Joshua
@busybeingblack.com
Creator, curator and host of Busy Being Black. Writer, poet, creative alchemist.
busybeingblack.com
busybeingblack.com
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Joshua
@busybeingblack.com
· Oct 1
For listeners playing Kevin Quashie Bingo, that's shot number 3,789. Please drink responsibly 💀
Our Miraculous Hearts with Phoebe Boswell: pod.link/1355469484/e...
Our Miraculous Hearts with Phoebe Boswell: pod.link/1355469484/e...
‘Every person who plays jazz is a genius. Duke Ellington, Herbie Hancock: these guys set whole new ways of thinking, expressing music and interpreting—but all of the artistic pursuits go beyond the mind, to inform an intelligence of the soul.’
Julian Joseph OBE
Julian Joseph OBE
the magic and Black genius of jazz music with Julian Joseph OBE
YouTube video by Busy Being Black with Joshua Rivers
youtu.be
October 22, 2025 at 5:57 PM
‘Every person who plays jazz is a genius. Duke Ellington, Herbie Hancock: these guys set whole new ways of thinking, expressing music and interpreting—but all of the artistic pursuits go beyond the mind, to inform an intelligence of the soul.’
Julian Joseph OBE
Julian Joseph OBE
I need the human at Descript who wrote 'what will you do with your one wild and precious Underlord delay' to know that it did go unnoticed 😂
October 18, 2025 at 4:21 AM
I need the human at Descript who wrote 'what will you do with your one wild and precious Underlord delay' to know that it did go unnoticed 😂
Reposted by Joshua
In a 1984 recording of her teaching in Berlin, at one point in a discussion about racism, Audre Lorde booms over the nervous laughter of her white students: “GUILT IS AN IMPERFECT FORM OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE!”
The whole room falls silent.
The whole room falls silent.
Does Guilt Make Us Better or Worse? #philosophy #emotions #guilt
YouTube video by Myisha Cherry PHD
m.youtube.com
October 16, 2025 at 6:31 AM
In a 1984 recording of her teaching in Berlin, at one point in a discussion about racism, Audre Lorde booms over the nervous laughter of her white students: “GUILT IS AN IMPERFECT FORM OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE!”
The whole room falls silent.
The whole room falls silent.
Reposted by Joshua
ROOTWORK: Rallying Together for These Times ❤️🔥
A UK-wide tour of workshops with @nkem-ndefo.bsky.social @lumostransforms.bsky.social. In this moment of polycrises there is no structural change without deep inner-led change that uproots & attends to root causes.
www.eventbrite.com/cc/rootwork-...
A UK-wide tour of workshops with @nkem-ndefo.bsky.social @lumostransforms.bsky.social. In this moment of polycrises there is no structural change without deep inner-led change that uproots & attends to root causes.
www.eventbrite.com/cc/rootwork-...
October 16, 2025 at 6:57 AM
ROOTWORK: Rallying Together for These Times ❤️🔥
A UK-wide tour of workshops with @nkem-ndefo.bsky.social @lumostransforms.bsky.social. In this moment of polycrises there is no structural change without deep inner-led change that uproots & attends to root causes.
www.eventbrite.com/cc/rootwork-...
A UK-wide tour of workshops with @nkem-ndefo.bsky.social @lumostransforms.bsky.social. In this moment of polycrises there is no structural change without deep inner-led change that uproots & attends to root causes.
www.eventbrite.com/cc/rootwork-...
For listeners playing Kevin Quashie Bingo, that's shot number 3,789. Please drink responsibly 💀
Our Miraculous Hearts with Phoebe Boswell: pod.link/1355469484/e...
Our Miraculous Hearts with Phoebe Boswell: pod.link/1355469484/e...
October 1, 2025 at 1:11 AM
For listeners playing Kevin Quashie Bingo, that's shot number 3,789. Please drink responsibly 💀
Our Miraculous Hearts with Phoebe Boswell: pod.link/1355469484/e...
Our Miraculous Hearts with Phoebe Boswell: pod.link/1355469484/e...
September 29, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Joshua
'All I wanted to do was be a painter, but I was dissuaded by a white man tutor. He said, "I don't get what you're trying to say. What I suggest you do is stop buying paint and instead spend your money on Miles Davis records and go and hang out in Brixton."'
pod.link/1355469484/e...
pod.link/1355469484/e...
September 25, 2025 at 1:25 AM
'All I wanted to do was be a painter, but I was dissuaded by a white man tutor. He said, "I don't get what you're trying to say. What I suggest you do is stop buying paint and instead spend your money on Miles Davis records and go and hang out in Brixton."'
pod.link/1355469484/e...
pod.link/1355469484/e...
Reposted by Joshua
A system cannot fail those it was never built to protect.
— W.E.B. DuBois
— W.E.B. DuBois
August 30, 2025 at 7:16 AM
A system cannot fail those it was never built to protect.
