Rest in Conversation with Sullivan Summer – Why Rest as Liberation Reaches Far Beyond Self-Care (Part 2 of 2)

In Part 2 of this The Rest of Us episode, host Dana Tenille Weekes continues her raw and resonant conversation with Sullivan Summer, a poet, essayist, literary critic, adoptee rights advocate, and dear friend of Dana’s. 

Picking up where they left off, Dana and Sullivan’s conversation deepens on societal conditioning, particularly how feelings such as guilt can undermine rest as liberation.

And before the episode ends, Sullivan asks Dana to focus on her fears.

What You’ll Settle Into

• The story behind Dana’s “Whose mountain am I climbing?” reflection question, a moment during her year-long journey of rest when she decided to take accountability for her role in her own suffering.
• How “feeling bad” about saying “no” undermines embracing liberating rest.
• How guilt often escapes you from feeling your truth.

Key Quotes & Insights

“Ultimately, I do think rage is a measure of tenderness. Rage is our ability to imagine wholly the humanity of the harmed.” – Kaveh Akbar

Feeling bad or guilty disconnects one from one’s agency. If you are unable to face reality with your agency intact, then you are not at rest.

Mentions

“What Can Ancient Spiritual Poetry Teach Us about Living?” by Kaveh Akbar

Sullivan Summer is a poet, essayist, literary critic, and adoptee rights advocate. Her first poetry chapbook, Performance Anxiety, was published in 2025 through Black Sunflowers Poetry Press.  

Sullivan is a co-host of Adoption Pop! (bursting pop culture’s favorite adoption tropes) and host for the New Books Network. Her Substack, Additions to the Archives, is a space for video conversations with authors, academics, readers, and thinkers committed to the preservation and expansion of the Black collective archive. She is also a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the African American Intellectual History Society.

You can find Sullivan’s work on her website, sullivansummer.com, on Substack @sullivansummer, and on Instagram @thesullivansummer.

LENGTH: 30 minutes