Music has a way of shaping the emotional atmosphere around us. It attaches itself to memory, grief, identity, relationships, and the parts of our lives that words cannot always reach.

In this episode of Human After All, Tanisha Christie, LCSW takes a closer look at the theme music heard at the beginning of the podcast: “Better Angels,” written, produced, performed, and sung by Alexis Hightower. Tanisha reflects on the often unseen labor behind music-making: the vulnerability, experimentation, discipline, technology, frustration, and imagination required to translate feeling into sound.

Alexis then shares the story behind “Better Angels,” from the drum and bass groove that first gave the song its sense of forward movement, to the way the song shifted from something bold and self-assured into something more honest, introspective, and human. She speaks about writing, producing, recording, and mixing the song, and how the music came to hold a message about fear, surrender, support, and allowing our “better angels” to do some of the fighting.

This episode is a meditation on creativity, healing, and the humanity behind the art we consume. It reminds us that sometimes healing enters through conversation, and sometimes it enters through sound first.

Credits

Podcast: Human After All

Presented By: Liberation-Based Therapy

Host: Tanisha Christie, LCSW

Music Credit:

“Better Angels” written, performed and produced by Alexis Hightower

Liberation-Based Therapy Website: www.liberationbasedtherapy.com

Podcast Page: www.liberationbasedtherapy.com/human-after-all-pod

Make an Appointment https://www.liberationbasedtherapy.com/make-an-appointment

Follow us on Social Media: Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | Substack

Liberation is a word we hear often — in therapy, activism, healing work, and everyday conversation. But what does it actually mean?

In this episode of Human After All, Tanisha Christie reflects on liberation as more than a concept, buzzword, or destination. She explores liberation as an ongoing process of becoming, rooted in history, community, care, resistance, and the everyday choices that help us become more connected, honest, and human.

Drawing from liberation theology, Black liberation traditions, Latinx and Chicanx movements, feminist, womanist, queer, and trans liberation frameworks, this episode traces how liberation has always been tied to lived conditions — poverty, state violence, racism, displacement, patriarchy, survival, and collective struggle.

At its center, this episode asks us to hold a more grounded truth: liberation has never been about utopia. It has always been the work. The work of caring for each other, repairing harm, telling the truth, refusing dehumanization, and building lives, families, relationships, and communities that move us toward something better.

For those feeling tired, overwhelmed, or uncertain, this episode offers a reminder that transformation is possible — not because the work is easy, but because we are still becoming, still moving, and still capable of moving toward liberation together.

Credits

Podcast: Human After All

Presented By: Liberation-Based Therapy

Host: Tanisha Christie, LCSW

Music Credit:

“Better Angels” written, performed and produced by Alexis Hightower

Liberation-Based Therapy Website: www.liberationbasedtherapy.com

Podcast Page: www.liberationbasedtherapy.com/human-after-all-pod

Make an Appointment https://www.liberationbasedtherapy.com/make-an-appointment

Follow us on Social Media: Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | Substack

In this episode of Human After All, Tanisha Christie, LCSW invites listeners into the purpose behind the podcast and the questions that shaped its beginning.

This episode opens the door to a space for thoughtful conversations on being, relating, healing, identity, work, rest, grief, joy, conflict, repair, art, culture, and everything in between. Rooted in the values of Liberation-Based Therapy, this episode reminds us that healing is not only internal. It is relational, contextual, cultural, and collective.

Rather than offering perfect answers or generic advice, Human After All creates room to pause, listen, reflect, and ask deeper questions about how we stay connected to ourselves and one another in times that can feel deeply disconnected.

Podcast: Human After All

Presented By: Liberation-Based Therapy

Host: Tanisha Christie, LCSW

Music Credit: “Better Angels” written, performed and produced by Alexis Hightower

Liberation-Based Therapy Website: www.liberationbasedtherapy.com

Podcast Page: www.liberationbasedtherapy.com/human-after-all-pod

Make an Appointment https://www.liberationbasedtherapy.com/make-an-appointment

Follow us on Social Media: Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | Substack