WEBVTT 00:00:00.980 --> 00:00:04.259 Welcome in, whether you are prepping for a demanding 00:00:04.259 --> 00:00:06.480 week ahead. Or maybe you're just trying to gain 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:08.720 a deeper understanding of the cultural landscape. 00:00:09.060 --> 00:00:11.859 Yeah, exactly. Or, you know, if you are simply 00:00:11.859 --> 00:00:14.900 intensely curious about the minds shaping modern 00:00:14.900 --> 00:00:17.600 literature and art, you're definitely in the 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:19.839 right place. Absolutely. Because we have a custom 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:23.039 -tailored deep dive ready for you today. We're 00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:25.780 exploring the Wikipedia page of Rachel Eliza 00:00:25.780 --> 00:00:29.019 Griffiths. Born on December 6, 1978. Right. And 00:00:29.019 --> 00:00:31.620 the mission for this dive, it goes well beyond 00:00:31.620 --> 00:00:34.119 simply reading a biography. Oh, far beyond it. 00:00:34.179 --> 00:00:36.939 We are looking at the life and really the profound 00:00:36.939 --> 00:00:39.759 body of work of an American polymath. I mean, 00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:42.619 she's a poet, a novelist. A photographer and 00:00:42.619 --> 00:00:44.679 a visual artist. Yeah. And through her journey, 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:48.100 we are going to explore how working across completely 00:00:48.100 --> 00:00:50.939 different mediums allows a person to better process 00:00:50.939 --> 00:00:54.000 grief, love, and, well, just the complexities 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:56.649 of human identity. You know, for anyone listening 00:00:56.649 --> 00:00:59.250 who has ever felt pressure to pick a single lane. 00:00:59.369 --> 00:01:01.750 Right, like a rigid career path. Exactly, or 00:01:01.750 --> 00:01:04.409 a specific academic discipline, or even just 00:01:04.409 --> 00:01:07.790 one single way of expressing themselves. Griffith's 00:01:07.790 --> 00:01:11.370 trajectory is a compelling counter argument to 00:01:11.370 --> 00:01:13.829 all of that. It really is. Her life demonstrates 00:01:13.829 --> 00:01:16.750 the artistic and the psychological power of refusing 00:01:16.750 --> 00:01:20.390 to be confined. It shows us that human experience 00:01:20.390 --> 00:01:24.209 is inherently multidimensional. And sometimes 00:01:24.209 --> 00:01:27.590 a single form of expression simply isn't a large 00:01:27.590 --> 00:01:29.950 enough container for what we're going through. 00:01:30.129 --> 00:01:32.569 So let's start at the roots to understand how 00:01:32.569 --> 00:01:36.019 that expansive mindset. Okay. Griffiths was born 00:01:36.019 --> 00:01:38.140 in Washington, D .C., and she's the eldest of 00:01:38.140 --> 00:01:40.840 four children. Right. And the dynamic between 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:43.620 her parents offers a deeply fascinating cross 00:01:43.620 --> 00:01:46.200 -section of influences. It's quite the mix. Yeah. 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:48.239 So her mother worked as a community organizer 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:51.700 and was also a former police officer. Wow. And 00:01:51.700 --> 00:01:53.620 her father was an environmental lawyer. So you 00:01:53.620 --> 00:01:56.299 have this immediate daily intersection of grassroots 00:01:56.299 --> 00:01:59.120 community action, strict law enforcement, and 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:01.099 the broader systemic frameworks of environmental 00:02:01.099 --> 00:02:03.340 protection. Exactly. If we connect this to the 00:02:03.340 --> 00:02:06.019 bigger picture, growing up in a household navigating 00:02:06.019 --> 00:02:10.500 that specific triad, the law, the physical environment, 00:02:10.599 --> 00:02:14.409 and community justice, it creates a very particular 00:02:14.409 --> 00:02:17.849 kind of intellectual foundation who so well when 00:02:17.849 --> 00:02:20.129 your primary caregivers are dedicating their 00:02:20.129 --> 00:02:23.449 lives to