What does it mean to watch the Queer Ultimatum Season 2 on Netflix in a time of resistance to escalating wintery raids and kidnappings in Los Angeles and across Turtle Island, in times of escalating g-cide in Gaza, Congo, Sudan, and threats of war with Iran? Does TV keep us from being in movement, or can it provide harm reduction in times of resistance and escalation of harms from systems of oppression? What does it mean to watch reality TV when our analysis and critique relates to real-life people, especially in queer and trans community where everyone is one-to-two degrees of separation? Do we even want to see a queer show about ultimatums and marriage? What does it mean to watch this product of Hollywood and America’s soft power and pink washing globally, while also being given crumbs and being desperate for queer and trans media?

In this episode, Carolyn Collado (they/them) and Laila Makled (they/he) provide an introduction to the Queer Ultimatum Season 2, taking a look at the trailer and Autostraddle’s description of the cast and consider the role and function of reality tv, especially queer reality tv in America, on a global scale, and as we fight for liberation.

Chapters 00:00 - Why are we talking about this show now?

10:31 - media and its role in imperialism and globalization

12:08 globalization of queer media and the queer ultimatum

15:26 - the desperation for queer and trans media

19:05 - considerations of the impact on real people of social media reality tv discourse

25:24: queer ultimatum season 2 trailer reaction and initial impressionsLaila is a care-worker, people gather-er, resource creator, and communication nerd. Follow Laila, sign up for their newsletter, and check out more of their work at outtherecommunication.net or @out_there_communication on Instagram.

Event planning workbook: https://outtherecommunication.net/blog/eventplanningworkbook

If you feel called to “tip” or support Laila’s work financially:

-sign up for their patreon www.patreon.com/lailamakled

-Venmo: @LailaRhoda

-Cashapp: $LailaRhoda

-Paypal: lailamakled@gmail.com

Purchase the ⁠Recovering Under Racial Capitalism Journal ebook⁠ https://snpfd.co/bG04UGu3

Subscribe to our ⁠Patreon⁠ $3 from everyone viewing would help make this work sustainable!⁠⁠⁠http://patreon.com/recoveryfortherevolution⁠⁠⁠

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Book a ⁠1:1 Decolonizing Recovery Coaching Session with Me⁠ https://snpfd.co/5NheDQ5Y

So many of us are feeling hopeless and scared as so much upheaval and threat has escalated in the United States empire and all over the world. So many of us are feeling like we might want to drink or use or feeling like we might not be able to exist in response to the escalating threat and chaos of these times. This episode is all about helping us get clear about what we can control, and what is outside of our control so we can tap into our strength and hope now and long-term in these times of collapse. In this episode, Carolyn Collado (they/them) dives into the heart of sustainable activism: learning how to focus on what you can control while releasing what you can’t and trusting in the collective. What if the key to navigating and combating our hopelessness in the fight for freedom lies in clarity, mindfulness, boundaries, gentleness, and self-compassion?

