Laverne Cox
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How did Laverne Cox’s live taping and introduction set the tone for this conversation?
I had let go of the dream of being an actor, but I was still, I still loved acting. That love never went away. So I got excited about preparing the scenes and went in and did the audition and got an adjustment from the casting director, did it again. And that one audition led to me booking the part and that changed my whole life.
Yeah, exactly. It just, it was so, it changed your life, but also changed our culture as the first trans woman to win an Emmy.
Let's receive our applause. I'm such a ham.
I love it. I love it.
I love a live audience.
This is the first live taping we've done, so.
I think you're the first woman I've de-virginized.
Ooh, for live taping. Didn't know it was going to get saucy tonight, did you?
I didn't either until just now.
Welcome to the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival. I'm Monica Lewinsky, and I'm joined by the incredible Laverne Cox. Hi, Laverne.
Hello, Monica. We've been trying to do this for, it feels like years.
I know. And then the last time, we were really close, and then there was this huge snowstorm in New York. So we could not, alas, we could not, but it all worked out.
The fates have aligned because we get to be here in front of all of you for this very special occasion.
Yes.
I am very excited to get to talk to you a bit about your new memoir, Transcendent. But before we go there, I was very excited also because I know you are a woo-woo girl like me. So normally at the end of every show, I give all of my guests a crystal as an exchange of energy and a thank you. And I thought I would give you yours at the start.
I love it. I love it.
So here you go. Can I look at it? Yes, yes. It's a golden healer, which is meant for self-healing and encourages prosperity and abundance.
Now, is there a way that I should use it in terms of practice for the healing? Should I meditate with it? Should I just look at it? What's the crystal protocol?
I find that you will be drawn to do what's right for you with it. So I happen to have a bajillion crystals, and I don't meditate, and I just sort of trust that they're going to do what they need to do in my life.
Sure.
Do you feel like, because for me, when I think of meditating or if I think about resourcing is a term I would use for the sort of part of the therapeutic work that I do, that it's really sort of about surrendering your energy to something, energy to a power that's bigger than you. Because I feel like a crystal or a prayer, whatever you may practice, if it's even, if it's Christianity, if it's Islam, Muslim, whatever religion, it's about surrendering to something bigger than you and sort of turning over your worries, your anxieties, like turning it over to something that's bigger than you so that you don't have to carry it by yourself. Did you feel like that's really what kind of this is about for you?
I think for me, when I think about my spirituality, I was raised culturally Jewish. When I was in high school, I had a Buddhist mantra and a shrine. But I feel like I didn't really come into what I considered my own spirituality until my 30s. How about you?
I grew up Christian. I was raised in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. It's all in my book. Transcendent, available for pre-order. I think you're going to get copies today, actually.
You guys are in for a treat.
And church was every Sunday. It was mandatory. And I took it very seriously. I was the kid summarizing the Sunday school lesson every Sunday. And I, yeah, religion was a huge part of my life growing up. But when I got to college and started studying the history of religion, I quickly realized that organized religion was not something that that was for me for a lot of reasons, corruption, slavery.
That's enough.
That's enough of a reason to... But what I say about that is I left the church, but I never left God. I never left the idea, the concept that there is an energy, a source, a power working in my life at all times. I have too much evidence to suggest that there's not a God, a source, a power greater than myself. operating in my life. And so my work now is to try to maintain conscious contact with that energy, that spirit at all times and
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Chapters
3 chapters
1
How did Laverne Cox’s live taping and introduction set the tone for this conversation?
0:00–7:46
2
What spiritual practices and crystal ritual does Laverne describe and why do they matter to her healing?
7:46–27:02
3
How did somatic therapy and tapping become pivotal in Laverne’s trauma healing journey?
27:02–44:46