Where Do You Find Hope? with Corina Newsome

In this episode of the Climate Changed podcast you will experience:

• A centering practice led by poet, Maya Williams.  You will hear Maya read Emily Dickinson’s Hope followed by one of Maya’s original poems, Religious Imposters. 
• Nicole Diroff has a deep and incredibly honest conversation with Corina Newsome
• Ben and Nicole’s deep and moving discussion about those remarks
• Next Steps for Engaged Hope

About Corina Newsome

Corina Newsome is the Associate Conservation Scientist at the National Wildlife Federation and a recent graduate from Georgia Southern University with a Master of Science in Biology. Corina, who began in the field of wildlife science as an animal care professional, specializes in avian conservation and passionately connects people with the natural world through birds.

Having experienced the hurdles faced by marginalized communities in wildlife conservation, Corina’s mission is to center the perspectives and leadership of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in wildlife conservation, environmental education, and exploration of the natural world. Corina is also one of the co-organizers of the inaugural #BlackBirdersWeek   

About Maya Williams and Their poem, Religious Imposters

From Mayawilliamspoet.com: Maya Williams (she/hers, they/them, and ey/em) is a religious nonbinary Black multiracial suicide survivor constantly writing poems. Maya is the seventh Poet Laureate of Portland, Maine.  Maya's content covers suicide awareness, mental health, the prison industrial complex, faith, entertainment media, grief, and healing.

About the poem, Religious Imposters, Maya writes: It is inspired by Baháʼí poet Anis Mojgani's poem "Shake the Dust." His poem is a call for so many different types of human beings to "shake the dust" and come into their own because of how there's so much to admire about them. I created this poem as an expression of love towards religious and non-religious people to let go of imposter syndrome (shake that dust, if you will). There's so much to admire about folks coming into their own worldview.

As a Christian writer, I cannot separate my writing process from my faith (especially when I write my prayers in my private journal). There is a sense of sacredness and desire for a community when I engage in writing a poem similar to this one. 

Religious Imposters was published in Frost Meadow Review and then shared on the Interfaith Youth Core. 

The Conversation

“Faith journeys are not soundbites” -Nicole Diroff

Corina reveals how taking on racial injustice directly through activism has challenged the straight-forward faith she developed as a child at her church in Philadelphia. The outrage she has felt along with her commitment to engage in the struggle causes her to ask questions about her faith. She is wondering about Jesus as the great community organizer, as Dr. Heber Brown, has preached. To address the overwhelming anger along Corina chooses to engage in the process of deconstructing and reconstructing her faith. Through the process, she feels like a new person—back in touch with God and experiencing a new type of freedom.  She and Nicole talk about this messy and essential process. 

“I decided to I would make a career out of my desire to look closely. -Corina Newsome from A Thing with Feathers

Nicole first learned about Corina through the essay, The Thing with Feathers. Corina shared the essay in Rooted and Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis, an anthology edited by  Rev. Dr. Leah D. Schade and Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas. In the essay Corina stresses the vial importance of looking closely. 

Nicole and Corina talk about the process of paying attention. Coming from a low-wealth background, Corina Newsome, discovered the power of connecting to our life source. Resource deprivation opened her up to the rich resources in nature, even in the city of Philadelphia. She says, “You can feel the difference it makes in your body as far as the stress levels and the constant tension that exists from not knowing and having to ration constantly. That is just such a taxing way to live. The moment you stop for 30 seconds and watch a living thing, something lifts inside of you…life just feels lighter somehow…Looking closely is very much a necessary opportunity that everyone needs to do, but you don’t know if it is there unless you’ve been taught.”

You can hear Corina read the essay in the podcast The Art House, a project of Citizens Climate Radio and Artists and Climate Change.

Corina also talks about how Black faith communities are now addressing resource inequity and depletion in relation to food sovereignty including  the Black Church Food Security Network. These efforts not only address some of the injustice issues faced in food deserts, they also help people connect to nature right in their neighborhoods through the foods they grow. 

They also talk about hope, and the near obsession that many church communities have around the source of hope. Many are asking, Where do we find hope? It was in studying birds, Corina finds hope in these birds. Corina says, “There’s nowhere just about where you can go where there aren’t birds.” Even in the most polluted spaces, you still find birds, ways for life to exist and even thrive. In places where the environment is clearer and birds have a richer habitat, that is where you see them benefit from diversity. 

Birds, with hollow bones and delicate bodies, like many marginalized people oppressed by injustices, may appear fragile, but they prove to be much stronger than many people can imagine. “They think we are fragile…”

Nicole and Corina spoke with each other for nearly an hour.  Click here to hear longer version of the conversation.

Next Steps for Engaged Hope

• If you want to make your home more bird friendly, Corina links to an article from American Bird Conservancy. Glass collisions kill up to 1 billion birds in the U.S. each year, and almost half happen at home windows. And there is something we can do today to address this! Learn How to Keep Birds from Hitting Your Windows. 
• You can make a difference by making a donation to Freedom Birders. Freedom Birders is a racial justice education project built on inspiration from the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Lives Matter Movement, and #BlackBirdersWeek. 
• If you’re looking for an organization to help out with, I’d actually suggest the one that Corinna mentioned, which is the Black Church Food Security Network. Their national organizer, Rev. Heber Brown co-led a presentation for us on imagination back in 2021. Another great place is The Boston Food Forest Coalition, which starts and tends urban food forests throughout Boston. 
• On-line Trailside Practices facilitated by Aram Mitchell. Wherever you are—looking out the window, strolling through the woods, sitting on a bench in the park—here are some brief invitations to spiritual practice that you can integrate into your day.