September: A Podcast For Loveships
September is a weekly podcast for Loveships. It explores the tools and technologies that build and sustain life-changing love relationships. Hosted by writer and facilitator Alexis Pauline Gumbs and artist and entrepreneur Sangodare Wallace, this intimate show draws on their 17-year partnership built on the premise of Loveship as a spiritual practice and Loveship as a resource in community.
From conflict and contrast, responsibility and repair, to emotional intimacy and navigating the ever-changing seasons of life, Alexis and Sangodare share insights that nurture not only couples but also families, friends, and communities.
Tune in each week for heartfelt conversations that honor relationships as sacred ground—an offering to ourselves, our people, our ancestors, and spirit.
Episodes
42 episodes
41. So Special, So Special, So Special
On this episode hosts Alexis and Sangodare focus on reclaiming the term “special” in a sincere way. They argue systems like capitalism and empire discourage recognizing inherent dignity and discuss why this self recognition is not vanity but de...
40. Love To Let It Flow
On this episode hosts Sangodare and Alexis discuss purpose as “love flowing into form,” how society and capitalist value stories can separate people from purpose, and how natural gifts often become last on the to-do list. They unpack over-prior...
39. Love To Offer Our Lives
On this episode hosts Sangodare and Alexis introduce love as a collective superpower, arguing that love’s fullest power is not individual or confined to isolated couples or the nuclear family but lives on the scale of community and collective f...
38. An Unreasonable Love (Go Knicks!)
On this episode hosts Sangodare and Alexis celebrate the New York Knicks winning their first NBA championship in 53 years, and how sports and fandom connects to the legacy of collective love and teamwork. Using Alexis’s Dad’s Knicks loyalty as ...
37. Urgent versus Important
On this episode hosts Sangodare and Alexis distinguish what is urgent (time-based) from what is important (value-based) amid capitalist pressures. Using experiences around Black Feminist Film School production and podcast scheduling, they empha...
36. We Go Together (Announcement)
If you want to support this podcast and have access to monthly live sessions with us and other goodies, join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/did-i-mention-we-159287...
35. Love To Shake It Up
In this episode hosts Sangodare and Alexis define what it does and doesn’t look like to spend intentional time together. They distinguish vacations, staycations and jaunts and how they draw distinction and boundaries between these experiences a...
34. I Love Every Age Of You
In this episode hosts Sangodare and Alexis explore non-linear time, queer time, and the practice of loving every age of oneself and one’s partner. Using a conflict about an expensive pillow after mattress shopping, they discuss feeling unseen, ...
33. Love to Hold It Down
In a live episode at North Star Church of the Arts in Durham, Sangodare and Alexis use a seafaring metaphor to explore what it means to be “anchored in love”. They unpack how preparation, resourcing and kindness can keep a “love ship” steady th...
32. Love Through The Dark
In this episode hosts Alexis and Sangodare explore the idea of the “dark night of the soul,” through poetry and a very literal dark-night story of their own. They offer three “North Stars” to help listeners return to love even through the darkn...
31. Love To Be Late
Hosts Sangodare and Alexis reflect on time as a social construct and discuss their contrasting time styles. They share time keeping systems that have worked for them and illustrate how shared practices can align intentions, remembering that ult...
30. Purpose as the Root of Love
Hosts Sangodare and Alexis explore the idea of a “loveship” ad a relationship as spiritual practice. They urge listeners to treat purpose as the seed and root of love, contrasting “happily ever after” with “purposefully ever after,” and groundi...
29. Love the Place You Live: A Live Durham Episode
In this live recorded episode, hosts Alexis and Sangodare welcome the audience into their playful, tangent-filled “living room”. This episode’s theme is loving the place you live: sharing why Durham supports their purpose, community circles, cr...
28. Love Anniversaries & Loveship Milestones
It's our half-birthday—our podcast's 6 month anniversary!If you want to support this podcast and have access to monthly live sessions with us and other goodies, join us on Patreon:
27. Grounded: Sky Will Learn Sky
In this episode Alexis and Sangodare discuss relationship ground rules. They explore contemplative presence before action, awe and surrender to one’s power and surprises in partnership, and repeatedly expanding definitions of what’s possible. T...
26. Celebrate the Squabble: There is One Right Way to Make a Grilled Cheese Sandwich
In this episode Alexis and Sangodare offer a relationship practice: “celebrate the squabble,” framing conflict as a generative opportunity for growth rather than something to fear, and grounding it with levity and curiosity. Drawing on Audre Lo...
25. Metronomes of Love: Influences, Cycles, and Ground Rules in Relationship Rhythms
In this episode Sangodare and Alexis reflect on their “love ship” as a rhythmic, metronome-like practice shaped by consistent internal and external influences. They discuss their first live podcast recording at Gladys Books and Wine, and respon...
24. Loveships Live: Ocean Rhythms
Alexis and Sangodare host a magnetic live recording at Gladys Books and Wine. They discuss the origins of the “love ship” and introduce the idea of “polyrhythm,” where each person carries different beats, such as one handling business while the...
23. The Goal is Freedom: Love Beyond Roles
On this episode Alexis and Sangodare discuss attraction, complementary energies, and how partners can evolve beyond fixed gender roles, drawing on Toni Cade Bambara’s “On the Issue of Roles” to emphasize revolution as freedom. They share an Ifa...
22. Let’s Get Physical Embracing Physical Intimacy and Embodied Love
Sangodare and Alexis delve into the importance of physical intimacy and the practice of embodying love. They reflect on their personal journeys with working out, the significance of ancestral figures like Pat Parker and Audrey Lorde, and the sc...
21. We Free: Creating Our Own Love Ceremonies
On this episode Alexis and Sangodare delve into the concept of creating personal and communal ceremonies that honor individual and collective cycles. They explore reclaiming traditional holidays like Valentine's Day and a look at the importance...
20. Embodied Conflict: Relax, Relate, Release
In this episode Alexis and Sangodare explore what happens when relationship conflict shows up in the body. They discuss the powerful practice of expressing emotions and using physical manifestations, like a crick in the neck, as signals to addr...
19. Romancing the Stone: Embrace Self-Love First
In this episode Alexis and Sangodare explore the profound importance of self-love as a foundational practice in relationships. The episode draws inspiration from black feminist literature and discusses the concept of 'romancing the stone'—the i...
18. Wingspan (not Wingman): Love and Accompaniment
Hosts Sangodare and Alexis delve into the concept of 'Wingspan' to illustrate how supporting each other enhances our capacity for love and connection. Drawing on Audre Lorde’s challenge “I am not supposed to exist. But I do,” the episode ...
17. Turning Towards Love: Embracing Levity in Relationship Challenges
In this heartwarming and insightful episode, Alexis and Sangoare highlight the philosophy of 'staying in the ship' despite disagreements and hardships. It includes a hilarious anecdote involving nature and it’s wild things, a powerful insights ...