Strawberry Moon

Known as heart berries, strawberries are an undeniable treasure. This podcast explores all we deny as pleasurable in our modern society and how a small little shop with heart is burning the patriarchy down one customer at a time.

Show Notes

Harkin, Rose, Cedar, Willow, Carmine, Strawberry are all a shade of red in this episode. A bestselling author who is absolutely glowing with success, an unhappy wife, blushing with new found desire. This episode is an anthem for femme futures, a siren song of what our bodies are screaming for. It puts body autonomy, power, and health right back in the hands of the femme bodies who live them.  "The spot" is full of all kinds of treats for the hands, and the ears... can you say "Cosmic tongue" Customer satisfaction guaranteed. 

The something else universe was created, written, voice acted, soundscaped, produced and edited by Kat "Coulee" Ross. Special thanks to the staff and volunteers at CFUV 101.9FM. Original score and music by Reil8 of @the_r.a.p_ Artwork generated by AI programs, Midjourney and DALL-E. 

This podcast was funded in part by the Community Radio Fund of Canada & The Province of BC.

What is Something Else?

Hi, I'm Coulee - welcome to the Something Else universe. In this podcast you will follow 3 Indigenous protagonists as your tour guides into the triumphs and struggles of contemporary Indigenous peoples. The something else universe was born from a yearning to create the sanctuary my own nervous system needed. It is a space where rage is celebrated, dreams are cultivated, rest is centered, and heroes are born. Just as its name suggests this podcast is unlike any other, it pulls elements and action from our world now and skillfully weaves them anew in this narrated Indigenous futurism landscape. It is my wish that this marks the beginning of a very long, very ancient journey together, listener and storyteller.

In a recent country wide poll on turtle island indigenous peoples were excluded from the stats, making them categorical “something else”. As Indigenous people the popular belief is that we live somewhere between marginalized and extinct. This podcast invites the listener deep into the space between the lines, outside the margins, it embraces... “other”.

The something else universe was created, written, voice acted, soundscaped, produced and edited by me, Kat "Coulee" Ross. Special thanks to the staff and volunteers at CFUV 101.9FM. Original score and music by Reil8 of @the_r.a.p_ Artwork generated by AI programs, Midjourney and DALL-E.

You're listening to "Something Else". An original podcast story created by me Coulee. Audio adventures in Indigenous futurism. Episode three "Strawberry Moon".

(waves gently building)
Deep sigh

Outstretched..
As she begins to soften,.. her toes
twitching

the rock of her ankle...
friction like hot sand as
waves flow, one after another,
washing her over
her hips rocking in rhythem

(louder crashing waves now)

sensation, fill her being,
hair standing on edge,
a storm is brewing,
she can taste the eletricity on her tongue...
as another wave comes crashing, and crashing
intensifying..
she quakes and nearly tembles
sparks charging throughout her body
another wave crashes

(breathe)

the eye of a storm approaches
she braces, back arched..
her breathe now shorter, and deeper
synchonized with the tides

(waves,breathe and electric sound now sync up and become a sensory overload)

the crest swells..
pounding over and over,
she's never felt more alive than she does in this moment.
undulating now with the flow
there is no seperation between her and the cosmos..
SURGING..(Gasp)
As a sweet, sweet surrender floods her being..
soaking her feet... running past her thighs...
rushing thoughout her spine..
like nectar
trickeling
sticky and wet

(pause... waves again with rocks)

She melts now into the warm sand.
The sun basked upon her bare skin...
her sweated brow

(deep sigh)

she is salt water
all pain is washed away here

(reading over, this was read by the author)
(quiet book reading applause and thank yous)

HR:"And that was an excerpt from my Award winning book, Strawberry Moon"

Publisher:"Hello, If anyone here from the press or the audience have any questions, Mrs Rose will feild those now."

Male reporter:"In your book what do you mean when you suggest we all pursue a relationship with the earth? Like should I leave my wife and marry a tree?

