Chris L Terry - Novelist

What Is Black? Podcast

Senator Kamala Harris and former Vice President Biden are presidents elect. I think... Now what?

What Is Black? Podcast is a bi-weekly podcast where we talk with Black creatives from varied disciplines, whilst defying the myth of a Black monolith.

I have a propensity to feel like I almost never know what I’m doing. Most of that is because I have difficulty accepting things outside of my control are outside of my control. I’m getting better though and didn’t allow myself to go down a spiral because of the technical issues in this episode.

In spite of that, novelist Chris L Terry and I had an awesome conversation about punk, Black authorship, and when you smash all that together you get this really appealing, thoughtful, and at times quite humorous sandwich. We explore our views on who or what determines Blackness and exchange notes on what we are digging in terms of music and pop culture.

You should also note that Chris has one of the smoothest voices ever. It’s like listening to lotion compared to my ashy nasal-ness. It creates a nice balance. We might have to start an R&B-Hardcore-Screamo-Lullcore band called Dulcet Bones.
For more info on Chris, his novels Zero Fade and Black Card, and his 5 year-old, find him on Twitter and Instagram at @ChrisLTerry and buy Black Card on bookshop.org.

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For literacy moments and links to info you might not know, check the Feel Notes on whatisblackpodcast.com.

Episode Timestamps

00:00:38 - Prelude

00:02:35 - Intro

00:05:25 - Johnny is just Rotten

00:07:24 - Black Card: A Punk Story

00:08:20 - Where do Black people fit in the spectrum of punk?

00:09:30 - How does Afro Punk differ from non-Afro Punk?

00:13:37 - Finding balance between writing and your wallet

00:20:00 - Becoming a *thing*er: the *PING* moment

00:24:00 - “Oh s*it, I’m a writer!” moment: Owning your s*it

00:30:10 - What is a Black story?

00:37:53 - Doctor Who? More like Doctor, where the hell am I going with this?

00:39:28 - What makes weird, weird?

00:41:16 - What Black creatives have to deal with on the regular: expectations and erasure

00:48:36 - Pushing past “white people shit”

00:51:28 - The (Specter of) “Culture”(?) - If sh*t is wack, sh*t is wack

00:56:57 - Plugs

00:59:10 - What is Black?

00:59:39 - Outro