Pushing Past Polite

Who needs to hear how to reclaim their power? Share this episode with people in your life that would benefit (pushingpastpolitepodcast.com) and talk about it together! Give us a review on your podcast app, engage with our posts on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube so other folks can find us. Dr. Lisa Mazzio, Clinical Psychologist and Owner of Watermark Psychological Services in Norfolk, Virginia joins us as our second ever pod guest! Not only has she known Laura for over 25 years (!!), but she specializes in providing therapy to folks in high control relationships. Does that sound like it meets our political moment or what?Lisa shares what she’s seeing broadly across her therapy sessions and shares that it feels very similar to counseling during covid where everyone felt like they were in a pressure cooker. Lisa reads a powerful quote from The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene and we see how the president is trying to strategically suspend us in terror. We discuss the fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses folks are exhibiting and how bombardment limits freedom of thought. It makes you overwhelmed and it tempts you to get small. But, as Ezra Klein recently said in his podcast, “Don’t Believe Him!”Kori prompts us to investigate why some folks believed him in the first place, sharing that if you thought YOU were safe at the expense of others, you’re now in danger. Marginalized folks know this lesson all too well. If we don’t look out for all of humanity, we are all vulnerable.We dive into how to manage the overwhelm and still stay active. Divide up the work. Find one thing you really care about - listen to your anger - and invest your energy there - and find like minded friends to take on the other parts. Then share and learn together. And don’t underestimate the power of real world, in person, local action. Show up to your local community center and ask how you can help. You’ll get out of yourself and gain perspective.We also talk about how we’re processing the current state of our nation with our children by prioritizing freedom of thought, developmentally appropriate access to information, and encouraging them to support their opinions with facts. While the world is FAFO (effing around and finding out), we want to reclaim the term and be the Fun Aunties Fighting Oppression - working shoulder-to-shoulder in our friend groups, in raising our children, and at our community centers!Sidenote: Words are hard for Laura today. Please forgive her. She’s fine. ;) And Lisa, come back again soon!

2025 is no joke y’all, and community is CRITICAL to survival. You know one way to build community? Share this episode with a like-minded friend from our website (pushingpastpolitepodcast.com) and talk about it! Give us a review on your podcast app, engage with our posts on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube so other folks can find us. On Episode 33, we start by talking about all the things the new administration doesn’t want you to hear about, like bird flu, a raging tuberculosis outbreak, how firing the FAA director and freezing hiring of air traffic controllers likely contributed to a deadly plane crash, the operation of a concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay that will likely include the internment of our own citizens (WWII history repeating itself), challenging the citizenship for indigenous people. This is how hate works. You think that the “others” are fine to direct hate towards, but it’ll eventually be your turn. There is no protection from it.People are stunned by the flurry of activity - timed perfectly to make us stay home, be compliant, and then they can even blame things on the previous administration.Keith shared about his challenging work in communications on federally-funded projects and the real impact a funding freeze has and might continue to have on his colleagues. Gutting federal departments is a way to make his homies rich, awarding federal contracts to them instead. Kori, Keith, and Laura plot their hopefulness on a continuum. Keith is most despairing, Laura is in the middle, and Kori is most hopeful. Probably b/c her entire 42 years of lived experience as a Black woman in America have prepared her for injustice. Kori points out that white folks are socialized to be nice, be polite, don’t talk about that here or now - or ever. And that’s a big part of what got us here - our unwillingness to confront harmful thinking and behaviors.Being on the receiving end of harmful policy is pretty new for most white folks, so while they may feel stunned, scared, and hopeless, Kori gives us all the pep talk we need. This isn’t the time to be tired. Take a lesson from our Black, trans, differently-abled brothers and sisters and keep moving. Drink that Red Bull if you need it, but get out there and fight - and live in spite of injustice. Channel your inner Brave Heart. Paint that face. Let’s effing go! Look for the helpers and BE one of them! Listen to your patriotic songs and know that this is YOUR time.If the events of the past few weeks have opened your eyes in new ways, you are welcome here. Check out our catalog of 32 other podcast episodes and join us in Pushing Past Polite in your communities.P.S. And can we say how ahead of our time our fangirling of Costco was? I mean damn. Love you, COSTCO. Now more than ever. And three cheers for the Bravo Cinematic Universe sweatshirt Laura wore for this recording. Takes us way back to our friendship origin story and the conversation where we debate Bravo v. Marvel.