(Audience laughs)

HR: "Thank you for your question.This concept has been around since time immemorial.

My book calls us all back to an old truth, the truth that we are all deeply connected, inseperate to the earth.
Earth gives and sustains our lives, and our part in this exchange is to be more than takers, to also give back, to not take advantage or take for granted.
Then it becomes a relationship. Something we're deeply committed to. Just as I'm sure you're deeply committed to your wife.

(Audience laughs)

Female Reporter:Isn't this just a rebranding of eco sexuality?What sets your message apart? What makes this new?

HR:"My book has been around 5 years now, so it is reletively new itself, this space that I have since opened is even newer, and I encourage you all to spend some time exploring after questions
The answer to your question is no, this content is very old, ancient actually. This book and this space reclaim sexuality free from the constraints of colonialism. Our way cames first,
colonization, and the co-opted term eco-sexual came second."

Publisher: "Harkin Rose everyone, the tour is about to start, I'll remind you today all the proceeds directly support Mrs rose's scholarship program, which fully funds the education
of a new generation of sexual health care. This year one of our graduates completes their Indigenous botany training"

(Applause)

Willow: "Mrs rose, may I ask about what that means? A new generation of sexual health care?"

HR: "YEs of course, thank you for asking. Though these ideas have been around before colonization, we do still live in a world where the scar of the patriarchy hasnt healed. Period poverty,
reproductive rights are some of the ways we can address that healing. Here at The spot we are commited to creating change. Our hope is to develop safe, affordable solutions. Imagine an effective
herbal birth control without all the side effects? Some of these solutions already exist like the Del-em which allow women to support other women in being fully in control of their own
menstration, we offer the kits right here in the store, and also workshops."

Narrator: Harkin exits the space, before Willow even gets up out of her chair. Willow is quite young looking, with unkempt mousy brown hair falling at her shoulders.
She darting around nervously scanning the store, as she quietly walks in her oversized faded earthen tone clothing. She almost looks like her outfit is swallowing her up, like she's
kind of shrunken within herself, hiding.

Narrator: "She makes her way over to the clipboard,they're offering a tour and a free workshop tomorrow. She signs up and hurriedly leaves.

(Fall morning sounds)

Narrator:"Its a beautiful fall morning"

(futuristic house music quietly cue a door opening.)
(Weird futuristic sounds hoverboardesque)
(flirty laughter)

Narrator: "Willow enters the store,today she has on an outfit almost identical to the one from yesterday and the way that it's quite unremarkable and faded.
She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear as she starts to peruse the aisles."

Willow thinking {Bcondoms. What are these? Oh, vegan condoms.Cool. pube conditioning treatment hmm.
Oh, look at all these.Marvin would never let me have one of these at home.
I bet you he'd find it too. He says good womens greatest pleasure is pleasing others}

Narrator:"She puts the toy down, and continues to stroll, stopping when she notices clothing and T shirts and begins to thumb through the selection"

Narrator:"She's holding a shirt, it has an illustration of an old style feminine wash device with a red crossed out circle around it"

Willow:"LOL!" "No douches allowed, giggle,Marvin would hate that shirt"

Narrator:"Another shirt says we love our pubes!"

Willow:"LOL"

Narrator:"Her laughter has caught the attention of one of the staff members, they walk over"

Narrator:"Carmine is a young university student, an afro indigenous person and proudly declared sapiosexual."

Carmine:"Hi, is there anything you had questions or were curious about?

Narrator: "Willow looks down avoiding eye contact and dismissively says no"

Willow:"No, I'm good.

Carmine: "For sure, Well I'll be over in the lending library if you want to come and explore there, i spend most of my time there.

Narrator: "Carmine walks back to the other side of the store, Willow waits until Carmine is out of sight and quietly begins to pick through the selection.
Theyre are books on polyamory, bipoc kink, debunking romance myths.She picks up a book called decolonize yo kitty, and all kinds of things that Willow has never really heard of.
She can feel her face start to flush as she finds the erotic audiobook section"

CEDAR:"Hello, doll how are you?"

