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Cracks in the Cement

Cracks in the Cement

By Robin Q

Cracks in the Cement is a podcast series that aims to bring awareness to colonizer culture so we can make conscious choices in how we want to be with each other and the world. This series weaves three themes:
(1) What is colonizer culture? In what ways does it surround us?
(2) How did it get here?
(3) Where do we want to go from here?
Currently playing episode

Taking a step back to share how I ended up doing this work

Cracks in the CementSep 03, 2022

00:00
15:32
My gender journey follow-up

My gender journey follow-up

This episode is dedicated to my mom and my partner for loving and accepting all of who I am. Thank you so very much

Feb 18, 202412:28
Settlers and the belief in scarcity
Feb 17, 202414:15
Replacing embodied hyper-productivity with something way better
Jan 20, 202418:39
Extending grace to cancel culture

Extending grace to cancel culture

Those of us who are justice-oriented, and raised with white supremacy conditioning, can often find ourselves in the habit of being hyper-judgemental. For this episode, I reflect on how whiteness interacts with this phenomenon (we white folx have got to practice humility...), as well as my realization that being honest about how my discernment can easily slip into hyper-judgement opened me up to feel a respect and kindness to those who are prone to cancel others. Undoing our colonized brain means not canceling those who cancel us.

The grand discovery: we are not going to be able to make the big problems go away in our lifetimes, therefore, it's all about building relationships and holding space for each other along the way (and as Layla Saad and other teachers and leaders have said, being a good ancestor).

Nov 20, 202319:53
Grief is the shit
Oct 11, 202324:47
Updates on Rise Up Rooted

Updates on Rise Up Rooted

This August episode offers updates on what going on with Rise Up Rooted (the organization from which this podcast springs), including its place on the path towards nonprofit status, as well as a bit of background and more information on the upcoming “Me and White Supremacy” book/learning groups (they start in October). If you or anyone you know is curious about these book/learning groups, this episode will offer you more understanding of how they roll. Thank you! :)

More info:

https://www.riseup-rooted.org/learning-groups/

https://www.riseup-rooted.org/workshops-with-robin/

Sign up for upcoming groups here: https://forms.gle/yoDg6CLRJtiweDybA

Questions? You can email me at robin@riseup-rooted.org 

Aug 12, 202318:28
crushed on yourself lately? + the dangerous mix of having experienced oppression, and being white

crushed on yourself lately? + the dangerous mix of having experienced oppression, and being white

For this podcast, I get into...

Cracks: I have been FEELING Janelle Monáe's new album, "The Age of Pleasure"-- it has it all... summer vibes, the absence of the male/white gaze, juicy queerness, sovereign sexiness, joy, pleasure (of course!), and crushing on oneself with ZERO apologies~~!!! When's the last time you had a crush on yourself, for yourself and nobody else? What were you wearing? How was your hair? Do more of that!

Cement: How legit oppression that has occurred to a white-bodied occupier who has been conditioned as a girl/woman can be dangerous as hell in this white supremacy system.

Jul 10, 202329:11
White ppl: accountability is an iterative process for us to step up and do

White ppl: accountability is an iterative process for us to step up and do

While attending a recent environmental law conference, I noticed the importance of Accountability among occupier white folks. Take a listen!

white ppl, we need to:

feel,

acknowledge,

grieve,

apologize, and

let go of

W.S. culture

again and

again and

again and

again...

Mar 24, 202327:35
My gender journey

My gender journey

For  this new Cracks episode, I share my journey of stepping into my embodied, empowered self as nonbinary, transmasculine-leaning (feel free to imagine me singing a made-up joy tune “it feels so good to be Me~~  yeah yeah yeah~~!"). If you have kids in your life, I hope you listen to  this episode.

When we squish the magic of our and other's sacred masculine/feminine balance, we nearly halt the evolution of humankind. That isn't hyperbole, folks. 


Jan 26, 202324:34
White guilt and the importance of white people getting grounded and whole

White guilt and the importance of white people getting grounded and whole

For this episode, I reflect on how white guilt (and regret and shame) is a healthy reaction when a white person first learns the ways in which they have caused harm and contributed to a super f-ed up system 

+ what might be some reasons white guilt can get stuck and amass 

+ how that potentially blocks progress on the path towards dismantling white supremacy

Thank you so much for listening!

You can share your thoughts with me here: https://forms.gle/R6mjUFDWquAmHduP7

Jan 15, 202319:53
The difference between individualism and sovereign beingness

The difference between individualism and sovereign beingness

For this podcast episode, I noodle on how ideas of self-empowerment can show up as individualism (separation from others), as compared to sovereign beingness (connection with others), and the importance of noticing when my anger at white supremacy and the male gaze is actually anger at myself for assimilating and contorting to the male gaze for financial security. I realize a major aspect of sovereign beingness is taking responsibility for one's self. This is super big stuff! 

Relatedly, I am cutting most of my hair off this Thursday! Does the idea of that scare the poopy out of you, in a mirror neuron sort of way? If so, why do you think that is? 

Dec 05, 202220:18
Settling in and surrendering to velvety dark potential while guided by your personal "north star"
Nov 08, 202223:33
Get high on context (relationships, multi-dimensionality, who we are, how our day is going, the weather, the place we sit/stand, what happened on our walk over, how well we slept last night, ...)!

