Embodied

When Anita moved away to college, she experienced a big shift in her biracial identity. Turns out that the questions that emerged for her are ones that many mixed young adults still ponder today ...15 years later. She meets two college seniors and they talk through navigating everything from "Where do I belong?" to "How do I date?" Plus she hears wisdom from a life coach who helps mixed adults tell new stories about identity. Meet the guests: - Adiah Siler, a senior at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, explains how moving out of her small town to go to college allowed her opportunities to explore her Blackness and has influenced her journey as a mixed race person - Claire Gallagher, a senior at the University of Michigan, shares her own experiences growing up as a mixed race person and brings up some of the anxieties she's had about her identity, especially since attending a predominantly white college - Sarah Lotus Garrett, a certified life and goal fulfillment coach, emphasizes the confidence and healing that being a part of a mixed race community can bring Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Follow Embodied on Instagram Leave a message for Embodied Please note: This episode originally aired July 14, 2023. Updates: Adiah Siler is currently working on her MFA at the University of Iowa in the Writers’ Workshop. Dig deeper: Sarah’s program for mixed adults Claire’s piece on the fetishization of mixed race identities Adiah’s piece on being a mixed teen

When Celeste Gracia was 17, her religiously conservative parents sent her to conversion therapy. This was the same summer that the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, giving queer people across the country cause for celebration. It would take years before Celeste felt that same joy and freedom, and today, the 27-year-old environment reporter at WUNC talks with Anita about how recent political events are prompting her to reflect on her decade-long path to healing. Anita also talks to therapist Jonathan Bell about how Celeste’s story fits into a broader context and why religious trauma is so challenging to heal. Meet the guests: - Celeste Gracia is an environment reporter at WUNC who has spent a decade untangling her religious trauma - Jonathan Bell is a a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in helping queer clients with religious trauma Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Follow Embodied on Instagram Leave a message for Embodied

Most parents in Anita's life tell her that it's a relentless job ... so if you're doing it all without a partner, how is it possible to also sustain a relationship with sex and romance? Anita talks with two unpartnered moms about juggling pleasure, dating and parenthood. Meet the guests: - Tara Ilsley is a solo mom of a toddler and a public health worker - Cordelia Gaffar is a single mom of six kids, an intimacy educator and a somatic movement facilitator Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Follow Embodied on Instagram Leave a message for Embodied

Soph Myers-Kelley and his mom, René Myers, have always been close. As of five years ago, they also share a diagnosis: the connective tissue disorder Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Soph and René were diagnosed one year apart – Soph was 25; René was 60. EDS explained symptoms they’d both been experiencing for decades, including waking up with jaw or shoulder dislocations and having chronic pain.The two talk with Anita about how their diagnoses began a new chapter of their lives, including the decision to move in together last summer. Meet the guests: - Soph Myers-Kelley is a medical librarian at East Carolina University - René Myers is Soph's mom and a retired educator Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Follow Embodied on Instagram Leave a message for Embodied

Food and sex have been deeply intertwined in our cultural imagination for millennia. Anita talks with a cultural historian who has combed through centuries of sex and food chronicles to understand what makes that connection so strong. Plus, Puerto Rican chef Manolo López shares a Valentine’s recipe and his favorite sexy food. Meet the guests: - Rachel Hope Cleves is a historian, a professor at the University of Victoria and the author of “Lustful Appetites: An Intimate History of Good Food and Wicked Sex" - Manolo López is a Puerto Rican chef and storyteller Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Follow Embodied on Instagram Leave a message for Embodied

In the hours and days following President Donald Trump’s re-election, online searches about leaving the U.S. surged. Historically, most folks who have considered a move haven’t taken action, but Tina Strawn is an exception. Anita talks to her about why, as a queer Black woman, she left America in 2020 in search of freedom. Tina answers listener's questions about expat life and shares why she encourages everyone to ask themselves: what would it feel like to be free? Meet the guest: - Tina Strawn, the author of “Are We Free Yet? The Black Queer Guide to Divorcing America” Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Follow Embodied on Instagram Leave a message for Embodied

