Stay ConnectedDig into the underdiscussed corners of the human experience. Each week, host Anita Rao leads intimate conversations with people unafraid to question what we think we know about identity, relationships and health.
Follow the show on Instagram at @embodiedwunc and on Bluesky at embodiedwunc.bsky.social. You can find Anita on Bluesky at asrao.bsky.social.
Copyright: © 2022 WUNC Podcasts
Anita has many close friends who defy all stereotypes about only children. But when it comes to thinking about having her own kids, she still can't shake some of those ingrained ideas. She hears three perspectives on single-kid families (including that of former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins) and learns why the debunked mythology around only children still lingers today.
Meet the guests:
- Lauren Sandler, journalist and author of "One and Only: The Freedom of Having an Only Child, and the Joy of Being One,” shares her personal experience and ways to reframe the negative stereotypes about being and having only children
- Corinne Lyons, a middle school teacher in Detroit, talks about how her childhood being the only child of only children has shaped how she thinks about family
- Billy Collins, former U.S. poet laureate, reads his poem "Only Child" and shares the joy of being an only child
The name Embodied came to Anita in a dream, and she's on a quest to figure out how that happened. She talks to a dreamworker about strengthening the bridge between dreaming and creativity, unpacks weird COVID-19 dreams and learns about nightmare therapy. [This episode originally aired in March 2022]
Meet the guests:
- Angel Morgan, an artist, filmmaker and the founder of Dreambridge, gives Anita a Dream Science 101 lesson and shares how folks can better connect their dreams to their creativity
- Chris Ufere, the founder and CEO of uDreamed, a free online service for dream logging, talks about analyzing 3,000 COVID19 dreams and what patterns emerged
- Michael Nadorff, an associate professor of psychology at Mississippi State University, shares his research on the link between nightmares and suicide
Anita has fallen down her fair share of wellness rabbit holes [including a certain alliterative family's beauty and shapewear brands...
Meet the guests:
- Rina Raphael, author of "The Gospel of Wellness: Gyms, Gurus, Goop and the False Promise of Self-Care,” shares how insidious wellness industry marketing can be
- Kim Young, licensed clinical social worker known as the Dope Black Social Worker, explains how we can take charge of our own wellness ... without buying anything
After not seeing a drag show for the first 30 years of her life, Anita now dives in. She explores the history and evolution of the artform with a drag scholar-turned-performer; meets a non-binary drag 'thing' pushing boundaries through performance; and talks with a Durham-based drag artist who speaks out against anti-drag violence.
Meet the guests:
- Rose Butch, Vancouver's premiere Drag Thing, explains the origins of the term "Drag Thing" and talks about how their gender transition out of drag has informed — and been informed by — their drag persona
- Larry La Fountain-Stokes, professor at the University of Michigan and author of "Queer Ricans" and "Translocas," dives into the history of drag and shares how his drag persona Lola von Miramar has had an effect on his research
- Naomi Dix, Afro-Latinx drag artist based in Durham, North Carolina and a member of the House of Coxx, talks about how she uses drag as a platform to educate and speak out against anti-queer and anti-drag violence
Anita reconnects with the woman who changed her thinking on incarceration: her beloved college thesis adviser Ashley Lucas. Ashley reflects on her father's 20-year prison sentence and the untold stories of families navigating incarceration from the outside. Journalist Sylvia A. Harvey also shares how losing her mother to asthma and her father to a life sentence in prison before she was 6 years old led her to investigate the carceral system as a whole.
Meet the guests:
- Ashley Lucas, professor of theatre and drama at the University of Michigan, talks about how her experience growing up with an incarcerated father informs her research and led to her play "Doin' Time: Through the Visiting Glass"
- Sylvia A. Harvey, a journalist and author, examines the intersection of the carceral, education and child welfare systems and investigates some of the larger forces shaping the experiences of families with an incarcerated loved one
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Dive deeper:
My Dad Went to Prison When I Was 5. Now I Write About Families Like Mine by Sylvia A. Harvey
Anita and her partner John have started talking more openly about how his hearing loss informs their relationship and how they'll continue to navigate that as they age. She meets another interabled couple (Anna and Vika) who share the sometimes humorous, sometimes challenging moments that accompany sex and dating with hearing loss. Plus, former guest Yat Li returns to talk about deafness, disclosure, and disabled identity.
