Hello ladies. I'm Zak Stafford and you're listening to Vibe Check, the Water Edition. the All right. I am so excited. Today I am solo. No Saeed, no Samam I'm alone some which is scary but also exciting it's

really exciting because I am joined by a really really special person who I love dearly

and that person is the one and the only

Jenna Wertam. If you're not familiar with Jenna Wertam, Jenna is a culture writer for

the New York Times co-host for the New York Times podcast Still Processing, which Jenna hosts with Wesley Morris.

Jenna is an author of the book Black Futures with Kimberly Drew, my wife, my everything, one of my favorite people in the world. And Jenna's also at work on a really, really special book about this association and the body. And that book is kind of the reason we're speaking today because earlier

this year Jenna wrote a piece that really just struck me. It was a piece about Jenna's

visit to Zippelite in Mexico, a beach I've been to before. But in the

peace, Jenna discloses that they got naked on a beach that I refuse to get naked on and

it opened up a new window for them to consider nudity in the body and

pleasure. So today our conversation without spoiling anything is about all

those things about how we all can find our own special places where we can feel alive safe and most importantly free.

So without further ado, I'd like to throw to myself and my conversation with the great Jenna Wertham. Enjoy. Well Jenna you know as a listener of the show you know that we like to begin with a vibe check so I must know what's your vibe today? How are you feeling? How are you feeling in your body?

Oh my gosh, I've dreamt about being asked this question for so long.

The vibes are really high my friend. I am very firmly located in my body which is a gift.

I am really riding all the highs and some of the lows of cancer season.

I feel completely dilated and raw and just cracked open.

Like I'm just, I saw Spider-Man too and just like couldn't stop crying like I and I love it like I want everything actually right now to be on the surface but it does mean moving through the world with a lot of

intention care and thoughtfulness because you know in Rockett when Beyonces like let the river run through me like that is the rivers are

running through me right now. I love that and it's kind of perfect for our

conversation today because today I think requires for both of us to be a bit cracked open

because I want to talk about nudity with you. Which you know isn't because I'm super voyeuristic but there's a real professional reason

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