— W.E.B. DuBois
— W.E.B. DuBois
Even as we destroy what confines and degrades us, we build, we grow, we nurture, we deepen, we bear witness. It can’t be a coincidence that we can do what makes us most human with tears in our eyes.
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/dont-get-got-get-god
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/dont-get-got-get-god
Don't get got, get God
It is very unserious to suggest that the divine is blood-thirsty and murderous.
thedancingboy.substack.com
September 28, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Even as we destroy what confines and degrades us, we build, we grow, we nurture, we deepen, we bear witness. It can’t be a coincidence that we can do what makes us most human with tears in our eyes.
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/dont-get-got-get-god
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/dont-get-got-get-god
'What I'm most enchanted by is finding soft moments to exist beyond production, labour or service. I’m delighted by my ability to advance through life this way, with that perfect balance of grace and grit'.
https://www.busybeingblack.com/black-marvellous/elijah-mckinnon
https://www.busybeingblack.com/black-marvellous/elijah-mckinnon
The imaginative work of becoming undone
Elijah McKinnon is the executive diva of OTV, and an imagination worker
turning dreams into reality with decisive, intersectional and enlivening
action across the media ecosystem.
www.busybeingblack.com
September 27, 2025 at 11:30 PM
'What I'm most enchanted by is finding soft moments to exist beyond production, labour or service. I’m delighted by my ability to advance through life this way, with that perfect balance of grace and grit'.
https://www.busybeingblack.com/black-marvellous/elijah-mckinnon
https://www.busybeingblack.com/black-marvellous/elijah-mckinnon
Reposted by Joshua
Submissions to our call for proposals are due October 3, 2025!
On April 6-7 2026, we will have the in-person conference and on April 8 it will be entirely online. Online attendees will have access to some in-person sessions, pending presenters' consent to being recorded.
#decolonialconference
On April 6-7 2026, we will have the in-person conference and on April 8 it will be entirely online. Online attendees will have access to some in-person sessions, pending presenters' consent to being recorded.
#decolonialconference
September 27, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Submissions to our call for proposals are due October 3, 2025!
On April 6-7 2026, we will have the in-person conference and on April 8 it will be entirely online. Online attendees will have access to some in-person sessions, pending presenters' consent to being recorded.
#decolonialconference
On April 6-7 2026, we will have the in-person conference and on April 8 it will be entirely online. Online attendees will have access to some in-person sessions, pending presenters' consent to being recorded.
#decolonialconference
'Lynching postcards would be kept and maintained and preserved [as] correspondence or communication of intimacies that travelled across state and international lines: this was viral culture.'
https://www.busybeingblack.com/black-marvellous/legacy-russell
https://www.busybeingblack.com/black-marvellous/legacy-russell
Rehumanising the Black Meme
Legacy Russell is a curator and writer who shows how Black people have
shaped viral culture, revealing the economies of extraction that predate
the internet and pointing towards collective world-building.
www.busybeingblack.com
September 27, 2025 at 2:00 PM
'Lynching postcards would be kept and maintained and preserved [as] correspondence or communication of intimacies that travelled across state and international lines: this was viral culture.'
https://www.busybeingblack.com/black-marvellous/legacy-russell
https://www.busybeingblack.com/black-marvellous/legacy-russell
Meaning must be wrung from what’s left of this spirited trunk, raised to broken and begging lips, where a curling and tumescent sapling, all thrust, pulse and promise will decipher directions to the disinherited king.
Fit for a King
A solitary pirate sails down the dusted cunt of my back, the only remnant of the life that used to surge here.
open.substack.com
September 26, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Meaning must be wrung from what’s left of this spirited trunk, raised to broken and begging lips, where a curling and tumescent sapling, all thrust, pulse and promise will decipher directions to the disinherited king.
A friend messages with a spell / the wind moving through the trees sounds like the ocean / I am hoisted up and flung into the air / a kamikaze of legs and arms / a child adored and alight / sun-kissed and screaming with giggles
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/the-magicians
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/the-magicians
September 26, 2025 at 8:00 PM
A friend messages with a spell / the wind moving through the trees sounds like the ocean / I am hoisted up and flung into the air / a kamikaze of legs and arms / a child adored and alight / sun-kissed and screaming with giggles
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/the-magicians
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/the-magicians
'I think trauma does things to you that are non-linear, and with all the best intentions, and all the will in the world to want to learn from the lesson, you still find yourself putting walls up.'
https://pod.link/1355469484/episode/YjNjNzg2YmEtOTZlYy0xMWYwLThhZGEtOTczMWIyNmY2NjU2
https://pod.link/1355469484/episode/YjNjNzg2YmEtOTZlYy0xMWYwLThhZGEtOTczMWIyNmY2NjU2
September 26, 2025 at 2:00 PM
'I think trauma does things to you that are non-linear, and with all the best intentions, and all the will in the world to want to learn from the lesson, you still find yourself putting walls up.'
