Fifty Feminist States

In this episode, Amelia speaks with Shilo George, a Southern Cheyenne-Arapaho woman, Queer SuperFat Activist, and founder of Łush Kumtux Tumtum Consulting. They discuss body sovereignty, Native culture, and healing historical trauma.Follow:Fifty Feminist States on Instagram (help us get to 1000 followers!)Follow Shilo on InstagramLinks from the episode:Walking With Ghosts: Poems by Qwo-Li Driskill Learn more about enrollment and blood quantum on the All My Relations podcast 

In this episode, Amelia speaks with Rebecca Alexander, the founder of AllGo, a review app where plus-size people rate the comfort and accessibility of public spaces. Tune in to hear her discuss why she started this company, challenges she’s faced securing funding, and the many creative endeavors her team’s launched to bring this project to life.Follow:Fifty Feminist States on Instagram (help us get to 1000 followers!)AllGo on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and their websiteLinks from the episode:Free stock photos for plus-sized peopleA Kids Book About Body ImagePlus Size ForAllGo’s blog (pitch them here!) 

In this episode, Amelia speaks with Mayumi Tsutakawa, a Japanese-American writer and curator from Seattle. They discuss her family’s influence on the art world, her career as a journalist and curator, and her new lecture “Washington’s Undiscovered Feminists” that tells the stories of five remarkable, but often unsung, women from Washington. Mayumi also reflects on the past and present of the feminist movement, and shares about her family’s history at Japanese internment camps through the story of her maternal grandmother.Follow:Fifty Feminist States on Instagram (help us get to 1000 followers!)Links from the episode:Listen to this feature on the Tsutakawa family’s influence on the Seattle art scene from KUOW, as well as this clip specifically interviewing Mayumi.Learn more about Mayumi's lecture “Washington’s Undiscovered Feminists.”

Welcome to season four, Fifty Feminist States fam! This season we’ll be visiting the West Coast, and in this episode, Amelia travels to San Francisco to visit Bini Pradhan of Bini’s Kitchen. Tune in to learn about why Bini immigrated from Nepal to the US, how her Nepalese restaurant supports the lives of womxn and immigrants across the Bay Area, and to hear more about La Cocina, the restaurant incubator that made her work possible.Follow:Bini’s Kitchen on their website and FacebookLa Cocina on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and their websiteFifty Feminist States on Instagram (help us get to 1000 followers!)Links from the episode:We Are La Cocina, the cookbook featuring the story of La Cocina and Bini’s recipe for Momos!

In this very special bonus episode, Amelia celebrates hitting the halfway milestone of this fifty state project! Tune in to hear the story of how it all started AND to learn what guests from the first three seasons are up to now. PLUS news about an exclusive merch sale, our new Twitter account, and the Best Feminist Life celebration coming with Feminist Hotdog in January 2020. Episode highlights:1:00 - 2:30 Hi & welcome back!2:30 - 4:00 Snail Mail Merch Sale & we’re on Twitter @FiftyFemStates!4:00 - 7:30 The story behind Fifty Feminist States!7:30 - 21:00 Updates from season one, two & three guests!21:00 - 21:30 Join the Best Feminist Life celebration in January 2020! Links from the episode (by state):NE: Updates on reproductive health and a tragic home birth incidentWY: Jessica Baker’s Ski Diva campsID: Amy Pence-Brown’s Patreon pageMT: Diane Sands legislative recordMN: PREORDER Raechel Anne Jolie (of FKJPhD podcast)’s upcoming memoir Rust Belt FemmeMN: Upcoming Touchy Subject Trivia nights with

In this second episode from Kentucky (and the final episode of season 3!), we hear from Hannah Drake, an author and activist from Louisville who writes poetry about race, gender, and social justice. She talks about how she started writing, shares her experiences in spaces not made for her, and reads one of her most-requested poems for us. She also reminds listeners of the problems with White Feminism and why social justice work isn’t just about “resisting our way back to comfort.”Follow:Hannah on Twitter, Instagram, & her website AND buy her most recent bookFifty Feminist States on Instagram and iTunes Links from the episode:Hannah’s blog Write Some ShitDo Not Move Off The Sidewalk Challenge: Holding Your Space in A White WorldHannah reading “Spaces” at Festival of FaithMore on the Castleman MonumentDear White Women, It’s Not You, It’s Me. I’m Breaking Up With You.   

