Exploring Nature, Culture and Inner Life: Recent Episodes
The New School at Commonweal
The New School presents conversations, book signings, art, and lectures with thought and action leaders of our time. We are a learning community of 4,000 people in the Bay Area and around the world dedicated to learning what matters.
TNS focuses on the emergent, seeking out the thought and action leaders who are bringing discussion, beauty, and change to the world. We present events and podcast them in many areas: arts and sciences, health and the environment, and inner life. We follow streams of inquiry, including our End-of-Life Conversations, and series on Resilience, Archetypal Psychology, and Healing Circles.
Art for Our Common Good: Creativity, Health, and Civic Life - Part TwoHosted by Lisa Simms BoothWhat role can art play in helping us meet this moment? As communities face growing loneliness, burnout, environmental anxiety, and civic division, the arts can create spaces for healing, connection, and hope.In this podcast, Commonweal Board Member Lisa Simms Booth continues the conversation with the New School’s summer visiting scholar Catherine Olweny. Her many life experiences and training led her to work as a paediatric anaesthetist, and also to work as a therapist helping clinicians develop a greater ability to look and listen closely, to attend to patients and their family, to be curious and attentive, and to be fully present. Cultivating this presence--in part using art, narrative, and imagination--is a gift she found in her own life, one she shares with other clinicians, and one we can learn from as well.Find out more about Catherine, Lisa, and Commonweal New School at tns.commonweal.orgCo-presented with Visual Thinking Strategies, Collaborations: Teachers and Artists, California for the Arts, Flight School, Fordham University Creative Writing Program, Jasper Inclusion Advisors, Kularts, National Organization for Arts in Health, Panta Rhea, Power of Hope, ILALI, Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, Stanford Arts, and University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine. | Artwork credit: “River Braid” by Jon Marro.***The New School is Commonweal's learning community and podcast—we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts.
Art for Our Common Good: Creativity, Health, and Civic Life - Part OneHosted by Lisa Simms BoothWhat role can art play in helping us meet this moment? As communities face growing loneliness, burnout, environmental anxiety, and civic division, the arts can create spaces for healing, connection, and hope.In part 1 of this podcast, Commonweal Board Member Lisa Simms Booth opens the conversation with Former National Endowment of the Arts Chair Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson and Stanford Arts Director Deborah Cullinan. Together, they explore how creativity can strengthen wellbeing, respond to environmental challenges, and help rebuild trust and participation in public life. Watch or listen to hear their thoughts on how the arts can help solve some of the most urgent challenges of our time by bringing people together, restoring meaning, and imagining new possibilities. Find out more at tns.commonweal.org.Co-presented with Visual Thinking Strategies, Collaborations: Teachers and Artists, California for the Arts, Flight School, Fordham University Creative Writing Program, Jasper Inclusion Advisors, Kularts, National Organization for Arts in Health, Panta Rhea, Power of Hope, ILALI, Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, Stanford Arts, and University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine. | Artwork credit: “River Braid” by Jon Marro.***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our soundcloud channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts.
In part 10 of the Secret Body series of conversations, Michael Lerner talks with author Jeffrey Kripal about his book, The Superhumanities.Jeffrey J. Kripal holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University. In this series, Jeffrey talks with Host Michael Lerner about his body of work---more than 13 groundbreaking books about the mystical and the erotic, the relationship of mind and matter, and parapsychological phenomena.Michael has been reading, talking, and meeting with Jeffrey for more than a year now, immersing himself in the consciousness worldview that Jeffrey presents in his books and teaching. Follow Michael's journey through these conversations, and share your thoughts in the comments.***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our soundcloud channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. tns.commonweal.org
Michael Lerner with Moderator Katherine Fulton, and introductory remarks by Oren Slozberg.Exploring the Forces Changing What it Means to Be HumanJoin us for a day of reflection and conversation exploring healing at a time of transformation—contemplating what Michael Lerner points to as the coming revolution in human consciousness and what it means for all of us as individuals, communities, and as a planetary species.This event is part of our 50th anniversary celebrations this year at Commonweal. Michael’s founding vision of Commonweal was as a center for healing ourselves and healing the earth. His understanding of healing has been transformed by more than 230 week-long Cancer Help Programs, by Healing Circles, and by many other experiences with personal healing, as well as by the emergence of the global polycrisis and what it signifies for planetary healing. He brings these threads together in the light of new research on what is known as “the hard problem of consciousness.”***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our soundcloud channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. tns.commonweal.org
Co-presented with Pt Reyes BooksJoin Host Susan Grelock Yusem in conversation with David George Haskell to talk about his new book, How Flowers Made Our World: The Story of Nature's Revolutionaries (Viking). In this exquisite exploration of the role flowers played in creating the world we know today, David observes, smells, and studies flowers such as magnolias, orchids, and roses, as well as fascinating but less celebrated flowers such as seagrasses and tea. Through radical genetic flexibility, flowers turned past environmental upheavals into opportunities for renewal. This inventiveness allowed them to build and sustain rainforests, savannahs, prairies, and even ocean shores.Looking to the future, flowers offer us lessons on resilience and creativity in the face of rapid environmental change. We need floral creativity, beauty, and joy more than ever. How Flowers Made Our World combines lyrical writing, sensual exploration, and the latest in scientific research to explore some of the most consequential life forms ever to have evolved, showing how our planet came to be and how it thrives today.***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our soundcloud channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. tns.commonweal.org
Kazu invites us to consider pathways of change that are rooted in relationship, spiritual practice, and the long arc of healing.Drawing from decades of work in nonviolence, restorative justice, and Buddhist practice, Kazu reflects on the limitations of movement strategies that mirror the very dynamics they seek to transform. What might it mean to respond to harm in ways that do not escalate division, but instead create the conditions for healing, within ourselves, our communities, and the larger body politic?***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our SoundCloud channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts.
Health, and a consultant whose work sits at the intersection of leadership development, organizational health, and human potential.***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. tns.commonweal.org
mind empty, heart open, and body inhabited. These will include movement, sound, writing, and whatever emerges collectively (surprise is a quality of flow!).***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. tns.commonweal.org
mind empty, heart open, and body inhabited. These will include movement, sound, writing, and whatever emerges collectively (surprise is a quality of flow!).***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. tns.commonweal.org
In part 9 of the series, Michael Lerner talks with author Jeffrey Kripal about his book, The Flip.Jeffrey J. Kripal holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University. In this series, Jeffrey talks with Host Michael Lerner about his body of work---more than 13 groundbreaking books about the mystical and the erotic, the relationship of mind and matter, and parapsychological phenomena.Michael has been reading, talking, and meeting with Jeffrey for more than a year now, immersing himself in the consciousness worldview that Jeffrey presents in his books and teaching. Follow Michael's journey through these conversations, and share your thoughts in the comments.***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for many thousands of listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts.
In part 8 of the series, Michael Lerner talks with author Jeffrey Kripal about some of the key themes that weave through all of his books, especially exploring the nature of consciousness itself.Jeffrey J. Kripal holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University. In this series, Jeffrey talks with Host Michael Lerner about his body of work---more than 13 groundbreaking books about the mystical and the erotic, the relationship of mind and matter, and parapsychological phenomena.Michael has been reading, talking, and meeting with Jeffrey for more than a year now, immersing himself in the consciousness worldview that Jeffrey presents in his books and teaching. Follow Michael's journey through these conversations, and share your thoughts in the comments.***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for many thousands of listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. tns.commonweal.org
Beyond Survival: Sustaining Human Agency in Challenging Times | Graham Leicester and Hosts Oren Slozberg and Katherine FultonWe are living in challenging times. Commonweal has been a trailblazer in recognizing this as a moment of long- and short-term peril and opportunity--a rolling “polycrisis.” It may feel overwhelming, but we have copious capacity to rise to the challenge of these times. What will it take to muster a fully human response to polycrisis? How can we draw on reserves of existential courage to face the reality of the present and mobilize our natural human capacities for growth, learning, wisdom, and hope?Join Commonweal Board Chair Katherine Fulton and Executive Director Oren Slozberg for a conversation with Graham Leicester, founder of International Futures Forum, a group established in 2001 precisely to address the challenge of effective agency in “a world we do not understand and cannot control.”Graham spent two weeks in residence at Commonweal in February as a visiting scholar, musing on these challenges with friends and fellow travelers. This conversation is the final event of the residency.***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for many thousands of listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. tns.commonweal.org#commonwealnewschool #commonweal #thirdhorizon #resilience
What's happening in our world—and how do we respond? For the past four years, Commonweal’s Omega Resilience Awards project has been exploring this question with fellows and research teams across Africa, India, and Latin America. Now we're ready to share what we’re learning. Join us for a conversation with three of the researchers, who will share their findings and explore together: How do we respond to these times not just through individual stories, but through the larger work of changing our collective narratives? Join us in person or online for a 1-hour moderated conversation, some time for questions, followed by a reception and viewing of the gallery exhibit (on display through March) [link to gallery show page] featuring stunning illustrations by Jon Marro, bringing the four years of this project to life.This is part of Commonweal's 50th anniversary year—a time when we're reflecting on five decades of healing ourselves and the Earth and asking how we navigate these times through community, learning, and resilience.Dr. Urmitapa Dutta (University of Massachusetts Lowell)Exploring how creative expression, cultural preservation, and artistic activism contribute to community resilienceDr. Susan James (Pacifica Graduate Institute)Examining how both traditional and modern technologies—including sacred practices and ritual—support community-based solutionsSusan Grelock Yusem, PhDleads strategy and innovation at Commonweal, weaving together her experience in strategic communication, community psychology, and regenerative systems. A trained depth psychologist and community psychologist with a doctorate from Pacifica Graduate Institute, Susan brings psychological depth to collaborative leadership, particularly in narrative design, creative development, and building resilient organizations.Find out more about Commonweal New School on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Many protections from pollution and toxic chemicals have moved from the federal level to the states. This isn’t just a recent phenomenon; it goes back decades, to changes in the structure of agencies that manage environmental health and to a growing partisan divide.As federal regulation of chemicals faltered, states started taking up the slack. States have always had a role as laboratories of innovation, and model environmental health policies can be found around the country. That is the focus of A Healthy Union: How States Can Lead on Environmental Health, recently published by Island Press.For example, Texas was one of the first states to mandate that all school districts implement policies and practices to reduce use of hazardous pesticides. Massachusetts requires factories that manufacture, process or use certain toxic chemicals to develop strategies to reduce them. Regional programs are on the rise.In this CHE Café discussion, we hear from the book’s author, Susan Kaplan, an environmental health lawyer and professor whose experience spans federal and state government and academia and Sarah Doll, longtime leader of the Safer States coalition and veteran state policy advocate. The speakers explore leading state environmental health policies and what other states can learn from them. Even as federal protections recede, the potential for state action offers hope.***Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.#CollaborativeForHealthAndEnvironment #CommonwealNewSchool #Commonweal #statepolicy #environmentalhealth #publichealth
Part of the Festival of Sacred Music Series at Commonweal New SchoolMichelle’s music weaves the sacred and the soulful, drawing from traditions, rhythms, and ancestral memory of the African diaspora. Her love of the music connects her to something much larger than herself—community, history, and spirituality—which allows her to channel that energy into spaces of joy. Expect a powerful, heart-opening experience filled with hope and a deep sense of connection that stays with you long after the final note.Join us for the next in our series of sacred music celebrations at Commonweal, presented in collaboration with long-time Commonweal friend Toby Symington, executive director of the Lloyd Symington Foundation and transpersonal astrologer. Held at the solstice and equinox, the concerts—and gatherings afterward—are designed to bring people together in a convivial setting around music which delights, inspires, and elevates the soul. Come for the music—stay for the food and community.***Find out more about Commonweal New School on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
In part 7 of the series, Host Michael Lerner talks with Jeffrey Kripal about his book Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal. In the book, Jeffrey shows how creators turned to science fiction to convey the reality of the inexplicable and the paranormal they experienced in their lives. He spins out a hidden history of American culture, rich with mythical themes and shot through with an awareness that there are other realities far beyond our everyday understanding. You can find more information on his website, JeffreyJKripal.com.***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for many thousands of listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our Soundcloud channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. tns.commonweal.org
An estimated 1.1 million people in the U.S. are currently living with Parkinson's disease (PD), and this number is expected to rise to 1.2 million by 2030. Globally, more than 10 million people are estimated to be living with PD, which is now the fastest growing brain disorder in the world.Science has long linked certain environmental contaminants to increased risk of PD, and some researchers are now making the case that this fast-growing disease may be largely preventable.This is the case made by the authors of The Parkinson’s Plan. The recently released book documents three types of environmental exposures that research has linked to increased risk of Parkinson’s disease: certain pesticides, the solvent trichloroethylene, and air pollution. The authors reach the hopeful conclusion that by addressing these pollutants, “it may be possible to create a world where Parkinson’s disease is increasingly rare.”In this CHE Café conversation we will explore new approaches to Parkinson’s disease prevention. We will hear from Dr. Ray Dorsey, a co-author of The Parkinson’s Plan, and Dr. Ted Schettler, long interested in exploring environmental influences on aging and co-creator of Sam’s Story, the Story of Health ebook on environmental drivers of cognitive decline.Co-presented with the Collaborative for Health and Environment, and hosted by CHE Director Kristin Schafer.#parkinson #brainhealth #commonwealnewschoolFind out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
“Conflict is the spirit of the relationship asking itself to deepen”--Sobonfu SoméFacilitator and writer Shilpa Jain deeply understands the nature of being human. She is well known in her East Bay community for hosting more than 250 “Yes Jams!” over the last decade, encouraging laughter and play as she facilitates groups through conflict. Working with change makers—activists, artists, healers, executives, and young people—she helps them navigate conflict from a place of freedom and joy.Join Host Serena Bian in conversation with Shilpa, exploring how conflict can bring us into greater clarity, purpose, and alignment. We’ll look at conflict through a trauma healing lens, to learn how to love ourselves and one another better. We will explore conflict transformation and healing, leadership as friendship, alchemizing fear, how we “get free” together, and how to move beyond “cancel culture” with an open-heart. Bring your lunch, and join us after the conversation to walk and sit on the Commonweal land.Shilpa Jain For the last 11+ years, Shilpa has served as the Executive Director of YES!. YES! works with social changemakers at the meeting point of internal, interpersonal and systemic change, and aims to co-create a thriving, just and balanced world for all. Shilpa has researched and written numerous books and articles, and facilitated workshops and gatherings on topics including globalization, creative expressions, ecology, democratic living, innovative learning and unlearning. She has facilitated dozens of transformative leadership gatherings in India, Jordan, Senegal, Lebanon, Egypt, Thailand, Canada, Peru, and the US, working with hundreds of young leaders from more than 50 countries. She was founding coordinator of the Global Youth Leadership Collaborative, a network of 15 Jam facilitators from 14 countries that has collectively produced dozens of international gatherings for young changemakers, and distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to small-scale grassroots social change innovations worldwide. Find more of her writing at shilpajain.substack.com
In part 6 of our series with Jeffrey Kripal and Host Michael Lerner, they discuss Jeffrey's Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred. The history of psychical phenomena, Jeffrey contends, is an untapped source of insight into the sacred. The cultural history of telepathy, teleportation, and UFOs; a ghostly love story; the occult dimensions of science fiction; cold war psychic espionage; galactic colonialism; and the intimate relationship between consciousness and culture all come together in Authors of the Impossible, a dazzling and profound look at how the paranormal bridges the sacred and the scientific.***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for many thousands of listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. tns.commonweal.org
In part 6 of this series, Host Michael Lerner talks with author Jeffrey Kripal about his book The Serpent's Gift--Reflections on the Study of Religion. The book is a provocative call for a complete reorientation of religious studies, a reversal of the Adam and Eve story, aimed at a larger understanding of the world, the self, and the divine. He considers Feuerbach’s Gnosticism, the untapped mystical potential of comparative religion, and even the modern mythology of the X-Men. ***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for many thousands of listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. tns.commonweal.org
Innovation to U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, bringing a spiritual and systemic understanding to the public health crisis of loneliness and isolation. She is a Zen chaplain-in-training and serves on the boards of CoGenerate and Commonweal.#commonweal #commonwealnewschool #peacebuilding #conflict #transformation #virtuouscycle #haikuFind out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Ecopsychology, Depth Psychology, and Ecological Healing~Jeanine M. Canty was Visiting Scholar at The New School at Commonweal in October 2025. She is a visionary scholar whose groundbreaking work illuminates the profound connections between consciousness, thought, and our relationship with the natural world. Her teaching weaves together social justice, ecological wisdom, and transformation. During this second event with Jeanine, we will look at our various notions of self—ecological, multicultural, and transpersonal—and engage in some experiences and reflections that embody this. Host Susan Grelock Yusem will be in conversation with Jeanine for the first hour, followed by a half hour of experiential work with Jeanine.Jeanine M. Canty, PhDJeanine is a professor of transformative studies at CIIS, telecommuting from Boulder, CO. Formerly the chair of environmental studies at Naropa University, she continues to guest teach at Naropa and at Pacifica Graduate Institute. A lover of nature, justice, and contemplative practice, her teaching intersects issues of social and ecological justice, ecopsychology, and the process of worldview expansion and change. She is author of Returning the Self to Nature: Undoing Our Collective Narcissism and Healing Our Planet and her most recent edited book is an expanded, second edition of Ecological and Social Healing: Multicultural Women’s Voices (2025).Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~ Integrating Self Through Practice~Jeanine M. Canty, PhD, was Visiting Scholar at The New School at Commonweal in October 2025. She is a visionary scholar whose groundbreaking work illuminates the profound connections between consciousness, thought, and our relationship with the natural world. Her teaching weaves together social justice, ecological wisdom, and transformation. Within this introductory talk, her first event at The New School as Visiting Scholar, we dive into the dualities within the western human’s psyche in order to reclaim our ecological and transpersonal identities and to access pathways for healing. Jeanine M. Canty, PhDJeanine is a professor of transformative studies at CIIS, telecommuting from Boulder, CO. Formerly the chair of environmental studies at Naropa University, she continues to guest teach at Naropa and at Pacifica Graduate Institute. A lover of nature, justice, and contemplative practice, her teaching intersects issues of social and ecological justice, ecopsychology, and the process of worldview expansion and change. She is author of Returning the Self to Nature: Undoing Our Collective Narcissism and Healing Our Planet and her most recent edited book is an expanded, second edition of Ecological and Social Healing: Multicultural Women’s Voices (2025).Jeanine M. Canty, PhDJeanine is a professor of transformative studies at CIIS, telecommuting from Boulder, CO. Formerly the chair of environmental studies at Naropa University, she continues to guest teach at Naropa and at Pacifica Graduate Institute. A lover of nature, justice, and contemplative practice, her teaching intersects issues of social and ecological justice, ecopsychology, and the process of worldview expansion and change. She is author of Returning the Self to Nature: Undoing Our Collective Narcissism and Healing Our Planet and her most recent edited book is an expanded, second edition of Ecological and Social Healing: Multicultural Women’s Voices (2025).***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for many thousands of listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
In part 4 of this series, Jeffrey Kripal and Host Michael Lerner explore Jeffrey’s remarkable history of Esalen in Esalen---The American Religion of No Religion. This astonishing cultural history of the famed retreat and conference center in Big Sur provides a panoramic insight of West Coast counter-culture over the past half century. No one serious about understanding our times should miss it. You can find more information on his website, JeffreyJKripal.com.***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for many thousands of listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. tns.commonweal.org
Join Professor Arthur Colman in conversation with Host Michael Lerner about his life and work using Jungian depth psychology as a foundation to bridge individual psychological understanding with group dynamics.Arthur D. Colman, MDArthur is a psychiatrist trained at Harvard College and Medical School and U.C. Medical Center, San Francisco where he is Clinical Professor at the Department of Psychiatry. He is a depth analyst trained at the C.G. Jung Institute in San Francisco where he is a member, founder and first editor of Connected Works, and former chair of its review committee. The author of nine books on the human life cycle, healing, and scapegoating, he has contributed to many books, professional journals and popular publications on these and other subjects including ecstatic relationships, group consultation, leadership, the psychology of war, and the psychological aspects of music compositions and musical composers. He is also a coeditor of the influential Group Relations Reader I and II and a past president of the A.K. Rice Institute which publishes and distributes them. He currently divides his time between clinical practice, analysis and consultation to leaders and organizations here and abroad. Host Michael LernerMichael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for many thousands of listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. tns.commonweal.org
Join us along the wild coast of California, for an afternoon of dialogue, community, and ritual with author and soul activist, Francis Weller, and host of the All There Is podcast and CNN anchor, Anderson Cooper. Attendees gathered on the sacred grounds of Commonweal, a site of healing and cultural renewal for 50 years. The day included a conversation between Francis and Anderson, a time for questions, a simple communal grief ritual, and closing thoughts. The central work of grief, loss, and community in tenuous times was explored. The event was a fundraiser for Commonweal's Cancer Help Program, co-presented with North Atlantic Books and Point Reyes Books.This is the traditional lands of the Coast Miwok peopleAnderson CooperAnderson is a journalist working for CNN and CBS’ 60 Minutes. He also writes, produces, and hosts a podcast “All There Is,” a deeply personal exploration of loss and grief, which will soon be starting its fourth season.Francis WellerFrancis is a writer and soul activist who has worked as a psychotherapist for 40 years. He’s the author of many books and projects including the beloved grief text, The Wild Edge of Sorrow. Francis is currently on staff at Commonweal Cancer Help Program. His most recent collection, In the Absence of the Ordinary, was released in August.***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast—we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for many thousands of listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts.
interspersed with his five case studies.***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for many thousands of listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. tns.commonweal.org
Part of the Festival of Sacred Music SeriesThe harp has been loved all over the world for its healing powers since ancient times and is considered a bridge between Heaven and Earth in many cultures. Join us for a special concert of original sacred music to free your imagination and open your heart to the celestial sounds of the Celtic harp. Christine Tulis will share songs inspired by the poetry of Rumi, other mystical saints, and her personal inner experiences. Her music is deeply devotional and blends traditional Celtic styles with Medieval, Renaissance, and Middle Eastern influences. Join us for the concert, followed by a reception with pre-dinner snacks and drinks.Christine TulisChristine had a life-changing, spiritual experience the first time she heard the Celtic harp live at the age of 22. She discovered the mystical poetry of Rumi shortly thereafter and felt called to combine the sound of the harp with poetic spiritual imagery for healing. Christine has performed widely all over the U.S. as well as at two United Nations events, Chartres Cathedral in France, Grace Cathedral, and Harvard University. She self produced three recordings, including PORTAL which won a spiritual music award from the Moondance International Film Festival in Boulder, Colorado. Christine is also healing arts practitioner and is the founder of Sound Temple Healing Arts in San Rafael, California. https://christinetulis.comFind out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
In this conversation, Host Michael Lerner talks with author and professor Jeffrey Kripal about his book Kali’s Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna. This was a revised version of his PhD dissertation at the University of Chicago. It was greeted with acclaim in the West and with vitriol by Hindu fundamentalists. It begins Kripal's long study of homoerotic themes in world religions.Jeffrey J. KripalJeff holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University. He also co-directs the Center for Theory and Research at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. Jeff is the author of numerous books, most recently How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else. His remarkable website jefrreyjkripal.com describes his groundbreaking 13 books and his entire oeuvre. This series of conversations explores all 13 books.Host Michael LernerMichael is founder and board chair emeritus of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).
In this conversation, Host Michael Lerner talks with author and professor Jeffrey Kripal about his book The Secret Body: Erotic and Esoteric Currents in the History of Religions. Jeffrey considers this unusual autobiographical journey through his work as the key to much of the rest of his 13-volume oeuvre, which will be examined throughout this series of conversations.Jeffrey J. KripalJeff holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University. He also co-directs the Center for Theory and Research at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. Jeff is the author of numerous books, most recently How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else. His remarkable website jefrreyjkripal.com describes his groundbreaking 13 books and his entire oeuvre. This series of conversations explores all 13 books.Host Michael LernerMichael is founder and board chair emeritus of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~ The Japanese dialogue in this English language video podcast has been shortened for timing purposes. ~The way of the Buddha is more a philosophy than a religion. It is a path, not a faith. Its core precepts describe a practice that leads to an experience. Arnold Toynbee once said that the coming of the dharma to the West might prove the greatest event of the 20th century. Shodo Harada Roshi has been described as a teacher's teacher of Zen Buddhism. He is a longtime friend of Commonweal. Come join us for a unique and precious experience of the Buddhist truth, the Buddhist way, and the Buddhist community.Shodo Harada RoshiShodo Harada Roshi is Abbot of Sogen-ji, a 300-year-old Rinzai Zen monastery in Okayama, Japan. He is also Abbot of Tahoma Monastery on Whidbey Island north of Seattle. He founded Enso House, a hospice affiliated with Tahoma, where his students attend the dying. He is a master of Japanese calligraphy, and has conducted demonstrations at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco and the Metropolitan Museum in New York. His translator and colleague, Priscilla Daichi Storandt, is co-abbot at Tahoma and a senior teacher in her own right. Find out more on his website.Host Michael LernerMichael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for many thousands of listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Inspired by Franciscan spirituality and Joanna Macy’s body of teachings known as the Work That Reconnects, Canticle Farm in Oakland, California, brings together more than 40 people living into the question of how we heal ourselves and the planet together. In this conversation, host Serena Bian talks with Anne and Terry Symons-Bucher, founders of Canticle Farm, about the role that trauma healing and conflict transformation plays in building towards beloved community. Through the lived experiences of Terry and Anne, we will dive into the journeys that both have taken to steward communities across cultures in practicing love in the face of difference, conflict, and rupture. Anne served as Joanna Macy’s executive assistant for over two decades, and this conversation will also serve to honor Joanna’s life and work.Anne and Terry Symons-Bucher are the co-founders of Canticle Farm, located in the Fruitvale District of East Oakland. Inspired by the life of Francis of Assisi, Canticle Farm is a community providing a platform for the Great Turning, one heart, one home, and one block at a time. The Great Turning—the planetary shift from an industrial-growth society to a life-sustaining society—is served by Canticle Farm through local work that fosters forgiveness in the human community and compassion for all beings. Canticle Farm primarily focuses on the poor and marginalized as those who most bear the burden of social and planetary degradation, as well as being those who are first able to perceive the need for the Great Turning. Rooted in spiritual practice, Canticle Farm manifests this commitment by engaging in the Work That Reconnects, integral nonviolence, gift economy, restorative justice practices, urban permaculture, and other disciplines necessary for regenerating community in the 21st Century. Anne and Terry are the parents of five children.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Co-presented with Healing Circles GlobalWith Host Elin Stebbins WaldalJoin us for a live conversation with Jerry Millhon---father, life partner, friend, educator, and founder of Thriving Communities---as he reflects on the life-changing impact of a devastating bike accident. In this honest and wide-ranging dialogue with guest host Elin Stebbins Waldal of Commonweal’s Healing Circles program, they’ll explore what it means to navigate unexpected change, claim strength in the face of uncertainty, and hold fast to belief when the road ahead is still being written. Together, they’ll reflecton vulnerability, perseverance, and the daily, courageous work of believing in what’s still possible.Jerry MillhonJerry serves as team member for the Thriving Communities Initiative, which began in 2011 as a program of the Whidbey Institute. He was director from 2010 through 2015, focusing on common people doing uncommon work for the common good. Transformational films, storytelling and bringing people together have produced a powerful network of people over the United States who are making positive impact. Jerry previously served as executive director of the Foundation for Vascular Cures in San Francisco, California; director of the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose, Texas; and headmaster of several independent schools. In August 2024, Jerry was in a bike accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Slowly recovering, the healing process has been an uneven and profound experience.Host Elin Stebbins WaldalElin has a diverse background in sales, team management, and public speaking. She is the author of an award-winning memoir that highlights her journey of healing from domestic violence to advocating for its prevention. She is program director of Healing Circles Langley on Whidbey Island in Washington State, where she’s responsible for developing programming, supporting volunteers, community outreach, and fundraising. Committed to community engagement, she’s passionate about creating impactful programs that bring people together in ways that promote healing, learning, and overall well-being.***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for many thousands of listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
After years of friendship, Host Rabbi Irwin Keller sits with Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen to explore the influences of her childhood and young life on her lifelong calling as a healer and teacher. Listen closely for the story of her stint as a race car driver. Perhaps you weren’t expecting that.Rachel Naomi Remen, MDRachel is a Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Founder and Founding Director of the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI), which was at Commonweal for decades and is currently at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. She is one of the best known of the early pioneers of wholistic and integrative medicine. As a medical educator, therapist, and teacher, she has enabled many thousands of physicians to find individual meaning and purpose in the practice of medicine and thousands of patients to remember their power to heal. More than 30,000 medical students have completed The Healer’s Art, her groundbreaking curriculum for medical students taught at the majority of medical schools in America. A master storyteller and observer of life, her bestselling books, Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings have sold more than 2 million copies and have been translated into 21 languages. Rachel has had Crohn’s disease for more than 65 years and her work is a unique blend of the wisdom, strength, and viewpoints of both doctor and patient.Host Rabbi Irwin KellerIrwin has served as spiritual leader of Congregation Ner Shalom in Sonoma County since 2008, a post he took while still writing and performing with the San Francisco-based Kinsey Sicks, known as America’s Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet. His legal advocacy work included authoring the City of Chicago’s first comprehensive human rights law, in effect since 1989, and serving as the Executive Director of the AIDS Legal Referral Panel of the San Francisco Bay Area.***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for many thousands of listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. The New School at Commonweal.
A new-old way of living in place is emerging through a variety of projects and pathways where people are deepening their relationship to land and place-making. Join Host Cassandra Lynn Ferrera with Rako Fabionar as they share about how they are personally and professionally engaging in place-based liberation work--and how the kinds of wayfinding and inhabited learning they are exploring to grow and deepen kinship might be of service to other place-based and bioregional projects.Rako Fabionar cultivates innovative learning environments for folks to experience deeper connection, insight, and well-being. Rako comes from a family of educators, counselors, organizers, and healers and is connected to the Philippines' Boholano and Eskaya indigenous people. Identified as “one who carries medicine” by elders and spirits of three different lineage traditions, Rako has participated in many healings, apprenticeships, trainings, and formal initiation ceremonies over the last two decades. Often sought out as a land listener, he also supports people during transition, with more than 20 years of experience designing a wide range of transformative initiatives for universities, community-based organizations, businesses, and change networks.Cassandra Lynn Ferrera is a steward of The Center for Ethical Land Transition and Rako is a steward of the Innovative Learning and Living Institute, both programs of Commonweal that are in service of regenerative and equitable futures. Rako and Cassandra are also both residents and co-stewards of Landwell, a 22-acre wayfinding place for regenerative living, cultural innovation, and community resilience.***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for many thousands of listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. tns.commonweal.org
Part of the Festival of Sacred Music Series at The New School at CommonwealJoin us for the third in a series of sacred music celebrations at Commonweal, an afternoon duet of sarod and tabla with Manik Khan and Nilan Chaudhuri. Part of the Festival of Sacred Music SeriesThese concerts are presented in collaboration with long-time Commonweal friend Toby Symington, executive director of the Lloyd Symington Foundation and transpersonal astrologer. Held at the solstice and equinox, the concerts—and gatherings afterward—are designed to bring people together in a convivial setting around music which delights, inspires, and elevates the soul. From Toby:Manik Khan has been steeped in the ancient melodies of North Indian classical music since birth. The youngest son of the legendary Sarod maestro, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, he grew up listening to his father in countless concerts and attending his classes at the esteemed Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, California. He initially studied tabla under the guidance of Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, but the greater call to follow in the footsteps of his family brought Manik, at the age of 13, to formally train on the Sarod with his father. He spent his formative years accompanying his father on stage, touring for the last decade of his father's extensive and iconic performance career. Manik's own solo career has brought him throughout India, South America, and the United States.Nilan Chaudhuri is a Bay Area based percussionist, educator, and performer. Initiated into the tradition of Indian Classical Music at the age of five by his father, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, Nilan has been performing as a tabla soloist and accompanist for nearly two decades. Drawing inspiration from his father’s innovative approach to classical tabla solo, Nilan was determined from a young age to be a soloist. In addition to maintaining a rigorous performing schedule, Nilan teaches Tabla throughout the Bay Area as a faculty member at the Ali Akbar College of Music, in San Rafael, and as the Director of Percussion at Chitresh Das Institute, in San Mateo. He also serves as an archivist at the Ali Akbar College of Music, where the construction of a musical archive spanning 40 years of his Father’s work, is underway. It’s his lifelong mission to contribute to the preservation and enrichment of Indian Classical percussion. ***The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer conversations, workshops, and other events in areas that Commonweal champions: finding meaning, growing health and resilience, advocating for justice, and stewarding the natural world. We make our conversations into podcasts for many thousands of listeners world wide and have been doing this since 2007. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for access to our library of more than 400 great podcasts. tns.commonweal.org#indianmusic #sarod #imamcollective #worldmusic
Join us for the culminating event with our spring 2025 visiting scholar Craig Chalquist. We listen to the earth around us, talk about how our dreams reflect events in the world, discuss and practice active imagination, and practice creative writing as a continuation of engaging the imaginal figures who address us.The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
How can we heal ourselves and the earth? How can we engage with the soul of a place? At Commonweal, we have always been grounded by our home place in the southern end of Point Reyes National Seashore. Though our work takes place around the world these days, we are always rooted here with the lineage of hundreds of healing retreats held on our land at our Retreat Center. Join TNS Host Susan Grelock Yusem in conversation with Visiting Scholar Craig Chalquist about how we can approach land with curiosity and how we can work with our imagination to re-envision our relationship with the land all around us. Visiting Scholar Craig Chalquist, PhDCraig is program director of Consciousness, Psychology, and Transformation at National University and a former associate provost and several other administrative and leadership roles. His background includes group counseling, depth psychology, mythology, ecopsychology, terrapsychology, and philosophy and wisdom studies. He presents, publishes, and teaches at the intersection of psyche, story, nature, reenchantment, and imagination. He has published more than twenty books, including the hopeful Lamplighter Trilogy. His motto is: “Converse with everything!” Visit Chalquist.com.Host Susan Grelock Yusem, PhDSusan is a researcher, storyteller, and super-curious human. She believes that psychology can be a generative force for environmental sustainability and social justice. Susan is a depth-based community psychologist who has built teams and led communications for over 20 years in the regenerative food space. Her work is centered in the imaginal and narrative repair. She is a reader, writer, and runner. She serves as Commonweal’s Head of Innovation and Strategy. susangrelockyusem.siteFind out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
We usually think of the land as a backdrop to human affairs. But in ancient tales, places and their creatures show up as vital characters in the story. What do hills and fields say? Streams and rivers? Geology? How do all these and other eco-presences show up in our moods, our struggles, even in our dreams? What are our homes and roads trying to tell us?During his 3-month residency at The New School, Craig Chalquist invites us all to explore how imagination has been used in many times and cultures as a path toward redemptive, transformative knowledge and new practice—and how we might engage imagination today to re-envision our relationships to ourselves and the land all around us.In this first virtual event with Craig, meet him, learn how imagination has been used in various traditions as a source of wisdom and change-making, and begin a process that will continue through June—when you can meet him in person while he is in Bolinas. To prepare for the May 29 event, bring an example of a dream with some aspect of nature in them. What about this dream inspires(d) you? How has that inspiration changed you?Other events with Craig:Tuesday, June 10 | 1-2:30 Pacific Time (in person and via Zoom)Dreaming the Soul of the Earth: Re-imagination as a Remedy for Our Times | TNS Visiting Scholar Craig Chalquist with Host Susan Grelock YusemTuesday, June 17 | 1:00pm-3:00pm Pacific Time (in person, or join 1-2pm via zoom)Walk, Dream, Write: Writing Workshop with TNS Visiting Scholar Craig ChalquistCraig Chalquist, Ph.D., is program director of Consciousness, Psychology, and Transformation at National University and a former associate provost and several other administrative and leadership roles. His background includes group counseling, depth psychology, mythology, ecopsychology, terrapsychology, and philosophy and wisdom studies. He presents, publishes, and teaches at the intersection of psyche, story, nature, reenchantment, and imagination. He has published more than twenty books, including the hopeful Lamplighter Trilogy. His motto is: “Converse with everything!” Visit https://Chalquist.com Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join us for conversation with author and spiritual advisor Yeye Teish and host Cassandra Ferrera, director of Commonweal’s Center for Ethical Land Transition.Chief Iyanifa Fajembola Fatunmise (Yeye Luisah Teish)Yeye is an American author of African and African-diaspora spiritual cultures. She also is an affluent ritualist, keynote speaker, and spiritual advisor on a global scale. Primarily known for Jambalaya: The Natural Woman’s Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals, a women’s spirituality classic published in 1985 by Harper & Row Publishers. This book has been translated into German, Spanish, and Dutch. She has contributed to 40 anthologies, most notably Spiritual Guidance Across Religions: A Sourcebook for Spiritual Directors and Other Professionals Providing Counsel to People of Differing Faith Traditions. As an Oshun priestess (Yoruba Goddess of Love and Sensuality), Yeye continues to officiate over spiritual retreats, rituals, and workshops that span over 40 years since her introduction into the Ifa spiritual practice.Host Cassandra FerreraBecoming a person of place is Cassandra’s orienting cosmology, and her activist real estate career is informed by this path. She became a real estate agent in 2003 as a single mom needing to support her family, and was compelled to understand how market capitalism prevents so many people from a direct and secure relationship with Earth. She committed early on to learning how to support cooperative living and to find ways to decommodify and deprivatize Land. As someone with mixed European settler ancestry, Cassandra is keenly aware of the paradox of how those with white colonial privilege have often been displaced from land-based culture. Cassandra listened her way forward, guided by the generosity of spirit, mentors, and friends who would help her co-found The Center for Ethical Land Transition. Through the work of ethical land transitions, Cassandra works to transform conventional real estate practice in service to Land, cultural reunion, and reparative justice.#yeye #oshun #yoruba #ifa #commonweal #newschoolcommonwealFind out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
John Lennon once described Yoko Ono as the world’s most famous unknown artist. Join us for a conversation with David Sheff—author of this intimate and revelatory biography of Yoko Ono, and the #1 New York Times bestseller, Beautiful Boy. David’s biography delves into her groundbreaking art, music, feminism, and activism. Join us for a conversation about the book, exploring how she coped under the most intense, relentless, and cynical microscope while being falsely vilified for the most heinous cultural crime imaginable: breaking up the greatest rock-and-roll band in history. Hosted by Steve Heilig, who once bowed respectfully and silently to Yoko Ono in New York City’s Central Park, and she bowed back. Co-presented with Point Reyes Books.David SheffIn 1980, David Sheff met Yoko and John when Sheff conducted an in-depth interview with them just months before John’s murder. In the aftermath of the killing, he and Yoko became close as she rebuilt her life, survived threats and betrayals, and went on to create groundbreaking art and music while campaigning for peace and other causes. Sheff shows us Yoko’s nine decades—one of the most unlikely and remarkable lives ever lived.Host Steve HeiligSteve Heilig is an editor, epidemiologist, ethicist, environmentalist, educator, and ethnomusicologist trained at five University of California campuses. He is co-editor of the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics and of San Francisco Marin Medicine at the medical society he has long been part of. A former volunteer and director of the Zen Hospice Project, AIDS Foundation, and Planned Parenthood, he has helped improve laws and practices in reproductive and end-of-life care, drug policy, and environmental health. He is a longtime book critic and music journalist and emcee of the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival. He’s been part of Commonweal for 30 years now.***The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.#commonweal #newschoolcommonweal #yokoono #yoko
Rest and renew in a rich sonic atmosphere. Deborah creates deep, resonant sounds through evocative vocal tones accompanied by alchemy crystal bowls and antique Himalayan bowls. This is a time to let go of social engagement while being together in sacred space. Find something to lie or sit upon and anything else to make yourself comfortable. You are also welcome to sit in a chair or stand and quietly move.Deborah Koff-ChapinDeborah has been holding sacred space through sound since she began using her voice and drum to facilitate Touch Drawing workshops in 1980. Her early vocal openings developed in the 1970s within the practice of Long Dance with Elizabeth Cogburn. She later trained in classical voice with Maestro David Kyle. Deborah’s alchemy crystal bowls and antique Himalayan bowls now serve as a harmonic foundation for her improvised vocal attunements. She offers Song Bath Sanctuary weekly online and monthly at Healing Circles on Whidbey Island. Deborah is the originator of Touch Drawing and creator of SoulCards. Find out more.#commonweal #artheals #healingart #soundbath #deborahkoffchapin #touchdrawing
We are living through prophetic times—what some call the metacrisis, others name as a rupture, others see as an opening. What does it mean to navigate this moment with wisdom? And what role does wealth play in this transition? This panel brings together cosmologists, system architects, scholars, and funder-activists to explore:How do we make sense of where we are and what is being asked of us in these times? What is the role of wealth holders and funders in this time of unraveling?How might wealth be liberated from extractive systems and reoriented toward life-affirming transitions? Moderated by Lynn Murphy.Bayo Akomolafe, PhD, rooted with the Yoruba people in a more-than-human world, is the father to Alethea Aanya and Kyah Jayden Abayomi, the grateful life-partner to EJ, son and brother. A widely celebrated international speaker, posthumanist thinker, poet, teacher, self-styled ‘trans-public’ intellectual, essayist, and author of two books, These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home (North Atlantic Books) and We Will Tell our Own Story: The Lions of Africa Speak (along with Professors Molefi Kete Asante and Augustine Nwoye).Pat McCabe (Woman Stands Shining) is of the Diné Nation (often known incorrectly as “Navajo), and was also adopted into the Lakota Spiritual way of Life. She is a mother, grandmother, activist, artist, and international speaker. She identifies as a “radical bridger” of worlds and paradigms, with a focus on sharing from her own deep inquiry into Thriving Life Paradigm.Matthew Monahan is the founder of Ma Earth (maearth.com), an emerging initiative to bring more funding into community-led nature protection and restoration. He is also a co-founder and steward at Biome Trust (biometrust.earth), a philanthropic foundation devoted to ecological health and education, and Mangaroa Farms (mangaroa.org), a regenerative farm and forest project in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Baljeet Sandhu is a Punjabi-British knowledge weaver, community organiser, and equity designer with more than 30 years of experience in social and economic justice, innovation, and systems change work. Baljeet founded the Centre for Knowledge Equity to serve as an ecosystem space for practitioners creating life-affirming alternatives for the future.Julian Corner has been CEO of the UK-based Lankelly Chase Foundation since 2011. Lankelly Chase is a 60 year old social justice foundation that was the first in UK philanthropy to test systems change approaches. It has since been in a process of deep inquiry and evolution which culminated in 2023 with the announcement that it would end its work within 5 years and redistribute its assets. Taj James is a father, poet, practitioner, strategist, designer, and philanthropic and capital advisor. He is the Founder and former Director of the Movement Strategy Center, Curator at Full Spectrum Labs and Principal at Full Spectrum Capital Partners. Taj thrives building community around the shared questions that matter most in our lives: how can we build the relationships and express the love needed to transform our world?Moderator Lynn MurphyLynn is the co-director of Transition Resource Circle and co-author of Post Capitalist Philanthropy, Healing Wealth in the Time of Collapse. She is an educator, strategic advisor, and organizer among funders and activists, with a focus in the geopolitical South.
