I read Octavia Butler's novel Wildseed when I was 11 years old.  The scene that struck me most deeply was a scene where the protagonist Anyanwu, a woman with the power to shapeshift beyond the species and to heal herself from the inside out, transforms into a dolphin and jumps of a slaving vessel briefly swimming beside it in communion with other dolphins.

My forthcoming book Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals is in some ways born from the curiosity that has stayed with me since that moment.  My research on marine mammals led me to a hybrid dolphin that has puzzled geneticists.  The range of the dolphin is exactly the route of the transatlantic slave trade and its existence as a species seems to defy the way species develop.  Hmm. Maybe Octavia Butler was speaking the truth once again. 

This section is an opportunity to reflect deeply on possibility and change by allowing ourselves to imagine beyond our species.  I recorded audio of a small part of the scene from Wildseeds I referenced and included the excerpt from Undrowned that talks about the Clymene dolphin, followed by some journal prompts for your beyond species reflection.