Susanna Childress: Beginning Again

“It strikes me as a really important life-giving act to listen.”

— Susanna Childress

Listen in on our conversation with poet and professor Susanna Childress about our season of grief, the process of healing, and the hope that comes as we begin again.

After an incredibly long year of life in a global pandemic and acute awareness of racial injustice, I sat down with poet and professor Susanna Childress to consider how we begin again. Revisiting our previous podcast episode, we continue our conversation about grief and suffering, particularly noting the loss of Susanna’s two children in utero and her process of healing. We ponder together the intersection of creative work, efforts toward justice and faith, as well as how the Church has so often missed the mark and even contributed to greater pain. As we contemplate together the power of words, both in healing and truth telling, Susanna generously shares a portion of an essay she recently wrote where she wrestles with how to discuss death and injustice with her young children. I continue to be grateful for Susanna’s voice in this world and pray that our conversation offers hope to begin again.

— Caroline Triscik

Links mentioned this interview

• Our previous podcast interview with Susanna Childress
• Sermon by Austin Channing Brown
• "Four Before I Begin Again" — an essay by Susanna Childress
• "Try Everything" by Shakira in the Disney film Zootopia 
• School of Prayer
• Authors and Poets mentioned in the interview:
  •  Li-Young Lee
  • Howard Thurman
  • James Cone
  • Ibram X. Kendi
  • Tressie McMillan Cottom
  • Austin Channing Brown
  • Aaron Coleman
  • Renee Simms
  • Jesmyn Ward
  • Colson Whitehead
  • Alicia Elliott
• Indigenous Authors mentioned in the Alicia Elliott excerpt:
  • Waubgeshig Rice
  • Louise Erdrich
  • Joy Harjo
  • Tracey Lindberg
  • Eden Robinson
  • Katherena Vermette
  • Elissa Washuta
  • Billy-Ray Belcourt
  • Joshua Whitehead
  • Lindsay Nixon
  • Terese Marie Mailhot
  • Cherie Dimalene