Missing Witches - MW Rx. 37 - Don't You Treat Me Like I Was Born For Nothin'

00:00:00.000 Spirit is rising, she's rising, she's rising. The spirit is rising, it's rising, it's rising.

00:00:10.340 The spirit is rising, they're rising, they're rising. The spirit is rising, they're rising.

00:00:18.280 Hi, Coven!

00:00:19.700 Hi, Amy.

00:00:21.100 Hi, Risa!

00:00:24.440 Happy weekend of Imbolc.

00:00:27.160 Yes! 0.99

00:00:28.220 Happy Black History Month.

00:00:30.000 Yes. I think our panel will have come out by the time y'all hear this. Obviously, we record in advance of the day that episodes come out. So you will have already heard that panel of amazing, inspiring creators of the future of Black history.

00:00:52.860 So I hope that you got down with that. I, of course, am super into Imbolc, because Imbolc for me is like, it's the real new year, if that makes sense. Like, the example that I often use is like, at Imbolc, I know if I have enough firewood to get to the end of winter.

00:01:16.700 Right.

00:01:16.780 you know at the beginning of winter it's like a speculative will we have enough wood will we have

00:01:21.880 enough wood will we have enough wood and now i know but it's also that like in the metaphorical

00:01:28.320 sense like this is the moment not january 1st for me and we've talked about this and talked to like

00:01:33.740 january i is a wash for me like yeah you know i just like need to like sleep and sleep some more

00:01:43.480 and so then for me and especially like the groundhog day aspect of it is such an amazing

00:01:50.800 metaphor because you stick your head out of your hole and there's like an option right like either

00:01:58.280 you see your shadow or you don't and both of those things are okay yeah like six more weeks

00:02:04.720 of winter and you crawl back into bed it's okay like make an assessment and then do what you need

00:02:11.240 to do or you know or spring is coming let's hit the road running like let's and also i love the

00:02:22.280 term spring into action like you can either go back to hi and hibernate or you can spring into

00:02:29.100 action and it all depends on your like internal groundhog shall we say so i love i love groundhog

00:02:37.160 day for that and also like the the movie groundhog day that harold ramus made with bill murray it's

00:02:43.680 like if you don't make those assessments then you're sort of doomed to relive the same day

00:02:49.900 over and over and over again you can't look back at your past and like recognize the mistakes that

00:02:55.500 you made and and the victories too like what you did right what you did wrong then you're just

00:02:59.920 gonna live the same day over and over and over again so i'm a huge in bulk fan it's it's one of

00:03:06.100 my favorite sabbats because it is like the promise of a new day but also if you're not

00:03:13.420 quite ready for that new day it's cool like you can sleep for six more weeks yeah i'm calling it

00:03:19.840 i'm not ready i'm sleeping for six four weeks or sleeping i don't know but i was thinking if i had

00:03:25.680 a prescription this week but i didn't really listen to music this week i didn't the one thing

00:03:30.680 I did that felt like really restorative and magical and something was I just lay in the dark

00:03:40.880 in my basement and I was really like you the words I heard in my brain talking to myself were like

00:03:48.520 be a seed like you need to be a seed right now like just be a seed don't try to be anything else

00:03:55.300 just be like a little wildflower seed under the snow that's all you got that's all you can do

00:04:00.820 just like listen just listen to the the constant patter in my brain listen to the house listen to

00:04:09.820 the creaking of the house in the cold you know listen to what's coming through maybe from the

00:04:14.740 roots around from the earth but like I really I hadn't done that in a really long time but I just

00:04:21.840 i i was gifted with 24 hours alone and i spent like 18 of them lying in the

00:04:28.280 that's an excellent prescription y'all if you have time just lie in the dark for a bit

00:04:35.280 just be a little seed that's all i got yeah and you know it it's funny too because when the snow

00:04:43.200 melts and i start clearing away like the the leaves i don't remove all the leaves you know

00:04:49.880 I like to pile them up on places where stuff's growing and around tree trunks and stuff.

00:04:54.620 So the snow has melted.

00:04:57.080 Imagine it certainly has not melted.

00:04:59.220 I'm freezing.

00:05:00.940 But then when you clear away those sort of half rotten leaves from last year, those shoots are those shoots are shooting, you know, they're popping, they're growing.

00:05:10.360 We can't see them.

00:05:11.400 They're under blankets, but they're still growing.

00:05:13.920 And so I feel like that's like your seed mentality is like you can still bloom and grow.

