Spirit in Action: Recent Episodes
Northern Spirit Radio
Each week, Spirit In Action brings you stories of people living lives of fruitful service, of peace, community, compassion, creative action and progressive efforts. We will trace the spiritual roots that support and nourish them in their service. Above all, we will seek out Light, Love and Helping Hands, being shared between our many neighbors on this planet, hoping to inspire and encourage you to sink deep roots and produce sacred fruit in your own life.
Spirit In Action is an hour of interviews with those providing leadership in peace, justice and "good works", interspersed with relevant music.
We visit with David Welder, and his wife, Veronica, at their off-grid home called Fisher Cat Creek Forest Preserve (on airbnb and Hipcamp), to talk about his book, Forth to Basics: A Guide to Goin' Off-Grid (And Living More With Less), and his life experience leading up to
In this special Spirit in Action episode, guest-host Nicole Diroff welcomes Dr. Shanon Shah, Director of Faith for the Climate, for a conversation that weaves together faith, identity, and the urgent call for climate justice. A queer Muslim scholar, journalist, and advocate, Shanon shares how his lived experience and academic insight converge in powerful ways to challenge systems of oppression and invite communities into courageous collective action.
A dive deep into the analysis and understanding of why & how evil is done in the world - not theologically, but behaviorally - with our guest Elizabeth Minnich, author of The Evil of Banality – On the Life and Death Importance of Thinking.
Jan Spencer is guest-host today for the sixth time, sharing an episode of Creating A Preferred Future, equipping us further in anticipation of changes we need for a better future. Jan explains why anyone interested in emergency preparedness can "graduate" to an interest in paradigm shift and moving towards sustainability. Preparedness for unplanned disruption is a very prudent idea.
Today for Spirit in Action we welcome back Pamela Boyce Simms of Singularity Botanicals. In 2017 we visited with her about Evolutionary Cultural Design, and in 2019 the topic was the African Diaspora Plant Medicine Project.
Today's guest-host, Peterson Toscano, brings deep riches from his occasional podcast called Bubble and Squeak. There is deep encounter & meaning in this episode, wrestling with stories, overtones of stories, & personal resurrection of Lazarus in the Bible, and recovering from conversion therapy in reality, a recovery of oneself through true unbinding.
Our guest-hosts today are Peterson Toscano & Elise Silvestra of Citizen's Climate Radio, bringing together voices exploring how emotional honesty, sound, and art can open pathways from climate despair to collective action.
President Trump has been wreaking havoc in so many corners of our country, including the disruption caused by his executive order to dismantle all DEI (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion) programs throughout the country. Harvard has been the most prominent school to refuse the order, causing joy & celebration among many. Today we're talking with John Bach about Harvard's policies and ethics from his perspective as a Harvard chaplain.
Most of the time it is the top officials in an organization who are interviewed to learn about & understand the group, but today we're exploring The Sierra Club from the ground up. Paul Wagner has been very active with The Sierra Club for over forty years, connecting at the local, Chippewa Valley level, within the state of Wisconsin, and also nationally.
Wayne Finegar is Executive Director of QuakerHouse, a resource located in Fayetteville, SC, which provides counseling and support to service members who are questioning their role in the military; educates them, their families, and the public about military issues, and advocates for a more peaceful world. Check out the GI Rights Hotline and also their Conscientious Objection resources.
As we travel over 3 continents in search of international understanding, connection, and peace, our guest is Daniel Mamah, and he is the author of As The Rivers Merge: A Story of Love, War, and Perseverance Across Continents. Daniel & his siblings were raised between their mother's Hungary, their father's Nigeria, and in a couple other countries, with all the intricacies of attitudes, culture, and history that result in the face of major differences of perspective.
Emma Condori Mamani does the work of connection and compassion from her home base in La Paz, Bolivia. Emma has witnessed dramatic changes to the roles of indigenous Bolivians in that society, changes that have led her to higher education and work with the Friends International Bilingual Center.
In this eye-opening episode, guest-hosted by Keisha McKenzie, Nicole Diroff, Allen Ewing-Merrill, and Ben Yosua Davis of the BTS Center and their Climate Changed Podcast, they bring you an enlightening conversation with
George Lakey is many things to many people, including activist, organizer, author, professor, father, and friend. And now he's a movie star, of sorts, due to a feature-length documentary film, called Citizen George, directed by Glenn Holsten.
Jan Spencer is back today to guest-host today Spirit In Action with the 3rd installment of his series Primer for Paradigm Shift – the needed ways of seeing and thinking about the world in order to become sustainable and to leave our world-wrecking ways behind us.
Rob Hopkins, co-founder of the Transition Network and Transition Town Totnes, and author of several influential books, including “The Transition Handbook” and
Bianca van Heydoorn spoke at this year's FGC Gathering, held this year at Haverford College, just outside of Philadelphia, which made it much easier to have Bianca here for Spirit In Action.
Jonathan Kuttab was born & raised in Jerusalem, and he helped found Nonviolence International and the Palestinian rights group Al-Haq, and is the author of
Peterson Toscano first appeared on Spirit In Action in 2007, talking about his work to support and heal ex-gay survivors, men who, like him, spent years trying to be cured from being gay, and being seriously, sometimes lethally injured by that treatment. I then observed Peterson as he dove deeply into Biblical study around non-conforming sexual roles, in the Bible, and transforming ways of seeing the lessons of that book.
Glen Retief grew up in South Africa, a story he captured in his book The Jack Bank, and he writes periodically for the South African publication, The Daily Maverick.
Our 2nd visit with Michael Beer, director of Nonviolence International since 1998. Last time Michael talked mainly about his book,
Amanda Udis-Kessler is not only a musician, but she's a sociologist, a social ethicist, a theologian, and a writer, and it's her writing that brings her here to us today.
In 2016, Peggy & Mark Halvorson picked up and moved to Liberia, West Africa, with 4 kids in tow, as part of their growing passion of adaption, but also healing for the people of that country. That devotion has only grown in the following years, and so has the organization that Peggy shepherds, Teamwork Africa.
A visit with 2 people, from opposite corners of the globe, trying to help with recovery and healing from severe trauma. Terry Hokenson & his interest in regenerative agriculture led him to a total shift in his worldview, guided by the insights and work of Francis and Barbara Bettelyoun, and the Indigenous American organization called Buffalo Star People. This interview took place before the members of Minneapolis Friends Meeting on Easter Sunday 2024.
The team at of FNVW and their Everyday Nonviolence Podcast guest-hosts today for Spirit In Action.
Larry Tye captures history and writes books about transformation, like the progress brought about by the black musicians who captured hearts in the USA. Larry's latest book is The Jazzmen: How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America, a combination of legends, deep examination, and inspirational story-telling. This is the 9th book by Larry, all of which open hearts and minds with real-life stories.
Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Jewish
Today's guest-hosts from the Climate Changed Podcast of the BTS Center, Ben Yosua-Davis and Nicole Diroff, are bringing us some hope and instruction in how to cope constructively with the threat and tribulations of Climate Changed.
Our guest is Ali Horriyat and he's an amazing human being. Ali grew up in Dubai, had loads of education in Europe, eventually obtaining 3 Masters degrees, made a huge fortune in Canada, then gave it away to reboot his life, free from a wealth addiction, and also free to direct his energy to the true betterment of the world. Ali created Compassiviste, a mutual-support organization of creative compassionate activists doing wonderful work. Ali Horriyat joins us from Dubai in the Middle East.
Jan Spencer is guest-host today, his fourth time on Spirit in Action. talking about what he calls his Primer for Paradigm Shift – the needed way of seeing and thinking about the world in order to become sustainable and to leave our world-wrecking ways behind us.
Pamela Haines writes deep, profound and life-changing books, but she does it with simple, straightforward, and accessible language. With degrees in Social Ecology and Labor & Women's History, she is a self-taught economist and consummate communicator. Her greatest strength, however, is not her paper degrees, but her genuine and lifelong curiosity, integrity, and wide-ranging compassion, which lead her to write delightful books that all of us need and can appreciate.
Guest-host Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio is sitting in today for Spirit In Action, assisted by several CCR activists.
Like so many witnessing the immense suffering in Gaza, Cassandra Dixon wanted to do something to help the situation. Cassandra has made numerous visits to Palestine and has come to know many people there as personal friends, so she strongly felt the call to join the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, carrying thousands of tons of humanitarian aid for the starving people of Gaza.
Timmon B. Wallis takes his life-long efforts for peace and the future of the planet to new depths and heights with his book, Warheads to Windmills - Preventing Climate Catastrophe and Nuclear War.
Brad Wolf has just released the book, A Ministry of Risk – Writings on Peace and Nonviolence – Philip Berrigan, powerfully capturing the life and ministry of Phil, in Phil's own words, his witness in the struggle for racial justice, against the Vietnam war and all wars, and against nuclear arms through the Plowshares movement.
One of the sources of the rich cadre of authors and activists I have here on Spirit In Action is the promotion of writers done by Peter Bermudes of GLPR – that's Gail Leondar Public Relations – and it was through Gail that I was first acquainted with GLPR, though Peter has been at the helm since 4 years ago.
The team at FNVW and their Everyday Nonviolence Podcast guest-hosts today for Spirit In Action. Jarren Peterson Dean interviews acclaimed authors Stanley Kusunoki and Kao Kalia Yang discuss the power art has to speak the truth and connect us to our shared humanity.
Gisele Bolton is an inspiration of where a passionate heart for healing the world can lead you. From her home in the Chippewa Valley of Wisconsin, Gisele earned degrees in International Politics and Human Rights and in Global Studies, Human Rights and Justice in the Middle East and Africa. She added languages, including Arabic, to her toolkit, and she volunteered and interned in diverse countries like Lebanon, Kenya, and Honduras.
Ken Grossinger has written a compelling new book about the synergy and power possible between art and organizing. His book is Art Works: How Organizers and Artists Are Creating a Better World Together and it brings together many social change efforts of the recent decades and the various forms of art that empowered dramatic movement toward change.
Today's guest-hosts from the Climate Changed Podcast of the BTS Center share the fruits of their second season, first episode.
Jan Spencer is guest-host today, his third time on Spirit In Action. Jan has a rich vision for a better world, what he calls Creating A Preferred Future.
Part 2 of a visit with Si Kahn, Vivian Nesbitt, John Dillon, and a special guest, Joe Jencks, where we will looking at the musical written by Si Kahn cal
Si Kahn is joining us today for Spirit In Action along with two other folks, Vivian Nesbitt and John Dillon, and this week's show is part one where we will looking at the musical written by Si Kahn called Mother Jones in Heaven.
Guest-host Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio is sitting in today, and he brings with him a wealth of connections to world-healing work. In this episode, host Peterson guides us through exploring the role forests play in addressing the causes and impacts of climate change, both in urban and rural settings.
Deborah G. Plant is author of the book Of Greed & Glory: In Pursuit of Freedom For All, addressing the direct linkage of slavery, the 13th Amendment, mass incarceration, and the ways in which exclusive wealth and power undermines freedom for all of us.
We're taking you to Burundi, East Africa, for today's Spirit In Action for a visit with Socrates Imani Matabaro, founder of Voice of Hope Burundi.
Paul Klinkman has been creating the solution to climate change creatively for more than 50 years, exploring all kinds of innovative techniques, technologies, and methods to save the planet and its species from the ravages of catastrophic climate crisis. Inspired by a spiritual vision before anyone was talking about global warming, Paul has drawn deeply on his deep genius to find a hopeful way forward.
Thom Hartman just released his latest book, The Hidden History of American Democracy: Rediscovering Humanity's Ancient Way of Living, and it's full of the kind of historical scrutiny and keen analysis to expose and clarify the facts behind our much-vaunted form o
Lynn Fitz-Hugh is one of the long-term stars in the activist realm. For over 16 years her focus has been fighting climate change, including founding 350Seattle.org, cofounding Faith Action Climate Team (of Seattle) and working for Thurston Climate Action Team for almost 3 years.
Cherice Bock is a rare and exciting breed of activist, with both a Masters of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from Antioch University, New England.
Susan Cozzens has a long pedigree of working for social change through public policy research and advocacy. Her Ph.D.
Brenda Asterino guest-hosts Spirit In Action today, sharing a 2014 speech in Seattle, WA, by John Dear, former Jesuit priest, nonviolence activist & teacher, and author of 35-plus books. John Dear's life and choices brought him to leave his Jesuit life as he practices a path that follows his religious belief and his love for humanity. Hear of his experiences with many spiritual souls including the Dalai Lama, MLK Jr, Nelson Mandela, and many others.
Today guest-host Peterson Toscano brings a potpourri of audio from his occasional podcast called Bubble and Squeak. He takes conversations, personal stories, radio comedies, and recordings of random sounds, then mashes them altogether. Our show today comes in six parts.
Chuck Collins, longtime activist with inequality.org, is a devoted worker for the good, and with his latest book, Altar to an Erupting Sun, he has become an amazing novelist.
Guest-host Peterson Toscano shares moving, insightful, and transformational portions of his Quakers Today podcast, dealing with all kinds of issues of interest to all listeners, things like spirituality, inclusion/separation, transgender understandings, manumission & reparations from slavery, abusive religion, and deep, personal, transformation.
A visit with Helen Jaccard, VFP Golden Rule Project Manager, about the work, history, purpose, & travels of the sailboat The Golden Rule, from its origins protesting nuclear testing in the Marshall Island back in 1958, and onward to its resurrection in the early 2010's, to continue education and organizing against nuclear dangers.
Parfaite Ntahuba led a concerted effort in Burundi so that the 2020 national elections might have a much better outcome than the bloody results of the 2015 elections.
Guest-hosts today are from the Climate Changed podcast, Nicole Diroff & Ben Yosua-Davis, of the BTS Center, accompanied by
Back in 2020 we looked at the history of pandemics & racism via something called the BUSeum with Mich
Sheng Elizabeth Lor founded The Social X Change Project a few years ago, when she set out to help vulnerable groups reduce loneliness and improve mental health and well-being through creativity and connection workshops. Since then Sheng has increased the scope of her work, including helping folks produce & share media to reach out to the community.
Tackling a few topics today via guest-host Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio.
Brenda Asterino guest-hosts today, sharing an interview with Sara Yamasaki, founder and head instructor of the Moving Words Writing Clinics, a summer writing program for elementary, middle school, and high school students grounded in the belief that everyone has an authentic voice, everyone has genius, and everyone can write. She is a writer, multi-sensory learning specialist, and certified teacher with over 30 years experience teaching children, graduates, teachers, and professionals.
Andrew Boyd decided to take the Climate Crisis by the horns of despair and ride it through to the bitter conclusion, and the result is his latest book, I Want a Better Catastrophe: Navigating the Climate Crisis with Grief, Hope, and Gallows Humor.
Second hour of a 2-part visit with war tax resistance (WTR) activists. Each of the 4 people has changed their life to conscientiously refuse to pay for bullets, guns, bombs, and war, and they've worked to call attention to the fact that about half of every income tax dollar goes to the military. Around April 15th American's dollars are conscripted through taxation, and these 4 guests have said 'no'.
A 2-part visit with war tax resistance activists. Without our money, our country could not carry out war in our name. Every year around April 15th, Americans are asked to make sure the national coffers are filled, and about half of the income taxes paid go to the military.
Valerie Brown's new book is Hope Leans Forward, Teaching From a Black Buddhist & Quaker. Valerie's book shares a number of Buddhist & Quaker teachings and insights which can help anyone lead a more fulfilled & complete life. These lessons are embodied in the lives of many different people, but especial in Valerie's life experience growing up Afro-Cuban-Jamaican in a single-parent household in Brooklyn, NY.
In 1987 David & Lise Abazs bought and built their off-the-grid Round River Farm, in Finland, Minnesota, from the
Guest-hosts today are from the Climate Changed podcast, Nicole Diroff & Ben Yosua-Davis, of the BTS Center, accompanied by
Jan Spencer is guest-host today, filling us in the road to his mission of Creating A Preferred Future.
Faye Pietrokowsky has been doing the work of enhancing the ability of people to make decisions combining their inner wisdom/intuition with logic and outer knowledge. Faye combines insights and exercises that help people hone their discernment, empowering them to bring all of their resources to the table. Her work happens through personal coaching, classes for both private & corporate settings, animal communication, and intuitive cooking for health.
Conservatives & storytellers unite for climate well-being, featuring a wide array of valuable climate-related guests & resources though guest-host Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio.
At one point Bill Moyer thought he might be a drummer, but instead he was led to a life of activism and enabling others to become activists as well.
Jan Spencer lives in Eugene, Oregon, and he's been creating a preferred future, on the ground and for the wider culture, from his one-quarter acre suburban home there. Many folks may assume that you have to move out to the country to create something in tune with nature, but Jan's wonderful homestead in the city proves the contrary.
George Lakey. George has been on the vanguard of nonviolent activism for over 50 years, doing, innovating, and teaching organizing & activism with ever more effective ways of helping humanity forward.
Anita Sanchez's books are mostly targeted toward young readers, anything from preschool to adult, and they help all readers fall in love with aspects of our world and nature that most ignore, whether talking about puddles, poison ivy, gardens, or visiting the night.
David Eberhardt was one of the Baltimore Four, along with Phil Berrigan, and David spent 21 months in prison for pouring blood on Selective Service draft records.
Karl Meyer has been a deep-thinking & devoted practicing advocate for peace and justice since his mid-teens. His pioneering in war tax refusal, and his enthusiastic & fearless advocacy of refusal of complicity with injustice, whether in war, in nuclear weapons, in environmental conditions, or in economics, has inspired legions of activists.
Cindy Yurth's vocational & spiritual journey can be an inspiration for everyone. From her time starting a literacy program in Utah with VISTA, to work in Liberia as part of the Peace Corps, and again in Africa, in Ghana, with the Society of African Missions (Catholic), Cindy has sought out world-healing work.
Be part of a teach-in organized by Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality with the help of today's guest-host Patricia Stansbury (AKA Sunny Gardener).
Diya Abdo is the founder of Every Campus A Refuge, and author of American Refuge: True Stories of the Refugee Experience. Diya was herself of a Palestinian refugee family in Jordan.
A wide array of valuable climate-related guests & resources though guest-host Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio.
In his book, The Rescue Effect: The Key to Saving Life on Earth, Michael Mehta Webster has both hopeful & challenging news about the possibilities & ways we might mitigate the damage of Earth's 6th mass extinction event. Michael knows how it both can and does work to bring species back from the edge of extinction - or even after - and he knows the nitty-gritty of getting this done.
In order to restore harmony to our planet we need major changes in the relationships of people to the Earth & our neighboring species.
In his book, The Prophetic Lens: The Camera and Black Moral Agency from MLK to Darnella Frazier, Phil Allen Jr. examines the history & the future of Black wholeness in the USA, especially the ways in which people of color have been made invisible, & how their power is being reclaimed through open eyes & lenses.
The Thread Collectors. is a co-authored book, all the more compelling because of the family connections of the authors to the events of this story, set during the Civil War, much of it in Louisiana, and centering around two couples, one couple enslaved, and the other couple White & Jewish. Shaunna J.
Iris Graville was writer-in-residence on the Interisland Ferry of Washington's San Juan Islands just before COVID hit.
Guest-hosts today are from the Climate Changed podcast, Nicole Diroff & Ben Yosua-Davis, of the BTS Center, accompanied by Peterson Toscano. Their guests today are Maya Williams, the poet laureate of Portland, Maine, and Corina Newsome, who co-organized the very first #BlackBirdersWeek and who, in taking on racial injustice directly through activism, has challenged the straight-forward faith of her childhood.
The team at of FNVW and their Everyday Nonviolence Podcast guest-hosts today for Spirit In Action. Diane Sandberg interviews activist, sociologist, & writer Paula Palmer about Indigenous Boarding Schools & the Quaker role - and guilt - in them.
Thom Hartmann talks about the latest book in his series, The Hidden History of Neoliberalism: How Reaganism Gutted America and How to Restore its Greatness.
Ximena Yáñez Soto is the author of Healthy Planet, Healthy You: Simple Habits to Create a Brighter Future which is an exploration of the health connections between what we eat, why we eat it, how it affects us, & how these are linked to the well-being of other inhabitants of our globe & of the planet as a whole.
Eleonora Bartoli & Ali Michael bring us a book about antiracism that actually helps equip people to do the work, & to do it in a way that is actually helpful & effective. Our Problem Our Path: Collective Antiracism for White People is insightful, co
We featured the brand-new Climate Changed Podcast, in June, before it was released to the world, hosted by today's guest, Ben Yosua-Davis, and co-host Nicole Diroff, and that's how we first learned about
Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio guest-hosts today, on the topic of Queer Response to Climate Change. Foremost he speaks with Isaias Hernandez who provides training and media as Queer Brown Vegan.
Randy Kehler & Betsy Corner have been standing strong against paying for war for more than 45 years. They were especially notable because their witness for peace led to an attempt by the govt to take their home, something that happens to very few resisters.
National Healthcare has been an enduring electoral and life issue for many decades, with advocacy for Single Payer or Medicare For All platforms ever more popular. Myron Buchholz taught history in high schools for around 30 years, and he combines his historical perspective on the issue with his personal experience with the “healthcare” system to advocate for a single payer system in the US.
Beverly Ward is Field Secretary for Earthcare of SEYM, doing all kinds of work to motivate, inform, & unite around work for care for the planet.
We're called to flip the world topsy-turvy & stop beating our asses according to Cantankerous Hermit-ish Mendicant Farmer (Don Durham) and Jewish Trans Educator (Liam Hooper), two insightful & radical Bible wrestlers.
A valuable, even vital, addition to the resources for dealing with mental health challenges is called 'Peer Support', and a primary sources of peer support the wide range of mental health diagnoses is the Wellness Shack. Their director, Bob Schrader, speaks of the operation and functioning of the Wellness Shack and the specifics of peer support groups.
Guest-hosts today are Nicole Diroff & Ben Yosua-Davis, of the BTS Center & the brand-new Climate Changed podcast, accompanied by Peterson Toscano. They will explain who they are and what their podcast is all about, but, in short, they are addressing the need for spiritual leadership in a climate-changed world. Their guest is Mariama White-Hammond, Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space for the City of Boston and the founding pastor of New Roots AME Church in Dorchester, a multi-racial, multi-class community.
Today's Spirit In Action guests, both strongly pacifist, moved to areas that were overwhelmingly and oppressively military-oriented, and had to figure how to deal with that, both for themselves and for their families. Lucretia Humphrey's journey took her to Great Falls, Montana, surrounded by nuclear warheads, and Molly Wingate ended up in Colorado Springs, in the midst of a number of military bases.
Monica Tetzlaff is an associate professor of history at the University of Indiana of South Bend, and her special interest is in African-American history.
Jori Lewis is the author of Slaves for Peanuts: A Story of Conquest, Liberation, and a Crop That Changed History.
Charlotte Sebastian of Friends for a Nonviolent World and their Everyday Nonviolence Podcast guest-hosts today for Spirit In Action, sharing portions from 2 episodes of the podcast.
Peterson Toscano of Citizens' Climate Radio guest-hosts today, and he brings some amazing, inspiring, & insightful guests with him, among them: Caroline Harmon of Christian Climate Action, Sophie and Josie Davis, fighting for climate sanity as founders of the
Our main topics today are tyranny & nonviolence. Andrew Fiala is Professor of Philosophy & also director of the Ethics Center at Cal State Fresno.
Lisa Miara is at the center of The Hope Centre/Springs of Hope Foundation in the Kurdish region in Northern Iraq. The Yazidi minority in that area was devastated by the 2014 attack of ISIS on them, and Lisa found a leading to live among and nurture back to wholeness the victims of ISIS, bringing hope & love to reclaim child soldiers and horribly abused & enslaved girls & women.
Throughout his career, Dwight L. Wilson has held many jobs: educator, administrator, chaplain. In each role, he worked to advance equality, opportunity and understanding. He continues this work in his carefully researched historical fiction series Esi Was My Mother, which follows the lives of an enslaved black family from 18th century Africa to the American Civil War. He strives to portray triumphant examples of black stories that will make history come alive for readers.
Many hands were needed to help in the transition for the immense number of Afghans that fled Afghanistan with the fall of the government there to the Taliban last year. Among those answering the call was Sahar Taman, providing legal assistance to the 13,000 Afghans located to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, last fall. The personal situations & the legal requirements were complex, demanding deeply dedicated work of both the heart and head.
