In this episode, Xander Peer Keller welcomes Chantalle, a dancer, writer, mover, adventurer, and facilitator whose work is rooted in co-creation and the belief that everyone has something to learn and something to offer.

Content warning for mentions of suicidality in this episode.

What begins with a photograph of Xander's disabled grandmother unfolds into a deeply personal exploration of disability, survival, intimacy, and the power of being witnessed.

Together, they explore:

• disability, chronic illness, and the hidden stories that shape our lives
• surviving shame, depression, and suicidal ideation through care, community, and connection
• how dance, embodiment, and song became pathways to healing and belonging
• reimagining intimacy, interdependence, and the ways we hold one another through struggle

This is a conversation about moving from hidden to held. Through friendship, love, vulnerability, and years of learning together, Xander and Chantalle explore how our deepest struggles can become sources of connection, growth, and belonging.

Stay tender. Stay tangled. Stay held together.

Want more Held Together? Become a subscriber at Patreon.com/heldtogether for bonus content like Q&As, advice, extra episodes and more!

Memberships offered on a sliding scale.

Find Xander Peer Keller:

• Instagram: @xanderpeerkeller
• TikTok: @queercripmagic
• Substack: xanderpeerkeller.substack.com
• Website: disabilitycreativity.com
• Listen to Sirona Isle's music on Spotify

Email us at: heldtogetherpod@gmail.com

In this episode, Xander gathers with Mack Packard and Francis Cimarron for a conversation woven through disability, song, survival, and the unexpected ways love finds us. What begins as a reflection on living with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks unfolds into a story about care webs, friendship, ritual, and being held through experiences that exist somewhere between life and death.

Together, they explore:

• living with CSF leaks and profound disability

• friendship as life-saving medicine

• song as ritual, resistance, and survival

• hospital rooms transformed by collective singing

• the magic and tenderness that can emerge alongside suffering

• reimagining love beyond conventional relationship models

• finding humanity inside medical systems

This is a conversation about being carried when you cannot carry yourself, about the songs that keep us tethered to life, and about the people who arrive at exactly the right moment. It is a story of profound illness, profound love, and the ways we are held together through care, connection, and song.

Stay tender. Stay tangled. Stay held together.

Want more Held Together? Become a subscriber at Patreon.com/heldtogether for bonus content like Q & As, advice, extra episodes and more!

Memberships offered on a sliding scale.

Find Xander Peer Keller:⁠ ⁠

⁠⁠On Instagram @xanderpeerkeller and linked here. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠On Facebook linked here. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠And on TikTok @queercripmagic and linked here.⁠⁠

Read their writing on Substack at ⁠⁠xanderpeerkeller.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ linked here.⁠⁠

Visit their website at ⁠⁠disabilitycreativity.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ linked here.⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

⁠Check out Sirona Isle's music on Spotify!⁠⁠

Email us at ⁠heldtogetherpod@gmail.com

In this episode, Xander lays down with Lyric for a conversation about friendship, interdependence, chosen family, and the ways we nourish each other when neither of us feels like we have much left to give. What begins as a reflection on song and mutual support unfolds into a deeper exploration of community, divorce, parenting, grief, and the magic that emerges when people allow themselves to be held.

Together, they explore:

• friendship as a sacred form of love

• community support during divorce and major life transitions

• parenting within a village of support
• ritual, magic, and raising children in community
• grief as a doorway to connection and transformation
• song as medicine, prayer, and collective healing
• learning to ask for what we truly need

• being seen, held, and transformed through relationship

This is a conversation about what becomes possible when care is not transactional, when friendship is allowed to be as sacred as any other form of love, and when people trust each other enough to bring their whole selves into the web. Together, Xander and Lyric explore how pain and pleasure, grief and joy, independence and interdependence are not opposites, but threads woven into the same song.

Stay tender. Stay tangled. Stay held together.

Want more Held Together? Become a subscriber at Patreon.com/heldtogether for bonus content like Q & As, advice, extra episodes and more!

Memberships offered on a sliding scale.

Find Xander Peer Keller:⁠ ⁠

⁠⁠On Instagram @xanderpeerkeller and linked here. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠On Facebook linked here. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠And on TikTok @queercripmagic and linked here.⁠⁠

Read their writing on Substack at ⁠⁠xanderpeerkeller.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ linked here.⁠⁠

Visit their website at ⁠⁠disabilitycreativity.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ linked here.⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

⁠Check out Sirona Isle's music on Spotify!⁠⁠

Email us at ⁠heldtogetherpod@gmail.com