The Lazy Genius Podcast - #161 - A Summer Reading Pledge

Episode Date: June 8, 2020

This summer, you guys, is the summer I truly begin my education of being an anti-racist. I want to begin taking steps in how I see my summer stack and even in what I watch and listen to. I also want to do that with my kids. And I invite you to join me. Stuff Mentioned Books mentioned in this episode: The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, The Enneagram of Belonging by Chris Heuertz, The Green Ember by S.D. Smith, The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek, Enter Wild by Carlos Whittaker, I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown, Be the Bridge by Latasha Morrison, The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, The Lazy Genius Way by me! Movies mentioned in this episode: The Black Power Mixtape, The 13th, and When They See Us Podcasts mentioned in this episode: 1619, Melanated Faith, and Throughline Ro Williams Brann on Instagram, and her recommendations for the summer: The Colors of Us by Karen Katz and This Is How We Do It by Matt Lamothe. A Kids Book About Racism (back-ordered) but you can follow them on Instagram here. Download a transcript of this episode. This podcast is hosted by Kendra Adachi and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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From, binge all episodes exclusively on Paramount Plus. there you're listening to the lazy genius podcast. I'm Kendra Adachi and I'm here to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. Today is episode 161, a summer reading pledge. Here's what it is. This summer you guys is the summer I truly begin my education of being an anti-racist. I want to begin taking steps and how I see my summer stack and even in what I watch and listen to. And I also want to do that with my kids. and I invite you to join me. So this episode is your invitation. We're going to walk through the why, how, when, where, who, and what of this summer reading pledge. And really, it's a summer

consumption pledge, but that title feels weird and misleading and maybe a little gross because of the word consumption. So we will lead with reading, but this counts for all the things. All right, first thing, why? Why are we doing this? Why is this summer reading pledge even necessary? First, our country has been in crisis for, well, since it's beginning in many ways, but that crisis is at a certain peak right now, and I am paying attention. I shared this on Instagram last week, but I've recently been doing a little exercise that has been devastatingly eye-opening. I've started switching skin color for people, imagining a white person to be black and a black person to be white. So when I'm at the

store when someone's walking down the street, when I hear a story about the police being called in response to a domestic altercation, how would my perception of that person and that situation change when their skin color also changes? Either way. Guys, I've been really convicted by what I'm noticing in myself. I'm a good person. You know, I'm kind. I believe in equality for all. I'm in a biracial marriage for crying out loud. My husband is Japanese. He's not black. But I've realized, a sense of misplaced pride in the fact that my kids aren't white, like it's a pass somehow to not being racist. But the truth is, this country has racism in its DNA.

160 years before our country became a country, before we were a unified nation with a constitution, slaves were being brought here in ships by the thousands. The continent of Africa was economically devastated by hundreds and thousands of Africans being taken, throughout the world to be slaves, to labor, and build the infrastructure of countries, of places of progress. The United States and its founding government dehumanized an entire race of people, and the consequences of that are still in effect, and I see it in my own life. I catch myself,

being surprised when a black person is articulate. I would never say or believe intellectually that white people are smarter than black people. That sentence is quite ludicrous to me in many ways. But in my own heart and in my own micro responses to people, as I've been paying attention through this exercise of switching skin color, I am shocked and disappointed and embarrassed in my own thinking. As we have been hearing, well, I was going to say over the last couple of weeks, but for many, it's been a lifetime. But as I have been paying attention in ways I never did before these last couple of weeks, especially since the deaths of George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, and Amad Arbery, it is not enough for me to be not like overtly racist. I must be, as we've been hearing, I must be an anti-racist. I must be intentional, not accidental in the presence of black people in my life, in my reading life, and my podcast life, and my music and TV show and pop culture life.

