I am a Funeral Pyre with Nnenna and Pierce Freelon

I am a Funeral Pyre with Nnenna and Pierce Freelon

Author: How to Survive the End of the World January 30, 2026 Duration: 1:10:57

The sisters are ecstatic to welcome Nnenna and Pierce Freelon to the show.

Nnenna is a GRAMMY nominated  jazz singer, storyteller and grief sojourner. Her latest album is Beneath the Skin. Her new book is Beneath the Skin of Sorrow: Improvisations on Loss.

Nneena’s son Pierce is a GRAMMY nominated artist, picture book author and podcaster. His GRAMMY nominated children’s music albums AnceStars (2023) and Black to the Future (2021) have been featured on Today Show, NPR and Billboard. He has written songs for the PBS Kids animated series’ Alma’s Way and Work it Out Wombats!

The Freelons regal the Browns with tales of the late great architect/husband/father, Phil Freelon, being Maya Angelou's friend, manufacturing space ice cream, living in an Octavian future, having to leave Nancy Drew behind and go off-planet, settling in North Carolina, making puppet art about grief, digging where your tears fall and scatting your way through the universe.

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Sisters Autumn Brown and adrienne maree brown host How to Survive the End of the World, a podcast rooted in their shared lives as writers, activists, and facilitators shaped by multiracial diasporic lineages. This isn't a theoretical discussion about distant catastrophes; it's a direct, grounded conversation about the endings we are all already living through-the collapse of systems, the death of old ways, and the personal transformations that feel like worlds dissolving. Each episode delves into the tangible, often messy practices a community needs to navigate these ruptures. You'll hear them explore how we grieve, how we organize, how we imagine futures, and how we find wholeness even as things fall apart. The dialogue is intimate and urgent, moving from the kitchen table to the front lines of social change, always asking what it means to survive with integrity and connection. This podcast operates from the belief that learning to face endings together is the first, most necessary step toward building something new. For more from Autumn and adrienne, find them at endoftheworldshow.org.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

How to Survive the End of the World
Podcast Episodes
I'm the Hell [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:18
The sisters convene to consider the realizion that aging means being in grief all the time but continuing, nonetheless, writing in the bath, taking responsibility for our inner state, the free Chani Breakthrough Course,…
Be My Senpai [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:21:06
The sisters answer a listener question about how to interface with critical feedback and even trolling. They dive into the the importance of belonging and the ways they establish safety and boundaries in their lives, how…
The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity with Sarah Schulman [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:12
Today's conversation is long-overdue. The sisters have been circling, admiring and inspired by Sarah Schulman for many years. Finally, they convene to discuss the particularities of solidarity, how heroism and perfection…
Messiness is Where the Creativity Exists with Céline Semaan [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:54
adrienne is thrilled to connect with the co-founder of Slow Factory and author of A Woman is a School, Céline Semaan. Celine shares her journey as a Lebanese-American and the founder of Slow Factory, emphasizing the need…
The Five Stages of Defiance with Dr. Sunita Sah [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:16:24
The sisters are thrilled to learn from Dr. Sunita Sah and discuss her brilliant book Defy: The Power of No in a World that Demands Yes. The conversation explores the complex relationship between compliance and defiance a…
The Sister Peace [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:06
The sisters continue their meditations on solidarity as they delve into navigating personal and professional growth, anxiety and parenting dynamics, understanding mutual activation, the role of art and expression in diff…
The Sister Feud [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:06:58
Warning, this episode includes mention of suicide. A previous version of this episode didn't include this trigger warning. Apologies.---The sisters get into it as they continue to explore the theme of solidarity. They di…
Original Sins with Dr. Eve L. Ewing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:13:59
Autumn and adrienne are thrilled to welcomeDr. Eve L. Ewing to get deep into her new book, Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism.Dr. Ewing is also the auth…
Is This the Rapture? with Roan Boucher [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09:51
adrienne and Autumn welcome Roan Boucher to explore the complex themes of Christian nationalism and its implications for contemporary social justice movements. Roan schools us on the historical context of the movement, t…