John Fox speaks at the 2025 Public Forum on Healing with Integrative Cancer Care in February. The gathering was designed to bridges wisdom traditions with emerging frontiers in healing. This year's forum explores transformation through the intersections of integrative cancer care with consciousness and healing arts, featuring distinguished speakers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds. The day included engaging presentations on patient advocacy, expressive arts, and innovative approaches to cancer care. John Fox, PPMJohn is a poet and Practitioner of Poetic Medicine. He is author of Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem Making and Finding What You Didn’t Lose: Expressing Your Truth and Creativity Through Poem-Making. His work is featured in the PBS documentary, Healing Words: Poetry and Medicine.John presents in medical schools and hospitals including Stanford, Harvard, Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Florida, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, University Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Vahalla, NewYork, The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington and many others.John is President of The Institute for Poetic Medicine, a nonprofit he founded in 2005. IPM funds poetry projects that serve marginalized persons throughout the United States and internationally. IPM offers training programs for those who want to facilitate the practice of poetry & healing. He lives in Mountain View, California.The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for more great podcasts.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Robin Daly speaks at the 2025 Public Forum on Healing with Integrative Cancer Care in February. The gathering was designed to bridges wisdom traditions with emerging frontiers in healing. This year's forum explores transformation through the intersections of integrative cancer care with consciousness and healing arts, featuring distinguished speakers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds. The day included engaging presentations on patient advocacy, expressive arts, and innovative approaches to cancer care.Robin Daly is Chairman & Founder of Yes to Life, a UK Registered Charity. Robin has no training or background in healthcare, but was plunged into the arena in 1990 when his youngest daughter Bryony was diagnosed with cancer, aged 9. She went on to be re-diagnosed twice with treatment-related cancers, eventually dying at 23. The immense difficulties the family faced introducing treatment choices that reflected their own understanding of health and wellbeing prompted him to set up Yes to Life in 2004 to help others in similar situations, and to advocate on behalf of patients for what is now called Integrative Oncology. Yes to Life is now celebrating its 20th Anniversary having helped many thousands with cancer with a wide range of supportive resources, and continues to play a key role in changing the discussion around cancer care.The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for more great podcasts.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Dr. Mark Renneker speaks at the 2025 Public Forum on Healing with Integrative Cancer Care in February. The gathering was designed to bridges wisdom traditions with emerging frontiers in healing. This year's forum explores transformation through the intersections of integrative cancer care with consciousness and healing arts, featuring distinguished speakers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds. The day included engaging presentations on patient advocacy, expressive arts, and innovative approaches to cancer care.Mark Renneker, MDMark is assistant clinical professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Renneker has developed a San Francisco-based private medical consultative practice which, since 1988, has provided intensive research and advocacy services to hundreds of patients, family members, and other healthcare providers. About half of the cases he works with are cancer-related, most often dealing with high-risk, recurrent, and metastatic disease. The general approach he takes in his practice is to try to put the patient (and family) in charge of their overall case (and health) by learning to be in charge of their case with him (such as patient-directed consultations). To accomplish this necessitates, from the outset of the work, his going to where they are, meaning that he needs to do everything possible to understand their feelings, fears, confusion, frustrations, hopes, and desires, as well as their physical symptoms and suffering; he needs to take up their side in dealing with the disease, their doctors and the healthcare system—his alliance, his bond, is to them, less so the profession. He finds that doing this work by phone actually facilitates empowerment and intimacy—their being at home, rather than in a doctor’s office, using such a familiar communication medium as the telephone, which many of them use professionally and with great authority.The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for more great podcasts.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Jen Green speaks at the 2025 Public Forum on Healing with Integrative Cancer Care in February. The gathering was designed to bridges wisdom traditions with emerging frontiers in healing. This year's forum explores transformation through the intersections of integrative cancer care with consciousness and healing arts, featuring distinguished speakers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds. The day included engaging presentations on patient advocacy, expressive arts, and innovative approaches to cancer care.Jen Green, ND, FABNOJen Green is a Naturopathic Doctor (ND) who is board certified in Naturopathic Oncology (FABNO). She received her Arts & Science degree from McMaster University, and graduated from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in 2000. Dr Green founded the Naturopathic Department at Beaumont Hospitals, Michigan in 2008 and served as the department head for five years. Jen wrote the cardio-oncology chapter in the Textbook for Naturopathic Oncology and has published papers in BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, American Urology Association Update Series, Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine, and the Natural Medicine Journal. Jen Green lectures in both the US and Canada: https://drjengreen.com/conference___lectureDr Green currently serves as a Research Director for KNOW, the Knowledge in Integrative Oncology Website (www.knowoncology.org). KNOW is an educational platform that supports decision making in cancer care. The KNOW database is updated quarterly with human studies on natural agents or nutrition and cancer care. Dr Green has served on the board of the Oncology Association Naturopathic Physicians and Michigan Association of Naturopathic Physicians. She currently sits on the advisory board of Cancer Choices.After practicing integrative oncology for 24 years, Jen underwent chemoradiation for head and neck cancer in 2024, which deepened her understanding of what it is to be a cancer patient. She is dedicated to teaching a heart-centered, evidence-based and individualized approach to integrative supportive cancer care.The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for more great podcasts.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Mark Taylor speaks at the 2025 Public Forum on Healing with Integrative Cancer Care in February. The gathering was designed to bridges wisdom traditions with emerging frontiers in healing. This year's forum explores transformation through the intersections of integrative cancer care with consciousness and healing arts, featuring distinguished speakers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds. The day included engaging presentations on patient advocacy, expressive arts, and innovative approaches to cancer care.Mark Taylor is the CEO and founder of Patient Led Oncology. An organisation that studies alternative cancer treatments from four pillars. Through collating and digesting published research. Working with some of the world's leading experimental oncology doctors and alternative healers. Following patients doing alternative treatments volunteering through his Patient Led Oncology Facebook group and his own personal experience with treatments and alternative healing methods, including learning directly from with Gabor Mate, Shamans from the Amazon, Shaolin Monks and Qi Gong masters.The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for more great podcasts.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Dawn Gross speaks at the 2025 Public Forum on Healing with Integrative Cancer Care in February. The gathering was designed to bridges wisdom traditions with emerging frontiers in healing. This year's forum explores transformation through the intersections of integrative cancer care with consciousness and healing arts, featuring distinguished speakers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds. The day included engaging presentations on patient advocacy, expressive arts, and innovative approaches to cancer care.Dawn Gross, MD, PhD, (aka DrAsYouWish) is a national thought leader in Hospice & Palliative Medicine, Writer, Podcaster and Magic Wand Bearer, who pioneers revolutionary palliative medicine as the art of patient care, scientific curiosity and storytelling. Medical director of ANX Hospice and UCSF Palliative Care physician, Dawn earned her MD and PhD in immunology from Tufts University and completed her fellowship training in hematology with an emphasis in bone marrow transplant at Stanford University. She transitioned to the field of hospice and palliative medicine after her father died in 2006. Dawn considers grief an injury and has developed a novel approach to its healing in what she refers to as the ICU “ISEEYOU for the Soul.” She is the creator and host of the radio program, Dying to Talk. Her writing has been published widely including in The New York Times, JAMA, Science and Annals of Internal Medicine. She is an internationally invited speaker most recently sharing true stories from the bedside about what matters most in her 2024 TEDx talk “Ask. The Time is Now” and her new book, Heart Sounds: How a Stethoscope, A Magic Wand, and a Fishing Pole Teach Us to Listen for What Matters Most. Learn more at: www.drasyouwish.comThe New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for more great podcasts.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Dale Borglum speaks at the 2025 Public Forum on Healing with Integrative Cancer Care in February. The gathering was designed to bridges wisdom traditions with emerging frontiers in healing. This year's forum explores transformation through the intersections of integrative cancer care with consciousness and healing arts, featuring distinguished speakers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds. The day included engaging presentations on patient advocacy, expressive arts, and innovative approaches to cancer care.Dale BorglumRamDev Dale Borglum is a pioneering figure in the conscious dying movement, known forhis contributions to end-of-life care and spiritual support. As the Founder and Director ofthe Hanuman Foundation Dying Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, he established the firstresidential facility in the United States dedicated to supporting conscious dyingexperiences with clients. Collaborating closely with luminaries such as Ram Dass, StephenLevine, and Elizabeth Kubler Ross, RamDev played a pivotal role in laying the foundation forthe conscious dying movement.Since 1986, RamDev has served as the Executive Director of the Living/Dying Project,initially in Santa Fe and later in the San Francisco Bay Area. With an unwaveringcommitment to integrating Eastern spirituality and Western psychology, the organizationhas guided countless individuals through the sacred journey of death with compassion andwisdom.His expertise in meditation, honed since 1968, has been instrumental in his teachings andinspirational workshops, where he shares insights on meditation, individual healing, andspiritual support for those in transition. Within his teachings, RamDev also places emphasison living consciously and compassionately to overcome our individual collective fear ofdeath.Throughout his career as both a meditation and spiritual teacher, RamDev has collaboratedwith esteemed figures such as Joan Halifax, Robert Thurman, Joanna Macy, Jack Kornfield,Anne Lamott, Jai Uttal, Duncan Trussell, and many others. RamDev co-authored Journey ofAwakening: A Meditator’s Guidebook with Ram Dass, Daniel Goleman, and Dwarka Bonner,published by Bantam Books. In his popular podcast, Healing at The Edge, hosted on the BeHere Now Network channel, he spreads his unique dharmic teachings and routinelyinterviews esteemed teachers and professionals within the field of conscious living anddying. His book How To Live So You Can Die Without Fear will be released in 2025.The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for more great podcasts.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Diana Lindsay speaks at the 2025 Public Forum on Healing with Integrative Cancer Care in February. The gathering was designed to bridges wisdom traditions with emerging frontiers in healing. This year's forum explores transformation through the intersections of integrative cancer care with consciousness and healing arts, featuring distinguished speakers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds. The day included engaging presentations on patient advocacy, expressive arts, and innovative approaches to cancer care.Diana LindsayGiven a prognosis of a few months, Diana Lindsay has now lived nearly 19 years following adiagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer. She is the co-founder of Healing Circles Langley andHealing Circles Global. She is also the author of Something More Than Hope: SurvivingDespite the Odds, Thriving Because of Them.The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for more great podcasts.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Jennifer Bires speaks at the 2025 Public Forum on Healing with Integrative Cancer Care in February. The gathering was designed to bridges wisdom traditions with emerging frontiers in healing. This year's forum explores transformation through the intersections of integrative cancer care with consciousness and healing arts, featuring distinguished speakers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds. The day included engaging presentations on patient advocacy, expressive arts, and innovative approaches to cancer care.Jennifer Bires, LCSW, OSW-C, CSTJennifer is an innovative leader in the field of psychosocial oncology with over 15 years of experience building patient centered, supportive care programs for patients and families impacted by cancer. In her current role at Inova Schar Cancer Institute, Jennifer leads a team of oncology behavioral health therapists, social workers, nurse navigators and oncology dieticians, ensuring that patients and those who support them have access to psychosocial care and education, at no cost to them, to help cope with cancer and its impact on their well-being. Additionally, she oversees the Arts and Healing program utilizing the arts as a modality of healing. Her clinical specialties include sexual health, young adults with cancer and end of life care. Jennifer is a current PhD candidate in Palliative Care at the University of Maryland, Baltimore exploring the use of psychedelics as a behavioral health treatment modality for people impacted by cancer. She earned her master’s degree in social work from Washington University in Saint Louis, and her bachelor’s degree at Clemson University. She was awarded the Oncology Social Worker of the year in 2017 from the Association of Oncology Social Workers, sits on the Leadership Council for the Association of Oncology Nurse Navigators +, and Board of Trustees for the Association of Cancer Care Centers, is a member of the American Cancer Society National Navigation Round Table and is a past chair for the Board of Oncology Social Work.The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Please like/follow our YouTube channel for more great podcasts.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~ Part Two of a Two Part Conversation with host Michael LernerJoin Host Michael Lerner in two conversations with cognitive psychologist, Harvard professor, and author Howard Gardner, who is best known for his theory of multiple intelligences.Howard GardnerHoward is John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He also holds positions as adjunct professor of psychology at Harvard University and senior director of Harvard Project Zero. His numerous honors include a MacArthur Prize Fellowship in 1981, honorary degrees from 26 colleges and universities, and selection by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines as as one of the 100 most influential public intellectuals in the world. The author of 25 books translated into 28 languages, and of several hundred articles, Gardner is best known for his theory of multiple intelligences, a critique of the notion that there exists but a single human intelligence that can be adequately assessed by standard psychometric instruments.Michael LernerMichael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~ Part One of a Two Part Conversation with host Michael LernerJoin Host Michael Lerner in two conversations with cognitive psychologist, Harvard professor, and author Howard Gardner, who is best known for his theory of multiple intelligences.Howard GardnerHoward is John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He also holds positions as adjunct professor of psychology at Harvard University and senior director of Harvard Project Zero. His numerous honors include a MacArthur Prize Fellowship in 1981, honorary degrees from 26 colleges and universities, and selection by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines as as one of the 100 most influential public intellectuals in the world. The author of 25 books translated into 28 languages, and of several hundred articles, Gardner is best known for his theory of multiple intelligences, a critique of the notion that there exists but a single human intelligence that can be adequately assessed by standard psychometric instruments.Michael LernerMichael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Long-time musical collaborators Mariah Parker (piano, santur) and Matthew Montfort (scalloped fretboard guitar) share their unique blend of captivating music that is sure to uplift. Performing original compositions inspired by the musical cultures of Spain, Brazil and India mixed with the contemporary colors of jazz, the duo creates a mesmerizing sound that has been described by concert goers as ‘absolutely spellbinding’ ‘dazzling and unforgettable’ and ‘a transporting experience.’Mariah ParkerMariah Parker has been playing music from the time she could reach the keys on the grand piano in her family home. As a composer, pianist and bandleader her work crosses cultural boundaries with an exuberant quest for defying musical labels or categorization. Her academic tenure at UC Santa Cruz was distinguished by her involvement with ethnomusicologist Fred Lieberman and the iconic drummer Mickey Hart on the “Planet Drum” project, marking her early foray into the fusion of musical traditions. Her discography began with the critically acclaimed Sangria in February 2009, followed by Indo Latin Jazz Live in Concert in 2017 and Windows Through Time in 2024. The last two albums have both enjoyed months of prominence on the National Jazzweek Airplay chart and been celebrated globally for their innovative soundscapes and compositional brilliance.Windows Through Time (released June, 2024)“One of the most beautiful and surprising releases of 2024” — Thierry De Clemensat, US correspondent – Paris-Move and ABS magazine“Genre-bending brilliance….with Windows Through Time, Mariah Parker cements her position as a leading voice in contemporary music” — Jazz SensibilitiesMatthew MontfortMatthew Montfort is the leader of the innovative world fusion group Ancient Future, and a pioneer of the scalloped fretboard guitar, an instrument combining qualities of the South Indian vina and the steel string guitar. Montfort studied intensively with vina master K.S. Subramanian in order to apply the note-bending techniques to the guitar. In 2012, he was added to the 100 Greatest Acoustic Guitarists list at http://DigitalDreamDoor.com , joining luminaries such as Michael Hedges, Chet Atkins, John Fahey, and John Renbourn. Montfort has recorded with legendary world music figures ranging from Bolivian panpipe master Gonzalo Vargas to tabla maestros Swapan Chaudhuri and Zakir Hussain. He has performed concerts worldwide, including the Festival Internacional de la Guitarra on the Golden Coast of Spain near Barcelona and the Mumbai Festival at the Gateway of India in Bombay.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.#commonweal #sacredmusic #musicthatheals #healingmusic #solsticeofheroes commonweal, sacredmusic, musicthatheals, healingmusic, solstice, summersolstice, summersolstice, winter solstice, winter
Today I am taking sides.I am taking the side of Peace.Peace, which I will not abandoneven when its voice is drowned outby hurt and hatred,bitterness of loss,cries of right and wrong.I am taking the side of Peacewhose name has barely been spokenin this winnerless war…..From Irwin Keller’s viral protest poem, “Taking Sides,” published in his recent volume of essays, memoir, and poetry: entitled Shechinah at the Art Institute: Words, Worry, Wonder.Join Host Michael Lerner for another conversation with New School friend and sometimes-host Rabbi Irwin Keller. A former lawyer and drag queen, Irwin has released a long-awaited volume of essays, memoir, and poetry, entitled Shechinah at the Art Institute: Words, Worry, Wonder. In this book, Irwin, most recently known for his viral protest poem, “Taking Sides,” leads us on dazzling journeys into Jewish mysticism, love, loss, memory, gender, AIDS, and the Milky Way itself. Co-presented with the Mesa Refuge.#shechinah #jewishmysticism #newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #irwinkellerFind out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Tara Geer, Program Director of Commonweal’s Visual Thinking Strategies program in conversation with host Susan Grelock YusemAround the world, people understand life and each other in vastly different ways. In "What Do We Know?," we will delve into profound ways of knowing often dismissed by Western thought, including intuition, artistic expression, empathy, and the wisdom of dreams. We will explore diverse, non-Western approaches to knowledge formation including interconnection, collective well-being, intuition, and other ways of knowing. Join us live for three 60-minute conversations followed by 1/2-hour shared community inquiry that could include breakout groups, writing prompts and sharing, demonstrations, or other processes. Hosted by Commonweal Narrative Director Susan Grelock Yusem.
In this conversation, join TNS Host Michael Lerner with artist and sound healer Deborah Koff-Chapin. Deborah Koff-Chapin has been practicing Touch Drawing since it came into her life as a creative inspiration in 1974. She teaches this simple yet profound process internationally. Deborah is creator of the best-selling SoulCards 1&2, celebrating 25 years in print in 2020. This same year she harvested 25 years of work to produce her deck Portals of Presence. Deborah is creator of five SoulTouch Coloring Journals. She is author of Drawing Out Your Soul and The Touch Drawing Facilitator Workbook. Deborah has served as Interpretive Artist at numerous conferences including The Parliament of the Worlds Religions. She also works with individuals to bring subtle dimensions of their soul into form through Inner Portraits.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
– zen priest teaching the art of war, conflictIn this era of profound conflict and rupture, we are witnessing disharmony at every level of humanity---within ourselves, in our relationships, across our communities, within the nation, and across nation states. Group conflict can stretch and break us, but if we are willing to endure the pain, it can also lead us closer to existential realities that are uncomfortable, yet essential, for us to face. When collective conflict arises, it thrusts us into liminal spaces of uncertainty, loss, vitality, and initiation. In these moments, we must ask ourselves: how do we learn to listen to the individual and collective soul that is emerging?This New School conversation series will weave perspectives from depth and transpersonal psychologies, somatics, cosmology, and consciousness into conflict transformation. We will learn from wisdom keepers who are deeply trained in both the technical craft of conflict resolution and the spiritual, ancestral, and traditional wisdom that allows us to see deeply into conflict---transforming shared suffering into opportunities for healing. In this conversation, Serena talks with Norma Wong, Zen priest and teacher about the art of war and conflict, who recently served to help facilitate a mutual path through the conflict between native culture/science and western discovery science posing as a dispute over the construction of a telescope on Mauna Kea.Norma Wong (Norma Ryuko Kawelokū Wong Roshi)Norma is a Native Hawaiian and Hakka life-long resident of Hawaiʻi. She is the abbot of Anko-in, an independent branch temple of Daihonzan Chozen-ji and serves practice communities in Hawai‘i, across the continental U.S., and in Toronto, Canada. She is an 86th generation Zen Master, having trained at Chozen-ji for over 40 years. In earlier years, Wong served as a Hawai‘i state legislator, working on the return of ceded lands and settlement of land issues.In recent years, Wong has been called back into service to facilitate breaking the impasse and transforming policy and governance on issues of seeming contradiction. In the conflict between native culture/science and western discovery science posing as a dispute over the construction of a telescope on Mauna Kea, Wong was a team member narrating and facilitating a path forward through mutual stewardship. She is currently an advisor to Speaker of the Hawai‘i House of Representatives Scott Saiki, serving in policy development and facilitation roles on issues such as the protection of the aquifer from fuel contamination at Red Hill, and the long-term response to the Lahaina wildfires. Find out more about Norma on her website: normawong.comSerena BianSerena is pursuing a life that remains attentive to the tenderness of a snail’s soft body and reverent to the miracle of its spiraled shell. Working with U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, Serena serves as a Special Advisor and brings a spiritual and systemic understanding to the public health crisis of loneliness and isolation. As a chaplain-in-training, Serena is pursuing questions of how we chaplain the end of extractive systems that isolate communities from themselves and one another. She is involved with multi-generational, multi-spiritual communities like the Nuns and Nones, devoted to courage, peacebuilding, and love. She participates on the Board of Commonweal and CoGenerate.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Jeffrey J. Kripal, Rice University Department of Religion professor and author of more than a dozen books including The Superhumanities: Historical Precedents, Moral Objections, New Realities and The Flip: Epiphanies of Mind and the Future of Knowledge.Jeffrey J. KripalJeffrey is the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University, where he also hosts the Archives of the Impossible collection and conference series. He co-directs the Center for Theory and Research at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, and sits on numerous advisory boards in the United States and Europe involving the nature of consciousness and the human, social, and natural sciences. Most recently, Jeff is the author of The Superhumanities: Historical Precedents, Moral Objections, New Realities (Chicago 2022), where he intuits an emerging order of knowledge that can engage in robust moral criticism but also affirm the superhuman or nonhuman dimensions of our histories and futures; and How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else (Chicago 2024), which thinks---with experiencers of the extreme--toward a future form of theory that does not separate the mental and the material. His full body of work can be seen at jeffreyjkripal.com. He thinks he may be Spider-Man.Host Michael LernerMichael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).
Around the world, people understand life and each other in vastly different ways. In "What Do We Know?," we will delve into profound ways of knowing often dismissed by Western thought, including intuition, artistic expression, empathy, and the wisdom of dreams. We will explore diverse, non-Western approaches to knowledge formation including interconnection, collective well-being, intuition, and other ways of knowing. Hosted by Commonweal Narrative Director Susan Grelock Yusem.In the first conversation in the series, join Nigerian-born artist, storyteller, and pacemaker Okhiogbe Omonblanks Omonhinmin for a conversation about his work, life, and family.Okhiogbe Omonblanks OmonhinminFirst things first, Okhiogbe Omonblanks Omonhinmin na the pikin of Victoria Elomese Omonhinmin and Cosmos Ijogbe Omonhinmin, E family big well well and e believe say all these things na very important reason wey make am the person wey e be today, because of the type of pikin wey e be to e mama and papa, the type of brother wey e be to e siblings and the nephew, cousin and uncle wey e be to e extender family and the different communities wey e don stay, all join to make am the very person wey dey do the type of work wey e dey do and difference nor dey between e work and daily life, all of dem joining together as storyteller and spacemaker.Na for Benin City, for Nigeria naim dem born Okhiogbe Omonblanks Omonhinmin. Omonblanks na interdisciplinary creative or “ambassador of entanglement” wey dey use everything e fit use take make things happen, like form or position wey e need take do e project. He believe say the body na memory collector, and everything wey we dey do get e own life. The evidence dey show through e relationship with people, stories, spaces, spices, and cooking. Shared collected memories and food na key parts of e practice and e work get plenty elements of social engagement. https://theartconcept.orgHost Susan Grelock YusemSusan is a researcher, storyteller, and super-curious human. She believes that psychology can be a generative force for environmental sustainability and social justice. Susan is a depth-based community psychologist who has built teams and led communications for over 20 years in the regenerative food space. Her work is centered in the imaginal and narrative repair. She is a reader, writer, and runner. She serves as Commonweal's director of narrative development. susangrelockyusem.siteThe New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. tns.commonweal.org . Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join Host Michael Lerner for a conversation with intuitive animal communicator, Joanna Bornowski. Michael and Joanna talk about consciousness, accessing deeper states of intuition, and the innate human ability to be in conversation with the natural world.Joanna BornowskiJoanna is an intuitive guide, teacher and animal communicator specializing in horses. The eldest daughter of two artists from Portland, Oregon, she has spent most of her life either in the art studio or in the saddle. Art has given Joanna the unique perspective of opening her mind to the creative process and allowing inspiration to guide her throughout her life. This guidance has and continues to support a cultivation and interest in deeper states of awareness, connection to the divine and communication with the natural world. Joanna now speaks with over 400 horses a year and is fascinated by how these vibrant animals offer equestrians an opportunity to explore their own consciousness and connectivity to the natural world in a sport that is highly physical, emotional, and surprisingly spiritual.Host Michael LernerMichael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).#newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #animalcommunicator #healingwithhorsesFind out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Co-presented with Bolinas Museum~Kevin Opstedal, author of Dreaming as One: Poetry, Poets and Community in Bolinas, California, from 1967-1980, in conversation with editor, critic, and ethicist (and New School Host) Steve Heilig at the Bolinas Museum.Bolinas has a long and vibrant history as a haven for poets and writers seeking an alternative lifestyle and creative environment away from urban centers. In Dreaming as One, Kevin Opstedal tells the story of the unique poetic community that lived and worked in Bolinas from 1967 to 1980. Kevin’s narrative, enriched with photos of and interviews with many of those featured, captures the spirit of rebellion, experimentation, and communal living that characterized their ethos, activism, and artistic commitment. The book features Joanne Kyger, Lew Welch, Philip Whalen, Robert Creeley, Tom Clark, Bill Berkson, and Robert Duncan, among many others.Kevin OpstedalBorn and raised in Venice, California, and currently residing in Santa Cruz, Kevin Opstedal is a poet whose line leaves three decades of roadcuts across the entire imaginary West. His twenty-five books and chapbooks include two full-length collections, Like Rain (Angry Dog Press, 1999) and California Redemption Value (UNO Press, 2011). Blue Books Press, one of many of his “sub-radar” editorships, belongs in the same breath as the great California poetry houses (Auerhahn, Big Sky, Oyez...) that his own poems seem to conjure like airbrushed flames on a murdered-out junker carrying Ed Dorn, Joanne Kyger, Ted Berrigan, and some wide-eyed poetry neophyte to a latenite card game in Bolinas. “His poems,” writes Lewis MacAdams, “are hard-nosed without being hard-hearted.” As identity and ideas duke it out in the back-alley of academia, Opstedal surfs an oil slick off Malibu into the apocalypse of style.Host Steve HeiligSteve Heilig is an editor, epidemiologist, ethicist, environmentalist, educator, and ethnomusicologist trained at five University of California campuses. He is co-editor of the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics and of San Francisco Marin Medicine at the medical society he has long been part of. A former volunteer and director of the Zen Hospice Project, AIDS Foundation, and Planned Parenthood, he has helped improve laws and practices in reproductive and end-of-life care, drug policy, and environmental health. He is a longtime book critic and music journalist and emcee of the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival. He’s been part of Commonweal for 30 years now.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Part of the Building Community Resilience Series at The New School"Resilience" is an essential part of individual and societal response and preparation these days, yet it's become a bit of a "buzz word." What does it mean from the perspective of someone who's been helping prepare groups for "resilience" since before the word was trendy? How do we mentor others in this idea and how do we sustain a sense of hope?Join us for a unique conversation on resilience, with Michael Fischer, a volunteer for multiple organizations, amateur radio guru K6MLF, formerly an environmental executive and consultant, philanthropic director, and city planner. Michael talks with long time TNS Audio and Video Producer, and first time TNS Host, Ken Adams from atop Mount Barnabe in West Marin at the historic Dickson Fire Lookout.Michael Fischer:Michael Fischer has volunteered for decades in the service of local organizations and groups that either support or foster community resilience or community histories and traditions, like the Marin Amateur Radio Society, Marin County Sheriff's RACES, Mill Valley CERT, Marin County Fire Department Fire Lookout, and many others. Professionally, Michael has served as an Environmental Consultant, Sr. Fellow and Program Officer/Director at The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Executive Officer at the California Coastal Conservancy, Senior Consultant at the Natural Resources Defense Council, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission, and many years years as an environmental policy consultant and urban planner.Michael likes to be known these days as "Student, saunterer, lover of poetry and music at: Retired For Good"Ken Adams:Ken Adams is a long time TNS audio and video producer who has recorded, edited, mixed, live streamed and podcasted our conversations since 2007. Ken is a long time audio/recording engineer, singer, voice and theatrical actor, songwriter and wrote music for commercials. Ken is a licensed amateur radio operator as well, radio lead for the SGVERG (San Geronimo Valley Emergency Readiness Group), and a MCFD Fire Lookout volunteer as well. Ken lives in West Marin with his wife and two kids and loves cooking and mountain biking through the hills of the San Geronimo Valley.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
On the Nature of Healing: Healing Circles at Commonweal / Diana Lindsay and Host Michael Lerner
Storytelling for Thriving Communities: A Spiritual Biography / Jerry Millhon and Host Michael LernerJoin host Michael Lerner for an exploration of Jerry Millhon's life and work—his life journey to founding Thriving Communities and the many other projects he helped found or nourish in a life dedicated to service.Jerry MillhonJerry Millhon founded Thriving Communities as an initiative of the Whidbey Institute while he was the Institute’s Executive Director from 2010-2015. His skill in organizing and managing projects and mentoring leaders helped the Institute through a challenging time of transition. He launched Thriving Communities in 2011 to focus on connecting, filming, encouraging, and celebrating people within organizations who make their communities thrive because of their work. It is his hope that our stories will inspire others to start similar projects in their community. In a challenging world, there is an inordinate amount of good news! Host Michael LernerMichael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).***The New School at Commonweal is a collaborative learning community offering conversations about nature, culture, and inner life---so that we can all find meaning, meet inspiring people, and explore the beauty and grief of our changing world. The New School at Commonweal . Please like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Co-presented with Commonweal’s Collaborative for Health and the Environment and University of California San Francisco’s Science Action Network~Scientific findings can inform stronger policies that protect public health — which sometimes negatively impacts profits of companies that produce health-harming chemicals and products.Industry intimidation of researchers who explore the impact of exposure to chemicals and other substances on human health is a longstanding problem. When Dr. Herbert Needleman found his credibility under fire after publishing data linking children’s lead exposure to lower IQs in the early 1980s, he offered this advice to early career environmental health scientists:“Do not avoid difficult areas of investigation. Take risks. If scientists exclusively choose the safe routes, avoid controversial research problems, and play only minor variations of someone else’s themes, they voluntarily turn themselves into technicians. Our craft will indeed be in peril.”At a time when strong, independent science is more important than ever, corporations are ramping up attacks on scientists in the environmental health field. In this CHE Café conversation, Dr. Lisa Bero and Dr. Lariah Edwards will share their own stories of industry intimidation, and reflect on steps needed to protect researchers and maintain scientific integrity.CHE Director Kristin Schafer will host the conversation.Lisa Bero, PhD is a Chief Scientist at the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at Colorado University. She is a leader in evidence synthesis, meta-research and studying commercial determinants of health, focusing on tobacco control, pharmaceutical policy, and public health. She provides international leadership for multidisciplinary teams studying the quality, use and implementation of research for health and health policy. Dr. Bero has developed and validated qualitative and quantitative methods for assessing bias in the design, conduct and dissemination of research. She has pioneered the utilization of internal industry documents and transparency databases to understand corporate tactics and motives for influencing research evidence. She is internationally recognized for her work and serves on national and international guidelines committees such as US National Academies of Science Committees and the World Health Organization Essential Medicines.Lariah Edwards, PhD is an Associate Research Scientist at the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University’s School of Mailman School of Public Health. She is also an alumna Fellow and current Assistant Director of Agents of Change in Environmental Justice. Dr. Edwards’ research focuses on understanding the health effects of and addressing exposure disparities to hormone-altering chemicals commonly found in consumer and personal care products. As part of this work, she collaborates with WE ACT for Environmental Justice on its campaign that seeks to educate consumers about the dangers of toxic beauty products. Dr. Edwards also draws on her experience in the areas of chemical policy and regulatory applications and science communication, as she feels addressing exposure disparities requires a multidisciplinary approach.
The subject tonight is LoveAnd for tomorrow night as well,As a matter of factI know of no better topicFor us to discussUntil we allDie! - HafizCrisis, war, injustice, and violence have a certain logic—and social change processes working to address these challenges carry a similar, reactionary logic. How can love help us to step out of the perceived reality of “what is possible” in building peace during conflict? Turning points in conflicts and crises are often mysterious, require acts of enormous creativity, and a willingness to risk. Social change is an artistic act, mobilizing love and prophetic imagination–and it requires us to step into the mystery of the unknown that lies beyond the far too familiar landscape of violence.In this series, join Host Serena Bian in speaking with three people who bear witness to the best and worst of humanity, holding a courageous moral imagination. Working and witnessing the front lines of injustice, war, climate change, these peacebuilders, mystics, storytellers hold space for the miraculous to emerge, refusing to be bound by a perceived reality of “what is possible.”Events in the seriesMonday, April 29 | Deepa PatelWeds, May 29 | Aljosie Aldrich HardingTues, June 25 | Kalyanee MamView Kalyanee’s film “Lost World” (an excerpt is featured in this podcast) at: https://emergencemagazine.org/feature/lost-world/Kalyanee MamBorn in Battambang, Cambodia, during the Khmer Rouge regime, which claimed the lives of over 2 million people, Kalyanee and her family were displaced from both their land and their home. Kalyanee has spent most of her life trying to understand the root cause of war, destruction, and displacement and how we can return home again. After returning to Cambodia and spending years living with families in the forests, on the Tonle Sap, and in the countryside, she understands how intimately connected their way of life is to the land, forests, and water and the neak ta or land and water spirits that protect them. Her debut documentary feature, A River Changes Course, won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and the Golden Gate Award for Best Feature Documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Her other works include the documentary shorts Lost World, Fight for Areng Valley, Between Earth & Sky, and Cries of Our Ancestors. She has also worked as a cinematographer and associate producer on the 2011 Oscar-winning documentary Inside Job. She is currently working on a new feature documentary, The Fire and the Bird’s Nest.Serena BianSerena is pursuing a life that remains attentive to the tenderness of a snail’s soft body and reverent to the miracle of its spiraled shell. Working with U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, Serena serves as a Special Advisor and brings a spiritual and systemic understanding to the public health crisis of loneliness and isolation. As a chaplain-in-training, Serena is pursuing questions of how we chaplain the end of extractive systems that isolate communities from themselves and one another. She is involved with multi-generational, multi-spiritual communities like the Nuns and Nones, devoted to courage, peacebuilding, and love. She participates on the Board of Commonweal and CoGenerate.#newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #interfaith #peacebuilding #peace
Welcome, Wild Times: Conversation with Resilience Leaders in the Global South | Bienvenidos Tiempos turbulentos: conversaciones con líderes de resiliencia en el Sur GlobalThese are wild times to be alive. From the local to the global, we are facing complex, interlocked crises. Yet, around the world people are responding in creative, dynamic, grounded ways to adapt and emerge. Omega Resilience Awards, a new program of Commonweal, was created to gather a community of people interested in resilient strategies. Join The New School co-host Michael Lerner in conversation with three of the co-creators of this dynamic global resilience community. In this session number three, Michael speaks with Anabella Museri and Sofia Nemenmann from Asociación Argentina de Abogados/as Ambientalistas/Colectivo de Acción por la Justicia Ecosocial in Argentina. Estamos viviendo tiempos turbulentos. A nivel local y global, estamos enfrentando crisis complejas y entrelazadas. Sin embargo, hay personas alrededor del mundo que responden a ellas de forma creativa, dinámica, y con fundamentos que les permiten adaptarse y resurgir. Omega Resilience Awards es un nuevo programa de Commonweal que fue creado para congregar a una comunidad de personas interesadas en estrategias resilientes. Sé parte de estas conversaciones con el coanfitrión de The New School con tres de los cocreadores de esta comunidad dinámica de resiliencia global. En esta tercera edición, Michael tiene una charla con Anabella Museri y Sofia Nemenmann de la Asociación Argentina de Abogados/as Ambientalistas.Anabella Museri has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a postgraduate degree in Sociology of Law. She has 15 years of experience working on research, advocacy and the promotion of human rights (HR) in the public sector and for local and international NGOs. She specialized in criminal justice and the prison system, and throughout her career she has also worked on environment, gender equality, healthcare and other issues related to the human rights agenda. She is dedicated to the development of projects, networks, and creative strategies to denounce human rights violations, generate empathy and promote social change. And she is also working as project manager on the intersection point of arts and HR, developing projects that seek to generate awareness on social issues. She enjoys accompanying projects and institutional processes with strategic and creative actions that promote social change, both within organizations and in the communities to which they belong.Sofia Nemenmann is an ecofeminist activist who lives in Bariloche, Argentina. In 2013, together with a great friend, she co-founded Río Santa Cruz Sin Represas, a socio-environmental project that aims to stop the construction of two mega hydroelectric dams on the Santa Cruz River. Based on this project, she directed a documentary called “El último río de la patagonia” (The Last Free River of Patagonia). She is currently co-director of the Argentine Association of Environmental Lawyers and advisor for Argentina of the Global Greengrants Fund.
