Hey y'all, today's episode is my favorite episode we've ever done, probably the conversation

that has meant the most to me, maybe honor off the pod in a long time.

It's also deep and funny and will help you see the world in your life in a different

way. You won't end this episode without being a new person. It's also got some stuff

in it about death, about illness, about suicide ideation. So of hearing, people talk honestly

about those things. Hurts you, don't listen. And if it helps you, listen. Today's conversation

is with Andrea Gibson. Andrea Gibson is one of the most celebrated and influential

spoken word artists of our time, best known for their life performances. Andrea has changed

the landscape of what it means to attend a poetry show. Andrea's poem center around LGBTQ

issues, spirituality, feminism, mental health, and the dismantling of oppressive social systems.

Andrea is the author of seven books. Most recently, you better be lightning.

So pod squad, welcome to we can do her things. I need to tell you how this conversation

that you're about to hear began. Maybe a couple months ago, I was struggling in my recovery,

just having a moment that I was just stuck and nothing was getting better. And I was talking

to my doctor, who's amazingly wise and world-renowned eating disorder specialist. And I was

telling her that the problem was that in any of my therapy sessions, which were wonderful,

I just felt like nothing was true enough. We were just scratching the surface of something.

And I couldn't get to the truth of things. We're talking about eating strategies. And I need

to talk about like, are we sure that we should be doing life at all? And so she was quiet

for a while, because she's heard these sort of ideas from me. And then she said, glenid,

what I want you to do is I want you to find the poet Andrea Gibson. And at first, I thought

well, fuck, this is the world-renowned doctor and the only idea she has left for me is poetry.

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