Episode length: 17:07.
[Intro Music: "Hip Hop Instrumental 2," by Ketsa]
Jo'Hannah: Hey guys, I'm Jo'Hannah Valentin.
Shay: And I'm Shay Milner.
Jo: And you're listening to: Black Tea.
Shay: Black Tea is a podcast through Vanderbilt University that strives to highlight underrepresented and undiscovered perspectives on campus. Our goal for this podcast is to include self care options available on campus, interviews with faculty of color and minority student orgs on campus, and showcasing black artists and authors.
Jo: As the name states, on every episode we'll be drinking different types of tea and talking to you about black and brown people, organizations, and issues.
Jo: Today, we're drinking Earl Grey Bigelow Black Tea to kickoff our podcast. The theme of this episode is unpacking what Black Tea is. We're basically just going to talk about what this podcast is to us and what we hope it'll mean to you.
Shay: And for our quote of the day— which we will include in every single episode— we're drawing from the poet R. YS Perez, and she says, "Your beauty will be in shades of melanin and light."
Jo: Ugh, I love that quote. Oh my goodness, that's exactly what we want this podcast to be: Amazing.
[Intro music fades out]
[water boiling sound effect]
Shay: For every episode, our self care tip will reflect what the theme of our episode is. And, today, our self care tip is to unpack your thoughts.
Shay: We're at the beginning of 2020 and, as much as everyone groans about "new year, new me," we don't want to start out in a negative place. Jojo has a self-care tip just for this.
Jo: Okay, guys, so you know that we tend to keep our thoughts and feelings bottled up and locked away instead of releasing them. And, so this can result in a build-up of feelings that can be just a stressful breakdown, any type of breakdown if you're in your room or in public, and we don't want that to happen. So, if you write out your thoughts, especially the negative ones, for even just ten minutes, that can help you release some of that stress and allows you to focus on other things. Letting things go feels difficult when you're always on the move, so taking a quick break just to write down these thoughts has a dual purpose of forcing you to slow down and allowing you to release those negative thoughts as well.
Shay: And even if that sounds like it'll add just an extra layer of stress, you don't have to do this everyday. I find it very helpful to write down the thoughts as they come to me, and that may happen like once a week, once a month, every hour if it's an especially stressful time like exams—
Jo: [laughs] yeah. Definitely.
Shay: —but, just some way to, if you don't have an immediate source to take out your frustrations such as a friend or a parent, if you have somewhere to write it down— even if it's on your phone— it'll take that negative feeling outside of your body where you can deal with it in a more. . . with a better perspective.
Jo: And it's a lot healthier than bottling it up. Like, I don't know, sometimes it's just best that you don't. . . you don't feel like you can't talk to anyone, because sometimes I'll just be in my room and, I may not write it down, but I'll definitely like say it out loud just to get it off my chest at least, ya know?
Shay: Yeah.
Shay: So, like we said, unpack your thoughts for 2020. You don't have to become a new person.
Jo: Yeah, you just have to. . . modify yourself at times.
[both laugh]
[pouring water sound effect]
Shay: So, for the main part of this episode, we basically just want to talk about what we hope to achieve with this podcast and the different topics and issues that we hope to cover.
Jo: Um, so we really'd like to highlight Vanderbilt's undiscovered perspectives. And, what I thought about when we came up with the idea for this podcast, I thought that we could focus on groups. . . you know, groups, organizations, different types of people that aren't really put in the spotlight a lot of times. Like you may have never heard of that org or that type of person, whatever group they're affiliated with, and I just wanted this to be, this podcast to be a voice for those unheard voices.
Shay: Yeah, so in our mission statement, we specify black and brown people just because that's what we want our main focus to be, but "undiscovered voices" can be things such as, for example, Jo'Hannah created an ASL group. Um, so the deaf community on Vanderbilt's an undiscovered voice— or just, different people like that.
Jo: Yeah. Also, we'd like to have speakers on the show, whether that be students, professors, student organization leaders, even, maybe, people from administrative offices if we can, just so that we can have these voices heard. Because, a lot of times— even in, you know, levels of like being a professors or being an administrator, you may not even feel heard in that position, even if you are, you know, what students feel like you're. . . not above them, but you have a different position. And so we want those voices to be heard as well. Or at least give different perspectives to our listeners.
Shay: Even on that level, we hope to branch out from the Vanderbilt community and include voices from the Nashville community, from the wider, um, undiscovered community, whether that be your parents, your cousins, your crazy uncle. . .
Jo: [laughs]
Shay: . . [laughs] or, literally anyone that you would recommend for our podcast, we'd love to hear from them.
Jo: Exactly.
Shay: So, some of the topics that we have lined up for our episodes would be talking about things like being black and poor versus being black and middle class, greek life versus non-greek life, um, having a series of interviews with orgs such as Native, Pico, or Hidden Dores, and even bringing some of the more influential black and brown professors from campus on.