00:05:19.880 under a blanket yeah and like the the correlation for me is also like it's research time it's like

00:05:29.200 and it's like playing with research time it's not like i'm going to try to find out this one thing

00:05:33.900 this is like the curiosity part of research time we amy and i at part of the missing witches podcast

00:05:42.200 do a season dedicated to these meditations on our kinship with other species in the more than

00:05:48.580 human world that starts in may does it start in may amy march starts in march um and uh so yeah

00:05:59.800 we're deep in the research now the other piece of research that's been like sort of core especially

00:06:04.940 correlative to being a seed right now is playing with ancestry.ca you can do two weeks for free or

00:06:12.100 like pay for a month and then cancel it after a month um but just see what's in there click on

00:06:18.560 the little leaf with the hints and see what the hints are and then go digging in the records i

00:06:24.360 found a a fourth great grandmother of mine in an industrial town in england that's described as

00:06:36.460 being like at this at the time when she's there um like the 1850s is just being like a soup of

00:06:43.300 gray like it's the heart of industrial england and on this document i found she's listed as the

00:06:51.400 head of a household um so she has like six kids living with her but the husband's name is not on

00:06:59.440 the census. Her profession is listed as butcher. Her son's profession is listed as butcher.

00:07:06.760 And then living with her, she has like other kids and grandkids and daughter-in-law,

00:07:12.500 and their professions are variously listed as scholars and painters.

00:07:18.060 So just I'm imagining, I don't know, it's so interesting to imagine these people,

00:07:23.420 why did they come to Canada? What was that poverty that led them to be part of that land

00:07:29.040 theft that was happening what we know what what motivated her daughter to leave and what was she

00:07:36.240 studying and like I don't know it's so interesting just to sort of use those as points of research

00:07:42.440 into where your people were part of you know maybe maybe labor movements you know them I know 0.55

00:07:50.820 I found a grandfather that died in a workhouse these are like poor people's you know when the

00:07:56.580 after these laws came in in the UK saying that people didn't have a right to food.

00:08:01.500 It's like they were put in workhouses to work until they died. You know, those people are in

00:08:06.860 us and I don't really know what it means for what I'm researching right now, but that's part of being

00:08:11.640 a seed for me right now is just, I don't know, sending out strange roots, trying to understand

00:08:16.880 where I am. Yeah. And there's, there's so, there have been so many times where I've been like

00:08:23.080 researching something specifically, and then offhandedly encountered something else that just

00:08:29.480 tied in so completely and accidentally to what I was doing. You know, you don't know where

00:08:36.440 the threads are going to tie together necessarily. And I love that about like learning. I also want

00:08:41.880 to say like, your ancestor who was the head of the household and listed as such, I love

00:08:49.620 thinking about you know the speculative fiction of like life outside the patriarchal lens

00:08:55.540 or taking off those glasses of patriarchal lens and lenses and like what what can happen when we

00:09:02.240 acknowledge that you know the mother is the head of the household and is teaching her trade to her

00:09:08.340 children whether it's butchery or scholarship or whatever it is like no wonder you have that like

00:09:15.560 powerful woman-ness about you that that's in your background I mean I think it's in all of us you

00:09:23.320 know you go digging around enough and you find these clues like the other fun one I found is that

00:09:30.400 my fourth great-grandfather's brother was Samuel Bass who is Brad Pitt's character in 12 Years a

00:09:40.880 slave. So basically, I'm related to Brad Pitt. No, even better. Yeah, just like a historic figure

00:09:51.820 of emancipation, you know, of standing up for somebody whose rights had been violated and

00:09:57.200 helping them gain their freedom. And, you know, the tradition in my family is that the woman whose

00:10:04.360 name we know who was his mother was hadunasani and it checks out for where they were you know

00:10:11.800 um where their house was listed it's it's hadunasani territory it's it precedes the

00:10:17.340 treaties so they were definitely not on treated land um and so then i'm like in the speculative

00:10:26.480 fiction of that imagining like this person who had the language to write these letters that helped

00:10:33.340 get this man his freedom who and who saw the necessity of it maybe he learned about that

00:10:39.780 from having a mom who was hunanisani you know like maybe he learned about race

00:10:45.820 because there was this like relationship and choice from her to teach him about that

00:10:53.600 i don't know i like to imagine it yeah and you know my number one example that i always go back

00:10:59.180 to is um frankenstein the novel the the mary shelley and how her father they they lived at