Narrator:"Willow turns around to see cedar.Cedar, who appears much wiser than willow, stands smiling warmly.CEDAR has big energy and a big smile and reminds her of some of her Auntie's from back home

Cedar "Hi, I'm cedar.tsk Oh, how cute are you? Look at that. You're blushing? That's so cute. dont worry i wont bite, this is a consent only space lol"

Cedar: "speakin of..we offer great workshops on it, as well as workshops like the anatomy of arousal if your interested?"

Cedar: " Im a sex doula and facilatate most of the workshops myself, you know. We host a weekly support group for sex workers like myself, thats what i get up
with my time when im not managing here"

Narrator:" Willow is now blushing from head to toe, she has sooo many burning questions, and Cedar is so magnetic, she cant stop staring. She doesnt recal ever meeting someone so
powerful and vibraint, its contagious. Before she can stop herself she blurts out

Willow: "Your so beautiful, and sparkly"

Cedar:"LOL, your very cute, Ive always been a people person but this place it polished me, it made me sparkle, thats my secret"

Willow: " Can I ask how? or what?

Cedar: "Have you heard about Ambrosia?

Narrator: "Willow had read about it in a news article. Harkins gem of The spot which had generated even more buzz than the her book. It was a fully immersive experience for mind,
body and soul. She was deeply curious"

Cedar: "Its wonderful, i cant recomend it enough, revolutionary, and you know Harkin and i are leading the revolution. Heres a cute little zine that Carmine made
if you want a more technical explanation. you know we have a slot thats open today if you want to book in?"

Narrator: Cedar passes willow the zine, and rushes off. Willow sits back in the library and reads.

[Traditional medicines and oils are used. The room and service are meant to emulate a womb, in her book Harkin describes the womb as: the energetic space where the source of all power
and creation lives. This therapy, reconnects us with that power. Erotic hypnosis, and both internal and external pelvic floor massage are combined. The touch offered here is deeply
therapuetic, as it can help clear us of colonial shame. Misogynative...whats that? It says here its inspired from the work of black women in misognoir to uniquely address where
racism and of sexism collide for Indigenous femme]

Willow thinking:{This sounds powerfull, its what Harkins book Strawberry Moon is about. The mirroring between the Earth and the womb and how connection and relationship
and returning to that are this powerful source for all of this healing and transformation. I mean thats why im here right? because this book changed me,
and i cant go back now to the person i was?.. I mean it is my birthday soon, it could be a gift to myself, nobody will know..}

Narrator:"Willow walks over to the counter where Cedar is standing smiling"

Willow:"Id like to book the appointment please"

Cedar: "Your going to love it!" " We can get you in in the next 15 minutes, the appointment is 2 hours long, fill this out please"

Narrator: "Cedar passes the screen, as it reads in big bold red letters "Warning extreme pleasure ahead", Willow feels a chill crawl up the back of her legs.
and she recalls a chapter from Harkins book about pleasure. She talks about this radical idea of taking back our own pleasure by directing our attention to the things
that give us pleasure.Things like a certain smell. A sound,touch,food. the book suggests keeping a pleasure journal, which Willow did not for fear Marvin would discover it,
she closes her eyes now, and thinks about things that give her pleasure....juicy mango on her lips, the smell of sweet grass back home, fresh clean bed sheets on her skin
melting cheese...her toes curl and she opens her eyes again, now smiling, she fills out the forms and returns them to Cedar in perfect time"

Cedar:"I'm so happy you made this choice for yourself. The practitioners ready.
It's time..you're going to come out a new person.
You'll see there's so much potential for all kinds of things to be born in this place.
Follow me it's right over here"

Narrator: "Willow walks over, vividly aware of each step and how heavy her feet feel.
The excitement is something she feels she can reach out and grab from the air. It is so visceral and alive.
The door slides open. It's a beautiful hue of purple, pink. A beautiful bouquet of aroma fills the air
The walls are pulsing, and there's waves of light reflecting across the room, the hair on the back of her neck stands at an edge,
she takes a deep breath and enters, the door closes behind her.

