Ep. 205: Becoming a “Good Relative” with Author Hilary Giovale

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EQ: How can individuals of European descent acknowledge their ancestral histories and take meaningful steps toward truth, healing, and repair in their relationships with Indigenous and Black communities?

In this powerful episode, we sit down with Hilary Giovale, author of Becoming a Good Relative: Calling White Settlers Toward Truth, Healing, and Repair, to explore how individuals of European descent can reckon with their ancestral histories and engage in meaningful truth, healing, and repair with Indigenous and Black communities. Hilary shares her personal journey of uncovering Celtic, Germanic, and Nordic roots, awakening to the harms of settler colonialism, and redefining what it means to be a “good relative” in today’s world. We discuss the significance of settler identity, the concept of “white peril,” the role of rituals and spiritual practices in healing, and her ten guidelines for building respectful, cross-cultural relationships. Through honest reflection and a deep commitment to relational accountability, Hilary offers a vision for how white settlers can move beyond denial toward connection, responsibility, and repair.

Do Your Fudging Homework:

  • Annie: Do Hilary’s homework–dig into your past/lineage/ways you can

  • Hilary: Following this guide, make a personal reparations plan

    • Sign up for a monthly contribution to a Land Tax program (all those I know about are listed on this page)

    • Read An Indigenous People's History of the United States, by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

  • Hope: Support Tacoma Reparations

Ep. 199: Get Thee to a Nunnery w/ Author Margot Douaihy

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EQ: How do you navigate the intersections of crime fiction, poetry, and identity to create stories that challenge genre conventions and expand the boundaries of storytelling?

We sit down with  Margot Douaihy, author of the Sister Holiday Crime Series (Scorched Grace, Blessed Water), Bandit/Queen: The Runaway Story of Belle Starr, and numerous poetry collections (Scranton Lace, Girls Like You) to explore storytelling as both a craft and a form of personal inquiry. Margot shares how growing up in a Maronite Christian household shaped her writing, how the Bible itself is full of crime stories, and why faith, redemption, and identity drive her work. We also discuss how dynamic, flawed characters reflect and refract society, providing readers with an opportunity for self examination and even entry points into perspectives they know very little about. By writing such characters, Margot gives readers a stake in larger conversations about morality, the tension between beauty and terror, and humanity’s search for answers. Additionally, we discuss LGBTQ+ representation in crime fiction, and why now more than ever we must support queer authors and stories that certain powers want to bury.

Do Your Fudging Homework:

  • Hope: Grab a copy of Scorched Grace or one of Margot’s poetry collections.

  • Annie: Support queer authors always, but especially now. Not only do we need queer voices in publishing, the political landscape is in shambles and those stories are critical to hold onto hope and joy and prepare for what’s next. If you can, buy physical media. We’ve seen enough digital things disappearing lately that this is your sign to buy the books you love and the books you’ll love soon, like Margot’s. 

  • Margot: Read legal thrillers, particularly Robyn Gigl’s Erin McGabe Mysteries Series