00:11:07.900 a time where you didn't educate your daughters you educated your sons but her father was like

00:11:12.860 f that like this is my child and they're gonna have an education and if he didn't make that

00:11:18.340 choice like the world would have lost out on one of the greatest like horror science fiction

00:11:24.320 whatever novels of all time that has like reverberated through all of our our pop culture 0.97

00:11:30.780 so abolitionists and again like Frederick Douglass who was like a big feminist obviously you know

00:11:37.400 race was his major thing but he he was the same thing like no one is free unless we're all free

00:11:42.560 and so he was like the only man I think at least the only man of color who like spoke at like a

00:11:49.820 women's rally in the 1850s like we have a choice to go against the grain and when we do like look

00:11:58.100 look what can happen like just when we when we make a choice to educate our children when we

00:12:04.120 make a choice to go against whatever the status quo is telling us that we know is not right 0.99

00:12:08.520 man that's world-changing shit 0.90

00:12:12.280 yeah yeah so i brought two prescriptions one is something that i promised i would talk about and 0.99

00:12:22.780 the other is completely alive from off center um but the two prescriptions are like which groundhog

00:12:29.900 are you is it six more weeks of winter or are you ready to spring into action so if you're a spring

00:12:35.260 into action groundhog i brought the bell rays revolution get down and i wanted to talk about

00:12:44.880 this a little bit because last week i was talking about lisa kakala who was the singer for the now

00:12:49.240 time delegation that handled me with care song but she was also in a rock and roll band is i

00:12:54.660 think the bell rays are still active um and it's just like kick-ass rock and roll it's just kick-ass

00:13:01.160 rock and roll every time i saw the bell rays i wept because lisa is this like high priestess

00:13:09.740 like a high priestess of rock and roll who again we're trying to like get out of you know

00:13:16.160 the language of religiosity but i don't know what else to say other than that she is like

00:13:23.640 delivering a sermon she is delivering doing deliverance work for us every time she's on stage

00:13:32.760 um like i say like i i wept every time i saw the bell rays i wept because of the sheer power

00:13:39.860 of this person lisa kakala and this band is the bell rays she also was like when the mc5 reformed

00:13:48.780 she sang with the mc5 like she's just one of the coolest people in the in the whole world

00:13:54.360 and obviously the name of this song is revolution get down so you know you know where she's going

00:14:01.360 with this but i i want to just underscore this one line where she sings don't you treat me

00:14:10.420 like I was born for nothing. And like, listeners, Coven, like, you were born for something. And

00:14:19.200 don't let nobody tell you you were born for nothing. Don't let nobody treat you like you

00:14:26.680 were born for nothing. Revolution, get down, get down, get down. If you're ready to spring into

00:14:32.120 action, like, put this song on, do the revolution, get down, and just understand that you were born

00:14:37.960 for something and don't let anybody treat you otherwise right now if you're not there if it's

00:14:44.800 six more weeks of winter i get that too and so i brought actually a tv show which i don't think

00:14:51.560 i've ever done before and if you know me personally maybe you've heard me talk about this before but

00:14:57.640 this is like my safe, quiet, beautiful landscape of television that I would love for y'all to get

00:15:08.240 into. It's called the Great British Pottery Throwdown. And so it really is, it's like,

00:15:16.360 you know, like a reality competition show, like you imagine, but it's so sweet. There's none of

00:15:23.220 this like let's create drama by putting the potters in the in a room and have them fight

00:15:29.100 like there's none of that super supportive they're all helping each other one of the judges

00:15:34.460 is named um keith and he's this big burly guy in his leather apron and every time the potter

00:15:42.960 one of the potters does something he really loves he cries like he gets choked up and i'm telling

00:15:50.300 you all if you

00:15:52.220 just need to be

00:15:54.320 under a metaphorical

00:15:56.340 blanket of media

00:15:57.940 because obviously it's 1.00

00:16:00.180 fucking fucked out there 1.00

00:16:01.620 everything is so fucking scary 1.00

00:16:03.960 I mean 0.94

00:16:06.100 the news is

00:16:07.400 terrifying and

00:16:09.700 paralyzing

00:16:12.060 so if you need

00:16:14.240 you need six more weeks of winter

00:16:16.220 check out the Great Pottery Throwdown 0.58

00:16:18.580 and just like

00:16:19.400 it really and again you know me like i have an anxiety disorder and this this show is like

00:16:24.840 medication it's so well-intentioned it's so sweet they really are so supportive of each other and

00:16:31.780 then of course again there's keith who's like weeping because someone made a really nice duck

00:16:36.600 that's shaped like a teapot shaped like a duck or whatever and then

00:16:41.700 i'm so excited about this and it's so ridiculous they're doing a canadian version

00:16:49.700 The CBC is doing a Canadian version that is starting on February 8th,

00:16:54.600 and one of the hosts is Seth Rogen.