Amar Ahmad is a young Muslim who has been working with Mass Peace Action the past 2 years, serving as co-chair of the Legislative/Political Committee as an organizer with the Fund Health Care, Not Warfare project, and wit
Media can unite or divide, and the Conversations In Color (CIC) program on Converge Radio (101.9 FM) chooses to unite in depth instead of superficiality.
Jane Addams, founder of Hull Settlement House in Chicago, was a powerful inspiration and aid to the poor and downtrodden, like Nellie Wicks, who was great-grandmother to singer/songwriter Kristin Lems.
Bahareh Zare Bahari is distinct in so many ways - as an Iranian woman who, in her early 20's, started her own school, soon shut down by the regime in Iran, who then moved to the Philippines to become a Doctor of Dentistry, and who won 3 beauty queen crowns, using the opportunity to both hold up the beauty & power of the Iranian women and people. Because of her witness, she has been threatened, nearly abducted, and had her nose broken.
Thom Hartmann's completely articulate voice & extensive knowledge & insights all combine to insure his place as the USA's #1 progressive talk show host. His more than 30 books are equally compelling, and today we talk with Thom about his latest, The Hidden one of the most articulate voices of progressive radio in the USA, and he's a compelling writer as well.
Casting out the chest-beating & shade-throwing from the Bible with the skills & insights of a Jewish Trans Educator (Liam Hooper) and a Cantankerous Hermit-ish Mendicant Farmer (Don Durham) is an important goal of Bible Bash.
Institutions & business across the US are increasingly turning to equity, diversity, & inclusion staff to address the continuing problems with racism, discrimination, and bigotry built into the culture, laws, & policies of our country. My own Midwest city and county, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, took a concrete step by hire their first ever EDI Coordinator, Jeneise Briggs, to help structure and focus our attempts to heal the exclusion and wounds which have written-out of mainline culture and the privileges that position brings. Jeneise brings a wealth of talents and training with her, and also experience, both professional and person. Jeneise grew up in a poor Jamaican family, though rich in love and faith. Jeneise got her BA in Mass Communications/Public Relations Mandeville, Jamaica, her MA in Public Administration in Grand Rapids, MI, and her Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership, Administration & Policy Analysis in Madison, WI. She has previously served Marian University and the State Bar of Wisconsin in EDI roles. This visit with Jeneise provides a snapshot of one community's attempts to alter the local culture to widen democracy and the full embrace of caring community.
One of the issues we face in dealing with problems in the USA is the frequent divide between “the common folk” - rural, often farm folks - and the urban populace, often dismissed from the other side as “ivory tower intellectuals”.
Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio guest-hosts today, with poignant, inspirational, & intriguing visits with Flannery Winchester,
A visit to an event, "Beyond the Books: A Way Forward for White Allies in Democracy", and some time with the event's main presenter, Gerri Williams.
Steve Chase has been involved with impressive and world-changing activism all of his adult life. He has his PhD in Environmental Studies from Antioch University, where he also taught for 15 years, after first working as an editor and writer for the More Than Money Journal.
George Lakey's new book, How We Win: A Guide to Nonviolent Direct Action Campaigning brings it all together and changes the prospects for a better world. Drawing on some 60 years experience in all kinds of social change movements & having trained activists from dozens of nations, George is a true expert and a great communicator.
With the threat of internal turmoil or even civil war possible in the US due to red/blue polarization, especially since 2016, the Braver Angels project and organization was founded. Their mission? “We bring Americans together to bridge the partisan divide and strengthen our democratic republic.” It's a tall order in these tense times, but Braver Angels is bringing great energy, dedication, and tools to the work.
When Billy Talen puts on his big hair, a clerical collar, & his brightly-colored blazer, he becomes Rev. Billy & The Church of Stop Shopping, raising spirits & a holy ruckus for the Earth in myriad ways. With creativity, humor, & grim seriousness, Billy, Savitri D, & the other members of the Stop Shopping Choir put their bodies & voices on the line for issues like racism, police brutality, consumerism, Monsanto, Standing Rock or many other things.
Carl Magruder, born in 1969, multiracial, & growing up around Berkeley, is a real child of the 60's, complete with his TheEarthQuaker email identity. Along the way he got schooled by Spirit, led to seminary, & into his current work as a palliative care chaplain. Carl Magruder sees wide and deep, & brings forth the words to excite healing energy for the Earth & humans, around race, and between peoples.
Listen in on the chilly Dec 20th JONAH-sponsored vigil on homelessness, with presentations by governmental, activist, and homeless participants.
We'll learn from our civil rights elders as guest-host Patricia Stansbury (AKA Sunny Gardener) interviews three Virginia residents who were involved with civil rights and integration efforts in the 1950s, 60s, and since, Charles Carter, Janet Worsham, and Sallie Rugg. Patricia originally broadcast this interview back in July, 2020.
Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio guest-hosts today, and he explores hospitality in a time of Climate Change with D
The topic today for Spirit In Action is the mental health of our children, and who better to talk about it than the director of Wisconsin's Office of Children’s Mental Health, Linda Hall.
Melanie Joy presents deep thought and a check on our clouded view of reality in the new edition of her book, Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: an Introduction to Carnism, in which she introduces the concept of carnism & explores the psych
Most of the talking points about the current worker shortage play to conservative messaging about lazy folks living off the government teat, but Eau Claire's own Zoe Roberts, county board representative for District 27, has writt
Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio guest-hosts today, and he shares visits with Chantal Bilodeau of Climate Change Theatre Action,
The KKK experienced a "rebirth" in the early 1900's, growing virulently across the country, differently manifesting depending on the area. Dr. Michael Luick-Thrams is founder & director of TRACES Center for History and Culture, sponsors of the upcoming BUS-eum display & tour with 5 displays for 2020, Topic today is The White Cancer: America and its Ku Klux Klan, including the current 3rd wave which we are still in.
18 months ago we had the privilege of interviewing Chief Richard Quiet Thunder Gilbert, a deep visit about his place in creation, and that of his tribe, the Lenni Lenape people, and about their lessons of right relationship with the Earth.
Edgar Villanueva is back on Spirit In Action with an importantly updated edition of his book, Decolonizing Wealth 2nd Edition: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance.
Guest-host Patricia Stansbury (AKA Sunny Gardener) shares interviews with 2 different guests. First up is Duron Chavis and building Resiliency Gardens is Duron’s life work. Learn local food systems & how they intertwine with justice, prudence and hard work. Part 2 is a visit with Joseph Rogers.
Consummate journalist & author,Larry Tye shares about his new book, DEMAGOGUE: The Life and Long Shadow of Senator Joe McCarthy, full of lessons completely applicable to today, especially considering that the McCarthy playbook was passed directly to his assistant, Roy Cohn, and from Roy to Donald Trump. Larry Tye makes history accessible & enthralling, and serves it up for the betterment of the world.
In These Walls Between Us – A Memoir of Friendship Across Race and Class Wendy Sanford helps us all travel with her a path away from white supremacy, white privilege, and micro-aggressions, to true interracial friendship, by witnessing Wendy's journey of growth & self-examination.
Andy Douglas is author of Redemption Songs – A Year In The Life of a Prison Community Choir, a piercing look inside US prisons, and he is also author of a memoir The Curve of the World: Into the Spiritual Heart of Yoga, about his 7 years in Asia as a devotee and monk with Ananda Marga. Redemption Songs is a powerful & personal book, abou
Dwight L. Wilson returns today for Spirit In Action - we had him with us about 2 years ago discussing, among many things, his book series Esi Was My Mother, a fictional account of the real situations of his enslaved ancestors. Dwight has been very active in the interim, serving on a police oversight commission in Ann Arbor, MI, and much more, including writing 2 books we're going to discuss.
Thom Hartmann, #1 progressive talk show host in the USA, is back today for SIA, discussing his newest book, The Hidden History of American Healthcare: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich.
Carl Fields emerged from 16 years in prison with a passion & a gift for healing. In addition to his work a program manager with the Hospitality Center at St.
I ran into Pete Bastounes at a campground in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and learned about his transition from a political conservative and a Rush Limbaugh enthusiast to a Thom Hartmann and Bernie Sanders liberal, a change that could be promising for those who wish to speak across the political & cultural spectrum. Pete Bastounes is union steward for local 150 operating engineers in Illinois, a compelling speaker, and a great hope for our future.
3 guests, 2 writers of fiction touching on the Indian Boarding Schools, William Kent Krueger, author of This Tender Land, and Patricia Reynolds, author of the Keeper of the Souls series, and they are joined by a guest from Alberta, CA,
Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio guest-hosts today, visiting with Jacques Kenjio from Cameroon, Mary Kathryn Nagle of the Cherokee Nation and partner in a small law firm where she works to protect tribal sovereignty and to protect their women and children from domestic violence and sexual assault. She is also a playwright, putting these issues on stage. Also featured is Geraldo Cadava, the author of The Hispanic Republican. Lastly, Elli Sparks, currently Citizens Climate Lobby’s Director of Field Development, is author of Tell Me A Story, a conversation between a parent and a child, and a story within a story.
Jeremy Lent explores the way forward for humanity & all life on Earth by a deep dive into knowledge, connection, insight, and wisdom in his latest book, The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science & Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe.
Patricia Stansbury returns to guest-host Spirit in Action for the third time, with this episode adapted from her program, Groundswell, originally recorded for WRIR, Richmond Independent Radio. In late June, Patricia visited John Boyd and Kara Brewer Boyd on their farm, Let's Get Growing, in Boydton, Virginia. In this episode, she talks with Kara about the discrimination faced by Black farmers and other farmers of color.
This week’s Spirit in Action has been adapted from a recording of a webinar on July 7 hosted by the Canadian No New Fighter Jets Coalition, who are working to stop the Canadian government from purchasing 88 new fighter jets.
Two great guests: the amazing thinker & author, Parker Palmer, is joined by the wonderful singer, songwriter, & world healer, Carrie Newcomer. They share their various collaborations, the first being a word, song & connecting experience called Healing the Heart of Democracy, then there was What We Need Is Here, and their newest collaboration is called The Growing Edge.
Our guest is David Hartsough, author of Waging Peace: Global Adventures of a Lifelong Activist, a wonderful book combining the stories and inspiration for a better world that David has lived out and been witness to.
In the past 5 years, Fiacre Mutabazi has created an amazing variety of organizations and efforts to make both Rwanda and the world a better place. The first was the MyStoryRwanda YouTube Channel, and then there was what was first called the Rwanda Artist Network, now called Kunda Arts Collective.
Featuring 2 great thinkers mapping a better future for us all by looking deep within not only the human mind, but the mind of the Earth & Cosmos. Jeremy Lent, of Berkeley, CA, is the author of The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning and of The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science & Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe.
The topic is individual spiritual discernment, and our guests are Jerry Knutson, author of a Pendle Hill Pamphlet on the subject, and Kat Griffith, who is working with Jerry on translating it into Spanish for a Latin American audience, with the prospect of jointly leading workshops on the topic.
Guest-host Patricia Stansbury visits with folks connected with the Veterans Resiliency Holistic Clinic, which provides a multidisciplinary approach to trauma, treating the person, not the disease.
Guest-host Peterson Toscano brings highlights from his Bubble&Squeak podcast, including visits with queer writer/film producer Kristin Peterson Kaszubowski about
When a Jewish Trans Educator (Liam Hooper) and a Cantankerous Hermit-ish Mendicant Farmer (Don Durham) come together for a Bible Bash, you'll find radically different lessons from anything taught before.
Michael Beer, director of Nonviolence International since 1998, has just released his book,
Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio guest-hosts today, featuring visits with Dr.
A refreshing look beyond the distortions and rhetoric of the Islamaphobia industry in the US, Demystifying Shariah: What It Is, How It Works, and Why It’s Not Taking Over Our Country by Sumbul Ali-Karamali opens eyes to the rich & complex history & present of how Muslims try to faithfully follow God. Sumbul grew up in Southern California, and after becoming a corporate lawyer, she earned an additional degree in Islamic law.
How do we spread the peace virus instead of perpetuating fear, hate, & injustice? Matthew Legge is author of Are We Done Fighting? Building Understanding in a World of Hate and Division, which gives us deep insights & practical skills for doing just that.
Listen to much of Nonviolence: An Interfaith Conversation, co-sponsored by the Norman Miller Center for Peace, Justice, and Public Understanding at St.
The work of the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) is to develop & share the knowledge needed for effective civil resistance, and they are providing the info in more than 60 languages to freedom, justice, & democracy workers all around the world. Hardy Merriman has been President & CEO of ICNC
Rabbi Katy Allen co-founded Jewish Climate Action Network (JCAN) in 2013 as an urgent and visionary Jewish voice on the crisis of climate change.
Many Spirit In Action listeners eat consciously, maybe natural foods, local foods, or organic foods. Maybe you grow a portion of your own foods, or buy from CSAs and local farms, but if you can't verify the quality of your food first-hand, you may depend on the official federal Organic certification for that assurance.
Most of us lament the polarization of our society, but George Lakey finds promise in the blacksmith's forge.
In Powerarchy: Understanding the Psychology of Oppression for Social Transformation, psychologist Melanie Joy helps us find a way to rethink power, rewrite our future by understanding the structure, workings, & consequences of powerarchy. Melanie is also author of Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows, and currently lives in Berlin, Germany, doing her work of building compassion in the world.
Michael Birkel is a Professor of Christian Spirituality at ESR (Earlham School of Religion) who became a self-taught friend of the Qur'an. In addition to the courses he has taught at ESR and Earlham College, he led a week-long workshop called Reading the Qur'an as Friends as part of the 2019 FGC Gathering.
Guest-host Patricia Stansbury/Sunny Gardener shares interviews with speakers at the 50th anniversary celebration at Quaker House in Fayetteville, NC, home of Fort Bragg.
2nd installment of a discussion about race, racism, & the grace leading to solutions, with perspectives from 2 African-Americans. Selika Ducksworth-Lawton was raised in New Orleans, but now graces Eau Claire, WI, a heavily white city, with her wide-ranging activism, including her leadership in the work of Uniting Bridges, and as professor
Discussion about race, racism, problems & solutions, seen from Akron, OH, New Orleans, LA, & Eau Claire, WI. Rodney Long Jr's article in Friends Journal entitled Before My Life Matters to You, Let It Matter to Me kicked off the exchange, with insights from his life & work as a therapist, social worker, & addictions counselor in Akron.
Today's guest-host, Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio, extends the range of climate change warriors by asking "What Would Jesus Do?" through his interviews with some conservative-tilting, Christian evangelical/fundamental-leaning climate activists. Kelsey Grant (on Twitter), Conservative Outreach Coordinator for Citizens
Liam Michael Hooper's newly-released book, Trans-Forming Proclamation: A Transgender Theology of Daring Existence, envisions & invokes a call for empowerment that is both lyrical & profound, experiential & visionary. Combining Spirit-centered passion, free-wheeling prose, & well-rooted expertise, Liam harnasses energy & determination to construct a mosaic with the full inclusion of all gender-transcendent people.
A visit with America's #1 progressive talk show host, Thom Hartmann, about his latest book, The Hidden History of American Oligarchy: Reclaiming Our Democracy from the Ruling Class. We've temporarily dodged the bullet of oligarchy-into-tyranny in the USA, and Thom spells it all out - the history, present, and possible future.
Raheel Raza speaks out powerfully, as a Muslim, for the rights of women & other marginalized minorities, and for an unblinking and compassionate approach to differences, including the threats posed by extremists within the religion to which she is devoted.
Joseph Hunt has spent a lifetime seeking to empower a world where individuals reach their potential in health, learning, & well-being, and which is compassionate & sustainable.
Jennifer Kavanagh was caught up by a life-transforming Spirit, right at an age where many other people are just shifting into a lower gear, ready to coast the last stretch. After years of the normal study-family-professional life path, she was found by faith, which has included diverse tasks, like running a center for the poor and homeless, setting up micro-credit funding programs, and educating folks about simplicity & spiritual activism.
Nadine Hoover has some 40 years experience working for and training people for peace, much of it in Southeast Asia. Having found that her work as an international project manager wasn't doing what she wanted, she immersed herself in the work of AVP - Alternatives to Violence Project, and major peace work and training with the Friends Peace Teams. With amazing, frightening, & inspirational stories, Nadine passes on tools for peace-making in the toughest places.
Jonathan Kuttab has a vital new perspective, potentially opening a completely new door into a future of peace and justice for Israel/Palestine. Jonathan was born & grew up in West Jerusalem till he headed to college in the US.
When viewed with non-gender conforming eyes, the Bible has lessons that can be used to heal, instead of serving repression & exclusion.
Guest-host Peterson Toscano of Citizens Climate Radio visits with 5 guests: Andrew Stuhl, associate professor of environmental studies and sciences at Bucknell University; Jason Davis of
Selika Ducksworth-Lawton is Professor of History at UW-Eau Claire and an educator & activist, raising awareness and working for our civil rights. From a rural black Louisianan upbringing, Selika has an incisive perspective on race & cultural dynamics in the USA.
Robert Friedman, founder of Prosperity Now, & author of A Few Thousand Dollars: Sparking Prosperity for Everyone, says, "Given a chance, low-income people do amazing things and can be, not just beneficiaries, trainees, employees, but entrepreneurs, home-owners, college material, skilled workers, creators of wealth".
In an effort to support MVP (Movement Voter Project), Annie Patterson & Peter Blood of RiseUpAndSing.org organized 5 on-line benefit concerts to raise funds, consciousness, & energy to Sing Out The Vote.
Jan Frase & the Community Coalition for Nonviolence helped us celebrate the U.N. International Day of Peace by a gathering of artists & activists hosted virtually by the Pablo Center at the Confluence.
Religious norms & habits can't stand in the way of a community faithful to the call of Radical Love. Dave Greenlund, pastor of Peace Lutheran Church - Lauderdale shares the story of a (formerly) Missouri Synod Church whose members traveled a path to greater & greater inclusion & love, squarely facing sexism, racism, Earthcare, and gifting themselves & their neighbors with Christmas in August.
Past/current religious/spiritual influences:
Lutheran
Robert P. Jones is the founder and CEO of PRRI and the author of White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity. Combining theological and historical insight with rigorous statistical analysis, Robert P. Jones searches out the DNA of white supremacy in our churches, to expose the systemic racism and lead to change.
Thom Hartman just released his latest book, The Hidden History of Monopolies: How Big Business Destroyed the American Dream.
A special Spirit In Action show by guest-host Peterson Toscano of Citizens Climate Radio on finding political unity in dealing with the climate crisis. Visits with members of the Conservative Climate Lobby, and speakers from their DC lobby day, give hope for bringing red and blue together for a united response to the crisis of our generation.
Mary Ann Percy has found essence in nature since she was a child, expecting that work in ecology was to be her path. Alas, defeated by chemistry, she looked to Spirit for clarity about the work she was intended to do. With a leading into work with palliative care and hospice volunteer training, she works as Kulshan Cares.
Guest-host Peterson Toscano of Citizens Climate Radio brings inspiration & joy to today's program, visiting with Hannah Pickard from NNOCCI, Sean Dague from Citizens Climate Lobby, Environmental Health Expert Dr.
Mark Neumann was a Franciscan brother for 20 years, including 6 years working as a medical missionary in Zaire, now called the Congo. After a total of 35 years as a pediatrician, he is making his 1st run for office, in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin's 3rd district in the US House of Representatives, currently occupied by Ron Kind. As a world-healer and a people-healer, he is now seeking to further heal our country as a politician.
Extinction Rebellion has a take on addressing the climate crisis that is refreshing, since their plan is to step pass the log-jam of the political process in the US, and taking the power right back to the people. And instead of talking about things like carbon neutrality by 2050 or the like, their plan is to do it by 2025.
Mike McCabe is a political reform activist. Farm-raised, Peace Corps-deepened, journalist-honed, Mike worked 15 years with the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. He ran in the 2018 Democratic primary for Wisconsin Governor, and shares the motivations, experiences, & lessons of that run in his new book, Unscrewing America: Hopes from the Heartland .
Barbara Luetke recently retired after 10 years as the Outreach & Literacy Coordinator at the Northwest School for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children and decades more in the field. She's written a number of textbooks in that field.
In Sing a Rhythm, Dance a Blues: Education for the Liberation of Black and Brown Girls, Monique W. Morris orchestrates a vision of ways forward for the healing of the black & brown girls in the USA. Drawing on the science & the art of human change, Monique identifies the obstructions, & spot-lights the ways over, around, & through them.
Racial Color-Blindness & Diversity Training can't get us to MLK's Dream, but maybe Race-Conscious Parenting can. Jennifer Harvey is the author of Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America, with both practical & philosophical guidance for those who would like to make the dream real. Jennifer's Ph.D.
Chad Seales writes & speaks eloquently on neoliberal capitalism, religion, spirituality, & their intersection with U2 star, Bono, in his book Religion Around Bono: Evangelical Enchantment and Neoliberal Capitalism.
Guest-host Peterson Toscano of Citizens Climate Radio brings special depth & insight into the emotional & human consequences of living in this time of crisis, both due to climate change & the coronavirus. In this episode 8 women talk about working through grief to a place of action. They use their expertise to connect the impacts of climate change to what we are now seeing with Covid-19.
More visits with 3 authors of the 40 essays in Reclaiming Judaism from Zionism: Stories of Personal Transformation.
There are 40 essays in Reclaiming Judaism from Zionism: Stories of Personal Transformation, all personal, touching, transformative, & ringing with cry for justice.
Back in 2012 we explored the amazing healing of Fire Burn Doctor. Today we speak again with Alison McDermott of ECN (Earthcare Network), this time about the offer by Philip Savage to prevent or cure COVID-19. For further info, visit Fireburn Doctor & PSProof.com. Contact info is on page 15 of the ECN website.
In the course of working for charitable foundations and passing on 100's of millions of dollars, Edgar Villanueva came to some realizations about how the charity system works, and how it needs to change to really do good for the world. In Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance, Edgar combines analysis, story-telling, & personal vulnerability to enlighten the way forward.
Dr. Michael Luick-Thrams is founder & director of TRACES Center for History and Culture, sponsors of the upcoming BUS-eum display & tour entitled Hidden or Forbidden No More: Prequels to the Greatest Generation, which includes The Killer: 1918's Flu Pandemic, with lessens for dealing with Coronavirus today.
Chief Richard Quiet Thunder Gilbert served as tribal chief of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape of Bridgeton, NJ, for 13 years. His 86 years on the planet has included 2 books co-authored with Greg Vizzi, The Seventh Generation: Quiet Thunder Speaks (coming soon), and also The Original People.
Guest-host Peterson Toscano of Citizens Climate Radio (CCR) is the main host today, after some thoughts on our times from Mark Helpsmeet. Then CCR looks at crisis living & response, both in terms of COVID-19 and Climate Change. Guests include Dr.
Nonprofit groups are at the forefront of care for the homeless, hungry, needy & oppressed. Given the deep compassion and connection of these non-profits, it is all the more remarkable how often their own staffs face issues of equity and near-poverty wages. Among those looking for a solution to this conundrum are Betsy Leondar-Wright, Anastasia Lynge, & other members of the organization Class Action.
Lincoln Rice and Ruth Benn of NWTRCC (National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee)share the essentials from the January 2020 on-line war tax resistance counselor training, including the methods, mechanics, motivations, & consequences of refusing to pay for war.
Many myths, misconceptions, & motivations have kept the USA mired in racism for centuries. Margaret L. Andersen helps move us in productive directions with her new book, Getting Smart About Race: An American Conversation.
Guest-host Peterson Toscano of Citizens Climate Radio brings inspiration & courage to us through the work of the Better Angels work of Adam Rosenbalm and Austin Ramsey, and the voices of the editors of Rooted & Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis, Rev.
Two powerful, and badly neglected, forces in our national history around race are featured in Educated for Freedom: The Incredible Story of Two Fugitive Schoolboys Who Grew Up To Change a Nation by author & educator Anna Mae Duane. The 1800's debate between two students of the NY African Free School, James McCune Smith & Henry Highland Garnet, echoes to current issues.