Check out this video as we'll explore practical strategies to combat hopelessness, avoid burnout, and channel your energy into meaningful action in the fight for our freedom.We’ll also talk about staying grounded in the chaos of these times, applying mindfulness, harm reduction and revolutionary recovery principles to our activism, and creating spaces of care and resource for ourselves and our communities. This episode delves into the role of mindfulness in helping us stay present, focused, and intentional in our work for collective liberation. Additionally, we discuss recovery as a revolutionary act, exploring how healing ourselves is intertwined with healing our communities and combating the systems that have had us, our ancestors, and our planet struggling for centuries. Whether you’re new to the movement or long time in the fight for our freedom this episode will help you reclaim your power and stay rooted in the struggle for collective liberation.✨ Key Topics Covered: How to identify what’s within your control (and what’s not) Practical tools to avoid activist burnout The role of mindfulness, self-care, and harm reduction in sustaining long-term change Recovery from struggles with substance use, boundary setting, people pleasing, and perfectionism as a revolutionary practice How to stay hopeful and grounded in the face of systemic challenges Stories of resilience and actionable steps for collective freedom💬 Join the conversation: What’s one thing you’re learning to let go of in your fight for freedom? Share your thoughts in the comments below!🌟 Love this episode? Support the podcast!For behind-the-scenes access, exclusive un censo red content, and more, join our Patreon community at https://www.patreon.com/recoveryfortherevolution. Your support helps us continue creating resources to help us recover, decondition from systems of oppression and move in revolution and collective liberationI'm aiming to reach a goal of $6,795/month to launch a monthly live Q&A space hours space where we can dive deeper into questions and discussions about how we practice recovery in a revolutionary way and navigate these times of upheaval and collapse and find community and connection to help us be in these times. After Patreon fees and taxes, this would ensure I can get my needs met so I can consistently and long-term make this much-needed work and keep resources like my podcast and other videos and writings free for those who cannot afford to support my work monetarily. Your support makes this possible!🔔 Don’t forget to subscribe and hit the bell icon to stay updated on our latest episodes about deconditioning, decolonizing, and collective liberation through recovery as a resistance practice.0:00 - Intro03:13 - content warning for Alcoholics Anonymous discussion05:02 - Alcoholics Anonymous and the limited interpretation of the serenity prayer05:58 - control over ourselves12:58 - mindfulness and harm reduction 36:55- taking actions within our control 48:05 - combating hopelessness 49:52 - what is beyond our control

Resisting covid resists colonial, capitalist violence. Resisting covid honors the trans and queer, Black, Indigenous, and people of color, disabled, immunocompromised, drug using, s3x worker, HIV+ ancestors who did everything so we can live. According to the World Health Organization, 7 million people have died from covid since the start of the pandemic, and nearly 780 million covid cases have been reported across the globe since the start of the pandemic. With so many covid cases, hundreds of millions of us have been put at risk of developing long covid, which can lead to brain damage, increased risk of heart attacks, including among young people, and increased risk of becoming immunocompromised.

In this episode, host Carolyn Collado (they/them) outlines how the government and collective pressure to bypass covid has played out. They offer space for us to process and grieve what this pandemic has cost us, and offer harm reduction and recovery practices around people pleasing, perfectionism, and boundary setting to help us resist this mass disabling, mass unaliving event. Carolyn highlights the lineages of Indigenous genocide from plague, and the lineages of harm reduction stemming from the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 80s and 90s to call us to resist this plague in honor of our ancestors.

00:00 - Intro

02:17 - government gaslighting around covid’s impact

16:26 - grieving what we’ve lost with the covid19 pandemic

18:12 - why should we care about covid in 2025 and beyond

22:45 - taking covid precautions to honor our ancestors and resist systemic oppression

29:24 - grieving what we’ve lost to covid

34:17 - how to use harm reduction to navigate life in pandemic times

56:00 - recovery principles to help resist covid

01:14:00 - covid precautions as ancestral veneration

01:33:23 - how do we resist covid systemically

Subscribe to our ⁠Patreon⁠ $3 from everyone viewing would help make this work sustainable! ⁠⁠⁠http://patreon.com/recoveryfortherevolution⁠⁠⁠

Purchase the ⁠Recovering Under Racial Capitalism Journal ebook⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://recovery-for-the-revolution.ck.page/products/recovering-under-racial-capi⁠⁠⁠⁠ Support the Shaheen family in 🍉 https://chuffed.org/project/hodafund Book a ⁠1:1 Decolonizing Recovery Coaching Session with Me⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://calendly.com/recoveryfortherevolution/decolonizing-recovery-coaching⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the Unsettling Recovery waitlist ⁠⁠ https://forms.gle/wNVG1KJu4PdZw4zU7