00:16:58.280 Now, I'm not like, I'd never even really thought about Seth Rogen. 0.98

00:17:03.140 Like, you know, he's a human that exists, and some of his shit's funny, 1.00

00:17:08.100 and some of his shit's annoying. 0.99

00:17:09.000 I never really thought about it. 0.99

00:17:10.960 I do want to say I have fallen in love with him over the years,

00:17:14.860 because, one, he completely distanced himself vocally and publicly from James Franco

00:17:20.520 when it came out that James Franco was, like, trying to seduce teen girls and stuff.

00:17:26.280 Seth Rogen was like, I don't care. 1.00

00:17:28.860 Fuck you, Hollywood. 1.00

00:17:29.660 This is bullshit. 1.00

00:17:30.460 I'm not fucking with this guy anymore. 1.00

00:17:33.520 Publicly, you know, which. 0.99

00:17:35.780 And, oh, Seth Rogen.

00:17:38.540 And he basically just like quit Hollywood to like stay in Vancouver and smoke weed and make pottery.

00:17:47.360 And that's how he got this job because he's like, no, not a man.

00:17:52.260 Yes.

00:17:52.900 Oh, yes.

00:17:53.400 I've seen him selling his pottery or like showing pictures on social media or whatever.

00:17:57.920 But I didn't know that was his life.

00:17:59.220 Now I'm so happy for him.

00:18:01.340 Right.

00:18:01.460 and like what a great what a great like inspiration you know like we're so greedy

00:18:10.280 as a species and we're so strivey as a species and this guy was like you know what this like

00:18:18.100 million dollar hollywood thing is not for me i'm gonna go make pottery and smoke weed and i'm sure

00:18:23.660 so many of you who are listening are like me and that's like the dream i just want to like go and 0.95

00:18:30.080 like make little pots and you know listen to my Joni Mitchell records and be very fucking Canadian

00:18:37.600 so again that starts on February 8th I haven't seen it yet I only saw the trailer but if it's 0.50

00:18:45.420 anything like the British version which again please even just watch a clip if you need

00:18:51.600 like something to lower your cortisol levels it's such a safe and happy piece of media that

00:19:01.420 i would love for you all to check out and then of course on february 8th we can all watch the

00:19:06.080 canadian version together so again just to recap you're a groundhog you're seeing your shadow or

00:19:15.120 you're not you're six more weeks of winter or you're springing into action so if you're springing 0.99

00:19:19.680 into action fucking bell raise revolution get down let's fucking go if you need six more weeks 0.99

00:19:25.880 of winter the pottery throw down where people make little teapots shaped like ducks and then 0.99

00:19:32.720 the burly man cries this is what i need yeah and if even if you're taking those time that time to

00:19:42.440 you know be a seed for six more weeks just remember that you know even when you're not

00:19:50.220 really paying attention your little tendrils are reaching out you're you're going down wikipedia

00:19:55.860 spirals inspiring your creativity maybe you're getting your hands dirty with a pot maybe you're

00:20:02.540 like just learning about your own relationship to other species and other people and feeling your

00:20:09.940 way into some more healthy kinds of relation but all that stuff is revolutionary too it's just the

00:20:16.180 stuff that's happening quietly under the snow yeah and you know the message don't you treat me like i

00:20:25.800 was born for nothing if you have left hollywood to make pots or if you have joined the revolution

00:20:34.780 you were born for something and a blessing.

00:20:38.080 Bless if I can be to that all day.

00:20:40.880 Me and my life is all to me.

00:20:45.960 I love myself and all of me.

00:20:48.960 I love myself and all of me, all of me.

00:20:52.880 I love myself and all of me.

00:20:55.540 Love myself and all of me.

00:20:57.840 I love, I love, I love myself and all of me.

00:21:02.240 Woo!

00:21:03.420 If you want to support the Missing Witches project, join the coven.

00:21:07.860 Find out how at missingwitches.com.

Missing Witches - February 05, 2024

MW Rx. 37 - Don't You Treat Me Like I Was Born For Nothin'

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