Become the Right Thing (with Glennon Doyle) – Episode 9 of Rants & Randomness

My peoples! Excited to bring you episode 9 of Rants and Randomness!

On this episode, I’m feeling good about Stacey Abrams’ primary win for Governor in Georgia. I rant about giving a hard pass to voice-activated speakers like Google Home and Amazon Alexa and I show love to Jada Pinkett-Smith’s Facebook Watch show, Red Table Talk. Plus, I chat with bestselling writer, activist, and speaker Glennon Doyle about her journey and how white people can do better in the fight for social justice.

Feel Good

I am loving the fact that Stacey Abrams won the democratic primary for Georgia Governor with more than 75% of the votes. Stacey made history as the first Black woman to be a major party nominee for governor and Georgia’s first Black nominee. Stacey is #NoirPixieDust, as a former statehouse leader, small business owner and novelist. The final vote is on November 6, 2018, and I am hoping that the people of Georgia show up once again for her! Atlanta got a Black mayor now with Keisha Bottoms so let’s make it solid with a Black governor who cares about the people! So, shoutout to Stacey and congrats to her for making history!

My Rant

I don’t trust voice-activated speakers. I’m a techie and I have a whole lot of smart devices, but there’s something different about like a programmable thermostat to a voice-controlled speaker that is constantly on. Also like, one of the things that I’ve been reading is all of the different times when it’s all gone wrong. Like recently I read a piece on how an Alexa device sent the audio of a couple that owned it randomly to one of their contacts and how they found out is one of their contacts calls them and says, “Hey you might want to turn off your Alexa,” and they’re like, “Why?” He’s like, “Because I know you were talking about hardwood floors 20 minutes ago.” See, that’s not the way my privacy is set up. Apparently I can’t have nice things and I’m okay with that.

My Randomness

I’m here for Red Table Talk, the new Facebook Watch show from Jada Pinkett-Smith. This show is like Chicken Soup for the Soul: 2018 Edition and I’m loving it! It’s this multi-generational love fest between Jada, Adrienne Banfield-Jones (her mother), and Willow Smith (her daughter). They talk about some real stuff from body issues to blended families to friendship, and each episode is incredibly honest and raw. There’s this episode on loss where Jada talks about Tupac and my eyes were sweating for real! You will definitely laugh and cry watching this show so get ready to feel allahdah feels with this one.

My Guest: Glennon Doyle

My guest for episode 9 is my Together sister, Glennon Doyle! Some of you might remember that Glennon and I did the Together Tour last year and well, Glennon is bae! I don’t give many invites to the cookout but Glennon is my +1.

Glennon is the author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller LOVE WARRIOR, a 2016 Oprah’s Book Club selection, as well as the bestseller CARRY ON, WARRIOR. She is the founder and president of Together Rising, a nonprofit organization that has raised $9 Million for women, families, and children in crisis. An activist, speaker, and thought leader, Glennon was named among OWN Network’s SuperSoul100 inaugural group as one of 100 “awakened leaders who are using their voices and talent to elevate humanity.” 

In this interview, Glennon talks about how Alcoholics Anonymous allowed her to embrace brutal honesty in her life and career. Now she uses that brutal honesty to create radically inclusive online communities and fight for social justice.  Y’all, when I tell you Glennon had a GOOD word in this episode. She encourages her fellow white people to look inward and interrogate why they support MLK and the Freedom Riders but criticize Colin Kaepernick and Black Lives Matter. Yea, she went there. She also has some dope advice about taking inventory of your time because that’s how you show your love. Look, I told you she went there and left no edges behind. I mean…just take a look at her quote below about speaking to white people about race:

Are you getting what I’m saying yet? Glennon is not here for your fragility or misplaced feelings! She’s a real one and we go together! People are saying they listened to this episode multiple times because there were so many gems to take in. Do yourself a favor and (re)listen!

Follow her everywhere on the interwebs (@glennondoyle).

Much love to Chicago Recording Company, where I record each episode!

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