In this dynamic episode, Techa and Jen have a conversation with Spencer George, writer, teacher, artist, and folklorist.  Spencer shares her experiences writing about the intersectionality of folklore, storytelling, and empathy and specifically the roles that stereotypes play in limiting our stories and thus limiting our transformative power. Sharing her own journey as well as a multitude of resources, Spencer enlightens listeners to the possibilities that are available to all of us when we embrace all parts of our stories and ourselves.  She reminds us to focus on what is important and to open up brave spaces for our students to have conversations that matter. She reminds us that empathy is both a choice and a critical practice and that sometimes our smallest moments are the most impactful.  This is one episode that you do not want to miss.

Spencer George is a Writer and Teaching Artist based in North Carolina. She holds a BA in English and Human Rights with a concentration in Creative Writing from Barnard College and is an MA student in Folklore at UNC-Chapel Hill. Her work focuses on the intersection of storytelling, folklore, and empathy in the rural south, with a particular focus on the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. Her writing has been published in The Bitter Southerner, The Adroit Journal, and Medium, and once received a shout-out in The New York Times. She is the creator and writer of GOOD FOLK, a weekly newsletter about the people and stories of rural America and the American South. Currently, she serves as an ArtistYear Senior Fellow in Creative Writing and the Special Initiatives Assistant at Girls Write Now. Spencer was the 2019 recipient of the Peter S. Prescott Prize for Prose Writing and is at work on a reimagined Southern Gothic novel about young, queer love and the radical power of hope.

IG @ spencerggeorge

Email: [email protected] and [email protected] . 

References and Resources:

Ocean Vuong (Poetry)

https://www.oceanvuong.com/

Genevieve Hudson

https://www.genevieve-hudson.com/

Joan Didion

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/fashion/From-Joan-Didion-to-Andrew-Sullivan-some-writers-leave-behind-letters-when-they-leave-new-york-city.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CNew%20York%20was%20no%20mere,at%20the%20age%20of%2029.

Projects about rural and queer South:

Amazing oral history podcasts about rural queerness:

https://www.countryqueers.com

interactive map on American LGBT history: https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/lgbtdivide/#/cover

Books

• Arcadia by Lauren Groff
• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
• The Empathy Exams and The Recovering by Leslie Jamison
• Outlawed by Anna North (queer western reimagining)
• Boys of Alabama by Genevieve Hudson (gender non-conforming author, magical realism about immigration/queerlove/religion in Alabama)
• The Round House by Louise Erdrich (Native American author, stranger things vibes, heartbreaking but SO good)
• The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr (incredible debut about the deep South)
• Low Country by J Nicole Jones (memoir about South Carolina)