Join us for the first in a series of sacred music celebrations at Commonweal, presented in collaboration with long-time Commonweal friend Toby Symington. Held at the solstice and equinox, the concerts—and gatherings afterward—are designed to bring people together in a convivial setting around music which delights, inspires, and elevates the soul. The performing artists are highly accomplished musicians who are deeply in touch with the numinous dimension of reality. In this first concert of the series, join us for a piano concert from Maryliz Smith, including pieces of her own composition as well as other inspiring and sacred music.From Maryliz:“I have traveled the world as a performance artist, collaborating with remarkable individuals such as David Whyte, Brian Swimme, Matthew Fox and Joanna Macy, using music as a sacred art to create optimal conditions for diverse groups to more easily access collective intelligence using reflections, stories and music dedicated specifically for the gathering at hand. I have come out of a virtuosic, classical tradition as a concert organist with a signature sound that is a contemplative, post-minimalist style, often using the acoustic piano to draw listeners into the complex landscape of their emotions where ‘the mind has no defense.’”Maryliz SmithComing out of a virtuosic, classical tradition as a concert organist, Maryliz’s signature sound is one of post-minimalism, using both acoustic and electroacoustic keyboards to draw listeners into a complexity of emotions. She is inspired by single moments that can change the trajectory of a life, a living system, a culture, and she translates these into musical language, a language she describes as her first.Maryliz is also co-founder of Commonweal Cancer Help Programs' sister center, Callanish, a non-profit organization based in Vancouver, B.C. dedicated to creating space for people who have been irrevocably changed by cancer. She contributes her arts-based perspective, in company with a remarkable team, to provide a gentle catalyst for people to move as deeply as they wish into themselves to reconnect with the essentials of life.#commonweal #sacredmusic #musicthatheals #healingmusic #solstice #summersolstice
Join Host Steve Heilig as we bring back author, actor, and local celebrity Peter Coyote to The New School. They will talk about Peter’s recent books—Zen in the Vernacular: Things As It Is and Tongue of A Crow—and ramble across many other topics.Peter CoyotePeter has written five books including the international bestseller Sleeping Where I Fall and_The Rainman’s Third Cure: An Irregular Education,_ which reached second on the Marin County bestseller list. His third book, entitled The Lone Ranger and Tonto Meet the Buddha, outlines a long-standing series of classes he runs using acting, improvisation and masks to induce temporary ego-free states and is based on Peter’s work as a Zen Buddhist student of more than 40 years. As an actor, he has performed for some of the world’s most distinguished filmmakers, including Barry Levinson, Roman Polanski, Pedro Almodovar, Steven Spielberg, Martin Ritt, Steven Soderberg, Sidney Pollack and Jean Paul Rappeneau. He was the co-host of the Academy Award show with Billy Crystal in 2020. He is a double Emmy-Award winning narrator of more than 160 documentary films, including Ken Burns acclaimed The Roosevelts, for which he received his second Emmy nomination in July 2015.Steve HeiligSteve is director of Public Health and Education for the San Francisco Medical Society and the Collaborative for Health and Environment at Commonweal, co-editor of the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, and a clinical ethicist at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. He is also a trained hospice worker and former volunteer and director of the Zen Hospice Project. A longtime book critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and other publications, he has authored more than 400 pieces on a wide range of medical, public health, ecological, literary, and other topics.#petercoyote #coyote #commonweal #newschoolcommonweal #conversationsthatmatter #tongueofacrow #poetry #zen #buddhism
Manisha Gupta and Host Michael LernerThese are wild times to be alive. From the local to the global, we are facing complex, interlocked crises. Yet, around the world people are responding in creative, dynamic, grounded ways to adapt and emerge. Omega Resilience Awards, a new program of Commonweal, was created to gather a community of people interested in resilient strategies. Collectively, we strengthen generative connections and share narratives of resilience. What will emerge? What will coalesce?Join The New School co-host Michael Lerner in conversation with three of the co-creators of this dynamic global resilience community. In this session number two, Michael speaks with Manisha Gupta from StartUp! in India. In June, join us for conversation with Anabella Museri and Sofia Nemenmann from Asociación Argentina de Abogados/as Ambientalistas/Colectivo de Acción por la Justicia Ecosocial in Argentina. Find recordings from our first conversation with Nnimmo Bassey from Health of Mother Earth Foundation in Nigeria on our website and all our media sites.Manisha GuptaManisha was a journalist before she joined the social entrepreneurship sector. For 27 years, she has worked to build the ecosystem of social entrepreneurship in India. Manisha worked with Ashoka: Innovators for the Public for nine years as the India Country Representative and International Director for Ashoka’s youth programs. In 2009, she founded Start Up! – an incubator, impact accelerator and leadership springboard for social entrepreneurs. Under her leadership, Start Up! has seeded and scaled more than 100 social ventures across 17 states. It has trained 500+ early-stage social and cultural entrepreneurs to build high-impact change models. Manisha has co-authored two books, 1098-Childline Calling and Opening Doors: Ten Years of Ford Foundation’s International Fellowships in India. She is a passionate believer of creating deep impact through collaborations with communities on the ground.Michael LernerMichael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).#commonweal #omega #resilience #ashoka #collaborativeimpact
The subject tonight is LoveAnd for tomorrow night as well,As a matter of factI know of no better topicFor us to discussUntil we allDie! - HafizCrisis, war, injustice, and violence have a certain logic—and social change processes working to address these challenges carry a similar, reactionary logic. How can love help us to step out of the perceived reality of “what is possible” in building peace during conflict? Turning points in conflicts and crises are often mysterious, require acts of enormous creativity, and a willingness to risk. Social change is an artistic act, mobilizing love and prophetic imagination–and it requires us to step into the mystery of the unknown that lies beyond the far too familiar landscape of violence.In this series, join Host Serena Bian in speaking with three people who bear witness to the best and worst of humanity, holding a courageous moral imagination. Working and witnessing the front lines of injustice, war, climate change, these peacebuilders, mystics, storytellers hold space for the miraculous to emerge, refusing to be bound by a perceived reality of “what is possible.”Events in the servesMonday, April 29 | Deepa PatelWeds, May 29 | Aljosie Aldrich HardingTues, June 25 | Kalyanee MamAljosie Aldrich HardingReared in segregated North Carolina, Aljosie began learning, teaching, and building social justice skills along with organizing in the 1960s as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Lome, Togo, West Africa. She has been a servant-leader at the Institute of the Black World (Atlanta), a think tank and advocacy organization, and the Learning House (Atlanta) an independent Afrocentric freedom school. She has worked in community organizing in several southern and northern cities and in empowerment building with women’s circles, organizations, and colleges. With her co-worker, partner, and late husband, Vincent Harding, she built intergenerational relationships with social justice and peace organizations across the United States and abroad. Her organizational links have included the Bruderhof, Soka Gakkai International, Young Adult Quakers, the Dorothy Cotton Institute, the Walter Rodney Symposium and Foundation, Tewa Women United, Kid Cultivators, and the Yale-National University of Singapore. As a spiritual guide (director) she shares healing justice practices in all her organizational work.Serena BianSerena is pursuing a life that remains attentive to the tenderness of a snail’s soft body and reverent to the miracle of its spiraled shell. Working with U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, Serena serves as a Special Advisor and brings a spiritual and systemic understanding to the public health crisis of loneliness and isolation. As a chaplain-in-training, Serena is pursuing questions of how we chaplain the end of extractive systems that isolate communities from themselves and one another. She is involved with multi-generational, multi-spiritual communities like the Nuns and Nones, devoted to courage, peacebuilding, and love. She participates on the Board of Commonweal and CoGenerate.#newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #interfaith #peacebuilding #peace
The subject tonight is LoveAnd for tomorrow night as well,As a matter of factI know of no better topicFor us to discussUntil we allDie! - HafizCrisis, war, injustice, and violence have a certain logic—and social change processes working to address these challenges carry a similar, reactionary logic. How can love help us to step out of the perceived reality of “what is possible” in building peace during conflict? Turning points in conflicts and crises are often mysterious, require acts of enormous creativity, and a willingness to risk. Social change is an artistic act, mobilizing love and prophetic imagination–and it requires us to step into the mystery of the unknown that lies beyond the far too familiar landscape of violence.In this series, join Host Serena Bian in speaking with three people who bear witness to the best and worst of humanity, holding a courageous moral imagination. Working and witnessing the front lines of injustice, war, climate change, these peacebuilders, mystics, storytellers hold space for the miraculous to emerge, refusing to be bound by a perceived reality of “what is possible.”Weds, May 29 10am Pacific Time | Aljosie Aldrich HardingTues, June 25, 10am Pacific Time | Kalyanee MamDeepa PatelDeepa is a facilitator with a specialism in interdisciplinary collaboration and a passion for the arts, social justice, conversation, and living a contemplative life. She was born in Kenya to Indian parents and lives in England. This experience has shaped both her professional and personal life. Deepa has worked as a youth worker, in the field of cultural diversity, as a Live Music producer, and in music education with the BBC. Her current work is with The London College of Fashion, UNHCR, and the University of Sheffield in refugee camps in Jordan and Africa and with the Fetzer Institute on two projects, one on creating sacred space in the virtual world and the other on their shared spiritual heritage project. Deepa is a guide and teacher in the Inayatiyya (a Sufi lineage) and co-chair of the Inayatiyya International Board. She is also the chair of the Tamasha Theatre Company, an advisor to the Loss Foundation, a cancer and COVID bereavement support service, and to the Charis Foundation for New Monasticism and Interspirituality on their interfaith dialogue projects.Serena BianSerena is pursuing a life that remains attentive to the tenderness of a snail’s soft body and reverent to the miracle of its spiraled shell. Working with U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, Serena serves as a Special Advisor and brings a spiritual and systemic understanding to the public health crisis of loneliness and isolation. As a chaplain-in-training, Serena is pursuing questions of how we chaplain the end of extractive systems that isolate communities from themselves and one another. She is involved with multi-generational, multi-spiritual communities like the Nuns and Nones, devoted to courage, peacebuilding, and love. She participates on the Board of Commonweal and CoGenerate.#newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #interfaith #peacebuilding #peace #
These are wild times to be alive. From the local to the global, we are facing complex, interlocked crises. Yet, around the world people are responding in creative, dynamic, grounded ways to adapt and emerge.Omega Resilience Awards, a new program of Commonweal, was created to gather a community of people interested in resilient strategies. Collectively, we strengthen generative connections and share narratives of resilience. What will emerge? What will coalesce? We do not know. There are no clear maps, roads, or nautical charts to guide us in these times, but we know we have to move forward and create new narrative byways as we step into the unknown.Join The New School co-host Michael Lerner in conversation with three of the co-creators of this dynamic global resilience community. In this first conversation, Michael speaks with Nnimmo Bassey from Health of Mother Earth Foundation in Nigeria. Join us for part 2 and part 3 of the series in May and June, when Michael speaks with Manisha Gupta from StartUp! in India, and Anabella Museri and Sofia Nemenmann from Asociación Argentina de Abogados/as Ambientalistas/Colectivo de Acción por la Justicia Ecosocial in Argentina.Nnimmo BasseyNnimmo is the director of the ecological think-tank Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and member of the steering committee of Oilwatch International. He was chair of Friends of the Earth International (2008-2012) and was named Time magazine’s Hero of the Environment in 2009. He is a co-recipient of the 2010 Right Livelihood Award also known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” In 2012, he received the Rafto Human Rights Award and in 2014, Nigeria’s national honour as Member of the Federal Republic (MFR) in recognition of his environmental activism. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of York, United Kingdom in July 2019. Bassey is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Architects and has authored books on the environment, architecture and poetry. His books include We Thought it Was Oil, But It was Blood (Kraft Books, 2002); I will Not Dance to Your Beat (Kraft Books, 2011); To Cook a Continent – Destructive Extraction and the Climate Crisis in Africa (Pambazuka Press, 2012) and Oil Politics – Echoes of Ecological War (Daraja Press, 2016). He is fondly called The Living Ancestor by young activists.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: thenewschool@commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with storyteller and storycatcher Christina Baldwin. Haunted by the question: “What do we leave in the earth for the future to find?” and having already written eight books that are standing the test of time, Christina set out to write a book of historical fiction that explores foundational human values in story.Our conversation draws on Christina’s lifework and her beautiful forthcoming novel, The Beekeeper's Question. Based on her family’s Montana lineage, the story chronicles life on the Homefront during World War II and the social issues stirred as two Montana families, one white settler, one Blackfeet, make their way through these times.Christina BaldwinChristina has devoted her life to fostering the power of story and facilitating the power of community. As a pioneer in personal writing and teacher of creative nonfiction, Christina has companioned thousands of people to claim their life stories. For twenty-five years, with her partner, Ann Linnea, she taught The Circle Way as collaborative practice, to leaders in education, healthcare, business, government, and community activism. She interacts globally through podcasts, videos, and emeritus mentoring in her bodies of work. Her website and blog is: www.christinabaldwin.com.Host Michael LernerMichael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).#commonweal #newschoolcommonweal #powerofstory #nonfiction #lifestories
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for a reading and conversation with poet Jane Hirshfield. A lay-ordained practitioner of Soto Zen and also the founder, in 2017, of Poets for Science, Jane's newest book holds fifty years of her life and work. The conversation will be similarly ranging, touching on the taproots of creative permeability and attention, the alliance between the seeing of poems and that of science, what poems might bring to addressing our current crises of biosphere and community, and the sense of shared fate and of intimacy with all beings central to finding our way to a viable future.Jane HirshfieldWriting “some of the most important poetry in the world today” (The New York Times Magazine), Jane Hirshfield has become one of American poetry's central spokespersons for concerns of the biosphere and interconnection. Her ten poetry books include The Asking: New & Selected Poems (Knopf, 2023), holding fifty years of poems, and she is the author also of two now-classic collections of essays on poetry's infrastructure and craft and four books presenting world poets from the deep past. Her honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations, the Poetry Center Book Award, and the California Book Award. An interactive traveling installation she founded in 2017, Poets For Science, has appeared across the country at universities, museums, research centers, conferences, and the National Academy of Sciences. A former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, Hirshfield was elected in 2019 into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.#commonweal #poetry #newschoolcommonweal #janehirshfield #findingmeaning
Each year, the gas and oil industry produces billions of tons of waste — much of it toxic and radioactive. The fracking boom has only worsened the problem. Where does this waste go? In this webinar, co-presented with the Collaborative for Health and Environment and the Science and Environmental Health Network (SEHN), Host Kristin Schafer will explore the topic with author Justin Nobel, Dr. Larysa Dyrszka, and James Brugh, a tribal member of Fort Berthold in western North Dakota.To follow along with Dr. Dyrszka’s presentation you can download the slide deck here: https://www.healthandenvironment.org/assets/images/Larysa%20Dyrszka%20slides.pdfJustin Nobel writes on science and environment for United States magazines, literary journals, and investigative sites. His investigation into the radioactivity brought to the surface in oil and gas production was published in 2020 with Rolling Stone Magazine, “America’s Radioactive Secret,” and awarded best long-form narrative by the National Association of Science Writers. Justin’s reports on this in his latest book, Petroleum-238: Big Oil’s Dangerous Secret and the Grassroots Fight to Stop It (Simon & Schuster 2024).Larysa Dyrszka, MD, is a pediatrician and has been a United Nations representative to ECOSOC with the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations, where her work was focused on children’s rights, particularly health.James Brugh is a writer, husband and father, and tribal member of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in western North Dakota. He lives in the community of Four Bears and has advocated tirelessly for the protection of his family, the environment, and his community against rampant and relentless oil and gas development.#commonweal #environmentalhealth #newschoolcommonweal #dirtyoil #radioactiveoilfields #toxicoilfield
~Co-presented with Commonweal’s Collaborative for Health and the Environment~We’re now in the dangerous, uncharted territory climate scientists have been warning about for decades. Meanwhile, biologists and toxicologists are sounding the alarm about surpassing the “planetary boundary” for chemical pollution, beyond which both ecosystems and our health are endangered. We know climate change and chemical pollution are related in ways that can accelerate both crises, but does their interlinked nature also offer opportunities? Join Host Kristin Schafer with biologist and systems thinker Dr. Elizabeth Sawin and chemicals expert and clean production advocate Beverley Thorpe as they explore opportunities to prioritize solutions that concurrently address climate change and the global crisis of chemical contamination — while also improving public health, equity and economic vitality. Multisolving Institute a think-do tank that helps people implement solutions that protect the climate while improving, equity, health, biodiversity, economic vitality, and well-being. Beth writes and speaks about multisolving, climate change, and leadership in complex systems for both national and international audiences. Her work has been published widely, including in Non-Profit Quarterly, The Stanford Social Innovation Review, U.S. News, The Daily Climate, and System Dynamics Review. In 2010, Beth co-founded Climate Interactive, which she co-directed until 2021. Since 2014, Beth has participated in the Council on the Uncertain Human Future, a continuing dialogue on issues of climate change and sustainability. She is a biologist with a PhD from MIT who has been analyzing complex systems related to climate change for 25 years. Beth trained in system dynamics and sustainability with Donella Meadows and worked at Sustainability Institute, the research institute founded by Meadows, for 13 years. Beth has two adult daughters and lives in rural Vermont where she and her husband grow as much of their own food as they can manage.Beverley ThorpeBeverley is Co-Founder of Clean Production Action, and has researched and promoted clean production strategies to advance a non-toxic economy internationally since 1986. She was the first clean production technical expert for Greenpeace International on chemical and waste issues. Bev’s work on alternatives to PVC, organohalogens and hazardous waste incineration helped drive momentum for safer substitution practices in company practices. As the NGO representative in the first United Nations Environment Programme for Cleaner Production, she promoted the value of public participation in industrial policies. Bev received her degree in Geography from Leicester University, UK and is an annual lecturer at Lund University in Sweden on chemicals policy and corporate practices. She is a past Director of Greenpeace International and a founding board member of the Story of Stuff in the US. She lives in Toronto, Canada.Host Kristin ShaferKristin is director of Commonweal’s Collaborative for Health and the Environment, and three decades of experience in the field of environmental health and justice. After working as a Communications Specialist at EPA and with World Resources Institute in Washington, DC, she moved back to Northern California where she held various roles—including executive director—over her 25-year tenure at Pesticide Action Network (PAN) North America. Kristin holds a Masters in Social Change and Development from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She lives with her husband in downtown San Jose where she loves to bike ride and garden, and currently serves as board co-chair for the community-building urban farm, Veggielution.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Co-presented with Point Reyes Books and the Mesa Refuge~Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in person or via webinar for a reading and conversation with writer, educator, conservationist, and activist Terry Tempest Williams. Terry has been with us at The New School twice before, and you can listen to the podcast of those events on our website or on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Soundcloud, or Amazon music.Terry Tempest WilliamsTerry is a writer and educator who focuses on our relationship with the natural world, both ecologically, politically, and spiritually. She is the author of more than 20 books, including the environmental literature classic, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place. Her most recent books include Erosion: Essays of Undoing; and The Moon Is Behind Us with Fazal Sheikh. She is currently writer-in-residence at the Harvard Divinity School and the 2023 recipient of the Thoreau Prize in Literature. She is also a member of the American Academy of Arts & Letters and divides her time between Utah and Massachusetts with her husband, Brooke Williams.Host Michael LernerMichael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies(MIT Press).Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Co-presented by The New School and the Racial Healing Initiative at Commonweal’s Retreat Center Collaboration~¿Qué significaría "volverse nativos" al lugar en el que estamos ahora? ¿Cómo viviríamos si lo fuéramos? Nuestras comunidades y líderes indígenas tienen una sabiduría antigua que ofrece una visión profunda sobre los desafíos a los que nos enfrentamos hoy en día. A medida que navegamos los cambios culturales, climáticos y de ecosistemas que están ocurriendo en nuestro planeta en la actualidad, necesitamos oír la sabiduría y las ideas que descienden de estas tradiciones. Para poder escuchar y verdaderamente valorar estas ideas, necesitamos continuar cicatrizando las heridas de la división racial y dentro de nuestras culturas y comunidades.En la tercera parte de esta serie, únete a la anfitriona Brenda Salgado en su charla con Pat McCabe, figura líder Diné y cabeza de ceremonial. Está enfocada en la cicatrización social profunda. Hablarán sobre la labor ceremonial que realizaron juntas en los recientes eventos de Three Black Men (Tres Hombres Negros) ofrecidos a través del Centro de Sanación y Liberación de Commonweal. También y ampliarán el entendimiento de la conexión entre la cicatrización racial y la curación de la tierra. Presentada en inglés con interpretación simultánea.Pat McCabe, o Woman Stands Shining (Mujer que Resplandece), es respetada líder nativa americana cuyo trabajo explora el punto de encuentro entre el ceremonial y la sanación social profunda. Pat nació en la nación Diné (Navajo), y también recibió preparación espiritual en la tradición Lakota. Viaja y enseña sobre la ciencia indígena de la Vida Floreciente (Thriving Life). Su labor procura renovar el conocimiento humano y la creación de significado mediante la restauración de las prácticas conocidas por los pueblos indígenas sobre la comprensión integral. "Ser intelecto y observador incorpóreos en lugar de participante apasionado y co-Creador armonioso, nos ha llevado a un gran malentendido sobre quiénes somos, dónde estamos y cómo son las cosas”.Brenda Salgado es la directora del programa Iniciativa para la Cicatrización Racial en el Centro de Colaboración para Retiros de Commonweal. Ella es autora espiritual y de concientización, oradora, guardiana de la sabiduría, sanadora, cabeza de ceremonial y Consultora sobre Organizaciones. Tiene 25 años de experiencia en desarrollo de Liderazgo Transformador, Gestión sin Fines de Lucro, Curación y Ceremonial Tradicionales, Capacitación en Liderazgo Consciente, Salud de la Mujer y Justicia Social. Brenda está en proceso de establecer el Nepantla Land Trust (El Fideicomiso de Tierra Nepantla) y el Nepantla Center for Healing and Renewal (El Centro Nepantla para la Sanación y Renovación). Es autora de Real World Mindfulness for Beginners: Navigate Daily Life One Practice at a Time (La Concientización en el Mundo Real para Principiantes: Cómo se Practica Paso a Paso). Recibió instrucción de sabios ancianos sobre medicina tradicional y ceremonial de curación en el linaje Purépecha, Xochimilco, Tolteca y otros linajes indígenas. Tiene títulos universitarios en Biología, Psicología del Desarrollo y Comportamiento Animal.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.#indigenoushealing #racialhealing #retreatcentercollaborative #earthhealing, #indigenouslens #newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #conversationsthatmatter
~Co-presented by The New School and the Racial Healing Initiative at Commonweal’s Retreat Center Collaboration~Our indigenous communities and leaders hold ancient wisdom that offers profound insights into the challenges facing us today. As we navigate the cultural, climate, and ecosystem shifts happening on our planet now, we need the wisdom of many voices. To truly hear and value these diverse voices, we need to continue to heal the racial divisions and wounds in our cultures and communities. In part 3 of this series, join Host Brenda Salgado as she speaks with Pat McCabe, a Dine elder and ceremonialist focused on deep social healing. Presented in English with a live Spanish-language translator.Photo: Stefano Girardelli, UnsplashPat McCabe (Dine)Pat McCabe, or Woman Stands Shining, is a Native American elder whose work explores the meeting point between ceremony and deep social healing. Pat was born into the Dine (Navajo) nation, and has also received a spiritual training with the Lakota tradition. She travels and teaches widely on the indigenous science of Thriving Life. Her work seeks to revivify human knowledge and meaning-making, by restoring the holistic knowledge practices known to indigenous people. “To be the disembodied intellect and observer rather than passionate participant, and harmonious co-Creator, has led to a great mis-understanding of who we are, where we are, and how it is.”Host Brenda SalgadoBrenda Salgado is the program director of the Racial Healing Initiative, a program of the Retreat Center Collaboration at Commonweal. She is a spiritual and mindfulness author, speaker, wisdom keeper, healer, ceremonialist, and organizational consultant. She has 25 years of experience in transformative leadership development, nonprofit management, traditional healing and ceremony, mindful leadership training, women’s health, and social justice. Brenda is in the process of establishing the Nepantla Land Trust, and the Nepantla Center for Healing and Renewal. She is author of Real World Mindfulness for Beginners: Navigate Daily Life One Practice at a Time and has received training from elders in traditional medicine and healing ceremony in Purepecha, Xochimilco, Toltec and other indigenous lineages. She holds degrees in biology, developmental psychology, and animal behavior.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.#indigenoushealing #racialhealing #retreatcentercollaborative #earthhealing, #indigenouslens #newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #conversationsthatmatter #racialhealinginsitute
Enjoy another healing hour of stories and music with master storyteller Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, and musician/songwriter Karen Drucker. This month, they offer stories and songs for the Thanksgiving Holiday.See all of the music and story events with Rachel and Karen on our on our website, listen on Soundcloud, watch on YouTube, or find us on Apple podcasts and Spotify.Photo by Alisa Anton_ on _UnsplashRachel Naomi Remen, MDRachel is a Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Founder and Founding Director of the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI), which was at Commonweal for decades and is currently at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. She is one of the best known of the early pioneers of wholistic and integrative medicine. As a medical educator, therapist, and teacher, she has enabled many thousands of physicians to find individual meaning and purpose in the practice of medicine and thousands of patients to remember their power to heal. More than 30,000 medical students have completed The Healer’s Art, her groundbreaking curriculum for medical students taught at the majority of medical schools in America. A master storyteller and observer of life, her bestselling books, Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings have sold more than 2 million copies and have been translated into 21 languages. Rachel has had Crohn’s disease for more than 65 years and her work is a unique blend of the wisdom, strength, and viewpoints of both doctor and patient.Karen DruckerKaren’s message is all about healing and love--whether singing one of her positive message songs or sharing stories that are funny, inspiring, and heart opening. She is a keynote speaker, women’s retreat facilitator, and entertainer who has recorded 22 CDs of her inspirational music. Karen is also the author of the best selling book Let Go of the Shore: Songs & Stories To Set The Spirit Free. Her chants and songs are used around the world and often help people deal with illness and loss, or help them fill the need to feel more centered for the day. Karen’s intention is to make a difference by using her music to open hearts and share a message of hope, acceptance, and love. Find out more about Karen on her website: karendrucker.comFind out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Host Michael Lerner joins Commonweal board member Katherine Fulton in conversation with Graham Leicester, who has pioneered new ways to navigate and even thrive in this complex era.Graham LeicesterGraham is the founding Director of International Futures Forum (IFF), an organization based in Edinburgh, Scotland, with a mission to enable people, communities and organizations to flourish in uncertain and powerful times. He is a former diplomat, now a writer, theorist, and practitioner with over twenty years experience supporting people making a difference in the face of all that stands in the way of making a difference.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Co-presented by The New School and the Racial Healing Initiative at Commonweal’s Retreat Center Collaboration~¿Qué significaría "volverse nativos" al lugar en el que estamos ahora? ¿Cómo viviríamos si lo fuéramos? Nuestras comunidades y líderes indígenas tienen una sabiduría antigua que ofrece una visión profunda sobre los desafíos a los que nos enfrentamos hoy en día. A medida que navegamos los cambios culturales, climáticos y de ecosistemas que están ocurriendo en nuestro planeta en la actualidad, necesitamos oír la sabiduría y las ideas que descienden de estas tradiciones. Para poder escuchar y verdaderamente valorar estas ideas, necesitamos continuar cicatrizando las heridas de la división racial y dentro de nuestras culturas y comunidades.En la segunda parte de esta serie, súmate a la presentadora Brenda Salgado en su charla con Sherri Mitchell, activista Penobscot, autora y abogada Indígena. Hablarán sobre historias que se transmiten, historias que nos transmiten, historias que queremos lanzar en este momento y cómo podemos nutrir narrativas para el futuro. Presentada en inglés con interpretación simultánea.Sherri Mitchell, o Weh'na Ha'mu Kwasset, es abogada Indígena, activista y autora, oriunda de la Nación Penobscot. Es egresada del Programa de Embajadores Indios Americanos y del Programa de Pasantías del Congreso Udall de Nativos Americanos. Sherri es la autora de Sacred Instructions (Instrucciones Sagradas); Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change (Sabiduría Indígena para el Cambio Radicado en el Espíritu). Es colaboradora en once antologías, incluyendo All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis (Lo único que se Puede Salvaguardar: La Verdad, La Valentía y Las Soluciones en la Crisis Climatologica), así también como Resetting Our Future: Empowering Climate Action in the United States (Reconfigurar Nuestro Futuro: Potenciar las Medidas en El Campo del Clima). Sherri es la Directora Ejecutiva de la Fundación para la Paz de la Tierra, se desempeña como Fideicomisaria del Instituto Indígena Americano, miembro del Consejo Asesor Indígena del Programa Tutela de Tierras Indígenas de Nia Tero e integrante de la Junta del Instituto Post Carbono.Brenda Salgado es la directora del programa Iniciativa para la Cicatrización Racial en el Centro de Colaboración para Retiros de Commonweal. Ella es autora espiritual y de concientización, oradora, guardiana de la sabiduría, sanadora, cabeza de ceremonial y Consultora sobre Organizaciones. Tiene 25 años de experiencia en desarrollo de Liderazgo Transformador, Gestión sin Fines de Lucro, Curación y Ceremonial Tradicionales, Capacitación en Liderazgo Consciente, Salud de la Mujer y Justicia Social. Brenda está en proceso de establecer el Nepantla Land Trust (El Fideicomiso de Tierra Nepantla) y el Nepantla Center for Healing and Renewal (El Centro Nepantla para la Sanación y Renovación). Es autora de Real World Mindfulness for Beginners: Navigate Daily Life One Practice at a Time (La Concientización en el Mundo Real para Principiantes: Cómo se Practica Paso a Paso). Recibió instrucción de sabios ancianos sobre medicina tradicional y ceremonial de curación en el linaje Purépecha, Xochimilco, Tolteca y otros linajes indígenas. Tiene títulos universitarios en Biología, Psicología del Desarrollo y Comportamiento Animal.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.#indigenoushealing #racialhealing #retreatcentercollaborative #earthhealing, #indigenouslens #newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #conversationsthatmatter
~Co-presented by The New School and the Racial Healing Initiative at Commonweal’s Retreat Center Collaboration~Our indigenous communities and leaders hold ancient wisdom that offers profound insights into the challenges facing us today. As we navigate the cultural, climate, and ecosystem shifts happening on our planet now, we need the wisdom of many voices. To truly hear and value these diverse voices, we need to continue to heal the racial divisions and wounds in our cultures and communities.In part two of this series, join Host Brenda Salgado as she speaks with Sherri Mitchell, a Penobscot activist, author, and Indigenous attorney. Presented in English with a live Spanish-language translator.Photo: Stefano Girardelli, UnsplashSherri MitchellSherri (Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset) is an Indigenous attorney, activist, and author from the Penobscot Nation. She is an alumna of the American Indian Ambassador Program and the Udall Native American Congressional Internship Program. Sherri is the author of Sacred Instructions; Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change and a contributor to eleven anthologies, including All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, and Resetting Our Future: Empowering Climate Action in the United States. Sherri is the executive director of the Land Peace Foundation, serves as a trustee for the American Indian Institute, an Indigenous Advisory Council member for Nia Tero’s Indigenous Land Guardianship Program, and a board member for the Post Carbon Institute.Host Brenda SalgadoBrenda Salgado is the program director of the Racial Healing Initiative, a program of the Retreat Center Collaboration at Commonweal. She is a spiritual and mindfulness author, speaker, wisdom keeper, healer, ceremonialist, and organizational consultant. She has 25 years of experience in transformative leadership development, nonprofit management, traditional healing and ceremony, mindful leadership training, women’s health, and social justice. Brenda is in the process of establishing the Nepantla Land Trust, and the Nepantla Center for Healing and Renewal. She is author of Real World Mindfulness for Beginners: Navigate Daily Life One Practice at a Time and has received training from elders in traditional medicine and healing ceremony in Purepecha, Xochimilco, Toltec and other indigenous lineages. She holds degrees in biology, developmental psychology, and animal behavior.#indigenoushealing #racialhealing #retreatcentercollaborative #earthhealing, #indigenouslens #newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #conversationsthatmatter
Join Oren Slozberg, Executive Director of Commonweal, in a spiritual biography conversation with Host Michael Lerner.Oren SlozbergOren is the executive director of Commonweal and the co-director of Healing Circles Global. He has been a senior program developer in the fields of education, youth development, and the arts for more than 30 years. Oren’s program work explores the intersection of dialogue, cognition, creativity, and community. Through work in different communities, he seeks to deepen our exploration of complex issues in our world—issues that Commonweal programs confront daily. Oren has helped to develop new programs at Commonweal including the Power of Hope summer camp for teenagers, the Fall Gathering, Taproot Gathering, and more.Host Michael LernerMichael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~ Co-presented with CancerChoices ~ Join Host Michael Lerner in virtual conversation with Keith Block, MD--long regarded as the “father” of integrative oncology--about his model for integrative cancer treatment. You can find past recordings of Keith at The New School on our website.Keith I. Block, MDKeith combines cutting-edge conventional treatments with personalized and scientifically-based innovative, complementary and nutraceutical therapies. In 1980, he co-founded the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment in Skokie, Illinois, the first such facility in North America. Their model of care continues to set the standard for the practice of a comprehensive, individualized approach to cancer treatment in the United States.In addition to his clinical practice, Dr. Block is the founding editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal, Integrative Cancer Therapies. He is also the scientific director of the Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Education, where he has collaborated with colleagues at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and Bar Ilan University in Israel. In 2005, he was appointed to the National Cancer Institute’s Physician Data Query (PDQ) Cancer CAM Editorial Board, on which he continues to serve today. Dr. Block has more than 150 publications in scientific journals and books relevant to nutritional and integrative oncology. He is also the author of Life Over Cancer, published in April, 2009.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join us for another in the Spiritual Biography series, this time with Cynthia Li, MD. Cynthia’s experiences as both doctor and patient through an internal “dark night of the soul” and a medical condition affecting her immune system point to tools for building personal immunity and resilience in the face of crises. She has been deeply involved with Commonweal’s work in environmental health, Healing Circles, and Rachel Remen’s Healer’s Art program at UCSF School of Medicine, which began at Commonweal. Listen to Michael’s past conversations with Cynthia here:Cynthia Li, MDCynthia is a physician and author whose personal healing journey through a disabling autoimmune condition took her from public health in underserved populations, to integrative and functional medicine. For the past 15 years, she has studied and practiced with functional medicine experts, acupuncturists, and qigong masters, weaving together cutting-edge science and the art of intuition. She is the author of Brave New Medicine: A Doctor’s Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness, as well as a free e-booklet, How to Strengthen Your Inner Shield: Science-Based, Integrative Strategies for a Healthy Immune System During a Pandemic.Host Michael LernerMichael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies(MIT Press).Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Co-presented by The New School and the Racial Healing Initiative at Commonweal’s Retreat Center Collaboration~¿Qué significaría “volverse nativos” al lugar en el que estamos ahora? ¿Cómo viviríamos si lo fuéramos? Nuestras comunidades y líderes indígenas tienen una sabiduría antigua que ofrece una visión profunda sobre los desafíos a los que nos enfrentamos hoy en día. A medida que navegamos los cambios culturales, climáticos y de ecosistemas que están ocurriendo en nuestro planeta en la actualidad, necesitamos oír la sabiduría y las ideas que descienden de estas tradiciones. Para poder escuchar y verdaderamente valorar estas ideas, necesitamos continuar cicatrizando las heridas de la división racial y dentro de nuestras culturas y comunidades. En la primera parte de esta serie, súmate a la presentadora Brenda Salgado en su charla con Grace Sesma, practicante cultural Yaqui / mexicana en la tradición del curanderismo. Contarán historias personales, hablarán sobre la importancia de estar conectado con la Madre Tierra en este momento. Nos participarán su sabiduría sobre las formas en que podemos “volvernos indígenas” en nuestro espacio y con los demás. Presentada en inglés con interpretación simultánea.As we navigate the cultural, climate, and ecosystem shifts happening on our planet now, we need the wisdom of many voices. To truly hear and value these diverse voices, we need to continue to heal the racial divisions and wounds in our cultures and communities.Our indigenous communities and leaders have old ways of thinking about these new changes, and can contribute valueable wisdom to the critical discussions that will determine the future of our land, water, and communities. In part one of this series, Host Brenda Salgado will speak with Grace Sesma, a Yagui/Mexican cultural practitioner in the curanderismo tradition. Presented in English with a live Spanish-language translator.Maestra Grace Alvarez SesmaGrace (Yaqui/Mexican) is a cultural practitioner and educator. She provides Indigenous cultural services to individuals and families through her Curanderismo healing practice. Grace works with mental health therapists and other healthcare providers to promote an understanding of Mexican and Indigenous culture-specific interventions and to encourage mutually respectful collaboration. She’s an advisor to the House of the Moon and the Kanap Kuahun Coalition. She serves on the Yaquis of Southern California tribal council, the Consciousness & Healing Initiative Practitioners' Council, and the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine BIPOC Committee.Host Brenda SalgadoBrenda Salgado is the program director of the Racial Healing Initiative, a program of the Retreat Center Collaboration at Commonweal. She is a spiritual and mindfulness author, speaker, wisdom keeper, healer, ceremonialist, and organizational consultant. She has 25 years of experience in transformative leadership development, nonprofit management, traditional healing and ceremony, mindful leadership training, women’s health, and social justice. Brenda is in the process of establishing the Nepantla Land Trust, and the Nepantla Center for Healing and Renewal. She is author of Real World Mindfulness for Beginners: Navigate Daily Life One Practice at a Time and has received training from elders in traditional medicine and healing ceremony in Purepecha, Xochimilco, Toltec and other indigenous lineages. She holds degrees in biology, developmental psychology, and animal behavior.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.#indigenoushealing #racialhealing #retreatcentercollaborative #earthhealing, #indigenouslens #newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #conversationsthatmatter
~Co-presented by The New School and the Racial Healing Initiative at Commonweal’s Retreat Center Collaboration~As we navigate the cultural, climate, and ecosystem shifts happening on our planet now, we need the wisdom of many voices. To truly hear and value these diverse voices, we need to continue to heal the racial divisions and wounds in our cultures and communities.Our indigenous communities and leaders have old ways of thinking about these new changes, and can contribute valueable wisdom to the critical discussions that will determine the future of our land, water, and communities. In part one of this series, Host Brenda Salgado will speak with Grace Sesma, a Yagui/Mexican cultural practitioner in the curanderismo tradition. Presented in English with a live Spanish-language translator.Maestra Grace Alvarez SesmaGrace (Yaqui/Mexican) is a cultural practitioner and educator. She provides Indigenous cultural services to individuals and families through her Curanderismo healing practice. Grace works with mental health therapists and other healthcare providers to promote an understanding of Mexican and Indigenous culture-specific interventions and to encourage mutually respectful collaboration. She’s an advisor to the House of the Moon and the Kanap Kuahun Coalition. She serves on the Yaquis of Southern California tribal council, the Consciousness & Healing Initiative Practitioners' Council, and the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine BIPOC Committee.Host Brenda SalgadoBrenda Salgado is the program director of the Racial Healing Initiative, a program of the Retreat Center Collaboration at Commonweal. She is a spiritual and mindfulness author, speaker, wisdom keeper, healer, ceremonialist, and organizational consultant. She has 25 years of experience in transformative leadership development, nonprofit management, traditional healing and ceremony, mindful leadership training, women’s health, and social justice. Brenda is in the process of establishing the Nepantla Land Trust, and the Nepantla Center for Healing and Renewal. She is author of Real World Mindfulness for Beginners: Navigate Daily Life One Practice at a Time and has received training from elders in traditional medicine and healing ceremony in Purepecha, Xochimilco, Toltec and other indigenous lineages. She holds degrees in biology, developmental psychology, and animal behavior.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.#indigenoushealing #racialhealing #retreatcentercollaborative #earthhealing, #indigenouslens #newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #conversationsthatmatter
Join us for a celebration of autumn, a time to harvest all the seeds we’ve planted in your life, aging, etc… the next stories and music event in our series with master storyteller Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, and musician/songwriter Karen Drucker. See all of the music and story events with Rachel and Karen on our website, listen on Soundcloud, watch on YouTube, or find us on Apple podcasts and Spotify.Rachel Naomi Remen, MDRachel is a Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Founder and Founding Director of the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI), which was at Commonweal for decades and is currently at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. She is one of the best known of the early pioneers of wholistic and integrative medicine. As a medical educator, therapist, and teacher, she has enabled many thousands of physicians to find individual meaning and purpose in the practice of medicine and thousands of patients to remember their power to heal. More than 30,000 medical students have completed The Healer’s Art, her groundbreaking curriculum for medical students taught at the majority of medical schools in America. A master storyteller and observer of life, her bestselling books, Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings have sold more than 2 million copies and have been translated into 21 languages. Rachel has had Crohn’s disease for more than 65 years and her work is a unique blend of the wisdom, strength, and viewpoints of both doctor and patient.Karen DruckerKaren’s message is all about healing and love--whether singing one of her positive message songs or sharing stories that are funny, inspiring, and heart opening. She is a keynote speaker, women’s retreat facilitator, and entertainer who has recorded 22 CDs of her inspirational music. Karen is also the author of the best selling book Let Go of the Shore: Songs & Stories To Set The Spirit Free. Her chants and songs are used around the world and often help people deal with illness and loss, or help them fill the need to feel more centered for the day. Karen’s intention is to make a difference by using her music to open hearts and share a message of hope, acceptance, and love. Find out more about Karen on her website: karendrucker.com#newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #healingstories #rachelremen #rachelnaomiremen #karendrucker #liberation #livingfree
Join Host Michael Lerner in a conversation with Gary Cohen, founder of Healthcare without Harm. They will trace the evolution of the modern health and environmental justice movement over the years, starting in 1996, when Gary founded the organization after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identified medical waste incineration as the leading source of dioxin, one of the most potent carcinogens. You can hear a past conversation with Gary here, one of the first conversations at The New School.Gary CohenGary is a co-founder and president of Health Care Without Harm (http://noharm.org ), the international campaign for environmentally responsible healthcare. HCWH is working to prevent disease and illness in society by assisting the healthcare sector to understand the links between a healthy environment and healthy people and helping hospitals become more environmentally sustainable as well as anchors in their communities for resilience, equity and community wellness. He is president of Practice Greenhealth, a U.S. membership affiliate of HCWH with over 1300 hospital members. He is also the co-founder of Greenhealth Exchange, a sustainable purchasing cooperative in the U.S. healthcare sector. Gary is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Sambhavna Clinic in Bhopal, India, which provides free medical care to the survivors of the Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal. Gary was awarded the MacArthur "Genius:" award in 2015, and the Champion for Change for Climate Change and Public Health by the White House in 2013. He was also awarded the Skoll Global Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2006 and the Frank Hatch Award for Enlightened Public Service Award in 2007.Host Michael LernerMichael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.#commonweal #newschoolcommonweal #healthcarewithoutharm #healthcare #greenhealthcare #dioxin #toxics
Join us for a spiritual biography conversation with artist, chef, and cookbook author Rebecca Katz.Rebecca Katz, MS, Healing Circles Senior FacultyRebecca is an artist, chef, and cookbook author. She has been a visiting chef and nutrition educator at the Commonweal Cancer Help Program for more than a decade. Rebecca is focused on the exploration of what it means to experience a life of inspiration, creativity and healing through food and art. Rebecca is the author of six books including the award-winning cookbook, The Cancer Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing Big Flavor Recipes for Cancer and Treatment and Beyond.Host Michael LernerMichael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies(MIT Press).Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.#commonweal #newschoolcommonweal #healingkitchen #healingarts #cancerfightingkitchen #integrativeoncology #spiritualbiography
Join us for a spiritual biography conversation with artist, chef, and cookbook author Rebecca Katz.Rebecca Katz, MS, Healing Circles Senior FacultyRebecca is an artist, chef, and cookbook author. She has been a visiting chef and nutrition educator at the Commonweal Cancer Help Program for more than a decade. Rebecca is focused on the exploration of what it means to experience a life of inspiration, creativity and healing through food and art. Rebecca is the author of six books including the award-winning cookbook, The Cancer Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing Big Flavor Recipes for Cancer and Treatment and Beyond.Host Michael LernerMichael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies(MIT Press).Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.#commonweal #newschoolcommonweal #healingkitchen #healingarts #cancerfightingkitchen #integrativeoncology #spiritualbiographyAttachments
In this incredible conversation, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, makes a “House Call” at The New School at Commonweal--to talk with one of his long-time mentors and friends, Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen. You can join us for the conversation on New School channels, or find it on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services channels as well. As Dr. Murthy says, “In an increasingly complex world, knowing ourselves and finding ways to express love is what this episode of House Calls is all about.”U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, MDVivek Murthy served as the 19th Surgeon General of the United States from 2014 to 2017 and was confirmed by the United States Senate in 2021 as the 21st Surgeon General of the United States. In his first term as America’s Doctor, Dr. Murthy created initiatives to tackle our country’s most urgent public health issues. He chose areas of focus that were raised by people across America during his inaugural listening tour. Dr. Murthy’s commitment to medicine and health began early in life. The son of immigrants from India, he discovered the art of healing watching his parents - Hallegere and Myetriae Murthy - treat patients like family in his father’s medical clinic in Miami, Florida. In 2020, Dr. Murthy authored the New York Times Bestselling Book, Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World. Dr. Murthy resides in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Dr. Alice Chen, and their two young children.Rachel Naomi Remen, MDRachel Naomi Remen is Clinical Professor Emeritus of Family and Community Medicine at the UCSF School of Medicine and Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine in Ohio. In 1991, she founded the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI) a national training institute for physicians, nurses, medical students, nursing students, veterinarians and other health professionals who wish to practice a health care of compassion, meaning, service and community. She is an internationally recognized medical educator whose innovative discovery model course in professionalism, resiliency and relationship-centered care for medical students, The Healer’s Art, is taught at more than 90 American medical schools and schools in seven countries abroad. Her bestselling books “Kitchen Table Wisdom” and “My Grandfather’s Blessings” have been published in 23 languages and have millions of copies in print. In recognition of her contribution to medicine and medical education, she has received numerous awards including three honorary degrees, the prestigious Bravewell Award as one of the earliest pioneers of Integrative Medicine and Relationship Centered Care. In 2013, she was voted the Gold-Headed Cane award by UCSF School of Medicine for excellence in embodying and teaching the qualities and values of the true physician.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
How Dick Russell wrote the definitive biography of James Hillman Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with author Dick Russell in a conversation about James Hillman, founder of the archetypal psychology movement—along with a wide variety of topics from Dick’s research and writing. Dick Russell Dick is the eclectic author of fifteen books. He recently published volume 2 of his biography of James Hillman: The Life and Ideas of James Hillman: Re-Visioning Psychology, with volume 3 coming up later in 2023. Also recently published is The Real RFK Jr.: Trials of a Truth Warrior. He is also the author of "Black Genius and the American Experience" (1998) and "My Mysterious Son: A Life-Changing Passage Between Schizophrenia and Shamanism" (2014). Other publications include four books co-authored with former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura spent weeks on the New York Times Best-Seller list. Eye of the Whale was named among the best books of 2001 by three major newspapers. The Man Who Knew Too Much, about a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy, was hailed as "a masterpiece of historical reconstruction" by Publisher's Weekly. Striper Wars: An American Fish Story, recounts the fight to save the Atlantic striped bass. As an environmental activist, Dick was a recipient of the citizen's Chevron Conservation Award.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join us for the next stories and music event in our series with master storyteller Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, and musician/songwriter Karen Drucker. See all of the music and story events with Rachel and Karen on our website, listen on Soundcloud, watch on YouTube, or find us on Apple podcasts and Spotify.
Rachel Naomi Remen, MD Rachel is a Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Founder and Founding Director of the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI), which was at Commonweal for decades and is currently at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. She is one of the best known of the early pioneers of wholistic and integrative medicine. As a medical educator, therapist, and teacher, she has enabled many thousands of physicians to find individual meaning and purpose in the practice of medicine and thousands of patients to remember their power to heal. More than 30,000 medical students have completed The Healer’s Art, her groundbreaking curriculum for medical students taught at the majority of medical schools in America. A master storyteller and observer of life, her bestselling books, Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings have sold more than 2 million copies and have been translated into 21 languages. Rachel has had Crohn’s disease for more than 65 years and her work is a unique blend of the wisdom, strength, and viewpoints of both doctor and patient.
Karen Drucker Karen’s message is all about healing and love--whether singing one of her positive message songs or sharing stories that are funny, inspiring, and heart opening. She is a keynote speaker, women’s retreat facilitator, and entertainer who has recorded 22 CDs of her inspirational music. Karen is also the author of the best selling book Let Go of the Shore: Songs & Stories To Set The Spirit Free. Her chants and songs are used around the world and often help people deal with illness and loss, or help them fill the need to feel more centered for the day. Karen’s intention is to make a difference by using her music to open hearts and share a message of hope, acceptance, and love. Find out more about Karen on her website: karendrucker.com
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #healingstories #rachelremen #rachelnaomiremen #karendrucker #valentine #fathersday #mothersday
Erlene Chiang in conversation with Michael Lerner
Co-presented with CancerChoices https://cancerchoices.org
Science, Storytelling and a New War on Cancer / Kristina Marusic, Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, Sandra Steingraber and Host Kristin Schafer
If we can stop cancer before it begins, why don’t we?
This question motivated a deep-dive inquiry into cancer prevention for award-winning journalist Kristina Marusic. Her exploration uncovered an often invisible community of creative, talented individuals who dedicate their careers to identifying and challenging environmental drivers of cancer. In this CHE Café conversation, Kristina will share highlights from her book, A New War on Cancer: The Unlikely Heroes Revolutionizing Prevention. She’ll then be joined by Children’s Environmental Health Network Executive Director Nsedu Obot Witherspoon and renowned biologist, author, activist, and cancer survivor, Dr. Sandra Steingraber. The group will explore the power of storytelling as a tool for communicating complex scientific issues, and reaching people in ways that motivate action for change.
~Co-presented by The New School at Commonweal and the Collaborative for Heath and the Environment~
Kristina Marusic is an author and journalist who covers issues related to environmental health and justice for Environmental Health News. A New War on Cancer: The Unlikely Heroes Revolutionizing Prevention is her first book. Marusic is the co-founder of the Pittsburgh chapter of the National Association of LGBTQ Journalists (a.k.a. NLGJA), and previously worked as a freelance journalist covering LGBT equality, feminism, social and environmental justice, activism, and politics with bylines at CNN, Slate, Vice, Women's Health, the Washington Post, MTV News, The Advocate, Logo TV's NewNowNext, and Bustle, among others. She believes true, well-told stories have the power to change the world for good.
Sandra Steingraber, PhD, a senior scientist with the Science and Environmental Health Network, is the author of a trilogy of award-winning books on environmental health: Living Downstream_ : An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment (adapted as a documentary film in 2010); Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood_; and_ Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis_. The 2018 documentary film Unfractured tells the story of New York State’s fracking ban, featuring Steingraber as its subject.
Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, MPH, is the executive director for the Children's Environmental Health Network (CEHN) and a key spokesperson for children’s vulnerabilities and the need for their protection. She holds leadership roles in many spaces, including the External Science Board for the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes at NIH, the Health/Science initiative of the Cancer Free Economy Network and the National Environmental Health Partnership Council. Nsedu is also member of the Board for Pesticide Action Network North America and the Environmental Integrity Project, and serves on the Maryland Children’s Environmental Health Advisory Council. Nsedu is a proud mom to four children.
environmentalhealth #publichealth #environmentalhealthnews #waroncancer #newschoolcommonweal #commonweal
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join us for the next stories and music event in our series with master storyteller Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, and musician/songwriter Karen Drucker. See all of the music and story events with Rachel and Karen on our website, https://tns.commonweal.org , listen on Soundcloud, YouTube, or find us on Apple podcasts and Spotify.Rachel Naomi Remen, MDRachel is a Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Founder and Founding Director of the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI), which was at Commonweal for decades and is currently at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. She is one of the best known of the early pioneers of wholistic and integrative medicine. As a medical educator, therapist, and teacher, she has enabled many thousands of physicians to find individual meaning and purpose in the practice of medicine and thousands of patients to remember their power to heal. More than 30,000 medical students have completed The Healer’s Art, her groundbreaking curriculum for medical students taught at the majority of medical schools in America. A master storyteller and observer of life, her bestselling books, Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings have sold more than 2 million copies and have been translated into 21 languages. Rachel has had Crohn’s disease for more than 65 years and her work is a unique blend of the wisdom, strength, and viewpoints of both doctor and patient.Karen DruckerKaren’s message is all about healing and love--whether singing one of her positive message songs or sharing stories that are funny, inspiring, and heart opening. She is a keynote speaker, women’s retreat facilitator, and entertainer who has recorded 22 CDs of her inspirational music. Karen is also the author of the best selling book Let Go of the Shore: Songs & Stories To Set The Spirit Free. Her chants and songs are used around the world and often help people deal with illness and loss, or help them fill the need to feel more centered for the day. Karen’s intention is to make a difference by using her music to open hearts and share a message of hope, acceptance, and love. Find out more about Karen on her website: karendrucker.comFind out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Aprende cómo libre Rue Mapp, mujer de la naturaleza, convirtió sus experiencias de niñez en la granja de la familia, en un movimiento nacional del espíritu negro de alegría y de sanar en la naturaleza. Su primer libro, Nature Swagger (El Meneo de la Naturaleza), celebra a aquellos con los que se ha conectado a lo largo de su trayectoria al aire libre, compartiendo las conexiones transformadoras de cada colaborador con la naturaleza. Esta es la tercera conversación de nuestra serie Empowering Women in Today's World ((El Impulso a la Mujer en el Mundo de Hoy), presentada conjuntamente por Mesa Refuge, Point Reyes National Seashore Association y The New School at Commonweal. En la lista de grabaciones del New School en YouTube, Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts y Spotify puede encontrar grabaciones de los dos primeros eventos. Allí puede ver a la abogada y estratega del movimiento de justicia para el inmigrante, Marielena Hincapié y la autora, madre y abogada de justicia reparadora Lara Bazelon. En español o en inglés.Foto: La fundadora y CEO de Outdoor Afro, Rue Mapp, con los participantes de la red. Crédito: Bethanie Hines.