2025 is here, y’all and it’s our 2-year podcast-a-versary! You know the best gift you could give us? A review and a follow - and sharing an episode with a friend! Our website is pushingpastpolitepodcast.com, and you can find us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube @pushingpastpolite)On Episode 32, we acknowledge how 2025 started off with a bang - raging wildfires in California and an ice storm with no water for most of the Richmond, Virginia metro area. We trace so much of the climate crisis to removing control of the land from indigenous peoples! Other topics include State Farm dropping coverage for folks due to fire risk and trying to remember which spokesperson represents them in the commercials. Also, words are hard, Dora the Explorer, Tinder, the Red One Christmas movie on Netflix, Luigi being charged with terrorism, universal health care, reproductive rights, election fundraising, Ukraine, Gaza, capitalism, a great quote from Maggie Smith, Gwen Stefani teaching us to spell bananas, a beautiful duet popularized by Sara Bareillis and Jason Mraz, Hope Floats, Debbie from Alabama, modern friendships described as water features, pulled muscles and snow blower sales, Washington Commander suite seats, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, the Lion King, our current reading lists, and the Santa-Mommy connection.The core of this episode is a reflective pause at the start of a new year using a set of journal prompts from Laura Tremaine: What will you remember from 2024? Who mattered to you in 2024? Where did you find peace? What were your triumphs? What was the biggest lesson you learned? What do you want to leave behind in 2024? What do you want to carry forward into 2025? Think about it, journal if you want, and talk about it with people you love and trust. Let’s buckle up for 2025 together! Talk soon!

Happy holidays! You know the best gift you could give us? A review and a follow - and sharing an episode with a friend! Our website is pushingpastpolitepodcast.com, and you can find us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube @pushingpastpolite)On Episode 31, we have our first actual guest! Our dear mutual friend Jared joins us and shares so much wisdom - from why men need longer hugs to what it feels like to be an autistic man interacting in a predominantly allistic society. Kori and Laura start off singing some Flo Rida because sometimes it takes them a few moments to focus, and then we do a quick holiday check in. Once we talk through how we’re tackling wrapping gifts, the gals share their experiences with Jared and then let him introduce himself to you all. Conversation topics include the inclination for white folks to have more exclusionary circles over time, the concept of weaponized mass envy brought on by social hierarchies (see: white supremacy), the megaphone and the whispers of hateful policy, the importance of validating individuals’ experiences, the magic of good communication (with paraphrasing and active listening). We then shift to asking Jared what’s on his mind, given his intersectional identities as an autistic, gay, white man looking ahead to 2025. Unsurprisingly, we touch on politics, and Jared warns us to avoid the temptation to vilify large swaths of folks, drawing on experiences he’s had visiting Texas. He encourages us instead to get brave and have conversation - even if it’s awkward - to try to bridge divides. And please listen out for his love language that Kori and I want to put on mugs, sweatshirts, and socks. Y’all, we just know you’ll love him like we do.

Happy gratitude season! We’d be ever so grateful if you’d follow us on social media (@pushingpastpolite on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube), drop us a rating and review, and share episodes with your friends!On Episode 30, our trio of Kori, Keith, Laura focus on gratitude. They share what they’re grateful for - including family, friends, and the podcast as well as Kerrygold butter, Costco, a Turkish rug, herbs and houseplants, the Marco Polo app, a Gordon Ramsey poached salmon recipe, classic music, a KitchenAid mixer named Josephine the Mixing Queen, self-employment and owning our time, conversations with random strangers that lead to something beautiful, coffee shop vibes in a sauna, a strong sense of community, Cindy - our new listener, good audio quality, friends that push you to be your best self, and upcoming opportunities to travel. But not to Knott’s Berry Farm. Getting stuck on a ride for hours sounds like torture.And bonus - funny kid stories. Don’t yuck that yum.Wishing you and yours a heart-warming, soul-restoring day and season of gratitude to bolster us for what lies ahead.

Episode 29 kicks off with Kori anticipating the fatigue and stress that is hosting sleepovers for little ones. Laura thinks she’s lost her mind, hosting toddlers and preschoolers for a sleepover. Not even caffeine and wine can save you. We all agree that whoever put Halloween, Daylight Savings, and Election Day in the same week clearly hates us. We spend most of our time debriefing our lack of surprise, but sincere disappointment with the federal election outcomes from our perspectives: Keith as a white man in a red state, Kori as a Black woman in a blue state, and Laura as a white woman in a reddish-purple area of a blue state. We touch on Florida’s constitutional amendments to enshrine abortion rights and legalize marijuana that failed, representation, the importance of protecting transgender kids, how moving to Portugal is tempting, immigration, the perception of the economy, how we recovered and processed our feelings in the wake of the outcomes, the blue bracelet “trend,” how we won’t be storming the capitol, 34 felony charges that seem not to matter because of someone’s whiteness, how our government secrets will be by the toilet in MiraLago, and so much more. We focus on what’s true before the election that’s also true now - like our care for the vulnerable, love for our families, and showing up to do the work. We mourn how everyone will lose something - even if they don’t realize it yet, and we again flex our compassion muscle to try to understand what motivated folks to vote against their own interests. And we have to then craft a message and a platform that speaks to those needs. So we look ahead to next year’s governor’s race (in Virginia) and congressional midterms (2026) to put together a firewall against this administration - as well as actions we can take in our communities to organize and stand up for folks who will need us. And Kori shares more about her toddler and preschooler's plans for an epic sleepover. Godspeed, mama. Follow us on social media (@pushingpastpolite on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube), drop us a rating and review, and share episodes with your friends!