ones, forgiveness, and self-compassion. It's about coming to terms with death and how she redefined a meaningful life.  About Face is a member of Bear Radio Music provided by Miss Kenichi. 

Our guest Tim, shares semi-anonymously about his experiences with an unexpected pregnancy, as a new father, and a truth about his life that changed everything. It's a story that reminds us how to move forward through life's challenges get, and how to face the most impossible decisions without regret.

My guest today is Reema Zaman. Reema is an award-winning writer, visual artist, actress and speaker, and the author of the memoir I Am Yours. She is from Bangladesh and immigrated to New York When she was 18. When she was 25, she fell in love and married into a relationship that shifted the direction of her life. She writes and talks about what it is like to fall into emotional abuse as well as how to find your voice when you come out of the darkness.

Naniso shares his experience growing up in the generation following Apartheid and describes the difference between institutionalized and systemic racism versus other forms of covert oppression. We talk about a particular instance where he was physically assaulted and detained at an airport and how the attack figures into his consciousness, as a thought leader and in how he interacts with the world.

Episode 13 - Finding Light in the Dark w/ Justin Evans

Tattoos, piercings, punk rock- the look and the subculture can have a hard-shell appearance, but what about those individuals underneath? How do subcultures give us strength and armor, and at what point are we lost to ideology? Is there a false security in our fight for belonging? This is one woman's journey in mental health, including anxiety and depression, drug and alcohol addiction, suicide, loss, and recovery.

This episode is about birth stories, the challenge of birth, motherhood and parenthood, and the potential of discovery in this process. Part one is a personal story of traumatic birth and the feeling that, though it is universal, it can be a solitary and isolating experience. Part 2 is a conversation with visual artist and writer, Carmen Winant, to talk about, My Birth, the powerful MOMA installation using over 2,000 found images, matrescence, feminism, and the politics around motherhood.

Thanks for listening to About Face! We are finally launching Season 2 after a long break with new episodes that feature the personal stories of individual hardship and recovery. This season is all about the light and dark... personal discovery and truth that comes through our most challenging moments.

How do we learn to accept ourselves and our past? Jason and I follow up on the destruction that ended in death and loss in a story about recovery and reparations. We talk about how to let go, the gratitude and peace that can be found in survival, how his own recovery made him realize an authentic life. We also talk about forgiving ourselves and our parents and why people who are more sensitive to the world are more likely to become addicts. 

Why are we drawn towards darkness, even the allure of death? What does it mean to get close to the edge and how to pull ourselves back? This is an episode about Jason's addiction to drugs- LSD, cocaine, heroin and the magnitude of his losses, from human life to his innocence, and self. We talked about the attraction towards darkness, the sheer weight of death. This is an episode about the edge. It’s an episode about loss, but more, what does it take to turn around?

The human body, it’s complicated and mysterious systems, directly influences our emotions, our response to memory, and simply, how we interact with the world and with life. Inhabiting our bodies is more than just the machinery of living, moving, and acting. It’s how we identify, how we relate and perceive ourselves and our environment. It is not a surprise that it is the human body that often takes the toll when we are suffering, or in pain. Or that many of us turn against our own bodies during times of

Episode 7 - Cedric Till - Beyond the Mask of Toxic Masculinity