Learn how outdoorswoman Rue Mapp turned her childhood experiences on family farmland into a national movement of Black joy and healing in nature. Her first book, Nature Swagger, celebrates those she has connected with along her outdoor journey, sharing each contributor's transformative connections to nature.This is the third conversation in our Empowering Women in Today’s World series, co-presented by the Mesa Refuge, Point Reyes National Seashore Association https://ptreyes.org/youth-in-parks/ , and The New School at Commonweal. You can find recordings of the first two events--with attorney and immigrant justice movement strategist Marielena Hincapié and author, mother, and reparative justice attorney Lara Bazelon--on the New School's YouTube, Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Watch and/or listen in Spanish or English.YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeWY_tCA2qdB0fMBFvmM8_92Q_EflwFpjSouncloud: https://soundcloud.com/tnscommonweal/sets/empowering-women?si=8bf74de47911421fb2e87f4fd164dc0f&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharingRue MappRue transformed her kitchen table blog into a national nature business and movement. Today, Mapp is founder and CEO of Outdoor Afro. For more than a decade, the not-for-profit organization has continued to celebrate and inspire Black connections and leadership in nature across the United States. Mapp also is an awarded and inspirational leader, speaker, public lands champion and published author. Her first national book is Nature Swagger: Stories and Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors (Chronicle Books Nov 2022). Mapp became a National Geographic 2019 Fellow, Heinz Awards Honoree, and National Wildlife Federation Communication Award recipient as well. Her work has earned international media attention from Oprah Winfrey, The New York Times, Good Morning America, NPR, NBC’s TODAY, Forbes, and recently Netflix’s popular series MeatEater with Steven Rinella. Follow her adventures @ruemapp across social platforms.Host Lyons FilmerLyons is the former program director at community radio KWMR in Point Reyes Station, California, where she served for 18 years. Her interest in radio began in college, where she was a music DJ and news reader. In the 1990s, she was a volunteer programmer at KPFA in Berkeley, where she produced and hosted programs on women’s issues, drama and literature. She joined KWMR in 1999 and became its program director soon after. Among other programs, Lyons hosts “Mesa Refuge Interviews,” talking with the current residents of Mesa Refuge Writers Retreat.#mesarefuge #commonweal #newschoolcommonweal #natureswagger #outdoorafro #blackjoy #ruemapp #empoweringwomen
Join us for the next stories and music event in our series with master storyteller Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, and musician/songwriter Karen Drucker. See all of the music and story events with Rachel and Karen on our website, listen on Soundcloud, watch on YouTube, or find us on Apple podcasts and Spotify.Rachel Naomi Remen, MDRachel is a Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Founder and Founding Director of the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI), which was at Commonweal for decades and is currently at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. She is one of the best known of the early pioneers of wholistic and integrative medicine. As a medical educator, therapist, and teacher, she has enabled many thousands of physicians to find individual meaning and purpose in the practice of medicine and thousands of patients to remember their power to heal. More than 30,000 medical students have completed The Healer’s Art, her groundbreaking curriculum for medical students taught at the majority of medical schools in America. A master storyteller and observer of life, her bestselling books, Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings have sold more than 2 million copies and have been translated into 21 languages. Rachel has had Crohn’s disease for more than 65 years and her work is a unique blend of the wisdom, strength, and viewpoints of both doctor and patient.Karen DruckerKaren’s message is all about healing and love--whether singing one of her positive message songs or sharing stories that are funny, inspiring, and heart opening. She is a keynote speaker, women’s retreat facilitator, and entertainer who has recorded 22 CDs of her inspirational music. Karen is also the author of the best selling book Let Go of the Shore: Songs & Stories To Set The Spirit Free. Her chants and songs are used around the world and often help people deal with illness and loss, or help them fill the need to feel more centered for the day. Karen’s intention is to make a difference by using her music to open hearts and share a message of hope, acceptance, and love. Find out more about Karen on her website: karendrucker.comnewschoolcommonweal #commonweal #healingstories #rachelremen #rachelnaomiremen #karendrucker #spring #stories #music #healingmusic #healingsong #musicasmedicine
DescriptionEditToward Psychologies of Liberation: Literal and Metaphorical Migrations in the Polycrisis / Mary Watkins and Host Michael LernerAs increasing global economic disparities, violence, and climate change provoke a rising tide of forced migration, many countries and local communities are responding by building walls—literal and metaphorical—between citizens and newcomers. Join depth psychologist, professor, and author Mary Watkins in conversation with Host Michael Lerner about the cultural and community transformation happening in these times.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
What Stories Does the Land Hold? is a conversation series co-presented by the Center for Humans and Nature and The New School at Commonweal as part of the Center’s Questions for a Resilient Future SeriesAcross the world, Indigenous people share something in common: a connection to land and their Ancestral territories. This series of conversations spotlights a collection of Indigenous voices telling the stories of the land and its stories, connecting us to each other and to all of our relations.Waubgeshig Rice is an author and journalist from Wasauksing First Nation. He has written many brilliant pieces, including his 2018 novel Moon of the Crusted Snow, which quickly became a national bestseller. Join the conversation between Host Christine Luckasavitch (Anishinaabeg and mixed settler) and Waub Rice to dive into their favourite works by Indigenous authors, the importance of making space for Indigenous storytelling, and imagining Indigenous futurisms. Plus, we’ll talk a little bit about Waubgeshig's upcoming novel Moon of the Turning Leaves, the sequel to Moon of the Crusted Snow, to be released in October 2023.Photo: Alyssa Bardy PhotographyWaubgeshig RiceWaubgeshig is an author and journalist from Wasauksing First Nation. He has written three fiction titles, and his short stories and essays have been published in numerous anthologies. His most recent novel, Moon of the Crusted Snow, was published in 2018 and became a national bestseller. He graduated from Toronto Metropolitan University’s journalism program in 2002, and spent most of his journalism career with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a video journalist and radio host. He left CBC in 2020 to focus on his literary career. He lives in Sudbury, Ontario with his wife and two sons. His forthcoming novel, Moon of the Turning Leaves, will be published in October 2023.Christine LuckasavitchChristine Luckasavitch is an Omàmìwininì Madaoueskarini Anishinaabekwe (a woman of the Madawaska River Algonquin people), belonging to the Crane Clan, and mixed settler heritage. Christine continues to live in Omàmìwininìaki, unceded Algonquin territory.Christine is the Owner/Executive Consultant of Waaseyaa Consulting and Waaseyaa Cultural Tours, two small businesses dedicated to reviving and celebrating Indigenous ancestral knowledge and culture-based practices through educational opportunities. She is the co-owner of Algonquin Motors, a woman-led motorcycle clothing company honouring the spirit of unceded Algonquin territory. She is currently writing her thesis to complete her Master of Arts in Indigenous Studies at Trent University.Christine is the former Executive Director of Native Land Digital, an Indigenous-led not-for-profit dedicated to providing a digital platform for Indigenous peoples to share knowledge about their Indigenous cultures, territories, and knowledge systems across the world.Her work is centered around creating spaces for Indigenous peoples to share their knowledges, both in physical and digital spaces, and encouraging the re-emergence of ancestral kinship ties.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
In his newly published spiritual memoir, I Came Here Seeking a Person, Bill Glenn shares the joys and the traumas of growing up gay and Catholic in the 1950s and 60s. A one-time Jesuit seminarian, he explores the longing for and the obstacles to living a life of faith, service, and wholeness in today’s world. He also explores the impact of being a newly out gay man in the terrible opening years of the AIDS epidemic, and what the aftereffects of those experiences have been. The memoir is an ode to love, joy, and faith, and to living fully amidst, as he calls it, “the all of it.”William D. GlennA former Jesuit, Bill is a licensed psychotherapist and spiritual director with a private practice in San Francisco and Santa Rosa, California. He was executive director of Continuum, a Tenderloin-based health care agency that provides care for triply-diagnosed clients. Bill has been working with the Enneagram, an authoritative and unique self- integration system, since 1978, and has conducted workshops on its application throughout the Bay Area. From 1995-2002, he was the convener of Spirit Group, an intentional prayer community, and for ten years co-facilitated Katargeo, a program for lifers at San Quentin State Penitentiary.Glenn is currently a trustee of the Morris Stulsaft Foundation, a trustee of the Graduate Theological Union, and co-chair of the capital campaign for Horizons Foundation in San Francisco. A former board member of the Insight Prison Project, he is past vice president of the board of KQED, past president of the socially responsible mutual fund Working Assets/Citizens Funds, and past president of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.Host Irwin KellerRabbi Irwin Keller has been the spiritual leader of Congregation Ner Shalom in Sonoma County, California, since 2008. His past work included LGBT advocacy, HIV legal services, and 21 years as a singing drag queen with The Kinsey Sicks, America’s Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet. Irwin’s sermons and essays on Torah, mysticism, God, politics, disillusionment, and hope can be found on his blog, Itzik’s Well, found at irwinkeller.com. Irwin is a steward and faculty member of Commonweal’s Taproot Gathering.#commonweal #newschoolcommonweal #growingupgay #nershalom #irwinkellerFind out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join Host Michael Lerner for a conversation with photographer, environmental campaigner, and writer Ravi Agarwal.Ravi AgarwalRavi has an inter-disciplinary practice as a photographer/ artist, environmental campaigner, writer, and curator. Bridging the divide between art and activism, he addresses the entangled questions of nature and its futures using photography, video, text, and installation. His work ranges from the long documentary to the conceptual and performative. He has regularly published photobooks and diaries (Ambient Seas, 2016, Extinct? – 2009, Have you seen the flowers on the river- 2007, Immersion. Emergence – 2006). The book Down and Out, – OUP 2002, was a first major photographic work on migrant labour in India. His latest book, Multispecies Speculations and Growing Lexicon, is part of his multispecies art project “Samtal Jameen, Samtal Jameer,” supported by the Prince Claus Foundation. Find out more on his website.Michael LernerMichael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).#commonweal #newschoolcommonweal #photography #nature #resilience #naturephotography #migrantlabour #indiaFind out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Co-presented by The New School at Commonweal and CancerChoices~Join Thomas Smith, MD, with Host Michael Lerner for a conversation about easing cancer pain and suffering. Uncontrolled pain creates unnecessary suffering, but when pain is controlled, quality of life improves dramatically. Compassionate, expert help is available for people with cancer experiencing pain.Thomas J Smith, MDThomas is a professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of Palliative Medicine for Johns Hopkins Medicine.He has a lifelong interest in better symptom management, communication, and improving access to high quality affordable care. Thomas is a fellow in the American College of Physicians, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the American Association of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and is listed among the top oncologists and palliative care specialists in the country. He has taught palliative concepts in more than a dozen countries and helped start over 100 new programs.Host Michael LernerMichael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
What Stories Does the Land Hold? is a conversation series co-presented by the Center for Humans and Nature and The New School at Commonweal as part of the Center’s Questions for a Resilient Future SeriesJoin Host Christine Luckasavitch (Anishinaabeg and mixed settler) in conversation with Māori artist, designer, activist, and researcher Tanya Te Miringa Te Rorarangi Ruka. Tanya’s work is deeply rooted in Indigenous environmental knowledges, encouraging a deeper connection to ancestral place on a global scale through her artistic practices. This conversation will center around storytelling, community building, working alongside our plant relatives, and Indigenous futurisms.Tanya Te Miringa Te Rorarangi RukaTanya is a Māori Indigenous artist and designer living in Te Whānganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, Capital City of New Zealand). She is of Ngati Pakau, Te Uriroroi, Te Parawhau, Te Mahurehure Ngapuhi, and Waitaha descent. She is active in environmental issues from an Indigenous perspective in Aotearoa and globally. Working with the Waitaha Executive Grandmothers Council, she has been documenting and mapping the sacred stories of her Tupuna ancestors as evidence for tribal environmental issues involving land and water protection claims through the Treaty of Waitangi. As a Māori artist she is inspired by her ancestry and the creation stories that place the land as Ancestor and the Master Navigator voyagers of the Pacific who always kept their eyes on the horizon in hopeful anticipation, bringing the tribe safely to land. You can hear her speak on YouTube here: City Talks: Kaupapa Mauri.Christine LuckasavitchChristine is an Omàmìwininì Madaoueskarini Anishinaabekwe (a woman of the Madawaska River Algonquin people) and belongs to the Crane Clan, and is of mixed settler ancestry including Irish, Swedish, and Polish. Christine continues to live in her ancestral territory, land that her Ancestors have called home since time immemorial. Christine is the owner of two Indigenous knowledge-based companies, Waaseyaa Consulting and Waaseyaa Cultural Tours, both dedicated to enhancing the awareness and understanding of Algonquin Anishinaabeg history and culture. She is executive director of Native Land Digital, an Indigenous-led not-for-profit dedicated to providing free education of Indigenous territories and knowledge systems across the world. Christine has worked as an archaeologist, educator, and in the realm of Indigenous politics. She spends most of her time out on the land, and has a keen interest in learning more about traditional plant use. She is currently writing her first book, Ondjitigweyaa Madaoueskarini Omàmìwininì (Algonquin People of the Madawaska River Headwaters).Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~ Co-presented with CancerChoices ~Join cancer help program alumna Sue Mondello with Host Michael Lerner as they explore her hospice experience and the view from the edge of life.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join Host Michael Lerner for another series of spiritual biography conversations with social activist and community leader Orland Bishop. Together, they look at his life and work, working from his book, The Seventh Shrine: Meditations on the African Spiritual Journey from the Middle Passage to the Mountaintop. This four-part conversation is a follow up to the 2011 spiritual biography (also four parts) Michael hosted with Orland. And read a news article about the Sacred Hospitality of Orland Bishop on the Commonweal news pages.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join Host Michael Lerner for another series of spiritual biography conversations with social activist and community leader Orland Bishop. Together, they look at his life and work, working from his book, The Seventh Shrine: Meditations on the African Spiritual Journey from the Middle Passage to the Mountaintop. This four-part conversation is a follow up to the 2011 spiritual biography (also four parts) Michael hosted with Orland. And read a news article about the Sacred Hospitality of Orland Bishop on the Commonweal news pages.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join Host Michael Lerner for another series of spiritual biography conversations with social activist and community leader Orland Bishop. Together, they look at his life and work, working from his book, The Seventh Shrine: Meditations on the African Spiritual Journey from the Middle Passage to the Mountaintop. This four-part conversation is a follow up to the 2011 spiritual biography (also four parts) Michael hosted with Orland. And read a news article about the Sacred Hospitality of Orland Bishop on the Commonweal news pages.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join Host Michael Lerner for another series of spiritual biography conversations with social activist and community leader Orland Bishop. Together, they look at his life and work, working from his book, The Seventh Shrine: Meditations on the African Spiritual Journey from the Middle Passage to the Mountaintop. This four-part conversation is a follow up to the 2011 spiritual biography (also four parts) Michael hosted with Orland. And read a news article about the Sacred Hospitality of Orland Bishop on the Commonweal news pages.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Love is all there is. The love for our friends, our family, our work, our home, our country, and for ourselves. Let's make love our way of life. Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, and Karen Drucker will share songs and stories about living from the heart.See all of the events with Rachel and Karen on our website [ tns.commonweal.org/series/story-music ]Rachel Naomi Remen, MDRachel is a Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Founder and Founding Director of the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI), which was at Commonweal for decades and is currently at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. She is one of the best known of the early pioneers of wholistic and integrative medicine. As a medical educator, therapist, and teacher, she has enabled many thousands of physicians to find individual meaning and purpose in the practice of medicine and thousands of patients to remember their power to heal. More than 30,000 medical students have completed The Healer’s Art, her groundbreaking curriculum for medical students taught at the majority of medical schools in America. A master storyteller and observer of life, her bestselling books, Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings have sold more than 2 million copies and have been translated into 21 languages. Rachel has had Crohn’s disease for more than 65 years and her work is a unique blend of the wisdom, strength, and viewpoints of both doctor and patient.Karen DruckerKaren’s message is all about healing and love--whether singing one of her positive message songs or sharing stories that are funny, inspiring, and heart opening. She is a keynote speaker, women’s retreat facilitator, and entertainer who has recorded 22 CDs of her inspirational music. Karen is also the author of the best selling book Let Go of the Shore: Songs & Stories To Set The Spirit Free. Her chants and songs are used around the world and often help people deal with illness and loss, or help them fill the need to feel more centered for the day. Karen’s intention is to make a difference by using her music to open hearts and share a message of hope, acceptance, and love. Find out more about Karen on her website: karendrucker.comFind out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~ Co-presented by The New School at Commonweal and the Collaborative for Health and Environment ~The harm to human health from chemical exposures is now recognized as a global crisis on par with climate change and biodiversity loss. Effectively addressing this challenge means adopting new approaches that recognize the complexity of systems with multi-disciplinary approaches, prioritize precaution and prevention, and address disproportionate impacts and environmental injustices. Join Host Steve Heilig for a conversation with Dr. Linda Birnbaum and Dr. Ami Zota, two innovative leaders in efforts to promote environmental health and justice in the United States.Dr. Linda BirnbaumLinda is the former Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program. She was granted Scientist Emeritus Status at NIH when she retired and is also a Scholar in Residence at the Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University. As NIEHS director, Dr. Birnbaum oversaw research grants and shared the results of cutting edge environmental health research with the public and policy makers. She also met with communities to better understand environmental health concerns and disparities. Throughout her career, Dr. Birnbaum has been particularly effective at bringing forward the mounting scientific evidence of harm of exposures to certain chemicals that are now ubiquitous in our products and environment. Her discussion of the current science has helped to shift our understanding of exposures to include the dangers of chronic low dose exposures and the long term effects of early lifetime exposures.Dr. Ami ZotaAmi is a population health scientist with expertise in environmental health, environmental justice, and maternal and reproductive health. Her research focuses on understanding social and structural determinants of environmental exposures and their consequent impacts to women's health outcomes across the life course. Her long-term goal is to help secure environmental justice and health equity among systematically marginalized populations by advancing scientific inquiry, training next generation leaders, increasing public engagement with science, and supporting community-led solutions for structural change. Dr. Zota is the founding director of the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice program which seeks to foster more diverse, equitable and inclusive leaders in environmental and climate justice, training early career scientists from systematically marginalized backgrounds in science communication, storytelling, community engagement, and policy translation. Dr. Zota received CHE’s “20 Pioneers Under 40 in Environmental Public Health” award in 2018.Host Steve HeiligSteve is a longtime senior research associate with Commonweal, a co-founding director of the Commonweal Collaborative on Health and the Environment, a host of dialogues for the New School, and in other programs originating at or founded at Commonweal. Trained at five University of California campuses in public health, medical ethics, addiction medicine, economics, environmental sciences, and other disciplines, his other work includes positions at the San Francisco Medical Society, California Pacific Medical Center, and as co-editor of the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics. He has served on many nonprofit boards and appointed commissions, and is a trained hospice worker. He is a widely published essayist and book and music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, and many other publications.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our YouTube and Soundcloud channels for more great podcasts.
~ Co-presented with CancerChoices ~Join Host Michael Lerner in conversation with cancer coach Lindsay McDonell about her journey with cancer, her coaching work, and her work with the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, DC.Lindsay McDonellLindsay is a speaker, cancer coach, and the author of "Your Dance with Cancer." She is an eight-year thriver with metastatic breast cancer and chronic myeloid leukemia. Lindsay is Project LEAD certified with the National Breast Cancer Coalition, a certified Integrative Oncology Navigator with the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, a You Can Thrive coach, and a CancerChoices guide. You can find out more about Lindsay on her facebook page https://facebook.com/YourDancewithCancer and her website https://yourdancewithcancer.com .Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
What Stories Does the Land Hold? is a conversation series co-presented by the Center for Humans and Nature and The New School at Commonweal as part of the Center’s Questions for a Resilient Future SeriesAcross the world, Indigenous people share something in common: a connection to land and their Ancestral territories. This series of conversations spotlights a collection of Indigenous voices telling the stories of the land and its stories, connecting us to each other and to all of our relations.In this conversation, join Host Christine Luckasavitch with Dr. Amy Shawanda, an Odawa kwe is from Wikwemikong Unceded territory whose academic work is focused on Anishinaabe motherhood, specifically identifying the challenges, tensions, and strengths of incorporating traditional teachings and pedagogies in daily life. Amy and Christine will discuss the revitalization of Indigenous knowledges, unapologetically making space for Indigenous knowledges, and the realm of Indigenous health.Photo: Alyssa Bardy PhotographyDr. Amy ShawandaAmy is an Odawa kwe from Wiikwemkoong, Manitoulin Island. She is a mother, auntie, student, and life-long learner of Anishinaabe cultural ways and Anishinaabemowin. Her research interests primarily lie within Anishinaabe thinking, being, doing, and connecting with the land. She has a specific focus on bringing Indigenous health knowledge into Western health care. Her first publication was with the Turtle Island Journal of Indigenous Health titled Baawaajige: Exploring Dreams as Academic References. She has diverse research interests that includes Indigenous pedagogies, research methods and methodologies, star knowledge, Dream Knowledges, history, and storytelling.Christine LuckasavitchChristine Luckasavitch is an Omàmìwininì Madaoueskarini Anishinaabekwe (a woman of the Madawaska River Algonquin people), belonging to the Crane Clan, and mixed settler heritage. Christine continues to live in Omàmìwininìaki, unceded Algonquin territory.Christine is the Owner/Executive Consultant of Waaseyaa Consulting and Waaseyaa Cultural Tours, two small businesses dedicated to reviving and celebrating Indigenous ancestral knowledge and culture-based practices through educational opportunities. She is the co-owner of Algonquin Motors, a woman-led motorcycle clothing company honouring the spirit of unceded Algonquin territory. She is currently writing her thesis to complete her Master of Arts in Indigenous Studies at Trent University.Christine is the former Executive Director of Native Land Digital, an Indigenous-led not-for-profit dedicated to providing a digital platform for Indigenous peoples to share knowledge about their Indigenous cultures, territories, and knowledge systems across the world.Her work is centered around creating spaces for Indigenous peoples to share their knowledges, both in physical and digital spaces, and encouraging the re-emergence of ancestral kinship ties.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
It’s a time for new beginnings, for releasing the old and claiming greater joy! Master Storyteller Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, and Musician Karen Drucker will share songs and stories about finding the courage to live our best life. Here’s to rebirth!Watch or listen to other events with Rachel and Karen on our website, tns.commonweal.orgRachel Naomi Remen, MDRachel is a Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Founder and Founding Director of the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI), which was at Commonweal for decades and is currently at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. She is one of the best known of the early pioneers of wholistic and integrative medicine. As a medical educator, therapist, and teacher, she has enabled many thousands of physicians to find individual meaning and purpose in the practice of medicine and thousands of patients to remember their power to heal. More than 30,000 medical students have completed The Healer’s Art, her groundbreaking curriculum for medical students taught at the majority of medical schools in America. A master storyteller and observer of life, her bestselling books, Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings have sold more than 2 million copies and have been translated into 21 languages. Her new book is The Birthday of the World: A Story About Finding Light in Everyone and Everything (2022).Karen DruckerKaren’s message is all about healing and love—whether singing one of her positive message songs or sharing stories that are funny, inspiring, and heart opening. She is a keynote speaker, women’s retreat facilitator, and entertainer who has recorded 22 CDs of her inspirational music. Karen is also the author of the best selling book Let Go of the Shore: Songs & Stories To Set The Spirit Free. Her chants and songs are used around the world and often help people deal with illness and loss, or help them fill the need to feel more centered for the day. Karen’s intention is to make a difference by using her music to open hearts and share a message of hope, acceptance, and love. Find out more about Karen on her website: karendrucker.com.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join Janet Moses, MD, and host Michael Lerner as they discuss the Bob Moses Conference on the Carceral State and continue their exploration of Janet’s life with her husband Bob Moses, the legendary civil rights leader. You can find the earlier conversation between Michael and Janet at: https://tns.commonweal.org/podcasts/janet-moses/Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Co-presented by The New School at Commonweal and CancerChoices~Our knowledge about the biology of cancer has grown tremendously in the last two decades. We now know that the environment in which cancer cells grow are as important as the cancer cell in the management of cancer. Attending to that environment—the immunology, metabolism, microbiome, and our lifestyle and psychosocial environment of the person—should be a routine part of cancer care. Join Host Michael Lerner in this conversation with Dr. Wayne Jonas about how whole-person care can become part of routine oncology.Wayne B. Jonas, MDWayne is a practicing family physician, an expert in integrative health and healthcare delivery, and a widely published scientific investigator. Dr. Jonas is the executive director of Samueli Integrative Health Programs, increasing awareness and access to integrative health and supporting the scientific investigation of healing processes in the areas of stress, pain, and resilience. Dr. Jonas is a retired lieutenant colonel in the Medical Corps of the United States Army. He has served as director of the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health and as the director of the Medical Research Fellowship at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. His books include the 2018 best seller How Healing Works: Get Well and Stay Well Using Your Hidden Power to Heal.Michael LernerMichael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~ Co-presented with CancerChoices ~Join The New School Host and CancerChoices Co-founder Michael Lerner for a webinar conversation with CancerChoices Program Manager and Lead Researcher Nancy Hepp and Senior Clinical Consultant Laura Pole. After a brief discussion of using natural products and re-purposed drugs in integrative cancer care, they will explore the surprisingly good evidence of effectiveness for improving survival and reducing risk of cancer for three complementary therapies: aspirin, vitamin D, and melatonin.Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
In a special presentation for the holidays, join us in welcoming Commonweal’s own Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, and musician Karen Drucker: two feisty women of a certain age who have been friends for years. We will sing together, hear stories together, and tell some of our own. Bring the people you love and the cat!Rachel Naomi Remen, MDRachel is a Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Founder and Founding Director of the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI), which was at Commonweal for decades and is currently at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. She is one of the best known of the early pioneers of wholistic and integrative medicine. As a medical educator, therapist, and teacher, she has enabled many thousands of physicians to find individual meaning and purpose in the practice of medicine and thousands of patients to remember their power to heal. More than 30,000 medical students have completed The Healer’s Art, her groundbreaking curriculum for medical students taught at the majority of medical schools in America. Her new children’s book is The Birthday of the World: A Story about Finding Light in Everyone and Everything. Her bestselling books, Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings have sold more than 2 million copies and have been translated into 21 languages. Rachel has had Crohn’s disease for more than 65 years and her work is a unique blend of the wisdom, strength, and viewpoints of both doctor and patient.Karen DruckerKaren’s message is all about healing and love–whether singing one of her positive message songs or sharing stories that are funny, inspiring, and heart opening. She is a keynote speaker, women’s retreat facilitator, and entertainer who has recorded 22 CDs of her inspirational music. Karen is also the author of the best selling book Let Go of the Shore: Songs & Stories To Set The Spirit Free. Her chants and songs are used around the world and often help people deal with illness and loss, or help them fill the need to feel more centered for the day. Karen’s intention is to make a difference by using her music to open hearts and share a message of hope, acceptance, and love. Find out more about Karen on her website: https://www.karendrucker.com/Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen in conversation with host Michael Lerner as she reads from and discusses her newest children’s book “The Birthday of the World: A Story About Finding Light in Everyone and Everything”
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Co-presented by The New School and CancerChoices~
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for a conversation with Kelly Turner, New York Times bestselling author of Radical Remission and Radical Hope. Kelly featured Michael in a Hay House 10-episode docuseries, Radical Remission, about cancer survivors who defied their diagnoses. The docuseries had a test screening in March 2020 and will be released exclusively on HayHouse.com in October 2022.
Kelly Turner is the New York Times bestselling author of Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds, now in 22 languages. Her highly anticipated follow-up book, Radical Hope: 10 Key Healing Factors from Exceptional Survivors of Cancer & Other Diseases, became an instant #1 Amazon bestseller. She is a frequent guest on national TV talk and news shows and holds a B.A. from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Find out more on her website: https://kelly-turner.com.
Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Acompañe a Lyons Filmer en una conversación con la profesora de derecho Lara Bazelon, defensora, autora y madre, sobre cómo aceptar al desequilibrio cuando se trata del trabajo, la vida y el ser madre. El nuevo libro de Lara, Ambitious Like a Mother: Why Prioritizing Your Career Is Good For Your Kids, (Ambiciosa Como Madre: Por Qué Darle Prioridad a Nuestra Profesión, es Bueno para sus Hijos, que fue publicado en abril.
Esta es la segunda conversación de nuestra serie Impulso a las Mujeres en el Mundo de Hoy, presentada en conjunto con el Refugio Mesa.
Adhiérase a nuestra última conversación de esta serie:
Lara Bazelon
Lara es profesora en la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de San Francisco, donde dirige las clínicas educativas de justicia penal y racial. De 2012 a 2015, fue profesora adjunta de prácticas, invitada en la Facultad de Derecho Loyola y directora del Proyecto por el Inocente de la misma Facultad. Por siete años fue abogada litigante en el Despacho de la Defensoría Pública Federal en Los Ángeles. Como Ayudante de Cátedra de Justicia Penal de la Fundación Jacob y Valeria Langeloth en 2017, en el Refugio Mesa, Lara empleó su residencia para completar su libro, muy bien recibido (Rectificar: El Poder the la Justicia Restauradora después de Una Declaración Condenatoria Injusta – Imprenta Beacon, 2018).
Lyons Filmer
Lyons es la ex directora de programas de la radio comunitaria KWMR en Point Reyes Station, California, puesto que ejerció por 18 años. Su interés en radio comenzó durante la universidad, donde fue DJ de música y lectora de noticias. En la década de 1990, fue programadora voluntaria en KPFA, en Berkeley, donde produjo y condujo programas sobre temas de la mujer, drama y literatura. Se sumó a KWMR en 1999 y poco después se convirtió en directora de programación. Lyons es la conductora, entre otros programas, de (Entrevistas de Mesa Refuge) “Mesa Refuge Interviews” en el que charla con residentes del Retiro para Escritores de Mesa Refuge.
Join Host Lyons Filmer in conversation with law professor, advocate, author, and mother Lara Bazelon about embracing imbalance when it comes to work, life, and motherhood. Lara’s recent book, Ambitious Like a Mother: Why Prioritizing Your Career Is Good For Your Kids, was published in spring 2022.
This is the second conversation in our Empowering Women in Today’s World series, co-presented with the Mesa Refuge. Both English and Spanish-language audio podcasts are posted, and the video has Spanish-language captions enabled. You can find all of the recordings on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Spotify, Amazon Podcast, and YouTube. You can follow us at any of these platforms to get automated notices of new recordings.
Lara Bazelon Lara is a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law where she directs the criminal and racial justice clinics. From 2012-2015, she was a visiting associate clinical professor at Loyola Law School and the director of the Loyola Law School Project for the Innocent. She was a trial attorney in the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Los Angeles for seven years. As a 2017 Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation Criminal Justice Fellow at the Mesa Refuge, Lara used her residency to complete her well-received book Rectify: The Power of Restorative Justice After Wrongful Conviction (Beacon Press 2018).
Host Lyons Filmer Lyons is the former program director at community radio KWMR in Point Reyes Station, California, where she served for 18 years. Her interest in radio began in college, where she was a music DJ and news reader. In the 1990s, she was a volunteer programmer at KPFA in Berkeley, where she produced and hosted programs on women’s issues, drama and literature. She joined KWMR in 1999 and became its program director soon after. Among other programs, Lyons hosts “Mesa Refuge Interviews,” talking with the current residents of Mesa Refuge Writers Retreat.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join archetypal psychologist and astrologer Laurence Hillman in conversation with Host Michael Lerner about the archetypes that define our lives and organizations, and which can help us live our life’s true passion and purpose.
Dr. Laurence Hillman Born and raised in Zürich, Switzerland, Laurence became immersed in archetypes at the age of sixteen and this has remained his passion for more than 40 years. As a professional archetypal coach, he specializes in helping his clients understand their deeper purpose and their life’s calling—especially in these challenging times. His tools for mapping archetypes include archetypal astrology for which he is one of the leading voices worldwide.
He has lectured internationally and conducted workshops at the Globe Theatre in London where he blended Shakespeare and Astrology. At the Cycles & Symbols Conference in California, he lectured on Venus in America (co-presented with his father James Hillman). His book titles include Planets in Play – How to Reimagine Your Life Through the Language of Astrology; Alignments – How to Live in Harmony with the Universe (co-author); and Archetypes at Work – Evolving your Story, One Character at a Time (co-author). Find out more about him on his website.
Host Michael Lerner Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Co-presented with CancerChoices
Join Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Janie Brown, founder of Callanish Society—a grassroots non-profit organization in Vancouver, BC, for people living with, and dying from, cancer.
Janie Brown RN, MSN, MA was raised in Scotland and educated with a masters in psychology at St. Andrews University, and then a masters in nursing at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. She worked for many years as an oncology nurse and clinical nurse specialist at BC Cancer in Vancouver. In 1995, inspired by the Cancer Help Program at Commonweal, she founded the Callanish Society, a grassroots non-profit organization for people living with, and dying from, cancer, based in Vancouver. She co-produced a documentary film: I’m Still Here: Young Adults Living Life with Recurrent Cancer. Janie’s book Radical Acts of Love: Twenty Conversations to Inspire Hope at the End of Life (Canongate, UK 2020) describes her work of 30 years working with families living with cancer.
Host Michael Lerner Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, CancerChoices.org, the Omega Resilience Projects, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Co-presented with CancerChoices~
Discover the newly launched CancerChoices.org site, designed to help cancer patients and care providers create personalized integrative treatment paths and receive the support of a healing community. The co-creators of the new site join us to highlight the new features and answer your questions.
Michael Lerner, co-founder Miki Scheidel, co-founder and creative director Laura Pole, RN, MSN, OCNS, senior clinical consultant Nancy Hepp, program manager and lead researcher
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
This version of the discussion includes the Spanish translation audio from the original webinar.
Acompáñenos en la primera conversación de nuestra serie Impulso a las Mujeres en el Mundo de Hoy, presentada por The New School at Commonweal junto con El Refugio Mesa.
En esta conversación, acompañe a nuestra anfitriona Lyons Filmer en conversación con Marielena Hincapié, abogada, estratega en lo jurídico y en política dentro del movimiento de justicia para los inmigrantes, una voz líder en la conversación nacional sobre inmigración.
Marielena Hincapié Marielena es inmigrante de Medellín, Colombia. Creció en Rhode Island, la menor de diez hijos, y se convirtió en la intérprete para sus padres en escuelas, hospitales y agencias gubernamentales, donde se dio cuenta de las barreras estructurales y las desigualdades que encara la gente pobre en este país, especialmente las personas de color y los inmigrantes. Se desempeñó por 20 años como directora ejecutiva del (Centro Nacional de Legislación Migratoria) National Immigration Law Center (NILC), la organización líder de la nación destinada a defender y promover los derechos de los inmigrantes de bajos recursos en los Estados Unidos. Bajo su liderazgo, NILC lleva la vanguardia de la lucha jurídica para detener el intento del presidente Trump de rescindir DACA. Ha representado victoriosamente a los beneficiarios de DACA y de (Se Hace Camino Nueva York) Make the Road New York en un caso de la Corte Suprema de Estados Unidos en el que el Tribunal determinó que la anulación impuesta por la gestión de Trump fue “arbitraria y caprichosa”.
Lyons Filmer Lyons es la ex directora de programas de la radio comunitaria KWMR en Point Reyes Station, California, puesto que ejerció por 18 años. Su interés en radio comenzó durante la universidad, donde fue DJ de música y lectora de noticias. En la década de 1990, fue programadora voluntaria en KPFA, en Berkeley, donde produjo y condujo programas sobre temas de la mujer, drama y literatura. Se sumó a KWMR en 1999 y poco después se convirtió en directora de programación. Lyons es la conductora, entre otros programas, de (Entrevistas de Mesa Refuge) “Mesa Refuge Interviews” en el que charla con residentes del Retiro para Escritores de Mesa Refuge.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join us for the first conversation in our Empowering Women in Today’s World series, co-presented by The New School at Commonweal and the Mesa Refuge.
In this conversation, join our host Lyons Filmer in conversation with Marielena Hincapié—attorney, legal and political strategist in the immigrant justice movement, and a leading voice in the national conversation on immigration.
Another version of this audio podcast is available in Spanish.
Marielena Hincapié is an immigrant from Medellin, Colombia. Growing up in Rhode Island as the youngest of ten kids, she became an interpreter for her parents at schools, hospitals, and government agencies where she learned about the structural barriers and inequities facing poor people in this country, especially people of color and immigrants. For 20 years, she served as executive director of the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), the nation’s leading organization dedicated to defending and advancing the rights of low-income immigrants in the United States. Under her leadership, NILC has been at the legal forefront of the fight to stop President Trump’s attempt to rescind DACA, successfully representing DACA recipients and Make the Road New York in a U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court found that the Trump administration’s rescission was “arbitrary and capricious.”
Lyons Filter is the former program director at community radio KWMR in Point Reyes Station, California, where she served for 18 years. Her interest in radio began in college, where she was a music DJ and news reader. In the 1990s, she was a volunteer programmer at KPFA in Berkeley, where she produced and hosted programs on women’s issues, drama and literature. She joined KWMR in 1999 and became its program director soon after. Among other programs, Lyons hosts “Mesa Refuge Interviews,” talking with the current residents of Mesa Refuge Writers Retreat.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join three Librans—Host Michael Lerner, as our (cahoot mahoot), Astrologer and Intuitive Rachel Lang, and Caroline Casey, dedicated agent of Liberating Trickster at Coyote Network News — for a webinar conversation to:
Cultivate a Culture of Ingenious Altruism
via
Pragmatic Mysticism Applied Divination Participatory Astrology
to avert further dis-aster ( “against the stars”) We Gather to Con-sider (“with the stars”)
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Co-presented with CancerChoices~
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner with CancerChoices Advisor Donald Abrams, MD, offering a webinar conversation on the launch of the new CancerChoices.org website. Donald is an integrative oncologist and one of the nation’s foremost integrative cancer care authorities. Previous conversations with Dr. Abrams, including a four-part training series for cancer advocates and navigators dedicated to helping others with informed choice in cancer, can be found at: https://tns.commonweal.org/audio-video-library/?_sft_speaker=donald-abrams
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join astrologers Richard Tarnas and Rachel Lang with TNS host Michael Lerner as they explore how an understanding of the great archetypal symbols of astrology can influence and illuminate how we live our lives.
Rick's seminal book Cosmos and Psyche will serve as a reference for the conversation.
Richard Tarnas is a professor of psychology and cultural history at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he founded the graduate program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness. He teaches courses in the history of ideas, archetypal cosmology, depth psychology, and religious evolution. He has frequently lectured on archetypal studies and depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, and was formerly the director of programs and education at Esalen Institute in Big Sur. He is the author of The Passion of the Western Mind, a history of the Western world view from the ancient Greek to the postmodern that is widely used in universities. His second book, Cosmos and Psyche, received the Book of the Year Prize from the Scientific and Medical Network, and is the basis for the ten-part documentary series The Changing of the Gods. He is also the co-editor of Psyche Unbound: Essays in Honor of Stanislav Grof. Richard Tarnas is a past president of the International Transpersonal Association and served for many years on the Board of Governors for the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco.
Rachel is a professional astrologer, psychic medium, and author of Modern Day Magic: 8 Simple Rules to Realize Your Power and Shape Your Life. Rachel teaches courses like Astrology for Creatives, Working with Magic, and Relationships and Astrology, and she mentors the members of development circles. Her monthly horoscope columns appear in the Omega News and Conscious Living, and she contributes to a variety of publications, including Well+Good and Women’s Health. Rachel is the Outreach Director for the National Council for Geocosmic Research (NCGR), the VP of the Los Angeles NCGR chapter, and a committee member with the International Association of Ethics in Astrology.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join us for a conversation with TNS Host Steve Heilig and Dr. Anna O’Malley—both public health experts and music lovers—about how creative play, music-making, and dancing is soul medicine and builds individual and community resilience.
This (outdoor) event happened just before Commonweal's Open House on May 22, 2022.The Open House, included tours, experiential workshops, food, and music.
Anna O’Malley, MD: Anna is an Integrative Family and Community Medicine physician, a lover of Nature, a mother of two incredible daughters. As a Bravewell Fellow graduated from the University of Arizona’s Program in Integrative Medicine, Anna is inspired by working to transform medicine. Her residency training at University of California, San Francisco at San Francisco General Hospital and her work within the California prison system deepened her understanding of the social determinants of health, the beauty of the path of service, and the critical importance of inclusivity. Her practice of Integrative Family and Community Medicine in West Marin allows her the profound privilege of embodying the healer archetype in the village, exploring innovative models applying Community as Medicine, and honoring the mysterious and beautiful cycles of Life.
TNS Host Steve Heilig: Steve is a longtime senior research associate with Commonweal, a co-founding director of the Commonweal Collaborative on Health and the Environment, a host of dialogues for the New School, and in other programs originating at or founded at Commonweal. Trained at five University of California campuses in public health, medical ethics, addiction medicine, economics, environmental sciences, and other disciplines, his other work includes positions at the San Francisco Medical Society, California Pacific Medical Center, and as co-editor of the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics. He has served on many nonprofit boards and appointed commissions, and is a trained hospice worker. He is a widely published essayist and book and music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, and many other publications.
Join us for a conversation with filmmaker David Grubin and host Michael Lerner. This in person conversation followed a special screening of David’s film Free Renty: Lanier v. Harvard at Commonweal.
David Grubin, Free Renty, Director/Producer David is a director, writer, producer, and cinematographer whose films range across history, art, poetry, and science, winning every major award in his field, including two Alfred I. Dupont awards, three George Foster Peabody prizes, five Writer's Guild prizes, and ten Emmys. His films include The Trials of Robert Oppenheimer, The Buddha, Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided; LBJ; Truman; TR: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt; FDR, The Secret Life of the Brain, The Jewish Americans, Kofi Annan, Center of the Storm, Tesla, The Mysterious Human Heart, Language Matters with Bob Holman, Degenerate Art, In the Beginning Was Desire, Healing and the Mind with Bill Moyers - Wounded Healers.
From the personal to the universal, we can draw from archetypal stories and symbols to gain context for the events that shape our life experiences. Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for a conversation with Yvonne Smith Tanas, a Jungian analyst, psychotherapist, and astrologer, and Rachel Lang, astrologer and intuitive. They will discuss the relationship between Jungian therapy and astrology through an exploration of archetypes. The conversation will focus on how astrology can be a tool for healing and meaning-making in our lives.
Yvonne Smith Tarnas, PhD is an astrologer, psychotherapist, and Jungian Analyst. Besides tending to her consulting practice, Yvonne is a clinical supervisor and instructor for the San Francisco Jung Institute and lectures on psychology and astrology. Publications include “Synchronicity, Intentionality, Archetypal Meaning in Therapy” (2015) and “Destined Meetings and the Healing Force of Relationships” (2021). Yvonne lectures for the Astrological Association of Great Britain, OPA, and ISAR as well as Jungian audiences.
Rachel Lang is a professional astrologer, psychic medium, and author of Modern Day Magic: 8 Simple Rules to Realize Your Power and Shape Your Life. Rachel teaches courses like Astrology for Creatives, Working with Magic, and Relationships and Astrology, and she mentors the members of development circles. Her monthly horoscope columns appear in the Omega News and Conscious Living, and she contributes to a variety of publications, including Well+Good and Women’s Health. Rachel is the Outreach Director for the National Council for Geocosmic Research (NCGR), the VP of the Los Angeles NCGR chapter, and a committee member with the International Association of Ethics in Astrology.
SOLIDARITY | Connecting Across the Food Chain ~Co-presented with Real Food Media~
For the 21.5 million people who work across the food chain—from farm fields to meat packing factories to grocery stores—their jobs were already among the most low-paid, exploitative, and dangerous in the economy before COVID-19. The crisis has only heightened the stakes for food workers. Today, in the midst of the pandemic, these workers are among the most impacted while they toil to keep food on our tables. In this third conversation in the 2022 Roots of Resilience series.
Leah Douglas is the agriculture and energy policy reporter at Reuters. Previously, they were a staff writer and associate editor at the Food and Environment Reporting Network, an independent, nonprofit newsroom. Leah’s reporting has been published in the Guardian, the Nation, the Washington Post, Mother Jones, NPR, the American Prospect, Time, and other outlets. Leah’s reporting has been cited in dozens of print and television media outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, AP, NBC Nightly News, and John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight. In 2021, Leah was a fellow in the U.C. Berkeley – 11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship and won two awards from the National Association of Agricultural Journalists for feature and investigative reporting. Leah was the 2020 recipient of the National Farmers Union Milt Hakel Award for excellence in agricultural reporting.
Ligia Guallpa, Workers Justice Project / Los Deliveristas Unidos For more than twelve years, Ligia Guallpa has been organizing New York City’s day laborers, construction workers, domestic workers, and, most recently, app-based delivery workers to build a government and economy that works for all of us. She is currently leading some of the most important issues of our time, including immigration, workers rights, climate change and runaway inequality. She is the co-founder and executive director of the Worker’s Justice Project and Los Deliveristas Unidos. Under her leadership, WJP has 12,000 members and is growing. Suzanne Adely, Food Chain Worker’s Alliance Suzanne joined the Food Chain Workers Alliance in 2017. A former New York City educator, she has a background in community organizing, public interest law, and international worker advocacy. Suzanne worked with several community-led organizations in Chicago and New York before beginning her global labor rights work. From 2011-2014 she was the UAW Global Organizing Institute India coordinator and since has collaborated with many local and global organizations on behalf of workers in New York, Host Anna Lappé, Real Food Media Anna is a national bestselling author, a renowned advocate for sustainability and justice along the food chain, and an advisor to funders investing in food system transformation. A James Beard Leadership Awardee, Anna is the co-author or author of three books on food, farming, and sustainability and the contributing author to fourteen more. One of TIME magazine’s “eco” Who’s-Who, Anna is the founder or co-founder of three national organizations including the Small Planet Institute and Small Planet Fund. In addition to her work at Real Food Media, Anna developed and leads the Food Sovereignty Fund, a global grantmaking program of the Panta Rhea Foundation. East & North Africa and elsewhere.
Host Anna Lappé, Real Food Media Anna is a national bestselling author, a renowned advocate for sustainability and justice along the food chain, and an advisor to funders investing in food system transformation. A James Beard Leadership Awardee, Anna is the co-author or author of three books on food, farming, and sustainability and the contributing author to fourteen more. One of TIME magazine’s “eco” Who’s-Who, Anna is the founder or co-founder of three national organizations including the Small Planet Institute and Small Planet Fund.
~Co-presented with the OMEGA Resilience Funders Network~
Join Host Michael Lerner in conversation with systems researcher, cultural activist, and social entrepreneur Rufus Pollock. In this conversation we share recent work mapping an emerging “metamodern” ecosystem centered on a radical, alternative approach to social change–one that is simultaneously paradigmatic, integrated, and engaged.
Rufus Pollock, PhD Rufus is an entrepreneur, activist and author as well as a long-term zen practitioner. He is passionate about finding wiser, weller ways to live together. He wants his child (and all children) to live in a world of love, abundance and wisdom. He has founded several successful for-profit and nonprofit initiatives (and some unsuccessful ones) including Life Itself, Open Knowledge Foundation, and Datopian. His book Open Revolution is about making a radically freer and fairer information age and has been translated into multiple languages. His next book, Wiser Societies, is about the cultural dark matter that enables societies be wiser (and weller). Previously he has been the Mead Fellow in Economics at the University of Cambridge as well as a Shuttleworth and Ashoka Fellow. A recognized global expert on the information society, he has worked with G7 governments, IGOs like the UN, Fortune 500s as well as many civil society organizations. He holds a PhD in Economics and a double first in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge. Find out more about his work on his website: rufuspollock.com.
Host Michael Lerner Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, Healing Circles, Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Part of the Roots of Resilience in An Age of Crisis event series; co-presented with Real Food Media and the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance~
Sea vegetables, shellfish, fish—each species has its own story, culture, and policy issues. These species, their environments, and the cultures that depend on them are at risk due to agricultural runoff, genetically engineered seafood, and the climate crisis. Peleke Flores of Mālama Hulēʻia and Carl Wassilie of Dam Watch International join Host Tiffani Patton to share stories of resistance against the corporate takeover of the ocean and their efforts to protect keystone species, livelihoods, and cultures along the Pacific Northwest and in Hawai’i.
Photo by Peter Vanosdall on Unsplash
Carl Wassilie Carl was born and raised in Alaska, rooted deep in salmon culture and Salmon communities. His Yup’ik name is Angut’aq; and has feet in both the Yup’ik and Western worldviews as a Yup’ik biologist. Since the devastating 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Carl has worked on defending salmon ecosystems and the communities and Relations on Mother Earth, that depend on them. As the rapid climate warming in the Arctic has brought natural changes to the marine and terrestrial landscape, Carl has been challenging the military industrial complex expanding North. Carl has worked with sovereign Tribes, First Nations and other communities across Turtle Island to protect the cultural survival of indigenous cultures by resisting oil, gas and mining companies that attempt to colonize some of the last great ecosystems left on the planet
Peleke Flores Peleke Flores was born in Hilo, Hawai‘i, and raised in Waimea, Kaua‘i. He is a 2001 graduate of Waimea High School and attended Kapiolani Community College in the Pre-Travel Industry Management Program then transferred to UH Manoa taking up Hawaiian Language and Hawaiian Studies with a special focus on Mālama ‘Āina (Caring for Traditional Hawaiian food systems). He has dedicated over 20 years of his career working and volunteering for ‘Āina Based Non-Profit Organizations and family farms. He served as the Kū Hou Kuapā Coordinator at Paepae o Heʻeia on the Ko’olaupoko district of Oʻahu where a 88 acre 800 year old fishpond is located. His knowledge of mālama ‘āina practices and dry stack wall-building were of great value in the restoration of this sacred space. Peleke currently works for Mālama Hulēʻia where his ʻike and expertise are integral in restoring this wahi pana including the 40 acre, 600-year-old Alakoko fishpond. He is experienced in Traditional Hale Building, Uhau Humu Pohaku (hawaiian dry set), and restoring traditional Hawaiian food systems such as lo’i kalo, lo’i pa’akai, and loko i’a.
Host Tiffani Patton Tiffani is a lifelong “foodie” turned activist, writing and researching food system change for more than seven years. A gifted writer and storyteller, she leads several areas of educational programming, communications strategy, engagement, and internal operations at Real Food Media. She co-produces and co-hosts the Real Food Reads and Foodtopias podcasts with Tanya Kerssen.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Part of the Roots of Resilience in An Age of Crisis event series co-presented with Real Food Media~
In this conversation, Real Food Media’s Tiffani Patton talks with Mai Nguyen—farmer, organizer, and co-founder of Minnow—and Vera F. Allen—mother, partner, organizer, and farmer, and the co-founder of the Midwest Farmers of Color Collective—about the history of land theft, the work to get more land into the hands of BIPOC farmers, and what it means to farm regeneratively. Together, they’ll share strategies for personal and collective liberation through soil.
Photo: Paige Green Photography in Made Local Magazine
Mai Nguyen, Minnow Mai (pronouns they/them) is a farm owner-operator and social justice activist. They grow heirloom grain, cooperative economics, and racially equitable farm policy. Mai is currently co-director of Minnow, an organization focused on land tenure for farmers of color within the framework of indigenous sovereignty. You can find out more about Mai on their websites: farmermai.com and weareminnow.org. You can follow them on Instagram: @farmermainguyen.
Vera F. Allen, Midwest Farmers of Color Collective Vera is a Black Navajo, mother, partner, organizer, and farmer, and the co-founder of the Midwest Farmers of Color Collective. She spends her time on issues affecting Indigenous peoples and all of our food. Although she has been a grower for most of her life, it was the Youth Farm and Market Project of Minneapolis that opened her world to food activism. Serving as the market coordinator and being guardian to a garden sewn by kids was a once in a lifetime experience that influences the work Vera chooses to do every day. Vera is working on food policy projects, a food fellowship, and continues to look for ways to serve BIPOC people in the quest for land rematriation and food autonomy.
Tiffani Patton, Real Food Media Host Tiffani Patton is a lifelong “foodie” turned activist, writing and researching food system change for more than seven years. A gifted writer and storyteller, she leads several areas of educational programming, communications strategy, engagement, and internal operations at Real Food Media. She co-produces and co-hosts the Real Food Reads and Foodtopias podcasts with Tanya Kerssen.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join Host Michael Lerner in conversation with medical oncologist and professor of medicine Adam Lerner, MD, about his work as a senior oncologist working with a large community of low-income communities of color in the Boston area (recorded in May of 2021).
Adam Lerner, MD Adam is a Professor of Medicine, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and a medical oncologist at Boston Medical Center. He received his MD from Yale School of Medicine, followed by an internal medicine residency at Boston City Hospital. He did his fellowship in Medical Oncology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, and subsequently remained there while carrying out research in the cellular and molecular biology of T lymphocytes. In 1996, he joined the Hematology/Oncology Section at Boston Medical Center. Clinically, Dr. Lerner cares for patients in a large community of low-income communities of color with hematologic malignancies, cutaneous malignancies and sarcomas.