shaping protecting and regulating society 00:02:23.449 --> 00:02:26.849 from both the ground up and the top down you're 00:02:26.849 --> 00:02:29.030 inevitably exposed to the complexities of how 00:02:29.030 --> 00:02:31.370 systems and individuals interact that makes a 00:02:31.370 --> 00:02:34.229 lot of sense it demands a rigorous analytical 00:02:34.229 --> 00:02:37.830 way of viewing the world but also a deeply empathetic 00:02:37.830 --> 00:02:41.069 one right that environment is exceptionally fertile 00:02:41.069 --> 00:02:44.629 soil for a future artist because it teaches you 00:02:44.629 --> 00:02:48.069 early on to look at an issue from multiple, sometimes 00:02:48.069 --> 00:02:50.550 conflicting vantage points. And she certainly 00:02:50.550 --> 00:02:52.750 took that analytical foundation and applied it 00:02:52.750 --> 00:02:55.469 to a highly rigorous academic journey. She definitely 00:02:55.469 --> 00:02:57.490 did. She graduated from St. Mark's High School 00:02:57.490 --> 00:02:59.270 and then moved on to the University of Delaware. 00:02:59.430 --> 00:03:02.069 Right. For her undergrad. Yeah. But she didn't 00:03:02.069 --> 00:03:03.629 just complete her undergraduate studies there. 00:03:03.669 --> 00:03:05.310 She stayed to earn her first master's degree. 00:03:05.409 --> 00:03:08.030 And following that, she headed to Sarah Lawrence 00:03:08.030 --> 00:03:11.669 College. Which is huge. Yeah. For those familiar 00:03:11.669 --> 00:03:13.430 with the literary world, Sarah Lawrence carries 00:03:13.430 --> 00:03:15.969 immense prestige for the arts. She earned her 00:03:15.969 --> 00:03:19.509 MFA in creative writing there. That is a notoriously 00:03:19.509 --> 00:03:22.090 intensive environment that demands a student 00:03:22.090 --> 00:03:24.610 strip down their creative habits and rebuild 00:03:24.610 --> 00:03:27.610 them with extreme discipline. Yeah. An MFA program 00:03:27.610 --> 00:03:31.129 of that caliber forces a writer to confront the 00:03:31.129 --> 00:03:33.370 actual mechanics of their art. Right. It's not 00:03:33.370 --> 00:03:36.379 just inspiration. Exactly. It is not just about 00:03:36.379 --> 00:03:39.460 having a talent for words. It's about sustaining 00:03:39.460 --> 00:03:42.219 a critical dialogue with your own work over years. 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:44.759 Yeah. You are surrounded by peers and mentors 00:03:44.759 --> 00:03:47.439 picking apart every single line break, every 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:49.680 metaphor, every narrative choice. It has to be 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:52.460 exhausting. Oh, absolutely. Surviving and thriving 00:03:52.460 --> 00:03:54.500 in that environment means developing a thick 00:03:54.500 --> 00:03:57.740 skin and a highly refined set of tools. It bridges 00:03:57.740 --> 00:04:00.759 the gap between raw creative instinct and deliberate, 00:04:00.979 --> 00:04:04.560 masterful execution. And that mastery and discipline 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:06.960 really set the stage for a defining characteristic 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:10.080 of her entire career, which is genre fluidity. 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:12.879 She firmly rejects the idea of just being one 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:16.920 type of artist. In 2015, she articulated this 00:04:16.920 --> 00:04:19.240 philosophy in a way that provides a perfect lens 00:04:19.240 --> 00:04:23.100 for her work. She said, I like the fluidity each 00:04:23.100 --> 00:04:25.899 genre offers me spatially, emotionally and creatively. 00:04:26.139 --> 00:04:29.339 I can take an idea. word fragment or image and 00:04:29.339 --> 00:04:32.300 open it up across forms. The phrasing there open 00:04:32.300 --> 00:04:35.399 it up across forms is crucial. Yeah. She isn't 00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:37.699 talking about merely translating a piece of art 00:04:37.699 --> 00:04:39.779 like you know turning a book into a movie. Right. 