Becoming the People Podcast with Prentis Hemphill

Visit another powerful stop on the What It Takes to Heal book tour. Author and activist, Marc Lamont Hill, interviews Prentis about their book at the Library and Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington D.C. Together, they explore the threads of generational trauma, Prentis' practice of 'cry dates' and how allowing feeling helps us arrive in the present moment. They also discuss the role of Transformational Characters and how interrupting patterns in ourselves can alter the path of healing for the next generation.This conversation was recorded in July 2024. You can watch the full book tour on our Youtube Channel.Check out Prentis’ book: What It Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World.Support the showThe Becoming the People Podcast Team:Producers: Prentis Hemphill & devon de LeñaSound Engineer and Editing: Michael MaineOriginal Music: Mayyadda

In this bonus episode, the seats are turned as W. Kamau Bell interviews Prentis about their book What it Takes to Heal. These two dig into the complexities of being a middle child, why healing is often dismissed as "soft" or seen as an individualistic pursuit, and make the case that real healing is rooted in community. They also talk candidly about shame versus guilt, actual accountability, and how belonging has to remain intact for real transformation to happen.This conversation was recorded in July 2024 at the California Institute of Integral Studies - you can watch the full book tour on our Youtube Channel.Check out Prentis’ book: What It Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the WorldSupport the showThe Becoming the People Podcast Team:Producers: Prentis Hemphill & devon de LeñaSound Engineer and Editing: Michael MaineOriginal Music: Mayyadda

This bonus episode is a throw-back to the launch of Prentis’ What it Takes to Heal book tour. This summer marks the two year anniversary of the book’s release and we wanted to share the intimate conversations that happened across the country while Prentis was on tour.This is a live recording from Brooklyn, where Prentis sits down with their friend adrienne maree brown. The two discuss what it means to write honestly about trauma, why boundaries are really about relationships rather than distance, and how movements for justice can source vision instead of just wounds. You can watch the full book tour on our Youtube Channel.Check out Prentis’ book: What It Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the WorldSupport the showThe Becoming the People Podcast Team:Producers: Prentis Hemphill & devon de LeñaSound Engineer and Editing: Michael MaineOriginal Music: Mayyadda

This week, we’re diving into faith and doctrine and how it shapes our worldview. Pastor Kristian A. Smith – public theologian, Spiritual Humanist, and digital pastor of The Faith Community Virtual – is here to share about his journey of deconstructing his theology and what can be fruitful and reorganizing when we have the courage and community to ask the big deep questions about faith.Follow Kristian on Instagram  Check out the Faith Community Virtual Read Kristian’s book: Question Your Answers: A Deconstruction Survival GuideSupport the showThe Becoming the People Podcast Team:Producers: Prentis Hemphill & devon de LeñaSound Engineer and Editing: Michael MaineOriginal Music: Mayyadda

Prentis is joined by Francis Weller - writer, therapist and soul activist. He wrote the Wild Edge of Sorrow and so eloquently shares about the collective responsibility of grief. Prentis and Francis talk about the hero's myth, the emptiness of whiteness and how grief rituals and communal ceremonies help reconnect us to the deep echo chamber of the soul.Check out Francis’ book the Wild Edges of SorrowSupport the showThe Becoming the People Podcast Team:Producers: Prentis Hemphill & devon de LeñaSound Engineer and Editing: Michael MaineOriginal Music: Mayyadda

Poet and writer Megan Falley joined Prentis to share about the life of her late partner Andrea Gibson, and generously offered her learnings on how we can live our lives as richly and fully in the time given. Watch “Come See Me in the Good Light” on AppleFollow Megan on Substack: Things That Don't SuckCheck our her book Drive Here and Devastate MeSupport the showThe Becoming the People Podcast Team:Producers: Prentis Hemphill & devon de LeñaSound Engineer and Editing: Michael MaineOriginal Music: Mayyadda