Host Michael Lerner Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, Healing Circles, Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for a webinar conversation with astrologer and intuitive Rachel Lang. We will be looking at what astrology suggests may be ahead for us as individuals, as a country, and as a planet over the coming decade. We encourage you to view our last New School conversation with Rachel: Intuition, Astrology, Magic: A Spiritual Biography. https://tns.commonweal.org/podcasts/lang-lerner/#.Ye85-y-B1Z0
Rachel Lang Rachel is a professional astrologer, psychic medium, and author of Modern Day Magic: 8 Simple Rules to Realize Your Power and Shape Your Life. Rachel teaches courses like Astrology for Creatives, Working with Magic, and Relationships and Astrology, and she mentors the members of development circles. Her monthly horoscope columns appear in the Omega News and Conscious Living, and she contributes to a variety of publications, including Well+Good and Women’s Health. Rachel is the Outreach Director for the National Council for Geocosmic Research (NCGR), the VP of the Los Angeles NCGR chapter, and a committee member with the International Association of Ethics in Astrology. Find out more about her on her website. https://rachellangastrologer.com/
Host Michael Lerner Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, Healing Circles, Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Part of the Money as Medicine series of conversations at TNS~
Join TNS Host Victoria Santos in a conversation with ancestors and money coach Morgan Curtis and with Xicana climate justice organizer, human rights advocate, and storyteller Niria Alicia Garcia. Morgan and Niria Alicia both live at Canticle Farm, a multi-racial, inter-faith, cross-class, intergenerational intentional community in Lisjan Ohlone territory (Oakland, California). They’ll talk about their journeys transforming ancestral legacies—one from the perspective of a person growing up in a wealthy, privileged family, and the other from the perspective of a person growing up in a migrant farmworker family.
Niria Alicia Garcia Niria Alicia is a Xicana Indígena community organizer, educator, storykeeper and human rights advocate devoted to protecting the sacredness of Mother Earth and the dignity of historically oppressed peoples. She is a first-generation proud daughter of immigrant farm worker and forestry workers from Michoacan and Chihuahua, Mexico. In 2019, her climate justice work earned her the national “Emerging Leader Award” from GreenLatinos. This year, the United Nations gave her the highest honor given to young people, naming her the Young Champion of the Earth for North America for her work with Run4Salmon.
Niria Alicia believes that true justice and healing will only begin when we rematriate and indigenize land, normalize indigenous values and honor the sacredness of women, 2 spirit peoples, and Mother Earth. Her proudest accomplishments and honors have been learning how to make tortillas in the traditional way from her grandmother, growing her first milpa from her family’s heirloom corn seeds, and inheriting her great-great grandmother’s metate, a culturally significant ancestral tool made from lava rock that has the hand imprints of the strong women she is proud to descend from.
Morgan Curtis Guided by the call to transmute the legacy of her colonizer and enslaver ancestors, Morgan is dedicated to working with her fellow people with wealth and class privilege towards redistribution, atonement, and repair of ancestral harms. As a facilitator, money coach and ritualist, she works to catalyze the healing of relationships with self, family, ancestors, community, and the land, enabling the surrender of power and control so that resources can flow towards social, environmental, and economic justice. She is in the process of redistributing 100% of her inherited wealth and 50% of her income to primarily Black- and Indigenous-led organizing and land projects. She is currently a Masters of Divinity student at Harvard Divinity School, focused on racial justice and healing.
Our Host, Victoria Santos, MA Victoria designs and facilitates group processes in communities, organizations, businesses, universities and schools. Warm authentic presence, compassionate communication, commitment to social justice and racial equity, and lifelong learning are threads running through all of Victoria’s work. She brings more than thirty years of experience and leadership in education, community organizing and community development. For ten years, Victoria assisted Sobonfu Somé in leading grief rituals according to the Dagara traditions of Burkina Faso. She is a Spanish-fluent Afro-Caribbean immigrant who was born in a rural village in the Dominican Republic.
Music: Devi Daly singing, music composed by Coco Love Alcorn.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Indigenous Writers Address the Seventh Fire
- Podcast listeners can follow along with the visual elements of this program at: Slides: https://tns.commonweal.org/app/uploads/2021/11/Ancestor-P2-Slide-1-3.pdf
Film excerpts: Seed Mother: Coming Home https://youtu.be/RVqmM_DUZtk Nourishing the Body, Honoring the Land https://vimeo.com/100924901 Braiding the Sacred https://vimeo.com/193666359
Co-presented by the New School at Commonweal and the Center for Humans and Nature—in celebration of the book What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be? and the 10th anniversary of the Center’s Questions for a Resilient Future Series
Join us for a series of two conversations with indigenous leaders about the Seventh Fire—an Anishinaabe prophecy that points to our current time, with opportunities for healing, solidarity, and Indigenous cultural recovery and revitalization. In this conversation, Host Melissa K. Nelson (Anishinaabe/Metis) speaks with Rowen White (Mohawk) and Rachel Wolfgramm, PhD (Whakatōhea, Ngāi Takoto, Te Aupouri, Tonga). The follow-up conversation event with Kaylena Bray (Seneca) and Nicola Wagenberg (Colombian) can be found at: https://tns.commonweal.org/podcasts/7th-fire-part-2/#.YZVrKS-B1Z0
Kaylena Bray (Haudenosaunee/Seneca) Kaylena is Turtle Clan from the Seneca Nation of Indians. She has grown up eating traditional white corn, which has given fuel to a career focused on strengthening Indigenous knowledge of traditional agriculture, Native foodways, and environmental health. Her work throughout the Americas has served to educate and strengthen vital links between Indigenous food systems, local economies, and climate change adaptation. She holds degrees from Brown University and the University of Oxford, and currently supports small-scale funding for traditional farming and local economic development initiatives throughout Turtle Island.
Nicola Wagenberg, PhD Nicola is a clinical and cultural psychologist and educator. She has worked for more than 20 years with diverse individuals, communities, and organizations on personal and cultural transformation. Since 2005, Nicola has been working with the Cultural Conservancy, directing media projects, and developing and implementing arts and cultural health programs. Nicola is also a psychotherapist in private practice where she sees individuals, couples, and groups in Berkeley, California.
Host Melissa K. Nelson (Anishinaabe/Metis) Melissa is an ecologist and Indigenous scholar-activist. Formerly a professor of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University, she now teaches at Arizona State University in the School of Sustainability, Global Futures Laboratory. From 1993 to 2021, she served as the founding executive director and CEO of the Cultural Conservancy and continues to serve as president of their board. She is a contributor and co-editor of What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want To Be? (2021), Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability published (2018), and Original Instructions: Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future (2008). She is Anishinaabe/Métis/Norwegian and a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Indigenous Writers Address the Seventh Fire
- Podcast listeners can follow along with the visual elements of this program at: Slides: https://tns.commonweal.org/app/uploads/2021/10/What-Kind-of-Ancestor-for-Melissa-Nelson-Rach-29-October.pdf Film: https://youtu.be/RVqmM_DUZtk
Co-presented by the New School at Commonweal and the Center for Humans and Nature—in celebration of the book What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be? and the 10th anniversary of the Center’s Questions for a Resilient Future Series
Join us for a series of two conversations with indigenous leaders about the Seventh Fire—an Anishinaabe prophecy that points to our current time, with opportunities for healing, solidarity, and Indigenous cultural recovery and revitalization. In this conversation, Host Melissa K. Nelson (Anishinaabe/Metis) speaks with Rowen White (Mohawk) and Rachel Wolfgramm, PhD (Whakatōhea, Ngāi Takoto, Te Aupouri, Tonga). The follow-up conversation event with Kaylena Bray (Seneca) and Nicola Wagenberg (Colombian) can be found at: https://tns.commonweal.org/podcasts/7th-fire-part-2/#.YZVrKS-B1Z0
Rowen White (Mohawk) Rowen is a seed keeper and farmer from the Mohawk community of Akwesasne and a passionate activist for Indigenous seed sovereignty. She weaves stories of seeds, food, culture, and sacred Earth stewardship on her blog, Seed Songs, and cultivates a legacy of seeds and cultural memory with the Indigenous Seedkeepers Network. She is the director and founder of Sierra Seeds, an organic seed cooperative focusing on local seed production and education, based in Nevada City, California. She teaches creative seed training immersions around the country within tribal and small farming communities.
Rachel Wolfgramm, PhD (Whakatōhea, Ngāi Takoto, Te Aupouri, Tonga) Rachel is a principal investigator for Nga Pae o te Maramatanga and is currently leading a project along with a team of senior Maori academics and doctoral students investigating leadership in economies of well being. She is a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland Business School and is an active researcher, author, and consultant in sustainability, leadership, intercultural communications, and Maori development. Over the past 15 years, her research has been published in international journals and books and presented at numerous conferences across Europe, the United States, and Asia Pacific.
Host Melissa K. Nelson (Anishinaabe/Metis) Melissa is an ecologist and Indigenous scholar-activist. Formerly a professor of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University, she now teaches at Arizona State University in the School of Sustainability, Global Futures Laboratory. From 1993 to 2021, she served as the founding executive director and CEO of the Cultural Conservancy and continues to serve as president of their board. She is a contributor and co-editor of What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want To Be? (2021), Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability published (2018), and Original Instructions: Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future (2008). She is Anishinaabe/Métis/Norwegian and a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.
The coming years, decades and perhaps generations, will be faced with the enormous task of walking through utterly unknown territory. We are required to develop another set of skills and ways of seeing as we descend ever further into the collective unknown. Join TNS Host Michael Lerner with Soul Activist and Author Francis Weller for a conversation about the simple things that will enable us to navigate through the Long Dark.
Photo by Amritanshu Sikdar on Unsplash
Francis Weller, MFT Francis Weller is a psychotherapist, writer, and soul activist. He is a master of synthesizing diverse streams of thought from psychology, anthropology, mythology, alchemy, indigenous cultures and poetic traditions. Author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief, and The Threshold Between Loss and Revelation, (with Rashani Réa) he has introduced the healing work of ritual to thousands of people. He founded and directs WisdomBridge, an organization that offers educational programs that seek to integrate the wisdom from indigenous cultures with the insights and knowledge gathered from western poetic, psychological and spiritual traditions. His work was featured in The Sun magazine (October 2015) and the Utne Reader (Fall 2016). Francis is currently on staff at Commonweal Cancer Help Program, co-leading their week-long retreats with Michael Lerner. He is currently completing his third book, A Trail on the Ground: Living a Soulful Life and Why It Matters.
Michael Lerner is president and co-founder of Commonweal in Bolinas, California. He co-founded Commonweal in 1976. His projects include the Commonweal Cancer Help Program, Healing Circles, Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies, The New School at Commonweal and The Resilience Project. A Harvard graduate, he received a PhD and taught at Yale in the early 1970s before moving to Bolinas, California in 1976. He received a MacArthur fellowship for contributions to public health in 1984.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Changing the World through Small Daily Acts, Small Gardens, and Small Groups, with Host James Stark
Today’s intersecting crises seem so daunting that it can be hard to fathom our small actions having any real impact. Join Host James Stark for a conversation with Trathen Heckman—founder of the non-profit organization Daily Acts—about how all of us can amplify the power of our daily actions, gardens and groups to unleash the power of community.
Trathen Heckman is the founder/Director of Daily Acts Organization, a non-profit dedicated to “transformative action that creates connected, equitable, climate resilient communities.” He also serves on the convening committee for Localizing California Waters and the advisory board of Norcal Resilience Network, and he has helped initiate and lead numerous coalitions and networks including Climate Action Petaluma. Trathen lives in the Petaluma River Watershed where he grows food, medicine and wonder while composting apathy and lack.
Host James Stark James has focused his work at the intersection of ecology, community resilience, and healing over many decades. With a masters in Environmental Sciences, focusing on Sustainable Community Development and an M.A. in Spiritual Psychology, his work has centered on developing institutions and programs that strengthen the resilience of communities, and serving as a guide for individuals seeking to lead in times of change. He co-founded and co-directs the Regenerative Design Institute on Whidbey Island, Washington, and currently serves as Senior Advisor with Natura Institute for Ecology and Medicine, and Staff with Commonweal’s The Resilience Project, both in Bolinas, California. His community work has yielded the co-creation of community-based non-profits that have created replicable models for developing community resilience. He presently co-facilitates the Art of Vitality and Resilience Wayfinding programs at Natura.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Co-presented with OMEGA Network~
Podcast listeners: Download a PDF of Richard’s presentation to follow along with the audio program: https://tns.commonweal.org/app/uploads/2021/09/Richard_Heinberg_09-24-21_TNS_Presentation.pdf
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner with Richard Heinberg for a conversation about his new book, Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival. You can hear other conversations between Michael Lerner and Richard Heinberg on our website: https://tns.commonweal.org
Richard Heinberg is the author of thirteen previous books, including some of the seminal works on society’s current energy and environmental sustainability crisis. He is senior fellow of the Post Carbon Institute and is regarded as one of the world’s foremost advocates for a shift away from our current reliance on fossil fuels. He has authored scores of essays and articles that have appeared in such journals as Nature, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, The American Prospect, Public Policy Research, Quarterly Review, Yes!, and The Sun; and has appeared in many film and television documentaries, including Leonardo DiCaprio’s 11th Hour. He is also the author and narrator of Post Carbon Institute’s 22-video Think Resilience online course.
Michael Lerner is president and co-founder of Commonweal in Bolinas, California. He co-founded Commonweal in 1976. His projects include the Commonweal Cancer Help Program, Healing Circles, Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies, The New School at Commonweal and The Resilience Project. A Harvard graduate, he received a PhD and taught at Yale in the early 1970s before moving to Bolinas, California in 1976. He received a MacArthur fellowship for contributions to public health in 1984.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Part 2 of a 2 part conversation and spiritual biography with Rachel Lang and host Michal Lerner.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Part 1 of a 2 part conversation~
Join Host Michael Lerner in a spiritual biography conversation with astrologer and intuitive Rachel Lang.
Rachel Lang Rachel is a professional astrologer, psychic medium, and healer. She is a regular contributor to a variety of publications, including Bustle, Brit + Co, LVBX, Romper, PopSugar, and the Omega News. As an internationally recognized speaker, she enjoys sharing her astrological and spiritual knowledge with others and regularly offers presentations, classes, and workshops. She began studying astrology and developing her spiritual gifts more than 20 years ago and has maintained a private practice working with individuals and businesses since 2006. She holds a master’s degree in theology from Loyola Marymount University, with an emphasis on feminist theology and ethics.
Photo by Josh Rangel on Unsplash
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Co-presented with Spring Creek Project~
Follow along with the videos shown and discussed in this conversation: Common Murre - https://youtu.be/AuGTNgjhW1M Western Sage Grouse - https://youtu.be/RzyoI0r9ddc
How can we attune ourselves to the music that surrounds us? How can we bear the sorrow of its silencing? Join author Kathleen Dean Moore and Naturalist Hank Lentfer in virtual conversation with TNS Host Kyra Epstein to celebrate the earth’s wild music and creatures. We hear about Kathleen’s new book—Earth’s Wild Music: Celebrating and Defending the Songs of the Natural World (Counterpoint Press). We hear animal recordings from Hank and learn about how he has crafted a life listening to nature’s music. We watch two “tiny concerts,” videos inspired by Kathleen’s book and put together by the Spring Creek Project at Oregon State University.
Join us for a conversation with TNS Host Steve Heilig and artist-naturalist Keith Hansen about his new book of illustrations: Hansen’s Field Guide to the Birds of the Sierra Nevada. Identify and learn about more than 250 birds of the Sierra Nevada. From tiniest hummingbirds to condors with nine-foot wingspans; from lower-elevation wrens to the rasping nutcrackers of the High Sierra; from urban House Sparrows to wild water-loving American Dippers, Field Guide to the Birds of the Sierra Nevada showcases Keith’s sixteen-year project to illustrate the birds of the Sierra Nevada.
Download a PDF of Keith’s illustrations to follow along with the audio podcast here: https://tns.commonweal.org/podcasts/hansen-heilig/attachment/keith-hansen-tns-slides-080621/
Keith Hansen Coming from a long line of artists, Keith took up illustrating birds in 1976, his senior year of high school. After extensive travel, he volunteered for the Point Reyes Bird Observatory, both at the Bolinas Palomarin Field Station, and nine adventures to the Farallon Islands. Capturing and gently handling hundreds of birds for banding studies gave him an intimate understanding of their build, anatomy, plumage and character, all crucial things for a budding bird artist. Over the years, he created bird illustrations for books, scientific journals, magazines, newsletters, and logos. Taking about 14 years to illustrate the 320 species that occur in that great mountain range, and five years to write, his latest book is Hansen’s Field Guide to the Birds of the Sierra Nevada. Keith’s workspace, The Wildlife Gallery is located in Bolinas.
Host Steve Heilig Steve is a longtime senior research associate with Commonweal, a co-founding director of the Commonweal Collaborative on Health and the Environment, a host of dialogues for the New School, and in other programs originating at or founded at Commonweal. Trained at five University of California campuses in public health, medical ethics, addiction medicine, economics, environmental sciences, and other disciplines, his other work includes positions at the San Francisco Medical Society, California Pacific Medical Center, and as co-editor of the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics. He has served on many nonprofit boards and appointed commissions, and is a trained hospice worker. He is a widely published essayist and book and music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, and many other publications.
Join TNS Host Steve Heilig in conversation with “the point man” for drug policy reform efforts, Ethan Nadelmann. They’ll talk about a wide range of drug policy issues, concerning both illegal and legal substances, what has worked and what has failed, and where to go from here.
Ethan Nadelmann Described by Rolling Stone as “the point man” for drug policy reform efforts and “the real drug czar,” Ethan Nadelmann was long widely regarded as the outstanding proponent of drug policy reform both in the United States and abroad. Ethan began his advocacy in the late 1980s while teaching at Princeton; he then founded first The Lindesmith Center and then the Drug Policy Alliance, the world’s leading drug policy reform organization, which he directed until 2017. He also co-founded the Open Society Institute’s International Harm Reduction Development program. Ethan has authored two books on the internationalization of criminal law enforcement (Cops Across Borders and, with Peter Andreas, Policing The Globe), and spoken publicly in roughly forty states and forty countries. His TED Talk on ending the drug war has over two million views. Ethan and his colleagues were at the forefront of dozens of successful campaigns to legalize marijuana, reduce the incarceration of drug law offenders, treat drug use and addiction as health, not criminal, issues, and otherwise promote alternatives to punitive prohibitionist policies. He recently started a podcast about all things drugs called PSYCHOACTIVE. And he has become increasingly engaged in the debate over tobacco harm reduction.
Host Steve Heilig Steve is a longtime senior research associate with Commonweal, a co-founding director of the Commonweal Collaborative on Health and the Environment, a host of dialogues for the New School, and in other programs originating at or founded at Commonweal. Trained at five University of California campuses in public health, medical ethics, addiction medicine, economics, environmental sciences, and other disciplines, his other work includes positions at the San Francisco Medical Society, California Pacific Medical Center, and as co-editor of the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics. He has served on many nonprofit boards and appointed commissions, and is a trained hospice worker. He is a widely published essayist and book and music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, and many other publications.
Reparative Philanthropy: Releasing Wealth for Social Justice
~Part of the Money as Medicine series of events co-presented with the Center for Healing and Liberation at Commonweal~
We welcome host Victoria Santos to The New School, in this first conversation in our Money as Medicine series of events. In this conversation, Victoria talks with CC Gardner Gleser about her role in transforming the philanthropic landscape to refocus on racial equity.
C’Ardiss “CC” Gardner Gleser is an advocate for social impact and social justice work. She is the first director of Programs and Strategic Initiatives at Satterberg Foundation, whose mission focuses on promoting a just society and sustainable environment. She currently serves as a leader on the boards of Andrus Family Fund, Charlotte Martin Foundation, and Philanthropy Northwest. CC founded Black Ivy Manor, which provides funding and other opportunities for Black scholars, artists, and social justice advocates to develop their crafts and voices. CC earned her Bachelor’s degree in African American Studies from Yale University, and an M.Ed. in Education Administration from Seattle University.
Our Host, Victoria Santos, MA Victoria designs and facilitates group processes in communities, organizations, businesses, universities and schools. Warm authentic presence, compassionate communication, commitment to social justice and racial equity, and lifelong learning are threads running through all of Victoria’s work. She brings more than thirty years of experience and leadership in education, community organizing and community development. For ten years, Victoria assisted Sobonfu Somé in leading grief rituals according to the Dagara traditions of Burkina Faso. She is a Spanish-fluent Afro-Caribbean immigrant who was born in a rural village in the Dominican Republic.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in a spiritual biography conversation with Janet Moses.
Janet Jemmott Moses, MD Janet involved herself in the Civil Rights Movement at a young age. The New York native was only 22-year-old when she decided to join the front lines as an activist. She participated in picketing and sit-in-movements in New York, before heading to the south to raise funds for the SNCC – the voter organization co-founded by Bob Moses. Eventually, the two fell in love and got married in 1968. Janet received her medical degree at the University of Boston and established herself as a successful pediatrician at M.I.T.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Matthew Barzun about his new book, The Power of Giving Away Power: How the Best Leaders Learn to Let Go. About the book:
"In this practical and personal journey, Barzun brilliantly layers lessons across history and industries with his own experiences as an internet entrepreneur, political organizer, and US ambassador to the United Kingdom and Sweden. With lessons for leaders of all types, The Power of Giving Away Power shows how the Constellation mindset shines in some of the most impactful organizations and innovations the world has ever known. And it encourages us all to recognize, as Barzun writes, "the power we can create by seeing the power in others" — and making the leap to lead. Together."
Matthew Barzun has always been fascinated about how we can stand out and fit in at the same time. He helped countries do both when he served as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom and to Sweden. He helped citizens do both as National Finance Chair for Barack Obama by pioneering new ways for people to have a stronger voice in politics. And he helped tech consumers do both as an entrepreneur when he helped build CNET Networks in the early 90s. Barzun was raised on the East Coast, started his career on the West Coast, and settled in the middle in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife, Brooke, and their three children.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
WATER | Thirsty California: Water, Agribusiness, and the Future of Food
~Part of the Roots of Resilience in An Age of Crisis series co-presented with Real Food Media and Mother Jones magazine~
Join Anna Lappé with award-winning journalist Tom Philpott and Janaki Jagannath, of the Community Alliance for Agroecology and the 11th Hour Project, to talk about the state of water in California. As record wildfires and drought plague the state, what are advocates for farmers and farmworkers advocating for? What threats do we face and how do we take them on?
Photo: Unsplash
Tom Philpott is the food and agriculture correspondent for Mother Jones and author of Perilous Bounty: The Looming Collapse of American Farming and How We Can Prevent It (Bloomsbury 2020). Prior to joining Mother Jones in 2012, he worked for five years as the food editor and columnist for Grist Magazine. His work has won numerous awards, including a Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism. He was a cofounder in 2004 of Maverick Farms, a small organic vegetable farm and center for sustainable food education in Valle Crucis, North Carolina. In past lives, he has worked as a farmer, line cook, a community college teacher, and a finance writer.
Janaki Jagannath is Program Manager of the Food and Ag Program at the 11th Hour Project. Previously she worked in the San Joaquin Valley of California who work to advance agricultural and environmental policy towards justice for communities bearing the burden of California’s food system. She has worked at California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. in Fresno enforcing environmental justice and worker protections such as access to clean drinking water for unincorporated farmworker communities. Janaki has assisted in curriculum development for the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems degree at UC Davis and has farmed in diversified and orchard crops across the state. Janaki holds a B.S. in Agricultural Development from UC Davis and a producers’ certification in Ecological Horticulture from UC Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology.
Host Anna Lappé is a national bestselling author, a renowned advocate for sustainability and justice along the food chain, and an advisor to funders investing in food system transformation. A James Beard Leadership Awardee, Anna is the co-author or author of three books on food, farming, and sustainability and the contributing author to fourteen more. One of TIME magazine’s “eco” Who’s-Who, Anna is the founder or co-founder of three national organizations including the Small Planet Institute and Small Planet Fund. In addition to her work at Real Food Media, Anna developed and leads the Food Sovereignty Fund, a global grantmaking program of the Panta Rhea Foundation.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
What Justice Looks Like: Two Young Women’s Voices in Art
Join TNS Host Ladybird Morgan for a conversation with two young women filmmakers who are finding their voices through film and other media. They share their view of what is happening in our world, what they see is possible, and how the arts can be a way to shape the voices of culture.
We share two of their short films (2 minutes) during the webinar.
Isabel Lena Fernandez Isabel is an eighteen-year-old artist who spends the preponderance of her time scrapbooking, painting, writing poetry, and watching films. She watches films the way others listen to music: religiously and constantly. She works at The Armory Center for the Arts and presently attends Pasadena City College. Isabel has a passion for parks and recreation and aspires to be employed as a Death Valley Park Ranger. She unwaveringly loves the untouched earth, the sand dunes, and the hemorrhage of stars in the desert’s sky.
Anika Velasquez Anika is a 17 year old, Latinx, actress/screenwriter who is currently working on an original TV show. Anika is also an academic and attends her local high school as well as Santa Barbara City College, with hopes of getting degrees in both film and English. Anika prioritizes diverse representation, and believes that everyone has a story worth telling.
Host Ladybird Morgan, RN, MSW Ladybird is program director and co-founder of the Humane Prison Hospice Project, and has been working in end-of-life care as a registered nurse, clinical social worker, and educator for 20+ years. She has worked with organizations including The Zen Hospice Project and Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Ladybird has guided medical practitioners, families and private caregivers to find their clearest voice as they step across significant thresholds in life and in preparing for death. Currently she facilitates the training of The Brothers Keepers Peer Support/ End of Life Caregiving at San Quentin, is a Palliative Care consultant with Mettlehealth.org, co-facilitates Last Acts of Kindness with Redwing Keyssar, and supports Commonweal’s Cancer Help Program, Healing Circles, and The New School.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: https://tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Part of the Roots of Resilience in An Age of Crisis series co-presented with Real Food Media~
Seed savers Kristyn Leach of Namu Farm and Second Generation Seeds in Yolo County, California, and Jessika Greendeer of Dream of Wild Health in Twin Cities, Minnesota, will talk about the “why” behind their seed-saving practices. Together with Host Tiffani Patton, Jessika and Kristyn will explore the role of seed-saving in preserving and connecting to culture and why we need seed diversity to withstand the climate crisis.
(Photo: Tiffani Patton)
Kristyn Leach grows Asian crops in California’s Central Valley. Her focus is on preserving and adapting Korean plants, agronomic wisdom, and culture. She partners with the Namu Restaurant Group, providing their restaurants with produce and working with their chefs and cooks on breeding projects. She founded a seed line within Kitazawa Seed Company, the oldest purveyor of Asian vegetable seeds in the United States, called Second Generation Seeds. Second Generation is a collaborative project that hopes to connect or reconnect communities of the Asian diaspora with the crops that have sustained them.
Jessika Greendeer is a Ho-Chunk Nation tribal member from Baraboo, Wisconsin, and a member of the Deer Clan. She is currently the seed keeper and farm manager at Dream of Wild Health. Jessika has worked as the Agricultural Division Manager for her nation and had previously served as a garden mentor within her nation’s organic community gardens. She is a U.S. Army combat veteran and completed a Veteran-to-Farmer training program at the Rodale Institute in Pennsylvania.
Host Tiffani Patton is a lifelong “foodie” turned activist, writing and researching food system change for more than seven years. A gifted writer and storyteller, she leads several areas of educational programming, communications strategy, engagement, and internal operations at Real Food Media. She co-produces and co-hosts the Real Food Reads and Foodtopias podcasts with Tanya Kerssen. Tiffani brings years of active engagement in food policy discussions, event organizing, storytelling for change, facilitating important discussions around food system transformation, and the connection of art, music, and culture to food in the Bay Area and beyond.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Social media and other technology have a huge influence on our minds, behavior, and spirit. How do we best navigate our high-tech horizon in ways that allow for wholeness and presence? Join TNS Host Rabbi Irwin Keller in conversation with Aden Van Noppen, founder and executive director of Mobius, an unconventional collective of technologists, scientists, activists, and spiritual teachers dedicated to creating a world in which technology brings out the best in humanity.
Aden Van Noppen was a senior advisor to the U.S. Chief Technology Officer in the Obama White House Office, where she developed the led programs that leverage tech as a tool for social and economic justice. After that, she spent a year as a resident fellow at Harvard Divinity School focusing on the intersection of tech, ethics and spirituality and was an affiliate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. Aden was also part of the founding leadership team of The Sanctuaries, the first interfaith arts community in the country. Her work has been featured in the New Yorker, The New York Times, WIRED, and elsewhere.
Host Irwin Keller Rabbi Irwin Keller has been the spiritual leader of Congregation Ner Shalom in Sonoma County, California, since 2008. His past work included LGBT advocacy, HIV legal services, and 21 years as a singing drag queen with The Kinsey Sicks, America’s Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet. Irwin’s sermons and essays on Torah, mysticism, God, politics, disillusionment, and hope can be found on his blog, Itzik’s Well, found at irwinkeller.com. Irwin is a steward and faculty member of Commonweal’s Taproot Gathering.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Part of the Widening Circles Series Co-Presented with Healing Circles Global~
Join Oren Slozberg and Diana Lindsay, co-directors of Healing Circles Global for a conversation on the beginnings of Healing Circles and how it has evolved into a global resource for healing, social connection, and meaningful service.
In this conversation, we’ll explore:
The ideas from Christina Baldwin, Ann Linnea, Parker Palmer, Michael Lerner, and Janie Brown that deepen the work of Healing Circles Global.
Offering welcoming, safe, and nourishing circles for healing and connection for anyone from anywhere at no to low cost.
Providing meaningful experiences of learning, service, and belonging for our global community of healing circles volunteers.
Creating a sustainable, loving, global community for healing circles work.
Find out more about Healing Circles Global: healingcirclesglobal.org Find out more about The New School at Commonweal: tns.commonweal.org.
Don't forget to like and subscribe. And, to get news of upcoming events or new resources, follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/TNSCommonweal) and Instagram (instagram.com/tnscommonweal/).
~Part of the Widening Circles Series Co-Presented with Healing Circles Global~
Join us for an intimate conversation with Michael Lerner, Commonweal President, and the acclaimed Janie Brown, founder of Callanish Society, a grassroots non-profit organization in Vancouver, BC, for people living with, and dying from, cancer.
In this conversation, we’ll explore:
The personal impact of intentional healing in removing obstacles and supporting healing in every possible way.
How to set the conditions for healing in the retreat setting.
How radical acts of love can promote healing up to the moment of death.
Find out more about Healing Circles Global: healingcirclesglobal.org Find out more about The New School at Commonweal: tns.commonweal.org.
Don't forget to like and subscribe. And, to get news of upcoming events or new resources, follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/TNSCommonweal) and Instagram (instagram.com/tnscommonweal/).
~Part of the Widening Circles Series Co-Presented with Healing Circles Global~
Moving Forward: Circles for Healing and Coming Together / Michael Lerner, Parker Palmer, Christina Baldwin, Diana Lindsay, Lisa Simms-Booth, and Rahmin Sarabi, moderated by Oren Slozberg
We are transitioning into a post-COVID world with challenges on many levels, from our own health, national polarization and the global polycrisis. Facing these challenges, the need for healing and circle work is as important as ever, maybe even more. Moderated by Oren Slozberg, executive director of Commonweal, an intergenerational panel with Christina Baldwin, Parker Palmer, Michael Lerner, Rahmin Sarabi, Lisa Simms Booth and Diana Lindsay will reflect on circle work in our new unfolding world.
Find out more about Healing Circles Global: healingcirclesglobal.org Find out more about The New School at Commonweal: tns.commonweal.org.
~Part of the Widening Circles Series Co-Presented with Healing Circles Global~
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in an intimate, wide-ranging conversation with Parker Palmer—accomplished writer, teacher, activist, community organizer, and founder and senior partner emeritus of the Center for Courage & Renewal. Their rekindled friendship provides rich territory for embracing the challenge of becoming whole over the course of a lifetime.
In this conversation, we explore:
Why “no fixing, no saving, no advising, no setting each other straight.”
Creating circles of trust to sustain the journey to an undivided life.
How to value ignorance in search of a life of love and service.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Part of the Roots of Resilience in An Age of Crisis series co-presented with Real Food Media. https://realfoodmedia.org
In this wide-ranging conversation, we’ll hear from UCSF Associate Professor of Medicine Dr. Rupa Marya along with A-dae Romero-Briones of the First Nations Development Institute discuss efforts around the country to take on the aftermath of centuries of government-sanctioned and led land dispossession and cultural decimation. Together with TNS Host and Author Anna Lappé, Rupa and A-dae will share strategies toward a vision to protect and uplift Native agro-ecological traditions, including efforts to rematriate thousands of acres of land across the country.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Part of the Widening Circles Series Co-Presented with Healing Circles Global~
Join host Diana Lindsay in conversation with Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea, co-founders of PeerSpirit and The Circle Way. Christina and Ann trained thousands of people in The Circle Way around the world. They consulted with organizations and communities who want to give more voice to everyone around the circle, whether the conversation takes place in a board room, a nurses’ lounge, or a community.
In this conversation, we explore:
How the circle is common first culture, one of the building blocks that allowed us to become social beings—from the campfire to the council fire and onward.
Why cultures developed a “neutral” structure of circle that could be adapted to different uses by different peoples.
Stories of how the structure of circle becomes a foundational tool for personal, local, and global change.
Find out more about Healing Circles: healingcirclesglobal.org Find out more about The New School at Commonweal: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Michael Lerner via zoom at the Integral Yoga Institute in San Francisco.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Co-presented with the Bolinas Museum~
Point Reyes National Seashore is home to a significant Marconi wireless radio station built in the early 20th Century; Commonweal is based on the transmitting station grounds in an Art Deco structure, built by Marconi’s successor company, RCA. The surviving buildings and antenna fields are now on the National Register of Historic Places. Here, as was Marconi’s dream, the first transoceanic signal, from Bolinas to Hawaii, was achieved in 1914. The history of worldwide wireless radio transmission is more than technological: it launched an age of wireless communication which is still evolving. It contains its own language (Morse code), culture (among radio operators, and as lifelines to ship crews), and overarching sense of purpose.
Join us for a conversation with Carola DeRooy Davis, retired archivist and curator of the Pt. Reyes National Seashore Museum and Archives. Carola and Irwin will discuss the history of the Marconi/RCA stations and their cultural reverberations (including their impact in the development of the town of Bolinas). We will also hear about the tremendous efforts made to ensure preservation of this site, which threw a lifeline to ships at sea and land stations around the world for 84 years.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in a spiritual biography conversation with writer, speaker, and editor David Lorimer. David’s recent book, A Quest for Wisdom: Inspiring Purpose on the Path of Life was published in 2020 by Aeon Books.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join TNS Host Ladybird Morgan to witness and participate in a Wisdom Circle with Pat McCabe (Weyakpa Najin Win) and Susan Balbas, indigenous women leaders and elders. They will explore what is most alive for them today; talk about their work in social justice, environment, and community-building; and discuss what they are carrying forward and what they are letting go of in these changing times.
Pat McCabe (Weyakpa Najin Win, Woman Stands Shining) Pat is a Diné (Navajo) mother, grandmother, activist, artist, writer, ceremonial leader, and international speaker. She is a voice for global peace, and her paintings are created as tools for individual, earth and global healing. She draws upon the Indigenous sciences of Thriving Life to reframe questions about sustainability and balance, and she is devoted to supporting the next generations, Women’s Nation and Men’s Nation, in being functional members of the “Hoop of Life” and upholding the honor of being human.
Susan Balbas Susan (Cherokee/Yaqui) is a community organizer and carries valuable expertise in all levels of nonprofit operations and management. She is board chair of the nonprofit Front and Centered, a statewide coalition of over 60 community of color-led organizations working toward environmental justice, and executive director of Na’ah Illahee Fund, a Native-led community-based organization that advances sustainable Indigenous communities in the Pacific Northwest. Mother of three and grandmother of three, Susan has studied extensively with herbalists, is an avid gardener, cook, and a voracious reader of historical novels.
Host Ladybird Morgan, RN, MSW Ladybird has worked as a registered nurse, clinical social worker, healer and educator for 20+ years. She is the co-founder and Executive Director of Humane Prison Hospice Project whose mission is to implement end of life care in prisons by supporting and training prisoners to be caregivers. Ladybird has worked with many organizations including The Zen Hospice Project, Hospice by The Bay, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Commonweal and the UCSF/ MERI Center’s Last Acts of Kindness Program. She holds space for families and caregivers, medical practitioners, as well as directors of programs and institutions around the world to find their clearest voice as they step across significant thresholds in aging, life and at death.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Dwight McKee, MD, about innovative responses to COVID-19 and cancer. This is part one of a two-part conversation.
Dwight McKee, MD Dwight brings a comprehensive perspective to the practice of oncology and hematology and is at the forefront of the application of integrative medicine to the field of cancer care. He is board certified in medical oncology, hematology, nutrition, and integrative and holistic medicine. He co-authored a textbook on Herb, Nutrient and Drug Interactions (Mosby 2008), recently completed After Cancer Care with Gerald Lemole, MD, and Pallav Mehta, MD (Rodale 2015), and edited the Cancer Strategies Journal from 2011 to 2014. He received his MD degree from the University of Kentucky in 1975, followed by a rotating surgical internship at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC.
Host Michael Lerner Michael is president and co-founder of Commonweal in Bolinas, California. He co-founded Commonweal in 1976. His projects include the Commonweal Cancer Help Program, Healing Circles, Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies, The New School at Commonweal and The Resilience Project. A Harvard graduate, he received a PhD and taught at Yale in the early 1970s before moving to Bolinas, California, in 1976. He received a MacArthur fellowship for contributions to public health in 1984.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Dwight McKee, MD, about innovative responses to COVID-19 and cancer. This is part two of a two-part conversation.
Dwight McKee, MD Dwight brings a comprehensive perspective to the practice of oncology and hematology and is at the forefront of the application of integrative medicine to the field of cancer care. He is board certified in medical oncology, hematology, nutrition, and integrative and holistic medicine. He co-authored a textbook on Herb, Nutrient and Drug Interactions (Mosby 2008), recently completed After Cancer Care with Gerald Lemole, MD, and Pallav Mehta, MD (Rodale 2015), and edited the Cancer Strategies Journal from 2011 to 2014. He received his MD degree from the University of Kentucky in 1975, followed by a rotating surgical internship at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC.
Host Michael Lerner Michael is president and co-founder of Commonweal in Bolinas, California. He co-founded Commonweal in 1976. His projects include the Commonweal Cancer Help Program, Healing Circles, Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies, The New School at Commonweal and The Resilience Project. A Harvard graduate, he received a PhD and taught at Yale in the early 1970s before moving to Bolinas, California, in 1976. He received a MacArthur fellowship for contributions to public health in 1984.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join TNS Host Steve Heilig in conversation with author, journalist, and Covering Climate Now executive director Mark Hertsgaard about what’s next for climate change, the defining issue of our time. Now that climate denial has been voted out of the White House, what are the paths and the obstacles to progress in Washington and abroad, including a strengthened the Paris Agreement? What role can civil society, especially the news media, play? We know of no better expert on the “big picture” and what is or isn’t being done than our special guest for this talk. Join us.
Mark Hertsgaard has covered climate change since 1989, reporting from 25 countries and much of the United States in his books Earth Odyssey: Around the World In Search of Our Environmental Future and HOT: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth, as well as for outlets including The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, Time, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Mother Jones, Scientific American, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Guardian, Le Monde, L’espresso, NPR, the BBC, and Link TV. He is the environmental correspondent and investigative editor at large at The Nation and a co-founder of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism initiative committed to more and better coverage of the climate story.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in a spiritual biography conversation with rabbi, teacher, writer, music-maker, and performer Irwin Keller.
Rabbi Irwin Keller Irwin has served as spiritual leader of Congregation Ner Shalom in Sonoma County, California, since 2008, and received his rabbinic ordination through the ALEPH ordination program in 2021. He is a co-founder and steward of the Taproot Community – a deep dive into mystical learning and spiritual practice for activists, artists and community ritualists.
He was a lawyer and advocate (including being the primary author of Chicago’s first gay rights law), and was a singer in America’s Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet, the Kinsey Sicks, dubbed by NPR “the Royal Shakespeare Company of drag performance.” In his blog, Itzik’s Well, he writes about life, loss, family, hope, change, Torah, gender, sexuality and the usefulness of an outsider’s perspective.
Host Michael Lerner Michael is president and co-founder of Commonweal in Bolinas, California. He co-founded Commonweal in 1976. His projects include the Commonweal Cancer Help Program, Healing Circles, Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies, The New School at Commonweal and The Resilience Project. A Harvard graduate, he received a PhD and taught at Yale in the early 1970s before moving to Bolinas, California, in 1976. He received a MacArthur fellowship for contributions to public health in 1984.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join TNS Host Irwin Keller for a conversation with artist and oceans activist Josie Iselin. Josie creates hauntingly beautiful artwork featuring the seaweed and kelp of our Bay Area coastline and ocean. Her research accompanies the image-making process and leads her ever deeper into the science and ecology of the near-shore ocean universe. Co-presented with The Mesa Refuge. https://mesarefuge.org
Watch a video about Josie’s work to accompany this podcast at: https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qlgrl-vrjnY
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Co-presented with Point Reyes Books~
Commonweal invites all to join in the return of Frank Ostaseski, a renowned teacher, in discussion with his friend, student, and New School Host Steve Heilig. In recent years Frank has endured both heart and stroke incidents, and he will talk about living through those challenges, his long friendship with the late Ram Dass, and more. Frank has distilled hard-won lessons from his own life journey and synthesized 30 years of being with dying into his personal brand of wisdom. He is the author of The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully. Copies are available for purchase at Point Reyes Books.
Frank Ostaseski is a pioneer in end-of-life care. In 1987, he cofounded the Zen Hospice Project, the first Buddhist hospice in America, guiding a model for mindful and compassionate care for almost 20 years. In 2005, he founded the Metta Institute, training countless healthcare clinicians and caregivers and building a national network of educators, advocates and guides for those facing life-threatening illness. He inspires and engages audiences from Harvard Medical School students, to Mayo Clinic clinicians, and Wisdom 2.0 seekers. His work has been highlighted on The Oprah Winfrey Show, featured by Bill Moyers on his PBS television series On Our Own Terms and honored by H.H. the Dalai Lama.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
For nearly three decades, Commonweal, through its Juvenile Justice Program, has been an active and influential advocate for reforms of the California juvenile justice system. Now, the Governor has signed historic legislation (SB 823) that will permanently close the state’s youth prisons system, shifting all state-committed youth to county facilities and programs. This webinar will explore the impact of the closure bill on law enforcement, probation, and other government agencies as well as the impact on youth and community organizations. Join TNS Host Steve Heilig in conversation with David Steinhart—the Juvenile Justice Program Director who helped lawmakers draft the reform bill.
David Steinhart has been the director of the Commonweal Juvenile Justice Program since 1992. He is recognized, both within California and nationally, as an advocate, expert and author on a wide range of youth justice issues. In California, David was a prime architect of the landmark 2007 juvenile justice realignment law (SB 81) that moved non-violent youth out of the state Division of Juvenile Justice and into local control with more than $100 million per year million in state funds. David also co-drafted California’s Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act which has provided local agencies with more than $100 million per year in state funds for youth programs since its inception in 2000.
On the national front, David is the principal advisor on detention risk assessment to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI)—now active in 37 states. David has trained justice system personnel on detention reform in more than 30 states. He is the author of the JDAI Practice Guide on Juvenile Detention Risk Assessment.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Thomas Yeomans, author of writings on psychosynthesis and spiritual psychology as well as three volumes of poetry and a children’s book. He presently consults to individuals and organizations in Europe and North America on issues of personal and social change and transformation.
Thomas Yeomans, PhD is the founder and director of the Concord Institute. His background includes education at Harvard, Oxford, and the University of California with professional work in the fields of literature, education, and psychology. Since 1970 he has worked as a psychotherapist, teacher, and trainer of professionals in Psychosynthesis and, more recently, Spiritual Psychology throughout North America and in Europe and Russia. In the last decade he has developed a theory and practice of group work within a spiritual context which he uses in training and consulting to organizations in this country and abroad.
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Chris Desser—environmental lawyer and community activist.
From our podcast:
For me meditation practice… creates a place for me of rock bottom truth. Which isn’t to say that true things aren’t unfolding in the process, but it is a place where one just knows. And that knowing is—it’s not just that it’s a comfortable place to be, it’s an essential place to be… and I think that that rock bottom truth is for me a place of clarity of intent.
Christina L Desser Chris is a fellow of On the Commons, a think tank focused on developing the concept of The Commons as an overarching analytical structure organizing across sectors and disciplines. She served on the California Coastal Commission and the San Francisco Commission for the Environment. In 2003, she co-founded Women’s Voices, Women Vote, a project that successfully increased the participation of single women in the electoral process. She was co-editor of Living with the Genie—Technology and the Quest for Human Mastery (Island Press, 2003). Chris has practiced environmental law has served on the boards of many companies, foundations and progressive non-profits including Women Donors Network, The Rockwood Leadership Program, Patagonia, Mother Jones Magazine, and the Rainforest Action Network.
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with nurse midwives Ariska Razak, RN, and Carol Densmore, CNM, talking about birth and the healing wisdom of earth-based traditions.
Ariska Razak, RN, CNM, MPH Arisika’s work integrates the disciplines of Women’s Studies/ Women’s Spirituality, and Women’s Health and Spiritual Dance, through the incorporation of the teachings of earth-based spiritual traditions, women’s spirituality, and women’s health into the language of movement and dance.
She has worked as a nurse midwife, health care provider, and health care administrator for over 25 years, serving as staff nurse-midwife and director of the Nurse-Midwife Service at Highland Hospital in Oakland; director of the Alameda County Pre-term Delivery Prevention Project, and Assistant Administrator for Ancillary services at Cowell Hospital, UC Berkeley.
Carol Densmore Carol brings 25 years of experience in education, program development, and clinical care to her current position as the Director of the Cambridge Health Alliance Doula Program in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This unique, multicultural program offers emotional, social, and educational support for childbearing women at the Cambridge Birth Center and Cambridge Hospital. She has attended births in Boston area hospitals and homes, a Mexican border birth center and an Indian desert village. In India, she traveled extensively and researched the training of village health workers and traditional midwives. She holds Master’s Degrees in Education and in Public Health from Boston University and is a Certified Nurse Midwife.
Across the United States, thousands of people, most of them in low-income or minority communities, live next to heavily polluting industrial sites. In Sacrifice Zones: The Front Lines of Toxic Chemical Exposure in the United States, Steve Lerner tells the stories of twelve communities, from Brooklyn to Pensacola, that rose up to fight the industries and military bases causing disproportionately high levels of chemical pollution. He calls these low-income neighborhoods “sacrifice zones”—repurposing a Cold War term coined by U.S. government officials to designate areas contaminated with radioactive pollutants during the manufacture of nuclear weapons.
Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with Steve about the residents of a new generation of “sacrifice zones,” tainted with chemical pollutants, who need additional regulatory protections.
In celebration of the 35th anniversary of Commonweal Garden, founder Avis Rappaport Licht—and Regenerative Design Institute founders Penny Livingston Stark and James Stark—speak with Michael Lerner about their work with the earth and teaching hundreds of programs on permaculture, nature awareness, and leadership. Join them as they honor all those who have contributed to making the Commonweal Garden what it is today.
~Co-presented with the Mesa Refuge~
Please join New School host and Zen Meditation teacher Jaune Evans in conversation with Buddhist meditation and organic gardening mentor Wendy Johnson. This dialogue will be grounded in the examination of four core principles of Zen Buddhism and gardening: cultivating the way, maintaining fertility in your practice, propagating new life, and tending the earth. There will be ample opportunity to interact with the presenters during this practical presentation.
Wendy is a Buddhist meditation teacher and organic gardening mentor who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She began practicing Zen Buddhist meditation in 1971 and has led meditation retreats nationwide since 1992 as an ordained lay dharma teacher in the traditions of Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and the San Francisco Zen Center. As one of the founders of the organic farming program at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, Wendy has been teaching organic agriculture and meditation for decades. Since its inception in 1995, she has been a mentor and advisor to the Edible Schoolyard Project affiliated with Chez Panisse restaurant. She served as a founding instructor of the College of Marin’s innovative Organic Farm and Gardening Project established in 2009, where she taught organic agriculture for the first seven seasons of the program. In 2000 Wendy and her husband, Peter Rudnick, received the annual Sustainable Agriculture Award from the National Ecological Farming Association. She is the author of Gardening at the Dragon’s Gate, published by Bantam in 2008.
Jaune Evans is the executive director of Tamalpais Trust, which supports global indigenous-led organizations. She is a Soto Zen teacher and priest in the Everyday Zen sangha guided by Norman Fischer. Jaune also leads the Heart of Compassion sangha in Point Reyes on Friday mornings at the Presbyterian Church.
Her love for stories and West Marin have deep roots. She has served as a board member and advisory committee member of the Mesa Refuge, and has also received two of Mesa’s writing fellowships. Jaune is a new member of the Commonweal Board of Directors, former director of the Institute for Art and Healing at Commonweal, and is currently a facilitator in Commonweal’s Healing Circles program.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
(A posting of a conversation from 2014 TNS Archives)
Join us for conversation and with TNS Host Oren Slozberg and Lennon Flowers, founder of The Dinner Party: a community of mostly 20- and 30-somethings who’ve each experienced significant loss and who get together over dinner parties to talk about it and the ways in which it continues to affect their lives. Together, they’ve pioneered tools and community through which young people who’ve experienced significant loss can use their shared experience as a springboard toward living better, bolder, and more connected lives.
Lennon Flowers Lennon is the co-founder and executive cirector of The Dinner Party. Lennon lost her mom during her senior year of college, following a four-year fight with lung cancer. It had been more than three years since her passing when she hitched up her wagon and headed West to Los Angeles. Suddenly 3,000 miles away from home and the friends she’d known for years, she found she no longer had anyone with whom she could talk about her mom, and explore the way in which her life, death, and absence continued to affect her. So when Carla, a friend, colleague, and soon-to-be roommate, invited her over for dinner, it was a no brainer. Lennon most recently served as community director for Ashoka’s Start Empathy. She has written for YES! Magazine, Forbes, Elephant Journal, Open Democracy, EdWeek, and GOOD.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Co-presented with The Resilience Project at Commonweal
This year we have all witnessed how major global stressors—from climate change and income inequality to pandemics and autocracy—can impact each other and cause massive, cascading changes in our world. At the same time, other factors including pollution, artificial intelligence, population growth, and social media seem unstoppable forces that escalate other risks. Many fear that a broader systems collapse could be a plausible scenario. Given what we know, how do we respond? In this roundtable conversation, join Christina as she brings together scholars, designers, and activists to share their perspectives on the polycrisis. Audience questions and comments will enrich the dialogue, and the moderator will lead participants in a creative exercise to generate new language and insights.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Co-presented with Real Food Media~
Just about twenty years ago, several dozen of the nation’s leading scientists, ethicists, and environmentalists gathered in Bolinas, California, at Commonweal to draft a declaration of principles for the regulation, policy, and commercialization of the emerging technologies of genetically engineered organisms. The result? The Pacific Declaration. Now, two decades later, with the rapid expansion of genetically engineered organisms throughout the food system and emergent in animal agriculture and beyond, the wisdom—and caution—of The Pacific Declaration is just as relevant; its words prescient. To mark this anniversary milestone and reflect on the current context and what we can learn from this history, join us in a conversation with Anna Lappé—the daughter of one of the Declaration’s founding signatories—as well as author Claire Cummings, The Center for Food Safety’s Rebecca Spector, The Cultural Conservancy’s Melissa Nelson, and others at the forefront of the conversation about genetic engineering and the future of food.
Anna Lappé is a national bestselling author, a respected advocate for food justice and sustainability, and an advisor to funders investing in food system transformation. A recipient of the James Beard Leadership Award, Anna is the co-author or author of three books and the contributing author to more than a dozen others. Anna’s work has been translated internationally and featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Gourmet, Oprah Magazine, among many other outlets. A frequent public speaker, her popular TEDx talks have been watched nearly one million times.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Jewish mystical traditions offer the adept a rich array of practices and paradigms supporting personal and communal healing and renewal. These include text, sacred time, sensory experience, meditation, imagination, play, and teshuvah—an annual and ongoing process of realigning the self with the cosmos. Join TNS host Irwin Keller in conversation with scholar and mystic, Rabbi Elliot Ginsburg, as they discuss Judaism’s esoteric side and what it might offer all of us in broken times.
Rabbi Elliot Ginsburg, PhD Reb Elliott is Associate Professor of Jewish Thought and Mysticism at the University of Michigan, and rabbi of the Pardes Hannah minyan in Ann Arbor. He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, and taught at Oberlin College, before coming to Michigan. He has received an NEH Fellowship and a Kellogg Foundation grant supporting his scholarship. Reb Elliot has written two books on the kabbalistic celebration of Shabbat and is currently working on a scholarly study of Jewish mystical prayer and meditation, and a multi-tiered study of Judaism as spiritual practice. Reb Elliot received his rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi in 1998, and is senior faculty in the rabbinic ordination program of the Aleph Alliance for Jewish Renewal.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Oncologist Dr. Donald Abrams is a true pioneer on many important fronts—AIDS care, medical cannabis research and policy, the “right to die,” and integrative cancer care. He has also participated in a number of Commonweal’s projects, providing invaluable expertise. A full professor of medicine at UCSF, he has just retired after a long career and will talk about some of the many issues he has confronted and maybe some lessons learned. Join him and his longtime friend and colleague TNS Host Steve Heilig this inspiring informal talk.
Watch our 2014 two-part video series with Donald: https://tns.commonweal.org/podcasts/donald-abrams-m-d
Donald Abrams, MD: He co-edited the Oxford University Press textbook Integrative Oncology with Andrew Weil, MD. He was also named a “Top Cancer Doctor” in Newsweek’s 2015 Special Health Issue on Curing Cancer. Prior to specializing in oncology, Dr. Abrams worked in the field of HIV. He has conducted numerous clinical trials investigating complementary therapies in patients with HIV, including therapeutic touch, traditional Chinese medicine interventions, medical marijuana, medicinal mushrooms, and distant healing.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join TNS Host Steve Heilig and Anna O’Malley in a conversation exploring the role of physician in society at this planetary moment, community resilience in the face of COVID, and allyship with nature.
Anna O'Malley, MD Anna is an integrative family and community medicine physician, founded and directs Natura Institute for Ecology and Medicine in the Commonweal Garden, and cultivates the medicine of connection to self, one another, and the Earth.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
The Learning Community Series at The New School
Join TNS host Steve Heiig with two long-time members of the Commonweal community, Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, and Marion Weber. Rachel is a master story-teller and co-founder of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program. She is the author of Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather's Blessing, both international best-sellers. Marion is a pioneer of the healing arts movement, a long-time sand tray practitioner in the Commonweal Cancer Help Program, the inventor of group sand tray, and a deep seer into the wisdom and mystery traditions.
Rachel Naomi Remen: Rachel is a Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Founder and Founding Director of the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI), which was at Commonweal for decades and is currently at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. She is one of the best known of the early pioneers of wholistic and integrative medicine. As a medical educator, therapist, and teacher, she has enabled many thousands of physicians to find individual meaning and purpose in the practice of medicine and thousands of patients to remember their power to heal. More than 30,000 medical students have completed The Healer’s Art, her groundbreaking curriculum for medical students taught at the majority of medical schools in America. A master storyteller and observer of life, her bestselling books,
The Learning Community Series at The New School
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in a webinar conversation with Lisa Simms Booth, the executive director at the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts. The Smith Center is a Washington, DC-based health, education, and arts nonprofit that develops and promotes physical, emotional, and mental resources for people affected by cancer.
Lisa Simms Booth: In addition to serving as executive director for the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, Lisa previously served as senior director of patient and public engagement at the Biden Cancer Initiative. Prior to joining the Initiative, she was at FasterCures, a center of the Milken Institute, playing leadership roles in partnership development, external affairs and operations. Lisa’s experience also includes working for political and advocacy organizations including LISTEN, Inc., The Alliance for Justice, Time Dollar Institute, Children’s Defense Fund, Democratic National Committee and the National Rainbow Coalition.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
The Learning Community Series at The New School
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in webinar conversation with Carl Safina, writer, marine conservationist, PBS host, and MacArthur fellow.
Carl Safina’s lyrical non-fiction writing explores how humans are changing the living world, and what the changes mean for non-human beings and for us all. His work fuses scientific understanding, emotional connection, and a moral call to action. His writing has won a MacArthur “genius” prize; Pew, Guggenheim, and National Science Foundation Fellowships; book awards from Lannan, Orion, and the National Academies; and the John Burroughs, James Beard, and George Rabb medals. He grew up raising pigeons, training hawks and owls, and spending as many days and nights in the woods and on the water as he could. Safina is now the first Endowed Professor for Nature and Humanity at Stony Brook University and is founding president of the not-for-profit Safina Center. He hosted the PBS series Saving the Ocean, which can be viewed free at PBS.org. His writing appears in The New York Times, TIME, The Guardian, Audubon, Yale e360, and National Geographic, and on the Web at Huffington Post, CNN.com, Medium, and elsewhere. His books include the classic, Song for the Blue Ocean. Carl is author of ten books including Beyond Words; What Animals Think and Feel. His most recent book is Becoming Wild; How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace. He lives on Long Island, New York, with his wife Patricia and their dogs and feathered friends. More at CarlSafina.org and SafinaCenter.org .
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
The Learning Community Series at The New School
During this liminal time, where many old borders seem to have vanished, we are all trying to re-imagine how we might serve as hospice workers for the old, and midwives of the new. Join us for this webinar from The Learning Community series at The New School at Commonweal featuring TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with journalist, teacher, entrepreneur, civic leader and strategic advisor to philanthropic leaders Katherine Fulton.
Katherine Fulton Katherine has been a leading strategic advisor to foundations, high-net-worth donors, and major nonprofits for the past 25 years. She spent a decade building Monitor Institute into one of the nation’s leading social sector consulting firms, and has published and spoken widely on the future of philanthropy, impact investing and social change. Previously she was a journalist, co-founding an award-winning, alternative newspaper company in the American South. Her conviction in the early 1990s that the internet would transform journalism led her to California, where she worked with the world’s leading futurists and scenario planners as a senior leader at Global Business Network. She has served on more than two dozen boards, including Commonweal’s, and is now the co-chair of The Long Now Foundation. She lives in Sonoma, CA, with her wife of 30 years, Katharine Kunst.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
The Learning Community at The New School
Join us for a webinar conversation with TNS Host Michael Lerner and hospice and palliative care physician and educator BJ Miller about grief, public versus personal health, managing social distance while keeping the felt world alive, self-deliverance, and what to look for on the other side of the pandemic.
Dr. BJ Miller has been on faculty at his alma mater, UCSF, since 2007 where he’s worked in all settings of care: hospital, clinic, residential facility, and home. His career has been dedicated to moving healthcare towards a human-centered approach, on a policy as well as a personal level. Led by his own experiences as a patient, BJ advocates for the roles of our senses, community and presence in designing a better ending. His interests are in working across disciplines to affect broad-based culture change, cultivating a civic model for aging and dying and furthering the message that suffering and dying are fundamental and intrinsic aspects of life.
BJ’s latest project, Mettle Health, aims to provide personalized, holistic, online consultations for any patient, caregiver or clinician who needs help navigating healthcare system and the practical, emotional and existential issues that come with serious illness and disability. Mettle Health is the sister organization of the Center for Dying & Living, that someday will be a huge open-source, cross-disciplinary library of scholarship and anecdote.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
The Learning Community Series at The New School
What have we learned? How do we bring deep healing work online?
For 35 years, the Commonweal Cancer Help Program has offered week-long retreats for people with cancer. For the past five years, Healing Circles has developed circles for a wide range of people and problems. With COVID-19, we have brought much of our Healing Circles work online. Our friends at other centers who do deep healing work have done the same. TNS Host Michael Lerner, co-founder of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program, Healing Circles, The New School, and Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies, will explore the challenges and promise of bringing deep healing work online with leading friends and colleagues in healing circle work. Please join us with your thoughts and questions.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Part of The Learning Community Series at The New School
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in a two-part spiritual biography series with Sandra Maitri — artist, author, enneagram teacher, and long time teacher of the Diamond Approach to Inner Realization. The conversations follow her remarkable journey in spiritual work and provide insight into her work with both Claudio Naranjo and Hameed Ali, the founder of the Diamond Approach to Inner Realization.
Sandra Maitri was among the first group of students to whom the Chilean psychiatrist Claudio Naranjo presented the enneagram system in the United States in the early 1970s. Her books include The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram: Nine Faces of the Soul (2000) and The Enneagram of Passions and Virtues: Finding the Way Home (2005). She has been teaching the enneagram as part of the larger work of spiritual transformation for more than four decades.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Part of The Learning Community Series at The New School
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in a two-part spiritual biography series with Sandra Maitri — artist, author, enneagram teacher, and long time teacher of the Diamond Approach to Inner Realization. The conversations follow her remarkable journey in spiritual work and provide insight into her work with both Claudio Naranjo and Hameed Ali, the founder of the Diamond Approach to Inner Realization.
Sandra Maitri was among the first group of students to whom the Chilean psychiatrist Claudio Naranjo presented the enneagram system in the United States in the early 1970s. Her books include The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram: Nine Faces of the Soul (2000) and The Enneagram of Passions and Virtues: Finding the Way Home (2005). She has been teaching the enneagram as part of the larger work of spiritual transformation for more than four decades.
Part of The Learning Community Series at The New School
“There are some experiences,” Brother David Steindl-Rast once said, “where only poems can carry the freight.” The myths of original peoples were often chanted and held in memorized poems. The great religious and spiritual texts are often poems. Join Rachel Naomi Remen and New School Host Michael Lerner in the next conversation in The Learning Community series as they share some of the poems (and sayings) that they live by. Share the poems and sayings that inspire you.
Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., is a Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Founder and Founding Director of the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI), which was at Commonweal for decades and is currently at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. She is one of the best known of the early pioneers of wholistic and integrative medicine. As a medical educator, therapist, and teacher, she has enabled many thousands of physicians to find individual meaning and purpose in the practice of medicine and thousands of patients to remember their power to heal. More than 30,000 medical students have completed The Healer’s Art, her groundbreaking curriculum for medical students taught at the majority of medical schools in America. A master storyteller and observer of life, her bestselling books, Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings have sold more than 2 million copies and have been translated into 21 languages. Dr. Remen has had Crohn’s disease for more than 65 years and her work is a unique blend of the wisdom, strength, and viewpoints of both doctor and patient.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join TNS Host Steve Heilig in this webinar conversation with Marvin Mutch, Ladybird Morgan, and Sandra Fish—co-founders of the Humane Prison Hospice Project, a new program at Commonweal. They will share inspirational, some might say revolutionary, firsthand accounts of prisoners finding great light and healing in the most unlikely of places.
Marvin Mutch Marvin is spokesperson, liaison with prison officials, and advocate. Marvin’s bio is an extraordinary one. He was released from prison February 17, 2016, after serving 41 years on a wrongful conviction suffered in 1975. In 2008, Marvin was injured and sent to California Medical Facility for treatment, while there he became a fervent supporter of California’s only full-service prison hospice program. Marvin saw the program shepherd no less than ten of his dying brothers while there. The number of programs and advocacy work Marvin created while incarcerated are too numerous to mention here. You can find out much more KQED documentary, The Trials of Marvin Mutch. Marvin was released through the combined efforts of USC’s Post Conviction Justice Project and The Golden Gate University Innocence Project.
Ladybird Morgan Ladybird Morgan, RN, MSW, executive director and co-founder of the Humane Prison Hospice Project, has been working in end-of-life care and on the frontlines of sexual violence as a registered nurse, clinical social worker, and educator for 20+ years. She has worked with many organizations including The Zen Hospice Project, Hospice By The Bay, Marin General Hospital and Doctors Without Borders (MSF). At Commonweal, Ladybird supports the work of various projects including the Cancer Help Program and Healing Circles.
Sandra Fish Also a co-founder of the Humane Prison Hospice Project, Sandra is an actor, writer, and caregiver, with decades of passion for prison reform and end of life support. She taught in Riker’s Island Prison, worked as an employment specialist for newly released prisoners in Manhattan, attended ex-prisoner support groups, sat in on parole hearings, and visited SingSing to observe classrooms there. Sandra volunteers inside San Quentin assisting with the Brothers Keepers and Compassionate End of Life Training.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
The Learning Community Series at The New School
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in our next Friday morning webinar conversation, this time with Diana Lindsay, co-founder of Commonweal's Healing Circles Langley and Healing Circles Global.
Diana Lindsay is co-founder of Lindsay Communications, WOW!Stories, Healing Circles Langley, and Healing Circles Global. She is the author of Something More Than Hope: Surviving Despite the Odds, Thriving Because of Them, the story of her recovery and discovery from stage 4 lung cancer.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in a webinar conversation with Irwin Keller, jewish spiritual leader, musician, and faculty member of Commonweal’s Taproot Gathering.
Irwin Keller Irwin is the spiritual leader of Congregation Ner Shalom in Sonoma County, California, since 2008. His past work included LGBT advocacy, HIV legal services, and 21 years as a singing drag queen with The Kinsey Sicks, America’s Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet. Irwin’s sermons and essays on Torah, mysticism, God, politics, disillusionment and hope can be found on his blog, Itzik’s Well, found at irwinkeller.com. Irwin is a steward and faculty member of Commonweal’s Taproot Gathering.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join us for this rare “two host” conversation between TNS hosts Michael Lerner and Steve Heilig. Michael will talk with Steve about his work as a public health specialist and expert in epidemiology and medical ethics, specifically with regard to COVID-19.
Steve Heilig Trained at five University of California campuses in public health, epidemiology, medical ethics, addiction, economics, environmental sciences, and other disciplines, Steve Heilig’s work includes positions at the San Francisco Marin Medical Society, California Pacific Medical Center, UCSF, and as co-editor of the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics. He has served on many organizational boards and appointed commissions, and is a trained hospice worker. He is a music festival emcee, and widely published essayist and book and music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, and many other publications. His undergraduate honors thesis was about the ever-growing threat of pandemics, and thus in these times his interests have come “full circle.”
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Join us for the next webinar from The Learning Community series at The New School at Commonweal, this time with Host Michael Lerner and Cynthia Li, MD. Cynthia's experiences as both doctor and patient through an internal “dark night of the soul” and a medical condition affecting her immune system point to tools for building personal immunity and resilience in the face of crises like the current pandemic. She has been deeply involved with Commonweal’s work in environmental health, Healing Circles, and Rachel Remen’s Healer’s Art program at UCSF School of Medicine, which began at Commonweal. Listen to Michael's recent conversation with Cynthia ( https://soundcloud.com/tnscommonweal/20200404-cynthia-li-md-brave-new-medicine-building-personal-resilience-and-immunity ) recorded as part of the Awakin Calls series from Service Space. ( https://www.awakin.org )
Join us for this webinar from The Learning Community series at The New School at Commonweal, this time with Host Michael Lerner and Rachel Naomi Remen, MD. Rachel is a long-time part of the Commonweal family and co-founder of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program—as well as a master story teller and author of best selling books Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings.
During the webinar, Rachel read a quote from Vaclav Havel, from Disturbing the Peace (pp. 181-182). https://www.vhlf.org/havel-quotes/disturbing-the-peace/
Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., is a Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Founder and Founding Director of the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI), which was at Commonweal for decades and is currently at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. She is one of the best known of the early pioneers of wholistic and integrative medicine. As a medical educator, therapist, and teacher, she has enabled many thousands of physicians to find individual meaning and purpose in the practice of medicine and thousands of patients to remember their power to heal. More than 30,000 medical students have completed The Healer’s Art, her groundbreaking curriculum for medical students taught at the majority of medical schools in America. A master storyteller and observer of life, her bestselling books, Kitchen Table Wisdom andMy Grandfather’s Blessings have sold more than 2 million copies and have been translated into 21 languages. Dr. Remen has had Crohn’s disease for more than 65 years and her work is a unique blend of the wisdom, strength, and viewpoints of both doctor and patient.
~Co-presented by The New School at Commonweal, the Commonweal Resilience Project, Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies, and Healing Circles~
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in a virtual conversation with Janie Brown, nurse, psychologist, and founder of the Callanish Society—a grassroots non-profit organization in Vancouver for people living with, and dying from, cancer.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Recorded from the Awakin Series by Service Space~
Cynthia Li, MD, is a physician, author, and speaker. Currently, she has a private practice in integrative and functional medicine, and serves as faculty for the Healer’s Art program at the University of California San Francisco Medical School. She is author of a new book, Brave New Medicine: A Doctor's Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness.
The transcript for this call can be found at: https://www.awakin.org/calls/464/cynthia-li/transcript
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Co-presented by The New School at Commonweal, the Commonweal Resilience Project, Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies, and Healing Circles~
Resources, links etc. from the webinar can be found here: https://tns.commonweal.org/audio/resources-from-weller-webinar/
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in a virtual conversation with psychotherapist, writer, and soul activist Francis Weller about living in times of pandemic, finding community during social distancing, and living with grief in the anthropocene. Three panelists join Francis and Michael on the webinar: Diana Kelly, director of Healing Circles Langley; Ladybird Morgan, executive director of the Humane Prison Hospice Project; and Janie Brown, founder of the Callenish Society. This is a recording of a Zoom webinar.
Francis Weller, MFT, is a psychotherapist, writer and soul activist. He is a master of synthesizing diverse streams of thought from psychology, anthropology, mythology, alchemy, indigenous cultures and poetic traditions. Author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief, and The Threshold Between Loss and Revelation, (with Rashani Réa) he has introduced the healing work of ritual to thousands of people. He founded and directs WisdomBridge, an organization that offers educational programs that seek to integrate the wisdom from indigenous cultures with the insights and knowledge gathered from western poetic, psychological and spiritual traditions. His work was featured in The Sunmagazine (October 2015) and the Utne Reader (Fall 2016). Francis is currently on staff at Commonweal Cancer Help Program, co-leading their week-long retreats with Michael Lerner. He is currently completing his third book, A Trail on the Ground: Living a Soulful Life and Why It Matters.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, this New School conversation with Richard Heinberg was held as a webinar instead of meeting in person at Commonweal.
Richard Heinberg of the Post Carbon Institute is one of the visionary thinkers of our time on community resilience. Join Richard and TNS host Michael Lerner for a searching exploration of building community resilience for the coming turbulent decades. Listen to the recording of our last conversation with Richard Heinberg. https://tns.commonweal.org/podcasts/richard-heinberg/
Richard Heinberg is the author of thirteen books, including some of the seminal works on society’s current energy and environmental sustainability crisis. He is Senior Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute and is regarded as one of the world’s foremost advocates for a shift away from our current reliance on fossil fuels. He has authored scores of essays and articles that have appeared in such journals as Nature, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, The American Prospect, Public Policy Research, Quarterly Review, Yes!, and The Sun; and has appeared in many film and television documentaries, including Leonardo DiCaprio’s 11th Hour. He is also the author and narrator of Post Carbon Institute’s 22-video Think Resilience online course. https://education.resilience.org http://www.postcarbon.org/
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
Please join TNS Host Steve Heilig for a conversation with physician BJ Miller and writer Shoshana Berger about their new collaboration: A Beginners Guide to the End-–Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death.
BJ Miller is a hospice and palliative medicine physician and educator and has worked in all settings of care: hospital, clinic, residential facility, and home. His career has been dedicated to moving healthcare towards a human-centered approach and he speaks on this topic both nationally and internationally. He is a Mesa Refuge alum, has been featured in the New York Times, and interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, Tim Ferriss, Krista Tippett, and GQ Magazine.
Shoshana Berger Shoshana Berger is the editorial director at IDEO, where she has worked on projects ranging from the end of life to modern Judaism to school lunch. She was a senior editor at WIRED, and has written for the New York Times, Fast Company, TIME, WIRED, Popular Science, Marie Claire, and Quartz. She cofounded the DIY design magazine, ReadyMade, later turning it into a book, Ready Made: How to Make (Almost) Everything.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
~Co-presented by KWMR radio~ https://kwmr.org
Join us for a concert by three-time Grammy nominees Quartet San Francisco, a non-traditional and eclectic string quartet led by violinist Jeremy Cohen. https://www.quartetsanfrancisco.com
Quartet San Francisco has toured Italy, China, South Korea, Japan, Turkey, and Guam, performing in Cremona, Foggia, Seoul, Tokyo, Hyogo, Sanda, Istanbul, Hagatna, and throughout central and eastern China. As winners of the Argentine Consulate’s International Tango Competition in New York, they performed tangos for an Argentine audience at the historic Café Tortoni in Buenos Aires. In 2018 they performed the opening concert for the Cremona Music Festival in northern Italy and their CD release, A QSF Journey, reached the #1position in Amazon’s new chamber music releases.
U.S. appearances include New York's Le Poisson Rouge, Yoshi's Jazz Clubs in San Francisco and Oakland, the Brubeck Room in the Wilton Library (at the invitation of Dave Brubeck), the Mendocino Music Festival, in concerts with the Marin Symphony, the Peninsula Symphony, and the Tulsa Symphony, and guest appearances with numerous chamber orchestras.
Please join us in an investigation into the life and times of Polish painter Józef Czapski, following further along the path of discussion begun between Eric Karpeles and TNS Host Michael Lerner in the spring of 2019. That talk was prompted by the release of Karpeles’s biography of Czapski, “Almost Nothing,” and his translation of the painter's lectures on Proust given in a Soviet prison camp. The upcoming publication of a lavishly-illustrated monograph of Czapski’s paintings and drawings, “An Apprenticeship of Looking,” is the occasion of this further inquiry in which the question "how does an artist live his life?” will be addressed.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in the next of our spiritual biography series conversations, this time with Nipun Mehta. During his mid-20s, Nipun left the .com world to cultivate projects that support a gift culture. Among other accolades, President Obama appointed him on a council for social change and the Dalai Lama recognized him as an “Unsung Hero of Compassion."
Nipun is the founder of ServiceSpace.org — an incubator of projects that support a gift culture. In his mid-twenties, Nipun quit his job to become a "full time volunteer" and over the last 15 years, his work has reached millions, attracted more than 500 thousand volunteers, and mushroomed into numerous projects like DailyGood, Awakin Circles, and Karma Kitchen. Tirelessly, he has addressed thousands of gatherings around the world, speaking next to wide-ranging leaders from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to author Elizabeth Gilbert to civil rights legend John Lewis. One of his most formative experiences was a walking pilgrimage across India, with his wife of six months, whose profound lessons also became the subject of his widely-read address at UPenn commencement. Nipun's mission statement in life reads: "Bring smiles in the world and stillness in my heart."
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in a spiritual biography conversation with Jungian analyst John Beebe.
John Beebe Born in Washington, DC, in 1939, John Beebe lived in many parts of the United States, as well as two years in China, before his desire to pursue psychiatric education led him to settle in the Bay Area. Since completing his residency at Stanford’s Department of Psychiatry, John has been practicing Jungian psychotherapy in the same San Francisco office since 1971. Guided by such Northern California Jungian pioneers as Thomas Kirsch, Jo and Jane Wheelwright, and Joseph Henderson, John became an analyst member of the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco in 1978. John gives lectures around the world on various topics, including psychological types, moral integrity, the I Ching, and film. For the past twenty years, he has been part of the training of the first generation of Jungian analysts in China. The many books he has worked on include, under his name as sole author, Integrity in Depth and Energies andPatterns in Psychological Type: The Reservoir of Consciousness.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in a conversation with author, activist, and anti-preneur Alnoor Ladha. Find out more about Alnoor by reading his article in Kosmos Journal: "Mystical Anarchism: A Journey to the Borderlands of Freedom."
https://www.kosmosjournal.org/article/mystical-anarchism-a-journey-to-the-borderlands-of-freedom/
~Co-presented with Commonweal Resilience Project, Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere, and The Fan Initiative~
Can we avoid civilizational collapse? We face a “perfect storm” of interacting global stressors. Is resilience a possible response? What does real resilience look like? Join some of the foremost thinkers in an inquiry into the greatest challenge of our time. Our keynote speakers are Nate Hagens and Joanna Macy, leading authorities in the field.
~Co-presented with Commonweal Resilience Project, Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere, and The Fan Initiative~
Can we avoid civilizational collapse? We face a “perfect storm” of interacting global stressors. Is resilience a possible response? What does real resilience look like? Join some of the foremost thinkers in an inquiry into the greatest challenge of our time. Our keynote speakers are Nate Hagens and Joanna Macy, leading authorities in the field.
~Co-presented with Commonweal Resilience Project, Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere, and The Fan Initiative~
Can we avoid civilizational collapse? We face a “perfect storm” of interacting global stressors. Is resilience a possible response? What does real resilience look like? Join some of the foremost thinkers in an inquiry into the greatest challenge of our time. Our keynote speakers are Nate Hagens and Joanna Macy, leading authorities in the field.
~Co-presented with Commonweal Resilience Project, Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere, and The Fan Initiative~
Can we avoid civilizational collapse? We face a “perfect storm” of interacting global stressors. Is resilience a possible response? What does real resilience look like? Join some of the foremost thinkers in an inquiry into the greatest challenge of our time. Our keynote speakers are Nate Hagens and Joanna Macy, leading authorities in the field.
~Co-presented with Commonweal Resilience Project, Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere, and The Fan Initiative~
Can we avoid civilizational collapse? We face a “perfect storm” of interacting global stressors. Is resilience a possible response? What does real resilience look like? Join some of the foremost thinkers in an inquiry into the greatest challenge of our time. Our keynote speakers are Nate Hagens and Joanna Macy, leading authorities in the field.
2019.04.27 - Michael Lerner at Healing Circles Langley - Inquiry as Method by The New School at Commonweal
Stephen Ratcliffe’s “sound of wave in channel” is the fifth in a series of 1,000 poems written in 1,000 consecutive days (1.1.13 – 6.26.16). He and TNS host Steve Heilig discuss this newest epic and his career in poetry, with readings from his work.
Stephen Ratcliffe is the author of more than 20 books of poetry, including most recently Painting (Chax Press 2014) and Selected Days (Counterpath 2012) which won The Poetry Center Book Award. He has also written three books of literary criticism. He taught at Mills College for many years and has lived in Bolinas since 1973.
~Part of the End-of-Life Conversations Series~ ~Co-presented with the Mesa Refuge and Point Reyes Books~
Join TNS Host Steve Heilig in conversation with physician, author, and medical ethicist Sunita Puri in the next in our End-of-Life Conversations series. In her new book, That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour, she weaves evocative stories of her family and the patients she cares for in a meditation on impermanence and the role of medicine in helping us to live and die well.
Kirkus Reviews magazine calls her book, “A profound meditation on a problem many of us will face; worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal.”
Sunita Puri, MD is the medical director of the Palliative Medicine and Supportive Care Service at the Keck Hospital and Norris Cancer Center of the University of Southern California, where she also serves as chair of the Ethics Committee. She graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in Anthropology and studied Modern History at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. She completed medical school and residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of California San Francisco, and fellowship training in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at Stanford University.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in an interview with painter, writer, and translator Eric Karpeles as they discuss two new books about Polish painter and writer Józef Czapski: Almost Nothing: The 20th-Century Art and Life of Józef Czapski and Lost Time: Lectures on Proust in a Soviet Prison Camp.
Enneagram is an archetypal depth psychology. It has enormous power to deepen our insight into ourselves and others. As a follow-up to our last TNS conversation with author and enneagram expert Beatrice Chestnut, we offered a three-part series of workshops to explore enneagram further in depth. Each workshop features a three- to five-person panel of enneagram “types.”
This part three of the series featured the 5, 6 & 7 types—the Head Center Types. This day was recorded in 5 parts. Find all of the videos on our YouTube site. https://www.youtube.com/user/NewSchoolCommonweal
Enneagram is an archetypal depth psychology. It has enormous power to deepen our insight into ourselves and others. As a follow-up to our last TNS conversation with author and enneagram expert Beatrice Chestnut, we offered a three-part series of workshops to explore enneagram further in depth. Each workshop features a three- to five-person panel of enneagram “types.”
This part three of the series featured the 5, 6 & 7 types—the Head Center Types. This day was recorded in 5 parts. Find all of the videos on our YouTube site. https://www.youtube.com/user/NewSchoolCommonweal
Enneagram is an archetypal depth psychology. It has enormous power to deepen our insight into ourselves and others. As a follow-up to our last TNS conversation with author and enneagram expert Beatrice Chestnut, we offered a three-part series of workshops to explore enneagram further in depth. Each workshop features a three- to five-person panel of enneagram “types.”
This part three of the series featured the 5, 6 & 7 types—the Head Center Types. This day was recorded in 5 parts. Find all of the videos on our YouTube site. https://www.youtube.com/user/NewSchoolCommonweal
Enneagram is an archetypal depth psychology. It has enormous power to deepen our insight into ourselves and others. As a follow-up to our last TNS conversation with author and enneagram expert Beatrice Chestnut, we offered a three-part series of workshops to explore enneagram further in depth. Each workshop features a three- to five-person panel of enneagram “types.”
This part three of the series featured the 5, 6 & 7 types—the Head Center Types. This day was recorded in 5 parts. Find all of the videos on our YouTube site. https://www.youtube.com/user/NewSchoolCommonweal
Enneagram is an archetypal depth psychology. It has enormous power to deepen our insight into ourselves and others. As a follow-up to our last TNS conversation with author and enneagram expert Beatrice Chestnut, we offered a three-part series of workshops to explore enneagram further in depth. Each workshop features a three- to five-person panel of enneagram “types.”
This part three of the series featured the 5, 6 & 7 types—the Head Center Types. This day was recorded in 5 parts. Find all of the videos on our YouTube site. https://www.youtube.com/user/NewSchoolCommonweal
Enneagram is an archetypal depth psychology. It has enormous power to deepen our insight into ourselves and others. As a follow-up to our last TNS conversation with author and enneagram expert Beatrice Chestnut, we offered a three-part series of workshops to explore enneagram further in depth. Each workshop features a three- to five-person panel of enneagram “types.”
This part two of the series featured the 2, 3 & 4 types—the Heart Center Types. This day was recorded in 5 parts. Find all of the videos on our YouTube site. https://www.youtube.com/user/NewSchoolCommonweal
Enneagram is an archetypal depth psychology. It has enormous power to deepen our insight into ourselves and others. As a follow-up to our last TNS conversation with author and enneagram expert Beatrice Chestnut, we offered a three-part series of workshops to explore enneagram further in depth. Each workshop features a three- to five-person panel of enneagram “types.”
This part two of the series featured the 2, 3 & 4 types—the Heart Center Types. This day was recorded in 5 parts. Find all of the videos on our YouTube site. https://www.youtube.com/user/NewSchoolCommonweal
Enneagram is an archetypal depth psychology. It has enormous power to deepen our insight into ourselves and others. As a follow-up to our last TNS conversation with author and enneagram expert Beatrice Chestnut, we offered a three-part series of workshops to explore enneagram further in depth. Each workshop features a three- to five-person panel of enneagram “types.”
This part two of the series featured the 2, 3 & 4 types—the Heart Center Types. This day was recorded in 5 parts. Find all of the videos on our YouTube site. https://www.youtube.com/user/NewSchoolCommonweal
Enneagram is an archetypal depth psychology. It has enormous power to deepen our insight into ourselves and others. As a follow-up to our last TNS conversation with author and enneagram expert Beatrice Chestnut, we offered a three-part series of workshops to explore enneagram further in depth. Each workshop features a three- to five-person panel of enneagram “types.”
This part two of the series featured the 2, 3 & 4 types—the Heart Center Types. This day was recorded in 5 parts. Find all of the videos on our YouTube site. https://www.youtube.com/user/NewSchoolCommonweal
Enneagram is an archetypal depth psychology. It has enormous power to deepen our insight into ourselves and others. As a follow-up to our last TNS conversation with author and enneagram expert Beatrice Chestnut, we offered a three-part series of workshops to explore enneagram further in depth. Each workshop features a three- to five-person panel of enneagram “types.”
This part two of the series featured the 2, 3 & 4 types—the Heart Center Types. This day was recorded in 5 parts. Find all of the videos on our YouTube site. https://www.youtube.com/user/NewSchoolCommonweal
~Co-Presented with Black Mountain Circle and Point Reyes Books as part of the Geography of Hope Series of Events~
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in another conversation with Mary Evelyn Tucker, whose new book, Thomas Berry: A Biography is due at bookstores in May. Written by Mary Evelyn with co-authors John Grim and Andrew Angyal, the book is the first biography of Thomas Berry, illuminating his remarkable vision and showing the ongoing significance of Berry’s conception of human interdependence with the Earth within the unfolding journey of the universe.
Mary Evelyn Tucker teaches at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and the Yale Divinity School, where she co-directs the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology with her partner, John Grim. They worked closely with Thomas Berry for more than thirty years as his students, editors, and literary executors and are the managing trustees of the Thomas Berry Foundation. With Brian Thomas Swimme, she wrote Journey of the Universe (Yale 2011) and was the executive producer of the Emmy award winning Journey film that aired on PBS.
Integrative and functional medicine are medical frontiers that draw more and more patients and practitioners with every passing decade. While drawing on best practices of conventional medicine, they seek out root causes of illness and utilize a wide range of complementary approaches. Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for a conversation with Dr. Sunjya Schweig, an expert in functional medicine, chronic illness, and lyme disease.
Sunjya K. Schweig, MD: Sunjya is an expert in complex chronic illnesses which require rigorous investigation and management. He has been studying, teaching, and practicing integrative and functional medicine for more than 20 years. Sunjya studied at University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Irvine, and did his residency at the University of California, San Francisco, Family Practice Residency Program in Santa Rosa, CA where he helped found the Integrative Medicine Fellowship program.
He currently holds an adjunct faculty position at Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine and has lectured nationally and internationally at conferences, hospitals, and universities. He is the founding chair of the Integrative Medicine Committee for the International Lyme and Associated Disease Society (ILADS), and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Bay Area Lyme Foundation. He has been in private practice since 2007.
Enneagram is an archetypal depth psychology. It has enormous power to deepen our insight into ourselves and others. As a follow-up to our last TNS conversation with author and enneagram expert Beatrice Chestnut, we offered a three-part series of workshops to explore enneagram further in depth. Each workshop features a three- to five-person panel of enneagram “types.”
This part one of the series featured the 8-9-1 types—the Body Center Types. This day was recorded in four parts. Find all of the videos on our YouTube site. https://www.youtube.com/user/NewSchoolCommonweal
Enneagram is an archetypal depth psychology. It has enormous power to deepen our insight into ourselves and others. As a follow-up to our last TNS conversation with author and enneagram expert Beatrice Chestnut, we offered a three-part series of workshops to explore enneagram further in depth. Each workshop features a three- to five-person panel of enneagram “types.”
This part one of the series featured the 8-9-1 types—the Body Center Types. This day was recorded in four parts. Find all of the videos on our YouTube site. https://www.youtube.com/user/NewSchoolCommonweal
Enneagram is an archetypal depth psychology. It has enormous power to deepen our insight into ourselves and others. As a follow-up to our last TNS conversation with author and enneagram expert Beatrice Chestnut, we offered a three-part series of workshops to explore enneagram further in depth. Each workshop features a three- to five-person panel of enneagram “types.”
This part one of the series featured the 8-9-1 types—the Body Center Types. This day was recorded in four parts. Find all of the videos on our YouTube site. https://www.youtube.com/user/NewSchoolCommonweal
Enneagram is an archetypal depth psychology. It has enormous power to deepen our insight into ourselves and others. As a follow-up to our last TNS conversation with author and enneagram expert Beatrice Chestnut, we offered a three-part series of workshops to explore enneagram further in depth. Each workshop features a three- to five-person panel of enneagram “types.”
This part one of the series featured the 8-9-1 types—the Body Center Types. This day was recorded in four parts. Find all of the videos on our YouTube site. https://www.youtube.com/user/NewSchoolCommonweal
Enneagram is an archetypal depth psychology. It has enormous power to deepen our insight into ourselves and others. As a follow-up to our last TNS conversation with author and enneagram expert Beatrice Chestnut, we offered a three-part series of workshops to explore enneagram further in depth. Each workshop features a three- to five-person panel of enneagram “types.”
This part one of the series featured the 8-9-1 types—the Body Center Types. This day was recorded in four parts. Find all of the videos on our YouTube site. https://www.youtube.com/user/NewSchoolCommonweal
Point Reyes Books is a thriving bookshop and cultural center in Western Marin. How does it thrive in the era of the "death of print" and the internet age, in a town of only hundreds? https://www.ptreyesbooks.com
Steve Sparks and Molly Parent, who have owned and operated Point Reyes Books since January 2017, will tell us, and discuss trends in publishing, selling, and more. They will also share some of their own personal favorite titles. Book addict and critic and TNS host Steve Heilig will interrogate them.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Investigative Historian Mark Dowie about the struggle shared by thousands of native peoples around the world for aboriginal title and self-determination. Mark’s recently published book is The Haida Gwaii Lesson: A Strategic Playbook for Indigenous Sovereignty.
Mark Dowie is an investigative historian, a former publisher and editor of Mother Jones magazine and former editor-at-large of InterNation, a transnational feature syndicate based in Paris. His recent books include The Haida Gwaii Lesson: A Strategic Playbook for Indigenous Sovereignty, Conservation Refugees: The Hundred-Year Conflict Between Global Conservation and Native Peoples, and American Foundations: An Investigative History. During his forty year media career Mark has written, edited, or published more than 200 investigative magazine articles and has won 19 journalism awards including four National MagazineAwards. He is a founding director of the Center for Investigative Reporting and taught science, environmental reporting, and foreign correspondence at the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters by John F. Kennedy University.
Join author Brian C. Wilson in conversation with Michael Lerner as they discuss Brian's book, "John E. Fetzer and the Quest for the New Age."
Join TNS Steve Heilig in conversation with Marsha Rosenbaum, author and director emerita of the San Francisco office of the Drug Policy Alliance, where she spearheaded work on youth and drugs.
Marsha Rosenbaum received her doctorate in medical sociology from the University of California at San Francisco in 1979. From 1977 to 1995, Rosenbaum was the principal investigator on National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded studies of heroin addiction, methadone maintenance treatment, MDMA (Ecstasy), cocaine, and drug use during pregnancy. She is author of Women on Heroin, Pursuit of Ecstasy: The MDMA Experience (with Jerome E. Beck), and Pregnant Women on Drugs: Combating Stereotypes and Stigma (with Sheigla Murphy). Rosenbaum has written opinion pieces for the San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland Tribune, Chicago Tribune, San Jose Mercury News, Newsday, and many others. She regularly speaks to PTAs, other parent groups, schools, drug treatment and prevention professionals, and the media about teenagers and drugs, Ecstasy, and drug policy issues.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for a conversation on why microgrids are gaining popularity in California, the United States and around the world with the experts: Peter Asmus (Research Director with Navigant Research); Margaret Bruce (Local Government Sustainable Energy Coalition); and Darren Malvin (CEO of Marin-Based American Solar).
Community-Led Conservation: Zambia's Mukungule Nature Conservancy
In the North Luangwa Valley—one of the most biodiverse and intact wilderness areas left in Africa, with some of the highest remaining concentrations of wildlife left on the continent—illegal wildlife poaching had decimated wildlife, bringing once-vast elephant herds to the brink of extermination. Hammer Simwinga, a Zambian environmentalist, saw that extreme poverty was driving villagers to environmentally harmful practices, counter to traditional African values. He created an innovative program that reduced poverty and transformed poachers into caring conservationists protecting their cultural and natural heritage. Elephant and wildlife populations rebounded. The deep link between indigenous communities and their lands—experiential, spiritual, biological—is something not yet fully appreciated in conventional approaches to conservation, but that may be key to saving the earth’s future. Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with award-winning environmentalist Hammer Simwinga.
Join us for a conversation with James K Thornton, founder of Client Earth and host, Michael Lerner.
Join us for a conversation with Celeste Mergens and host, Michael Lerner.
Celeste Mergens, Founder & CEO, Days for Girls Celeste founded Days for Girls after a trip to Kenya in 2008, when she learned that girls in an orphanage were facing huge challenges each month because they lacked access to hygiene options. What first began as an effort to supply disposable pads quickly evolved into a more sustainable solution. Her engineering and sewing experience drove the Days for Girls Kit design, which went through 28 iterations all informed by extensive feedback from women and girls around the world.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in part two of a two part conversation with Beatrice Chestnut, one of the most accomplished interpreters of the enneagram in our times. Her book, The Complete Enneagram, is widely recognized as one of the best resources for enneagram students. This seminar is primarily designed for people with at least a basic knowledge of enneagram. Reading or a familiarity with Chestnut's book in advance of the event will help prepare you for the conversation.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in part two of a two part conversation with Beatrice Chestnut, one of the most accomplished interpreters of the enneagram in our times. Her book, The Complete Enneagram, is widely recognized as one of the best resources for enneagram students.
To follow along with Beatrice Chestnut's presentation while listening to part one of the podcast, or just for reference, please download the following PDF file at: https://tns.commonweal.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/03/Commonweal_Enneagram_talk.pdf
This seminar is primarily designed for people with at least a basic knowledge of enneagram. Reading or a familiarity with Chestnut's book in advance of the event will help prepare you for the conversation.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in a spiritual biography conversation with retired psychotherapist and Vedic astrologer Kristina Flanagan.