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:42.990 She's talking about expansion. giving a concept 00:04:42.990 --> 00:04:46.550 the necessary room to breathe. Yes. If a specific 00:04:46.550 --> 00:04:49.089 emotion feels claustrophobic within the strict 00:04:49.089 --> 00:04:52.129 meter of a poem, she allows it to spill over 00:04:52.129 --> 00:04:54.449 into a visual space where it can stretch out. 00:04:54.610 --> 00:04:56.329 Okay, let's unpack this because the practical 00:04:56.329 --> 00:04:58.550 application of this mindset is vital for you 00:04:58.550 --> 00:05:00.790 as a listener. Yeah, it really is. We so often 00:05:00.790 --> 00:05:03.610 try to force complex human experiences into whatever 00:05:03.610 --> 00:05:06.509 single restrictive box we happen to be most comfortable 00:05:06.509 --> 00:05:08.689 with. We all do it. Right. We might tell ourselves 00:05:08.689 --> 00:05:11.050 we are strictly logical, so we try to spread 00:05:11.079 --> 00:05:12.800 spreadsheet our way out of an emotional crisis. 00:05:13.100 --> 00:05:16.779 Or we say we are purely visual, so we ignore 00:05:16.779 --> 00:05:19.420 the analytical details. Right. Griffiths challenges 00:05:19.420 --> 00:05:22.699 that default setting. She proposes that if an 00:05:22.699 --> 00:05:25.100 experience is too large, too overwhelming for 00:05:25.100 --> 00:05:27.639 the tools you normally use, you shouldn't shrink 00:05:27.639 --> 00:05:29.379 the experience to fit the tool. You should find 00:05:29.379 --> 00:05:32.800 a new tool. Exactly. If an idea requires space, 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:35.879 it might need the stark reality of a photograph. 00:05:36.220 --> 00:05:39.279 If it requires emotional rhythm, it might require 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:42.420 a poem. And her early career serves as a masterclass 00:05:42.420 --> 00:05:44.860 in proving that that approach works. Definitely. 00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:47.579 She didn't quietly test the waters. She arrived 00:05:47.579 --> 00:05:50.540 with significant momentum. Yeah, by 2011. Right. 00:05:50.579 --> 00:05:53.019 By 2011, her work was featured in the inaugural 00:05:53.019 --> 00:05:55.839 poetry issue of Oprah's O Magazine. Which is 00:05:55.839 --> 00:05:58.920 massive. Securing space in a publication with 00:05:58.920 --> 00:06:02.220 that kind of cultural footprint. instantly amplifies 00:06:02.220 --> 00:06:04.800 a poet's voice to a national audience, an audience 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:07.019 that might not regularly frequent independent 00:06:07.019 --> 00:06:10.360 literary journals. Yeah, and she also leveraged 00:06:10.360 --> 00:06:12.720 her growing platform to lift up the medium itself. 00:06:13.019 --> 00:06:16.100 She created POP, which stands for Poets on Poetry. 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:19.459 This was a video interview series designed to 00:06:19.459 --> 00:06:22.740 connect contemporary poetry directly to everyday 00:06:22.740 --> 00:06:25.339 human experience. She was physically demonstrating 00:06:25.339 --> 00:06:29.060 that poetry isn't a dusty academic relic confined 00:06:29.060 --> 00:06:32.220 to university life. Exactly. It's a living, breathing 00:06:32.220 --> 00:06:35.579 tool for processing daily life. Yeah. And she 00:06:35.579 --> 00:06:38.540 was doing this while publishing a relentless 00:06:38.540 --> 00:06:40.379 string of her own collections. We're talking 00:06:40.379 --> 00:06:43.259 about Miracle Arrhythmia in 2010. Followed closely 00:06:43.259 --> 00:06:45.740 by The Requited Distance in 2011. Right. Then 00:06:45.740 --> 00:06:47.740 came Mule and Pear, which made a significant 00:06:47.740 --> 00:06:50.639 mark by winning the 2012 Poetry Award from the 00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:52.540 Black Caucus of the American Library Association. 