Jo: We'd also like to talk about different minorities in different fields, such as the dentistry field, the vet field, the law field, you know, etcetera, these different orgs that a lot of times as a black person— and, I can't speak for brown people, but as them to, they probably don't see people that look like them in those positions. They may not even hear of people that look like them in those positions. So we just want to kind of make it bigger to know that there are people that look like you in those positions and you can know what to do to get in those positions. We may even have tips for pre-med, pre-dental, pre-vet, um, just get those tips around for what classes to take, how it feels to be in those situations, how it feels to be, you know, going to dental school or medical school and, like, what the struggles in that different level feel like as well.
Shay: And, on a funner side, we want to talk about things like black art—
Jo: —oh, exactly—
Shay: —and we want to bring artists from campus, whether you're a painter or a writer or a poet, you like to beat-box in your room by yourself—
Jo: —yes, we want to see you—
Shay: —exactly—
Jo: —we want to hear you, what, you know, people at. . humans in general are so creative. But just, like, having people of your own heritage, of your own community, seeing how creative they can be is such a big thing for me, and I think we can definitely have some fun with that.
Shay: And also on just an artist level, it can be very difficult to watch or hear or see people misrepresent or misinterpret your art. So, we want to get you on here, we want you to showcase your art and tell us what it means to you.
Jo: Also, these episodes, they'll be pretty chill so— I mean, in some, there may be a little heaviness to it, but we really want it to be a conversation that you're open to listening to, that you are interested in listening to, and even have comments, questions, or concerns that you want to talk about and bring into this, um, just into this conversation.
Shay: So, as you can already probably see from this episode, our episodes are going to follow a loose standard format. We're gonna start with out introduction where we're always gonna introduce ourselves and talk about the mission for this podcast. And then, we're going to move on to a self-care tip because self-care transcends every topic, and we believe that's very important—
Jo: —that's true—
Shay: —and we want to highlight that, especially for, um, black and brown communities since there is already this level of stress, we have to— we want to— highlight all of the self-care options out there. And then, for our third part, we're gonna dive more into the main topic of our podcast. So there's going to be an overarching theme that's gonna be shown through all of these segments, but this main story, this main section is going to actually dive deep into what we want to talk about. And then, and the last part is going to be our conclusion where we want to advertise different orgs on campus that we didn't particularly sit down and talk with, um, who we just think are being very influential on campus at the time. We're gonna take any questions that you guys may have, um, and the just have our thanks and our credits.
Shay: So, Jo'Hannah, would you like to explain the different ways that people can submit questions or concerns?
Jo: Alright, so, first we have an email— blackteainquiry@gmail.com— um, I think we'll be putting this into our description, but we also have a twitter that you can message us on— @BlackTeaPodcas1— but instead of the "t," it's a "1" because someone stole that name—
[laughs]
Jo: —we also have a website, and we'll be putting that link as well in the description. And, so, just different ways, and— also, if you would like to send a voice message, um, you can send a question, a comment, or concern either in written form through the email, through the twitter, or through the website, which would end up going through email as well, but if you would like your voice featured on this podcast— which we may do— um, we have. . . there's a link on our twitter that I will post soon, and you can say whatever you need to say, ask what question you need to ask, and you can send that to us, and we may be able to include it into the next episode, or whichever episode you're wishing to be on.
Shay: And, to just be more, um, open to different listeners, such as people who are hard of hearing, we do have, um, a way to export a transcript on our website, which is blackteainquiry.wixsite.com/podcast—we'll link that in the description because that was kind of a mouth full— but, if you'd like to just read the podcast or if you're hard of hearing or have any of these other accommodations, we want that resource out there for you guys.
[Transition music: "Hip Hop Instrumental 2," by Ketsa]
Shay: So, this brings us to our conclusion section, like we said before. We want to use this space to highlight any people or orgs on campus and take any questions or comments that you guys may have sent to us. So, for this episode— since, obviously this is our first episode and we haven't gotten any, um, people that would like us to advertise them, Jo'Hannah will be presenting her org that she has created.
Jo: [laughs] okay?
[laughs]
Jo: This was a surprise to me as much as it was to you guys. [laughs] Um, so, [sighs] I mean, the ASL club, I started it last. . . no, not last semester, definitely, I got the presidency last year because I had been trying to join and no one had responded to me.
[laughs]
Jo: So, then, I was like "Okay, guess I'll make my own." And I tried but Student Orgs was like "We already have an ASL club." And I was like "Well they're not working. And so, you're gonna have to do something about that." And then he contacted the org leaders and they were like "We don't want to do this anymore." So then he just said it was. . . my responsibility to do everything else. Which I have no problem with that. I'm having a lot of fun with it, too. But, em, basically I revamped or restarted the org because I had noticed, um, second semester. . .really, not really second semester. I had wanted first semester to learn sign language. But, then, I tried to get in the sign language class that's in the medical school here and the enrollment service would not let me in, [laughs]. And, then I asked my advisor, my um. . . what's it called?
Shay: CASPAR?
Jo: Yeah, the CASPAR advisor. And he was like, "Well, since you're in, an undergrad and in Arts & Sciences, you can't do it." And I was like, "Oh, alright."