https://pod.link/1355469484/episode/YjNjNzg2YmEtOTZlYy0xMWYwLThhZGEtOTczMWIyNmY2NjU2
https://pod.link/1355469484/episode/YjNjNzg2YmEtOTZlYy0xMWYwLThhZGEtOTczMWIyNmY2NjU2
Reposted by Joshua
Bookmarked this for tomorrow! That statistic inspired me to learn how to swim this year, not only did I learn - I now practice 2-3 times a week! 🏊🏿♀️
When Phoebe Boswell learned that 95% of Black British adults don't swim, she invited couples, friends and family members to hold each other in the water. Their courage called her back to her first love.
https://pod.link/1355469484/episode/YjNjNzg2YmEtOTZlYy0xMWYwLThhZGEtOTczMWIyNmY2NjU2
https://pod.link/1355469484/episode/YjNjNzg2YmEtOTZlYy0xMWYwLThhZGEtOTczMWIyNmY2NjU2
September 25, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Bookmarked this for tomorrow! That statistic inspired me to learn how to swim this year, not only did I learn - I now practice 2-3 times a week! 🏊🏿♀️
The children, possessed with their survival and rabid with betrayal, covered themselves in the blood of the complicit, set alight what was left of the pretences and disappeared into the woods.
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/the-end-of-days
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/the-end-of-days
September 26, 2025 at 11:00 AM
The children, possessed with their survival and rabid with betrayal, covered themselves in the blood of the complicit, set alight what was left of the pretences and disappeared into the woods.
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/the-end-of-days
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/the-end-of-days
Her decision to illustrate herself in willow charcoal on the walls of the gallery was a gesture of trust that I found difficult to comprehend. I couldn’t understand myself as just as delicate: to my mind, I deserved my pain.
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/you-must-surrender-your-armour
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/you-must-surrender-your-armour
September 26, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Her decision to illustrate herself in willow charcoal on the walls of the gallery was a gesture of trust that I found difficult to comprehend. I couldn’t understand myself as just as delicate: to my mind, I deserved my pain.
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/you-must-surrender-your-armour
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/you-must-surrender-your-armour
When Phoebe Boswell learned that 95% of Black British adults don't swim, she invited couples, friends and family members to hold each other in the water. Their courage called her back to her first love.
https://pod.link/1355469484/episode/YjNjNzg2YmEtOTZlYy0xMWYwLThhZGEtOTczMWIyNmY2NjU2
https://pod.link/1355469484/episode/YjNjNzg2YmEtOTZlYy0xMWYwLThhZGEtOTczMWIyNmY2NjU2
September 25, 2025 at 8:00 PM
When Phoebe Boswell learned that 95% of Black British adults don't swim, she invited couples, friends and family members to hold each other in the water. Their courage called her back to her first love.
https://pod.link/1355469484/episode/YjNjNzg2YmEtOTZlYy0xMWYwLThhZGEtOTczMWIyNmY2NjU2
https://pod.link/1355469484/episode/YjNjNzg2YmEtOTZlYy0xMWYwLThhZGEtOTczMWIyNmY2NjU2
just as you begin to feel you figured it out / you will harden into stone / boy-cum-comet ablaze / and you will plummet / and they will weep for you / in the valleys you felt so trapped in.
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/wild-horses
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/wild-horses
September 25, 2025 at 2:00 PM
just as you begin to feel you figured it out / you will harden into stone / boy-cum-comet ablaze / and you will plummet / and they will weep for you / in the valleys you felt so trapped in.
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/wild-horses
https://thedancingboy.substack.com/p/wild-horses
Just in: a tender meditation on grief, healing and courage with Phoebe Boswell, a multidisciplinary artist creating portals that return us to our miraculous hearts.
pod.link/1355469484/e...
#busybeingblack #art #podcast
pod.link/1355469484/e...
#busybeingblack #art #podcast
September 25, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Just in: a tender meditation on grief, healing and courage with Phoebe Boswell, a multidisciplinary artist creating portals that return us to our miraculous hearts.
pod.link/1355469484/e...
#busybeingblack #art #podcast
pod.link/1355469484/e...
#busybeingblack #art #podcast
Reposted by Joshua
March 5, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Reposted by Joshua
giving youtube a shot youtu.be/ck_LblMibhM?...
Zuckerberg’s “Masculine Energy”
YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie
youtu.be
January 18, 2025 at 4:30 AM
giving youtube a shot youtu.be/ck_LblMibhM?...
Reposted by Joshua
"We Are Rehearsing Freedom" is a tender and enlivening conversation about the potential of the Black radical imagination to help shift us out of oppressive landscapes and towards just and dignifying worlds that affirm Black aliveness. #BlackSky #BusyBeingBlack
🎧 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...
🎧 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...
November 19, 2024 at 9:33 AM
"We Are Rehearsing Freedom" is a tender and enlivening conversation about the potential of the Black radical imagination to help shift us out of oppressive landscapes and towards just and dignifying worlds that affirm Black aliveness. #BlackSky #BusyBeingBlack
🎧 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...
🎧 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...