00:06:53.100 --> 00:06:55.480 Huge honor. And she followed that up with Lighting 00:06:55.480 --> 00:06:58.269 the Shadow in 2015. Looking closely at that early 00:06:58.269 --> 00:07:01.189 bibliography, you see an artist actively mapping 00:07:01.189 --> 00:07:04.250 out themes of memory, bodily autonomy, and the 00:07:04.250 --> 00:07:06.649 intersections of identity. Yeah. Lighting the 00:07:06.649 --> 00:07:08.829 Shadow, for instance, was a finalist for both 00:07:08.829 --> 00:07:11.829 the Balcone's Poetry Prize and the Phyllis Wheatley 00:07:11.829 --> 00:07:14.250 Book Award. So she was recognized heavily. Right 00:07:14.250 --> 00:07:17.350 out of the gate. Highly recognized for her ability 00:07:17.350 --> 00:07:19.509 to weave personal history with broader cultural 00:07:19.509 --> 00:07:22.670 narratives. She had firmly established a celebrated 00:07:22.670 --> 00:07:26.160 voice in the literary world. But them? In 2014, 00:07:26.660 --> 00:07:29.720 life delivered a profound shock to that established 00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:32.199 foundation. Yeah. Her mother passed away. Such 00:07:32.199 --> 00:07:35.040 a massive loss. Anyone who has navigated that 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:38.540 specific type of catastrophic loss understands 00:07:38.540 --> 00:07:40.819 that it fundamentally fractures your reality. 00:07:41.060 --> 00:07:43.139 It really does. The coping mechanisms and the 00:07:43.139 --> 00:07:45.939 language you previously relied on suddenly feel 00:07:45.939 --> 00:07:48.720 entirely inadequate to describe the void that 00:07:48.720 --> 00:07:51.899 is left behind. Yeah. Words just fail. Griffiths 00:07:51.899 --> 00:07:54.850 spent the next several years in the quiet. agonizing 00:07:54.850 --> 00:07:57.730 work of processing this grief. And that prolonged 00:07:57.730 --> 00:08:00.689 period of creation culminated in the 2020 release 00:08:00.689 --> 00:08:04.019 of Seeing the Body. This collection marks a massive 00:08:04.019 --> 00:08:06.319 structural evolution in her work. It really does. 00:08:06.459 --> 00:08:08.639 She didn't rely solely on the written word to 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:11.600 document this period. She physically paired her 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:14.480 poetry with her own original photography. She 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:17.420 utilized both mediums simultaneously to explore 00:08:17.420 --> 00:08:20.319 not just the raw nerve of grief, but also the 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:23.279 nuances of memory, Black womanhood, the physical 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:25.800 American landscape, and the eventual painful 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:30.189 process of rebirth. So what drove that specific 00:08:30.189 --> 00:08:34.009 structural choice? Like why introduce photography? 00:08:34.700 --> 00:08:37.440 at that specific moment in her life. What's fascinating 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:39.779 here is the psychological necessity of the mixed 00:08:39.779 --> 00:08:41.960 media approach when dealing with trauma. Yeah. 00:08:42.059 --> 00:08:44.840 Words have limits. When faced with the sheer 00:08:44.840 --> 00:08:48.100 crushing weight of profound loss, language can 00:08:48.100 --> 00:08:51.039 sometimes feel too abstract or paradoxically 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:54.139 too precise to capture the messy reality of the 00:08:54.139 --> 00:08:56.259 feeling. Yeah, makes total sense. Images can 00:08:56.259 --> 00:08:58.740 step in to carry the load. A stark black and 00:08:58.740 --> 00:09:01.539 white photograph of an empty room or a self -portrait 00:09:01.539 --> 00:09:03.460 capturing a fleeting expression of exhaustion. 00:09:04.009 --> 00:09:06.210 that can anchor the abstract pain into something 00:09:06.210 --> 00:09:08.750 tangible. And the critical response to this pairing 00:09:08.750 --> 00:09:11.570 highlighted exactly that dynamic. Yes. Guernica 00:09:11.570 --> 00:09:13.970 Magazine reviewed the book and specifically called 00:09:13.970 --> 00:09:16.850 the multimedia pairing visually and emotionally 00:09:16.850 --> 00:09:20.070 arresting. The Los Angeles Review of Books described 00:09:20.070 --> 00:09:23.330 it as a radiant and soulful collection. The accolades 00:09:23.330 --> 00:09:26.149 for Seeing the Body really underscore how deeply 00:09:26.149 --> 00:09:28.409 this vulnerability resonated with the public. 