Episode 2: “Loved Back to Life” featuring Loira Limbal
So much for making this show a source of comfort while we were all locked up indoors. It's been over a year since our last episode. I wonder what could account for that?
Blinding rage is the answer. I found myself combusting halfway through 2020, and by the end of the year that fury had nearly calcified into an apocalyptic resignation that maybe everything was fucked and that’s just what it was going to be. You know all the reasons; there’s no need to rehash the horrific trials of the last year, many of which, it must be said, are still unfolding in many communities, hotter, darker, or both.
In the middle of all of this, I saw Loira Limbal’s tender new documentary “Through the Night”, a cinema verité portrait of three working NY mothers whose lives intersect at a 24-hour daycare center. Watching these women of color persist and care for their children and each other shattered me in all the right ways. Who was I to hide away from the world when I have been nurtured and loved to strength and accomplishment by the Black women who raised me, women who persisted in the face of great loss, unrelenting obstacles and a world that rejects them and has been stealing from them and their forbears since our species first crawled out the muck?
No, man. Giving up on any inclination to care for those around me and even myself could not be an option given how they’ve never given up on me. If anything, the last year has shown us how desperately we need each other, and more importantly, how we must further build structures of care and support outside of this unsustainable and decaying society’s systems of governance and “order.” The specific concern here: how do we expand on the work of our unsung caregivers, the women of color who have thanklessly nannied a nation that continues to spit on them? How do we give them the overdue comfort they have reflexively given to the rest of us?
These thoughts and feelings have led, at long last, to another episode, which I’m happy to say features Loira as our guest for the session. In the spirit of her film and her subjects, she was so giving, sharing not just what compelled her to make the film, but some deeply vulnerable and personal insights that have sparked in her since releasing it to the world. I feel honored that she felt comfortable enough to share so much with me.
You can listen to the episode above or on the front page. I’d like to encourage you to download it because frankly, the shit knocks—playlist down below—all while swaddling you in Loira’s touching, timely and fierce insights. Most importantly, I’d like to invite you to learn more about the documentary at throughthenightfilm.com. You can watch it for free through Wednesday, June 9th on PBS.org.
Last order of business, before I leave you to listening: things are opening up again, at least in the US. (I’m holding space for my family and friends across the Caribbean, the region I call home, where the pandemic is far from slowing.) In a few months, we should be able to gather and dance again. This “show” was originally envisioned as an in-person affair tasked with resurrecting the dying ritual of slow dancing and all the attendant care and romance that flows both in and out of it. I believed there was a dire need for this three years ago when I staged the first Foggy Windows slow jam party and conversation salon; lord knows I believe it even more now after all we’ve been through.
Our first stop is New Orleans this summer, and I’m brewing it up to make sure it’s the good medicine we all need. If you want to be notified when we announce the details, please sign up on our email list here. I’ve got plans for you.
- JFJ
Tracklist
Maze feat. Frankie Beverly - "I Need You"
Rene & Angela - "Come My Way"
The Isley Brothers - "All in My Lover's Eyes"
Force MDs - "Tender Love" (Instrumental) - JFJ Screwed Mix
Shai - "Comforter" (A Capella)
Shai - "Comforter"
Keith Sweat - "How Deep is Your Love"
Hailu Meriga - "Yefikir Engurguro"
Freddie Jackson - "Love is Just a Touch Away"
Herb Alpert feat. Lisa Keith and Janet Jackson - "Making Love in the Rain"
John Ambercrombie- "Timeless"
Alicia Myers - "If You Play Your Cards Right"
Bobby Brown - "Rock Wit'Cha" (Quiet Storm Mix)
Digital Underground - "Packet Reprise"
The S.O.S. Band - "Tell Me if You Still Care"