Essential parts of our history have been willfully suppressed & ignored, but we can only be the best nation we can be by facing the facts - alternative facts won’t do. That has been the work of sociologist, historian, writer and teacher James Loewen.
Thom Hartmann is one of the most articulate voices of progressive radio in the USA, and he's a compelling writer as well. His most recent book is The Hidden History of the War on Voting: Who Stole Your Vote and How to Get It Back combines history, current events, analysis, & insight into the most crucial threat to our representative democracy happening now.
Featured Music:
Vote - by Emma's Revolution
Racism is deeply rooted in the USA, and entwined with religion. Katharine Gerbner, author of Christian Slavery: Conversion and Race in the Protestant Atlantic World, helps uproot the attitudes and untwine the prejudices in the hope of finding a clear way forward. Katharine is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Minnesota.
Leslie Davis is from Milwaukee, WI, where she is a psychologist for the state’s largest free medical clinic, providing services to principally undocumented immigrants. In 2019 Leslie Davis expanded her compassionate outreach by making 4 extended sojourns on the US-Mexican border, starting with the Dilley Detention Center in Texas, attempting to provide much-needed service from both her general energy and compassion, and also from her skills as a clinical psychologist.
Kelly Lundeen was a founder of Just Peace from the Chippewa Valley back in 2001, spent time in Milwaukee at the Casa Maria Catholic Worker House, which led her to do accompaniment work in Columbia as part of the International Peace Observatory. But her work recently, back in Wisconsin, has been as a mother of 3 and as staff for Nukewatch, working for a nuclear-free future since 1979.
Tara Button is the founder of BuyMeOnce.com which helps connect people to durable, dependable, well-designed & built products, to live sustainably. Her new book is A Life Less Throwaway: The Lost Art of Buying for Life, and it provides a wealth of info & exercises to help people find the optimal material life for themselves.
Past/current religious/spiritual influences:
Catholic, Sunday Assembly
How we communicate frequently makes all the difference between war/peace, connection/division, and safety/danger, and a very strong tool for effective, compassionate, dialogue is Nonviolent Communication (NVC). Claire Bates has been passionate about learning and teaching NVC since 2013, teaching people how to live well with others.
Bob Bruninga is near the end of his work as an aerospace engineer at the US Naval Academy and is passionate about electric cars and solar energy. He built his first electric car way back in 1970, led his neighborhood’s implimentation of alternative energy, and helped Annapolis Friends Meeting in their installation of net zero energy solar panels.
In 2017 David Bucura became overall coordinator for AGLI (African Great Lakes Initiative) of Friends Peace Teams, working on peace and reconciliation in the nations of that region: Rwanda, Burundi, Congo (DRC), Kenya, Uganda, & Tanzania.
Hellen Lunkuse Waiswa Tanyinga is a women's (and human) rights pioneer in Uganda and the founder of the Rape Hurts Foundation. At the age of 11 she was raped while doing the tradtionally female job of hauling water, and she transformed that pain into healing & power for herself, women, and all abused people.
There's excitement as science seeks ways back from the brink of climate disaster. Peterson Toscano of Citizens Climate Radio talkes with Dr. Michael L Curry & Dr.
Hayat Imam is an American-Muslim of Bangladeshi origin. She is a feminist-activist committed to building global social justice movements. Former Executive Director of the Boston Women’s Fund and Board Chair of Grassroots International, she is an active member of Mass Peace Action and Dorchester People for Peace.
Will the issues every stop repeating themselves? Everything is not about the Bible, but a good share of everything is in the Bible, at least if you look with the discerning eyes of Peterson Toscano, a gay man who produces the monthly Citizen's Climate Radio blog, and Liam Hooper, a North Carolinian trans man of Ministries Beyond Welcome.
Ralph Jacobson has been a steadfast advocate for solar since he founded IPS Solar in 1991. In 2017 they became the fastest-growing Twin Cities Business, all the more rewarding because of their practice of inviting women & people of color into the mostly male-dominated industry, and for Ralph's effort to use MnVest.org (Minnesota Investment Crowdfunding) to jump-start solarization of the Red Lake Nation reservation.
The impact of addiction can shape our lives in unexpected ways. Spencer T. and his guests on The Recovery Show podcast carry the message of healing for those affected by addiction and alcoholism. We explore the 12-steps of Al-Anon and see how working the steps can offer solutions to personal challenges we all face.
Past/current religious/spiritual influences:
12 Step Spirituality
Betsy Raasch-Gilman has a lifetime of experience as an activist, feminist, anarchist, Quaker, and change-maker, so she has seen the ups-and-downs of organizing and burn-out. Hearing of the exhaustion of activists in the current political turmoil, she gathered her resources and shared a presentation on Reasons for Hope.
A taste of Farm Aid 2019, the work & music, of the event & the organization. We have 2 amazing musicians from the 18 acts from this year's mainstage: Particle Kid(Micah Nelson, Willie's youngest son) and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, (Willie's 2nd youngest son), joined by Jennifer Lahy, Communication Director of Farm Aid's staff.
John Stoesz carries a ministry advocating land reparations with indigenous peoples as he has traveled 1000's & 1000's of miles on his recumbent trike, working with Dakota peoples in Minnesota, working with and alongside Unsettling Minnesota, coalition for Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery, and Waziyatawin, author of What Does Justice Look Like.
A front-row look at the situation in Hong Kong with Jerry (Chiwei) Hui, currently Associate Professor of Music at UW-Stout in Wisconsin, but he is Hong Kong born-and-raised, and he was present for the first two of the massive protests there. Jerry provides an inside glimpse of the people, laws, history, politics, & character of Hong Kong, which can be supplemented by the BBC Hong Kong page.
Kevin McMullin has created a powerful one-man show called Into the Black Sea: Stories of Darkness and Light to invite the audience to journey alongside the voyage of hurt, healing, and uncertainly he has traveled with the onset of a brain tumor. Kevin uses storytelling and music to walk a mile in his hospital bed, and out of it, show all a way to look honestly into the confusion, pain, and loving that confronts most of us at one time or another of our lives.
Permaculture is much more than organic gardening because it uses whole systems thinking. It is explained eloquently by Carol Barta of the Kansas Permaculture Institute, one of the places where Carol teaches folks to see the world differently by focusing on the Big Picture, supported by the 3 core tenets and 12 design principles of permaculture.
George Lakey passes on the inspirations that led him to a life of activism & social change, among them Bayard Rustin & Lucrecia Mott.
There are climate advocates everywhere including in sports, the circus, and in mermaid drag. Peterson Toscano of Citizens Climate Radio talks with Lew Blaustein of Green Sports Blog, Brewers pitcher Brent Sutter of Strike Out Waste, Eliana Dunlap of the Circus Action Network, Angel Collinson of ProtectOurWinters.org
Exploration of how spiritually-root service can transform the paths of young volunteers. There's riches in the experience with the Peace Corps, Americorps & VISTA, Teach for America, & many more, but today we visit with several folks with QVS (Quaker Voluntary Service). QVS provides a year of service, living at the intersection of transformational spirituality and activism.
Pamela Boyce-Simms does so much & is active at so many different levels that there is just too much to talk about.
Jim Kessler has taught biology for 34 years in Iowa, in the course of which he found a leading to restore the native habitats on a plot of 29 acres that he and his wife bought, including some 15 acres of Tall Grass Prairie, now held by the Bur Oak Land Trust.
Tim Reed is active with a number of protests, witnesses, and helping hands to those in pilgrimmage across the Mexico/USA border in the Las Cruces NM area. He is active with Oak Tree Project and NM CAFé (Comunidades en Acción y de Fé), protested at Tornillo Dentention tent city, and sought communication with the authorities on the border.
Sami Rasouli came to the USA in 1976, returning to Iraq after the US invasion, where he was founder of the Muslim Peacemaker Teams. Sami shares a very different perspective of the cause and effect of the US invasion of Iraq, due to his vantage point on the ground in the country, and has put his life at the service of peace and healing for his country of birth.
We need a vision of the better world in order to energize our drive to it, and Martin Schoenhals does an amazing job of providing a scientifically-based vision in Work, Love, & Learning in Utopia - Equality Reimagined. He is a cultural anthropologist who has taught at several universities, including Johns Hopkins, Columbia, and, currently, Appalachian State University, in Boone, North Carolina.
The Bible Bash Podcast is hosted on Northern Spirit Radio because of the way that Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio and Liam Hooper, of Ministries Beyond Welcome, use their expertise and insight to transform the way we think about the Bible and what it means in our lives.
Roger Gottlieb brings piecing, passionate, comprehensible analysis to our looming environmental disaster, its root causes, and possible ways forward in the newly released book, Morality & the Environmental Crisis.
In his new book, Race and Social Change: A Quest, A Study, A Call to Action, Max Klau uses wide-ranging social science investigation to search for a way forward on dealing with racism and privilege in the USA. The starting point is Camp Anytown's Separation Exercise, which has led to the awakening of many minds.
Climate change has real clout on Gael Henry Carlut’s Pandan Island in the Philippines, as Marissa Slaven brings the crisis to life with her eco-mystery novel, Code Blue. Nicole Chatterson hauls plastic out of the Pacific next to Hawaii, while Dominic Scicchitano finds micro-plastics in Pennsylvania’s Susq
Across the country, the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC) links energies of folks like Anne Barron of the Peace Resource Center of San Diego, the Truth & Poverty Tour in San Diego, and War Tax Redirection, and Larry Bassett, the curmudgeonly, conscientious, G
How does one learn about the alternatives to paying half your federal income tax to the military? Lincoln Rice, coordinator for the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC.org) sent out a message about groups doing that kind of education around Tax Day 2019.
Tyler Norman and the folks of the Mutual Aid Disaster Relief network are exploring and implementing a new way to deal with the rising number of disasters that have been demanding rapid response, including those caused by climate change, like floods, hurricanes, and fires. Using a horizontal and co-conspirator model of organizing, they've leveraged lots of solutions to bring people together in strength. Their motto is Solidarity Not Charity.
Our justice system is deeply flawed, and one of the forces working to repair the breaks is MOSES (Madison Organizing in Strength, Equality, and Solidarity), a congregation-based community effort to transform the criminal justice norms of Madison, WI, as part of a statewide organization, WISDOM, which is affiliated nationwide with Gamaliel.
Our democratic republic has been seriously undermined, particularly over the past 10-15 years, but fortunately there are people like Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause - Wisconsin, working diligently to rebuild the structures of democracy. Common Cause works nationally for government of, by, and for the people by fighting against gerrymandering, voter suppression, & buying elections, and working for ethics, accountability, & voting rights.
In the land of "he who dies with the most toys wins" and where we're taught that more-and-more possessions will make us happy, it's hardly a surprise that hoarding is of epidemic proportions.
While the nation & the state have veered into conservative and even regressive social directions, there has been refuge & hope locally in the Eau Claire City Council, which included a strong progressive majority as of spring, 2018. Even while others were dragging their feet, work was proceding locally on sustainability, reducing the incarceration system, and increasing responsiveness to citizen concerns.
Too many people ignore the power of local government to transform the most crucial aspects of our world, focusing only on our national government. A groundswell of local activism tilted the county board of Eau Claire, WI, in the progressive direction, and the lessons & possibilities are promising around the country. We speak with 3 recent members of the board of supervisors about their experience & motivations: Martha Nieman, Sandy McKinney, & Don Mowry.
Ecologist Huda Alkaff is a founding member and director of Wisconsin Green Muslims, a volunteer environmental justice group based in Milwaukee. She uses her advanced education and her Muslim faith to educate others and forge interfaith collaborations in the service of sustainability.
Host Peterson Toscano visits with 3 Evangelicals fighting climate change, Kyle Meyaard-Shaap, Corina Newsome, & Rev. Josh Gibson. Comic creation, Tony Buffusio from the Bronx, talks climate change in the Bible. Scientist Dr.
Bias & prejudice are hard-wired in us, we've got the studies to prove it, so what can we do about bias, hate, & division? In Our Search For Belonging: How Our Need to Connect Is Tearing Us Apart by Howard J. Ross we explore the mind, our behavior, & our possibility of acting better than we're programmed for.
Past/current religious/spiritual influences:
Eastern, Jewish, Non-affiliated
Henna Hundal of Harvard Radio hosts Spirit In Action this week. Her first guest is Paul Hoffman, an American coxswain who competed in the 1968 & 1972 Summer Olympics, and a supporter of the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR). Her second guest is Dr. Howard Bauchner, editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), concerning initiatives to expand the digital reach of JAMA and the publishing in JAMA of President Obama's piece on US Health Care Reform.
Jerry Edwards acts as an educational conduit between the medical system and Plain Communities (Amish, Mennonnite & other people who cautiously engage with mainstream technology & practices). In particular, he has been sharing in medical circles an inexpensive & effective technique for burn & wound treatment, innovated among the Amish about 30 years ago. A significant issue is trust & mutual respect for the different priorities & decisions of Plain folks accessing medical services.
There are many aspects to care for the Earth, experiencial & experimental. Sam Thayer of Forager's Harvest in one of the preminent experts in harvesting from the Earth's bounty. He shares here the concluding essay of his new book, 3rd in a series, called Incredibile Wild Edibles: 36 Plants That Can Change Your Life, speaking of Ecoculture instead of Agriculture. Our second guest is Crispin Pierce, Prof of Environmental Public Health at UW-EC, and member of Eau Claire's Sustainability Advisory Committee, speaking of his research & paper on Monitoring of Airborne Particulates Near Industrial Silica Sand Mining & Processing Facilities.
We mostly take it for granted in the USA, but many places in the world are risking their lives to have a drink of water. In the midst of rape, war, & crushing poverty, Friendly Water for the World performs & witnesses miracles. Using appropriate technology & native ingenuity, the organization helps people in decimated areas of Africa & India to find new, transformed life. David Albert is co-founder and board chairman.
We want a better world, and Gordon Whitman shows us how in Stand Up! How to get involved, speak out, and win in a world on fire. With 25 years experience in Chile & the USA, and as deputy director of Faith in Action, Gordon is well-situated to see what works and how to guide willing hands to more powerful work.
Past/current religious/spiritual influences:
Jewish
Alaine Duncan of Integrative Healing Works started her education in the area of western science, but after contracting hepatitis C, found much-needed help through acupuncture & Asian medicine. Her new book is The Tao of Trauma: A Practitioner's Guide For Integrating Five Element Theory and Trauma Treatment. In it Alaine & co-author Kathy Kain significantly add resources for a hard-to-treat condition.
Linley Dixon is senior scientist of the staff of The Cornucopia Institute, our leading organic standards watchdog & advocate. With a masters degree in Plant & Soil Science, a Ph.D.
Scott Wittkopf helps organizations & people learn to do effective progressive messaging through his firm, Frame for the Future. It's a bit ironic that the scientific research proves that people do not make their decisions based on scientific research, but on frames, and progressives have been doing an inferior job of harnessing this knowledge to support their goals. Based on the work of George Lakoff and others, there is great untapped potential for progressive causes.
The Road to Zero Wealth: How the Racial Wealth Divide is Hollowing Out America’s Middle Class, a report co-authored by ProsperityNow.org and The Institute for Policy Studies(see also Inequality.org). Dedrick Asante-Muhammad is Senior Fellow, Racial Wealth Divide at ProsperityNow.org, formerly with the NAACP & Al Sharpton's National Acti
Talking about climate change effectively is quite a challange, in particular finding a way to move people to become curious about it.
A peek at portions of the Wisconsin Grassroots Networkfestival held in Eau Claire on 9/22/18, with a brief intro by Art & Dawn Shegonee of Call For Peace Drum & Dance Company, and featuring excerpts from keynote presentations by the The Raging Grannies, and progressive journalist, author and orator,
Howard Switzer speaks powerfully on the need for monetary reform stemming from learning & connection with the American Monetary Institute and the Alliance for Just Money.
Stressful, challenging, daunting times call for special medicine. Al Gini, author of The Importance of Being Funny: Why We Need More Jokes in Our Lives, believes that humor is a vital ingredient in good emotional/mental health. Al is Professor of Business Ethics at the Quinlan School of Business at Loyola University, and for decades was the "resident philosopher" on NPR's affiliate WBEZ in Chicago.
Malinda Maynor Lowery's new book is The Lumbee Indians: An American Struggle. Malinda is Associate Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and is also a member of the Lumbee Tribe, the largest Native American tribe east of the Mississippi River. Malinda gives a glimpse of the rich Lumbee history and their on-going struggle for federal recognition of their nation.
John Peck is Executive Director of Family Farm Defenders, which supports sustainable agriculture, farm worker rights, animal welfare, consumer safety, fair trade, & food sovereignty. In addition, John teaches Economics "against the text" and also Environmental Studies at Madison College, runs a farm, does poetry, and thinks deeply.
Past/current religious/spiritual influences:
Catholic Worker, Pagan, Unitarian Universalist
Brad Laird is a Wobbly Quaker, official member of the Michiana IWW and a Quaker in good standing. That’s not all he is, by any means - he’s a Girl Scout Troop Leader, passionate husband, father, and grandfather, Chair of the board of directors of South Bend, Indiana’s Community for Peace & Nonviolence.
Government of, by, & for the People is built by the kind of Spirit that Christine Ashley & Katie Breslin draw on to make flourish the work of FCNL, as Quaker Field Secretary & Young Adult Program Manager, respectively. They make advocacy rewarding & lively from their offices facing the Hart Senate Office Building in D.C. with the banner proclaiming Love Thy Neighbor - No Exceptions.
Hayley Hathaway is passionate about the relationships between ecology, economy, and faith. She is publications director for Quaker Earthcare Witness and lives as part of the South of Monadnock Community, after having spent 6 years with Casa de los Amigos in Mexico City.
Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio visits with 5 guests, on topics including climate comedy with Brian Ettling, climate-coping lessons from the Netherlands with Edgar Westerhof of Arcadis North America, environmental racism with Brentin Mock, and poetry from
Robert B. Jones, Sr works joyfully to build bridges of understanding through music in an organization & project called Common Chords. Using tools of music, story-telling, history, & inspiration, Robert brings pleasure and insight to diverse audiences. Part of his richness is that he is also pastor of Sweet Kingdom Missionary Baptist Church of inner-city Detroit, where he seeks to inspire & heal the world in other ways.
Iris Graville is an author, book artist, and a former nurse. Her memoir, Hiking Naked: A Quaker Woman's Search for Balance shares her quest for meaningful & life-balancing work. The journey took Iris & her family far off the grid, radically exploring simplified living, freeing her to find her own answers to the big questions, less controlled by society's prompting.
Pam Taylor's work with Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan is an inspiring example of citizen-driven environmentalism which informs & guides govt with feet firmly rooted in both agrarian living & scientific scrutiny. NoCAFOs is her goal, sustainable agriculture is her means, and good neighbor living her ethic.
Peterson Toscano is an amazing and innovative thinker whose acting talent reaps revolutionary insights with his video, Transfigurations: Transgressing Gender in the Bible. With humor, drama, and insight, Peterson unearths a wide range of non-gender compliant people & passages hidden in plain sight in the Bible, for LGBTQI and Straight to see.
Past/current religious/spiritual influences:
Catholic, Quaker
J.E. McNeil has powerful points of view, but she also has a profound devotion to communication and unity, skills and attributes fostered by the Conversations with the Other trainings she presents widely.
Billie Holiday still looms larger than life even close to 60 years after her death. At the nexus of complicated subjects like race, drugs, sexuality, & music, she acts as a compelling subject for those seeking to understand our society's trajectory, especially when religion is added as a layer to the experience.
One of the most informative & persuasive writers ever, Gordon Lafer is author of The One Percent Solution: How Corporations are Remaking America One State At A Time. Both empowering & maddening, the piercing exposé of the destruction of labor & the middle class by moneyed interests is essential to mounting an effective reply. Gordon Lafer is a political economist and Associate Professor at the Labor Education and Research Center of the University of Oregon in Eugene.
Guest host Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio looks at psychological effects of climate change with Dr. Lise Van Susteren, discusses environmental health with Dr. Natasha DeJarnett, and we see the Artic Circle through the eyes of artist Fritz Horstman.
Thousands of groups sprang up across the USA very shortly after the election of Donald Trump, all as part of the Indivisible movement of resistance to the assault on our nation's well-being. A local branch sprouted here in the Chippewa Valley. An early participant and communications activist with the group is Rachel Hart-Brinson, and the newly-selected leader is Ann Francis.
North Carolina in 2017 is surely not the most welcoming place for a trans guy, yet it's where Liam Hooper is doing the work he's called to do. As Minister of Welcome & Beyond at Parkway UCC, Winston Salem, NC, Liam delivers a message of inclusion and strength to government, institutions, and individuals all around the state, rabble-rousing, preaching, and lecturing to make a difference.
Part 2 of visits with participants of the March For Our Liveswitness in St Paul, MN, Eau Claire, WI, and Washington, DC, with special focus on the voices & work of youth. Bonni Knight taught HS French & public speaking skills for many years & writes for VolumeOne, ZariaWhitacre has been active with a number of clubs & organizations, among them Amnesty International, and Thomas Finegar's passion is theater at Atholtan HS in Columbia, MD.
Inspirational stories of participants of the March For Our Lives in Washington DC & St Paul, Minnesota: Myron Buchholz, retired high school history teacher, Donna Wagner Backus, former high school math teacher who attended with her daughter & granddaughter, and Christine Ashley, Quaker Field Secretary for FCNL, who hosted marchers at their DC lobbying center.
Though every day should be Earth Day, we are generally ignorant of so much of what nature holds for us, near at hand. Erin LaFaive of Full Circle Herbals has produced her Learning Herbalism Wookbook to help people learn their way to health through our plant resources.
Sarah (or Seres) Kyrie is living a life exploring the edge of the American cultural tides, and she captures the inner journey powerfully through her writing.
Our ways of thinking about the Earth, and our place in it, produce radically different outcomes for life on the planet, including a possible ecological crash for humanity and many other species.
In searching for the why of what we need to do to have a sustainable world, we need to sort out our connection to the Earth, and Jeremy Lent, author, integrator, and founder of The Liology Institute, does that in his amazing new book is The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning. This is part 2 of a 3-part series.
Past/current religious/spiritual influences:
Jeremy Lent, has an MBA, is an author, integrator, and founder of The Liology Institute. His amazing new book is The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning, which is all about understanding and leveraging humanity's fundamental drives toward sustainability of our species and the planet.
Past/current religious/spiritual influences:
On this Spirit in Action, we'll get past propaganda and agendas by sharing first-hand Israeli & Palestinian stories of the Occupation.
A key element to changing the world is having a voice, and that is what Jim Page provides for a wide variety of Peace & Justice efforts, using his bully pulpit to call for free speech, freedom from corporate tyranny, and much more. Since the 1970's Jim has broadcast the message loud and clear from ground zero in Seattle, WA.
Past/current religious/spiritual influences:
Peterson Toscano uses Citizen's Climate Radio to find earth-healing work everywhere, with Indy car racer Aaron Telitz, in the sculpture of Emily Puthoff about Bee Habitat, Chantal Bilodeau's Arctic-located climate change play, and Grant Samms' research about wind power in Oklahoma.
There's a long history of trying to convince folks to go vegetarian or vegan by argument, but Compassionate Action for Animals (CAA) (or on FaceBook) is trying something different - emphasizing the sheer fun of it.
In an atmosphere where so often there is religious intolerence & distrust, it's beautiful to see diverse spiritual communities sharing deeply together. At Eau Claire's Interfaith Prayer Service for Peace & Unity, conceived by Bob Lesniewski, a Benedictine oblate, prayers were shared from Presbyterian, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, Ba'hai, Catholic, & Quaker representatives. It was a rich sharing of diverse faiths, warming a cold winter night. The next Eau Claire Interfaith Prayer Service will be May 23, 2018. When will yours be?
Steve Chase did a major course correction about Israel/Palestine, a journey he shares in a 30-page pamphlet Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions? A Quaker Zionist Rethinks Palestinian Rights.
Conclusion of a musical adventure into awakening men via Ebenezer's Make Over, Peter Alsop's eye-opening reconceptualization of Ebenezer Scrooge facing dysfunctional manhood presented by the 3 ghosts of the Christmas Carol, rewritten. How do men support one another & our kids, and not kill each other & themselves, own their bodies, and work together.