Anita is committed to self-improvement but skeptical of self-help. She brings her qualms and questions to the experts: Kristen Meinzer, a podcaster who has lived by the rules of more than 50 self-help books, and Beth Blum, a scholar who's traced the genre back to its roots. Plus Sondra Rose Marie, a former self-help fan, shares how the industry has failed her as a woman of color. Meet the guests: - Kristen Meinzer, pop culture commentator and podcast host, shares what she learned from following the rules of over 50 self-help books - Beth Blum, Harvard humanities professor and author, talks about the long history of the self-help industry, and how it's changed over the decades - Sondra Rose Marie, writer, talks about why she started following a self-help guru...and what events made her leave Dig Deeper: Kristen's podcasts How To Be Fine and Daily Fail Beth's book "The Self-Help Compulsion" Sondra's Medium article on self-help Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Follow Embodied on TikTok and Instagram Leave a message for Embodied Please note: This episode originally aired January 5, 2024. Updates: The latest season of Kristen Meinzer’s podcast “How To Be Fine” is all about the loneliness epidemic and friendship quandaries. Sondra Rose Marie is now the editor and owner of the digital magazine for LGBTQ+ women called Tagg Magazine.

Anita finds a lot of ASMR videos to be deeply relaxing, but she doesn't get the well-hyped/well-documented 'brain tingles.' Why? She puts the question to a physiologist who's been exploring the science of ASMR for the past decade. Plus, she meets an ASMR artist who's entranced hundreds of thousands of people with her medical role play videos and a woman who turned to the world of Boyfriend ASMR to heal her broken heart. Meet the guests: - Craig Harris Richard, ASMR researcher and professor of biopharmaceutical sciences at Shenandoah University, digs into the data on what we know about ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response - Semide, an ASMR artist, talks about the emotional work in her content creation and the parasocial relationships she forms with viewers - Laura Nagy, filmmaker, writer and podcaster behind the 2021 Audible Original podcast “Pillow Talk,” shares how ASMR content helped her to open up to being vulnerable again Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Check out Craig's ASMR podcasts: “Sleep Whispers” and “Calm History” Follow Embodied on TikTok and Instagram Leave a message for Embodied Please note: This episode originally published March 15, 2024. Update: Dr. Craig Richard is a co-author of a new seminal paper highlighting the research agenda for ASMR.

How does selling sexy online affect your offline relationship with sex and your body? Anita poses that question to two creators: Paris Bush, who in four years on Only Fans has become one of the site’s top earners, and Maxim Lupin, who says that online sex work is the profession that best supports his mental and physical health. Meet the guests: - Paris Bush creates content that runs the gamut from nude and spicy to spoofy and comical - Maxim Lupin creates content that focuses on kink and sex ed Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Follow Embodied on TikTok and Instagram Leave a message for Embodied

It's been half a century since the psychedelic era, but some baby boomers are returning to the drugs of their youth — not for rock and roll, but to confront aging. Writer Abbie Rosner re-experienced mushrooms in her 60s, and she tells Anita about her subsequent investigation into why other boomers are taking psychedelics to grapple with aging. Plus, a medical professional shares what it’s like to facilitate these experiences for her peers. Meet the guests: - Abbie Rosner is a writer who shares her own experience and the stories of other baby boomers, which she plans to publish in a book called “ELDEREVOLUTION: Psychedelics and the New Counterculture of Aging” - Dr. Crystal Dawn is a physician who's board-certified in family medicine and provides ketamine-assisted therapy Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Follow Embodied on TikTok and Instagram Leave a message for Embodied