00:09:28.590 --> 00:09:31.070 Yeah, it was named an MPR Best Book of 2020. 00:09:31.389 --> 00:09:35.470 Wow. It received a nomination for the 2021 NAACP 00:09:35.470 --> 00:09:38.090 Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in 00:09:38.090 --> 00:09:41.029 Poetry. Amazing. Furthermore, it won the Hurston 00:09:41.029 --> 00:09:43.730 Wright Legacy Award for Poetry and the Patterson 00:09:43.730 --> 00:09:47.480 Poetry Prize. both in 2021. You know, the success 00:09:47.480 --> 00:09:49.519 of this collection really makes you wonder about 00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:52.019 the tools we all default to when we hit a wall 00:09:52.019 --> 00:09:54.559 in our own lives. Absolutely. Think about your 00:09:54.559 --> 00:09:56.960 own methods of processing difficult times, you 00:09:56.960 --> 00:09:59.919 know. Griffith's pivot suggests that when we 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:02.379 feel stuck in our grief or our challenges, the 00:10:02.379 --> 00:10:04.799 problem might not be the wall itself, but the 00:10:04.799 --> 00:10:07.000 fact that we are only using a hammer to try and 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:08.940 break through it. That's a great way to put it. 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:11.159 It shifts the perspective entirely on navigating 00:10:11.159 --> 00:10:13.539 difficult seasons. Yeah. Grief is frequently 00:10:13.539 --> 00:10:16.080 framed as a tunnel you just have to blindly endure 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:18.340 until you come out the other side. But Griffiths 00:10:18.340 --> 00:10:21.100 treated it as a complex landscape that required 00:10:21.100 --> 00:10:24.240 active documentation. By utilizing multiple lenses, 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:27.539 the verbal and the visual, she captured the totality 00:10:27.539 --> 00:10:29.860 of the experience rather than just a single dimension 00:10:29.860 --> 00:10:32.759 of it. So having mastered that hybrid of poetry 00:10:32.759 --> 00:10:35.320 and photography, the question becomes, where 00:10:35.320 --> 00:10:38.000 does an artist go creatively after burying their 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:41.639 soul so visually? Yeah. The answer for Griffiths 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:45.279 was another massive creative leap. In July 2023, 00:10:45.740 --> 00:10:49.039 she pivoted entirely into prose, publishing her 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:52.419 debut novel, Promise. Transitioning from poetry 00:10:52.419 --> 00:10:55.460 to a full length work of fiction requires a completely 00:10:55.460 --> 00:10:57.639 different mechanical skill set. I can't even 00:10:57.639 --> 00:11:00.360 imagine. Poetry thrives on distillation. It's 00:11:00.360 --> 00:11:02.399 about compressing emotion and imagery into the 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:05.220 tightest possible space. Right. A novel requires 00:11:05.220 --> 00:11:08.799 expansive, sustained architecture. You are tasked 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:10.980 with world building, pacing a narrative arc over 00:11:10.980 --> 00:11:13.220 hundreds of pages and developing characters that 00:11:13.220 --> 00:11:15.440 must evolve over time. It's a marathon compared 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:17.899 to a sprint. Exactly. And the reviews indicate 00:11:17.899 --> 00:11:20.559 she managed that transition flawlessly. Oh, she 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:23.299 nailed it. Kirkus Reviews called Promise a stunning 00:11:23.299 --> 00:11:26.279 and evocative portrait of love, pride, and survival. 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:29.600 High praise. Yeah, and the Times offered a particularly 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:32.519 striking assessment. The reviewer described the 00:11:32.519 --> 00:11:35.860 novel as enchanting and enraging and noted that 00:11:35.860 --> 00:11:38.419 the book left them feeling emotionally shattered. 