A different type of Spirit In Action show, where we do our learning about dead-end and promising directions for men's growth in a kind of musical called Ebenezer's Make Over. Peter Alsop master-minded the project and contributed a lot of the songs, along with many of his friends in the feminist men's and women's movements. Whole lot of eye-opening in a reconceptualization of Ebenezer Scrooge facing dysfunctional manhood presented by the 3 ghosts.
Occasionally big issues, like sexual abuse, are tackled through fiction - all the better when enhanced through an alternative detective approach. In St. Mary's Private Dancer, Blair Hull explores the underworld of sex work in a murder mystery, and in Quaker Witness the issues are sexual harassment, rape, & murder, written by E. Kirsten Peters under the pen-name Irene Allen. Kirsten's Ph.D.
When we find that even well-loved and previously-respected icons are dropping left & right, we need to be asking what we can do to encourage healthy, thoughtful, & non-predatory male sexuality. Fortunately, Peter Alsop has been exploring & walking just such a path with his music for decades, taking on all the related, thorny issues with wit, insight, & song. After all, Peter is an educational psychologist, as well as a wonderful musician. Also find him on Facebook.
In Keeping It Halal: The Everyday Lives of Muslim American Teenage Boys, John O'Brien looks at the lives of the Legendz, a small group of members of the Muslim Youth Program of a mosque John worked with. The tensions of be a member of a too-often-feared religion and to be accepted as a teenager in the USA can be a real challenge, and John explores the way it works. John is Assistant Professor of Sociology at NY University - Abu Dhabi.
Peter Leidy does his work of building inclusion predominantly in the area of disabilities, and with considerable creativity, often writing new songs or crafting new lyrics for existing tunes to tell a story or convey a lesson.
Peterson Toscano of Citizens' Climate Radio hosts today with perspectives from people of color on climate change, from organizations and individuals about environomental & climate justice, speaking with Peggy Sheppard of WE ACT For Environmental Justice and Dr. Beverly G Ward, Field Director for Earthcare for SE Yearly Meeting.
Lucy Duncan does work that touches on all of the important issues of the day, like Palestine, Racism, and Immigration, in her role as Friends Relations Director for the AFSC.
Geoffrey Gates, MD, in addition to a life of professional healing work, book-ended his career with some off-the-beaten path world service. Though registered as a CO during the Vietnam War, he served as a member of IVS (International Voluntary Services) in a Vietnam war zone, 1970-71, and after his retirement served with the Peace Corps, Tanzania.
Timmon B. Wallis has spent his life building the tools of peace & getting rid of the weapons of war. In Disarming the Nuclear Argument: The Truth about Nuclear Weapons, Tim dispells the myths, clears the fog, & inspires for a better, safer, world. Tim's Ph.D. is in Peace Studies, and he's worked with Peace Brigades Intl, Peaceworkers UK, Nonviolent Peaceforce, and, most recently, with Peace & Disarmament for Quaker Peace & Social Witness in the UK.
David LaMotte is author of Worldchanging 101: Challenging the Myth of Powerlessness and White Flour, co-founder of PEG Partners, Abraham Jam, and Let's Be Neighbors, and recently led the Quaker Nobel Peace Prize Nominating Task Group. And he makes great music.
Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good, by Chuck Collins, is an excellent and persuasive look at wealth inequality by a man who gave away his inherited wealth when he was 26, and finds common ground and allies across the income spectrum. Chuck is a senior scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies.
Paula Palmer is leading an effort to tackle one part of America's dismal past with respect to Native Americans.
George Lakey really packs a punch with his book, Viking Economics: How the Scandinavians Got It Right - And How We Can Too
Brian Eastman is a hub for Alt-Med info - resources of non-mainstream US healing modalities, which he researches and shares in the Cincinnatti area, but he also has evolved his own technique to help folks produce amazing changes in themselves in a very short time. He calls it LIIFT (Life Improving Internal Focus Technique), and he demonstrates it today with an audience. You can call him at 513-724-4325.
Pamela Boyce Simms refers to herself as a Buddhist-Quaker Evolutionary Culture designer. She has worked as convenor of the Mid-Atlantic Transition Hub (MATH), and currently represents Quaker Earthcare Witness at the United Nations. New Jersey born-and-raised, Pamela's journey has included decades living in West Africa and living in a Buddhist monastery.
Guest-host Peterson Toscano of Citizens Climate Radio explores climate apocalypse, fear, & how to deliver the message effectively, in the first part of today's program, and in part two he'll talk about pets & climate change. Peterson speaks with Halldor Björnsson, the Head of the Atmospheric Research Group at Veðurstofa Iceland also known as the Icelandic Met Office, Dr.
Kevin Basl served served 2 tours of duty in Iraq and was profoundly changed by the experience. He is among the vets who use the arts for healing. Kevin's work is with Warrior Writers, Combat Paper NJ, and through his music, some of which he recorded in Iraq during his 2nd tour.
Pamela Haines calls us to a right relationship with finance. With a BA in Social Ecology, MA in Labor & Women's History, and as a self-taught economist, she looks to the future & seeks to foster integrity. She was lead author of Toward a Right Relationship with Finance.
Rupert Isaacson, thanks to his journalist skills, his passion for justice, and his unstoppable heart-of-a-father, has opened up the lives of tens of thousands of autistic children to healing.
There has been a dramatic evolution of peace & justice activism over the past century, often pioneered by a Quaker organization called the AFSC.
Ruah Swennerfelt has lots of experience in the Transition Town movement, locally, regionally, religiously, nationally, and internationally, and has now written of much of it in
Jamila Raqib is executive director of The Albert Einstein Institution, the brain-child of Gene Sharp, leading researcher in non-violent action & civilian-based defense. Jamila was a refugee from Afghanistan at age 4, with a keen and innate sense of the power of non-violence to preserve and obtain freedom and justice, at the least cost.
There are many ways to participate in world healing, among them by inspiring us to come together - even folks from the other side, and what better way to do that with song, humor, compassion, and Billy Jonas. Billy is a creative genius and musical pied piper, leading us where we need to go, and doing it by example, not lecture.
Past/current religious/spiritual influences:
Jewish
All Featured Music is by Billy Jonas:
Bobby Kennedy started out aligned with conservative commie-chasing Joe McCarthy, but ended up an inspirational, hard-fighting liberal. Larry Tye scrutinizes the history and make a case that we need just such a transformed bridge-builder today. That and much more in Larry's book, Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon.
Past/current religious/spiritual influences:
Jewish
Eric Foner is one of the preeminent US historians, particularly for the period of the 1800s involving slavery, the Civil War, & Reconstruction. His latest book is Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad, which follows The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln & American Slavery.
Robert Wolf, author of Building the Agricultural City: A Handbook for Rural Renewal advocates a move away from globalization and toward regionalism. Robert is co-host today, completely in charge of the 2nd half of this program. Robert is also author of American Mosaic, and has a vision of government small enough to be responsive, but large enough to accommodate the diverse needs of a community.
All ages, all personalities, all disciplines have their roles in world-healing. Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio is host today, speaking with all kinds of folks, including an environmental engineer in the Caribbean, Dr.
Some things just beg to be called evil, and when we see them we cry out "Why?" Charlene Embrey Burns traces 1000's of years of answers to that question in
Christian Understandings of Evil: The Historical Trajectory, and talks of her grappling with evil in both personal and wider religious experience.
Past/current religious/spiritual influences:
Buddhism, Episcopalian, Meditation, UCC - United Church of Christ
Joe Luginbill is a prodigy and unstoppable dynamo. As Eau Claire's youngest ever elected official, he joined the school board at 20, powerfully influencing policies on transgender, homeless, sustainability issues, and much more. Strong, young, local, progressive officials are crucial in healing our nation, and Joe stands high among them.
Kim Callinan is Chief Program Officer of Compassion & Choices, an organization that works for and attempts to empower personal choice in end-of-life decisions. After Oregon approved the Death With Dignity Act in 1997, other states have continued and advanced the ways in which medical consumers were put in control of their own life decisions. The latest initiative by Compassion & Choices is Truth In Treatment.
Scott MacLeod is founder & president of World University and School (WUaS), an effort to make a high-quality, versatile, free education available to all who desire it, via the Internet. Drawing on wiki technology and with a tremendous supply creative commons-licensed open courseware from MIT & Yale, WUaS is launching its first 4-year class this fall. This project aims to make the education and learning available in a vast number of languages, eventually all languages from all countries - always free to the student.
It's time for a super-charged, profoundly-rooted, sustainable and transformative revolution, and Chris Moore-Backman has an inspired take on the needed way forward. He is the author The Gandhian Iceberg: A Nonviolence Manifesto for the Age of the Great Turning, loaded with thoughts, words, and images which will radically enrich the path of all who read it. Chris has a couple decades experience with nonviolent action and training, most recently with an emphasis on efforts to end the age of mass incarceration.
A vital part of improving the world is organizing people by getting the word out, which is the work of The Progressive Populist and its editor/founder, Jim Cullen. The populist movement and it's message prioritizing people over corporations has be transforming this country since the 1880's, and continues to do so today.
We care about & for that which we know, so B.J. Hollars leads us into Flock Together: A Love Affair with Extinct Birds. While captivating & enjoyable, B.J. also narrates a story that is deeply compelling in how we live in relationship to our world. He is founder of Chippewa Valley Writers Guildand associate professor of English at UW-Eau Claire.
Among his other books:
Students of higher education have valuable knowledge & skills to offer to organizations outside of school walls, and rural areas can provide real-life opportunity & experience to such students, while helping bridge the town-gown gap.
Ash Kyrie spent 18 months serving the USA as a Wisconsin National Guardsperson sent to Iraq, and it changed him. The road home to fullness includes time with other vets, support from family & community, and a long peace march in Japan, plus lots of subsequent Japanese connections. And art that helps bridge the gap from soldier to civilian, and war zone to back home.
Josette Jackson is an ordained Unity pastor, international speaker, spiritual educator, and peace educator, who helps Unity and the wider world tap into the power of Nonviolent Communication, A Season of Nonviolence: 64 Ways in 64 Days, and Inclusivity 101, and more. As an African-American, Josette can help lead predominantly white groups to wider inclusively and empowerment.
Guest host for the week is Peterson Toscano of Citizens' Climate Radio, speaking with Chandler Green on discussing climate issues with Republicans, poet & writer Lilace Mellin Guignard, Elke Arnesen of the Put A Price On It campaign, Dr. Natasha DeJarnett on the health risks of a warmer planet, Dr.
Three strong men among the thousands led to the confrontation with the DAPL (Dakota Access Pipeline) at Standing Rock. Myron Buchholz was born & raised in North Dakota, and both Ash Kyrie & Kevin Basl felt called to join the Oceti Sakowin Camp for a variety of reasons, including as part of the Veterans Stand.
Nelia Sargent is a life-long activist, with decades under her belt doing and teaching nonviolence methods, coming of age with the anti-nuclear organization called the Clamshell Alliance. She's chair of the board of the Albert Einstein Institution, founded by Gene Sharp to advance the study & use of nonviolent action.
Today's topic is Venerable Women: Transform Ourselves, Transform the World, a book and work into which Dawn Morningstar was launched by a statement by the Dalai Lama, "The world will be saved by the Western woman". As a Master Coach from Learning Journeys, a former DJ in the Twin Cities on a show called Delicious Conversations, and as a passionate advocate for love, light and laughter, Dawn seeks healing & strength for a better world.
Aaron Dunn makes the world a better place as co-founder & medical director of Community Connections Free Clinic in Dodgeville, WI, through his use of Integrative Medicine, and with the music he makes as part of the PointFiveBand.com. What's not to love in such a free & charitable doctor?
Wisconsin Assn of Free & Charitable Clinics, and around the country there's The Natl Assoc of Free & Charitable Clinics
A visit with Texas-raised attorney J.E. McNeil about the need to hear each other beyond the liberal/conservative, urban/rural, ivory tower/commonfolk divides, what holds us back, and how to bridge the gap. J.E. is the former executive director of the Center on Conscience & War and author of a review of the book Dark Money in Friends Journal. Also part of this discussion with J.E.
Iranian-born Fathali Moghaddam is the editor of Peace & Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, from the American Psychological Association.
We ask 3 sustainable energy professionals about their visions of our future, both technologically and personally, living responsibly on the Earth. We speak with Jeff Knutsen of A-A Exteriors, Jim Olson of E3 Coalition, and Zeus Stark of Next Step Energy. Who and how will we be as we grow into a responsible energy future?
What led Prairie Cutting (now Sister Confianza del Señor) & Beth Blodgett (now Sister Alegria del Señor) to leave the USA & create the Methodist-Quaker Amigas del Señor Monastery in Honduras? One key motivation was a calling to lead a life of poverty, explained in an article in Western Friend called Overcoming Need.
The dramatic events at the Standing Rock Reservation are inspiring support for the work there, but also in many places across the country where the same kind of work is needed to care for our land, water, & future. The Chippewa Valley Earth Keepers (CVEK) were birthed in September, 2016, and have hit the ground running, making both practical and inspirational differences for our Earth, and core members Mary & Rob share the growing story of CVEK.
Anne Hills opens eyes and changes hearts & minds with the kind of beautiful music that obviates the need of any kind of lecture, putting us all in the same family and with the same cause. Because her day job is in the social work domain, she has plenty of opportunities to work on concrete on-the-ground improvements, at the same time she uplifts and inspires us with her music.
All songs in this program are written & performed by Anne Hills:
Katherine van Wormer's book, The Maid Narratives: Black Domestics and White Families in the Jim Crow South draws on interviews from black maids and white women who had maids, to understand the reality of segregation, its norms, and its consequences.
With tensions so high currently between left/right, religious/secular, and more, it's time to revisit an article by Kat Griffith called Conversations from the Heartland, from Friends Journal. Kat compassionately & with insight observes the problems & solutions around dealing with them!. Kat teaches a variety of subjects at the high school level, sometimes taking heat for pushing the envelope in class content.
Peterson Toscano of Citizens Climate Radio sits in today as host of Spirit In Action, adding to our Climate Change IQ and giving us reasons for hope and diligence in face of some very compelling needs. As always, Peterson does it with style, creativity, and a generous helping of his brand-name quirky humor & comedy. His guests today include Cathy Orlando, Clara Fang, Piper Christian, Rod Mitchell, Madeleine Para, Lilace Mellin Guignard, and Joanna Huxter.
NSR's event, Broadcasting From The Heartland, was graced by speeches by Mike McCabe of BlueJeansNation.com and Matthew Rothschild of Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, enhanced by the music of
The USA has by far the highest rate of incarceration in the world, and James Kilgore spells out the many causes and factors and results of this in Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People's Guide to the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time.
There's a lot of questions, disgust & even despair about our elections, especially in this year's presidential contest. History teacher and recent congressional candidate Myron Buchholz can put the experience in context of 200+ years of democracy in the US. Why the electoral college, who could vote, how can people be prevented from voting, and do our votes count, historically and currently - these are some of the questions.
For much of his life of activism, Bayard Rustin was asked to stay invisible, even as he was a leading organizer behind a number of crucial actions, including the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs & Freedom, because he was gay. Bayard Rustin, Invisible Activist is a biography for young folks which paints a vivid portrait of Bayard's life.
A clear-eyed, informative, powerful look at the reality of Zionism on-the-ground in the Middle East by Eve Spangler, associate professor of Sociology at Boston College. In Understanding Israel/Palestine - Race, Nation, and Human Rights in the Conflict she uses facts and experience to call us to the best framework for true peace in the Middle East.
Judith Plaskow and Carol P. Christ helped to found the study of women & religion, starting in Yale University.
Most Americans would be at least leery of moving to Liberia, West Africa, from a comfortable home in the Midwest USA, especially with 4 teenagers in tow, but not everyone is as faithful to God's call as are Mark & Peggy Halvorsen.
Roy Taylor III and RT3 Architects help people & organizations live more sustainably on the Earth, with the wide range of building & renovation & life-style ideas that reduce our impact in terms of materials, energy, water, & more. This is far more than alternative energy, this is the full-system outlook.
Tieraona Low Dog has lived Integrative Medicine, learning both practical & spiritual wisdom, including herbalism, from her Native American grandmothers, working as a massage therapist and midwife, and then becoming a Medical Doctor. With laser-focused intelligence and ocean-wide heart, Tieraona teaches healthful lives in simple, inspirational, and compelling ways.
Anti-war activists and military folks are predisposed to see each other as "the enemy", but even mainstream or conservative folks can have a very difficult time truly welcoming home vets. Zachary Moon is very concerned about treating vets as real people, not political or theological pawns in some game. Relatively few Quakers serve in the military, even as chaplains, as Zachary does, and too few know how to really support our troops when they return home, so he has helped pioneer a way forward.
We had a house party, sponsored by MoveOn.org to watch Michael Moore's lastest documentary, Where to Invade Next. About 20 people came together to be inspired by other countries that have found ways to make a better world, and we hear the reactions of Myron Buchholz, Patty Scott, Donna Berry, & Bill Jaskowiak. SEE BONUS EXCERPTS
Black Girls have double challenges in successfully navigating school, dealing with both racism & sexism. Monique W. Morris, author of Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools explores both the problems and the solutions. She is co-founder of the National Black Women's Justice Institute and author of 3 other books, including Too Beautiful for Words: A Novel.
Keefe Keeley, Executive Director of the Savanna Institute, explains their goal of exploring the potential of savanna-based systems to become ecologically sound, agriculturally productive, and economically viable alternatives to the corn-soybean rotation which currently dominates. Keefe has a masters in Agroforestry.
For decades there has been a political war about abortion where the only acceptable answers were pro-choice or pro-life. Aspen Baker, founder of Exhale & author of Pro-Voice: How to Keep Listening When The World Wants a Fight, has been advocating for empathic listening to women who've had abortions as a new path to peace in the abortion wars.
Greenfire Farm is a vortex of environmental thought, research, and action, located near Athens, Ohio, and Dick Hogan is at the center of that energy. With penetrating ideas about how we need to think about our place in creation, there are equally transformative lifestyle methods being studied.
A visit with 3 people connected with UWEC's alternative spring break trip, the Civil Rights Pilgrimage. Kiersten Bauer has been a student participant in the pilgrimage twice. Jodi Thesing-Ritter is UW-EC Associate Dean of Students and teacher of Women's Studies, and she is the founder of the pilgrimage in 2008, and Bluegold Beginnings more recently.
If a progressive author writes an insightful world-changing book, but no one hears it, does it really matter? The intent of Gail Leondar Public Relations is to make sure that such voices do get heard and are added to the forces for change. Gail Leondar-Wright and her business partner, Peter Bermudes, amplify the message of progressives by connecting them up to a nation-wide web of radio broadcasters.
Christina Crosby became a quadriplegic in mid-life because of a bicycle accident, totally changing her life and introducing her to the ranks of the 'disabled'. Christina is very familiar, experientially and scholastically, with other minority roles, as a professor of both English and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Wesleyan University.
A look at the ills of our healthcare coverage system, with special attention to the coverage gap resulting from opposition to the ACA/Affordable Care Act. Tom Rowley shares his song & video about The Healthcare Blues, and his passion for fixing the system, working in rural Missouri, near Cabool.
A powerful advocate for democracy and progressive causes, Matt Rothschild led The Progressive Magazine for most of 32 years, and in now Executive Director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. Matt has a birds-eye view of the nuts and bolts of government, elections, & the success or failure of democracy.
After 20 years in the Navy, Leah Bolger retired into full-time work as a peace activist. Leah is active almost everywhere, is the first female president of the national Veterans for Peace, works on the World Beyond War project, acts as Secretary of Defense for the Green Shadow Cabinet, coordinates the Drones Quilt Project, and chairs the VFP Drones Working Group.
Dan Nerhaugen's Daily Progressive is a great source of inspiration & knowledge, highlighting change-makers and events which have tilted the world in a progressive direction, and promise more in the future. Succinct, rich, and diverse, there are tidbits, with links to those interested in going deeper, for some really transformative people and events.
Frances Moore Lappé is putting herself on the line as part of the April 2016 Democracy Spring and Democracy Awakening.
An article on the CVPost.org site announced Visiting theologian brings eco-spiritual approach to Lenten series, and so I discovered David Weiss, a deep thinker, poet, and diligent worker for justice, beauty, and grace in our world, particularly in the way we treat LGBT folks and the Earth.
Ed Nieves is coordinator of the Mendicino Environmental Center (MEC) in Ukiah, CA, a place and an organization which has been at the center of cutting edge change to improve the world, starting locally. Saving the Redwoods, banning pesticides & herbicides, legalizing medical marijuana, protecting free speech - there's a locus of community healing issuing from Mendocino County, MEC, and station KMEC-LP.
Talks with 3 science profs at UW-EC about their intersection with spirituality. Matt Jewell, Derek Gingerich, and Doug Matthews bring their experience with spirit face-to-face with their knowledge of Materials Science, Biology, and Behavioral Neuroscience, respectively. See the article about the interview linked via the CVPost.
4 scientists from UW-EC gather to share about the intersection of science & spirituality at the UU Congregation in Eau Claire. See the article about the interview linked via the CVPost.
The David McLimans Art for Peace Memorial Scholarship was launched this year at a 2/27/16 event, conceived of by Eva Hagenhofer, sponsored by Madison Veterans for Peace, and hosted at the Farley Center for Peace, Justice, and Sustainability. David was author of 3 books, including Big Turtle.
Mike McCabe, founder of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign creates a blueprint forward, out of our widespread disillusionment which is based on parallel situations over our history. The result is his book, Blue Jeans in High Places: The Coming Makeover of American Politics. Mike speaks powerfully of a proven way forward for the common citizen.
Rachel MacNair is the author of Religions and Nonviolence: The Rise of Effective Advocacy for Peace, an enthralling look inside a number of religions. Rachel's interdisciplinary Ph.D. is in Psychology & Sociology, and her BA was in Peace & Conflict Studies.
John Greenler is part of 2 institutions looking for energy ways forward in Wisconsin, the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center and the Wisconsin Energy Institute, where John works as director of education & outreach. In addition to these professional roles, John is co-owner of a CSA called Zephyr Farm, which keeps him grounded in hands-on sustainable alternatives as well.
More insights & music from Peter Alsop on sex, sex roles, sexuality, & relationships, using humor and creativity to shine a light on our society's too-little-examined wounds, presumptions, and possibilities of health & balance.
Peter Alsop has the wit & talent to discuss tough topics in a way that can open eyes & change minds. Today & next week he'll talk with us about love, sex, sex roles, sexuality and more. Peter is a great combination of deep thinker & musician, humorous & creative lyricist, and educational psychologist. Among other places, find this songs in the video of Alsop for Adults Concert: Peter's Song on Love, Sex & Gender.
There's a young Peace Studies program at UW-Stout, where we talk to Senior Lecturer in Peace Studies and Geography, James Handley, a current student, Emma Kornack, and a Peace Studies graduate and Americorps volunteer, Shelby Schuppe. What does the program teach, and what changes does it bring about, in students and in the community?
Music Featured:
Erin LaFaive is passionate about plants and the vital role they play in our health and will-being, and she shares her passion and knowledge in several ways, including through Full Circle Herbals. She also works days as horticultural educator with Eau Claire County UW Extension. Combining science nerd inclinations with Earth-based spirituality, Erin delivers the best of both worlds.
Charley Earp is honestly devoted to the religiously-inspired communism of his youth, without apology or irony.
Investigative reporter Greg O'Brien shares the inside story of coping with Alzheimer's Disease, an experience that mixes faith and fury.
In writing this book, Chris Tomlinson asks himself the question, "What crimes had my ancestors committed to maintain their power and privilege? Did they know what they did was wrong? As an American and Texan, I wanted to understand the sins of our fathers."
A visit with Nels Paulson, sociologist in the Social Science Department of UW-Stout about his research & presentations on Old Ideas, New Knowledge, Sustainable Communities, on trophy hunting, and on influences of religious/spirituality in disaster relief.
Words like innovate, change, and adapt can be inspirational or the agent of doom for our well-being, depending on your perspective. In Trees on Mars: Our Obsession with the Future, Hal Niedzviecki takes us on a ride through the technology & ideas which promise that we can "win the future", giving us a penetrating look at the consequences of our mad rush "forward".