There are few things that are certain about 2025, but one of them is that at some point, you’ll be called upon for advice. Anita talks to Meghan Keane, the founder of NPR's Life Kit and author of “Party of One,” about how to give good advice. Meghan shares her personal journey to striking the balance between overthinking, venting and actually getting to the root of a problem. Plus, she sits in the hot seat to answer some big questions from our listeners. Meet the guest: - Meghan Keane is the author of "Party of One: Be Your Own Best Life Partner" and the founder and managing editor of NPR's Life Kit Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Follow Embodied on TikTok and Instagram Leave a message for Embodied

As a child of two immigrants, Anita has a tumultuous relationship with the question: "Where are you from?" So, too, do many third culture kids — people who spend a significant number of their developmental years living in places that are not their parents' homelands. She talks with two third culture kids — one 35 and one 12 — and their moms about growing up between cultures and how they’ve built identity and relationships along the way. Meet the Guests: - Rayla Heide, a senior narrative designer at Blizzard Entertainment, talks about establishing cultural identity as a third culture kid and the grief and joy involved in moving around in childhood - Madeleine Maceda Heide, an international school leader and modern elder as well as Rayla's mother, shares the advantages of being a third culture kid and the ways she helped their family feel at home wherever they lived - Phuong Tran, and international journalist and communications consultant for overseas non-profit organizations, talks about her and her son's recent move from Thailand to North Carolina, and what they gained and lost in making that transition - Kaden Tran, a middle school student, talks about why moving to the US didn't meet up with his expectations and how its impacted his friendships Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Follow Embodied on TikTok and Instagram Leave a message for Embodied Please note: This episode originally published November 10, 2023. Update: Rayla Heide is now the Franchise Narrative Director on a new game in development at Scopely.

Anita hands over the mic to Embodied’s intern, Nina Scott. After listening to our episode about food and cultural identity from a couple of weeks ago, Nina started talking to her friends about how their family recipes help them feel connected to their heritage. She shares some of those conversations and reflections. Meet the guests: - Sari Ghirmay-Morgan, Nina’s friend who is of Ethiopian and Eritrean heritage - Rebecca Wu, Nina’s friend who is of Chinese and Taiwanese heritage - Britney Watson, Nina’s friend who is Caribbean heritage Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Follow Embodied on TikTok and Instagram Leave a message for Embodied

Anita has heard one resounding truth from her friends who lost a parent in early adulthood: That death was the biggest thing that has ever happened to them. She meets two people who've built specific communities around their grief on the internet and a writer who experienced losing his dad twice. Meet the guests: - Liz Zorn, photographer and model, talks about the sudden loss of her father and how it's changed her views on the afterlife - Naomi Edmondson, grief educator and space holder, shares how the experience of losing two mother figures in her 20s inspired her to create a community group for Black folks who are grieving - Jeff Dingler, author and journalist, explains how he lost his father twice: first to mental illness when he was 14 and then to death when he was in his 20s Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Follow Embodied on TikTok and Instagram Leave a message for Embodied Please note: This episode originally published September 8, 2023. Dig deeper: Tough Times Guide Naomi’s grief resources Liz’s YouTube video, “What no one tells you about losing a parent” Jeff’s Insider piece Jeff’s piece about his mom

Like the majority of American men over 35, Anita's partner is balding...and they're both a little distressed about it. But why? She brings her questions to two men who've interrogated baldness from all angles: race, sexuality, science, media, culture and lived experience. They'll explore where this fear comes from and how many other men feel this way. Meet the guests: - E. Patrick Johnson is dean of the School of Communication and Annenberg University Professor at Northwestern University and the author of “Scatter the Pigeons,” an essay on baldness, masculinity and Blackness - Glen Jankowski is an assistant professor in the School of Psychology at University College Dublin whose research includes the medicalization of baldness and the history of marketing anti-baldness products Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Follow Embodied on TikTok and Instagram Leave a message for Embodied