In this first episode from Kentucky, we hear from visual artist Laurie Blayney and small business owner Hannah Jones in our very first mother-daughter interview! They discuss what they love about Louisville, the struggles the city faces, and the feminist activism happening there. And at the end, they share one thing they’ve learned about being a feminist from each other.Follow:Fifty Feminist States on Instagram and iTunes Links from the episode:Laurie’s art on her websiteHannah’s karaoke business1619 Flux Art + ActivismLa Casita CenterKentucky Foundation for Women 

In this second episode from Georgia, Amelia interviews Dr. Alix Olson about her past as a spoken word poet and her present-day position teaching Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Emory University. They talk about how spoken word poetry and queer theory have changed since the 90s, Alix’s journey from activist to academic, and the challenging implications of the discourse of resilience.Follow:Alix on her websiteFifty Feminist States on Instagram and iTunes Links from the episode:Cunt Cuntry recordingLeft Lane: On the road with folk artist Alix Olson trailerWord Warriors anthologyAlix’s feminist inspirations: Judith Butler, Ani DiFranco, Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, bell hooks & Indigo GirlsSoutherners on New Ground (SONG)Black Mamas Matter 

In this episode, Amelia catches up with JLP Prince, the Director of Community, Civic and Global Engagement at Agnes Scott College. They talk about the strengths of women’s colleges (Amelia and JLP went to the same one for undergrad!), how to empower women to become global citizens, and even a bit about queer, feminist geek culture.Follow:JLP on Twitter and LinkedInAgnes Scott on Facebook, Twitter, and their websiteFifty Feminist States on Instagram and iTunes

In this special podcast crossover episode, we hear from Adrienne van der Valk of Feminist Hotdog about what it’s like to be a feminist in Alabama and how podcasting can be a tool for the feminist revolution. After you listen, be sure to head over to the Feminist Hotdog podcast to hear Amelia be interviewed there, too!Follow:Feminist Hotdog on Instagram, their website and iTunesFifty Feminist States on Instagram and iTunesFind links from the episode in the show notes. 

In the first of two episodes from Alabama, Amelia speaks with Tori Wolfe-Sisson in Birmingham about BLK PEARL, a learning and leisure alliance that cultivates wellness through visibility and economic development with Black, Brown, Indigenous, Transgender & Queer Women. They spend the first half of the interview discussing Tori’s organizing work, and then have a really candid conversation about the stories people tell about Alabama and how to look beyond stereotypical narratives of the South. Plus Tori gives us an audio tour of forgotten and destroyed monuments in Birmingham and Montgomery.Follow:BLK PEARL on Instagram, Twitter & their websiteFifty Feminist States on Instagram and iTunes Links from the episode:Shante Wolfe-Sisson speaking at the Bernie 2020 rally in BirminghamNYT 1619 piece on why traffic in Atlanta is a result of segregationNational Memorial for Peace and Justice (aka the Lynching Memorial) in MontgomeryErotic City walking tours in MinneapolisLifting As They Climbed: Mapping a History

In this episode, Amelia visits the 99s Museum of Women Pilots in Oklahoma City to speak with Shaylyn Sawyer, the museum manager. They discuss the global history of women in aviation, how the 99s has empowered women pilots for 90 years (!!), and why the field is still so male-dominated.Follow:The 99s Museum of Women Pilots on their website and FacebookThe 99s organization on their website and FacebookFifty Feminist States on Instagram and iTunes Links from the episode:Statistics of women in aviation careers 

This episode takes Amelia to Water Valley, Mississippi to talk to Jaime Harker, the owner of Violet Valley Bookstore, the only queer feminist bookstore in MS. They talk about feminist presses, how books create community, and why it’s so important to cultivate queer spaces in the South.Follow:Violet Valley Bookstore on their website and InstagramFifty Feminist States on Instagram and iTunes Links from the episode:Jaime’s book The Lesbian SouthViolet Valley Bookstore’s Kickstarter pageCharis Books in Atlanta, GABTC Grocery in Water Valley, MSOxford Pride 

