In Part I of Flowers for the Fire: A Conversation on Trans Joy, Alia Stevenson and ananda parnaiba are joined by three Wisconsin-based trans leaders, artists, advocates, and community builders: Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford, Orion Wells, and Mo Overby.

Together, they explore trans joy not as denial, performance, or forced positivity, but as something sacred, practical, embodied, and collective. The conversation moves through LGBTQIA2S+ community care, chosen family, trans youth, creative expression, political and cultural backlash, and the practices that help trans people stay connected to themselves and each other.

In a time when trans people are being targeted in public and organized ways, this episode centers joy as survival, truth-telling, protection, self-definition, and life. What Blooms in the Fire asks what becomes possible when trans joy is honored not as something fragile, but as something rooted, resistant, and alive.

In this two-part podcast conversation, Deepa Iyer joins the nINA Collective to explore the Social Change Ecosystem, burnout, joy, grief, and what it takes to rebuild solidarity across difference. Together, they reflect on how role clarity, interdependence, trust, and experimentation can help justice-oriented communities move beyond fear, fragmentation, and solo struggle toward more sustainable collective action.

In this CHOIR Conversation reflection, we explore rebuilding through everyday practice with educator and author Cornelius Minor. From three-dimensional listening to public learning, human-centered repair, and joy as fuel for justice, this piece examines what it takes to rebuild trust, connection, and community in hard times.