Jo: So, I didn't do that, and that's why I wanted to join the club. And then, um, second semester I realized there aren't really. . . like, it didn't seem like Vanderbilt was very deaf-accessible, or hard-of-hearing-accessible, so I thought, was like, okay, well it seems like I've never seen anyone use sign language, I didn't even know if we had any deaf or hard-of-hearing students on campus, but I had noticed that, like, I've never heard anything at Vanderbilt that was catered to deaf or hard-of-hearing people. And, so I got the presidency and, over the summer, I worked really hard: I sent out an application, I got a vice president- Ally Birelely— who, um, is really helpful, she's amazing, I wish she was here to talk about it because she'd probably be better at it than I am [laughs].
Jo: Um, but basically we just use the club to one, teach people sign language, of course. We go, um, we use different videos. And, then two just bring, like, deaf-awareness, deaf- and hard-of-hearing awareness. Um, earlier in September we had, the last week in September we celebrated Deaf Awareness Week, and we had different events like a movie that was, um, the main character was a deaf actor who wanted to be, who wanted to basically help deaf children see that there are deaf people on TV, that there are, you know in— not in Hollywood, cause they didn't use that— but, like, you can. . . there are deaf people around you and you're not alone. Because he felt that way as a child.
Shay: Do you remember what it's called?
Jo: Um, yes, Super Deafy, No Ordinary Hero. It was really cute, I love that movie, I can watch it over and over again. Um, we also had Mike Helms the vice president of outreach and education at Bridges, a non-profit for deaf and hard-of-hearing that's, like, eight minutes away from Vanderbilt. He came in to speak. It was really interesting, he's really funny. I didn't. . . honestly, it's really funny. I don't know why I didn't expect him to be deaf. But, when he came in, and he was just like, he started signing, I was like "Oh my God, I don't now any of this."
[laughs]
Jo: But, then his interpreter helped. And, so, it was really nice just to learn about their culture and just, like, learn different things, because I feel like a lot of times, you don't get to see these perspectives. And, so, I wanted to make the ASL club to show these perspectives and to also teach the language, 'cause it's a language in its own, has its own grammar, has everything, it's easier than English in my opinion. It's just like, I like. . . I love learning languages one, so that was really beneficial to me, but also just, like, to learn about a whole other culture that's within America that I've never seen before, never experienced. It's really something that I wanted others to experience as well.
Shay: So, you're just a good person on the daily, or is this like a monthly subscription?
[laughs]
Jo: [laughs] I try to be good, doesn't mean it happens all the time.
[laughs]
Shay: So, um, what days do the ASL club meet?
Jo: Um, we meet on Tuesday nights at 7:30. . . 6:30, not 7:30, I don't know why I. . .
Shay: So, it's at 6:30?
Jo: Yes, so they're bi-weekly Tuesdays at 6:30, our first meeting for this semester starts next week. Um, they're really fun. We try to also have, we're going to try to have— at least this semester, or next semester— try to have different events for outreach. That will be fun, just to, like, get people to bring their friends, even if they don't join the club— I mean, it would be nice if they did— they can at least see, like, what we're about and what we're trying to do.
Shay: Well, thank you so much for sharing.
Jo: Thank you for having me as your guest/co-host.
Shay: Well, guys, this brings us to the end of our episode. We'd just like to thank Bigelow Tea for having delicious Earl Grey Black Tea.
Jo: Yes, we love it, it's delicious.
Shay: Exactly. And like'd to thank the black tea brand in general for giving us our name.
[laughs]
Shay: Um, and we'll see you guys next week. We post every Saturday at tea-time. . . or, at 4 p.m. central [laughs], so, look out for us next Saturday.
[Outro music: "Hip Hop Instrumental 2," by Ketsa]
Jo: This has been Black Tea, thanks for listening.
Shay and Jo: Cheers!
[glasses clinking sound]
Credits
Shay Milner, co-host
Jo'Hannah Valentin, co-host
Music by Ketsa at freemusicarchive.com
Episode edited with Audacity
What we're drinking: Bigelow Earl Grey Black Tea, https://www.bigelowtea.com/Teas/Tea-Type/Black-Tea/Earl-Grey-Tea
Quote of the day: "Your beauty will be in shades of melanin and light" by the poet R. YS Perez.
Self-care tip of the day: Unpack your thoughts. Found at https://shiramstein.com/2016/06/10/10-easy-ways-to-practice-self-care/amp/
Join the ASL Club! Contact Jo'Hannah for more information: jo-hannah.y.valentin@vanderbilt.edu
We want to hear from you! You can reach us through our email, website, or our social media outlets.
Email: blackteainquiry@gmail.com
Website: blackteainquiry.wixsite.com/podcast
Instagram: @BlackTeaPodcas1, https://www.instagram.com/blackteapodcas1/
Twitter: @BlackTeaPodcas1, https://twitter.com/BlackTeaPodcas1
Facebook: @blackteapodcast, https://www.facebook.com/blackteapodcast/
Platforms
Our podcast can be found at: https://anchor.fm/johannah-chanteria
Episode transcript found at: https://blackteainquiry.wixsite.com/podcast/post/black-tea-unpacking-transcription