This week, Prentis shares their assessment that the leadership model in our culture feels outdated.  They share the concept of two leadership qualities that we could begin to possess on the individual or collective level -- will and surrender. And ask the questions-- How do we start to practice fluidity along the continuum of will and surrender to embody new ways of being leaders? And where can we start to look for leadership in odd and unexpected places?The quote Prentis mentions in the episode is by Simon Sinek: “Leaders are the ones who have the courage to go first, to put themselves at personal risk to open a path for others to follow.”If you’d like to come play and explore this theme more, join us over on Patreon.Support the showThe Becoming the People Podcast Team:Producers: Prentis Hemphill & devon de LeñaSound Engineer and Editing: Michael MaineOriginal Music: Mayyadda

Teacher, author and Zen Master, Norma Wong, is here to talk about her new book, Who we are becoming matters: the courage wisdom and aloha we need in the time of collapse. Norma helps us see further than we can see on our own and asks the question, who do we need to become to meet that horizon? Follow NormaCheck out her book: Who We Are Becoming Matters: The Courage, Wisdom, and Aloha We Need in a Timeplace of CollapseListen to her podcast The Horizon Story with Norma WongSupport the showThe Becoming the People Podcast Team:Producers: Prentis Hemphill & devon de LeñaSound Engineer and Editing: Michael MaineOriginal Music: Mayyadda

Prentis is joined by their friend, author and activist Kazu Haga, to explore his new book Fierce Vulnerability. Kazu asks us to consider a new type of courage, and together they converse about the value of deep interdependence, collective trauma, and how the “us vs. them” binary worldview is at the heart of what is destroying our relationships and our planet. Follow Kazu on InstagramCheck out his book: Fierce Vulnerability: Healing Trauma Emerging through CollapseIf you want to hear more from Kazu, revisit Prentis’ conversation with him about Navigating ConflictSupport the showThe Becoming the People Podcast Team:Producers: Prentis Hemphill & devon de LeñaSound Engineer and Editing: Michael MaineOriginal Music: Mayyadda

Prentis has returned to the pod after a short bereavement leave from the passing of their father. They are sharing how grief and time are pairing up to teach them how to bring more fluidity and honesty to their presence to allow more to be here now.They are also sharing a sweet story from their drag king past.If you’re enjoying this season, please support the podcast over on Patreon.Support the showThe Becoming the People Podcast Team:Producers: Prentis Hemphill & devon de LeñaSound Engineer and Editing: Michael MaineOriginal Music: Mayyadda

This episode originally aired in August 2024.We gather to honor the luminous legacy of Audre Lorde through the lens of Alexis Pauline Gumbs' radiant new book, Survival Is a Promise. Alexis joins us to unveil the journey of crafting Audre's biography, a tribute to the vibrant pulse and power of Audre’s words and practice. Together, we revel in the profound lessons Audre imparted on us about survival, courage, and love.Alexis’ new book is available now, Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde, and you can follow her work here @alexispaulineRead the transcript for this conversation hereYou can learn more about Prentis’ work belowPrentis' new book What It Takes to Heal is available nowFollow @prentishemphill on Instagram to see show clipsBecome a Patreon Subscriber to support the podcast and gain access to the full unedited conversations and visual episodesThe Becoming the People Podcast Team:Producers: Prentis Hemphill & devon de LeñaSound Engineer and Editing: Michael MaineResearch Assistant: Bhavana NancherlaOriginal Music: MayyaddaSupport the showThe Becoming the People Podcast Team:Producers: Prentis Hemphill & devon de LeñaSound Engineer and Editing: Michael MaineOriginal Music: Mayyadda

This episode was originally aired on July 1st 2024.Kai Cheng Thom - MSW, Qualified Mediator, Somatic Sex Educator, performance artist, community healer, award-winning writer, and author of Falling Back in Love with Being Human joins us for this episode. A consummate dreamer and believer in revolutionary potential, Kai brings radical love to her work and this conversation. Join us while Kai and Prentis geek out about exciting and dangerous things like monster-making, harm and revenge, + queerness and love.Read the full transcript of this conversation here.Follow @prentishemphill on Instagram to see show clipsBecome a Patreon Subscriber to support the podcast and gain access to the full unedited conversations and visual episodesFollow Kai on IG @kaichengthom and support the projects they mentioned in this episode:Trans Pride TorontoMaggie’s TorontoRed Canary SongSupport the showThe Becoming the People Podcast Team:Producers: Prentis Hemphill & devon de LeñaSound Engineer and Editing: Michael MaineOriginal Music: Mayyadda

