My name is Esther Gordon. I am a white, Jewish, cis-gendered woman from the mid-south. I was born and raised in Memphis, TN and love my city for many reasons including its extraordinary history of music and musicians in the genre of the Blues and Soul. I am currently living in Baltimore, MD which is Piscataway land. I value authenticity, autonomy, compassion, honesty, curiosity, humor and determination. I am currently completing my undergraduate degree in Dance, Religion, and Peace & Nonviolence studies. I am especially interested in protest art within social movements. I am very involved in the local politics of Memphis and am heavily engaged in political and economic issues both locally and nationally in topics such as immigration, police brutality & wrongful incarceration, and the political nuances of the arts and music industries. As a Jewish woman, I am also deeply invested in following the Palestinian liberation movement and the ongoing establishment of the state of Israel. I learn about current events by volunteering, listening to podcasts, the radio, reading online articles and sometimes the newspaper. I also deeply value the opportunity to be able to learn about folx history through music and poetry and the work of the arts. I am a part of this collective because I want to center my personal work on Black Trans Womxn liberation and appreciate that this space is a place where we all have a similar intention and goals. I see myself as a weaver in this community because I enjoy and tend to make associations and crossovers with conversations we are having and relevant events happening in my local community. ​

Here are a few songs that I’ve really been enjoying recently. I appreciate how we can learn about people’s stories through music and I hope you’ll enjoy these:

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