It was a pleasure to collaborate with Ashley DeTar Birt and Shawna Bowman to create this poetic paraphrase of Genesis 1 by African-American writer and storyteller James Weldon Johnson. It was shared in a service planned and presented by More Light Presbyterians, a non-profit working toward the full participation of LGBTQIA+ people in the life, ministry and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA) – and in society.

For those curious about the process, Ashley recorded the text first. Then, Shawna filmed a visual response and sped up the footage to coordinate with the reading. Then I used the Acappela app to record 9 different tracks with my voice (speaking and singing), various instruments, and found objects (like a metal watering can and a box of pencils). I edited those into a kind of aural collage and added them to the video.