Anita's been reckoning with what it means to stay connected to cultural identity as a mixed-race adult. And in pursuit of what things to prioritize, she's turning her focus to food. She talks to mixed-race foodie and writer Raj Tawney, whose hours in the kitchen with his mom and grandma have grounded his search for belonging. Then, she picks up the phone and calls the primary chef in the Rao family: her mom, Sheila. Meet the guests: - Raj Tawney is a writer, foodie and the author of “Colorful Palate: A Flavorful Journey Through a Mixed American Experience” - Sheila Rao is Anita's mom Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Follow Embodied on TikTok and Instagram Leave a message for Embodied

A growing number of American adults have the same feeling about romantic partnerships: They don’t want one. Anita meets three people who have chosen singlehood: a scholar who examines the double standard of relationship status, a single mother of two by choice and a man shedding toxic masculinity to build a deliberately single life. Meet the guests: - Dr. Kris Marsh, associate professor at the University of Maryland and author of “The Love Jones Cohort: Single and Living Alone in the Black Middle Class,” brings us into her research on single, Black Americans and some of the larger structural forces that shape an individual's choice to be single — and how that work has informed her own embrace of singlehood - Aisha Jenkins, a single mother by choice and the host and creator of the "Start to Finish Motherhood" podcast and blog, shares her journey to becoming a parent and the key relationships that have supported her along the way - Lucas Bradley, author of "A Single Point of Light" Substack newsletter, explains what he has put into place to create a fulfilling life for himself as a deliberately single man Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Follow Embodied on TikTok and Instagram Leave a message for Embodied This episode originally aired June 2, 2023.

The option to end one's own life through prescribed, lethal medication is legal in 10 states and in Washington D.C. Guest host Anisa Khalifa talks to two researchers about what the assisted death debate illuminates about dying in the United States. Meet the guests: - Mara Buchbinder, a medical anthropologist and the author of "Scripting Death: Stories of Assisted Dying in America," shares her research into how patients, doctors and caregivers interpreted assisted death law in Vermont - Harold Braswell, associate professor in health care ethics at St. Louis University, talks about disability rights and how assisted death fits into the larger end-of-life care landscape in the U.S. Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Follow Embodied on TikTok and Instagram Leave a message for Embodied

American Sign Language is the third-most used language in the U.S. ASL has its own culture and art forms, and for many Deaf folks, ASL is about much more than just communication. Anita talks to Deaf author Sara Nović and Deaf ASL Slam poet Douglas Ridloff about how ASL gave them tools for self-understanding and artistic expression. Then she learns from scholars Carolyn McCaskill and Joseph Hill about Black American Sign Language (BASL), an ASL dialect that emerged because of school segregation. Meet the guests: - Sara Nović, author of "True Biz," outlines the history of ASL and how it has influenced her work as a writer - Douglas Ridloff, visual storyteller, ASL master and executive director of ASL Slam, shares how he learned ASL and became an ASL poet - Carolyn McCaskill, recently retired professor and director of the Center for Black Deaf Studies at Gallaudet University, talks about attending a segregated school for the deaf — and how integration raised her awareness of Black ASL (BASL) - Joseph Hill, associate professor in the department of ASL and Interpreting Education at Rochester Institute of Technology, talks about the impact of the research he, Carolyn and two other colleagues have conducted about BASL Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Check out the video version of this conversation: part one is here, and part two is here. Follow Embodied on X and Instagram Leave a message for Embodied

Mainstream adaptive fashion lines are relatively new, but creating clothes to fit and flatter a range of bodies has long been part of disability culture. Anita meets three disabled fashionistas who design with disabled bodies as a starting point, not an afterthought. Meet the guests: - Dr. Ben Barry is the Dean of Fashion at Parsons School of Design who's pushing for further inclusion in fashion – particularly when it comes to the ways clothing is designed, marketed and modeled for folks with disabilities - Sky Cubacub is a Chicago-based fashion designer focused on making size-inclusive garments for queer and trans disabled folks through their company, Rebirth Garments - Samantha Jade Durán is a designer and influencer also known by the handle “A Disabled Icon" Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platform Follow Embodied on TikTok and Instagram Leave a message for Embodied