Get high on context (relationships, multi-dimensionality, who we are, how our day is going, the weather, the place we sit/stand, what happened on our walk over, how well we slept last night, ...)!

This Cracks in the Cement episode explores the ways in which white colonizer settler culture insists we ignore context (relationships, multi-dimensionality, who we are, how are our day is going, the weather, the place we sit/stand, what happened on our walk over, how well we slept last night, our astrological tendencies, ... and on and on) and pretend we are individuals, and that aspects of Earth and Life can be looked at as if they exist outside of the web of life. And there's some stuff about how that way of being was invented by a scared man seeking safety and predictability, Thomas Hobbes. And also some stuff about taking responsibility for following social rules that enable Hobbes's system of separation, oppression, and control. Punchline: Sloooow down and get high on context.......... WOOHOO!

Books referenced (two of my favs)

Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World, by Tyson Yunkaporta

America's Unholy Ghosts: The Racist Roots of Our Faith and Politics, by Joel Edward Goza

Join the convo: https://forms.gle/moEEcgvWZqgJnDsj7

Oct 18, 202223:46
Bringing the magic with Color, Queerness, and a Refusal to be contained

Bringing the magic with Color, Queerness, and a Refusal to be contained

For episode 6 of Cracks, we'll talk about how colonizer/settler/white supremacy culture seeks to contain and control our minds, bodies, and souls. We'll get energized about our relationship to color and gender and how they intersect and offer endless opportunities to sprout our soul selves from the cracks in the cement. Woohoo~!!!

Queerness in this context, for me, is my dwelling outside of the binary boxes created to control me. It's feeling into who I truly am without subscribing to fear-based societal containments. It's stepping out of the absurd obsession with putting rules on how we're supposed to be and present in the world. Feeling into the spectrums are where the magic and beautiful power lie~~!!! Remember as a kid we'd say "Let's go outside to play!" Well, I'm saying that now-- get out of those boxes and come out and play!!!!! 

Books mentioned: 

The Invention of Women, by Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí (I heard about it from Alok Vaid-Menon- https://www.alokvmenon.com/)

Chromophobia, by David Batchelor

If you want to join the conversation (please do!): https://forms.gle/fXjuNfAms9VVUpM49

Oct 04, 202218:43
Flow pairs as an alternative to self-as-island individualism
Sep 15, 202217:05
Taking a step back to share how I ended up doing this work

Taking a step back to share how I ended up doing this work

In this episode, I share a bit about how I ended up focusing on colonizer/white supremacy culture, and how that work brought me to a place of developing awareness of multidimensional and plant/tree beings. I had no idea that would happen! So literally AWESOME!!! 

Sep 03, 202215:32
Unplugging the colonizer gaze + what makes white supremacy culture a unique system of oppression
Aug 15, 202224:52
Stepping outside of good/bad + engaging your imagination

Stepping outside of good/bad + engaging your imagination

In episode 1, listeners are invited to reflect on aspects of white culture within the U.S. (rugged individualism, the King's English rules, compete to prove our worth, stuck in the head and locked out of the body, etc.). Episode 2 adds some layers to that invitation: 

--> instead of hot potato-ing these aspects into a good vs. bad category, let's get them out on the table so we can look at them, think about who these most benefit, and which aspects we want to transform into something different (WOOHOO!).  

--> when thinking about and noticing aspects of white culture all around, if overwhelm creeps in, it can be helpful to remember we're looking for those cracks in the cement-- where is the **wiggle room** within your life to try something different? 

--> bring on the imagination!!! how might your ideal community and self be if white supremacy culture were melted away~~?!?

Join the mailing list here: https://www.riseup-rooted.com/email-list/

Episode 3 (coming soon!): Unique aspects of colonizer oppression + your thoughts

Episode 3 will offer some historic background on what makes colonizer culture a unique system of oppression. Starting with the ancient Greeks and ending with the West’s obsession with our sense of sight: the gaze of colonizers past still has us dancing a dance we did not consciously sign up for. (And thank you to those of you who shared your thoughts on the Smithsonian’s aspects of white culture in the U.S.—I will be voicing one or two at the end of each episode.)

Join the conversation:

White culture bullet point list--> https://www.riseup-rooted.com/cracks-in-the-cement-episode-1-resource/

You can share your thoughts here--> https://forms.gle/qbNz5UFTXc6WZVFf8

Aug 05, 202209:02
Our Personal Values and the Energy Body

Our Personal Values and the Energy Body

In this episode, we start the ball rolling on the conversation around aspects of colonizer culture that show up in each of our own personal values (join the conversation!), and I (Robin) share where I'm at on the journey of getting out of my head and into my heart (while encouraging multidimensional communication-- oh, yeah, I go there). 

Episode materials:

Aspects of white culture -- go here: https://www.riseup-rooted.com/cracks-in-the-cement-episode-1-resource/

Reflection questions (feel free to pick one or two that pop out at you):

1. Which of these cultural aspects listed above do you most value and prioritize?

2. Who most benefits from the cultural values you tend to prioritize?

3. How do these feel these in your body?

4. Are there any you don’t understand or feel like they’re unavoidable?

Join the conversation by sending me your answers here: https://forms.gle/ZxAUVbPGZux7WYe89

Join the mailing list here: https://www.riseup-rooted.com/email-list/

Aug 01, 202211:58
Cracks in the Cement Trailer
Jul 31, 202204:14