Storytelling for Change: Recording with Jordan Baylon!
Storytelling for Change: Anti-Racism takes Principles!
When you get a chance to have a deep conversation about community, I keep coming back to this recorded chat with friend, and community steward, Jordan Baylon. When I reflected on the conversation with Jordan, her and I shared about the deep relational work required to do anti-racism work: it takes principles. Jordan explained how they see themselves at the conduit between grassroots and organizational change - but it's not without the challenges of remaining authentic.
Who is Jordan?
Jordan Baylon (they/she) is a diasporic Filipina/o/x artist, community worker and kapwa futurist, born, raised and practicing in Mohkinstsis (Calgary), Treaty 7. Their work emerges from the intimate stories experienced by their diasporic multongbakla [queer ghost] body orienting itself to the irresistible urge of kapwa (“we relate therefore we are”). For Jordan, kapwa is felt as a powerful treaty-making offering, integrating anti-oppressive practices that morph to meet the complexity, nuance and systemic scales of colonial existence: poetry, performance, facilitation, video, ritual, design, strategy, care-work and witnessing.
“Working with a community is metabolic, relational practice it is the only thing that is material and tangible, because it has to be. that’s where the abundance comes from”.”
This was such a rich conversation to hear from someone who is embedded in work related to strengthening our collective power. Jordan reaffrims in this chat how important it is to not just talk about it. It's about modelling anti-racism practice in real time to give each other the space to reimagine. I want to thank Jordan for bringing such light to the complexity of identify, love and hope! I hold and cherish this precious conversation
Kapwa we relate therefore we are.
In addition, I appreciate the Birds, flowers and Dogs and the rest of the living things that made their voices heard as well!
- Tyson
Jordan’s thoughts about the recording:
"I also want to appreciate and thank Tyson and Karl for creating this special time-space, which I travel back to often, and fondly. I must warn any fellow listener/time-traveler that this is several hours of rich, nuanced, interconnected conversation compressed skillfully by Tyson into a seamless ingot, to fortify and fashion for whatever community care designs and hauntings you want to imagine. As I listen back, I have sympathy and gratitude for all my dear relations who go on these wild rides of sharing and imagination with me - I'm one for non-linear connections and lots of fractal scale jumping haha. I'm especially grateful for the ever timely offers of a compassionate furry head to pet whenever our brains started sparkling out of our bodies (and the flower pollen tickled my sinuses). Safe travels, take lots of rest and make sure there are good snacks! xoxo Jordan"
Tyson, Karl and Jordan
Visuals designed by Jordan and drawn by Aya.
