Carried Forward

Carried Forward

As the Summer Solstice approaches and another school year comes to a close, I find myself returning to a question that has been lingering since May: What does it mean to care for something we cannot fully hold? In this episode of Incantations & Ink, I explore care work, teaching, matriarchy, motherhood, Father’s Day, and the emotional complexity of the end of the school year. Through the lens of Summer Solstice traditions and seasonal living, I reflect on care not as sentiment, but as infrastructure—the often invisible work that sustains people, relationships, communities, and memory across time. The solstice is not an ending, it is a turning, and perhaps the same is true of us. In this episode: Get full access to Incantations & Ink - Jess at incantationsandink.substack.com/subscribe [https://incantationsandink.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

The Season of Reckoning

Why is "civility" a trap? In this episode of Incantations and Ink, Jess works to dismantle the social justice and systemic critique of the "Spring Thaw." Let’s shift from internal rituals to the external structures that profit from our silence. This isn’t about self-care; it’s about Divine Feminine Rage and the visceral, unpolished reality of systemic change. We were told that "goodness" is compliance. We were taught that staying "neutral" is a virtue. But as we stand at the infancy of a new spring, we recognize that neutrality is the permafrost of the modern age.  In this episode, we explore: The Politeness Trap: How "civility" acts as a tactical blanket of snow to cover fractures in our communities and hide systemic injustice. Divine Rage as Divestment: Reclaiming anger not as a flaw, but as the sacred, clarifying fire required to melt the white woman’s "politeness trap." Jagged Glimmers: Moving beyond "softness” to find the sharp shards of truth that prove we are still capable of collective resistance. The Labor of the Thaw: Acknowledging the generations of labor from Black and Brown women who have been shouting into the freeze while we chose the safety of the snow. Join the Reckoning (Subscriber-Only): The deep work of dismantling our own complicity happens in the subscriber chat.  Get in the mud with us on Substack: https://incantationsandink.substack.com/ [https://incantationsandink.substack.com/] Get full access to Incantations & Ink - Jess at incantationsandink.substack.com/subscribe [https://incantationsandink.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

When Fiction Becomes Instruction

Are dystopian novels predicting the future — or training us to recognize patterns of power? In this episode of Incantations & Ink, Jess explores how 1984, The Handmaid’s Tale, Fahrenheit 451, The Hunger Games, and The Giver reveal the mechanics of authoritarianism: language manipulation, propaganda, spectacle, and fear. Dystopian fiction isn’t prophecy. It’s pattern recognition. Get full access to Incantations & Ink - Jess at incantationsandink.substack.com/subscribe [https://incantationsandink.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Words as Spells

Words are not neutral. They shape bodies, sanctify systems, and build the worlds we live inside. In this threshold episode of Incantations & Ink, Jess explores what it means to treat language as power — not as metaphor, but as cultural force. This episode marks the evolution of Incantations & Ink into a justice-centered space devoted to voice, witnessing, and writing as reckoning. This is not an episode about magic.It is an episode about power. Get full access to Incantations & Ink - Jess at incantationsandink.substack.com/subscribe [https://incantationsandink.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

The Art of Not Falling Apart

Episode 3, The Art of Not Falling Apart is a candid look at the small, unglamorous practices that keep me going on hard teaching days. This isn’t advice — it’s a confession. If you’re exhausted but still showing up, you might find a bit of yourself here. If you’re showing up while you’re exhausted — I see you.You’re not failing.You’re not alone.And maybe today, “good enough” is a form of magic. Get full access to Incantations & Ink - Jess at incantationsandink.substack.com/subscribe [https://incantationsandink.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]