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
From Parable to Practice: Building Your Go Bag [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:03
Join adrienne and Autumn as they discuss the fundamentals of creating a go bag on HTS producer, Zak Rosen's podcast, The Best Advice Show. Inspired by wisdom from Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower and a listener's in…
The Solidarity of Unconditional Presence [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:00
adrienne and Autumn sit down together to offer prayers and presence in response to the fires in LA County. --- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TRANSCRIPT⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SUPPORT OUR SHOW! - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠…
Landing 2024 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:42
Autumn and adrienne offer some vulnerable reflections on this past year - crises, compassion, collaboration and change. --- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TRANSCRIPT⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SUPPORT OUR SHOW! -…
Tactical Disobedience with Daniel Hunter [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:30:15
Autumn and adrienne beam in from the same room to talk to activist, trainer, strategist and writer, Daniel Hunter, founder of Choose Democracy. Daniel is the author of Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow, Climate…
post-election time with Nelini Stamp [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:35
In this episode, originally recorded on IG live, adrienne and Nelini Stamp, National Organizing Director at the Working Families Party, dish on rest, musicals, organizing, culture, and the authenticity of belief and acti…
adrienne and Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson - Live in Detroit [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:16
A live one from Detroit with adrienne and Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson who is a marine biologist, policy expert, writer, and teacher working to help create the best possible climate future. Ayana is the host of the podcas…
When No Thing Works with Norma Wong [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:24:15
adrienne and Autumn sit down with great teacher, Norma Wong, whose new book, When No Thing Works: A Zen and Indigenous Perspective on Resilience, Shared Purpose, and Leadership in the Timeplace of Collapse, was released…
election time with Chase Strangio and Shelby Chestnut [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:06
election time with amb with Chase Strangio and Shelby Chestnut, focused on the current moment in the struggle for trans rights.follow @chasestrangio @shelbymt @translawcenter for ways to show up in this upcoming Supreme…
Choosing Our Terrain [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:19:30
Heading into the election and building on our ongoing series, election time with amb, adrienne and Autumn discuss taking responsibility for the political terrain where we stand, rooting in moments of intimacy, how to ori…
Bonus: The Way Your Blood Beats Listening Party [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:07:16
adrienne sits down with two members of AUTUMN the Band, Autumn and her dear core collaborator Nehemiah Luckett, to listen to their latest EP, The Way Your Blood Beats. They talk about process and collaboration, transmuti…