Threading the Heart with Nancy Azcona

Nancy is a good friend of ours and when we decided to jump into the second season, we knew we had to talk to her. With most of our guests we'll talk to this season, Nancy had an interesting time during quarantine. They balanced the heartbreak of isolation and death with professional milestones, starting a new job and finishing a new book. The book, Corazon de Seda, is a collection of poetry spanning years, tackling love, family and identity. Before the pandemic hit, Nancy participated in a poetry workshop which reignited her love poetry and pushed her to make the decision to self publish a body of work. On the General Side of our conversation with Nancy, we get into the details of the book, their journey with ceramics (which Andre attempts to make a terrible segue to) and her work as a BIPOC in the predominantly cis gender, white world of film and television production. On the Specific Side Nancy introduces us to the work of Sarah Kay, a poet and the the founder and co-director of Project V.O.I.C.E., a group dedicated to using spoken word as an educational and inspirational tool. Like Nancy's work, Sarah's poetry is sharp, but forgiving, emotionally astute and extremely well-informed. Nancy also guides us through one of her poems her book, He Calls Me Flower, which she reads for us and provides some insight into. You can check out the work of Sarah Kay here. Nancy's Recommendations: Put on some music, get into some comfy clothes and dance. Women, Race & Class by Angela Davis. Andre's Recommendation: I Care A Lot, the Netflix movie featuring Roseamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, Eiza Gonzalez & Dianne West. Anthony's Recommendations: The photography work of Ming Smith, a member of the Kamoinge Workshop from the 1960s. The group's work can be seen in an exhibit in the Whitney, which includes Smith's work. Your Black Friend and Other Strangers by Ben Passmore You can catch Nancy on Instagram and Twitter [at] nancyazc. Her book, Corazon de Seda, drops April 28th. Generally Specific is produced by Anthony Cosme and Andre Doughty. Music for the show comes from Nothing_Neue (you can find his work here). * Note - this conversation was recorded in mid March.