Focusing on the African countries of Burundi & Somalia, Alissa Wilson is AFSC's Public Education & Advocacy Coordinator for Africa. She has served in Americorps, was an election observer in Nigeria, and is co-author of Practical Idealists: Changing the World and Getting Paid.
Featured Music:
Sweet Mother - Prince Nico Mbarga
The Energy Fair is the flagship event of the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA) and Doug Stingle is their Development Director. Since 1990 the MREA has powerfully & joyfully spread the gospel of living better on the Earth, with flair and persistence.
Burning Down the House: The End of Juvenile Prison, by Nell Bernstein, takes an unflinching look at the travesty we call juvenile prison. She has an unequivocal solution - get rid of them. With some 20 years of knowing the system and by telling the stories of the victims of it, Nell explores the history, reform, trends, and consequences of the "reformatories" which do the exact opposite of their supposed purpose.
Through the OurHighestWork.com community, George Kao helps folks work toward doing the best work they can, in tune with their ethics and leadings, and effectively. Having made his own transition from a "more, more, more" ethic to a "better, better, better" purpose, he coaches people, especially solopreneurs, in selecting their work and doing it wisely.
In his memoir, Not From Here, sociologist & author Allan G. Johnson takes us on an odyssey of introspection about our unrootedness and the symptoms of that dysfunction in our personal and national identities, things like the native genocide, slavery, but also the holes in our lives because we don't belong.
From a financially-strapped Irish-American upbringing, to Peace Corps Service in Botswana, to the the trade-offs of life, family, and finances, and, now, to deeply engaged activism with Global Warming and environmental responsibility, Renewable: One Woman’s Search for Simplicity, Faithfulness, and Hope is Eileen Flanagan's story of wrestling with the big issues and putting her life in service
Tom Small found a way to take on species extinction on the local level, and he tells about it in his book, Using Native Plants to Restore Community (In Southwest Michigan and Beyond). By converting his grass-lawn into native flora, creating habitat for native fauna, Tom found a way to make a difference, locally.
Don't know about the planned (and underway) Nicaragua Inter-oceanic Canal? Tere Campos, Nicaraguan native, and her husband, Brad Stocker, are working to put out the word about this potentially disastrous plan which would put at risk the 9th largest lake of the Americas, and much more.
While there are many roots to the global environmental crisis we face, some of the most important emerge from our concepts of ownership, especially of land. Howard Vogel is an emeritus professor of law at Hamline University, having taught constitutional law, restorative justice, international human rights, and a seminar in ethics after having done extensive public interest litigation in environmental law.
Greg Elliott is helping the American Friends Service Committee to launch a program, innovated by Unitarian-Universalists, and adapted to Quakers to help avoid the burn-out & lack of results which result from un-centered, though well-motivated, activism. With an approach that ties together spirit & action, using worship, story-telling, & deepening relationships, we are helped to remember the ways in which we can be faithful to our work of world-healing, without giving in to a exhausting and unfocused treadmill.
The effective struggle to protect us against the destruction and desecration of the Earth draws on the powers of both mind and heart, and little can capture our hearts and open us to realities like a powerful song. We draw on the music and messages of Sarah Pirtle, David Rovics, Brian Bethke, Sara Thomsen, & Bryce Black to shine a light exposing the wrongs of fracking, mining for frac sands and copper, piping tar sands, and more.
Jenn Rogar is passionately called to work for healing of the world in too many ways to enumerate. All are rooted in, however, and fed by, a deep connection to the Earth and its creatures. Whether the topic is addiction, native rights, homelessness, corporations, or whatever, Jenn's call for action and healing comes through with compelling power and folk music brilliance.
Ben Grosscup serves as director of People's Music Network. Ben initiated the PMN Song of the Month, a project to integrate inspiring new songs of freedom and struggle in today’s progressive movements.
The tables are turned in today's program, as Spirit In Action's regular host, Mark Helpsmeet, is himself interviewed by Robert Park of WIDE-LP, Madison, Wisconsin. Topics addressed are the roots of Mark's broadcasts and activism, the mechanics of building a syndicated community radio based program, and the goals and future of creation of spirit-focused shows aimed at improving the world.
A glimpse into the horror of one piece of the genocide that took place in Turkey in the early 1900's, The Great Fire, by Lou Ureneck, conveys the dark side and a few strands of silver lining amidst the disaster.
Most activists recognize the strength to social action groups of drawing power from across the racial and sex/gender landscape, but too few recognize the key effects of class. In Missing Class: Strengthening Social Movement Groups by Seeing Class Cultures, Betsy Leondar-Wright shines a focused light on the opportunities for pulling together as never before, by seeing the many ways in which social class impacts our thoughts, actions, and organizing.
A visit with a student participant of, the UW-EC staff founder of, and a Selma, AL, presenter of the Civil Rights Pilgrimage.
Joel Westheimer asks the deep questions and provides the important facts in What Kind of Citizen?: Educating Our Children for the Common Good. How should education in a democracy differ from that in other systems? What are the wider effects of standardized education? What kind of citizen do we want our schools to promote?
In Incident at the Bruce Mine Shaft, Stephen Ivancic uses historical fiction to highlight the real life issues around workers, unions, and opportunistic capitalists. Set in the iron mines of Northern Minnesota in the 1920s and focusing on the Finnish workers, some communist, some not, Stephen helps us to understand the dynamics of individualism, community, and power.
While there are many sources of info on urgent environmental threats and of technological methods of dealing with those threats, few books tackle the major underlying question of how can we make a sustainable life actually be sustainable for the individual. In A Sustainable Life, Douglas Gwyn examines the essential inner work and the myriad complexities of initiating and supporting the choices of living sustainably, mostly using Quaker experience & insights as guideposts to the process.
Bruce Dancis is author of Resister: A Story of Protest and Prison during the Vietnam War, was raised by secular Jewish parents, nurtured at the NY Society for Ethical Culture, and became a passionate advocate for social justice and student leader as a student at Cornell U.
The War Tax Resistance Penalty Fund (WTRPF.org) is a way to help manage the risks of conscientious objectors to paying for war, something to think seriously about as April 15th approaches.
In Mumbet's Declaration of Independence, Gretchen Woelfle, brings to life the true story of Elizabeth Freeman (Mumbet), whose efforts & determination led slavery to be declared unconstitutional in Massachusetts in 1783. Gretchen writes books for youth on a variety of social justice & environmental topics.
Jean Alix Lusma grew up in a village near Les Cayes, Haiti. Pioneering the practice of keeping orphans in the community, instead of in an institution, Jean is working to heal people and uplift communities in Haiti through an organization, L.O.G.I.C (Let Orphans Grow In their Communities) of Christian Mission South Haiti. Jean studied at the College of the Scriptures in Louisville, Kentucky.
Jamie & Zacharious Pappas dabble in magic - the magical transformations that are possible through creative processes that make bounty & beauty out of our detritus and down-time. First they founded the Chippewa Valley Timebank, knitting community out of spare talents, and now they are launching Earthbound Environmental Solutions to make rich soil out of organic waste typically buried in landfills.
In Making Housing Happen: Faith-based Affordable Housing Models, Jill Suzanne Shook brings together numerous models for making housing accessible to those in need. From the sweat equity ingredients of organizations like Habitat for Humanity, to adaptive reuse, to tenants taking ownership, community land trusts, and many more approaches, Jill highlights the possibilities and results of creative thoughts and dedicated spirits.
Not All Poor People Are Black (and other things we need to think more about) is a collection of essays by Janet Cheatham Bell, treating the reader to the insights and experiences of a strong African American woman from Indiana. Janet speaks movingly, honestly, and inspirationally of racism, spirituality, politics, and much more. With astonishing candor and humble brilliance, Janet opens eyes and minds.
Girls on the Run is a program for young girls, seeking to ensure that "every girl knows and activates her limitless potential and is free to boldly pursue her dreams". The primary program works with girls in 3rd-5th grades, and another curriculum deals with girls of middle school age, teaching life skills through dynamic, interactive lessons and running games. Our guest is Kim Gillette, Council Director of Eau Claire's Girls on the Run Council.
Andrew Tomlinson has been the director of QUNO (Quaker United Nations Office) in New York since 2008. QUNO staff in New York & Geneva advocate for and work behind the scenes on issues like Peacebuilding, the Prevention of Violent Conflict, Climate Change, Food & Sustainability, and Human Rights & Refugees. Raised in the UK but a long-time resident of the USA, Andrew's background anthropology and finance give him the long-range and in-depth perspective needed to nudge the UN toward world-healing and peace.
Matt Southworth was a wrestler in high school, fought as a U.S. Army intelligence analyst in Iraq after graduation, and now conducts legislative battles for peace on Capitol Hill.
There are ways to help individuals and organizations to overcome the impediments to adoption of alternative energy sources, and it's the work of RENEW Wisconsin to help get folks in Wisconsin past these problems, into the future. Drawing on the inspirations and experiences of other states and nations, RENEW Wisconsin's executive director, Tyler Huebner helps map a course to a decentralized, non-polluting, inexpensive energy system.
James O'Dea's latest book is The Conscious Activist: Where Activism Meets Mysticism, and he stands as an expert with a foot solidly in each camp. In addition to his 10 years as director of Amnesty International's Washington office, James has been President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and CEO of the Seva Foundation. He is also lead faculty for the Shift Network's Peace Ambassador Training.
Instead of just handling emergencies downstream, Up The River Endeavors creatively seeks to fix the causes of our problems. Peter Alsop's newest album, River of Life is full of songs growing out of Peter's connections with Mal Jones and Up The River Endeavors.
Elza Maalouf’s new book Emerge! The Rise of Functional Democracy and the Future of the Middle East explores the possibilities for peace and prosperity in the Middle East from a different direction - the process of human & cultural emergence. Spiral Dynamics was one of the tools which helped South Africa transition successfully, and Elza has dedicated years, using this tool, with the Build Palestine Initiative.
James Loewen is a sociologist, historian and author. His writings include the renowned Lies My Teacher Told Me. In an effort to expose the truth and improve our world, James stirs the passion for knowledge that unbiased history can provide. His first history textbook had too much fact in it, was suppressed, and led to his successful First Amendment challenge to the censorship of free speech & press. If you have info about a Sundown Town in your area, you can email James at jloewen[at]uvm.edu
The Cornucopia Institute is a watchdog for the organic standards for food in the USA. Co-founder Will Fantle presents a SLIDESHOW demonstrating the issues & scope of Cornucopia's work at NSR's annual membership meeting last year, and updates us about food issues, including GMOs and regulation.
Mediation is an art of practical peacemaking. Jennifer Beer, is co-author of the 4th edition of the The Mediator's Handbook, a skilled mediator and teacher of mediation, including teaching negotiation at Wharton. She has a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology.
Ben Merens is well-known throughout Wisconsin and beyond for his 21 years on WPR and, especially, for his years as host of At Issue. His latest book is People Are Dying to Be Heard, where he shares his lessons & insights about listening, silence, and being heard.
One of the multiple pipelines proposed to carry tar sands out of Canada is the Northern Gateway Pipeline. It would go through North America's only remaining temperate rain forest and a refuge with exceptional and threatened wildlife, including the Spirit Bear.
The Raging Grannies of Madison, Wisconsin are part of a nationwide & international movement of women singing and standing for peace, justice, and creation. Three of the Madison group - Bonnie Block, Rebecca Alwin, & Barbara Park, speak of the motives, methods, & movement of older women and the songs they sing to change our world.
Tyler Norman and The Beehive Collective are tackling the big issues, like globalization, climate change, and the danger of extinction in creative and decentralized ways. Grown out of the anti-WTO movements and with an eye to encouraging, energizing methods of spurring change, an important approach to spreading the word has been super-sized graphic creations which empower alternative story-telling. Their largest project to-date has been Mesoamerica Resiste.
Part 2 of interviews about treatment courts which achieve impressive results and save lots of money. Today we visit with participants of the local Drug & Mental Health Courts - Mike Gumulauskas & Rob Bergeron.
Reformatories seldom reform, and penitentiary seldom produce penitence, but groom criminals to re-offend. For certain offenders, treatment courts achieve impressive results and save lots of money, bringing bi-partisan support.
There are struggles continuing within our country on so many fronts, often invisible to those in power or even in comfortable conditions, but badly in need of a cadre of those to faithfully walk with the beleaguered and afflicted. Then there's this book...
Greg & Terry of Magpie create beautiful, conscious music with a message, often around environmental subjects. Today they address, in word and music, issues surrounding climate change, mining, mountain-top removal, and preserving life on this planet.
Dawn Ravella does amazing and varied work for the healing of the world - restorative justice and prison ministries, food pantries and homeless shelters, education on social justice issues, and on and on. She is currently Director of Mission and Outreach at The Reformed Church of Bronxville, and has served Presbyterian and Catholic churches in similar roles, in addition to her work as a holistic therapist.
Penny Rosenwasser is author of several books, including her latest, Hope Into Practice: Jewish Women Choosing Justice Despite Our Fears, an activist's call to repair the world. Penny is a "life-long heartfelt, rabble-rouser for social Justice" with a Ph.D. in Transformative Learning & Change.
Since 1991, Jim Ziolkowski & BuildOn.org have been transforming inner city schools in the USA and building schools - over 550 to-date - in the poorest countries of the globe.
Peter Brown Hoffmeister's new book, Graphic the Valley, wraps readers in an adventure that connects us to the Earth (Yosemite in particular), replaces the official lies of history with the truth, and introduces us to useful skills like dumpster diving, all while thrilling the reader with human foibles and triumphs.
Daniel Hunter vs The Casinos is a case of David vs Goliath, only more impressive. Daniel co-led that battle retold in Strategy & Soul: A Campaigner's Tale of Fighting Billionaires, Corrupt Officials, and Philadelphia Casinos. Ingenious, creative, & steadfastly principled, this is a tale of inspiration and adventure, and there's an immense amount of info about community organizing that is absorbed effortlessly!
For folks seeking ways to change the world that are rooted in community & faith, consider Quaker Voluntary Service.
Ingrid Lakey and Lola Georg are board members of Earth Quaker Action Team, doing their bit to fight Climate Change, featuring their campaign to get PNC Bank to eliminate its investments in mountain-top removal.
Judy Wicks is author of Good Morning, Beautiful Business: The Unexpected Journey of an Activist Entrepreneur and Local-Economy Pioneer and was owner of the White Dog Cafe in Philly for almost 30 years, pioneering business that was engaged, transformational, community-building, fun, and successful. On the cutting edge of local food, organic, humane, politically-involved, food & business.
Business can sometimes seem mostly exploitation and evil (though counter-examples abound, both current and historical). But how does one do good through business, instead of just doing well? Robert Pierson is an engineer who has seen small business from the inside, thoroughly. After years of diverse job positions, and rising to become a systems engineer, the spiritual side of that work led Rob to get a Master of Ministry degree from Earlham School of Religion.
Improvisational humor is an awesome tool used by The Theater of Public Policy (t2p2.net) to find new ways forward in public discourse. Co-founded by Tane Danger & Brandon Boat in 2011, they've tackled a surprisingly wide variety of issues with their creative and disarming approach, including farm policy, robotics, clean water, and religion. Back on Feb 15th they performed for the Love Your Planet Comedy Night sponsored by Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light.
Susan Silberstein is author of Kitchen Chemotherapy and a number of other books & publications, and she is the founder & educational director of the Center for Advancement in Cancer Education (beatcancer.org).
Jacqui Dunne & Bernard Lietaer are co-authors of Rethinking Money: How New Currencies Turn Scarcity into Prosperity, a book that will open your eyes and transform your thoughts about money and economics. With a view toward rescuing the world from economic and ecological collapse, Jacqui & Bernard write of complementary currencies and the potential they hold - and changes they are making - to transform our communities, nations, and world.
Mary Amel is a facilitator for the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) through FNVW/AVP Minnesota. AVP happens in 6 prisons in Minnesota and a few dozen states around the USA, and widely internationally.
Ursula Ruedenberg became Affiliate Network Manager of Pacifica at a critical time, when we were on the edge of loosing Pacifica's voice and witness. Though we're not out of the woods yet, Ursula has followed this path and done this work in faithfulness to the great tradition of peace, truth, and community which is central to Pacifica, and she is a sign of hope and inspiration for the power and future of community radio.
Ursula Ruedenberg is Affiliate Network Manager of Pacifica, doing the great work of bringing together the energies and voices of grassroots activists all over the country. Founded by peace activists, with 5 anchor stations and hundreds of affiliates, Pacifica has played a pivotal role in forming the radio and news landscape of the USA, and Ursula has played her own pivotal role over the last decade and a half.
,p>A number of musicians sharing their songs about the environmental issues of our day (and progress being made) - fracking, frac sand mining, the loss of the honeybees, global warming, incineration, fossil fuels, and mining. Includes Si Kahn, Tom Neilson, Chuck LeMonds, Emma's Revolution, and Alice Di Micele.
George Lakey was a founder of A Quaker Action Group, Movement for a New Society and recently left Training for Change to do more direct action with Earth Quaker Action Team. With the experience & stories of 50 years of peace, justice and environmental activism, George is a treasure trove of inspiration.
Musicians United to Protect Bristol Bay have been spreading the call to step forward for the well-being of the people and way of life threatened by the proposed Pebble Mine of the coast next to Alaska's Bristol Bay. It's a hopeful time as we speak to several defenders of the land - musician Si Kahn, former Alaskan State Senator, Suzanne Little, dog-musher Monica Zappa, & Alaskan Representative, Bryce Edgmon.
It's almost trite to say that we can transform the world through education of our children, but Mara Sapon-Shevin does it for real. In her book Widening the Circle: The Power of Inclusive Classrooms, Mara lays it all out, including the real-life evidence of how we can foster a better world for all in how we teach our kids. Be ready to find new vistas in thought beyond the traditional paradigm(s).
Reese Erlich is an award winning journalist and author, and a frequent visitor to the Middle East over the past 10+ years. We start with a talk he gave at FNVW about Libya & Syria and the Arab Spring, and continue on to an visit with Reese addressing his goals in seeking out truth, starting from his organizing against Vietnam.
At that age of 76, Margaret Moore took part in the Teaching Drum Outdoor School family year-long, living naturally in the Northern Wisconsin woods for 11-months as an intergenerational clan of 42 people. Without the niceties of civilization, like books, soap, clocks, etc, Margaret and the rest experienced a connection to nature and each other badly missing for most people today.
Mark Leach has been teaching and living out the substance of his recent E-Book, Positive Participation with Nature: Ecological Restoration in Wisconsin. Engaging deeply with the the geography, history, flora, & fauna of a place, Mark shares lessons and insights into really meeting nature on respectful grounds and healing some of the scars of thoughtless human habitation of our land.
Mark Kastel is co-founder and senior farm policy analyst for The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-originated organization serving as a watchdog for "good food" - organics, family farms, environmental and economic justice issues, all around food. With careful research and attention to the oft-missing integrity of our food system, Cornucopia helps plug the holes in our national organic food standards.
In Yeshu: A Novel for the Openhearted, Charles David Kleymeyer re-sees and re-tells a well-known, sometimes culture-limited story, but this time with eyes and tongue influenced by decades of experience in Latin America.
Peterson Toscano, using wit, humor & theater, illuminates non-conforming gender roles in the Bible, reclaiming existence for a variety of folks ignored & silenced by the mainstream. With his winning humor and incisive vision, Peterson found acceptance for his revolutionary insights when presenting at the joint 2012 conference of the Society of Biblical Literature/American Academy of Religion. His newest theater production is Jesus Had 2 Daddies.
Wix Covey is one of the founders of the Northwoods Peace Fellowship, centered in Wausau, Wisconsin, and he also serves on the executive committee of the Wisconsin Network for Peace & Justice
MEMEnomics: The Next-generation Economics System by Said Dawlabani explores an evolving, growing, & maturing of values systems, leading us to a better future, in spite of and fueled by the crises we go through. A further adaptation of the Spiral Dynamics theories of Don Beck, Memenomics may well be the lens to light our way forward.
Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta's book, Refusing to be Enemies: Palestinian and Israeli Nonviolent Resistance to the Israeli Occupation delves deep into sides of the conflict that most US media never approach, and does it through the words of Palestinian & Israeli workers for peace, plus a few people outside of the Middle East. There's both more reality and hope in this work than we've been led to expect.
Nukewatch staffer John LaForge has produced the Nukewatch Quarterly for more than 20 years, carefully documenting the dangers and disasters of nuclear power & weapons, mixed with reporting on Nonviolent Direct Action. Originating in Madison, WI, Nukewatch has long been based near Luck, WI, with the Anathoth Community Farm, living organically, nonviolently, and mostly off the grid.
In Turn Here, Sweet Corn: Organic Farming Works, Atina Diffley shares the story of the Gardens of Eagan and Atina's personal story of learning female empowerment, organic farming, and successfully taking on an oil pipeline owned by the infamous Koch Brothers. Mixing vivid stories, earth-centered spirituality, and organic expertise, Atina is a true Spirit in Action.
Rita Nakashima Brock is a theologian, teacher, and co-author of Soul Repair- Recovering From Moral Injury After War. She was an organizer of the 2010 Truth Commission on Conscience in War, and she recently became the co-director of the Soul Repair Center at Brite Divinity School. Her thoughts and stories are profound and transforming..
Inga Witscher is an organic dairy farmer and the star of a new Wisconsin Public TV program called Around the Farm Table, exploring a revolution in farming and connection to the Earth. Founding St.
Steve Terwilliger talks about his environmental transformation of his home, and an in-depth study of potential futures of our transportation system.
MoveToAmend.org is a nationwide effort to reverse the Citizens United Supreme Court Decision. Rick Jurmain, engineer, co-owner of a very successful local corporation, and founder of Chippewa Valley Move to Amend, is passionate about reclaiming the people's rightful place over corporations, again, and he helps us learn from the historical record of American's rising up against corporate tyrants.
Debra Rosenman is author of the upcoming collection, The Chimpanzee Chronicles: Spellbinding Stories from Behind the Bars, about our closest animal cousin. It's about increasing understanding & compassion, something Debra also does through her workshops on Journey into the Animal Heart Circles and by her private practice as a Certified Rubenfeld Synergist and Somatic Archaeologist.
There's a sea change going on around marriage equality/homosexuality/alternative sexuality, and one sign is 3 new memoirs.
There's a sea change going on around marriage equality/homosexuality/alternative sexuality, and one sign is 3 new memoirs. Chana Wilson wrote Riding Fury Home, including the trials of the "mental illness" of her lesbian mother. Annie Lanzillotto released L is for Lion: An Italian Bronx Butch Freedom Memoir, including her trials with cancer, a raucous Italian family, and much more.
Steve McIntosh is author of Evolution's Purpose: An Integral Interpretation of the Scientific Story of Our Origins, an insightful & carefully reasoned study of the big WHY driving creation. With a worldview peering beyond the beliefs & practices of traditionalists, modernists, & post-modernists, Steve leads us to an outlook which promises dramatic improvement, inner & outer, for our culture & world.
Stan Cox is author of Any Way You Slice It: The Past, Present, and Future of Rationing and a Senior Research Scientist and coordinator of research for the The Land Institute. With an eye to a just & sustainable future, Stan explores our history with rationing and the possibilities for an equitable future of necessary constraints.
Stan Cox is also author of Losing Our Cool
Paul Gilk co-edited the book, A Whole Which Is Greater: Why the Wisconsin Uprising Failed, looking at the range of societal values, politics, & spiritual issues which have determined Wisconsin's course, including the failure to prevent Gov. Scott Walker's radical shift in the state. Paul lives without electricity, close to the earth, & is the author of at least 6 books, all typed on his manual typewriter.
War tax resistance, immigration, Middle East, intentional community, books & plays, public office, divestment - Bill & Genie Durland have been called & led to address these concerns and many more. With the Center on Law & Pacifism, Pendle Hill, Christian Peacemaker Teams, the Virginia House of Delegates, and elsewhere, Bill & Genie have walked a faithful life of witness. Order their plays by email at durlandwe@gmail.com.
Bob Graf spent 7 years as a Jesuit scholastic student, was part of the Milwaukee 14, a 1968 action to destroy draft records during the Vietnam War, and recently he got arrested as a result of his protests of ROTC training at Marquette U
When building relationship with Earth, the best advice may be "don't just do something, sit there!", and 3 participants of a weeklong workshop did something like that, sharing their process, experience, and fruits in this program. eric maya joy, Mary Jo Klingel, and Mary Conrow Coelho speak of roots & fruits of a Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) experiment.