00:11:38.659 --> 00:11:42.799 Wow. You rarely see that level of visceral physical 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:45.659 reaction from a seasoned literary critic unless 00:11:45.659 --> 00:11:48.519 the emotional truth underpinning the prose is 00:11:48.519 --> 00:11:51.419 absolutely piercing. Yeah. And that emotional 00:11:51.419 --> 00:11:53.580 truth doesn't exist in a vacuum, right? No, not 00:11:53.580 --> 00:11:55.740 at all. It is deeply informed by the artist's 00:11:55.740 --> 00:12:00.000 own lived experience. Griffiths identifies as 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:03.559 a queer black woman. The intersection of her 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:05.980 personal identity, her history, and her highly 00:12:05.980 --> 00:12:09.220 private life. forms the bedrock of the art she 00:12:09.220 --> 00:12:11.360 shares with the public. As she steps further 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:13.240 into the literary spotlight with a successful 00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:15.799 novel, the boundary between the private self 00:12:16.190 --> 00:12:18.649 and the public figure naturally begins to thin. 00:12:18.769 --> 00:12:21.250 Well, in an artist's personal identity and deeply 00:12:21.250 --> 00:12:23.769 private life inevitably intersect with their 00:12:23.769 --> 00:12:26.129 very public art. Right. And that set the stage 00:12:26.129 --> 00:12:28.090 for the most intense chapter of her life. Yeah, 00:12:28.129 --> 00:12:30.029 that intersection of the deeply personal and 00:12:30.029 --> 00:12:32.929 the highly public became exceptionally prominent 00:12:32.929 --> 00:12:36.549 around this time. In 2021, she married the celebrated 00:12:36.549 --> 00:12:39.649 Indian -born British -American novelist Salman 00:12:39.649 --> 00:12:42.049 Rushdie. Right. Because he holds a knighthood. 00:12:42.440 --> 00:12:44.860 This officially makes her Rachel Eliza Griffith's 00:12:44.860 --> 00:12:47.340 Lady Rushdie. And they built their life together 00:12:47.340 --> 00:12:49.899 in New York City. Yeah. And navigating your own 00:12:49.899 --> 00:12:52.980 path as a widely celebrated, award -winning artist 00:12:52.980 --> 00:12:57.399 is demanding enough. Doing so alongside... A 00:12:57.399 --> 00:13:00.419 literary giant of global magnitude places you 00:13:00.419 --> 00:13:02.899 squarely under an intense public microscope. 00:13:03.080 --> 00:13:05.820 It establishes a reality where her private domestic 00:13:05.820 --> 00:13:08.759 life and the global public narrative are inherently 00:13:08.759 --> 00:13:10.940 linked. Exactly. And it sets the stage for a 00:13:10.940 --> 00:13:13.279 period where those two spheres collide in an 00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:16.659 unimaginably violent and intense way. Here's 00:13:16.659 --> 00:13:18.220 where it gets really interesting. And I use that 00:13:18.220 --> 00:13:20.240 phrase with profound empathy because the timeline 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:22.980 brings us to a deeply heavy chapter. Yes. We 00:13:22.980 --> 00:13:25.809 move to January 2026. and the publication of 00:13:25.809 --> 00:13:28.929 her memoir, The Flyer Bearers. This book offers 00:13:28.929 --> 00:13:31.889 a painful real -time insight into the horrific 00:13:31.889 --> 00:13:34.789 stabbing of her husband, Salman Rushdie. Consider 00:13:34.789 --> 00:13:36.929 the trajectory of her bibliography up to this 00:13:36.929 --> 00:13:39.970 point. She's utilized the distilled emotion of 00:13:39.970 --> 00:13:43.309 poetry, the stark reality of photography, and 00:13:43.309 --> 00:13:46.350 the expansive world -building of fiction. Right. 00:13:46.370 --> 00:13:50.009 Now she is utilizing the deeply vulnerable chronological 00:13:50.009 --> 00:13:54.230 format of a memoir to process a traumatic global... 