Meet the guests:
- Anna Pulley, author and columnist, talks about her journey with sex and intimacy as a deaf and hard of hearing person
- Vika Mass, Anna's fiancee, shares how she has adjusted as part of an interabled couple
- Yat Li, disability advocate, inclusive model and creator of “Let There Be Ears” on YouTube, talks about how he learned to self-disclose his deafness
Last October Anita got an e-mail that piqued her curiosity: a story pitch about how anti-fat bias affects people seeking gender-affirming surgery. She hands the mic over to audio journalist H Conley, who follows a 26-year-old Black nonbinary food writer as they overcome repeated barriers to getting top surgery due to body size.
Meet the guests:
- Chala June, an associate editor at "Bon Appétit" magazine, shares their experience of being told to lose weight before getting top surgery
- Dr. Alexes Hazen, a New York City-based aesthetic and reconstructive surgeon who performs top surgeries, explains some of the various factors that come into play for surgeons when considering patients
- Lacie Parker, a psychotherapist who works with queer people and focuses on eating concerns and body image, talks about weight stigma for trans folks
Meet the creator:
- H Conley is a a New York City-based journalist, audio producer and artist. Find more of their audio work here.
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Click here to see the photos that accompany HC’s story.
Anita learned in the early days of this show that there's no such thing as "normal" sexual behavior. But what *is* worth considering: how your relationship with sex affects your life. She meets two women whose compulsive sexual behaviors led them to seek support, and a sex-positive psychologist shares how she helps folks with sex addiction in their recovery.
Meet the guests:
- Krista Nabar, the executive director and founder of the Carolina Sexual Wellness Center, explains her sex-positive approach to hypersexuality and treatment
- Erica Garza, author of “Getting Off: One Woman’s Journey Through Sex and Porn Addiction," shares her history with sex addiction and how she's recovering in a sex-positive way
- Mz. Cici, a content creator on Instagram and TikTok, talks about her efforts to bring more awareness to hypersexuality and her experiences with hypersexuality and bipolar disorder
Anita has not participated in a Dry January, but there are times when she's motivated to pay extra-close attention to her relationship with alcohol. Most recently: during the pandemic. While some of us started drinking more, another group of folks committed to sober curiosity: a movement encouraging introspection about your relationship with alcohol. She meets two people who are years into building sober lives and asks them to reflect on how their sobriety journeys have shaped everything from relationships to thoughts about the future.
Meet the guests:
- J.Nicole Jones, co-host of the “Sober Black Girls Club” podcast and host of “The Grief Bully” podcast talks about choosing sobriety at age 23
- Tawny Lara, co-host of “Recovery Rocks” podcast, shares what it was like to become sober after years working as a bartender
Anita has been unpacking intergenerational trauma ... thanks, in part, to Hollywood. Seeing herself in movies like "Turning Red" and "Everything Everywhere All At Once" has helped her make sense of her own family's challenges. She talks with three women who've investigated how events in their own family histories have rippled through the generations to influence their bodies, parenting and culture.
Meet the guests:
- Dr. Ramona Beltrán, multiracial Chicana, mother, scholar and dancer, shares how generational trauma has manifested in her own family and how "Encanto" is a great example of the different ways intergenerational trauma can show up
- Brandy Wells, a licensed independent social worker and conscious mother of three, talks about how she realized the trauma she inherited once she started having children
- Merissa Nathan Gerson, author and sex educator, explains how her ancestors' Holocaust experiences influence her life today
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Dive deeper:
- “A Survivor’s Granddaughter Visits a Place Haunted by Unshakeable Memories” by Merissa Nathan Gerson
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