Tommy Allgood...a friend of the Pod...and Ryan Lambros have a beautiful conversation with NO agenda other than talking about what healing looks like in life…their own and in the world. Tommy and Ryan talk about listening to our bodies and what that means. They talk about safety on a personal and societal level.

This is not your typical podcast. It is like dropping in on a conversation over coffee with a brilliant person, Tommy Allgood, who shares incredibly about healing and how we can participate in it.

My good friend Tommy Allgood joins me for the latest episode of Please Say Black. During this episode, he and I discuss Black Joy. Tommy shares an expansive understanding of Black joy. Together, we hold space to discuss the tensions that communally exist that may prohibit joy in light of our traumas. Tommy helps our listeners understand the power of somatic practice in gaining access to more joy within an anti-Black world and violent systems.

During this episode, Tommy discusses hush harbors and epigenetics. They also mention Austin Channing Brown’s I’m Still Here, Barbara Holme’s Joy Unspeakable, Resmaa Menakem’s My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies and Overcoming Anti-Blackness and finding Black Love a sermon preached by Teaching Pastor Cedric Lundy.

Tommy is a co-host of the Permission to Be podcast. They are also the creator behind the Collective on Patreon and serves as a guide within the Anti-Oppression Academy. You can follow him on Medium and Instagram.

"We are powerful because we have survived." " - Audre Lorde

In this episode, I talked with Tommy Allgood. Tommy is a registered nurse, a life, wellness, and spiritual coach, and an organizational consultant. We discussed how Tommy is helping create anti-oppressive structures.

Resources Mentioned:

In Class with Carr YouTube videos

The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby

NowThis video "Theologian Ekemini Uwan On Faith and the Pandemic"

Andre Henry's website andrehenry.co

adrienne maree brown's website adriennemareebrown.net

History Shows Us podcast with Lettie Gore

"Examining the Bible We Have with David Cady" on Broadening the Narrative

"Joy and Liberation with Tina Strawn" on Broadening the Narrative

In this episode, I am talking to my friend Thomas Garvin (AKA Tommy Allgood)!

Tommy and I connected and I was immediately drawn to his authenticity and energy.

I wanted him to share his journey with Christianity, sexuality and standing up for racial injustice.

Hearing the struggles that Tommy has overcome while being so incredibly happy and peaceful is so inspiring.

I was mostly excited to hear about polyamory and how that practice works for Tommy and how he connects that to sharing love and truth.

It definitely stretched me and my beliefs!

I am honored to be taught by Tommy and inspired to open my mind even more to love and empathy toward others!

One of my favorite quotes during this interview, "Joy is not the absence of discomfort but the ability to move through it."

How We Show Up: An Introduction into Partnership and Solidarity | Tommy Allgood

Long time Watershed Community member and Justice Partner, Tommy Allgood, leads some of their spiritual community and chosen family through a number of thoughts and experiences that foster radical community, solidarity, and mutual aid.

The Queer One: An LGBTQIA+ Conversation

On Sunday, February 13, 2022, three speakers took the stage to discuss their own experiences with faith and relationships through lenses informed by the LGBTQIA+ experience. The conversation is both deeply personal and provocative and affirming for the sacredness of all of us.

David Roberts, Kim Honeycutt, and Tommy Allgood talk about the ideas and implications behind queer identity, the window of tolerance and ways to co-regulate with your partner, the importance and sacredness of the concept of wholeness, and so much more.

The Queer One Q&A

After our service this morning, you're invited to sign into our livestream for a Q & A with our speakers this morning - Tommy Allgood, Kim Honeycutt, and David Roberts.

Amazing Peace | A Christmas Poem By Maya Angelou | Watershed Charlotte

A reflective reading of Amazing Peace, a Christmas Poem by Maya Angelou.

I Release | A Meditation

An invitation to open your hearts and minds, to become like children again so that a new narrative can be told. A narrative that invites and infuses hope, healing, joy and opportunity. The opportunity to awaken. The opportunity to struggle. And the opportunity to love together as though a different world is possible today.

Austin Smith: Keys, Vocals

Tyler Hamrick: Vocals

Thomas Garvin: Cello, Vocals

Tony Arreaza: Electric Guitar

Jay Koebel: Drums

Queering Love and Theology in the Time of Corona

On February 21, 2021, David and Tommy share their ideas about Queering Love and Theology during the time of Corona. David and Tommy draw on ideas of womanist, black, and queer theology to present some thoughts about what love looks like in the twenty-first century.

Queering our Faith | A follow up to Queering Love and Theology

In this episode of Theological Thursday, Student/Justice Pastor David Roberts, and Tommy Allgood answer a question that was asked in the comments during their talk on February 21, 2021.

A conversation on Decolonization with Kaitlin Curtice

Tommy Allgood and Shawn Bowers-Buxton in conversation with author, poet, and activist Kaitlin Curtice

Interview with Watershed’s Diversity and Inclusivity Team

How might Diversity and Inclusion apply to the faith space. What does the work look like inside one spiritual community? This interview hopefully spurs some imagination.

Speakers: Lauren Haynes, Dee Watson, Karen Simmons, and Tommy Allgood- Facilitated by Scott Hofert and Matt O’neil

In Conversation with Austin Channing Brown

Tommy Allgood and Matt O’neil iin conversation with Austin Channing Brown about racial equity and the Church.