This episode first aired in July 2024.Prentis is joined by the National Director of the Working Families Party, Maurice Mitchell. Maurice shares the roots of his organizing; reminds us of our power as a people and inspires us to continue to conjure and build a compelling vision toward the worlds we dream of.Support the organizations that Maurice mentioned in the episode:Working Families PartyMovement for Black LivesYou can check out Prentis' new book What It Takes to Heal is available now.Follow @prentishemphill on Instagram to see show clips or become a Patreon Subscriber to support the podcast and gain access to the full unedited conversations and visual episodes!Support the showThe Becoming the People Podcast Team:Producers: Prentis Hemphill & devon de LeñaSound Engineer and Editing: Michael MaineOriginal Music: Mayyadda

We won't be dropping a new episode this week, as Prentis is away mourning the passing of their father. To honor this tender moment we are resharing an episode from last season with Transformative grief activist, movement strategist, and writer Malkia Devich Cyril. Malkia shares stories and wisdom from their personal experience of loss, the possibility that emerges when we attend to our grief, and their insight about how we choose to grieve can determine how we can change the world.Thank you all for your kind wishes and we will be back soon with new episodes.Follow Malkia on Instagram @culturejedi and support the projects they mentioned in this episode:Movement Innovation Collaborative (MIC)Vision Change WinHighlander CenterPolitical Research AssociatesThe 22nd Century InitiativeSupport the showThe Becoming the People Podcast Team:Producers: Prentis Hemphill & devon de LeñaSound Engineer and Editing: Michael MaineOriginal Music: Mayyadda

Death doula, author and trainer, Alua Arthur, is a clear voice of what death could be if we brought it into the center of our lives. Alua brings her profound wisdom from confronting the existential and seemingly unfaceable realities of death. In this episode she breaks down the tastiest five layer fear of death cake and shares what’s possible for all of us when we hold death with reverence.Check out Alua’s Book Briefly Perfectly HumanGoing with Grace Death Doula TrainingFollow Alua on InstagramJoin us on our new Youtube channel for the Imposing Beauty on Our Future Livestream - get your tickets here!Support the showThe Becoming the People Podcast Team:Producers: Prentis Hemphill & devon de LeñaSound Engineer and Editing: Michael MaineOriginal Music: Mayyadda

Prentis addresses the rolling back of the Voting Rights Act and the impacts on our hope and imagination. They remind us of the power and audacity of the visionary ancestors that dared to dream before us, and encourage us to practice recovering our imagination to envision what we want next for our future.Join us on our new Youtube channel for the Imposing Beauty on Our Future Livestream - get your tickets here!Listen to the Dunums - Casual Planes AlbumSupport the showThe Becoming the People Podcast Team:Producers: Prentis Hemphill & devon de LeñaSound Engineer and Editing: Michael MaineOriginal Music: Mayyadda

Aisha Nyandoro is the CEO of Springboard To Opportunities and leader in the campaign to end generational poverty through guaranteed income. She joins Prentis this week to talk about her program Magnolia Mother’s Trust. They also discuss what the true meaning of wealth is and how our institutions shape the idea of who is worthy and deserved. Aisha brings a call of radical resourcing and shares her vision for what’s possible if our communities didn’t have to live in scarcity and we actually supported our people to thrive.Notes:Springboard to OpportunitiesSupport Magnolia Motherhood’s TrustSupport the showThe Becoming the People Podcast Team:Producers: Prentis Hemphill & devon de LeñaSound Engineer and Editing: Michael MaineOriginal Music: Mayyadda