(music that builds up to a crescendo, water, wet sounding
There's something like mysterious and sultry and sexy about leading people into having those thoughts themselves.
outro with a sexy song)

(Ocean waves fading)

Original Universe creation, composition and production by Coulee Ross, original theme and score by Riel 8. These podcasts in the something else universe were brought to you by CFUV, support indigenous art. I can be contacted via Instagram @the_r.a.p_ directors notes come next. Thank you for listening.

I hope everybody enjoyed that story as much as I deeply enjoyed creating it. This story definitely came knocking to me in a dream one night, not the entire story. But the idea behind ambrosia as a transformative healing service. It was a very powerful dream and I just needed to bring that into this process and put those ideas forward. That we could have this type of the service and it could be so normalised and how that would be so profound for shame and for society. It would be just like walking into a massage therapists and getting a massage or an acupuncture treatment. And yeah, so I really hope that has people thinking and yeah, I would love to have that done one day. The dream was really great. It was super amazing and powerful and so I hopefully I took you there in dream space. And yeah, to get personal for a moment, the dream came to me at a time during my own deep healing. And so I wanted this episode to really centre around femme based shame and liberation and healing and what that would look like in an indigenous centred way. And so this book, Strawberry Moon, what a beautiful book, it would be, and maybe I will write it one day. I am a bit of a writer, and some of the ideas in it, of what if our society centred around relationships and how to live relationally or treating our the natural worlds like extending externally and internally, treating ourselves how we treat our lovers, and how to cultivate good love, indigenous love. And so yeah, this main character, Willow, I feel like maybe she even represents a more like, shame filled version of myself, and maybe my own struggles around these kinds of things and my own growth. And, and so yeah, the characters in this book, I think some of they, some of them, or all of them, they do represent those chapters in my own journey, or my ongoing journey. And maybe as a listener, you noticed that all of the characters had red names, like Willow and Carmine. And that's definitely an ode to the title, Strawberry Moon, and a bigger Ode to an older tradition of the Moon Lodge. And so I tried to really imagine taking from the past, and reimagining a future where indigenous sexuality was pioneering (I hate that word), but it was leading the way. And it was, you know, leading this revolution of shame free, liberated, connected bodies, and just how much that makes me smile and put such a big smile on my face. And I hope it did with yours as well. I also did my very best to keep this podcast (even though it had some more bodied adult based content) ,radio friendly. So that was a definitely interesting. It was very interesting, challenging, we'll say it was very challenging to do, to work in the space around, being indirect and pausing and did my best to work with what was unsaid. And that's kind of a deeply beautiful and very Yin thing, a very divine feminine thing to do. And which brings me back to the Moon Lodge and Strawberry Moon. On a personal note, I am currently studying Chinese medicine. I'm also a hypnotherapist, and just about a trauma informed yoga teacher. Sp the healing arts are deeply important to me. I often ask myself, what indigenous centred care and spaces would look like and what would make my ancestors proud. And so yeah, at some point in my future, I do plan on bringing back Moon Lodge traditions in a way that I could do that in a way that could exist in today's society. And so this whole story was kind of a bit of an ode to that, as I'm also an artist, an artist who also loves the healing arts. And so that's my dream for the not too distant future. The story doesn't take place too far off from where our stories are playing out right now. Some of the products that I mentioned this story already exist and can be found in bipoc spaces that are leading the sexual shame free revolution as we speak. And yeah, it's just so necessary for our world and our healing, and for myself, so definitely bringing this story forward has been very potent and powerful. And I hope that it was good medicine for you, as it was beautiful medicine for me.