This is important. And this summer is when I pledge for it to be important. It's the beginning of that process. So why are we doing this? Because for myself and perhaps for you too, which is why I'm inviting you into this with me, if I don't actively seek out black voices in my life, I might stumble across some, but stumbling across is no longer enough. It is not acceptable for me anymore. This is my pledge to become more educated for sure about the realities of black history in this country,

but also the realities that there are Instagram accounts of really great home decorators and cooks and moms who happen to be black but who somehow I don't follow. My life is so monochromatic and I didn't see it. I didn't notice before because we seek out what we know. It's just the easiest way. And I am now passionate about my life looking different than it does now. And while there are many places to start, the places that you and I do that will vary because of our lives, you know, how different our lives are. But we all read, you know, we all watch TV, we all get on Instagram and scroll. So this pledge is about recalibrating how we do that. We are going to create a couple of new habits this summer that will make our regular pop culture experiences move us in a kind, impactful, educational, compassionate, redemptive direction of being.

people who are anti-racist. And in turn, we will be part of recrafting and rebuilding a country and world that sees all people as equal under God. This is important work. And we're going to start with our summer reading. So that's why we're doing this. Okay, let's do Who really quickly. I have a pledge for myself and for my kids. That's basically the Who. So in creating a structure around this pledge, there's one for me personally and then one for my family and my kids. If you have kids, you can do this too. Okay, so how? How do we do this pledge? What does this look like? For me, I have one rule and one rule alone, because starting small is a really good idea. Always be reading at least one book from a person of color. That's it. That's my rule. I also want to move that into my

podcast listening space and in my TV movie space, but that will look a little different than the structure of reading, which I'll get to that in a bit. But in terms of reading. Here's my structure and my pledge. I have learned that if I read more than two or three books at a time, I'm out. I just stop. I shared this last week in the latest lazy letter and several before that actually about how I've been in a rut, a reading rut for a while, kind of in and out. And when I get in a rut, what that means I've learned is I'm just reading too much. I'm reading too many things at one time. For a while, my remedy for that was like one fiction and one nonfiction at a time. It was a house rule, right? The fiction still works, but the nonfiction, it was throwing me off

a little. I usually start my day with nonfiction, but sometimes it's like business related. Or specifically to this conversation, some of the nonfiction I wanted to read, like the New Jim Crow, the New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. It has been on my bookshelf for well over a year, maybe longer, and I've never read it. It feels too hard, partly because it is. It is a sobering book. It's a to read. This subtitle is mass incarceration in an age of colorblindness. What a fun way to start the day. Now, listen, is that topic worthy of starting my day with? 100%. But I haven't been setting myself up well to read nonfiction for the purpose of educating me on the black experience in this country. So a few days ago, and again, I shared this in the newsletter, I am taking a beautiful smart tip from Brie McCoy

in a new genre structure. So for me, instead of one fiction and one nonfiction, I have three categories of books that are read at three distinct times of day. Early morning first thing is nonfiction, but some sort of spiritual book, right? So spiritual memoir or devotional or what I'm reading right now is the Enneagram of Belonging by Chris Hewerts. That's one genre, right? And that's the nonfiction I start my day with. The second genre that goes in the middle of the day is education. nonfiction. So business books, history, and specifically for right now, nonfiction that's about anti-racism and the black experience. I have energy, like both in my body and in momentum, to read those books in the middle of the day. That's where they belong for me. That's where they get

my best attention. They might belong in a different time of the day for you. But when Bree shared that that was her personal structure, it was such a light bulb moment for me and it made me excited to know where to put that kind of reading. And then the third is fiction and that goes at night. I love to read fiction at night. So in light of that, three genre structure. My pledge is fleshed out with this one rule. One of those books must be by a person of color. It's simple. So if I'm reading the Enneagram book, which is by a white guy, and I'm reading the green ember as my fiction book by S.D. Smith, another white guy. My educational book needs to be written by a person of color. I'm in the middle of a business book called The Infinite Game by Simon Seneca. But Simon is another

white guy. So I'm going to put that one down and I'm going to pick up the new Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. Now, does that mean that I can only read one? No, of course not. But at least one, at least one of the three has to be PFC. So again, my how is very simple. And you can borrow it if you what? Three genres and a pledge that at least one of those three is by a person of color or specifically a black person right now. Now the thing about this too is it's not necessarily that the particular title is overtly about racism. I want to read fiction by black authors, just stories of life and like other worlds, you know, and whatever else that simply has another perspective, a lens that isn't mine as a privileged white woman. So here's something that can help

your personal summer stack is to have two or three titles in each category that you choose, each genre of like your time of day genre, and make sure that you have an option in each one that is by a person of color. That way, when you finish the spiritual book by a white woman, you can pick up Enter Wild by Carlos Whitaker or I'm Still Here by Austin Channing Brown or Be the Bridge by Latasha Morrison. Have titles ready, you know? Create your summer reading list with that in mind, with that intention. There's more to life than finding the perfect car, but finding the perfect car can help you get the most out of life, like the SUV that handles everything from drop off to off road,

