In this episode, which was recorded many months ago, Shira and I talk about what it means to not be able to “outrun” her Bipolar diagnosis and the long process of acceptance that followed this confronting reality. Shira shares about her early childhood growing up in Israel, noticing as a radical act, the mind as queer and a lot more. I am a such a fan of Shira’s book, her poetry and most recently I have taken such pleasure in watching her daily instagram stories in which she prepares iced coffee.
Shira Erlichman is a poet, musician, and visual artist. She was born in Israel and immigrated to the US when she was six. Her poems explore recovery – of language, of home, of mind – and value the "scattered wholeness" of healing. She earned her BA at Hampshire College and has been awarded the James Merrill Fellowship by the Vermont Studio Center, the Visions of Wellbeing Focus Fellowship at AIR Serenbe, as well as a residency by the Millay Colony. Her work has been featured in Buzzfeed Reader, The Rumpus, PBS NewsHour’s Poetry Series, The Huffington Post, The Seattle Times, and The New York Times, among others. Her debut poetry book, Odes to Lithium, came out in September 2019. She is also the author and illustrator of the picture book Be/Hold. When not on tour, she lives in Brooklyn where she teaches writing and creates.
@sheer_awe and https://www.officialshira.com/in-surreal-life
DISPATCHES FROM OUR QUEER BODIES IN PANDEMIC TIMES
I hope everyone is finding ways to access ease and comfort in this pandemic time. If you haven’t already, there have been some beautiful mini episodes in the Living in our queer bodies in pandemic times series. Most recently, my friend Cassie shared what they learned in the process of recovering from Covid-19. If anyone would like to join this project, just record a one to two minute voice memo and email it to me at livinginthisqueerbody@gmail.com
LITQB Podcast: This is a podcast about the barriers to embodiment and how our collective body stories can bring us back to ourselves. This is a podcast for people who identify as queer or for people who might think of their relationship between their body and confining social narratives as queer. This can feel like an isolating experience. Our wounded bodies need spaces to talk about struggles with nourishment/disordered eating, body image issues, dysphoria, racism, heterosexism, transphobia, xenophobia, substance use/abuse, chronic pain/disability, body changes in parenthood, intergenerational trauma, the medical/wellness/therapy industrial complex and its lack of inclusion of queer bodies and much more. Hopefully this podcast can illustrate the connections, and resonant pain points, that we have with one another.
Livinginthisqueerbody.com @livinginthisqueerbody
The Host: Asher Pandjiris
Psychotherapist/ Podcaster/ Group Facilitator
SUPPORT https://www.patreon.com/livinginthisqueerbody
Music: Ethan Philbrick and Helen Messineo-Pandjiris
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/asher-pandjiris/messageAll the Beautiful Qualities: Kintsugi Therapist Collective
From the River to the Sea: Hannah Moushabeck
Bitten by the Wolf: Asher's update
Duet #3: Zena Sharman and Hannah McGregor
Duet #2: Fanny Priest and Erin Fairchild
Samantha Irby and Marlee Grace: Duet #1
The Melancholy of Joseph M. Pierce
STOP MEN (to the point): clip from full length interview with Xara Thustra
Una Aya Osato: Human Barometer
DISPATCHES FROM OUR QUEER BODIES IN PANDEMIC TIMES (#21): “What happens when we are reached for, and we are the alternative system, and we are completely tapped out?”
Jenna Wortham on Finding Peace Beneath the Skin
This Volatile Body: Mugabi Byenkya
Always Becoming with Joey Soloway
I Felt at Home in It: Alli Simon
Radical Healership: laura mae northrup
For Life Till Death: Anastasia (Onyx) Fujii, LCSW
DISPATCHES FROM OUR QUEER BODIES IN PANDEMIC TIMES (#20): Susana Victoria Parras
I Knew I Had to Say it Out Loud: Nicole J. Georges
Belly of the Beast: Da'Shaun Harrison
Swimming Upstream: Sini Anderson on Late Stage Lyme, Long Covid, Queer Community Magic and the making of So Sick (2014-2022)
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