39 Thriving After Incarceration with Jonel Beauvais & Aida Cuadrado Bozzo of Community Change

This week we're joined by Jonel Beauvais and Aida Cuadrado Bozzo from the Womens Fellowship at Community Change, which exists to hone the organizing skills of formerly incarcerated women of color or those otherwise directly impacted by incarceration and the criminal justice system. Jonel talks about the trauma of incarceration and her return to her community (Akwesasne people in Mohawk territory), resilience of women of color, frontline leadership, and the community’s role in ritualizing return.

ABOUT OUR GUESTS:

Jonel Beauvais is an indigenous sister, Mohawk woman, a witness of imprisonment, adversity survivor, spirit lover, working to end violence, and living for the next generation. She is a descendant of women of the wolf clan lineage, and is rooted in the community of Akwesasne where she works with the Seven Dancers Coalition.

Aida Cuadrado Bozzo is an ordinary person who does extraordinary things. She is a transformative organizer, committed to everyone being present to their own greatness - especially women of color. Aida is from Michigan, by way of Paterson, New Jersey, by way of Puerto Rico. She's an organizer on the Reinvestment Team and convenes the Womens Fellowship at Community Change.

Previous practices from this podcast that we reference in our conversation: Somatic Centering Practice from Sumitra Rajkumar, and Forgiveness Meditation Practice from Jacoby Ballard.

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PRACTICE: In the following episode (publishing next week), Jonel shares a practice from her people for doing a group ritual called a Condolence Ceremony. Subscribe to this podcast to make sure you don't miss it. Subscribe to this podcast to make sure you don't miss it.

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Welcome to Book Club! 📚

Thank you to Book Club member David Jay for offering the original poem shared in this week's episode! Do you have art or images inspired by Pleasure Activism? Tag us on social media for a share!

Book Club is our gathering place for our listener community to learn, explore, and practice together. Our first selection is Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good. Get your copy now from our partners at AK Press with code PODCAST for 15% off! www.akpress.org

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Thank you to our incredible production volunteers on this episode: Rachel Ishikawa for audio editing and production, David Jay for sharing his poetry, Zach Meyer at the COALROOM for music and mastering, and Josiah Werning for graphic design.