~Co-presented by Point Reyes Books and the Mesa Refuge~
Join us for a conversation between TNS Host Michael Lerner and Author and Journalist Michael Pollan about his new book, How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence.
How to Change Your Mind explores the medical and scientific revolution taking place around psychedelic drugs—and the spellbinding story of Pollan’s own life-changing psychedelic experiences. This is the second in a series of two conversations between Michael Lerner and Michael Pollan on the subject of psychedelics.
Michael Pollan is the author of seven previous books, including Cooked, Food Rules, In Defense of Food, The Omnivore’s Dilemma and The Botany of Desire, all of which were New York Times bestsellers. A longtime contributor to the New York Times Magazine, he also teaches writing at Harvard and the University of California, Berkeley. In 2010, TIME magazine named him one of the one hundred most influential people in the world.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Dr. Brian Bouch for a conversation about integrative oncology—part of our Healing Circles series of conversations.
Brian Bouch, MD, has forged a career in medicine incorporating the best of conventional therapies with proven complementary and alternative therapies. A skilled acupuncturist and acupuncture teacher, he founded Hillpark Integrative Medical Center in 1987 and artfully blended Chinese medicine with functional medicine, osteopathic manual therapies, nutritional therapies, and intravenous therapies. Working alongside other medical doctors, licensed acupuncturists, osteopathic physicians, naturopathic physicians, bodyworkers and nurse practitioners, Dr Bouch and his colleagues at Hillpark garnered a reputation for successfully treating complex medical problems untouched by other practitioners. Dr. Bouch retired from office practice in 2016, but continues to provide advocacy services to a limited number of patients, and to mentor advocacy fellows.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Dr. Brian Bouch for a conversation about integrative oncology—part of our Healing Circles series of conversations.
Brian Bouch, MD, has forged a career in medicine incorporating the best of conventional therapies with proven complementary and alternative therapies. A skilled acupuncturist and acupuncture teacher, he founded Hillpark Integrative Medical Center in 1987 and artfully blended Chinese medicine with functional medicine, osteopathic manual therapies, nutritional therapies, and intravenous therapies. Working alongside other medical doctors, licensed acupuncturists, osteopathic physicians, naturopathic physicians, bodyworkers and nurse practitioners, Dr Bouch and his colleagues at Hillpark garnered a reputation for successfully treating complex medical problems untouched by other practitioners. Dr. Bouch retired from office practice in 2016, but continues to provide advocacy services to a limited number of patients, and to mentor advocacy fellows.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Dr. Brian Bouch for a conversation about integrative oncology—part of our Healing Circles series of conversations.
Brian Bouch, MD, has forged a career in medicine incorporating the best of conventional therapies with proven complementary and alternative therapies. A skilled acupuncturist and acupuncture teacher, he founded Hillpark Integrative Medical Center in 1987 and artfully blended Chinese medicine with functional medicine, osteopathic manual therapies, nutritional therapies, and intravenous therapies. Working alongside other medical doctors, licensed acupuncturists, osteopathic physicians, naturopathic physicians, bodyworkers and nurse practitioners, Dr Bouch and his colleagues at Hillpark garnered a reputation for successfully treating complex medical problems untouched by other practitioners. Dr. Bouch retired from office practice in 2016, but continues to provide advocacy services to a limited number of patients, and to mentor advocacy fellows.
Join Dr. Lael Duncan and TNS host Steve Heilig for a wide-ranging discussion of innovations and controversies in end-of-life care.
Lael is the medical director of consulting services for the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California, a Sacramento-based non-profit organization and interdisciplinary partnership of thought-leaders dedicated to promoting high-quality, compassionate care for everyone who is seriously ill or nearing the end of life. She is an expert educator on Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST), end-of-life communication between patients and providers, advance care planning, and legislation that impacts end-of-life care in California. Dr. Duncan consults with health care organizations, medical providers, and communities to improve access to care that honors patient values.
Join TNS Host Steve Heilig in conversation with one of the most renowned voices of our time, ecophilosopher Joanna Macy. Joanna is a scholar of Buddhism, living systems theory, and deep ecology. Respected in the movements for peace, global justice, and ecological sanity, she interweaves her scholarship with six decades of activism. As the root teacher of the Work that Reconnects Network, her ground-breaking theoretical framework and interactive practices combine spiritual breakthrough with social transformation.
Joanna Macy, PhD Joanna’s wide-ranging work addresses psychological issues of the nuclear age, the cultivation of an ecological identity, and the clarifying resonance between Buddhist teachings and contemporary science. Her work is used around the world to help people turn despair and apathy in the face of social and ecological crises into constructive, collaborative action. It brings a new way of seeing the world—as our larger living body—freeing us from the assumptions and attitudes that now threaten all life on Earth.
Macy graduated from Wellesley College and received her Ph.D in Religious Studies from Syracuse University. She is the author of twelve books, including Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects; World as Lover, World as Self; Active Hope: How to face the mess we’re in without Going Crazy; and three volumes of translations of Rilke’s poetry.
2018:04.16 - Rachel Naomi Remen - Out of the Fire: A Time of Discovery by The New School at Commonweal
We are being called to a new mode of being human in the age of the Anthropocene. We are discovering our role within a vast evolving universe that gave birth to us and that orients and grounds us. We are seeking ways to nurture ourselves and the life community in an age of disruption and diminishment. Journey of the Universe narrates the epic story of the unfolding of the Universe, Earth, and humans over billions of years. Our discussion will explore this Emmy Award winning film, book, and conversation series that can inspire transformative and healing change for a flourishing future.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Yale Professor Mary Evelyn Tucker about the significance of our universe story in the environmental and social challenges of our times.
Noted actor, narrator, author and activist Peter Coyote discusses the current state of money and falsehood in politics and the news.
In the second of our TNS-Sonoma Living in the Ashes series events exploring issues related to the 2017 North Bay fires, join TNS Host Irwin Keller in conversation with Sharyle Patton, director of the Health and Environment Program and the Biomonitoring Resource Center at Commonweal. Much of Sharyle’s work involves understanding and testing the effects of toxic chemicals on our bodies. Particularly, she has been working with firefighters, researching the effects of both smoke inhalation from fires and the chemicals used to fight them. We’ll explore what that research might mean for county residents in the aftermath of the fires.
Sharyle Patton Sharyle founded and has been directing the Commonweal Biomonitoring Resource Centerfor 20 years. Her program, working with such entities as Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, the Environmental Working Group, California Department of Public Environmental Health Investigations Branch, International Association of Fire Fighters, and the NGO network, Coming Clean Collaborative, has pioneered the implementation of biomonitoring projects initiated by community-based organizations and the communication of the data from such projects to project participants.
Sharyle is also special projects director for Commonweal’s Collaborative on Health and Environment, a network of more than 3,000 health professionals, scientists, and representatives from health-affected groups interested in exploring linkages between environment and health outcomes. From 1998 to 2001, Sharyle was northern co-chair for the International POPs Elimination Network, which worked closely with governments to formulate the Stockholm Convention, a legally binding treaty that eliminates or severely restricts 12 of POPs chemicals.
Noted author, editor and futurist Stephan A. Schwartz in conversation with Michael Lerner.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner and Commonweal Integrative Law Institute’s Pauline Tesler for a conversation with Dr. Fred Luskin about his work on the powers of forgiveness. The conversation will explore the intersection of Fred’s work with Commonweal’s many healing programs and with the Integrative Law Institute’s work on conflict resolution in legal disputes involving important human relationships.
Dr. Luskin’s forgiveness work has been applied in veteran’s hospitals and churches to help in resolving legal disputes, with cancer patients as psycho education, and in psychotherapy. Dr. Luskin’s work has been made into a PBS pledge drive video called Forgive for Good. He has been interviewed many hundreds of times in world-wide media, including the New York Times, O Magazine, Today Show, Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine, Huffington Post, and CBS Morning News.
Hanmin Liu and Jennifer Mei of Wildflowers Institute in conversation with Commonweal president and TNS host, Michael Lerner.
Historian and author Adam Hochschild wrote King Leopold's Ghost, To End All Wars, and Bury the Chains. He was a civil rights worker in Mississippi in 1964, a co-founder of Mother Jones, and a writer and editor for Ramparts.
This conversation had a slide presentation given during the first approximately 45 minutes. A PDF of that presentation is available at the following link so that listeners may generally follow along: http://tns.commonweal.org/new-school/audiofiles/podcast/Adam_Hochschild_Spain_slides.pdf
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for a conversation with composer, educator, and internationally recognized consultant on learning, Aaron Stern. Aaron founded the Academy for the Love of Learning, an innovative non-profit educational institution based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Academy has led to community-based programs including Teacher Renewal, El Otro Lado in the Schools, multi-generational programs such as Lifesongs, and a city-wide mentorship program called Inspire. Aaron conceived the Academy with musician Leonard Bernstein, and continues to serve as its educational leader and president.
Aaron Stern founded the Academy for the Love of Learning, which was conceived with musician Leonard Bernstein, as a “think and do tank” to develop, practice, and foster research on its transformative learning methods, which are designed to activate the natural love of learning in people of all ages. Aaron also conceived and co-founded Ventana, an organization that aims to transform the workplace by supporting a reconnection with and enlivening of ethical values, an alignment of values with practices, and the cultivation of capacities for transformative learning within or across organizational contexts. Aaron is a fellow of the Mind & Life Institute and is currently a member of its Board of Trustees. Stern has served on the boards of various educational and social benefit institutions and currently serves on the boards of trustees of two major philanthropic foundations.
Benjamin P. Marcus is the Religious Literacy Specialist with the Religious Freedom Center of the Newseum Institute, where he examines the intersection of education, religious literacy, and identity formation in the United States. Join Commonweal Executive Director Oren Slozberg in conversation with Ben on the subject of religious studies in the educational system.
Benjamin P. Marcus has developed religious literacy programs for public schools, universities, U.S. government organizations, and private foundations, and he has delivered presentations on religion at universities and nonprofits in the U.S. and abroad. He is a contributing author in the forthcoming Oxford Handbook on Religion and American Education, where he writes about the importance of religious literacy education.
In 2016, Marcus was awarded a grant from the Germanacos Foundation to write lesson plans about religion for public secondary schools and to convene a regional conference on religious literacy pedagogies with teachers, administrators, subject matter experts, and professional consultants. He earned an MTS at Harvard Divinity School and studied religion at the University of Cambridge and Brown University, where he graduated magna cum laude.
Fall of 2017 has seen radical changes in the physical and psychic landscape of Northern California. The fires that began late Sunday night, October 8th, quickly engulfed homes and dreams, woodlands, and security. Many of us awoke in the middle of the night to the acrid smell of smoke, sensing that something was wrong. Only later, with the dawn light, were we able to see the extent of this disturbing truth. Everyone has been affected, whether we lost a loved one, a home, a beloved pet, our place of employment, a trail that we cherished, or simply our sense of faith in the ordinary assurances of daily life. We are living in a collective field of sorrows that will take a long time to metabolize.
Join TNS Host Irwin Keller and Francis Weller in sharing thoughts to help us tend our soul during traumatic times. Through poetry, song, simple ritual and our mutual vulnerability, we will create a sudden village to hold what we cannot hold alone.
Francis Weller, MFT, is a psychotherapist, writer and soul activist. He is a master of synthesizing diverse streams of thought from psychology, anthropology, mythology, alchemy, indigenous cultures and poetic traditions. Author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief, and The Threshold Between Loss and Revelation, (with Rashani Réa) he has introduced the healing work of ritual to thousands of people. He founded and directs WisdomBridge, an organization that offers educational programs that seek to integrate the wisdom from indigenous cultures with the insights and knowledge gathered from western poetic, psychological and spiritual traditions. His work was featured in The Sun magazine (October 2015) and the Utne Reader (Fall 2016). Francis is currently on staff at Commonweal Cancer Help Program, co-leading their week-long retreats with Michael Lerner. He is currently completing his third book, A Trail on the Ground: Living a Soulful Life and Why It Matters.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for another conversation with physician, artist, and author Michael Samuels, one of the foremost experts in body, mind, spirit medicine today.
Michael Samuels, MD, is a physician, artist, guided imagery specialist, and author. His best selling books The Well Body Book and the Well Pregnancy Book were amongst the first books in self help and holistic medicine. As a physician, he has worked with guided imagery and patients with life threatening illness for more than 25 years. His book Seeing With the Mind’s Eye was the first book on guided imagery and is the classic in the field. As director of Art As A Healing Force, an organization which networks artists and healers, he is a leading expert on art and healing and creativity and healing. Michael attended Brown University where he studied Yoga and shamanism under Kees Bolle, Carlos Castanada’s teacher. He then went to New York University College of Medicine and became a research immunogeneticist studying how white blood cells make antibodies. After his residency, he was in the Public Health Service as a physician on the Hopi and Navaho reservation and has gone on to be a healer in many capacities.
David Best and his crews built the first Burning Man Temple in 2000, which marked the beginning of a new and profound ritual for the tens of thousands of participants who attend Burning Man each year. After days of writing prayers on the structures, of affixing offerings from one’s life such as pictures, paintings, or of leaving the ashes of loved ones, the Temple are burned on Sunday nights. David has done other major temple projects in Derry/Londonderry in Northern Ireland, London's Burning festival, San Francisco, Detroit, and elsewhere.
In this presentation and discussion with The New School Host Steve Heilig, David will talk about his efforts and inspirations, with visual images of this striking and even awe-inspiring work.
Join TNS Host Steve Heilig for a conversation with David Smith, co-founder of the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic in San Francisco on Haight Street. David served as medical director at the clinic for 39 years, which was originally founded as a response to the medical needs of thousands of young people who descended upon San Francisco for the Summer of Love.
The clinic was initially funded through proceeds of benefit concerts, many of which were organized by Bill Graham, with bands such as Big Brother and the Holding Company, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ravi Shankar, and George Harrison.
David Smith, MD is a medical doctor specializing in addiction medicine, the psycho-pharmacology of drugs, new research strategies in the management of drug abuse problems, and proper prescribing practices for physicians. He is the founder of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinics of San Francisco, a fellow and past president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, past president of the California Society of Addiction Medicine, past medical director for the California State Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, past medical director for the California Collaborative Center for Substance Abuse Policy Research, and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. David is also an adjunct professor at the University of California, San Francisco and the founder and publisher of the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs.
Love Heals: A Talk at the Intergral Yoga Institute in San Francisco
Michael talks about the healing power of love, the different fates of romantic love and friendship, the question of whether the universe is a living creative force, and the play of archetypes in love. He reads love poems from Rilke, Rumi, Hafiz, Mary Oliver and others.
High John Eve-holiest day in New Orleans – with Amikaeyla Gaston drumming, singing, and calling in the spirits.
Cahoot with Caroline Casey as she presents astropoliticomytho*ritual navigational guidance for the wild ride ahead.
Caroline Casey Caroline is the host-creator and weaver of context for The Visionary Activist Show on Pacifica Radio Network Pacifica station KPFA (94.1) in Northern California, replayed on Los Angeles’ KPFK (and can be heard live on the web at 2pm PT on Thursdays, and by pod-cast subscription.) The show is dedicated to: anything we need to know to have a democracy; critique and solution; and the acknowledgement that we humans cannot solve the innumerable rude crises we’ve imposed on our planetary kin by ourselves—but only by humbly partnering with Nature’s evolutionary Ingenuity, aka Trickster. Her guests are leading contributors to a culture of reverent ingenuity, all teased into pertinence, and has been called “one of the best radio shows in America.”
Join TNS Host Steve Heilig for a conversation with Don Lattin, award-winning journalist and author of Changing Our Minds: Psychedelic Sacraments and the New Psychotherapy.
There’s a quiet revolution underway in our understanding of how psychedelic drugs work and how they can be used to treat depression, addiction and other disease. In his new book, Don offers an engaging look at the recent history and credible prospects for using MDMA, psilocybin, and ayahuasca to treat mood disorders and promote spiritual well‐being.
Don Lattin is an award‐winning author and journalist. His five previously published books include The Harvard Psychedelic Club, a national bestseller that was awarded the California Book Award, Silver Medal, for nonfiction. His feature articles have been published in dozens of leading magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle, where Lattin worked as a staff writer for 20 years.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Lynn Getz, therapist, social worker, and founder of Portland-based organization AEIOU&Y.
Lynn is multi-disciplinary therapist and classically trained social worker. She understands the inner connectedness of dynamic relationship. She has focused on cultivating the union between experience and perception. Her work grows out of the earliest traditional medicines that use one's innate healing capacities. Lynn uses the five senses to activate a deeper connection with the intellect and sensorial experience. She works extensively with colors, scents, herbal essences, and crystals to help us understand our potential to restore and expand our well being. She believes that coming in contact and working with our core essence is our most important endeavor as human beings. Lynn is based in Portland, Oregon. Find out more about her on her website.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal at tns.commonweal.org
Join TNS Host Steve Heilig for a conversation with Frank Ostaseski—Buddhist teacher, international lecturer, and a leading voice in contemplative end-of-life care—about his new book: The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully.
The profundity of the dying process is so powerful any notion we have of managing or controlling this experience is naïve. To imagine that at the time of our dying we will have the physical strength, emotional stability, and mental clarity to do the work of a lifetime is a ridiculous gamble. Yet Frank wants to extend us an invitation—five invitations, actually—to sit down with death, to have a cup of tea with her, to let her guide you toward living a more meaningful and loving life.
Frank Ostaseski is an internationally respected Buddhist teacher, the visionary co-founder of the Zen Hospice Project, and founder of the Metta Institute. He has lectured at Harvard Medical School, the Mayo Clinic, Wisdom.2.0, and teaches at major spiritual centers around the globe.
His groundbreaking work has been featured on the Bill Moyers PBS series On Our Own Terms, highlighted on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and honored by H.H. the Dalai Lama. He is the author of "The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully."
Join Commonweal Co-Founder and TNS Host Michael Lerner in a new series of community conversations drawing on 40 years of Commonweal work and his diverse interests outside Commonweal.
“I take the title from Carl Jung’s autobiography. This new series is an exercise in personal freedom for me. I hope you will join us for a new chapter at The New School, an experiment in the emergent.”
Michael Lerner is president and co-founder of Commonweal. He is president emeritus and co-founder of Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, D.C. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, Healing Circles, Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).
Join us for a conversation with Elise Miller, long time director of CHE, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment and Michael Lerner.
Alison Luterman The Largest Possible Life
Join New School host Irwin Keller for an evening of talk with poet and playwright Alison Luterman about how we live our lives to the fullest, and how we tell our stories – turning our days into poetry, written sometimes in ink and sometimes in flesh and blood, breath, and action.
Alison Luterman is a poet, essayist and playwright. Her books include the poetry collections Desire Zoo, The Largest Possible Life, and See How We Almost Fly; and a collection of essays, Feral City. Luterman’s plays include Saying Kaddish With My Sister, Hot Water, Glitter and Spew, Oasis, and The Recruiter, and a musical, The Chain. Her writings have been published in many journals and anthologies. She has taught writing at The Writing Salon in Berkeley, the Esalen Institute, and the Omega Institute, as well as at high schools, juvenile halls, and poetry festivals. She is a political activist and a homebody and a dog person who fell in love with a cat. She lives in a rambling old house in Oakland with her musician husband and the aforementioned cat, dividing her time between writing and looking for her keys.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner with Walter Murch for conversation and discussion from the new book about Walter’s astrophysics work, Waves Passing in the Night: Walter Murch in the Land of the Astrophysicists.
Written by Pulitzer Prize nominee Lawrence Weschler, the book is a profile of Walter Murch—a film legend and amateur astrophysicist whose investigations could reshape our understanding of the universe. The book was based on work presented at The New School in March of 2015.
Walter Murch For film aficionados, Walter Murch is legendary: a three-time Academy Award winner, arguably the most admired sound and film editor in the world for his work on Apocalypse Now, The Godfather trilogy, The English Patient, and many others. Outside of the studio, his mind is wide-ranging; his passion, pursued for several decades, has been astrophysics, in particular the rehabilitation of Titius-Bode, a long-discredited 18th century theory regarding the patterns by which planets and moons array themselves in gravitational systems across the universe. Though as a consummate outsider he’s had a hard time attracting any sort of comprehensive hearing from professional astrophysicists, Murch has made advances that even some of them find intriguing, including a connection between Titius Bode and earlier notions—going back past Kepler and Pythagorus—of musical harmony in the heavens. Unfazed by rejection, ever probing, Murch perseveres in the highest traditions of outsider science.
Anna O’Malley The Ecology of Community Medicine
The approach to medicine and healing within our current medical system is falling short of achieving improved health outcomes, much less optimal vitality. A majority of chronic diseases, so costly to “manage” and “treat” medically, are preventable and often reversible by aligning our behaviors, our thoughts, our actions with that which heals. Delivering medical care while building community strengthens the social context within which behavior change happens.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner with Integrative Physician Anna O’Malley in a conversation about the ecology of community medicine and her work in the Art of Vitality program at the Regenerative Design Institute at Commonweal Garden and in West Marin.
TNS host Irwin Keller in conversation with Chas Nol in a spirited discussion titled "Radical Faeries - Unleashing the Sissy Boy."
~with Gail Needleman offering an introduction to the Gurdjieff music~
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for a fourth conversation in a series with philosopher and author Jacob Needleman. They explore his “life-within-life” as both an engaged pupil of the Gurdjieff Work and also as a scholar and teacher confronting the great unanswerable questions of the heart.
Co-sponsored by the “Of One Soul” Campaign of the Interfaith Council of Sonoma County~
Join TNS Host Irwin Keller in a conversation with scholar, writer, and speaker Sumbul Ali-Karamali. Sumbul is a lawyer, scholar, and frequent spokesperson on matters of interest to Muslim Americans and Muslim women. Her books and columns have helped translate for mainstream Americans both the history of Islam and Muslim Americans’ everyday realities.
Peter Orner Not Alone Tonight at Least ~Co-presented by the Bolinas Library, The New School at Commonweal, and Point Reyes Books~
Join us for a reading and conversation with TNS Host Steve Heilig and writer Peter Orner. Peter teaches at the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers as well as at San Francisco State University, where he is currently chair of the Creative Writing Department. He is a member of the Bolinas Volunteer Fire Department.
Peter Orner Chicago-born Peter Orner has lived in the San Francisco Bay area for sixteen years. He is the author of two novels (The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo, 2006, Love and Shame and Love, 2010) and two story collections (Esther Stories, 2001, and Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge, 2013), as well as the editor of two oral histories (Voice of Witness). Orner’s fiction and non-fiction has appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly, Granta, The Paris Review, McSweeney’s, The Southern Review, and many other publications. His stories have been anthologized in Best American Stories and twice received a Pushcart Prize. Orner has been awarded a the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a two-year Lannan Foundation Literary Fellowship, as well as a Fulbright to Namibia.
A new book of oral history set in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, co-edited with Evan Lyon, will be published in January, 2017.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
A Community Reading with Eric Karpeles
~Co-sponsored by Point Reyes Books~
Please join TNS host Eric Karpeles for another panoramic community event, a chorus of mixed individual voices reading from the pages of one of America’s most impassioned nature lovers.
Join us for a conversation with TNS Host Michael Lerner and film maker Lata Mani.
The Poetics of Fragility (63 minutes) is a kaleidoscopic exploration of the texture, vitality, and aesthetics of fragility. Shot in the San Francisco Bay Area in September 2015 by co-directors Lata Mani and Nicolás Grandi, the film features internationally renowned scholar-activist Angela Davis, the acclaimed playwright and critic Cherrie Moraga, Nora Cortiñas, the inspiring founding member of Madres de Plaza de Mayo Linea Fundadora, actor-dancer Greg Manalo, feminist performance artists Thao P. Nguyen and Martha Rynberg, theater scholar Jisha Menon, healer Christopher Miles, creative writer Xochitl M. Perales and the young trombone talent, Jasim Perales. Find out more on their websites: www.thepoeticsoffragility.com http://latamani.com
Lata Mani Lata is a feminist historian, cultural critic, contemplative writer, and filmmaker. She has published on a broad range of issues, from feminism and colonialism, to illness, spiritual philosophy, and contemporary politics. She is the author of The Integral Nature of Things: Critical Reflections on the Present (Routledge 2013), Interleaves: Ruminations on Illness and Spiritual Life (Yoda 2011), Sacred Secular: Contemplative Cultural Critique, (Routledge 2009) and Contentious Traditions: The Debate on Sati in Colonial India (University of California Press 1989).
Join TNS Host Irwin Keller in a conversation with musician, teacher, and activist Holly Near.
Holly is an acclaimed songwriter, producer, and recording artist with more than 40 creative years and 30 recordings. Respected around the world for her music and activism, her joy and passion inspire people to join in her celebration of the human spirit.
Holly Near Born in Ukiah, CA in 1949, Holly began singing in high school, including work with a local folk group. She built on her performing career with acting parts on Mod Squad and appeared in a number of guest roles in seminal 70s TV shows like Room 222 and The Partridge Family. In 1970, she was a cast member of the Broadway musical Hair. In 1971, she joined the Free The Army Tour, an anti-Vietnam War road show of music, comedy, and plays organized by antiwar activist Fred Gardner and actors Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.
In 1972, Holly was one of the first women to create an independent record company, paving the way for women like Ani DiFranco and others. She has been recognized many times for her work for social change, including honors from the ACLU, the National Lawyers Guild, the National Organization for Women, and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences–and she was named Ms. Magazine Woman of the Year and received the Legends of Women’s Music Award. Holly is a staunch advocate for LGBTQ rights. She teaches, presenting master classes in performance craft and songwriting to diverse audiences. Her most recent CD, “Peace Becomes You,” was released in 2012.
photo credit: Irene Young
Listen to remarks from Commonweal Founder Michael Lerner, Chief Strategies Officer Oren Slozberg, and Cancer Help Program Medical Director Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, at the occasion of Commonweal's 40th anniversary luncheon.
During this 40th anniversary year for Commonweal, Michael Lerner, Commonweal Co-Founder, and Rachel Remen, MD, Medical Director of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program, offer the fourth in a series of conversations about Commonweal’s story for The New School.
In addition to being the Medical Director of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program for almost 30 years, Rachel directed the Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (ISHI) at Commonweal for 25 years. One of ISHI’s programs, the Healer’s Art, has reached almost 16,000 medical students at medical schools around the world. Rachel is the author of Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings, best sellers in many languages around the world.
Rachel Naomi Remen, MD Rachel is a nationally recognized medical reformer and educator who considers the practice of medicine to be a spiritual path and a path of service. She is internationally acclaimed as one of the earliest pioneers in the Integrative Health movement, and among the first to practice and teach a medicine of the whole person. As a doctor with a 63-year personal history of Crohn’s disease, she brings the perspective of both physician and patient to her pioneering work and her approach to medical education.
She is clinical professor of family and community medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine, clinical professor of community health at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, founder and director of the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness at Wright State University, and cofounder of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program that was featured in the highly acclaimed Bill Moyers PBS series, Healing and the Mind. Her many groundbreaking curricula enable physicians and other health professionals worldwide to recognize their work as spirit in action, strengthen their calling to heal and renewing their commitment to compassionate service.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for a two-part spiritual biography conversation with Jerry Jampolsky, MD, and Diane Cirincione-Jampolsky, PhD. Jerry is the founder of Attitudinal Healing and the first Center for Attitudinal Healing in 1975 and Diane founded and currently directs Attitudinal Healing International.
Health is defined as inner peace and healing as the letting go of fear. Attitudinal Healing is a cross-cultural method of healing that helps remove self-imposed blocks such as judgment, blame, shame and self-condemnation that are in the way of experiencing lasting love, peace, and happiness. The approach and philosophy are based on universal principles and people of all ages, beliefs, walks of life and cultures benefit from the practice of Attitudinal Healing.
Gerald G. Jampolsky, MD Jerry is a graduate of Stanford Medical School and is internationally recognized in the fields of psychiatry, health, business, and education. In 1975, Jerry established the first Center for Attitudinal Healing in Marin County, California, so that people of all ages, faiths and cultures who are facing illness, catastrophic events, loss and life challenges could have free support services. Since then, a global network of independent Centers have continued to emerge in dozens of countries on five continents. In 1982 Jerry founded the international project Children as Teachers of Peace, a program that offered children an opportunity to express their feelings, ideas, fears and hopes for a better world. In 1987 Jerry co-founded the AIDS Hotline for Kids. He is also the best-selling author of numerous books including the classics Love is Letting Go Of Fear, Teach Only Love, and Goodbye To Guilt.
Diane V. Cirincione-Jampolsky, Ph.D Diane is the founder and executive director of Attitudinal Healing International. She holds a B.S. in Organizational Behavior as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. She currently serves on the Board of Directors and Board of Trustees of the World Business Academy, a nonprofit think tank and action incubator working to inspire business to assume responsibility for the whole of society with a primary focus on environmental sustainability. Diane is a businesswoman, therapist, international lecturer, and author/co-author of seven books in multiple languages. She and Jerry have lectured and worked with universities and organizations in 61 countries and have co-authored several books together including Love is the Answer, Change Your Mind – Change Your Life, Finding Our Way Home, and A Mini Course For Life.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for a two-part spiritual biography conversation with Jerry Jampolsky, MD, and Diane Cirincione-Jampolsky, PhD. Jerry is the founder of Attitudinal Healing and the first Center for Attitudinal Healing in 1975 and Diane founded and currently directs Attitudinal Healing International.
Health is defined as inner peace and healing as the letting go of fear. Attitudinal Healing is a cross-cultural method of healing that helps remove self-imposed blocks such as judgment, blame, shame and self-condemnation that are in the way of experiencing lasting love, peace, and happiness. The approach and philosophy are based on universal principles and people of all ages, beliefs, walks of life and cultures benefit from the practice of Attitudinal Healing.
Gerald G. Jampolsky, MD Jerry is a graduate of Stanford Medical School and is internationally recognized in the fields of psychiatry, health, business, and education. In 1975, Jerry established the first Center for Attitudinal Healing in Marin County, California, so that people of all ages, faiths and cultures who are facing illness, catastrophic events, loss and life challenges could have free support services. Since then, a global network of independent Centers have continued to emerge in dozens of countries on five continents. In 1982 Jerry founded the international project Children as Teachers of Peace, a program that offered children an opportunity to express their feelings, ideas, fears and hopes for a better world. In 1987 Jerry co-founded the AIDS Hotline for Kids. He is also the best-selling author of numerous books including the classics Love is Letting Go Of Fear, Teach Only Love, and Goodbye To Guilt.
Diane V. Cirincione-Jampolsky, Ph.D Diane is the founder and executive director of Attitudinal Healing International. She holds a B.S. in Organizational Behavior as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. She currently serves on the Board of Directors and Board of Trustees of the World Business Academy, a nonprofit think tank and action incubator working to inspire business to assume responsibility for the whole of society with a primary focus on environmental sustainability. Diane is a businesswoman, therapist, international lecturer, and author/co-author of seven books in multiple languages. She and Jerry have lectured and worked with universities and organizations in 61 countries and have co-authored several books together including Love is the Answer, Change Your Mind – Change Your Life, Finding Our Way Home, and A Mini Course For Life.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Join TNS Host Steve Heilig in conversation with Andreas Weber, a Berlin-based book and magazine writer and independent scholar. Andreas’ work has focused on a re-evaluation of our understanding of the living, and the disconnection between humans and nature, arguably the root cause of most of the environmental catastrophes unravelling around us.
In his recent book, The Biology of Wonder, Andreas proposes a new approach to the biological sciences, a “poetic ecology” which intimately connects our species to everything that surrounds us, showing that subjectivity and imagination are the prerequisites of biological existence.
Dr. Andreas Weber Dr. Andreas Weber has degrees in Marine Biology and Cultural Studies, and collaborated with theoretical biologist Francisco Varela in Paris. His work has appeared German magazines and journals such as GEO, National Geographic, Die Zeit and Greenpeace Magazine. Weber teaches at Leuphana University and at the University of Fine Arts, Berlin. He has published more than a dozen books, most recently the English editions of Enlivenment: Towards a Fundamental Shift in the Concepts of Nature, Culture and Politics (Heinrich Böll Foundation 2013), and Biology of Wonder: Aliveness, Feeling and the Metamorphosis of Science (New Society Publishers 2015).
Andreas is part of the staff of und.Institute for Art, Culture and Sustainability, Berlin, which is devoted to link the fields of art and culture with the field of sustainability, and to develop exemplary models of productive exchange. Andreas was named as the 2016 Jonathan Rowe Commons Fellow at the Mesa Refuge, a writing residency center in Point Reyes, CA
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Michael Lerner speaks at Tahoma One Drop Monastery on Whidbey Island in Washington State.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
During this 40th anniversary year for Commonweal, Michael Lerner, Commonweal Co-Founder, and Steve Lerner, former Commonweal Research Institute Director, offer the third of a series of conversations about Commonweal’s story for The New School.
Steve Lerner was among the earliest partners in founding Commonweal. He directed the Commonweal Research Institute, and he and Burr Heneman launched the campaign to stop oil drilling off the Northern California Coast. He played a key role in Commonweal campaigns for juvenile justice reform, for sustainable development, and for environmental justice.
Steve Lerner Steve served as the early research director of Commonweal. He is the author of Diamond: A Struggle for Environmental Justice in Louisiana’s Chemical Corridor; Eco-Pioneers: Practical Visionaries Solving Today’s Environmental Problems; The Earth Summit: Conversations with Architects of an Ecologically Sustainable Future; and Beyond the Earth Summit: Conversations with Advocates of Sustainable Development. Learn more about Steve’s book, Sacrifice Zones.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Steve Lerner The Commonweal Story (part 3) During this 40th anniversary year for Commonweal, Michael Lerner, Commonweal Co-Founder, and Steve Lerner, former Commonweal Research Institute Director, offer the third of a series of conversations about Commonweal’s story for The New School.
Steve Lerner was among the earliest partners in founding Commonweal. He directed the Commonweal Research Institute, and he and Burr Heneman launched the campaign to stop oil drilling off the Northern California Coast. He played a key role in Commonweal campaigns for juvenile justice reform, for sustainable development, and for environmental justice.
Steve Lerner Steve served as the early research director of Commonweal. He is the author of Diamond: A Struggle for Environmental Justice in Louisiana’s Chemical Corridor; Eco-Pioneers: Practical Visionaries Solving Today’s Environmental Problems; The Earth Summit: Conversations with Architects of an Ecologically Sustainable Future; and Beyond the Earth Summit: Conversations with Advocates of Sustainable Development. Learn more about Steve’s book, Sacrifice Zones.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
The Paleovedic Diet: A Complete Program to Burn Fat, Increase Energy, and Reverse Disease
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner and Rebecca Katz, Director of the Healing Kitchens Institute at Commonweal, for a conversation on a deeply sophisticated approach to integrating the Paleolithic diet with Ayurvedic Medicine with Akil Palanisamy, MD. Participants may find that what they thought was a healthy paleolithic diet differs considerably from what Dr. Palanisamy recommends.
Akil Palanisamy, MD Akil is a Harvard-trained physician who is trained in functional medicine and integrative medicine. He completed his premedical training at Harvard University in biochemistry followed by medical training at University of California – San Francisco and Stanford. He studied with Dr. Andrew Weil at the University of Arizona. His passion in life is to help people achieve health and balance through natural means, without pharmaceuticals whenever possible. He is the author of The Paleovedic Diet (January 2016) and practices medicine at The Institute for Health and Healing in San Francisco.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Michael Lerner and Waz The Commonweal Story (part 2) During this 40th anniversary year for Commonweal, Commonweal co-founder Michael Lerner and long time Cancer Help Program staffer and yoga teacher Waz offer the second of a series of talks about Commonweal for The New School
Michael Lerner Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal and of Smith Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, D.C. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, The New School at Commonweal, and Healing Circles. He is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Michael Lerner and Burr Heneman The Commonweal Story (part 1) During this 40th anniversary year for Commonweal, Commonweal co-founders Michael Lerner and Burr Heneman offer the first of a series of talks about Commonweal for The New School. During this first presentation, and in future presentations in the series to be held later in the year, Michael hopes to explore the following:
Sometimes a Great Notion: A history of Formative Ideas at Commonweal Bending the Arc: Changemakers at Commonweal Grace Under Pressure: Commonweal’s First Decade Purpose: A Work Community in Service to Life
Michael says, “Looking backward is not easy for me because my focus is always on what we are doing and what we can do next. But it will be a pleasure to look back—and look forward—in the company of The New School community.”
Michael Lerner, PhD Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal and of Smith Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, D.C. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, The New School at Commonweal, and Healing Circles. He is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press).
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Caroline Casey Vernal Eclipse Scheherezade Convening Trickster Medicine Story-Telling Vernal Eclipse Palm Sunday -Venus-Neptune fantastic romance in Pisces (exalted and all)
(note to all melancholics – you can have just as much melancholy as makes you a genius)
Scheherezade Convening Trickster Medicine Story-Telling Council Tea
The world is raging – so let’s bee the balm!
Cahoot with Caroline Casey as she presents astromythopolitico navigational guidance for the wild ride ahead
Mythological campaign coverage! and ways to be ethically magically effective. The purpose of ritual magic is to spiral into the memosphere expanded wisdom and tolerance.
Trickster queries “what qualities shall we cultivate to be “skookum”- (“connected to the spirits and completely competent for the tasks at hand?”) to “dree our weird” (“play our role in Destiny”)
The more the merrier the magic!
Caroline W. Casey Caroline is the host-creator and weaver of context for The Visionary Activist Show on Pacifica Radio Network Pacifica station KPFA (94.1) in Northern California, replayed on Los Angeles’ KPFK (and can be heard live on the web: www.KPFA.org at 2pm PT on Thursdays, and by pod-cast subscription.) The Show is dedicated to: anything we need to know to have a democracy; critique and solution; and the acknowledgement that we humans cannot solve the innumerable rude crises we’ve imposed on our planetary kin by ourselves—but only by humbly partnering with Nature’s evolutionary Ingenuity, aka Trickster. Her guests are leading contributors to a culture of reverent ingenuity, all teased into pertinence, and has been called “one of the best radio shows in America.”
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Jonah Raskin The Strange Life and the Mysterious Death of Jack London Join TNS Host Steve Heilig with biographer and journalist Jonah Raskin about the life and the work of Jack London, one of the most popular American writers. London died 100 years ago, in 1916, at the age of 40.
Steve and Jonah, both longtime readers of London’s work, talk about his literary and cultural achievements as well as the enduring mysteries and enigmas in his life.
Jonah Raskin Jonah is a biographer, performance poet, and journalist. The author of 14 books, he taught for 30 years at Sonoma State University in the English department and in communication studies.
The editor of The Radical Jack London: Writings on War and Revolution, he is also the author of Burning Down the House: Jack London and the Wolf House Fire and Mysteries of Jack London: Socialist, White Supremacist, anti-Semite and Lover of Beauty. He writes for The San Francisco Chronicle, The Point Reyes Light, The Bohemian and the Anderson Valley Advertiser.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Bill Glenn Enneagram: An Archetypal Psychology Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for a conversation with Bill Glenn, a former Jesuit, licensed psychotherapist, and spiritual director with a private practice in San Francisco and Santa Rosa, California. Bill has been working with the Enneagram, an authoritative and unique self-integration system, since 1978, and has conducted workshops across the Bay Area.
To make the most of the conversation, here are some suggestions:
- Click on this link to take the short free test to get a sense of what your type might be.
And/Or:
- Read the Wikipedia entry on The Enneagram of Personality. Note especially the history with G.I. Gurdjieff, Oscar Ichazo, Claudio Naranjo and others as pioneers. Click on Ichazo and Naranjo to learn more about them.
William D. Glenn A former Jesuit, Bill is a licensed psychotherapist and spiritual director with a private practice in San Francisco and Santa Rosa, California. He was executive director of Continuum, a Tenderloin-based health care agency that provides care for triply-diagnosed clients. Bill has been working with the Enneagram, an authoritative and unique self- integration system, since 1978, and has conducted workshops on its application throughout the Bay Area. From 1995-2002, he was the convener of Spirit Group, an intentional prayer community, and for ten years co-facilitated Katargeo, a program for lifers at San Quentin State Penitentiary.
Glenn is currently a trustee of the Morris Stulsaft Foundation, a trustee of the Graduate Theological Union, and co-chair of the capital campaign for Horizons Foundation in San Francisco. A former board member of the Insight Prison Project, he is past vice president of the board of KQED, past president of the socially responsible mutual fund Working Assets/Citizens Funds, and past president of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Larry Robinson Reanimating the World: Ecopsychology, Mystery, and Poetry Join TNS Host Irwin Keller in conversation with psychotherapist, poet, politician, and activist Larry Robinson. In his wide-ranging work, Larry Robinson addresses the ways in which the world is in need of healing—both on a macro level and in our own suffering souls. He brings to this work a sense of mystery, an openness to paradox, a mythological imagination, an expertise in the new field of ecopsychology and an infectious love of poetry. Join us to discuss how politics, psychology, and poetry can dance together.
Poetry recited at the event includes:
A Brief For The Defense by Jack Gilbert
Snowflakes by Larry Robinson
The Cure, Seamus Heaney’s translation of “The Philoctetes,” by Sophocles
The Way It Is by William Stafford
Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye
An Arab Shepherd by Yahuda Amichai
Larry Robinson Larry is a psychotherapist, thinker, politician, and poet. As an eco-psychologist, he works to shift our view of psychology from that of fixing a broken apparatus to that of witnessing and nurturing complex soul work. This soul work involves looking beyond our limited commercial culture and making use of nature, mythology, and storytelling to restore a sense of wholeness. A former mayor of Sebastopol, Larry also engages in political and social action, traveling the world to identify new ways of thinking and healing, and translating them back into our culture. In Larry’s view, awakening to healing—both personally and globally—requires an awakening to beauty. This view has made him both a poet and a lifelong purveyor of poetry. His spoken word poetry salons are famous, and his poetry lovers’ listserve, where he posts uncannily apt poetry daily, has more than 1,200 subscribers. His recent volume of poetry, Rolling Away the Stone, is available on Amazon.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Rick Ingrasci A Life in Healing: Cultural Transformation and Psychedelic Medicine Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in another conversation with Rick Ingrasci—psychiatrist, community developer, and social entrepreneur.
Rick’s passions center on the role of play, art, and creativity in personal and social transformation. His wife, Peggy Taylor, and he have self proclaimed “black belts in throwing a better party….” Rick’s two greatest mentors were Buckminster Fuller and Marshall McLuhan, both of whom deepened his interest in the relationship between culture and technology.
Rick Ingrasci, MD, MPH Rick’s background is in psychiatry, psychedelic medicine, community development, and social entrepreneuring. He practices life coaching, mainly with leaders of non-profit organizations, and is the director of the StoryDome Project — Expanding Worldviews and Transforming the Way We Live and Learn Through the Power of Visual Storytelling. He is co-author of the bestselling Chop Wood, Carry Water: A Guide to Finding Spiritual Fulfillment in Everyday Life.
He co-founded Interface (Boston’s largest holistic education center), the American Holistic Medical Association, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Hollyhock, where he has been convening an annual Hollyhock Summer Gathering since 1986.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Rick Ingrasci A Life in Healing: Cultural Transformation and Psychedelic Medicine Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in another conversation with Rick Ingrasci—psychiatrist, community developer, and social entrepreneur.
Rick’s passions center on the role of play, art, and creativity in personal and social transformation. His wife, Peggy Taylor, and he have self proclaimed “black belts in throwing a better party….” Rick’s two greatest mentors were Buckminster Fuller and Marshall McLuhan, both of whom deepened his interest in the relationship between culture and technology.
Rick Ingrasci, MD, MPH Rick’s background is in psychiatry, psychedelic medicine, community development, and social entrepreneuring. He practices life coaching, mainly with leaders of non-profit organizations, and is the director of the StoryDome Project — Expanding Worldviews and Transforming the Way We Live and Learn Through the Power of Visual Storytelling. He is co-author of the bestselling Chop Wood, Carry Water: A Guide to Finding Spiritual Fulfillment in Everyday Life.
He co-founded Interface (Boston’s largest holistic education center), the American Holistic Medical Association, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Hollyhock, where he has been convening an annual Hollyhock Summer Gathering since 1986.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Rabbi Rachel Cowan Wise Aging: Living with Joy, Resilience and Spirit ~Co-presented with Point Reyes Books~
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for an exploration of spiritual biography with Rabbi Rachel Cowan, known nationally as a pioneer of contemplative practice in Judaism. Her latest book is Wise Aging: Living with Joy, Resilience and Spirit.
Rabbi Rachel Cowan Rabbi Rachel Cowan, formerly the executive director of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, is working on a special project on aging with wisdom. She was named by Newsweek Magazine in 2007 and in 2010 as one of the 50 leading rabbis in the United States, and by the Forward in 2010 as one of the 50 leading women rabbis. She was featured in the PBS series The Jewish Americans. She received her ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1989. From 1990-2003 she was program director for Jewish Life and Values at the Nathan Cummings Foundation. Her work has been included in Moment and Sh’ma as well as in anthologies, including Illness and Health in the Jewish Tradition: Writings from the Bible to Today, and The Torah: A Women’s Commentary. She is the author, with her late husband Paul Cowan, of Mixed Blessings: Untangling the Knots in an Interfaith Marriage. Her most recent book, co-authored with Dr. Linda Thal and called Wise Aging: Living with Joy, Resilience and Spirit, was published in June 2015. She lives in New York City, near her two children Lisa and Matt, and four grandchildren – Jacob and Tessa, and Dante and Miles Moses.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Lily Brett Text, Jews, and Rock 'n Roll Join TNS-Sonoma Host Irwin Keller for a conversation with Lily Brett—novelist, poet, rock and roll journalist, and daughter of Holocaust survivors. An Australian based in New York, Lily’s work has struggled to make connections between the disparate facts of our lives, finding in them both humor and home.
Lily Brett Author Lily Brett’s life and work span many worlds. Born to Auschwitz survivors in a German DP camp, Lily grew up in Australia as an only child and the only Jew in her circle. With the competing pressures of preserving what was lost and being her own person, Lily went on to become, at age 19, an international rock and roll journalist, interviewing the likes of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Mick Jagger. Eventually she turned to poetry and fiction, going on to publish seven novels, four collections of essays, and eight volumes of poetry. Her literary work explores the lives of Holocaust survivors and their children, the experiences of modern women, women’s relationship with food, and life in New York City. Her novel You Gotta Have Balls was produced for the stage in Vienna and is currently being turned into a musical in Poland. Her most recent novel, Lola Bensky, is a meditation on the experience of being surrounded by the larger-than-life and sometimes tragic rock and roll world while making sense of the larger-than-life tragedy that befell her family. Lily Brett has lived in New York City since 1989.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Sadja Greenwood as they discuss the science of supplements.