In the second of two episodes from Memphis, TN, Amelia speaks to Cherisse Scott the founder of SisterReach, Tennessee’s first and only reproductive justice organization. Tune in to hear Cherisse’s story including her crisis pregnancy center experience, the path that led her to found SisterReach, and how she was recently silenced by the Tennessee Senate.Follow:SisterReach on Facebook and TwitterFifty Feminist States on Instagram and iTunesLinks from the episode:Crisis Pregnancy Center statistics and NARAL’s report “The Truth About Crisis Pregnancy Centers”CHOICES: Memphis Center for Reproductive HealthBIRTH STRIDES: No Cost Community-Based Childbirth Education and Doula Services#UPTheVote901Read more on Cherisse being silenced by the TN Senate Judiciary Committee and find her full statement here

In this second episode from Arkansas, Amelia visits Fayetteville, AR and talks to Marty Lane, a graphic design professor and activist, and Hannah Withers, a local business owner and organizer, about their community work for social change. Tune in to learn more about feminist pedagogy and designing with marginalized communities and to hear one of our most candid conversations about feminism yet.Follow:Marty’s work on her websiteMaxine’s Tap Room on Instagram and FacebookFifty Feminist States on Instagram and iTunes Links from the episode:Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in AmericaQuiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop TalkingThe Mother Folkers

In Little Rock, Arkansas, Amelia speaks with Diego Barrera, one of the cofounders of inTRANSitive, a collective founded in 2017 to uplift Trans voices in Arkansas through community building, organizing, and political education. Tune in to hear their conversation about Trans migrant stories, transnational actions for Trans liberation, and what how community makes a place home.Follow:inTRANSitive on Facebook and InstagramFifty Feminist States on Instagram and iTunes

In this Kansas City episode, Amelia speaks to Dr. Valerie French about her life in Missouri and her work as an OBGYN in Kansas. They talk about abortion procedures, patient care, and issues around recent bills in the Missouri legislature that restrict abortion access.Follow:Fifty Feminist States on Instagram and iTunesAnd find:A video of Valerie’s speech at the rally hereThe Guttmacher Institute table of abortion regulations by state hereAlso: Read a new report from the Guttmacher Institute about the decline in abortion rates in recent years here  

In the first of two episodes from Memphis, TN, Amelia speaks to Jasmine Tasaki, the founder and executive director of WeCareTN, a non-profit organization that works to support and empower Trans Women of Color through job-readiness programs, direct financial support, and a variety of mutual aid programs founded on healing justice principles. Tune in to learn about Jasmine’s life and work, as well as the community that has supported and uplifted her. Follow:WeCareTN on their website and FacebookFifty Feminist States on Instagram and iTunes Links from the episode:Aimee Stephen’s essay in Out MagazineLucy Diavolo’s article in Teen VogueHRC’s report on violence against the trans community in 2019The open letter to HRC from Trans community leadersNational Urban League Young Professionals and their Memphis chapterTAKE (founded by Daroneshia Duncan who is now the Executive Director of Trans United)Miss Major and her monthly fundraising circleJasmine on the Focus magazine cover and her feature inside the Jan/Feb 2018

S.E. Nash is an artist and educator in Kansas City, MO. In this second episode from Missouri, hear Amelia talk to Sean about how he integrates food and fermentation into his art practice to challenge binary ways of thinking about gender and life.Follow:Sean on InstagramFifty Feminist States on Instagram and iTunesAnd find:Sean’s recent work on his website and in the Fermenting Feminism zine, edited by Lauren Fournier

In the first of two episodes from Missouri, Amelia interviews Alyson Thompson, a St. Louis activist and writer. They chat about Alyson’s work with The 4A Project and her new organization Mixed Feelings, as well as how her writing practice has helped her better understand and create community around her experience as a mixed race person.Follow:Alyson Thompson on InstagramMixed Feelings on InstagramFifty Feminist States on Instagram and iTunes