Stand for Something (with Natasha S. Alford) – Episode 22 of Rants & Randomness

Awesomely Luvvie — January 11, 2019

0 0

My peoples, welcome to Rants & Randomness, the podcast where I’m talking about the things I’m loving, the things I’m side-eyeing, and having great conversation with really interesting people.

Download Episode 22 Transcript

On this episode, my feel good is my trip to West Africa for the holidays with my friends. Ranting about this government shut down and why our President is ridiculous. And spotlighting Marie Kondo’s Tidying Up show, which I’m now obsessed with. And I’m interviewing Natasha S. Alford, award-winning journalist, host, and speaker.

Feel Good

I am feeling good because I just came back from a two-week trip to Nigeria and Ghana for the holidays. And what was just a trip to begin with turned into a life changing experience. I went with my crew, the West African Voltron, who I’ve talked about before on this show. And it was just an epic two weeks. Two weeks of gallivanting all over our homeland. It was like salve for the soul. We did so much in that time and it felt like we were gone for a month. I was sharing all of it on social media, on Instagram. So I wanted to bring people along with me because I already knew the shenanigans were going to be high, but I just didn’t realize how impactful the time would be.

My Rant

This week’s rant is about the government shutdown and why the President continues to lower the bar to the point where the bar is not even in the ground. It’s like, under the basement. So at this point the government shutdown has been going on for 26 days. And so far, it is the longest shutdown in America’s history. Almost a month, and people are not being paid. This is the work of Cheeto Satan and his representatives who are basically using the wall to hold America ransom. This need to build a random wall across 2000 miles of American border to Mexico, this giant tantrum that is now impacting millions of people. 78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, right? Which means the people who’ve gone the last 26 days without any money coming in are struggling, because most people don’t have a fat savings account. Most people don’t have a trust fund to pull things out of.

My Randomness

My spotlight this week is about Marie Kondo’s new Netflix show Tidying Up and her KonMari method of tidying. Marie Kondo is a best selling author of a book called The Life Changing Art of Tidying. And that book has sold millions of copies over the last couple of years. The book flew off the shelves as it dropped all the gems, because it’s talking about how to live a life that sparks joy through tidying up. I haven’t read the book, but I heard about this new Netflix show starring Marie Kondo, called Tidying Up. So I took a look and I ended up binge watching four episodes in one sitting. Marie in each episode goes into people’s homes and helps them declutter. In the process of her just helping them declutter, she ends up changing their lives because we realize our attachments to things can affect our lives and the quality of life that we live.

My Guest: Natasha S. Alford

Natasha S. Alford is an award winning journalist, host speaker, and digital content creator. As Deputy Editor of TheGrio, she reports on the most critical news and issues shaping society and culture, including criminal justice reform, education, politics, and entertainment.

She’s appeared on Power 105’s Breakfast Club, Sirius XM, Cheddar TV Live. This summer, she wrote an op ed about growing up Afro Latina in the United States, and it was published in the New York Times. She is the 2018 Emerging Journalist of the Year for NABJ, which is the National Association of Black Journalists. She’s a graduate of Harvard University and Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.

In this episode, we are talking about following the winding path to your destiny, standing up for what you believe in, and radical self care.

You can follow Natasha on Instagram at @natashasalford. As always, much love to the Chicago Recording Company, where I record each episode!

You can listen to episodes of Rants and Randomness on:

Make sure you’re subscribed and that you rate and review! Also, use the hashtag #RantsandRandomness on social media to discuss what you listen to and let me know what you think. See you on the next episode!

Links and Resources:

Download Episode 22 Transcript