Reframing Abolition and Finding Your Weirdos with Amanda Pouncy-Ross | #127

Click here for a written transcript of this episode.

We discussed:

• Why it took Amanda so long to finish undergrad.
• Who Amanda is and what they're up to these days, both professionally and personally.
• The connection between abolition and things like creativity and pleasure.
• How Amanda defines abolition for themself.
• Abolition as everyday actions as much as it's big, structural change (for additional resources on abolition, check out the section below).
• Expanding our understanding of creativity in order to make space for it.
• Why queer folks are some of the most creative people we know.
• The similarities of growing up mixed-race and growing up queer.
• How important the concept of “chosen family” has been for both of us.
• Embracing our weirdness.

Mentioned in This Episode

• Ample + Rooted, the therapy practice Amanda is working for
• How To Soothe Stress and Trauma Through Meditation with Neathery Falchuk
• Making Space for Mixed-Race Identity with Meagan Kimberly Smith and Jazmine Jarvis
• Additional resources Amanda provided on abolition for those who are looking to learn more:
  • TransformHarm as a resource those who are new to the concept of abolition
  • The work of Mariame Kaba, including ‘I Want Us to Dream A Little Bigger': Noname And Mariame Kaba On Art And Abolition, Project NIA Tools for Action, We Do This ‘Til We Free Us, and Project NIA's YouTube channel
  • The work of Angela Davis, including Abolition. Feminism. Now. and this interview with the authors of Abolition. Feminism. Now.
  • The work of Richie Reseda, a formerly incarcerated person, including the Prison Feminism IG account and the Question Culture IG account
  • Initiate Justice's Abolition Is For Everybody podcast
  • This reading list from Abolitionist Futures
  • The work of adrienne maree brown, including Pleasure Activism and Emergent Strategy
  • The work of Audre Lorde, including Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power
  • The work of Prentis Hemphill, including The Embodiment Institute and the Finding Our Way podcast
  • The work of Alan Dettlaff Dean of the University of Houston School of Social Work, including his work with the Upend Movement
  • The Abolitionist Social Work Toolkit and their Instagram

Featured in This Episode

Amanda Pouncy-Ross (she/they) is a queer, demifemme, Black and mixed-race visionary, creator, and abolitionist feminist with a quirky sense of humor and a love for funky earrings. Professionally they work as a pleasure, sex, and fat-positive therapist, health educator, and social worker. If Ms. Frizzle, Daria, and Tracee Ellis Ross had a baby, that baby would be her. They are their happiest, best self when they are: laughing, cooking, doing yoga, imagining and creating art, exploring nature, or reading one of the three or four books they keep in their currently reading pile. You can keep up with Amanda on their Instagram, and you can learn more about their therapy practice on the Ample + Rooted website and Instagram.

Did you benefit from this episode? You can show your appreciation by supporting Amanda's work. Leave a tip for Amanda through Venmo (username @Amanda-Lynn-45).