00:13:54.250 --> 00:13:56.830 news event that occurred directly to her own 00:13:56.830 --> 00:14:00.789 family what makes this memoir so powerful is 00:14:00.789 --> 00:14:03.769 the duality of its focus it's not just a recounting 00:14:03.769 --> 00:14:06.269 of the event no it's not simply a clinical recounting 00:14:06.269 --> 00:14:08.870 of a tragedy the guardian reviewed the flower 00:14:08.870 --> 00:14:11.049 bearers and captured this complexity perfectly 00:14:11.049 --> 00:14:13.429 what did they say they described the book as 00:14:13.429 --> 00:14:16.909 simultaneously a love story a portrait of sisterhood 00:14:16.909 --> 00:14:19.549 and a visceral depiction of violence, loss and 00:14:19.549 --> 00:14:22.070 emotional devastation. Wow. She weaves the sheer 00:14:22.070 --> 00:14:24.190 terror of the attack with the profound depths 00:14:24.190 --> 00:14:26.009 of the love and community support that immediately 00:14:26.009 --> 00:14:28.809 followed it. Yeah. But most importantly, she 00:14:28.809 --> 00:14:31.549 actively refuses to allow the trauma to be the 00:14:31.549 --> 00:14:33.389 sole defining characteristic of the narrative. 00:14:33.490 --> 00:14:36.289 That's key. In a January 2026 interview with 00:14:36.289 --> 00:14:39.190 NPR discussing the memoir, Griffiths delivered 00:14:39.190 --> 00:14:41.269 a statement regarding her approach to the trauma. 00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:50.299 This raises an important question regarding how 00:14:50.299 --> 00:14:53.120 we conceptualize trauma and recovery. How can 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:56.179 an individual... You know, acknowledge a profound 00:14:56.179 --> 00:14:59.259 life altering violation without allowing that 00:14:59.259 --> 00:15:01.980 event to become their singular defining trait. 00:15:02.120 --> 00:15:04.379 Right. Without it taking over completely. Exactly. 00:15:04.460 --> 00:15:06.940 Her memoir does not look away from the visceral, 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:09.580 agonizing reality of the violence. It doesn't 00:15:09.580 --> 00:15:12.259 engage in toxic positivity or pretend the devastation 00:15:12.259 --> 00:15:15.120 didn't occur. No. Instead, she is making a conscious, 00:15:15.259 --> 00:15:18.519 deliberate choice regarding agency. She acknowledges 00:15:18.519 --> 00:15:20.779 that pain is absolutely a passenger on the ship 00:15:20.779 --> 00:15:23.950 now and it demands space. But it does not get 00:15:23.950 --> 00:15:26.309 to sit in the captain's chair. It does not get 00:15:26.309 --> 00:15:28.909 to decide the destination. Reaching that level 00:15:28.909 --> 00:15:30.690 of self -awareness while still in the aftermath 00:15:30.690 --> 00:15:33.690 of the event requires an almost superhuman level 00:15:33.690 --> 00:15:36.309 of resilience. It's the ultimate assertion of 00:15:36.309 --> 00:15:39.190 narrative control. She is taking an event that 00:15:39.190 --> 00:15:41.769 stripped away her family's safety and stating, 00:15:42.269 --> 00:15:44.889 I will document the reality of this terror. I 00:15:44.889 --> 00:15:47.250 will honor the reality of this pain, but I will 00:15:47.250 --> 00:15:49.649 not allow it to be the only thing I am. Right. 00:15:49.909 --> 00:15:52.629 Which brings us full circle to her core philosophy 00:15:52.629 --> 00:15:56.759 of opening an idea up across forms. The medium 00:15:56.759 --> 00:15:59.940 of the memoir was the precise tool required for 00:15:59.940 --> 00:16:03.100 this specific task. Yeah. Poetry might have effectively 00:16:03.100 --> 00:16:06.100 captured the raw bleeding edge of the terror. 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:08.659 Photography might have documented this dark physical 00:16:08.659 --> 00:16:11.580 aftermath. Exactly. But a memoir allowed her 00:16:11.580 --> 00:16:14.159 to control the pacing of the story. Right. It 00:16:14.159 --> 00:16:16.279 provided the necessary architecture to place 00:16:16.279 --> 00:16:19.480 the act of violence within the much larger encompassing 00:16:19.480 --> 00:16:22.799 context of a love story and a profound testament 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:25.179 to sisterhood. It gave her the space she needed. 00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:27.320 It allowed her to build a container large enough 00:16:27.320 --> 00:16:29.440 to hold the horror and the healing simultaneously. 