Season 6 | Episode 101: Persistence in Belonging with Cole Arthur Riley

Upside Down Podcast

How do we know when we are in a space of true belonging, where our whole person can be welcome, present, and safe? Co-hosts Patricia Taylor, Kayla Craig, and Lindsy Wallace talk with writer, liturgist, and speaker Cole Arthur Riley about freedom and belonging—the good and the bad kind.

In this episode, we:

• Discuss how Black Liturgies came to be and why Cole chose to initially remain anonymous
• Share definitions of true belonging: spaces where we have the freedom to question, doubt, and change our minds without our status of belonging being at risk
• Consider how our bodies know what belonging is as opposed to assimilation or conformity
• Talk about the importance of solitude to better understand what belonging is for each of us
• Point out how not all belonging is good and that there are consequences for both staying and leaving
• Ask what our ancestors teach us about belonging and liberation from harmful spaces
• Wonder what it looks like for there to be a space of belonging for everyone and how, perhaps, it starts with the least of these to shape that space

Join us in this conversation about finding belonging and the community that comes with it. We hope it gives you more language for your journey and imagination for what could be.

News, Notes, and Links:

• Follow Cole and her work on her website, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, and be sure to grab a copy of her new book, This Here Flesh.
• Add Toni Morrison’s Beloved to your bookshelf, if you haven’t already.
• Support more conversations like this on Upside Down Podcast! Please visit us, where you can pledge a few dollars of monthly support to help us pay our bills and keep the conversations going.
• Learn more at Upside Down Podcast.
• We’re on Instagram, too. You can find us individually at @patricia_a_taylor, @kayla_craig, @from_here_sessions, and @lindsy.wallace.
• Join the Upside Down Together listener group on Facebook!

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