Election Day and the aftermath has been rough. In this episode, Host Carolyn Collado (they/them), and guest, Laila Makled (they/he) overview some of the themes, conflict, and connections that arose in the aftermath of the 2024 Election in the US imperial core. They reflect on their own grief and processing since Election Day, share strategies for building systems of care and community, and contemplate the question of who to organize with. They discuss fears and realities of living through another four years of a Donald Trump presidency, and trends around gender, race, class and education as it relates to where people are voting. They also touch on the complexities around how grief showed itself across the political ideology, class, racial, and gender spectrum. Along those lines, they note the facts of just how many voting-age people didn’t vote at all, and how this may be a signal for just how many people are out there desiring something different. They close with the importance of building shared language around who we are as a movement, and how story telling, mutual aid, harm reduction, resistance, and gathering can be pillars of hope as we move forward.
Event planning workbook: https://outtherecommunication.net/blog/eventplanningworkbook
Alternatives to calling the police in the “United States” and “Canada”: https://dontcallthepolice.com/
Mental health crisis resources that don’t call the police: https://www.inclusivetherapists.com/contact#crisis
Laila offers workshops, coaching, and consulting on care, communication and conflict for communities and organizations. Follow Laila, sign up for their newsletter, and check out more of their work at outtherecommunication.net or @out_there_communication on Instagram

Purchase the ⁠Recovering Under Racial Capitalism Journal ebook⁠
⁠⁠⁠https://recovery-for-the-revolution.ck.page/products/recovering-under-racial-capi⁠⁠⁠
Subscribe to our ⁠Patreon⁠ $3 from everyone viewing would help make this work sustainable!
⁠⁠⁠http://patreon.com/recoveryfortherevolution⁠⁠⁠
Support the Shaheen family
https://chuffed.org/project/hodafund
Book a ⁠1:1 Decolonizing Recovery Coaching Session with Me⁠
⁠⁠⁠https://calendly.com/recoveryfortherevolution/decolonizing-recovery-coaching⁠⁠⁠
Sign up for the Unsettling Recovery waitlist ⁠⁠ https://forms.gle/wNVG1KJu4PdZw4zU7

We're often told in recovery that we have to survive Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. In this episode, host Carolyn Collado (they/them) reflects on why the holiday season can be challenging for those on a recovery journey. They talk about the colonial root of these holidays, the family dynamics that might harm us, the struggles around pressure to drink and use other substances, or the grief and trauma of the impact other peoples struggles around drinking and other substances. They explore perfectionism and the pressure to be perfect during the holidays, struggles with eating, weight, bodily autonomy, differing covid boundaries, and religious trauma. They offer reflection on what you might want to do for the holidays, and harm reductionist ideas around substance consumption, boundary setting, and strategies to navigate these holidays.

Purchase the ⁠Recovering Under Racial Capitalism Journal ebook⁠

⁠⁠https://recovery-for-the-revolution.ck.page/products/recovering-under-racial-capi⁠⁠

Subscribe to our ⁠Patreon⁠ $3 from everyone viewing would help make this work sustainable!

⁠⁠http://patreon.com/recoveryfortherevolution⁠⁠

Support the Shaheen family

https://chuffed.org/project/hodafund?https://chuffed.org/project/hodafund

Book a ⁠1:1 Decolonizing Recovery Coaching Session with Me⁠

⁠⁠https://calendly.com/recoveryfortherevolution/decolonizing-recovery-coaching⁠⁠

Sign up for the Unsettling Recovery waitlist ⁠ https://forms.gle/wNVG1KJu4PdZw4zU7

:00 - Intro

01:32 - the holidays as colonial propaganda

06:24 - Family Impact during the holidays

10:22 pressure around our relationship with food
14:28 - the holidays and expectations to drink and use other substances

16:22 - the holidays and the pressure to be perfect

17:34 - boundaries and body autonomy with family

19:41 - Navigating Covid boundaries with family

20:36 - Family and religious trauma

22:34- Grieving having different values from family and ongoing unaliving in Palestine