00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:32.340 So what does this all mean? When we step back 00:16:32.340 --> 00:16:34.720 and look at the trajectory of Rachel Eliza Griffiths, 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:37.360 starting from the analytical, justice -oriented 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:40.059 roots of her childhood in Washington, D .C. Moving 00:16:40.059 --> 00:16:42.559 through the genre -bending poetry of her early 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:45.279 career. Leaning into the visual processing of 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:48.460 grief in Seeing the Body. Constructing the fictional 00:16:48.460 --> 00:16:50.820 world of Promise. And ultimately claiming narrative 00:16:50.820 --> 00:16:54.370 agency in The Flower Bearers. Yeah. The overarching 00:16:54.370 --> 00:16:57.789 takeaway is the absolute necessity of evolution. 00:16:58.360 --> 00:17:01.460 Absolutely. As our lives change, as the challenges 00:17:01.460 --> 00:17:04.740 we face become vastly more complex or devastating 00:17:04.740 --> 00:17:08.400 or demanding, the internal tools we use to navigate 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:11.400 them must evolve alongside us. Right. You cannot 00:17:11.400 --> 00:17:14.660 expect to use the exact same emotional or creative 00:17:14.660 --> 00:17:17.359 tool for every single season of your life. And 00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:19.700 the beauty of analyzing her life's work is realizing 00:17:19.700 --> 00:17:22.019 that this concept scales to anyone listening. 00:17:22.259 --> 00:17:24.359 You don't have to be a multi -award winning artist 00:17:24.359 --> 00:17:26.779 to apply this. No, you don't need an MFA or a 00:17:26.779 --> 00:17:40.170 publishing contract. Yeah. Or if writing feels 00:17:40.170 --> 00:17:42.970 empty. Perhaps the necessary tool is physical 00:17:42.970 --> 00:17:45.109 movement or building something with your hands 00:17:45.109 --> 00:17:48.329 or painting. Exactly. The medium itself is simply 00:17:48.329 --> 00:17:51.329 the vehicle. The objective is to continually 00:17:51.329 --> 00:17:53.890 search for the vehicle that is actually capable 00:17:53.890 --> 00:17:56.369 of carrying the specific weight of whatever you 00:17:56.369 --> 00:17:58.869 are navigating in that exact moment. It requires 00:17:58.869 --> 00:18:02.309 giving yourself the grace to abandon a tool when 00:18:02.309 --> 00:18:04.329 it no longer serves the current reality. Well 00:18:04.329 --> 00:18:07.509 said. As we wrap up this deep dive into the extraordinary 00:18:07.509 --> 00:18:11.170 life of Rachel Eliza Griffiths. We want to leave 00:18:11.170 --> 00:18:14.190 you with a final, provocative thought to mull 00:18:14.190 --> 00:18:16.390 over as you go about the rest of your day. Yeah, 00:18:16.430 --> 00:18:18.250 think about this. It's a thought experiment that 00:18:18.250 --> 00:18:20.130 builds directly on the philosophy we've just 00:18:20.130 --> 00:18:23.630 explored. Imagine this scenario. If you were 00:18:23.630 --> 00:18:26.329 forced to capture the single most defining, life 00:18:26.329 --> 00:18:28.730 -altering moment of your life right now, but 00:18:28.730 --> 00:18:30.769 you were completely banned from using your primary 00:18:30.769 --> 00:18:33.549 professional skill, and you were banned from 00:18:33.549 --> 00:18:35.529 using the words you normally use to describe 00:18:35.529 --> 00:18:38.170 yourself, what alternative medium would you choose 00:18:38.170 --> 00:18:41.859 to tell your story? It forces a complete reassessment 00:18:41.859 --> 00:18:44.960 of how you view your own history when you strip 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:47.839 away the default settings. It really does. Thank 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:49.559 you for spending your time with us on this deep 00:18:49.559 --> 00:18:51.720 dive. We hope it offered you a new perspective 00:18:51.720 --> 00:18:54.079 on the tools you use to navigate your own world. 00:18:54.579 --> 00:18:57.220 Take care, stay curious, and we will catch you 00:18:57.220 --> 00:18:57.700 on the next one.