Laura Melvin retired after 10 years as a Florida circuit court judge, and the spirit of one of the young girls whose death came through Laura's courtroom required her to write Public Secrets & Justice: A Journal of a Circuit Court Judge. Laura stayed on the bench as long as she could and left when the pain & contradictions were no longer tolerable. What is the role of an open-hearted, conscientious, judge in the American court system? Laura shares her experiences & insights.
Jeremy Gragert tackles the climate/environment crisis at home by working on the ways we travel, including his activism with the Chippewa Valley Transit Alliance, Eau Claire Climate Action Now, and the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin (WisconsinBikeFed.org).
Mel White is an eloquent, incisive, and compassionate voice exposing the lies of the Christian Right. This is something he knows from the inside, having ghost-written "autobiographies" for Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and others, before he accepted his homosexualtity as a gift from God, rather than a sin to be obliterated.
Dan Terry did things that are unbelievable in many Western eyes - being welcomed among diverse peoples of Afghanistan, including some among the Taliban. After a life of aid, friendship, and living on the edge in the region, Dan was killed in 2010, and his story and stories are captured in Making Friends Among the Taliban: A Peacemaker's Journey in Afghanistan, written by Jonathan P. Larson.
K. M Rukshan (Ruki) Fernando is chair of Rights Now, a collective of human rights defenders in Sri Lanka, monitoring & documenting human rights violations of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. Ruki received the Justice & Peace Award from the Bishop Tji Hak Soon Foundation in Korea in 2009, and he works as a columnist on firsthand human rights, justice and peace issues for online citizen journals, newspapers & religious publications. And much more....
Madeline Schaefer hosts a variety of segments about AFSC's work concerning sustainable agriculture, water rights, divestment in illegal Palestinian occupation, immigrants, and her own investigation of intentional communities for change.
Jacob George, a 3-tour Afghan vet, has just released Soldier's Heart, part of his recovery from the Moral Injury of war. Self-described as "a peace seekin, bicyclin, ramblin hobo from the hills of Arkansas", Jacob has biked across much of the South in the past 3 years, spreading peace and healing.
The Holistic Life Foundation does the amazing work of transforming lives & spirits in inner city Baltimore. The basic tools are yoga & mindfulness taught and modeled by 3 men in the hood. Ali Smith, Atman Smith & Andres Gonzales founded HLF fresh out of college in 2001, working with kids, at-risk people, the mentally ill, and everyone else, providing a model for changed and redirected lives.
Sri Lanka has been blessed by many decades of healing work under the leadership of A.T. Ariyaratne and his son, Dr. Vinya S. Ariyaratne. The organization they have led, Sarvodaya, is the largest non-governmental organization in Sri Lanka, having worked with people in 15,000 villages, combining mind, heart and spirit for the peace, health, and well-being of all citizens.
David Massengill paints a griping and moving picture of the USA through his music - of race, immigrants, adoption, and much more. Instead of speechifying about politics, David brings change by involving listeners in real stories that move our hearts, all the more powerful because of his Tennessee vernacular and accent.
Jerry Lausted is on the board of The Save the Hills Alliance, was an Ag teacher for 18 years, and has been involved in frac sand mining concerns since 2006.
Jennifer Kavanagh is an author, organizer, and spiritual activist. She's worked on and written about diverse topics including micro-credit finance, simplicity, and her recent book, The World is our Cloister: A Guide to the Modern Religious Life. Based in England, her work on the struggling East Side of London and in developing nations around the globe, has tied her spiritual center in transformation of the world.
Sandy Bishop & Rhea Miller were the 2012 Lopez Spirit Award winners for many of their works, including very notably their work with the Lopez Community Land Trust which nurtures the island in myriad ways, like producing net-zero-energy housing developments and the Seed Library. Rhea hosts a home church, drawing on, and continuing beyond, her training in Episcopal seminary.
The KXL Pipeline Truthforce and their 3/24/13 Educational Forum & Concert in Norman Oklahoma will bring together great speakers plus music by Buffy Sainte-Marie and Indigenous.
James W. Douglass is author of a number of books including Gandhi & the Unspeakable: His Final Experiment With Truth. He's cofounder of the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action in Washington State and Mary's House, a Catholic Worker house in Burmingham, Alabama.
Steve Horn photographed throughout the former Yugoslavia in 1970, not returning with his camera until 2003, after the war in Bosnia. He documented the before and after of war and was able to take back to the people a slice of their pre-war past nearly lost. With his book, Pictures Without Borders - Bosnia Revisited, Steve teaches us to know our global neighbors. Raised in a Jewish family, Steve is a long-time resident of Lopez Island, Washington.
Marjorie Heins is the author of Priests of Our Democracy: The Supreme Court, Academic Freedom, and the Anti-Communist Purge, examining the roots of free speech by teachers as a special concern of the US constitution, and the lessons we can learn from the way these rights were compromised badly during the McCarthy Era. Through decades of work as a civil rights lawyer, Marjorie carries a passion and deep insight into the ways our rights are, or are not, protected by our government.
Joe Wenke has just released You Got To Be Kidding: A Cultural Arsonist’s Literal Reading of the Bible, and with humor and sometimes sarcasm, he brings new, unjaded eyes to the writings of the Bible. He aims to disarm those who would use the Bible for oppression and domination and is seriously focused on making you laugh on the way to the unshackling. Joe has been a corporate speech writer, a stand-up comedian, and has trademarked the Cultural Arsonist moniker.
Marie Friedmann Marquardt is co-author of Living Illegal - The Human Face of Unauthorized Immigration, a book that combines head & heart to look at the realities around this political whipping boy of an issue. Marie is currently scholar-in-residence at Emory University's Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia.
Iyad Burnat is a full-time non-violent activist against the Israeli occupation in Bel'in, in the West Bank. Jailed numerous times, dedicated to the creative act of non-violence, Iyad has 4 children and is currently speaking for 3 months in the USA, sharing first-hand experience of activism. His village has had some success in facing down the expropriation of their land, including at the Israeli High Court.
Aaron Ableman & Dave Room have founded Balance Edutainment to use a wide range of media in order to light young people's dreams with a vision of making a better world. They've just released Pacha's Pajamas and are rolling it out in many different forms - video, audio, app and book - with prominent names like Talib Kweli & Mos Def taking part.
Chuck Fager has served 11 years with Quaker House, situated right next to Ft. Bragg, the largest army base in the USA, and dealing daily with soldiers & the war machine, They provide peace education, advocacy & counseling, both directly & through the GI Rights Hotline (call 877-447-4487 ).
Gar Alperovitz is author of "America Beyond Capitalism: Reclaiming Our Wealth, Our Liberty, and Our Democracy", about democratizing wealth and empowering communities through worker-ownership, co-ops, community land trusts, decentralizing control, and many other strategies.
Carl Bunin is founder of PeaceButtons.info, and he's provided over 110,000 peace buttons to the world (plus lots of other stuff) and he provides a "This Week in Peace & Social Justice" email newsletter, mapping out the movements and actions that have produced remarkable changes in the last century. Formerly on the front of demonstrations, teach-ins, and the like, Carl now does his bit for the peace movement from a wheelchair, due to MS, but it's hardly slowed him down at all.
Pat Humphries & Sandy O are Emma's Revolution and they use their music in the service of activism and, as their web site notes, they're "like Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart with guitars". Their latest CD, Revolutions per Minute, chronicals & participates in many of this year's dramatic movements & concerns - like Iraq, Arab Spring, the Wisconsin Uprising & the Occupy Movement. They think and sing powerfully, providing fuel for change we really can believe in!
John Heagle, author of Justice Rising: The Emerging Biblical Vision, has been a Catholic priest for 48 years, early working as the first director of the Office of Justice & Peace in La Crosse, WI. He’s also a licensed psychotherapist and co-director of Therapy & Renewal Associates in Lincoln City, Oregon, and the author of seven books.
The Biodynamic Farming & Gardening Association is holding their North American conference in Madison, Wisconsin, on November 14-18, 2012. Executive director, Robert Karp, speaks about the organization, biodynamics, and the conference, while keynoter & workshop leader Dennis Klocek shares about Sacred Agriculture and alchemy.
Mary Rockefeller Morgan's book is Beginning With the End: A Memoir of Twin Loss and Healing, where Mary traces the trauma and the route to healing which she experienced and now passes on to other "Twinless Twins", like the group created by the events of 9/11/2001.
Judy Lumb is the author of Ending Cycles of Violence: Kenyan Quaker Peacemaking Response after the 2007 Elections, where she captures the historical context, the eruption of violence, and efforts in the aftermath the restore safety & connection, and to promote healing.
Jane Dwinell's third and newest book is Freedom Through Frugality: Spend Less, Have More, an inspirational in very practical guide to saving your life's energy through frugality. Jane is lively, insightful and spiritual -- she's a Unitarian Universalist minister.
Guest host Robert Wolf of American Mosaic shares the poetry, prose, and voices of the homeless people he's worked with over the years. The voices are gritty and real, providing an honest glimpse of life most of us never see. In 1989 Robert started his writing workshops with the homeless of Nashville, and he's gone on to gather writings from all over the country, creating an American Mosaic, both book and radio program, part of Free River Press.
Minnesotans United for All Families is trying something new in their struggle for marriage equality - listening & telling personal stories - and it's working like nothing before has ever worked. Liz Oppenheimer & Jeanne Burns share their experience with "conversations" and Grant Stevensen, director of the Faith Dept. of Minnesotans United for All Families talks about the united effort of many walks of faith in opposing the proposed marriage amendment to the MN constitution
Glen Retief paints vivid pictures and addresses vital questions of identity & social justice in The Jack Bank: A Memoir of a South African Childhood. His stories deal with race, apartheid, homosexuality and homophobia, physical violence, sexual abuse - and much more - and he leads us on a journey of discovery and insight. And I learned that Post-Apartheid South Africa was the first country to protect the right of same-sex marriage.
Dan Dieterich is a founding member of ICE - Interfaith Community for the Earth, an organization formed to fight global warming and promote ecological well-beling. ICE is a member of Wisconsin Interfaith Power & Light. Working at the local level, ICE is a good example of how a small group of folks can harness their energy, in community, to bring about the big changes our world needs.
Dan Dieterich is a founding member of ICE - Interfaith Community for the Earth, an organization formed to fight global warming and promote ecological well-beling. ICE is a member of Wisconsin Interfaith Power & Light. Working at the local level, ICE is a good example of how a small group of folks can harness their energy, in community, to bring about the big changes our world needs.
Wendy Call spent 3 years with organizers in southern Mexico, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, facing the threat of globalization in the form of a Megaproject to develop the area.
David Campbell, co-author of American Grace, speaks about the rise of non-religious affiliated "nones" in the USA, issues like abortion & same-sex marriage (and how they divide us), how the hippie 60's led to the rise of the Religious Right, and much more. With piercing insight, solid documentation & historical richness, American Grace is an invaluable resource to make sense of the religious world in the USA, and the political world it interacts with.
Noa Baum is an Israeli-born woman now living in the USA who has found her avocation in telling stories, who came to my attention through her one-woman story-telling show called A Land Twice Promised, about the personal stories of people vying for or sharing the land variously called Israel or Palestine. Stories can change hearts and find a way forward in places where argument is powerless or counterproductive, so Noa's very personal sharing may light for us a more peaceful way forward in a very troubled world.
The topic is the Transition Town movement and the experience of Steve Chase, Director of Advocacy for Social Justice and Sustainability at Antioch University New England and involved with the Keene, NH, transition, and Ruah Swennerfelt, former long-time long-time General Secretary of Quaker Earthcare Witness and is currently involved with the Transition Town implementation in Charlotte, VT.
Azher Usman is an author, artist, activist, philanthropist, lawyer, but most of all he's a very serious comedian. He gave the keynote address at the Ways of Peace II Conference on Nonviolence in the Islamic Tradition sponsored by FNVW. He's been part of the Allah Made Me Funny - Official Muslim Comedy Tour, The Laughing Peace Tour and The Make Chai, Not War Tour.
Mel Duncan is a founder and force behind Nonviolent Peaceforce, an important evolution in the work of unarmed, well-trained, civilian peacekeepers. With active programs in Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Sudan and engaging soon in South Caucasus, Nonviolent Peaceforce has drawn widespread recognition and support, including funding from UNICEF, an upcoming training at the UN, and invitations from heads of state.
Our racism is mostly invisible to us because all the assumptions around it seem "normal" to us, The authors of Seeing White: An introduction to White Privilege and Race lead us through a rigorous inspection of the history and present of racism in the USA - and the way out of this ingrained social construction.
Peter Edelman's new book is So Rich, So Poor: Why It's So Hard to End Poverty in America, and he brings great credentials an passion to the concern. As an aide to Senator Robert Kennedy, having servied in Washington in various posts, including the one he resigned from during the Clinton administration in protest of the "welfare reform" that Clinton signed, he knows the nuts & bolts as well as the mechanics of government.
Guest host today is Robert Wolf of American Mosaic and Free River Press, and he takes us on a visit to the Pine Ridge Reservation, a place of poverty and Spirit, and site of Wounded Knee and the stand-off with the American Indian Movement.
Ralph Jacobson founded Innovative Power Systems in 1991, giving him 20 years on the learning curve. His outlook & views have been significantly changed by the experience of "doing business". He is also president of the Minnesota Solar Industries and lives in St Paul, Minnesota.
Sit in on a panel LGBT and clergy, sponsored by the Voices of Faith program of Equality Wisconsin, on personal and church experience of Open & Affirming Congregations - and the lack of same. The panel was held at Plymouth UCC, Eau Claire on 3/24/2012.
Shane Claiborne is a fiery, dread-locked, profound, fool for God. He grew up in East Tennessee, spent time with Mother Theresa, was in Iraq with Christian Peacemakers during the Shock & Awe campaign in Iraq, and helped found The Simple Way community in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Pennsylvania.
Parker J. Palmer is author of 9 books including his latest Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit. In his writing and in his work with the Center for Courage & Renewal, he transforms minds & lives.
Parker J. Palmer is author of 9 books including his latest Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit. In his writing and in his work with the Center for Courage & Renewal, he transforms minds & lives.
Gary Dorrien is author of The Obama Question: A Progressive Perspective, in which he looks at Barack Obama, the man & his history, and his policies, to see whether they pass muster from a progressive political & theological perspective. Gary is the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Religion at Columbia University. He is the author of 14 books and around 250 articles on a range of topics.
Sonny Ochs, sister to folk legend Phil Ochs, has helped carry forward the powerful legacy of Phil's music. On almost every topic - war, prejudice, immigration, etc - the songs are as meaningful today as back in the 60-70's. Just released, the documentary, Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune.
Anne LeClaire is an author whose 20 years of twice-monthly days of silence taught her the potential for rest, healing and growth of the practice. She shares the lessons of the experiment-turned-way-of-life in Listening Below the Noise". She leads workshops and retreats on silence, creativity and authenticity, like the program she'll lead on March 23-24 at the Franciscan Spirituality Center in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Fireburn Doctor provides a simple, free, miraculous, service - healing of your burns with a single phone call. It sounds absolutely unbelievable, but what are we to believe when the evidence is there? We visit with Alison McDermott of the Fireburn Doctor team & 3 who've experienced it - former Judge Charles Barnhardt, actress Mary Badham, Vitaly Korobov of the US Patent & Trademark office. Plus, in Excerpts, a 3-time user, 1998 Mr.
John Michael Greer is author of 27 books on topics like peak oil, nature-based economics, and druidry - because he is Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America. One of his latest books is Apocalypse NOT: Everything You Know About 2012, Nostradamus and the Rapture is Wrong.
John Michael Greer is a prolific author writing on diverse topics like peak oil, nature-based economics and, of course, druidry, because he is the Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America. His knowledge is vast and his presentation makes even complex topics understandable and compelling. His books include The Ecotechnic Future: Envisioning a Post-Peak World and The Wealth of Nature: Economics as if survival Matter.
John Noltner is photographer and author of a new book, A Peace of my Mind: Exploring the meaning of peace, one story at a time, a captivating inquiry into how common folks - and some not-so-common folks - think about peace. It attempts to bring diverse, sincere, voices into a big tent, to do the work of listening for possibilities.
Larry Tye's recent book is SATCHEL: The Life and Times of an American Legend. Satchel Paige was a trail-blazer in the times when African-Americans were segregated from whites in their neighborhoods, schools, drinking fountains and on the ball field and Larry Tye chronicles Satchel's long march to color-blind recognition with the feel of an gripping adventure.
Vasu Murti asks a disturbing question - if world hunger, climate change, and, importantly, abortion are the karma for our animal-based diet, can we get liberals and conservatives to come together to affirm the sanctity of all life? Vasu Murti is author of The Shall Not Hurt or Destroy: Animal Rights and Vegetarianism in the Western Religious Traditions and also The Liberal Case Against Abortion.
Karen Brandow is a political activist whose association with Charlie King has led her to use music as one of her tools for change. 2 issues at the forefront for Karen are War Taxes & The Death Penalty. Karen spent 8 years in Central America, doing accompaniment & other work, was raised in a culturally Jewish household, is trained as a spiritual director.
Vasu Murti is a powerful liberal voice for "consistant peace", and he supports his concerns by extensive research of eastern religious thought, western religious thought, and the best of secular thought & reasoning. In this 2-part interview he speaks about global warming, war, karma (and many more topics) and their relationship to vegetarianism & abortion.
Dr Robert Holmes is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Rochester in NY, with a specialty in peace and nonviolence who has taught, written and spoken extensively on related topics.
James Olson is the author of The Whole-Brain Path to Peace about the role of left and right brain dominance in the polarization and reunification of America. It's an investigation into the effects of brain perspective on government, corporate life, war, and our personal lives. James Olson is a management-trained philosopher with studies in business, engineering, art, eastern and western religion, yoga, qigong, neuro-linguistic programming, philosophy and brain perspective. Plus, he's a former farmer & church deacon.
Robin Bernstein traces the roots & mechanisms of racism in Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights. Robin's piercing analysis and thorough research ferret out gems of both fact and insight, providing powerful resources for those working to reduce racism and its propaganda.
In this episode, Spirit in the Digital Age, producer Madeline Schaefer takes a look at the role of technology in spirituality and, specifically, with Quakers. Included are interviews with Martin Kelley about QuakerQuaker.org and the convergent Friends movement; Stephen Dotson and Facebook; Chris Pifer and Aaron Crosman on what makes a Quaker website, "Quaker"; and the diary of a one week "Technology Fast."
Scott Anderson is the founder of Alignment Yoga and Spectrum Yoga Therapy. His new book is Alignment Yoga - An Intelligent Approach to Ancient Wisdom. He's an insightful innovator and talented teacher, adapting traditional practices to the Western way of life.
Reggie Harris has been creating great change-making & bridge-building music for decades, spanning barriers of race, religion, politics and other forms of identity and division.
Purple Wagon is the site of Perdue Professor Emerita of Child Development & Family Studies, Judith Myers-Walls. In 1989 she began research and applications around parent/child communication about war & peace, a passion that comes out of her background with the Church of the Brethren, one of the traditional peace churches
Karen Street had a jarring experience in 1995 - she found that her prejudices and beliefs opposing nuclear power were ill-founded, and that the alternatives were doing much greater damage to people, other animals & the Earth. Carefully researched and examined, Karen provides a compelling, compassionate case for using nuclear power.
J.E. McNeil's new book, Peace-Work Quilt, draws on the many stories & experiences from the 12 years she has served as Executive Director of the Center on Conscience & War. The stories are vivid and the thoughts and analysis penetrating - and the spirit is deep.
Lizzi Dahlk, Voices of Faith Coordinator of Equality Wisconsin, works to unite people of faith in making Wisconsin a more welcoming & just place for LGBT folks and all folks who get treated as "Other". Today she's joined by David Huber of Plymouth UCC and Scott Miller of First Lutheran Church, both in Eau Claire.
The Friendly Folk Dancers have been "Dancing the World Together" through international folk dance since 1986, and they toured in Cuba in 2010, Rwanda in 2008, Kenya in 1996, and many other place in other years. With a ministry of peace and connection, they've prayed with their full bodies and learned with each step. This program was recorded in Cuba in November 2010.
Exploration of The Happiness Initiative through a visit with John de Graaf & Laura Musikanski. Laura is Executive Director of Sustainable Seattle. John has created 15 PBS documentaries including the well-known Affluenza. He is Executive Director of Take Back Your Time.
Barbara Joye is co-founder of It Can Be Done, a project to address the Tanzanian crisis brought on by climate change. Working with the Uru people at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, It Can Be Done has helped create a miracle well and is working to free women & children to worthy work.
The topic is race, racism & religion, both within Quaker meetings and in America at-large. Paul Kriese co-ediited Black Fire: African American Quakers on Spirituality and Human Rights, and he draws on his experience growing up in a black neighborhood and his academic formation in Political Science and Peace Studies to shine the Light on race relations.
Christian Parenti is the author of Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change & the New Geography of Violence, a powerful analysis of the historical, military, economic & other forces which combine with climate change to move us toward catastrophic convergence. Chistian is a contributing editor at The Nation with a Ph.D. in sociology.**
Aaron Fowler & Laura Dungan are Kansas natives seeking to organize and improve their state, through their work, musical and non-musical.
John Calvi was led to found QUIT (Quaker Initiative to end Torture), in part, because of the profound healing work he has done over the decades with victims rape and other sorts of torture, including refugees from Central America. John knows the external facts of torture, including statistics, laws and motivations, but because of his work as a healer, he knows the suffering from the inside as well.
Peggy Seeger is especially known for her song of awakening women's consciousness, Gonna be an Engineer, but she sings of many concerns and causes, including economic justice and, especially, care for creation. She's put out a wealth of music on her own, with her husband Ewan MacColl, with her brothers, Pete & Mike Seeger, and with other fine artists.
This is Azhar Usman's keynote address of the 2011 Ways of Peace II Conference on Nonviolence in the Islamic Tradition, sponsored by Friends for a Non-Violent World. Azhar is a comedian, lawyer, activist and writer.
Linda Stout is the activist/author of Collective Visioning: How Groups Can Work Together for a Just and Sustainable Future and founder of Spirit In Action, a non-profit organization that catalyzes broad-based movement building to support deep and lasting social change.
Afra Jalabi was one of the speakers at Ways of Peace II: Non-violence in the Islamic Tradition. With degrees in anthropology, political science and journalism, and passion for nonviolence, early Islamic history, Quranic exegesis and feminist theory, she's an insightful mind and powerful, compassionate speaker.
This program includes Afra Jalabi's presentation as part of a panel on Theology, Philosophy and History of Non-Violence in Islam and a follow-up phone interview.
Part 2 of a visit with singer/songwriter/activist Eileen McGann weaves powerful themes of healing the world through much of her music, embedded in a spiritual depth and consciousness. Care for the Earth & all its creatures, war, democracy, economic fairness and equality are just some of the concerns that Eileen sings compellingly about.
All the songs in this program are performed by Eileen McGann:
A visit the music of Walkin' Jim Stoltz, who died last year, guided by Leslie Stoltz, who was his wife, and John Gatchell, Conservation Director of the Montana Wilderness Association. Jim was co-founder of MUSE (Musicians United for a Sustainable Environment) and innumerable other organizations & efforts to preserve the wild places.
Singer/songwriter/activist Eileen McGann weaves powerful themes of healing the world through much of her music, embedded in a spiritual depth and consciousness. Care for the Earth & all its creatures, war, democracy, economic fairness and equality are just some of the concerns that Eileen sings compellingly about.
All the songs in this program are performed by Eileen McGann:
Abdisalam Adam, born in Somalia, came to the USA in 1991. He's the director of the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Civic Center in Minneapolis, MN and works as a Somali Cultural Specialist for St. Paul Public Schools. He'll be one of the featured speakers for Ways of Peace II: Non-violence in the Islamic Tradition on 4/9/11.
Tony Schultz of Stoney Acres Farm CSA was a fiery speaker at the 3/12/11 Farmer/Union Demonstration in Madison, WI. He's active with the Land Stewardship Project and Family Farm Defenders.
