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February 28, 2018

Tomorrow morning's Today Show will devote an hour to polyfamilies and non-monogamy


Remember that polyfamily of four who were going to be on NBC's Today Show two weeks ago, then the Florida school shooting preempted it?

The show is airing tomorrow (Thursday March 1), the producer tells them. It'll run from 9 to 10 a.m., the hour hosted by Megyn Kelly.

"Here's a picture of us last May buying a copy of the Times!" with them in its Sunday Magazine. "Taken at Book People in Austin, Texas. L-R: Blake Wilson, Zaeli Kane, Joe Spurr, Ixi Kirkilis."

Zaeli Kane, second from left in the photo above, just wrote:


According to the producer... the whole hour is going to be themed around non-monogamy. I know there will be another polyfidelitous family on (a throuple with kids; we met them — lovely!), and apparently they're also having "experts" to discuss it, but I don't know who they are.


The four of them were in the New York Times Sunday Magazine last May in the article "Is An Open Marriage A Happier Marriage?" That brought them to the Today Show's attention. They are living together poly-fi and raising kids, and they're deeply committed to group-family solidarity.

How much of their values and message will get on the air? One always has to wonder. Zaeli writes,


If people want to know what we thought of the segment ... they can sign up for my newsletter at tinyletter.com/zaeli -- I'll send out a digest linking to everyone's first-person reflections.

Regarding their values and message: Two weeks ago she wrote,


What you're going to see on Thursday is four consenting adults in three distinct romantic relationships, several types of friendship, and one very fluid family agreement. We hope to dispel some myths about non-monogamy -- that it's for the commitment-averse or the greedy, that it's only about sex, that it's fundamentally less stable -- and instead emphasize that for us, it is simply the result of a practice in solidarity, which happens to deepen adult relationships to intimate levels of trust.

When I say solidarity, I mean internal solidarity between our conscience and our behavior, solidarity amongst ourselves as civil sovereign beings, solidarity in and between our genders, and now, solidarity with other polyamorous families, some of whom may be hiding their light in a closet.

...Solidarity is a skill that we all should practice in whatever relationships we have. That's what we admire about polyamory, so that's where we aim to focus.

Finally I just want to tell you — when I embarked on this journey 14 years ago, probably just before you launched, I knew literally zero polyamorous people outside my own situation. Certainly no one who was "out". Eventually we figured out how to be a team, but it was like re-inventing the wheel. Doubt at every turn. It shouldn't be like that! I don't want anyone else to wonder if they're crazy for valuing more than one companion. Our hearts aren't crazy, but our expectations have gotten brittle. I'm so grateful to everyone who lives their truth, whatever that looks like, and it frees my imagination to do the same.

----------------------------

Our names: Zaeli Kane, Joe Spurr, Blake Wilson, Ixi Kirkilis

Twitter:
@zaelikane
@joespurr
@blakekwilson

Instagram:
@zaelikane
@blake_wk
@blakeandzaeli
@ixitheunicorn


Watch this link for the video(s) from the Today Show after it airs. I'll also post a followup.

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