Something True

Today, I am picking the brain of genealogy librarian Christian Pippins. We had such a great time, and I learned a ton from Christian about the many resources our local libraries can offer us when we embark upon a journey to learn about our lineage. 

Listen in as author and educator Joyce A. Smith shares her journey to becoming a writer, as well as how she was inspired to write this particular story. Her wisdom and insight are sure to inspire.

Connect with Joyce online, and find her book at the links below:

Meet Alicia Stoker Johnson, of Longview Queens United. Today, we sit down to chat about service, faith, healing, and women supporting each other. Alicia's heart exudes so much love and care. You're sure to enjoy our conversation and feel inspired to join her work and to find authentic, new ways to plug in to your own community.

Today, I share an illuminating conversation with author Jacquie Abram. We talk about workplace racism and the toll it can take on the mental health of people of color. Check out Jacquie's novels at the link below, and engage with and follow her work online. The work she's doing is important.

In today's episode, I share a conversation full of laughs and vulnerability. Jasmine shares how her faith and passion for serving our local community - especially the Black community - have helped her to find healing. 

In this episode, I share a conversation with transracial educator and influencer Tiffany Henness. Tiffany is a Transracial Adoption Educator with Be the Bridge, a racial literacy non-profit. She also serves on her city’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Advisory Committee and seeks to support adoptee creatives through the Adoptee Influencer Network. She lives in Oregon with her husband, two sons, and a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Moxie.

You can follow her work at the links below, and plug into the work of some of the wonderful folks we mention during the course of our conversation.

Diana has always loved the outdoors and nature, and developed a love of hiking while traveling to state parks with her husband. Diana learned about the Camino de Santiago while researching to teach a unit about adventure travel. She is currently walking a solo Camino, and will walk another with her son as part of a larger group later this year.

On today's episode, I sit down for a candid conversation with my husband Andrew. I think many people wonder what the dynamics of interracial relationships look like. And once folks find out about the nature of my work and how Black-centric it is, I think they wonder even more about what Andrew thinks of what I write and say regarding race relations. So, today's conversation will give you a little background about our relationship, and will answer the question I sometimes hear, "What does your husband think?"

In today's episode, I share a conversation with my cousin Camille Johnson. Her hair - its fullness, volume, and length - has always been enviable to me. So today, we discuss our hair journeys and skim the surface of a generations-long relationship between Black women and our hair.

In this episode, I share a candid conversation with my friend Catrina Ballard. We connected years ago as two of a handful of Black students who attended our university. Our conversation centers around our shared experiences as Black women who have lived much of our lives in spaces that were never intended for us.

Today, my dear friend Miranda Chism and I have a candid conversation about the end of 2021, and how we want to approach the start of the coming year. We talk setting goals, giving ourselves space for plans to change, and changing careers.

Today's episode is such a treat! I got to sit down with my good friend Clent Holmes to talk about something that holds a special place in both our hearts: the Black church.

In today's episode, I sit down with my friend, community activist Amanda Veasy. She started her work years ago by serving unhoused folks food alongside her family, and she's gradually expanded her efforts to include providing mental health services, hygiene needs,  COVID testing and vaccines, and so much more, all under the umbrella of her nonprofit One Love Longview. She's passionate and driven, and the work she's doing is exactly what our community needs.

Today, I sit down for a frank conversation about Reconstruction with a historian, my friend Dr. Meredith May. With the insurrection from January still making news as various participants face trials, and with Thanksgiving upon us with its complicated history, this is a timely conversation. How, after all, can we make sense of the present or the future without looking first to the past to try and better understand it.

In today's episode, I sit down for a candid conversation with my friend Tisha Grotemat. Our paths crossed last summer, and we embarked upon a journey of racial reconciliation together. We talk about the group we formed, the goal we set, and how we pivoted when we couldn't quite reach the goal we had hoped we'd be able to.

Something True: An Honest Podcast is a bimonthly exploration of all the components of our identity that shape our lives. 

Hosted by writer Querida Duncalfe. 

Edited and mixed by Andrew Duncalfe.

Welcome to Something True.

Rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen.

This week, I sit down for a candid conversation with my cousin Candace. Her affirmations inspired my "Peace by Piece" blog series that will soon become my first published book. We will talk about how to find peace when you're going through a dark season of life, and why Candace's affirmations resonate even for people in different life circumstances than her own. 

Music and Editing by Andrew Duncalfe

My name is Querida Duncalfe. I am a writer, activist, and former high school teacher whose home base is East Texas. 

Something True is an honest space to examine race, culture, faith, and all the components that inform our identities and shape our lives. 

I believe that telling the truth about who we are is the first step to becoming the people we were created to be.

Welcome to Something True.