COMPS

Host Amanda Awanjo and Co-Host Najah Webb sit down with indie writer and humanist activist, Sikivu Hutchinson, to discuss her book Humanist in the Hood, the Women's Leadership Project, and finding you footing as a Black skeptic in semi-conservative spaces. If you like the episode, be sure to subscribe to our Podcast so that you don't miss our next one!

Books Mentioned:
Humanist in the Hood - the main book discussed in this episode.
Rock-N-Roll Heretic
Godless Americana
White Nights, Black Paradise

Movements and Authors Mentioned:

The Women's Leadership Project - a Black feminist mentorship program for middle and high school girls in South Los Angeles.  

Highlights

• Los Angeles is not the antidote to the prejudice and sexism of the bible belt. [08:14]
• Being down with BLM as a corporation does not mean you are down with helping Black people advance. [13:00]
• Black churches help the community, but they cannot be the only forces of activism and true giving to the community. [17:00]
• Finding joy while working to improve the community and dealing with heavy subjects. [25:00]
• Lightening Round [27:00]

In our first episode with new co-host Quinci LeGardye of the BIPOC Book Critic's Collective, we sat down with founder and activist of the Women's Leadership Project, Sikivu Hutchinson, to discuss her feminist, humanist book HUMANIST IN THE HOOD. In 2020, Sikivu along with teen filmmaker Zorrie Petrus recently put out a short documentary called "Defining Ourselves for Ourselves: Unhoused, Black, and Female in L.A." as a production of their after-school program. Hutchinson pushes her students to build their own platforms and fight against injustice at macro and micro levels. 

Her book, Humanist in the Hood, does the same while also remaining fairly entertaining. The book, seeped and deeped in the rhetoric of academia, still manages to be fairly entertaining and dare we say enlightening. Hutchinson definitely has a way with words and with people. In the early part of 2021 she completed her latest novel Rock-N-Roll Heretic, inspired by rocker Rory Thorpe. A part-time musician herself, Hutchinson wanted to pay homage some of the women of rock who have either been ignored or forgotten, their careers derailed or obliterated. We really enjoyed sitting with Hutchinson and know that you will love this episode. To learn more about Sikivu, please follow the links above! 

• The Worst Best Man 
• Suits Undone Series: Unbuttoning the CEO, One Night with the CEO, and Getting Dirty with the CEO

Movements and Authors Mentioned: 

• HB90 Bootcamp - we actually included a link to a review by Zoe Ashwood rather than a direct link, because we were totes lost and figured you might be too. 
• Kristan Higgins

Highlights

• Reading romance as an escape [9:43]
• Overcoming the fear of other's expectations, including the ones that are self-imposed [17:50]
• Unapologetically leading your writing with your culture [29:26]
• Lightening Round [42:06]
• Quote from the intro clip [44:31]

Sitting down with Mia was an absolute blast. Of course, this wasn't our first time chatting it up with her. In early 2020, she sat with our old book club (The Bad Book Biddies) to discuss Worst Best Man and we had a good Kiki, but this time we really got the chance to know her. 

Some of Sosa's early writing influences include Emma Chase and Tracey Liversay. For a while, she didn't take her writing seriously but in 2014 she took the plunge and joined the Romance Writers of America, pairing up with a good critique partner and dear friend, Olivia Dade, to hone her craft.  She made a rather huge jump from law to creative writing, but we do believe agree with her that she found her life's purpose. Don't believe us though, you can Google all of her Stans. 

What we most enjoyed about this episode was how she dove into the fear that many people of color experience, that pushes us towards careers we hate, partners we can't stand, and opportunities that just aren't for us. It's that fear of expectations, be it our own or others. Writing wasn't in Sosa's expectations of how she saw her life, but she did something that we both personally struggled with - she made the pivot away from expectations and into exploration. That exploration found her some happyness and we hope that it will also inspire you to discover what makes you happy. 

Mia gave us one quick thought to leave us with:

"It’s easy to get caught up in what other people are doing, and there’s always something someone else is doing. Does that thing make sense for you, though? Does it align with your career goals?"

Book: Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Mans now available on Amazon! 

COMP for this episode: Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou/Fiction writer with similar voice - Angie Thomas 

In This Episode We Discuss:

• "It feels like it's written for Black people" (9:13)
• Some books are like a barber shop (13:36)
• Black Women Being Conditioned To Be Distrustful of Black Men (16:24)
• "We have to live in the afterlives of our trauma and keep going" (22:05)
• A Coming Out Story (23:36)
• A Somewhat Out Story (29:45)
• The "Predatory" Black Lesbian (30:52)

Jasmine Mans' is a poet, Black woman, Entrepreneur (creator of www.buyweedfromwomen.com) from Newark, New Jersey. She is the resident poet at Newark Public Library. 

This Episode is Brought to You by: The BIPOC Book Critics Collective

The BIPOC Book Critics Collective is a networking space and digital publication for Black, Indigenous Book Critics of Color. COMPS is the official, communal podcast of the collective. To learn how you can join or to be our next guest on COMPS Podcast, visit our website at www.bipoccriticscollective.com or send us an email compspodcast@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!

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