Brenda MacIntyre is a singer and a healer - hence her healingsinger.com web site. She has taken a background of difficulty and abuse and, with inspiration from her aboriginal/First Nations ancestry and inspiration of Spirit, she converted into a gift of healing for herself and others through song, visions and intuitive healing.
Si Kahn is a powerful singer/songwriter - and an historian, capturing the actions and lives of those who are working for a better world. With over 40 years fighting and singing for civil rights, worker's rights, he speaks with experience and authority. His newest book is Creative Community Organizing: A Guide for Rabble-Rousers, Activists & Quiet Lovers of Justice and his latest CD is Courage. Si comes from strong Jewish roots.
Shairon Beale is an organic lifestyle advocate, an LEED Platinum Home Builder Designer, former host of the Certifiably Organic radio program and current co-host of Making A Splash on BlogTalkRadio.com. PLUS, she's a racecar driver, Republican and a complete delight!
Sam Thayer's 1st book was Forager's Harvest and his new book is Nature's Garden, invaluable info on getting to the heart of nature through our stomachs. Jim Backus has released 4 books this past year with stunning photography and simple, compelling prose, leading us to connect with the Earth and its animals. In December he released 2 Voyage Into Nature collections and New Pack on the Prairie, a children's story based on photographs of a wolf pack in North Dakota.
Fr. Roy Bourgeois become a Catholic priest after witnessing the error of the Vietnam War, and founded SOAWatch after seeing the damage the School of the Americas caused in Bolivia.
Greg Artzner is half of Magpie, a duo aimed directly at calling the world to consciousness in terms of peace, justice, equality and care for the Earth. They work on stage and in the classroom, providing a too-seldom used window into a more honest and helpful way of seeing our history & future.
Greg Artzner is half of Magpie, a duo aimed directly at calling the world to consciousness in terms of peace, justice, equality and care for the Earth. They work on stage and in the classroom, providing a too-seldom used window into a more honest and helpful way of seeing our history & future.
Babette Grunow is headed to spend a week in Honduras, standing as an international witness to prevent violence. She's been active in Latin America for decades, in the USA and on the ground there. Introduced to Latin America by her Franciscan uncle, Babette has a passion for justice & freedom for our neighbors.
Peter Alsop is a singer/songwriter/worldchanger whose songs can be deep and moving, but frequently use humor to invite us to look at something new and life-altering. Violence, Food, Risk-taking, Societal Privilege and many more issues are in his non-violent sights!
Anne Feeney is a rabble rouser activist whose music is zeroed in on exposing the failings and promoting the positive possibilities for our world. She's a modern union maid and hellraiser, working for the people and against war, injustice, corporate greed and much more.
Theatre for Transformation is drama designed to open eyes and instigate change. With a cast that is mostly black, their productions often touch on the history and present of USA's racism, seeking to reclaim history so it can be dealt with and its consequences resolved.
Matt Hunter has been serving as Executive Director of FNVW- Friends for a Non-violent World for 2 1/2 years. Matt is Methodist and was dramatically turned to a belief in Jesus' nonviolent message in seminary. He's worked in South Africa around apartheid and HIV-AIDS, and worked with the homeless in Florida before coming to the Twin Cities.
Myron Buchholz brings real passion and personal insight to his teaching of high school History, particularly as it relates to war. He's spoken strongly against war since the early 1990's, but also brings respect and esteem to how he talks about our soldiers, including his daughter, currently serving in Iraq. He's a powerful, rational, dedicated voice speaking out against the error of war.
Nikki Giovanni is an original. Through her poetry, other writings and talks, she shares vivid glimpses of the human experience which, in her case, includes the experience of growing up in the near-South of the USA in the age of segregation. Nikki is all about breaking loose and choosing direction as is evidently clear from her reflections on her experience drawing on many facets of her experience, including that of a black, Tennessean, woman, and much, much, more.
Visit with Louise Knight, author of Jane Addams: Spirit In Action. Around a century ago Jane Addams stood at the head of the major peace & justice efforts of her day.
Joseph Maizlish voluntarily relinquished his deferment during the Vietnam War and spent 2 1/2 years in jail. His work now includes mediation and activities with Southern California War Tax Resistance. Family counseling, civil rights, antinuclear work are all part of his path.
Music Featured:
Have You Been to Jail for Justice? - Anne Feeney
Travelers - Andy & Terry Murray
Friends Peace House/Uguru Rw'Amahoro is a striking witness in a country so recently torn by genocide of nearly 800,000 people. The Evangelical Friends Church in Rwanda has firmly taken on the task of being workers for peace, healing and reconciliation in a land much in need of Divine Love.
John Lamoreau has a Master of Arts in Peace Studies and is the co-author of Waging Peace: A Study In Biblical Pacifism, written 26 years ago with about 25 reprintings since then. John is an Evangelical Friend/Quaker, with deep concern for faithfulness to Jesus and to the life Jesus directed that we live. He has the peculiar distiction of being perhaps the only avowed pacifist to be endorsed by the National Rifle Association.
Jerry Wilke, Executive Director of Bolton Refuge House for 22 years talks about the practical & spiritual aspects of domestic abuse.
Music Featured:
Love Is the Only Medicine - Peter Alsop
Stanley Campbell has served Rockford Urban Ministries for almost 25 years, a voice for peace, justice and care for the disadvantaged of Illinois' second city. Stanley knows the ropes, having started as a John Birch conservative who volunteered to fight in Vietnam and having learned to question and reexamine what he's been told.
A visit with the co-directors of the newly opened center for transcendental meditation in the Twin Cities, discussing the history, present and potential ofTranscendental Meditation to promote health and peace, inner and outer.
Philip Gulley is the author of 16 books to date, including the popular fictional series based in Harmony, Indiana. Phil's latest is If the Church Were Christian: Rediscovering the Values of Jesus, and it is a powerful challange to the anti-gay, pro-war, pro-wealth messages of Christians out of step with Jesus.
Santwana Dasgupta is Director of the Partnership for the Education of Children in Afghanistan (P.E.C.A) for the past 2 years, working from Kabul. The path to Afghanistan grew from her youth in India, the events of 9-11 and from her work with Friends for a Non-violent World (FNVW).
Music Featured:
Come to School Afghani girls - Atai Sheery
Sami Rasouli returned to Iraq after more than 20 years in the USA to rebuild the country and found the Muslim Peacemaker Teams. Combining love of his birthplace in Iraq with love of his home in the Midwest, Sami lets us see the people of both places as "us".
Music Featured:
Shekhani - Chaldean Folk Dance from Iraq
Niyonu Spann began leading Beyond Diversity 101 workshops after about 10 years as a diversity workshop facilitator. In this new approach, Niyonu uses mixed modes, song, movement, body work, etc, to move in new directions of growth following knowledge of racism from all sides. Among other things, Niyonu makes music with Tribe1.
Music Featured:
Mary Conrow Coelho's book, Awakening Universe, Emerging Personhood. The Power of Contemplation in a Evolving Universe, draws on her teaching & research in biology, Masters of Divinity, and PhD in Historical Theology to explore and flesh in "The New Story" of our place in an evolving universe.
Our two guests consider whether government can do Spirit work on Earth. Jason Penn Browne, author of William Penn's Legacy, writes about the many ways that Penn's Holy Experiment influenced the development of the USA. Julia Ryberg has lived in Sweden for 30+ years, experiencing a progressive system based on the entwining of church & state.
Rodwaan Saleh is the Membership & Affiliates Coordinator of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). I visited with him as he accompanied a group of visitors to Eau Claire from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, on a trip co-sponsored by the National Peace Foundation.
James Mulholland is an author and Quaker pastor who's religious path has spanned tremendously, including fundamentalist Christian to United Methodist to Quakerism. He fearlessly faces the big questions and shares the fruits of his learning through his writing.
Project of the National Peace Foundation and the Islamic Society of North America, Reflections and Experiences of Religion and Society includes essays from the participants in the exchange program between Muslims, Jews & Christians between the Middle East & the US Midwest.
Patrick Bellegarde-Smith teaches in the Africology Dept of UW-Milwaukee with special expertise in Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil and Haiti, where he grew up and where he was initiated as a voodoo (or vodou) houngan (priest). Patrick has collaborated on and written a number of books including:
Haiti: The Breached Citadel
Philip Gulley has authored 14 books, including the very popular Harmony series, but today we focus on 2 books co-authored with James Mulholland - If Grace Is True and If God Is Love. Phil visits with us today about his and Jim's growing and evolving conviction, moving them from a traditional fundamentalist viewpoint to a belief in Universal Salvation, and the implications of this revolution of thought.
Bryan Sirchio had a conversion experience at 17, eventually went to seminary, and developed a thirst for Biblical Justice rooted in Love. He's a singer/songwriter and has a special passion for Haiti where he's sojourned 40-50 times.
5 students from Scattergood Friends School are headed down the Mississippi for Paddle for the Planet, a 1-month educational journey of environmental discovery. Colby, Sophia, Sam, Jamiah & Mary have studied renewable energy, river fish, the Gulf's dead zone, phenology & useful plants in preparation.
Jonathan Chamberlain is the author of a powerful and informative critique of cancer cures, orthodox and alternative. Dispassionate and rigorous, he exposes the facts about an ineffectual system and offers great hope for our health, both curative and preventative.
Dr. Ken Stone of Chicago Theological Seminary leads workshops on Eco-Justice & The Hebrew Bible and he's written and edited several books including Practicing Safer Texts: Food, Sex and Bible in Queer Perspective. His analysis is spiritual fuel for lives of justice.
Garrett Fitzgerald is one of the anarchist & anti-authoritarian RNC 8, on trial for activities leading up to protests in the Twin Cities of Minnesota during the 2008 Republican National Convention. John Bachman was a legal observer at the demonstrations and is 1 of the 11 lawyers for the defense of the RNC 8.
John McCutcheon has a long history as a dedicated musician with a powerful social conscience. Unions, the environment, war, Central America, national unity - these and many more concerns are woven into his music.
Andy Murray was a founder of the Baker Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies of Juniata College in Pennsylvania. He's also ordained in the Church of the Brethren and he’s a singer/songwriter. He'll likely change your conceptions of what Peace Studies is and what best supports such work.
Melanie G. Snyder is author of Grace Goes To Prison which tells the story of Grace Marie Hamilton's growing and deepening work in Pennsylvania prisons, covering a wide variety of initiatives and programs aimed at reforming, improving and humanizing the lives of prisoners. Melanie also interacts with the legal system in her work as a restorative justice mediator.
A brief visit with Michael L. Robins, author of Awakening: 13 Steps to Love, Freedom, and Power, entered in the Next Top Spiritual Author Contest, and with Jon Nelson, author of Quetico: Near to Nature's Heart about Quetico Provincial Park.
Father Ismael (Melo) Moreno, Jesuit priest & director of Radio Progreso, brings news of Honduras since the coup and Atty JE McNeil talks about CO's like Dr. Timothy Watson, the Military and the Center on Conscience & War.
Kim Denmark has been walking across America for 68 months now, witnessing for the homeless, the poor and for God, ever since being called from her deathbed by God. She's an inspiring person on an amazing journey.
Renee Wurzer is a leading force behind WhisperedHopes.org, a group whose mission is to extend friendship and acceptance to women ostracized by their work in strip clubs. The approach is directly in the path of Jesus who provided welcome to prostitutes, tax collectors and others reviled by society.
Michele (C.M.) Harris has written a probing and powerful novel involving issues of sexual identity, pacifism and toxicity in the environment over the past 100 years. With multiple protagonists facing a world that is judgmental to gay/lesbian/trans/pacifist people, Michele takes us for a walk in the shoes of the "other", helping us to understand the issues from many directions.
Alaine is an acupuncturist, a Quaker and a peaceworker who has found her "divine enough". Through Crossings Healingworks she does healing work with soldiers and their healers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and a Veterans Administration Hospital in her area.
A visit with 3 folks with the ENPH program - Environmental Public Health - at UW-EC, a training ground for professionals working with the intersection of public health and the environment. Crispin Pierce is the director of the program and Caleb Johnson and Patrick Bloecher are seniors in the program. At the same time they do the public work with ENPH, they are transformed personally by the experience.
David Abazs is a moving force behind Paddle for the Planet, a 500-mile canoe trip from the headwaters of the Mississippi River to the Twin Cities where it concludes with River Rally between St Cloud and St Paul, MN, May 20-23, 2010 when everyone is invited to join in.
Steve Chase originated and serves now as the director of the Environmental Advocacy and Organizing Program in the Dept of Environmental Studies of Antioch University New England, training future generations of change-makers of all sorts. Steve's early inspiration was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, but a transforming moment is when he got kicked out his Boy Scout troop and welcomed in by Quakers - at age 13.
John Stedman is a community organizer for JONAH - Joining Our Neighbors Advancing Hope, which is a grandchild of the national organization called Gamaliel, an effort to promote activism from a congregational base. John's journey to activism started with a father working for the UN, life and study in Kenya, alcoholism & fishing, and a daughter who got him back to church.
Charlie King has been performing music since he was four, eventually finding a home with folk music. A lifelong Roman (or roaming) Catholic, he morphed from a Goldwater supporter in 1964 to an anti-war protester by 1967, and he's been an outspoken voice for peace and justice ever since.
David Thomas has a passion for discerning God's will, and he's shared that drive with the Friends Church in Rwanda. Ending up in Rwanda is a result of his practical encounter with discernment as he and his wife, Debby, sought clearness on where they were called in mission - could they really be called to genocide-torn Rwanda?
Elliott Adams, a past president of the Veterans for Peace, was part of a Thanksgiving fast for peace in Syracuse, NY, protesting the USA's use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (aka drones). Elliott was an enthusiastic volunteer during the Vietnam War, so he speaks powerfully of his journey from war and into peace work.
Rita Nakashima Brock is co-author of Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire, tracing how the radically pacifist Christianity of the first centuries was corrupted to support violence and empire.
Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, assistant professor of Justice & Peace Studies at the University of St Thomas, spoke at the 2009 Ways of Peace conference sponsored by Friends for a Non-violent World. He's got an insightful and practical theology of transformation for our world which fueled his run for the Democratic nomination for the US Senate.
Eileen Flanagan shares insights & stories of lives heading toward serenity, empowerment and wisdom. A writer, mother and former Peace Corps volunteer in Botswana, Eileen draws on deep spirit and wide ranging vision to help us make decisions leading to a better world.
Anne Morrison Welsh was left with 3 kids when Norman Morrison self-immolated in protest of the Vietnam War on 11/2/1965. Anne has written "Held in the Light: Norman Morrison's Sacrifice for Peace and His Family's Journey of Healing" about her experience. It has included continued peace work, a visit to Vietnam, and continued growth and insight.
Andrew Harvey's latest book is The Hope and it speaks of the need to connect deep spiritual roots to an outward life of witness and action. His call for Sacred Activism draws on his powerful experiences in Buddhist, Hindu, Sufi and Christian spirituality.
The 13th Body, Mind, Spirit conference and preconference is a rich platter of inner and outer healing for the world. Bob Salt helped found the event and has his own powerful acedemic and spiritual resources to share. Selene Vega will be co-presenting at the preconference on "Inner Ethics: Examining Countertransference with Compassion" with Kylea Taylor, and shares from her rich and varied spiritual and psychological resources
Through Habitat for Humanity and Project Kenya Charity, 2 Carroll University alums care for the people of the world, both with a special connection to Kenya and both with deep religious motivation.
We visit with 3 people connected with the Building Bridges anti-racism training sponsored by the Lutheran Human Relations Association. Marilyn Miller is Executive Director and Kenneth Wheeler is President of the Board of the LHRA, both persons of color, and Geri Murtaugh is a past participant of the Building Bridges training and is the Coordinator of Youth and Family Ministries for the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the ELCA.
Joe Elder received on October 3rd, 2009, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Network for Peace & Justice. Joe has traveled the world with quiet off-the-record messages and worked for peace from Vietnam to Sri Lanka. A University of Wisconsin professor of sociology and Asian studies, he has inspired thousands of students to broaden their horizons. Raised in Iran, son of Presbyterian missionaries, he was a CO in the Korean War and has been a Quaker since the 1950's.
The Wisconsin Network for Peace & Justice will be presenting its Lifetime Achievement award on October 3, 2009. One awardee, Esther Heffernan, is a Dominican nun and Sociology prof at Edgewood College, with a lifetime concern for prison reform. Steve Burns, program coordinator for WNPJ also joins us.
Sara Thomsen is strongly called to heal the world through her music. One of her songs, "Is It For Freedom", has been heard repeatedly on Democracy Now, because of its poignant call for our nation's self-examination following 9-11. Her concerns are wide - women, LGBT issues, care for creation, peace and more - and she writes and sings with soul-deep sensitivity.
All the songs in this program are performed by Sara Thomsen
The book "Hands At Work: Portraits and Profiles of People Who Work with Their Hands" combines striking and intimate photography with inspiring prose to talk about work in a way is too often ignored in the USA. This book is a visual meditation to help restore the life to "making a living".
Gabriel Constans is a free lance writer whose newest book is Buddha's Wife, a book that explores different approaches to compassion and the role of women in Buddhism (and much more). Kathryn Erskine is the author of Quaking, set in a post 9-11 community where people have to wrestle with the promise and demons of peace-making in a fearful, war-eager, world, seen through the eyes of a troubled teen.
A visit with Donna McDaniel & Vanessa Julye, co-authors of Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship: Quakers, African Americans and the Myth of Racial Justice.
David Zarembka is a tireless force behind the African Great Lakes Initiative to deal with the aftermath of the Hutu-Tutsi genocide in Rwanda. His daughter, Joy, whose mother is Kenyan, has a newly released book, "The Pigment of Your Imagination: Mixed Race in a Global Society" which explores the experiences of those of "mixed race" - including her own.
Ellen Seagren called on her community, Twin Cities Friends Meeting, for clearness and to support her in her leading to travel to Rwanda in connections with Friends Peace House. Ellen spent a month in Rwanda and returned with glimpses of life there and a sense of changes she wanted to bring back with her, for herself and for our nation.
Too few Americans know about Estonia's amazing, non-violent, "Singing Revolution" for independence from the USSR, but it is but one of the characteristics that make the country fertile ground for Leon Miller's work with the International Association for Religious Freedom.
Marcus Borg is a renowned author of numerous books on various aspects of Christianity and a view radically different from those who uncritically approach religion as a one-size-fits-all straight jacket. His thought and teaching require no suspension of our minds, but offer an invitation to an encounter the universal Spirit in a personal and transformative way.
Peterson's born-again experience at the age of 17 catapulted him into the world of Evangelical Christianity, good except that Peterson was, and is, gay. After 17 years of attempting to become "ex-gay", he finally had to accept his reality and seek healing and wholeness. Through his theatrical and stand-up comedy pieces like "Doin' Time in the Homo No Mo Halfway House" and other work, Peterson has become a leading proponent of the Ex-gay Survivor Movement/Beyond Ex-gay.
Inspired by the Local Food Challenge of SustainDoor.org, Ann Hippensteel has gone the past year eating food grown and produced within 100 miles of her home, and it's been a year of discovery, attuning to the land and dealing with global environmental issues, right at home.
Ian Harris has spent 32 years as part of the faculty of the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. He started by teaching a selection of Education courses, but found his home specializing as a Peace Studies instructor. Ian has guided students through all the multiple levels and phases of Peace Studies over the last few decades, preparing his students to make a much-needed difference in the world through their active, engaged Peace Work.
Davida Johns is the stateside organizer of an organization called ProNica - in favor of Nicaragua, folks who reach out to some Latin American friends, providing life-enhancing assistance to a country badly treated by the US government. Davida came to this job following her experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in Belize when she was in her 50's.
A visit with Risë Hunter of Monteverde Friends School, who originally moved to Costa Rica to work at the Cloud Forest School, a private school for environmental education. The launching place for her spiritual journey? Catoctin Quaker Camp!
A powerful sharing of activist culture between the West and the Middle East co-sponsored by the National Peace Foundation and the Islamic Society of North America. Representatives from Qatar, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates met Chippewa Valley activists at the Altoona mosque to listen and learn from one another.
Part three: A visit with 2 more War Tax Resisters - individuals whose conscientious objection to war includes not only their refusal to personally fight, but their decision to also not pay for war and the military system.
Part two: A visit with 2 more War Tax Resisters - individuals whose conscientious objection to war includes not only their refusal to personally fight, but their decision to also not pay for war and the military system.
A discussion with 2 War Tax Resisters - individuals whose conscientious objection to war includes not only their refusal to personally fight, but their decision to also not pay for war and the military system.
Peter Alsop does many types of work. He's an educational psychologist, a motivational speaker, recipient of 7 Best Children's Album awards, a trainer of therapists, counselors, teachers, parents and kids. He mixes humor and insight in profound, amusing and healing ways.
A visit with Geoff Garver, one of the 5 co-authors of "Right Relationship, Building A Whole Earth Economy." Combining a concern for the environment, awareness of economic mechanics, alternative governing structures and how to harness moral energy, this book seeks to find a way forward to preserving our world and well-being.
Peter Alsop does many types of work. He's an educational psychologist, a motivational speaker, recipient of 7 Best Children's Album awards, a trainer of therapists, counselors, teachers, parents and kids. He mixes humor and insight in profound, amusing and healing ways.
The Peace Learning Center (PLC) of Milwaukee started out in 2002 teaching the 4th graders of one school vital skills of non-violent conflict resolution. Based on a tremendously successful, city-wide project in Indianapolis, Milwaukee's PLC has grown rapidly, now teaching peace skills to 16 schools, with more projects on the way.
Mike McCabe works with Wisconsin Democracy Campaign to ensure that people are better represented than money. They track campaign contributions to all statewide offices, by amount and source, and help to insure that the law protects our democracy from monied interests.
A visit with Jane Tafel, Executive Director of the USA branch of Hagar International, a Swiss-based Christian development organization founded in 1994 to help Cambodia's abused women & children, including their empowerment through the Social Enterprise Model.
We welcome back Philip Gulley, author of 14 books, to discuss his Front Porch, Harmony, and other series. Even while writing with a tongue-in-cheek style reminiscent of Garrison Keillor, Phil Gulley tackles deep spiritual issues and real frustrations in a way that can help lighten and enlighten folks across the spectrum.
Sam Thayer Price is perhaps the Midwest's preeminent expert on wild foods and foraging. With a wide-ranging intellect and a spirit-deep passion, Sam preaches a gospel of connection to the Earth and to the life around us. His new book, The Forager's Harvest is available from Sam's web site, foragersharvest.com.
Savannah Rhae was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the spring of 2007, a disease that is fatal to 75% of people in the first 12 months. Savannah has done some traditional medicine, but she's also radically changed her diet and opened herself bountifully to community and to the Holy Spirit in facing this challenge.
Loren Cobb has an exciting and unusual job. As Aetheling International Consultants he facilitates NationLab, a simulation game helping countries of this hemisphere experience and plan for social, economic and political developments. Loren, a Quaker pacifist and mathematical sociologist, works alongside with the military to strengthen our neighbors, and keep the peace. But that is only one of the roles that Loren lives out.
Bobbi Jo Toy is the primary staff person and a co-founder of Porter Place Ministries. Bobbi Jo lives out a special calling to empower women and, through them, to help all members of the community. Bobbi Jo Toy has a special ability to turn concerns over to God, and to draw unexpected support and gifts from the wider community, even without asking. Bobbi Jo is a life coach, a consultant, a mother, and a devoted Christian.
Jim Scott: is, perhaps, best known for the many years he was part of the Paul Winter Consort. He tours widely as a solo act and his music frequently excites the listener, delicately, to care for the Earth and strive for Peace. He's a pedigree Unitarian-Universalist.
Nichola Torbett is National Organizer for the Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP). She conveyed powerfully the vision of NSP as she spoke in Eau Claire on October 19, 2006, helping crystalize the formation of a local chapter, here in the Chippewa Valley.
Mary Rothschild is a founder and staff for Healthy Media Choices and she produces a weekly interview program called How Are The Children? for Brattleboro Community Radio WVEW 107.7 lp FM and she clerks the Task Force on Youth for New York Yearly Meeting.
Harold Koenig is vitally interested in studying the relationship be religious faith/practice and healing, both mentally and physical and has led more than 25 studies documenting an astonishing correlation between religious devotion and health. He is the founder of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University Medical Center.