27:14 - how to decide how to navigate the holidays

31:26 - harm reduction in navigating the holidays

36:11 - boundary setting with family over the holidays

36:41 - holding gentleness with family impact on us during the holidays

39:58 - gathering with community to navigate the holidays

No matter what happens on Election Day, one thing won’t change: our need for each other and community. In this episode, Host Carolyn Collado (they/them), and guest, Laila Makled (they/he) discuss preparing for Election Day in the imperial core, what it means to have choice, and grounding in our north star of building power to end racial capitalism. They acknowledge the grief that came with seeing so many who were disgusted by Joe Biden’s funding of genocide, so quickly jumped to the Kamala Harris train, and how they’re feeling now. They discuss the history of harm reduction and the war on drugs, lawful evil (Harris) vs. chaotic evil (Trump), FBI surveillance of our movements, and what it means to vote when the system itself is pro-genocide. They reflect on the hope Uncommitted Movement brings; and while people have been moved to action by the Palestinian genocide, there are many ways the depths of the horror and how they are tied to our day-to-day lives have not been internalized. With that, they offer grounding & next steps as we move forward from this moment together.

Laila offers workshops, coaching, and consulting on care, communication and conflict for communities and organizations. Follow Laila, sign up for their newsletter, and check out more of their work at outtherecommunication.net or @out_there_communication on Instagram

Purchase the ⁠Recovering Under Racial Capitalism Journal ebook⁠ ⁠⁠https://recovery-for-the-revolution.ck.page/products/recovering-under-racial-capi⁠⁠ Subscribe to our ⁠Patreon⁠ $3 from everyone viewing would help make this work sustainable! ⁠⁠http://patreon.com/recoveryfortherevolution⁠⁠ Book a ⁠1:1 Decolonizing Recovery Coaching Session with Me⁠ ⁠⁠https://calendly.com/recoveryfortherevolution/decolonizing-recovery-coaching⁠⁠ Sign up for the Unsettling Recovery waitlist ⁠ https://forms.gle/wNVG1KJu4PdZw4zU7⁠

When you pursue collective liberation, you will lose people, places, and things. In this episode, host Carolyn Collado (they/them) discusses their journey of loss in pursuit of collective liberation, deconditioning from systemic oppression, and reflects on collective traumas like the covid 19 pandemic and the aftermath of the lockdown as society abandoned collective care, the racial uprisings of 2020 and the abandoning of Black liberation movements once it stopped trending, witnessing genocide in Palestine, and the grief in witnessing support of Kamala Harris in the face of her direct complicity with the genocide. All of these events have led to a lot of losses in relationships with others like family, friends, and lovers, with how we navigate capitalism, and how we navigate our society, and we don't talk about the grief of these changes and losses enough.

Purchase the ⁠Recovering Under Racial Capitalism Journal ebook⁠

⁠https://recovery-for-the-revolution.ck.page/products/recovering-under-racial-capi⁠

Subscribe to our ⁠Patreon⁠ $3 from everyone viewing would help make this work sustainable!

⁠http://patreon.com/recoveryfortherevolution⁠

Book a ⁠1:1 Decolonizing Recovery Coaching Session with Me⁠

⁠https://calendly.com/recoveryfortherevolution/decolonizing-recovery-coaching⁠

Sign up for the Unsettling Recovery waitlist https://forms.gle/wNVG1KJu4PdZw4zU7

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

01:17 - capitalism punishes us if we don’t conform to social norms

05:04 - queerness and losing relationships with family and peers

07:24 - race, respectability, and losing people, places, and things

09:10 - racism in Alcoholics Anonymous and struggles to recovering from systemic oppression

15:19 - 2020, covid 19, and collective loss

21:48 - coming into gender and sexual identity in 2020

27:12 - neurodivergence and disability learning in 2020

31:08 covid19 pandemic and collective care loss

40:41 - grieving witnessing a year of mass unaliving 45:29 - grieving the crunch of capitalism

47:43 - the grief of people supporting Kamala Harris in the face of her complicity with genocide

50:05 - dating and vetting based on collective grief and values

51:02 - questions for reflection and calls for community building