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Aw isn't something we need to travel for. It's something waiting for us in everyday life, whether in a city street or a moment with a work of art. I'm Dr. Keltner, host of the Science of Happiness podcast. Join me for Cities of Aw, a special series on how our public spaces can spark awe, wonder, and enhance the quality of public life. You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts. So that's my personal how. Three genres set to three specific times of day so I know what to pick up when I have a few minutes to read, no matter the time of day. And then the rule of at least one of them needs to be an author of color. So for my kids, I started following Roe Williams brand on Instagram and she's doing a little book club this summer, which really is just like, it's just a couple of suggested titles each month.

And of course, she'll do discussion on Instagram around them. but she suggested a couple of kids' books that I've bought and will read to my kids this summer that will have a round. I'll put all these links in the show notes, by the way, so you don't have to scribble down titles really fast. But Rose Chosen Books for June are The Colors of Us by Karen Katz. It's for preschool to eight years old. And this is how we do it by Matt Lamoth, which is about the same age group. I also ordered a kid's book about racism. It's back ordered, so it'll be a book. be a few weeks, but I follow this account on Instagram, a half for a while, but it's a company called a kid's book About. And they have so many great books about a number of things. There's a

kid's book about racism, about creativity, about anxiety, about anxiety, about adventure, about all kinds of things. They tend to have, just a heads up, they tend to have a discount when you buy three books at a time. This round, I bought racism, feminism, and gratitude because I need some help with one of my kids, especially in that area. But yeah, I'm going to be intentional again about having and presenting books to my kids about how skin color is different, but how that shouldn't impact how we see and assess another human. We need to teach this to our kids. I want my kids to be better than me in that and to grow up with a different mindset, but they have to be intentional too. We have to teach them to be anti-racist because right now our country's policies and systems do not

support that. So the pledge for me also involves my kids. Okay, next up, when and where? We're going to throw both in together, I think. It makes more sense that way. I guess I already said that for my own reading, that my when is early morning for spiritual stuff, the daytime for nonfiction educational stuff, and night is for fiction. For my kids, it's different. The when is, it's more important than the where, I guess. But we do family reading time every afternoon in the summer. After lunch during Annie's nap, because y'all, she's still, like, kind of has to nap. although I do think it's probably going to fade a bit this summer, but we do family reading time in the afternoon. It's like the hottest part of the day. We all need a bit of solo time right around there. Even my extroverted son, he does disagree in theory, but in practice it's necessary. We all still need the break. So we do like 20 to 30 minutes. It often goes longer than that, but that's just what we commit to. We do 20 to 30 minutes of reading in the same general space, you know, like on the couch or on the porch. But everyone, everyone,

is reading their own thing. Now, I let my boys choose what they want to read during that time. One thing, though, that we haven't done before that we will add this summer is family, like group reading time, like read aloud. I'm still not sure of when we're going to do that in the day. We might need to play around with it a bit. You might as well. But I'm thinking during dinner or right after, I'm not sure yet, our summer rhythm is going to be a little strange. this year for a number of reasons because of COVID-19. Obviously, like, a lot of things are closed or limited. And we also want to be safe. But it's also because my husband, he works for the school system, for the public school system. And there is a lot up in the air about how things will be next year and what is

required of him this summer and to prepare for that. And I'm releasing a book in 64 days. So I've got a lot going on and our days definitely will not all look the same as each other. So that's why my first gut for family group reading time is dinner because we're generally together. So maybe it's reading these book club picks from Roe Williams brand together. It can be books specifically about race or just by authors of color and just note that when we read, right? Okay. So that's my kids. So we've done why, how, when, where, who. Now let's end with what. I've listed some what's already. some titles to read for you and with your kids. But this last bit is going to include not just books. This list of what's is my personal list of what I'm going to consume and learn from this summer for

myself. So for books, I already have and will read The New Jim Crow, like I mentioned. I'm still here by Austin Chaining Brown and The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett. That's one book for each of those three genres I mentioned. So that's where I am going to begin. For watching, I have three movies on my list to watch this summer. Well, actually two movies in a miniseries. First movie, The Black Power Mixed Tape, which is a documentary on Netflix about, I think it's on Netflix. Maybe it's on Amazon Prime. I don't remember, but you have Google. The Black Power Mix tape, it is a documentary about the evolution of the Black Power movement in the late 60s, early 70s. So I want to watch that. The 13th, which I've had in my queue for, I mean, I think since it