Bonnie Tinker has been an equality activist most of her life, with a special calling to work for the rights of gay and lesbian families. She has spearheaded many initiatives including Love Makes A Family, an organization which supports non-traditional parents and children and seeks to protect their rights, gay or straight. The daughter of a Methodist preacher turned Quaker, Bonnie has Spirit at the heart of her work.
Todd Dennis served in the US Navy on an nuclear submarine from 1997-2003, experiencing a major shift in his world view during that time. Though he was in the military, he found himself wanting to join anti-war protesters when the US attacked Iraq in 2003, and he joined Veterans for Peace once back in the Chippewa Valley.
Stan served in the Wisconsin State Assembly for 10 years, championing sustainable living, farming, and more, and was a keynote speaker at the 2007 MREA Energy Fair. His passion is motivating and connection citizens with our "common wealth", the ways that we can work together for the good of all. I captured his talk at the Energy Fair and visited with him 1-on-1 afterwards.
Voices for Peace 2008 took place on 9/14/8 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. This 3rd and last segment includes the speech by Raed Jarrar, a representative of the Speak for Peace tour, sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).
Voices for Peace 2008 took place on 9/14/2008 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. This 2nd segment includes a talk by Henry Norr, an activist alongside Palestinians, speaking as part of Wheels of Justice
A rich event took place on 9/14/2008 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. This first segment includes the opening "Circle of Prayer", a presentation by Steve Wagener of Military Families Speak Out and a talk by Paul Melling of Wheels of Justice.
Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzolas, his running mate for President of the USA, spoke at UW-Eau Claire on September 5, 2008. His campaign is less about him than it is about finding an alternative to the corporate power that has so much control over our national life. Nader mixes dire warnings with inspirational advocacy, urging citizen involvement for a better future.
Tom Chisholm served in the military on and off over 45 years, as a medic and a doctor. For most of that time he found himself opposed to all of the wars and military invasions the USA was part of. He's been a long-time member of Veterans for Peace and is a member of the Catholic peace group, Pax Christi, as well.
Tom has also valued his service on a reservation in South Dakota, and his volunteer time as a doctor in Nicaragua.
Kathy is currently co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Noviolence, is active with the Catholic Worker movement and since becoming a pacifist has refused payment of all federal income tax for 25 years. She went to prison for one year for planting corn on nuclear missile silo sites and has a Masters in Religious Education from Chicago Theological Seminary.
Ann Recine is working for the world's healing in many ways - she is a Nurse Practitioner with a Holistic Therapy LLC (715-379-5331, 515 S Barstow, Eau Claire), specializing in forgiveness and mindfulness meditation. She is a Third Order Franciscan, and she is also an organizer in the Voices for Peace Institute.
Recipients of the 2008 McGovern-Tracy Scholarships "exemplify the values of community service and leadership", and we visit with 5 of the med students recognized this year: Callie O'Neil, Michelle Buelow, Betsy Doherty, Joseph Hansen and Kevin Thao - great examples of the promise of the the upcoming generation of doctors.
Holly Near has put in more than 4 decades advocating and training for peace and justice through her music. With more than 27 recordings, she has spoken out on a diverse rainbow of issues and provided inspiration and fuel for millions of workers for improving our world.
Aaron Ellringer's journey to living consciously, responsibly and healthily on this planet has included a number of years working with Sunyata Food Co-op before its closing, and as a major force in the creation of Just Local Food, a worker's collective bringing local and healthy food to Eau Claire.
A thoughtful dialog about abortion, peace witness and care for creation. Guests are Rachel MacNair, Phd. in Psychology and undergraduate in Peace & Conflict Studies, and Stan Becker, Phd. in Demographics at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, where he is currently professor in the Dept of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.
Judith Ann Wagener has been a School Sister of Notre Dame since 1961, a period that has seen vast changes in American society and in the Catholic Church. She started as a teacher but followed a leading into pastoral ministry over 20 years ago, for the last 9 with St James the Greater Catholic Church in Eau Claire.
Cathy Sultan, Tom Chisholm & Jason Hicks were recently part of a delegation to Israel/Palestine sponsored by the Interfaith Peace-Builders, witnessing first-hand the suffering and aspirations of the people both sides of the wall.
Tom Neilson is a tireless activist for many causes - supporting the family farm, civil rights, and opposing war, among many others. He shared his songs and the causes before an audience at the 2007 FGC gathering at River Falls.
A "field trip" to an environmentally friendly model home near Waupaca, Wisconsin, built by A-A Exteriors, including a discussion of a number of technical options.
Mary Rose O'Reilley is an author, a contemplative and an activist. Author of (at least) 6 books and many more publications, she lives with a concern for the kind of centerness which allows us to live fruitfully and faithfully in the world.
As a dual citizen of Iraq and the USA, resident for 20 years of the Twin Cities in Minnesota, Sami Rasouli brings a special perspective to his work with the Muslim Peacemaker Teams.
Missionary doing holistic development in Rwanda? To a lot of folks almost any other destination might have seemed preferable to God's call for Debby & David Thomas to become missionaries in Rwanda just after the genocide of1994.
Gigi Pomerantz is a Jewish nurse practitioner doing her part to be a force for health, peace and good in the world. Recently, that includes work in Haiti, including dry composting toilets, to help agricultural productivity while improving health. But that just scratches the surface of Gigi's living out of tikkun alom - restoration of the world.
John Ikerd was the keynote speaker for the 2008 Midwest Value Added Agriculture conference, held in Eau Claire. Agricultural economics is his field, and his work with with sustainable agriculture and the move toward localization of food. The conference is hosted annually by River Country Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc.
Dan Nerhaugen has a deep concern that we build literacy in the USA - in our schools, but especially in our citizenry. Civic engagement and political literacy are built by reading, and reading books in particular. On his web site, The48er.com, Dan highlights resources to strengthen the civic mind - books and other publications which will help folks in the USA to competently uphold our democratic republic.
Anna Sandidge is the coordinator for the Friends Peace Teams after having served with two different projects in Burundi and Rwanda as part of the African Great Lakes Initiative.
Anna was raised in the Assembles of God church, but had her first serious break with the church at the age of 12. At 15 she sought out Quakers, finding herself "home" from the start at Friends Meeting. She was a professional organizer in her 20's, but found a leading to more securely connect her employment work with her spiritual work and found that with the Friends Peace Teams.
Tom Walz may be the tireless force behind Iowa City's alternative cultural experience, Uptown Bill's Small Mall, but the work of the mall is the legacy of an amazing mentally retarded man, Bill Sachter. Because of his experience with Bill, Tom found his life's work, helping people with disabilities own and run their own businesses.
WW2 was a "popular war" and it so it took greater conviction to be a conscientious objector to that war. We have the privilege of talking to 2 of the surviving CO's of that war, George Watson, 91 years old, and Jack Phillips, now 86. Their experience in confronting the draft and in serving in the Civilian Public Service had a profound effect on the remainding 60+ years of their lives.
David Rovics is a perpetual activist energy machine with his music, calling attention to the problems that need addressing and recognizing the successes of those working for social justice. He tours extensively in the US and Europe, and occasionally to the Middle East and beyond.
Chante Wolf spent 12 years in the military, leaving on her birthday in 1992, meaning that she was part of the first Gulf War. Back then she was called Sharon Haller, thought of herself as a Republican, and nearly killed someone who messed with her gun.
The Rachel Corrie Foundation continues the work and witness of Rachel, killed at the age of 23. She was in Palestine as part of the International Solidarity Movement, serving as a "human shield", protecting Palestinians and their homes.
A visit with 2 long-time war tax resisters. Patricia Washburn is a religious peace educator, a seminary graduate though never ordained. She testified to Congress for the Peace Tax Fund after the IRS took her house for taxes. Perry Treadwell got a special leading from a verse of Robert Frost when he was 42 and quit his tenured position in microbiology, and found a beautiful life of service. Both address the fears and gifts of decades of war tax resistance.
A visit with Steve Ryals, author of Drunk With Wonder: Awakening to the God Within, former speed freak and alcoholic, and activist with Challenge Day.
Music featured in this program:
How Could Anyone Ever Tell You - Peaceful Women****
Loren Cobb has an exciting and unusual job. As Aetheling International Consultants he facilitates NationLab, a simulation game helping countries of this hemisphere experience and plan for social, economic and political developments. Loren, a Quaker pacifist and mathematical sociologist, works alongside with the military to strengthen our neighbors, and keep the peace.
Judith did a radical experiment in "Not Buying It" - she went without shopping (beyond simple necessities) for a year. She's full of insights about and experiences with our consumer culture.
Cheryl Thiede is the associate director of social services for the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, - ARCW.org or 836-7710. Raised Moravian, she is now part of Eau Claire 's Unitarian Universalist Congregation.
Dr. Helen Caldicott spoke at the Forum Series at UW-EC on that fateful day, 9/11/2001. Her topic was "George Bush and the Threat of Nuclear War".
Physicians for Social Responsibility
The Wellness Shack is a consumer-run non-profit organization for adults with mental illness, working to educate the public about mental illness and to eliminate some of the misperceptions and stigma with mental illness through self-education, socialization, and accepting yourself. The October 12th, 2007 benefit featured music performed by Poppy Moelter & Troy Jackson, and poetry written by Savannah Rhae & Nora Bates.
JONAH had it's founding ceremony on 11/11/2007 in Eau Claire, where participants spelled out the needs, real and personal, the mission, and the commitment and support to be expected from this association.
Katherine is retired from her career as a clinical psychologist and author of To The Left of Inspiration: Adventures in living with disabilities. Blind from birth, Katherine has powerful insight into the dynamics of disabilities in our society.
Frances Ford conceived of The War Plays Project, Inc in the period leading up to the US invasion of Iraq, a way to invite people to think of the too-little-thought-of aspects of war. She and the other folks with The War Plays Project have produced a series of short plays going beyond what the mainstream media is willing to consider.
Judy Hyde is a perpetual source of healing and fun for the world. She's been working for Free the Slaves for several years, finding ways to stem the record numbers of people - and especially kids - held captive for slave labor.
Elizabeth Gordon recounts the spiritual & cultural odyssey in her newly released book, Walk With Us. When she and her female partner take into their home a 14-year old expecting triplets, it is a learning experience on multiple levels, mixing as it did Black Muslims and white Quakers, straight and gay, not to mention the generational differences. Elizabeth recounts the deeply emotional and powerfully spiritual twists and turns of helping raise 3 beautiful baby boys in trying circumstances.
A visit with Poppy Moelter about the wholeness/healing modality called Integrative Breathwork, a method using music and breath as keys to access healing and change along the developmental levels corresponding to the chakras.
On September 11, 2007, the people of Eau Claire gathered at Phoenix Park to remember the events of 6 years earlier, but also to seek a way forward to a better, healed world. Take part in the music, reflection and visioning of the event on this program, including the keynote by Mike Boehm, founder of the My Lai Peace Park & Loan Fund, and other acts of reconciliation with Vietnam, Japan and Central America.
Laura and DeeAnn caught a passion for the work because of Ending Hunger Now, a book by George McGovern, Bob Dole, and Donald Messer (Democrat, Republican, and minister - but all Methodists) as part of a Lenton study group at River Falls United Methodist Church. The work of Ending Hunger Now is endless, but Laura, DeeAnn & others bring nearly boundless energy & creativity to the work.
A visit with Amy DeLong, founder of Kairos CoMotion, an organization aiming to Reform, Network and Act-Up within the United Methodist Church to confront discrimination, including that against gays and lesbians.
Mary Rehwald spear-headed the successful effort of the city council to declare Ashland, WI an ECOmunicipality, incorporating the Natural Step process. Mary is a member of Ashland's City Council and a Northland College faculty member. A life-long Unitarian, she has a special spiritual calling toward building community. She has a stong connection to caring for the earth and living responsibly upon it.
A visit with Peder, Adam & Megan in Jerusalem, on site in the Middle East to shoot a film about the Israeli occupation. They hope to provide a picture of the Palestinians to humanize them and their plight in face of the very unbalanced media picture we typically see in the USA. Peder, Adam & Megan are college Juniors and Seniors with studies in Political Science, Anthropology and Film.
Snapshot visits at this year's Energy fair, including Stan Gruszynski keynote, Steve Mellenthin, Mike Miles of Anathoth, music by Pine Wilson & Kevin Soucie, Community Homestead visitors, Ned Boyles workshop on Reality 101, exhibitors TS Designs, Tall Grass Bioneers, SonLight Power and Lake Michigan Wind & Sun, and part of Judith Levine's keynote on her "Not Buying It" book.
The Midwest Renewable Energy Association Energy Fair is an amazing event, rich in speakers, workshops, vendors, music and more than 16,000 attenders. I went with an ear for the voice of the Spirit - and heard PLENTY. A collage of many folks who took part, as I roamed around the fair grounds on June 15-17, 2007.
Bill Wiese has served as a kind of representative of 6 Eau Claire area churches to UW-Eau Claire in a program known as "The Ministry". Bill, a life-long Methodist, provides a portal to the community for the students and enriches their lives by doing things like teaching free yoga sessions and sharing from his more than a decade under a Native American teacher.
A visit with Ruah Swennerfelt and Louis Cox about their role with Quaker Earthcare Witness, the paths that led them to lives of earth & spiritual activism, their lives "off the grid" in Vermont ... and much more.
Interviewed July 8th, 2005 at the Friends General Conference gathering held at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia
Kelly has served one year in Colombia, South America, as part of the International Peace Observatory (IPO), and is heading back now for further volunteer service doing human rights accompaniment. She shares stories "from the ground" in Colombia, the people, the violence and the causes.
John Williams was a Catholic priest in his 20's, till he felt another calling. He taught for decades at University of Wisconsin - Stout, in the Human Development and Family Living Department. Now in semi-retirement, he has help found a Pax Christi chapter at St Joseph's Catholic Church in Menomonie.
David Orr, chairman of the Environmental Studies program at Oberlin College and author of 5 books, spoke at UW-Eau Claire this past April. His talk was passionate, thoughtful, challenging and inspirational, as it discussed the dangers and hopes surrounding the fate of life on this planet.
Jo Vallentine was the first Australian Green Party Senator. She brought principled action to Australia's federal Senate, earning her the scorn of many "business as usual" politicians, as she served as advocate and voice in Australia's Parliament for a number of progressive issues for 8 years
Ina May Gaskin is an internationally recognized leader in advocating for Spiritual Midwifery. She is also an author, activist and advocate whose spiritual insights and empowerment have been part of the incredible exploration which is The Farm, the spiritual-based intentional community in Tennessee, founded in the early 1970's.
Partners For Peace sponsors Israeli & Palestinian peace-working women to speak throughout America, to tell their first-hand stories and call all to peace & justice. Tal Dor, Huda Abu Arqoub and Amal Nassar spoke to students of North High School in Eau Claire this April.
Professor Dewitt dwells comfortably, even passionately, in two worlds that many see as inconsistent. Cal is a Professor of Environmental Studies, teaching Environmental Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as part of the Gaylord Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies. I speaks - and acts - on the Evangelicals & the Environmental, and on the spiritual journey of John Muir.
Sami Rasouli is an Iraqi-born American citizen who returned to Iraq in the aftermath of the US war there, in order to try to help rebuild Iraq. Inspired by the example of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), he has helped organize the Muslim Peacemaker Teams (MPT).
Martha Nieman and Brenda Gagnon are nurse midwives in Eau Claire with a few decades of experience between them. They share of the spiritual nature of their work and how it flows from and is rooted in their spiritual lives.
Mike Boehm was angry after the Vietnam War, a war for which he volunteered, as he learned of the deceipt and injustice that were part of that war. After a retreat from society, he found a new and powerful calling as he became the leading force toward establishment of 2 peace parks and many micro-credit loan funds to heal some of the wounds of the war, both for Americans and Vietnamese.
Pete Wagener spoke at the 2006 Veterans Day event sponsored by the Veterans for Peace. His stories about what he learned in his 4 years with the Marines, in facing his alcoholism, and in the course of the 5 years he spent in Russia, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, are personal and powerful.
A visit with 5 men of the men's group, The Clearwater Men's Council. The group has been meeting in Eau Claire since 1990, changing the lives of hundreds of men over that time.
A visit with the founder of The Hope Fund, a project to help connect promising, but poor, young people from the Palestinian refugee camps with special college scholarships here in the USA. Fahim Qubain, himself raised in the Middle East, found his way up via the education he received at the Ramallah Friends School in, at that time, Palestine, graduating in 1942. He labors on, diligently and remarkably, at the age of 82.
We visit with 3 congregationally-based organizers about JONAH (Joining Our Neighbors Advancing Hope), MICAH (Milwaukee Interfaith Congregations Allied for Hope) and WISDOM. Jonah is a new Chippewa Valley effort to link congregations working together progressively for the good of all.
Rabbi Mel Glazer is author of a new book And God Created Hope, Finding Your Way Through Grief with Lessons from Early Biblical Stories which helps people do the work that heals grief and leads to a resolution.
There is a lot of energy for the newly formed chapter of the Network of Spiritual Progressives in Eau Claire, and I visited with the members of the just-formed steering committee about what called them to this work, and what their plans are for the local chapter.
Paul Kaldjian is the living product of a rainbow of cultural & religious heritages, Finnish and Armenian, diverse religious groups, all combining to create a person who has a passion for creating personal-international connection. He's a Mennonite, a geography professor at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, and a board member of the Refuser Solidarity Network, a group that seeks to support Israeli "refusniks" and inform the world about this element of the Israeli peace movement.
Dan and Cassie Green, and Cassie's sister, Gina Casillas, had a great idea to help enrich and transform Eau Claire - a place where people can share their abundance, freely - their material wealth as well as their wealth of talent.
Arthur Thexton is active with the Wisconsin Coalition Against the Death Penalty as they oppose the upcoming state referendum. Arthur speaks not only as a religious individual, but as a former District Attorney and Deputy Sheriff.
Virginia Wolf is active in the effort of FairWisconsin to defeat the proposed constitutional amendment to narrowly define marital status and rights in Wisconsin. Virginia is a Unitarian Universalist minister in Eau Claire, and about 30 years into her partnership and marriage with another woman.
Sarah Harder is the President of the National Peace Foundation, and Olga Bessolova is a Russian-born, Soviet-raised activist with the organization. They "Build Foundations for Peace" through a number of programs in Russia, the Middle East, Africa, the USA and elsewhere.
Cathy Sultan is the author of 2 books about Lebanon and the Middle East. She moved to Beirut with her Lebanese husband in 1969, at the age of 26. Her 14 years there included the first 8 years of the Lebanese civil war. Her first-hand experience with and love of the Middle East, with the Muslims, Jews and Christians of that ravaged land and of the US make her an invaluable resource and inspiration for peace work in that region.
Michelle Balas has served for about 10 years with an organization here, in the Chippewa Valley, called Northern Thunder, an environmental and social activist organization, serving on their board for the last 6 years, in addition to years spent as co-producer of TV Notion for the local public access cable channel, and years working on the issue of urban sprawl.
Maralene Strom is many things - a writer, speaker, caregiver, healer, storyteller, photographer - and more. Sharing from her own experiences of growth and loss, she finds ways to help others forward on their journey. She writes a column called "Adventures In Living" for the Dunn County News and is in the midst of writing three books, the earliest expected for this fall.
Patti See is an ordinary person who took an extraordinary "leap of faith" by becoming a Good Samaritan kidney donor last year. Growing up Catholic, but attending church infrequently at present, she has nonetheless nurtured a deep spiritual life.
Steve Wagener had a history of political activism, but he had to be jarred out of a period of dormant passions by the combination of his son's unwilling role in the military and Steve's reaction to the manipulations leading up to our invasion of Iraq. His early Catholic foundation serves him well as he has stepped to the front lines of anti-war activism in the Chippewa Valley.
Gaylord Oppegard served in the military from 1962-1965. But it was not until 2004 and after 30 years as a Methodist, that he took part in his first action opposing war and standing for peace.
Jill Sternberg was the first graduate of UW-Milwaukee's Peace Studies Program she is the Sept/Oct 2005 Gamaliel Chair in Peace & Justice. She has established a peace center in East Timor, training men and women in non-violence. Jill self-designed the first Peace Studies Major at UW-Milwaukee and has established herself as a gifted and creative leader.
J.E. McNeil, of the Center on Conscience & War describes the message and work of that organization, helping those seeking conscientious objector status, and those in the military seeking to get out, whatever the reason, and the spiritual roots that led her to this work.
Our guest is Sandra Lyons of the Bernardine Franciscan Sisters. Sandra shares the roots and fruits of her life, including her years as a nurse midwife and her current passion as the director of Justice, Peace and Earthcare for her congregation.
2 members of Southern California War Tax Resistance, Frances Schneider Liau & Cathy Deppe, speak of WTR, witness, community, and the SCWTR alternative fund.
Paula Tibbs is a member of Eau Claire's First Presbyterian Church clearly open to the direction of the Spirit. Her passionate concern for the people of the Congo and experiece as Elder for Mission for her church has led her to head toward seminary this coming year.
Chuck Fager has been the director of Quaker House in Fayetteville, NC, for 4 years now, advocating for peace and providing information and advocacy to those attempting to avoid or get out of the military, in one of the most concentrated military environments of the USA. Chuck is the author of more than 14 books and many more stories, articles and publications. He was a member of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's staff and a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War.
Marty Webb has spent the last 6 months in Sri Lanka with his wife, Rita, where she's been serving the Nonviolent Peaceforce since 2003. Marty, raised Catholic, was refused CO status during the Vietnam War, and ended up convicted for refusing induction.
Will Williams was born in central Mississippi on 9/11/1943 and joined the military as a way past the limitations of his race and environment. He did 2 tours in Vietnam, suffered major PTSD, fully emerging from it after 9/11/2001 as he found his voice to speak out against war with the Veterans for Peace.
Bethany Jacobson's older son joined the marines when he turned 18 and was deployed to Iraq in 2004, at which point Bethany, with the encouragement of her son, began to speak out against the war in Iraq "for the boys", as part of Military Families Speak Out.
A visit with three members of the Restored Israel Of Yahwah, a religious group from southern New Jersey whose members practice religious pacifism, including their refusal to pay Federal taxes because they go primarily for war.
The organization was founded by Leo J. Volpe, known by members of the group as the prophet Jeremiah. Group efforts are concentrated around Bible study and insights, and faithful adherence to the Biblical truths, including preparation for the end times prophesied in the Book of Revelation.
Spirit In Action will be visiting today with Barb Kass who is a member and founder of the Anathoth Community Farm, an itentional community based on non-violence, sustainability and community, located in Luck, Wisconsin. Barb has traveled a long and varied spiritual path, being raised Catholic, active with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship in college, attending seminary in Chicago, working with Catholic Worker communities, and currently attending a progressive small-town Luthern Church.
Julie Harnisch has been a teacher, administrator and advocate for Children's House Montessori School of Eau Claire, Wisconsin since 1980.
Uzi Weingarten started teaching Communicating with Compassion about 10 years ago, a way of listening with empathy which transforms workplaces as well as personal relationships. Uzi is a Rabbi, a teacher and a compassionate presence.
Mary Molstad became involved with ASK out of her therapy work with victims of sexual abuse and a desire to stem the flow of abuse, rather than drown in the aftermath.
A visit to the Eyes Wide Open display - The human cost of the War in Iraq. Interviews with 3 visitors and organizers of the display.
Talk with Michelle Gribble, United Methodist, Executive Director of St. Francis Food Pantry, On-site Supervisor for The Community Table and board member of the Feed My People Food Bank
Visit with 3 participants in Eau Claire's Earth Day 2005 celebration. Interviews at Owen Park, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, with Alex & Jillian, and later with Crispin Pierce of UW-Eau Claire, Professor of Environmental Public Health.
John Shelby Spong is the retired Episcopal archbishop of New Jersey and author of 15 books including "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism" and "The Sins of Scripture".
70 minute phone interview with a dynamic, progressive thinker!
Interview with JoAnne Juett of Eau Claire's First Baptist Church regarding the Good Neighbor Project and much more.
Music Featured:
God Bless the Child - Blood, Sweat and Tears
Here I Am
Cowboy Dan - Andy & Terry Murray
Immigrant - John McCutcheon