Threadings.

We owe the children of this world tangible and lasting justice— and economic justice touches every kind of oppression there is. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe

an open letter to everyone fearful and exhausted, sent with love. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe

Ismatu Gwendolyn, clinical social worker and former impoverished child, doubles down on the ugly (and obvious) truth of why poverty exists in the first place. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe

If you’re reading or listening this, that means I’ve decided to pull back one of the veils of my life and tell you a little bit about my family history. My name is Ismatu Bangura, I am a Sierra Leonean Black American, and I am also the granddaughter of Paramount Chief Alhaji Bombolai [may he rest in peace].Here is how my lineage affects my politic. Full transcription at substack.ismatu.com. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe

Introductions to a month-long series about poverty eradication, labor rights, and reproductive justice. Partnered with a fundraiser to help agricultural production for indigenous folks in Sierra Leone!Link to donate: gogetfunding.com/ismatu-gwendolynRead the full essay: substack.ismatu.comSOURCES2022 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index, linked in articlePortela, J. (2021, January 15). 70% of the world lives on less than ten dollars a day. when do they get the vaccine? Stanford Politics. Retrieved January 9, 2023, from https://stanfordpolitics.org/2021/01/14/70-of-the-world-lives-on-less-than-ten-dollars-a-day-when-do-they-get-the-vaccine/World Bank Group. (2018, October 17). Nearly half the world lives on less than $5.50 a day. World Bank. Retrieved January 9, 2023, from https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2018/10/17/nearly-half-the-world-lives-on-less-than-550-a-dayHow much money per day does the average person live on? Cultural World. (2023, January 8). Retrieved January 9, 2023, from https://www.culturalworld.org/how-much-money-per-day-does-the-average-person-live-on.htmCreamer, J. (2021, December 9). Inequalities persist despite decline in poverty for all major race and Hispanic origin groups. Census.gov. Retrieved January 9, 2023, from https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2020/09/poverty-rates-for-blacks-and-hispanics-reached-historic-lows-in-2019.htmlJazz Music of the Episode:Tezetayé Antchi Lidj (Baby, My Unforgettable Remembrance) x Mulatu AstatkeWhisky Story Time x Alabaster DePlumeCicada Season x FuubutsushiLena's Songs The Sweet EnoughsMichelle x Yusef LateefThe Single Petal of a Rose x Ben WebsterThese Foolish Things x Lester YoungEasy Living x Clifford BrownLove Song from "Apache" x Coleman Hawkins QuartetManhattan x BLOSSOM DEARIE This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe

I do not set goals in January and I never will. I love myself too much to rush myself out of my winter hibernation. Why do we impose so much on a year that we just met? How do I hope for the harvest when I have not even tilled the earth yet? The ground is frozen! What if we just... sat and rested instead? In which Ismatu Gwendolyn discusses treating January gently and changing the name of the podcast to Threadings.read the full essay at ismatu.substack.com.Jazz of the episode:The Single Petal Of A Rose x Ben WebsterThese Foolish Things x Lester YoungEasy Living x Clifford BrownLove Song From "Apache" x Coleman Hawkins QuartetManhattan x BLOSSOM DEARIEAbide With Me x Thelonious Monk SeptetFor Every Mountain x Amber Bullock...Feeling Good x Elvin Jones This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe

Can true, full, and nuanced love truly exist across parasocial relationships? Ismatu Gwendolyn reflects on the dehumanizing nature of fame (no matter how small the audience) and reflects on their own conceptions of love (or lack thereof) as they accidentally became an influencer.read the full newsletter and join the bookclub: ismatu.substack.comJazz of the episode:Skylark x Wynton MarsalisFeeling Good x Elvin JonesIt's Too Late Now x Wynton MarsalisManhattan x BLOSSOM DEARIELove Song From "Apache' x Coleman Hawkins QuartetBut Not For Me - Live at the Pershing, Chicago, 1958 x Ahmad Jamal Trio'Round Midnight x Thelonious MonkWillow Weep for Me x Ray Bryant This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe

in which I read from The Annotated African American Folktales and she occasionally gives a heartfelt "mmm." listen to the full story at Ismatu.substack.com.The Twin Heroes: An African Myth adapted by Alphonso O. Stafford | from the section “Folktales from The Brownies’ Book” out of The Annotated African American Folktales This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe

Da’Shaun L. Harrison has penned one of my favorite texts in the past five years. I have read it three times in nine months and I have become more and more delighted with the person that I become absorbing these words. In Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness, Harrison presents theoretical frameworks that compel us to meaningful action. I will tell you now and I will tell you for free: belief that compels me to meaningful action is exactly my shit. I am grateful, to my bones, for theory. Blessed are the workers who make the way clearer with their weighty, weighty words. I relish texts like this.read the full essay (and join bookclub!) at ismatu.substack.comJazz songs of the episode:Skylark x Wynton MarsalisAbide With Me x Thelonious Monk SeptetFools Rush In x Teddy Wilson (this is what was playing when my mom interrupted me)My Romance x Gene Ammons (remastered by Rudy Van Gelder)Confirmation - Take 3 / Master x Charlie Parker QuartetCup Bearers x Tommy Flanagan, George Mraz, and Elvin JonesA Sleepin' Bee x Wynton Marsalis Stomping At The Savory x Red Gardland, Paul Champers, Art Taylor This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe

Instead of willing myself to love something that I simply do not, what if I was honest in my self-loathing? What might I be compelled to change if I did not feel morally bound to positivity?Read the full, pictured essay, sign up for the newsletter, and grab bonus materials at ismatu.substack.comJazz Songs of the episode:Love, I’ve Found You by Wynton KellyWarm Valley by Johnny HodgesNancy (With The Laughing Face) by John Coltrane QuartetIn the Wee Small Hours of the Morning by Wynton MarsalisConcerto for Trumpet, 2 Oboes, Strings and Continuo in D Major: II. Largo by Johann Friedrich Fasch et. alSomeone to Watch over Me by Marcus RobertI Heard You Cried Last Night by Phil Woods, Vic JurisAutumn in New York by The Modern Jazz Quartet This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismatu.substack.com/subscribe