came out. But again, it was too hard to watch. It was too hard to start. I didn't even start it. But my intentions have changed. I want and need to see that documentary by Ava DuVernay about the prison system. And then the third one is when they see us, which is a miniseries. It's also by Ava Du Renée based on a true story about five black teenage boys from Harlem who are falsely accused of an attack on a white woman in Central Park. These are tough. watches, but it is the least I can do, like literally the very least. And this is a pledge to begin my education of being anti-racist, of moving with intention towards understanding why this country is the way it is and examining my part in it. So those are my what's for watching. Then for listening,

for the same reasons, I have had the podcast 1619 in my feed. since it came out. And I never started listening to it because it was too hard. It's about the transatlantic slave trade. Well, no more. I'm going to listen to that podcast. I mean, it's five episodes, you guys. Five. Five. Come on. And then I also am going to start listening to Melanated Faith, which is a podcast about the intersection of faith and culture hosted by two black women. And then I'm going to also listen to ThruLine. ThruLine is a podcast from NPR that explores, as they say, the history behind every headline. So those are the three podcasts that I am committed to listening to this summer. So an important thing to remember here is to do what we lazy geniuses do,

which is to start small. Okay. I have one book in each of my already existing category. of reading, right? I have just a couple of things to watch and listen to over the summer. This is where I begin. Now, I can add more when those are done, and I will. But the list to start is small. I'm starting to follow more accounts of people of color, some of who are active in anti-racism and racial justice, and then some that are, they're just black women who have food or home accounts. You know, like, why is my feed so white? And I never really, realized it. This is our summer pledge. Well, this is my summer pledge. And I really hope you join me in some way in whatever way that makes sense for you to consume, to notice what you're consuming and how it

affects your life. Right. And we're going to do that by starting small one thing at a time, one movie at a time, one book at a time. And pay attention, be critical thinkers about what we are consuming and how the people of color in what we are consuming are portrayed and how we might be like subconsciously unconsciously absorbing that. Okay, so as we close, I need to say this. Anti-racism is now part of the fabric of this space. I am pledging to be more intentional, not just accidental, and highlighting voices of color, sharing episodes and books, and such in the newsletter, you know, that are from people of color, starting to be more cognizant of how what we talk about here on this podcast is very much affected by what color skin we have.

Now, I'm not always going to speak directly to racism in every episode. The content here and on Instagram and in my newsletter and all of it will still be mostly the same, but my eyes have been opened as they should have been much earlier than now. I can no longer. I can no longer see my work in the same light, nor should I. I've always thought that the lazy genius collective is a kind of movement in a very small way. I feel that really strongly about my book, The Lazy Genius Way that comes out, like I said, in 64 days. You all are a beautiful community and you desire to be a genius about what matters and lazy about what doesn't. We are together encouraging each other to live fully as who we are, right? Not

who other people or our own wonky voices inside our heads tell us who we should be. We're full and whole and not afraid to care. We champion other women and we stop comparing ourselves to them as better or worse. That movement matters to me. I'm really passionate about it. And now it just has more color. And I mean that in both ways. I want my life, including what I read and watch and listen to and who I follow on

Instagram to have more color, skin color, and creative experience. human color. And because this space is reflective of who I am and because I'm committed to expanding who I am in this area, this space will expand along with it. And I hope you're here for it. I hope that you join me and so many others in becoming better people who have wider eyes, not whiter, not wider, like expansive, have wider eyes to see. And I know that many of you who are white have been doing this intentionally a lot longer than I have. And I'm grateful for you. you and your movement and your example as we do this together. This matters. Black lives matter. And they're going to matter here. They're going to matter in my own life and in the work that comes

for my own life. So that's the summer reading pledge. Let's do it. Let's do it. So thank you so much for listening. It means a lot that you're here. It means a lot that you are rallying with me. and each other and so many others to dismantle what has served some in favor of reexamining and rebuilding what serves all. So I'm excited. I'm excited to do this together and I appreciate you, you joining me. So thank you for listening. And until next time, be a genius about the things that matter. and lazy about the things that don't. I'm Kendra and I'll see you next week.

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