This episode is brought to you by Kitch.

What Came Next is intended for mature audiences only.

Episodes discuss topics that can be triggering,

such as emotional, physical, and sexual violence, suicide, and murder.

I am not a therapist, nor am I a doctor.

If you're in need of support, please visit something was wrong.com forward slash resources

for a list of non-profit organizations that can help. Opinions expressed by my guests on the show

are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of myself or broken cycle media.

Resources and source material are linked in the episode notes. Thank you so much for listening. Cassandra Lane is an author, journalist, artist, and speaker.

Her beautiful memoir, We Are Bridges, is a labor of love born from generational

trauma, as well as years of healing and honing her craft. We are honored that Cassandra was willing

to speak with us about what came next after her great-grandfather's lynching in the early

1900s and healing her family's residual trauma upon her entrance to motherhood.

My name is Cassandra Lane. I am a writer. I'm an editor. I'm a mom. I'm a wife, a friend, a lover. My book is We Are Bridges. It's a memoir that ties my contemporary story of becoming a mother with my ancestor's story. Those who really, really know me are probably going to call me Sand, which is my nickname. That name to me is a metaphor.

I love the earth. I love nature. I grew up in a really tiny semi-rural town in Louisiana and was

always outside under my grandmother's fig trees and plum trees, picking the fruit, eating the fruit,

but also just using it as shade to reflect.

My little town, it's called De Ritter.

It was, quote, unquote, founded by a Dutchman.

It's a dry town in the sense that it's landlocked.

It's kind of in the middle part of the state, but on the

Texas border. And it's also dry in the sense that alcohol is forbidden, at least legally.

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