The SALT TALK with Jermine Alberty
The SALT TALK w/ Jermine Alberty is a podcast dedicated to having conversations of healing and recovery surrounding topics of mental health challenges, addictions, spirituality, and guest will talk about how their work serves, affirm, loves, and transform those they encounter. Join us for each episode as we get salty.
The SALT TALK with Jermine Alberty
Wicked: For Good — Understanding the Other
What if the “wicked” one was never wicked at all—just named that way by people who needed a villain? We take Wicked beyond the big screen to explore how labels form, why difference scares us, and how narrative power shapes who gets believed. Through the SALT lens—service, affirmation, love, and transformation—we unpack how stigma attaches to mental health, neurodiversity, race, gender expression, poverty, ability, and the trauma responses that keep people safe while making others uncomfortable.
I share why simple villains are so tempting and how institutions—from families to churches to media—benefit when someone else carries the blame. We talk about Elphaba’s choices as wounds, not wickedness; about how withdrawal gets misread as disrespect, emotion as instability, and boundaries as rebellion. Then we pivot to the friendship between Glinda and Elphaba as a model for seeing one another fully. Transformation doesn’t come through judgment; it grows when we choose connection over assumption and practice affirmation beyond rumor and fear.
We also draw from scripture to show a consistent pattern: the ones society misunderstands—the Samaritan woman, the man among the tombs, Moses with a stutter, David overlooked, even Jesus accused—become the people through whom redemption arrives. That arc invites a personal audit. Who have you misunderstood? Who did you label before you listened? Who told you who you were before you could become yourself? By the end, you’ll have a sharper eye for othering, a kinder framework for difference, and a practical way to serve, affirm, love, and transform your closest circles.
If this conversation moved you, follow the show, share it with someone who needs it, and leave a review telling us one label you’re ready to retire. Your voice helps more people trade simple villains for complicated truths.
The SALT Talk with Jermine Alberty
Service. Affirmation. Love. Transformation.
Thank you for tuning in to The SALT Talk, where we inspire transformation through honest conversations about faith, healing, and purpose.
Be sure to subscribe, rate, and share this episode with someone who needs encouragement today.
To learn more about the SALT Initiative or to book Rev. Alberty for training or speaking engagements, visit www.jerminealberty.com.
Until next time, remember:
Serve with humility, affirm with compassion, love with courage, and live a life of transformation.
Welcome to Soft Talk with Jermaine Alberty, where we explore how service, affirmation, love, and transformation help us live, heal, and lead with purpose. Today we turn to the film musical Wicked, a story that flips the narrative and asks us to rethink everything we thought we knew about good, evil, belonging, and truth. I went to go see this movie and I was completely blown away. And here's the anchor to this idea with this review and this podcast I'm doing today, because I've studied a lot of scripture, and what I noticed is that what ancient people did not understand, they demonized or made other. And what we still don't understand today, we continue to other. This is not just a movie review, it's a reflection on culture, trauma, faith, and the power of perception. Alphabet is not wicked, she's named wicked. Her differences become her accusation. Many of us know what it feels like to be misunderstood, mislabeled, misinterpreted, judged without being known. And sometimes the villain isn't who we are, it's who someone else needs us to be in order to feel safe. From the salt lens of affirmation, affirmation means seeing beyond rumor, fear, and projection. You see, alphabet's green skin becomes a metaphor for the kinds of differences we stigmatize today: mental health, neurodiversity, culture, trauma responses, skin tone, gender expression, poverty, ability. When we fear difference, we distance, and when we distance, we dehumanize. The salt lens here is love, because love recognizes humanity even when we don't fully understand. The wizard teaches a hard truth. People prefer a simple villain over a complicated truth. And throughout history and today, people in power have recognized narrative. Families do it, churches do it, media does it, social networks amplify it. The salt lens here is service. Service asks who benefits when someone else is blamed. Alpha doesn't act from wickedness, she acts from rejection, longing, disappointment, and moral conviction. And many of us, especially in faith spaces, have been punished for trauma responses. Withdrawal mistaken for disrespect, emotion mistaken for instability, boundaries mistaken for rebellion. If we understood the womb, we would interpret the behavior differently. You see, the friendship between Glenda and Alphabet reminds us we are shaped by the people who truly see us. When they sing for good, the message is clear. We are transformed through relationship, not judgment. The salt lens of transformation is simply this transformation happens when we choose connection over assumption. You see, scripture is full of people who were othered. The Samaritan woman, the man among the tombs, Moses with a stutter, David was overlooked, Jesus himself accused and fear, and the spiritual truth remains. The rejected one becomes the redemptive one. God often works through the one society misunderstands. So let me ask you, who have you misunderstood? Who did you label before you listened? Who did you assume was difficult when they were really hurting? And on the other side, who told you who you were before you had a chance to become yourself? You see, wicked reminds us no one is born the villain. Sometimes they are cast in the role. And for good reminds us healing happens when we see each other fully. So today, may we see deeper, judge slower, welcome wider, listen longer, because the world doesn't need more people who demonize the unfamiliar. The world needs people willing to understand it. Thank you for joining me today on the Salt Talk. I'm Jermaine Alberty, reminding you that transformation begins with how you speak, how you love, and how you live. Until next time, serve, affirm, love, and transform. This is Jermaine Alberty, and you'll be listening to the Salt Talk.
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