Sadja Greenwood, MD Sadja Greenwood is a primary care physician with a special interest in women’s health. She has been an activist for women’s health throughout her career, in family planning, reproductive rights, self-care, education, and services for mid-life women. She is the author of Menopause, Naturally (revised edition, 1996). Visit Sadja’s blog for more information.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Francis Weller The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief ~Part of the End-of-Life Conversations Series~
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in another conversation with Francis Weller, MFT, co-leader of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program. Francis is a psychotherapist, writer, and “soul activist,” who synthesizes streams of thought from psychology, anthropology, mythology, alchemy, indigenous cultures, and poetic traditions. His latest book is The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief.
Francis Weller, MFT Francis Weller, MFT, has introduced the healing work of grief ritual to thousands of people. He founded and directs WisdomBridge, which offers educational programs that integrate wisdom from traditional cultures with the insights gathered from western cultures. His writings have appeared in anthologies and journals exploring the confluence of psyche, nature and culture. Francis is on the staff of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program. He has taught at Sonoma State University, New College of California and the Sophia Center in Oakland.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Rebecca Burgess Regenerating Community Fiber Systems Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with West Marin educator, writer, and natural dye farmer Rebecca Burgess. Rebecca founded Fibershed, an educational and community development organization which was founded, in part, to increase awareness around toxic chemicals and their central role in both fabric and health.
Photos: courtesy Paige Green Photography
Rebecca Burgess Rebecca works as an educator, writer, and natural dye farmer. She enjoys knowing the biological roots of where everything comes from—behind everything we own, use, and consume is a story.
Instead of continuously feeling downtrodden by the stories behind a material culture, she decided to change the narrative—beginning with her wardrobe. Her “fibershed project” is a statement and a practice that has shown her that she can flourish in a wardrobe constructed completely from the resources of her community (soil to skin). Limiting her wardrobe to the bare minimum, and using local fiber, dye, and labor has been her greatest joy and challenge to date.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Jacob Needleman Who Am I? Why Am I Here? Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for another conversation with author, professor, and philosopher Jacob Needleman.
Jacob Needleman Jacob Needleman is a professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University. He is the author of many books on soul, philosophy, the world’s religions, and the meaning of life. He was featured on Bill Moyers’s acclaimed PBS series A World of Ideas.
In addition to his teaching and writing, Needleman serves as a consultant in the fields of psychology, education, medical ethics, philanthropy, and business.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Leroy Lowe Getting to Know Cancer How A Canadian Educator Changed the Global Dialogue on Chemicals and Cancer
Leroy Lowe is a Canadian educator who has set out to start a revolution in how scientists think about the carcinogenic potential of low-dose exposures to mixtures of chemicals that are commonly encountered in the environment. He is also changing how cancer researchers think by getting them to explore the ways in which non-toxic chemicals found in plants and foods might be combined to be used for cancer prevention and therapy.
Join TNS Host Michel Lerner in this conversation that tells the story of how this remarkable autodidact organized 350 scientists from 31 countries into teams and then provided them with the leadership and vision needed to get them to challenge existing paradigms in both of these critical areas of research.
Leroy Lowe Leroy Lowe is a former aerospace engineer and project manager in the Canadian Airforce where he focused on translating basic science into research and development projects in the ocean-tech sector. As a senior manager in industry, he recruited and managed a diverse network of agents, distributors and strategic alliance partners in over 20 countries. He is now a faculty member in International Business at the Nova Scotia Community College and for the better part of the past two decades he has been an active international business consultant for a wide range of entrepreneurs and growing businesses. He has a Master’s degree in Adult Education, an MBA, and a PhD in Biological Sciences. He is also currently the president of Getting to Know Cancer and Neuroqualia.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Diana and Kelly Lindsay Healing Circles Langley Diana Lindsay was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in 2006. She was given three months to live and told to go on hospice care. But her new granddaughter gave her a powerful reason to live. Even though new medicine was helping some patients with lung cancer, Diana and her husband Kelly felt the medicine would not be enough. So they embarked on an intensive “joy protocol” in which her intuition guided her in both medical and integrative therapies. Her intuitive power of visualization was unusually strong.
More recently, they founded Healing Circles Langley to share their experience of healing with others. Healing Circles Langley is a program of Commonweal and a pioneering site for Commonweal’s Healing Circles project. Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Diana and Kelly, authors of Something More Than Hope: Surviving Despite the Odds, Thriving Because of Them.
Diana and Kelly Lindsay Diana met Kelly Lindsay when he was a biology major and she was a dance and music major at Stanford University. During nearly 40 years of marriage, they have taught college students and children, been global activists, and built the marketing and financial skills to found their own company.
In 2006, Diana and Kelly Lindsay were chief executives of Lindsay Communications, a high-tech marketing and communications company serving hundreds of companies from Fortune 100 multi-nationals to start-ups. When she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, they realized the customers they most needed to communicate with were Diana’s cells. While she learned how to visualize them and ask for their guidance, he created a high-bandwidth grid with his hands as a Reiki master to power those cells back to health. Today Diana and Kelly speak to anyone facing seemingly insurmountable odds, inspiring them to find something more than hope.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Shodo Harada Roshi Zen and the Art of Dying ~Co-presented with Commonweal Healing Circles~
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Zen priest Shodo Harada Roshi. This is the Roshi’s third visit to TNS, and the next conversation in our End-of-Life Conversations series.
Also, see our new video of a spiritual biography conversation between Michael and the Roshi.
Shodo Harada Roshi Shodo Harada Roshi is Abbot of Sogen-ji, a 300-year-old Rinzai Zen monastery in Okayama, Japan. He is also Abbot of Tahoma Monastery on Whidbey Island north of Seattle. He founded Enso House, a hospice affiliated with Tahoma, where his students attend the dying.
He is a master of Japanese calligraphy, and has conducted demonstrations at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco and the Metropolitan Museum in New York. His translator and colleague, Priscilla Daichi Storandt, is co-abbot at Tahoma and a senior teacher in her own right. Find out more on his website.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Betsy Stroman The Sausalito Village Experience: Will this help us in West Marin? Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for a conversation with Betsy Stroman—founder and former director of Sausalito Village, a volunteer-based non-profit organization that has been offering services to support independent senior living since October 2010. Their mission is to enhance the ability of members to live independently, remaining active and integral to their community as they age.
Betsy Stroman Betsy is a founder and former president of the board of Sausalito Village. She stepped down from the board presidency in spring 2015, but remains vice president of the board. Sausalito Village is primarily volunteer based, and their fees are low — and they waive fees for people for whom even their low fees are out of reach.
Betsy self published a book about a Sausalito artist: The Art and Life of Jean Varda.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Peter Coyote The Rainman's Third Cure ~Co-presented with Point Reyes Books~
Renowned actor, narrator, author, activist, and singer/songwriter, Peter Coyote has produced his second autobiographical memoir, The Rainman’s Third Cure. Join him for a wide-ranging discussion with TNS Host Steve Heilig about his story and the broader world.
Photo: courtesy of Peter Coyote.
Peter Coyote Peter Coyote first became politically active in his college years in the 1960s in an anti-nuclear protest that brought him to Kennedy’s White House during the Cuban Missile Crisis. From there he came west to become an integral part of the San Francisco Mime Troupe and then the Diggers, the famed anarchist soul of the Haight-Ashbury sixties scene, followed by a period in a commune in Olema. He was chair of the California State Arts Council during Jerry Brown’s first term as governor, then got back into acting and launched a stellar career involving more than 140 films, even more projects using his Emmy-winning skills as narrator, and more. His first book Sleeping Where I Fall included a Pushcart Prize-winning chapter, and his new memoir The Rainman’s Third Cure is a candid and searching reckoning with his childhood and subsequent life. He has recently been ordained as a Buddhist priest.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
~Co-presented with Pt Reyes Books~ Jacob Needleman Time and the Soul: A Spiritual Biography ~Co-presented with Pt Reyes Books~
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for the next in his series of spiritual biographies—this one with author, professor, and philosopher Jacob Needleman.
Jacob Needleman Jacob Needleman is a professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University. He is the author of many books on soul, philosophy, the world’s religions, and the meaning of life. He was featured on Bill Moyers’s acclaimed PBS series A World of Ideas.
In addition to his teaching and writing, Needleman serves as a consultant in the fields of psychology, education, medical ethics, philanthropy, and business.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Kate Hoepke The Village Movement: Aging in Community Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for a conversation with Kate Hoepke, the executive director of San Francisco Village—a community-based membership organization that empowers older adults who wish to continue living on their own terms in the homes and neighborhoods they love. SF Village provides community, support, and services to help members remain independent, connected and fully engaged as they age.
SF Village is a leader in the Village Movement catching on all over the country. Currently there are over 160 villages in 40 states and another 100 in development. The Village-to-Village Network, a nonprofit organization, supports the growing Village movement with resources, peer-to-peer networking and an annual conference. California leads the country in Village growth; the state is home to about 35 Villages, with another 15 in development.
Kate Hoepke Kate’s background in community building spans 25 years and a developmental continuum from early childhood to retirement. Since 2001, she has worked with older adults and currently serves as the Executive Director of San Francisco Village. Prior to working in the retirement field, she organized social support networks for families with young children, called Mothers Clubs. She founded 40 clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area, which have served approximately 500,000 families to date. Kate has a BA in Sociology and an MBA from San Francisco State University.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Mark Renneker, MD Medical Advocacy for People with Cancer and Other Serious Conditions ~Co-presented with Healing Circles~
We are delighted to present a special day-long training with one of the foremost authorities on clinical advocacy for people with cancer. A longtime Commonweal friend, Mark’s incisive vision of clinical advocacy is invaluable for all engaged in Healing Circles and for others who share these interests.
View both part 1 and part 2 of the event video on our Vimeo site.
Download the handouts from Mark’s talk:
Medical Advocacy Topics No Stone Unturned
Mark Renneker, MD Dr. Mark Renneker is a board-certified family physician who lives in San Francisco. He has a unique medical practice that he describes as clinical advocacy. He specializes in working with patients and families who are facing complex medical situations. He doesn’t take on their care, but helps them leave no stone unturned, as to learning about and pursuing all possible diagnostic and treatment options, including experimental, mainstream, alternative, and integrative medical strategies. Most of his work is by phone, with patients from across the country and around the world.
Mark’s work in clinical advocacy has generated significant interest. He has sponsored workshops at Commonweal on clinical advocacy and now teaches a course on the subject for medical students at University of California-San Francisco, where he is on the clinical faculty.
Mark is also a dedicated surfer, and is the founder of the Surfer’s Medical Association. He has surfed giant waves from the Arctic to the Antarctic, but surfs regularly at Maverick’s and Ocean Beach, where he lives with his wife, the painter Jessica Dunne, and their large iguana.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Mark Renneker, MD Medical Advocacy for People with Cancer and Other Serious Conditions ~Co-presented with Healing Circles~
We are delighted to present a special day-long training with one of the foremost authorities on clinical advocacy for people with cancer. A longtime Commonweal friend, Mark’s incisive vision of clinical advocacy is invaluable for all engaged in Healing Circles and for others who share these interests.
View both part 1 and part 2 of the event video on our Vimeo site.
Download the handouts from Mark’s talk:
Medical Advocacy Topics No Stone Unturned
Mark Renneker, MD Dr. Mark Renneker is a board-certified family physician who lives in San Francisco. He has a unique medical practice that he describes as clinical advocacy. He specializes in working with patients and families who are facing complex medical situations. He doesn’t take on their care, but helps them leave no stone unturned, as to learning about and pursuing all possible diagnostic and treatment options, including experimental, mainstream, alternative, and integrative medical strategies. Most of his work is by phone, with patients from across the country and around the world.
Mark’s work in clinical advocacy has generated significant interest. He has sponsored workshops at Commonweal on clinical advocacy and now teaches a course on the subject for medical students at University of California-San Francisco, where he is on the clinical faculty.
Mark is also a dedicated surfer, and is the founder of the Surfer’s Medical Association. He has surfed giant waves from the Arctic to the Antarctic, but surfs regularly at Maverick’s and Ocean Beach, where he lives with his wife, the painter Jessica Dunne, and their large iguana.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Joanne Kyger On Time: Poems 2005-2014 ~Co-presented with Point Reyes Books~
There is no poet with more whimsically tough a mind… She’s the best of the west. —Robert Creely
No other poet of my generation has been able to make the pleasures and particulars of the ‘everyday’ as luminous and essential and central. —David Meltzer
A longtime Bolinas resident, Kyger will read from her work and be in discussion with her longtime friend and admirer, Steve Heilig of The New School. Copies of her brand new book On Time: Poems 2005-2014 (City Lights Publishers) will be available for purchase and signing.
Joanne Kyger One of the major poets of the SF Renaissance, Joanne was born in 1934 in Vallejo, CA. After studying at UC Santa Barbara, she moved to San Francisco in 1957, where she became a member of the circle of poets around Jack Spicer and Robert Duncan. In 1960, she and then-husband Gary Snyder traveled in Japan and India where, along with Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky, they met the Dalai Lama. She returned to California in 1964 and published her first book, The Tapestry and the Web, in 1965. In 1969, she settled in Bolinas, where she continues to reside today.
She has published more than 30 books of poetry and prose, including Strange Big Moon, The Japan and India Journals: 1960-1964 (2000), As Ever: Selected Poems (2002), and About Now: Collected Poems (2007), which won the 2008 Josephine Miles Award from PEN Oakland. She occasionally teaches at Naropa University.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Michael Pollan The Trip Treatment: New Research on the Healing Properties of Psychedelics ~Co-presented and sponsored by Point Reyes Books~
How are we to judge the veracity of the insights gleaned during a psychedelic journey? It’s one thing to conclude that love is all that matters, but quite another to come away from a therapy convinced that “there is another reality” awaiting us after death, as one volunteer put it, or that there is more to the universe—and to consciousness—than a purely materialist world view would have us believe. Is psychedelic therapy simply foisting a comforting delusion on the sick and dying?
So writes author and journalist Michael Pollan in his recent New Yorker article, “The Trip Treatment.” Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for a conversation with Michael Pollan about his research and thoughts—on the subject of new research on the healing properties of psychedelics, among others. Read Michael Pollan’s letter about his New Yorker article.
Photo: Ken Light. Illustration: Stephan Doyle.
Michael Pollan For the past 25 years, Michael has been writing books and articles about the places where nature and culture intersect: on our plates, in our farms and gardens, and in the built environment. He is the author of Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation (2013) and of four New York Times bestsellers: Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual (2010); In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto (2008); The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (2006) and The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World (2001). The Omnivore’s Dilemma was named one of the ten best books of 2006 by both the New York Times and the Washington Post.
Michael grew up on Long Island and was educated at Bennington College, Oxford University, and Columbia University, from which he received a Master’s in English. He lives in the Bay Area with his wife, the painter Judith Belzer, and their son, Isaac.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Rachel Naomi Remen, MD Trusting the Process: The Basics of Discovery Model Learning ~A Healing Circles and New School Event~
Please join us for this series with Dr. Rachel Remen. She is joined by Commonweal Founder Michael Lerner as well as Healing Circles-Langley Founders Diana and Kelly Lindsay.
In part 1 of this series, Michael Lerner introduces the speakers and Healing Circles community. Diana and Kelly Lindsay give an overview of Healing Circles-Langley and the work being done there. Finally, Michael talks about the theory and process work that has been the heart of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program for decades and is the “curriculum” for the Healing Circles programs developing now.
In part 2, Rachel gives an overview (and some experiences) of the discovery model curriculum for medical students, The Healer’s Art, which is presently taught annually at more than 80 medical schools in the United States and in seven other countries. Rachel has developed this experiential model to create a community of inquiry in which mutual healing, clarification of deep meaning and values, and personal transformation become accessible. Her discovery model philosophy and curriculum design is integral to the work of Commonweal’s new program, Healing Circles.
In part 3, Michael, Rachel, Diana, and Kelly sit together to explore the important pieces of the day, and bring in audience questions.
Rachel Naomi Remen, MD Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, is the founder and director of the Institute for the Study of Health and Illness at Commonweal. Rachel has served as medical director of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program for the past 29 years. Her New York Times bestselling books of healing stories, Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings, have been translated into 22 languages. Rachel is also clinical professor of Family and Community Medicine at University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Rachel Naomi Remen, MD Trusting the Process: The Basics of Discovery Model Learning ~A Healing Circles and New School Event~
Please join us for this series with Dr. Rachel Remen. She is joined by Commonweal Founder Michael Lerner as well as Healing Circles-Langley Founders Diana and Kelly Lindsay.
In part 1 of this series, Michael Lerner introduces the speakers and Healing Circles community. Diana and Kelly Lindsay give an overview of Healing Circles-Langley and the work being done there. Finally, Michael talks about the theory and process work that has been the heart of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program for decades and is the “curriculum” for the Healing Circles programs developing now.
In part 2, Rachel gives an overview (and some experiences) of the discovery model curriculum for medical students, The Healer’s Art, which is presently taught annually at more than 80 medical schools in the United States and in seven other countries. Rachel has developed this experiential model to create a community of inquiry in which mutual healing, clarification of deep meaning and values, and personal transformation become accessible. Her discovery model philosophy and curriculum design is integral to the work of Commonweal’s new program, Healing Circles.
In part 3, Michael, Rachel, Diana, and Kelly sit together to explore the important pieces of the day, and bring in audience questions.
Rachel Naomi Remen, MD Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, is the founder and director of the Institute for the Study of Health and Illness at Commonweal. Rachel has served as medical director of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program for the past 29 years. Her New York Times bestselling books of healing stories, Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings, have been translated into 22 languages. Rachel is also clinical professor of Family and Community Medicine at University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Jane Hirshfield Language As Lathe: A Conversation on Poetry and Prose ~Co-presented with Point Reyes Books~
Join TNS Host Eric Karpeles for a conversation with poet Jane Hirshfield. Jane’s poems, described as “radiant and passionate” in The New York Times Book Review, “magnificent and distinctive” by The Irish Times, and “among the pantheon of the modern masters of simplicity” in the Washington Post, have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Times Literary Supplement, The Paris Review, Poetry, Harper’s, The New Republic, The American Poetry Review, and eight editions of The Best American Poetry. Her new book, The Beauty (Knopf, 2015), appears along with a new book of essays, Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World (Knopf, 2015).
Jane Hirshfield Jane is the author of eight books of poetry, including The Beauty (Knopf, 2015) and Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World (Knopf, 2015); Come, Thief (Knopf, 2011); After (HarperCollins, 2006), named a best book of the year by The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Financial Times (UK); and Given Sugar, Given Salt (HarperCollins, 2001), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her previous collection of essays, Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry (HarperCollins, 1997), is considered a classic. Her many honors include The Poetry Center Book Award, the California Book Award, the Northern California Book Award, the Donald Hall-Jane Kenyon Award in American Poetry, Columbia University’s Translation Center Award, and fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations, the Academy of American Poets, and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2012 she was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Caroline Casey Equinoctial Eclipse Persian New Year Comedic Cahoot of Mars and Venus Tour Calling all those willing to be agents of the Compassionate Trickster Redeemer at this time of Dire Beauty
Magnetizing the Return of Harmonia via Pragmatic Mysticism, Democratic Animism and Applied Divination (Mars and Venus are now birthing their daughter, Harmonia, awaiting our animation, to bound onto the world stage)
astromythopoliticotalkritualinterview 30 minute Carolingian talk, followed by conversational interview with Michael Lerner
Cultivating the Trickster Arts of Magnetizing Metaphor into Matter, irresistible eloquence, irony, satire, repost, rejoinder, repartee, metaphoric agility, mythological literacy, power of perspicacious precision language magic, cultivating our customized Trickster Redeemer,who guides us to move our emotional default setting to “woof-woof-wanna-play?!”
Caroline W. Casey Caroline is the host-creator and weaver of context for The Visionary Activist Show on Pacifica Radio Network Pacifica station KPFA (94.1) in Northern California, replayed on Los Angeles’ KPFK (and can be heard live on the web: www.KPFA.org at 2pm PT on Thursdays, and by pod-cast subscription.) The Show is dedicated to: anything we need to know to have a democracy; critique and solution; and the acknowledgement that we humans cannot solve the innumerable rude crises we’ve imposed on our planetary kin by ourselves—but only by humbly partnering with Nature’s evolutionary Ingenuity, aka Trickster. Her guests are leading contributors to a culture of reverent ingenuity, all teased into pertinence, and has been called “one of the best radio shows in America.”
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
"Bode's Law Redux: New Evidence Confirms 18th Century Conjecture on Orbital Harmonies" Part 2 of 3
For nearly 20 years, film-maker and Bolinas resident Walter Murch has been working on rehabilitating Bode’s Law, according to him an unfairly discredited 18th century theory of celestial mechanics that predicted a harmonic spacing of planetary and lunar orbits. Now, research just published in the February MNRAS (Monthly Notices of The Royal Astronomical Society) by Dr. Charles Lineweaver (PhD Astronomy, Berkeley) and Tim Bovaird, seems to confirm the applicability of the Bode relation to other planetary systems in the galaxy. Using data from NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler space telescope, Lineweaver and Bovaird show that: “Based on predictions for the orbital periods, a half-dozen new exoplanets have been found where we predicted they would be using our simplified Bode formula. Our work shows that the Bode relation is definitely not a coincidence. It’s real,” said Lineweaver. Murch’s research also shows a musically harmonic underpinning to Bode’s Law, implying that the ancient dream of a “harmony of the spheres” has an actual basis in reality.
You can view the video of this presentation and conversation here: vimeo.com/125379787
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Walter about his new research and findings. Michael spoke to Walter at a previous TNS event about his research and theories on Bode’s Law in 2009.
Walter Murch: Walter is a film editor, sound designer, director, translator, and amateur astronomer. His 46 years of pioneering sound design and picture editing work on films include THX-1138, The Conversation, The Godfather (I, II, III), Julia, Apocalypse Now, The English Patient, Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain, and Jarhead, as well as Return to Oz which he wrote and directed. He is author of In the Blink of an Eye, a book about the craft of film editing, and is the subject of The Conversations by Michael Ondaatje, as well as Behind the Seen by Charles Koppelman. His latest film work (2014) is Particle Fever, a feature documentary on the Large Hadron Collider and the search for the Higgs boson, directed by Mark Levinson. Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland, which Murch edited, will be released in May of 2015.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
"Bode's Law Redux: New Evidence Confirms 18th Century Conjecture on Orbital Harmonies" Part 1 of 3
For nearly 20 years, film-maker and Bolinas resident Walter Murch has been working on rehabilitating Bode’s Law, according to him an unfairly discredited 18th century theory of celestial mechanics that predicted a harmonic spacing of planetary and lunar orbits. Now, research just published in the February MNRAS (Monthly Notices of The Royal Astronomical Society) by Dr. Charles Lineweaver (PhD Astronomy, Berkeley) and Tim Bovaird, seems to confirm the applicability of the Bode relation to other planetary systems in the galaxy. Using data from NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler space telescope, Lineweaver and Bovaird show that: “Based on predictions for the orbital periods, a half-dozen new exoplanets have been found where we predicted they would be using our simplified Bode formula. Our work shows that the Bode relation is definitely not a coincidence. It’s real,” said Lineweaver. Murch’s research also shows a musically harmonic underpinning to Bode’s Law, implying that the ancient dream of a “harmony of the spheres” has an actual basis in reality.
You can view the video of this presentation and conversation here: https://vimeo.com/125379787
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Walter about his new research and findings. Michael spoke to Walter at a previous TNS event about his research and theories on Bode’s Law in 2009.
Walter Murch: Walter is a film editor, sound designer, director, translator, and amateur astronomer. His 46 years of pioneering sound design and picture editing work on films include THX-1138, The Conversation, The Godfather (I, II, III), Julia, Apocalypse Now, The English Patient, Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain, and Jarhead, as well as Return to Oz which he wrote and directed. He is author of In the Blink of an Eye, a book about the craft of film editing, and is the subject of The Conversations by Michael Ondaatje, as well as Behind the Seen by Charles Koppelman. His latest film work (2014) is Particle Fever, a feature documentary on the Large Hadron Collider and the search for the Higgs boson, directed by Mark Levinson. Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland, which Murch edited, will be released in May of 2015.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
"Bode's Law Redux: New Evidence Confirms 18th Century Conjecture on Orbital Harmonies" Part 3 of 3
For nearly 20 years, film-maker and Bolinas resident Walter Murch has been working on rehabilitating Bode’s Law, according to him an unfairly discredited 18th century theory of celestial mechanics that predicted a harmonic spacing of planetary and lunar orbits. Now, research just published in the February MNRAS (Monthly Notices of The Royal Astronomical Society) by Dr. Charles Lineweaver (PhD Astronomy, Berkeley) and Tim Bovaird, seems to confirm the applicability of the Bode relation to other planetary systems in the galaxy. Using data from NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler space telescope, Lineweaver and Bovaird show that: “Based on predictions for the orbital periods, a half-dozen new exoplanets have been found where we predicted they would be using our simplified Bode formula. Our work shows that the Bode relation is definitely not a coincidence. It’s real,” said Lineweaver. Murch’s research also shows a musically harmonic underpinning to Bode’s Law, implying that the ancient dream of a “harmony of the spheres” has an actual basis in reality.
You can view the video of this presentation and conversation here: vimeo.com/125379787
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Walter about his new research and findings. Michael spoke to Walter at a previous TNS event about his research and theories on Bode’s Law in 2009.
Walter Murch: Walter is a film editor, sound designer, director, translator, and amateur astronomer. His 46 years of pioneering sound design and picture editing work on films include THX-1138, The Conversation, The Godfather (I, II, III), Julia, Apocalypse Now, The English Patient, Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain, and Jarhead, as well as Return to Oz which he wrote and directed. He is author of In the Blink of an Eye, a book about the craft of film editing, and is the subject of The Conversations by Michael Ondaatje, as well as Behind the Seen by Charles Koppelman. His latest film work (2014) is Particle Fever, a feature documentary on the Large Hadron Collider and the search for the Higgs boson, directed by Mark Levinson. Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland, which Murch edited, will be released in May of 2015.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Lynn Willeford Small Is Beautiful: Building Volunteer Circles of Mutual Support on South Whidbey Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in a conversation with writer, editor, and social entrepreneur Lynn Willeford about her work, her observations of 40 years on the culture of South Whidbey Island near Seattle, WA, and her rules of thumb for nonprofits that successfully serve and are supported by the local community.
Lynn Willeford Lynn is a writer, editor, and social entrepreneur, as well as co-owner of The Clyde Theatre in the town of Langley on Whidbey Island, north of Seattle. Since moving to South Whidbey in 1972, Lynn has founded or co-founded five successful volunteer-based nonprofit organizations that repair homes, pay medical expenses, cover the cost of back-to-school supplies, and support local lending for local businesses. She is working now on a project to enable rural seniors to stay in their homes.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Norman Fischer Everyday Zen: Changing and Being Changed by the World Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Zen Buddhist Priest Norman Fischer. A former Abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center, Norman is the founder and teacher of the Everyday Zen Foundation, a network of spiritual communities and projects. He is also co-founder, with the late Rabbi Alan Lew, of Makor Or, a Jewish meditation center in San Francisco.
His newest writings include Experience: Essays on Thinking, Writing, Language and Religion, and What Is Zen: Plain Talk for a Beginner’s Mind.
Photo (below): Christine Alicino
Norman Fischer A graduate of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Norman began publishing poetry in the late 1970s as part of a San Francisco Bay Area group of experimental writers. His books include Turn Left In Order To Go Right (O Books, 1989), Precisely The Point Being Made (O Books/Chax Press 1993), Jerusalem Moonlight (Clear Glass Publications, 1995), Success (Singing Horse Press, 2000), Slowly but Dearly (Chax Press, 2004), I Was Blown Back (Singing Horse Press 2005), Questions/Places/Voices/Seasons (Singing Horse 2009), Conflict (Chax 2012), The Strugglers (Singing Horse, 2013), and Escape This Crazy Life of Tears: Japan 2010 (Tinfish Press, 2014). His spiritual writings include Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong (2013), Taking Our Places: The Buddhist Path to Truly Growing Up (2004), Opening to You: Zen-Inspired Translations of the Psalms (2003), and Sailing Home: Using the Wisdom of Homer’s Odyssey to Navigate Life’s Perils and Pitfalls (2011).
He lives in Muir Beach California with his wife Kathie, a biology teacher and expert scuba diver. They have two grown sons who live in Brooklyn.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Norman Fischer Everyday Zen: Changing and Being Changed by the World Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Zen Buddhist Priest Norman Fischer. A former Abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center, Norman is the founder and teacher of the Everyday Zen Foundation, a network of spiritual communities and projects. He is also co-founder, with the late Rabbi Alan Lew, of Makor Or, a Jewish meditation center in San Francisco.
His newest writings include Experience: Essays on Thinking, Writing, Language and Religion, and What Is Zen: Plain Talk for a Beginner’s Mind.
Photo (below): Christine Alicino
Norman Fischer A graduate of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Norman began publishing poetry in the late 1970s as part of a San Francisco Bay Area group of experimental writers. His books include Turn Left In Order To Go Right (O Books, 1989), Precisely The Point Being Made (O Books/Chax Press 1993), Jerusalem Moonlight (Clear Glass Publications, 1995), Success (Singing Horse Press, 2000), Slowly but Dearly (Chax Press, 2004), I Was Blown Back (Singing Horse Press 2005), Questions/Places/Voices/Seasons (Singing Horse 2009), Conflict (Chax 2012), The Strugglers (Singing Horse, 2013), and Escape This Crazy Life of Tears: Japan 2010 (Tinfish Press, 2014). His spiritual writings include Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong (2013), Taking Our Places: The Buddhist Path to Truly Growing Up (2004), Opening to You: Zen-Inspired Translations of the Psalms (2003), and Sailing Home: Using the Wisdom of Homer’s Odyssey to Navigate Life’s Perils and Pitfalls (2011).
He lives in Muir Beach California with his wife Kathie, a biology teacher and expert scuba diver. They have two grown sons who live in Brooklyn.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Lewis Samuels Making Waves on Both Sea and Land Join TNS Host Steve Heilig for a conversation with Bolinas-born Lewis Samuels—surfer, shark dodger, and surf writer for Surfer Magazine and other magazines in the United States, Australia, England, France, Brazil, and Japan.
Lewis Samuels Lewis Samuels is a senior writer for Surfer Magazine, best known for his caustic wit and unflinching honesty. In search of the story, Samuels has chased swells to Sumatra and Ireland, dodged great white sharks, shadowed Kelly Slater on the path to an 11th world title, shot automatic weapons with Hawaiian gangsters, surfed Maverick’s with the world’s best big wave surfers, driven one top-10 surfer to seek therapy, and weathered threats from MMA fighters, stalkers, professional surfers, and publicly traded surf brands, who are accustomed to the surf media delivering advertorial content. Samuels’ articles have appeared in premier surf magazines in the US, Australia, England, France, Brazil, and Japan. He was born and raised in Bolinas and now lives in San Francisco. And yes, that surf photo features him (photo by John Barton)
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Nate Hinerman, PhD Ending the War on Death: Improving Care for Dying Patients and those Who Will Be Join TNS Host Steve Heilig for a conversation with psychotherapist and Golden Gate University dean Nate Hinerman, PhD, about medicine, hospice, palliative care, and grief in the modern world.
Nate Hinerman, PhD Dr. Nate Hinerman is an associate professor and serves as dean of undergraduate programs at Golden Gate University. He chairs the San Francisco Bay Area Network for End-of-Life Care (now in its 16th year), and organizes the largest annual international conference in dying and death (now in its 13th year). He also maintains a psychotherapy practice, helping clients transition amidst loss. His research is interdisciplinary, and includes topics in death and dying, psychology, human suffering, and special areas of philosophy.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Pete Myers and Keith Hansen Surf to Sierras and Beyond: Bird Photographs and Drawings Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for a short conversation with two bird-loving artists very familiar with the feathered residents of West Marin County, CA, and beyond: Pete Myers and Keith Hansen. This conversation took place during an artists reception for Pete and Keith called Surf to Sierras and Beyond—a unique pairing of photographs with watercolor, graphite, and colored pencil by two bird lovers who have explored the world, as well as West Marin County, to bring the beauty, detail, and diversity of bird life to this show.
Pete Myers Pete is founder and chief scientist of Environmental Health Sciences and a trustee of the Jenifer Altman Foundation. He has been photographing birds for more than 40 years. His images and writing about birds have been published in numerous venues, including Audubon, Natural History, and American Birds, magazines, plus numerous publications in the scientific literature. He is the co-creator of BirdsEye, the birding app that uses data from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to help birders find birds. The app was highlighted by the New York Times as “app of the week” in 2009. Pete is an international authority on endocrine disruption and was co-author, along with Theo Colborn and Dianne Dumanoski, of the seminal book Our Stolen Future. He received a Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley for ecological studies of shorebirds, including years of research on sanderling along the sandy beaches of northern California, including Point Reyes and Bodega Bay.
Keith Hansen Keith took up illustrating birds in 1976, his senior year of high school. He explored much of California as a young man, expanding his explorations toward Mexico and Central America, the tropical Pacific aboard a NOAA research vessel, and then a foray to the Andes, the Galapagos, and the Amazon of Ecuador. As a visitor and volunteer for the Point Reyes Bird Observatory, he was introduced to the breathtakingly beautiful region of Marin County’s Point Reyes Peninsula. Keith has created bird illustrations for books, scientific journals, magazines, newsletters and logos. His most recent endeavor has been a 14-year project illustrating a book entitled Birds of the Sierra Nevada: Their Natural History, Status and Distribution authored by Ted Beedy and Ed Pandolfino. Keith lives and works in Bolinas, where people are welcome to visit his studio and view his originals, and purchase prints.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Patricia Berry, PhD Echo's Subtle Body: Contributions to an Archetypal Psychology Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in the next in our Archetypal Psychology Conversations series with Patricia Berry, PhD—a Zurich-trained Jungian analyst and one of the founders of Archetypal Psychology (along with James Hillman). Their conversation covers her life, her work, and her marriage and partnership with James Hillman.
Listen to the podcasts, at the right, or watch the video of the event, below. To watch part two of the video, click onto our YouTube site. Click here for the transcript mentioned in the conversation.
Patricia Berry, PhD Patricia has been active in the Jungian world for nearly half a century, serving on faculties and boards of training institutions, and as president of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts, as well as of the New England Society of Jungian Anaylists. She teaches and lectures internationally and lives and practices in West Bath, Maine. She is author of Echo’s Subtle Body: A Contribution to Archetypal Psychology. In 1991 she was the first Scholar in Residence at Pacifica Graduate Institute in California. She lectures internationally and has served as president of both the New England and the Inter-Regional Societies of Jungian Analysts.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Patricia Berry, PhD Echo's Subtle Body: Contributions to an Archetypal Psychology Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in the next in our Archetypal Psychology Conversations series with Patricia Berry, PhD—a Zurich-trained Jungian analyst and one of the founders of Archetypal Psychology (along with James Hillman). Their conversation covers her life, her work, and her marriage and partnership with James Hillman.
Listen to the podcasts, at the right, or watch the video of the event, below. To watch part two of the video, click onto our YouTube site. Click here for the transcript mentioned in the conversation.
Patricia Berry, PhD Patricia has been active in the Jungian world for nearly half a century, serving on faculties and boards of training institutions, and as president of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts, as well as of the New England Society of Jungian Anaylists. She teaches and lectures internationally and lives and practices in West Bath, Maine. She is author of Echo’s Subtle Body: A Contribution to Archetypal Psychology. In 1991 she was the first Scholar in Residence at Pacifica Graduate Institute in California. She lectures internationally and has served as president of both the New England and the Inter-Regional Societies of Jungian Analysts.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Dennis McNally, PhD The Long, Strange Trip of American Music, Race, and Freedom ~Co-presented with Point Reyes Books~
Join TNS Host Steve Heilig for a conversation with Dennis McNally—historian, author, and longtime publicist for the Grateful Dead.
Read Steve’s interview with Dennis in the November issue of the Pacific Sun.
Dennis McNally, PhD Dennis was born to an Army counter-intelligence operative and a legal secretary in 1949 at Fort Meade, Maryland. He holds a doctoral degree in history from the University of Massachusetts and has written about Kerouac and the Beats for many scholarly journals. He is perhaps best known as the longtime publicist for the Grateful Dead. His first book, Desolate Angel: Jack Kerouac, the Beat Generation and America, so impressed Jerry Garcia that he was hired for the job with no relevant experience. Years later, his second book, A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead, became the definitive band biography. His new book is On Highway 61: Race and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom. About this one, he says “Why did America turn itself inside out in the 1960s, get so nuts that the culture wars that started then are still being fought in 2014? One of the major reasons was the long relationship of white (mostly young) people and black culture (mostly music), going back from minstrelsy (the 1840s) and on up to the 1960s, where you can see it revealed in the music of Bob Dylan.” And many others, for that matter.
Photo credits: top, Liz Hafalia; bottom, Susana Millman
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Sadja Greenwood, MD A Life of Changing the Rules Join TNS Host Steve Heilig for a conversation with long-time Bolinas resident Sadja Greenwood, MD, about her life of action and activism in women’s health, teaching, nutrition, and more. They’ll talk about her most recent book, published in 2013, called Changing the Rules: “This novel is set in the 1950s: romance, bohemian life (before the Beatniks), medical school, sex, illegal abortion (safe or deadly), and a young woman’s journey to find her calling. It’s a cautionary tale for today.” Hear the podcast from Sadja’s last visit to The New School:
Sadja Greenwood, MD Sadja Greenwood received an MD from Case Western Reserve University and an MPH from the University of California, Berkeley. She was an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California Medical School in San Francisco. She worked at Planned Parenthood in San Francisco where she started one of the first Teen Clinics in the United States in 1968, in response to the “summer of love.” She started an abortion clinic at San Francisco Planned Parenthood immediately after the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. She also worked for the International Planned Parenthood Federation in Singapore and in family planning in Latin America, Bangladesh, and Africa. She made a teaching film, Aspiration Abortion Without Cervical Dilation, in 1973 with her mentor and colleague, Alan Margolis, MD. The film was widely used to teach medical techniques for safe abortion. She is the author of Menopause, Naturally (Volcano Press, 1996), which became a popular book for women seeking alternatives to hormone therapy. She published a novel, Changing the Rules, in 2013, which is available at bookstores and at Amazon.com. She is a longtime Bolinas resident and plays in the renowned local celtic group, Midnight on the Water.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Enso House: The Story of a Zen Hospice Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Ann Cutcher, MD, director of Enso House—a hospice on Whidbey Island in Washington State affiliated with the nearby Tahoma One Drop Zen Monastery (founded by Zen Master Shodo Harada Roshi). Enso House began in 2001 as a result of his vision of a home for the dying where the qualities of humility, service, compassion, forgiveness deepen in those both giving and receiving care.
Ann Cutcher, MD Dr. Cutcher is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and has 15 years experience caring for patients in hospices, nursing homes, and hospitals.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Shodo Harada Roshi The Calligraphy of Emptiness, The Zen of Dying Part of the End-of-Life Conversations Series
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Roshi about his experiences with death and dying and for an unforgettable demonstration of his calligraphy.
Shodo Harada Roshi Shodo Harada Roshi is Abbot of Sogen-ji, a 300-year-old Rinzai Zen monastery in Okayama, Japan. He is also Abbot of Tahoma Monastery on Whidbey Island north of Seattle. He founded Enso House, a hospice affiliated with Tahoma, where his students attend the dying.
He is a master of Japanese calligraphy, and has conducted demonstrations at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco and the Metropolitan Museum in New York. His translator and colleague, Priscilla Daichi Storandt, is co-abbot at Tahoma and a senior teacher in her own right. Find out more on his website.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Kevin Starr, MD Hippocratic Philanthropy: Helping the Poorest Around the Globe Most people agree that philanthropy, whether in the form of foreign aid or local grassroots projects, is a worthy undertaking. But many have long held that philanthropy often fails, wholly or in part, in terms of impact and sustainability. Sometimes it can even make things worse.
How do we make philanthropic efforts most effective? What has worked best around the world? Join TNS Host Steve Heilig in conversation with Dr. Kevin Starr—a pioneer in developing and supporting workable projects in health, ecology, and economic development—about effective philanthropic strategies and stories. Steve has also worked in developing nations, and co-authored an article with Starr titled Hippocratic Philanthropy: Lessons from International Health.
Kevin Starr, MD Kevin Starr, MD, directs the Mulago Foundation and is the founder and director of the Rainer Arnhold Fellows Program, focused on sustainable projects to help the very poorest people around the world. He practiced medicine for decades while exploring the world and for the past decade has devoted himself full-time to studying, designing, and supporting good work around the planet.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Betsy MacGregor, MD In Awe of Being Human ~Part of the End-of-Life Conversation Series~
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for a conversation with Dr. Betsy MacGregor, cancer survivor, retired medical doctor, author, and founding board member of Enso House, a hospice residence providing compassionate, holistic care for terminally ill patients and their families.
From decades of work as a hospital-based physician and end-of-life researcher, and from her own experience as a cancer patient, Dr. MacGregor has come to view illness and death as profound teachers that carve out in us a deeper understanding of what it means to be human. Now retired from clinical practice and living in the Pacific Northwest, Dr. MacGregor remains active as a writer, speaker, and founding Board Member of Enso House. She is author of In Awe of Being Human, a book that shares some of the remarkable experiences that being a doctor led her to witness and participate in.
Betsy MacGregor, MD Dr. Betsy MacGregor has a BA from Wellesley College, a Masters of Science in Neurobiology from New York University Graduate School, and an MD from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. Over nearly three decades, she trained and worked as a pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist at Beth Israel Medical Center, a major academic hospital in New York City. Dr. MacGregor has conducted numerous educational programs and workshops for health care professionals focusing on the psychological, social and spiritual dimensions of health, healing and end-of-life.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Ananda Brady Ten Years on the Hippie Trail, and Beyond A ten-year odyssey around the world, and what did it all mean? An open exploration of “the sixties” and the legacies of the times.
Join TNS Host Steve Heilig in an interview and dialogue with long-time Bolinas denizen Ananda Brady about his new book, Ten Years on the Hippie Trail—an engrossing retelling of his worldwide wandering in the 1960s and 1970s. He will talk of those travels, and explore the deeper questions of why “the Sixties” happened, what has lasted and what was lost, why, and what it all means.
Ananda Brady Craig G. Brady was born in a Naval hospital in Oceanside, California, on August 14, 1945 (“VJ Day”—the very day of the wildest American celebration ever, the day that marked the end of WWII). His family moved back to Kansas, where he grew up. In 1966 he moved to Southern California, beginning a four-year process of change that was to alter his beliefs and assumptions on just about everything.
To satisfy his deep need for ‘knowing’ he set out on a general quest coupled with a resolve to get to India, no matter how long it took. He tossed himself onto the open road without any plan and only a couple hundred bucks in his pocket, and crossed the border into Mexico, his first time out of the country. He wandered in lonely misery and doubt for a few long weeks, but the day his entire reserve of funds was stolen was the day his adventure kicked into gear, never again to wain.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Catherine Baumgartner Embodied Ecologies: Exploring Biocultural Neuroscience Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Catherine Baumgartner, project director at Embodied Ecologies, a new organization dedicated to building large-scale knowledge and action partnerships that leverage the latest research findings in neuroscience, cognitive science, somatic psychology, and biocultural diversity in exploring and understanding the links between place, embodied experience, language, and culture.
Catherine’s exploration of art as an embodied expression of place began 15 years ago, inspired by her experience as a performer with the site-specific dance company Global Site Performance, directed by Marylee Hardenbergh. Seeking further insight into the embodied aspects of place-based artmaking, Catherine turned to neuroscience, gradually piecing together clues that revealed a picture of the human nervous system as the crucial medium through which sensory experience of place is translated into symbolic systems such as art, language, and culture. Find out more about Embodied Ecologies on their website.
Catherine Baumgartner Catherine is an artist, interdisciplinary inquirist, and initiator of collaborative projects that explore the ways in which individuals and communities relate to living environments and translate these sensory experiences into worlds of meaning. Her creative practice encompasses movement, poetry, installation art, and collaborative place-based art, and her inquiry into meaning-making draws on multiple fields. She received her master’s degree in Transformative Arts from John F. Kennedy University.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Frances McDormand and Joel Coen Adventures in Collaboration Join us for a conversation with stage and film actor Frances McDormand and writer and director Joel Coen, moderated by Commonweal board member, Eric Karpeles. Up for discussion are the ways in which the creative act, kindled in an individual, often requires active input from others to be realized. Collaboration manifests itself on many levels—personally, professionally, and communally. McDormand and Coen have each made careers forming strong, supportive bonds with other artists in their field. And sometimes they work with one another.
Adventures in Collaboration
Frances McDormand Actor Frances McDormand studied at the Yale School of Drama. On Broadway, she has appeared in David Lindsay-Abaire’s Good People, Caryl Churchill’s Far Away, and as Stella in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. Off-Broadway plays include The Sisters Rosenzweig and The Swan. She has worked extensively with The Wooster Group, in To You, The Birdie!, North Atlantic, as well as in her most recent stage performance in Early Shaker Spirituals. McDormand played Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Gate Theater in Dublin.
Her film work includes Promised Land, Moonrise Kingdom, This Must Be The Place, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, Burn After Reading, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Friends With Money, Laurel Canyon, Something’s Gotta Give, and Wonder Boys. With her husband, Joel Coen, she made the films The Man Who Wasn’t There, Fargo, Raising Arizona, and Blood Simple.
Joel Coen Film writer, director and producer Joel Coen studied at Simon’s Rock and New York University. With his brother, Ethan Coen, he has made sixteen films, beginning with Blood Simple in 1984. Other titles include Inside Llewyn Davis, Serious Man, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, Miller’s Crossing, True Grit, and Barton Fink.
With his wife, Frances McDormand, he made the films Burn After Reading, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Fargo, Raising Arizona, and Blood Simple.
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Peter Gleckler Climate Change: What We Know and Don't Know about Where We're Going Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in a conversation with Peter Gleckler, a lead climate change scientist for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an entity established by the United Nations Environmental Programme.
Peter Gleckler Peter Gleckler, a Bolinas resident, has been studying climate change for more than 25 years. His most recent research explores how the world ocean has warmed since the 1970s, and demonstrates that the likely explanation for this warming is the increasing concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide resulting from human activities. In addition to his research, Peter has served in numerous capacities to help advance international collaboration in climate research and modeling. Peter has spent much of the past three years serving as a lead author of the latest scientific assessment produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an entity established by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). Peter received his PhD in Atmospheric Science from U.C. Davis in 1993.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Suzanne Ciani Piano Concert Hear the inauguration of our newly gifted grand piano with a concert by Bolinas composer-pianist Suzanne Ciani. Suzanne performed original compositions for piano solo, followed by a conversation with TNS Host Michael Lerner.
Ciani’s many recognitions include five Grammy nominations for Best New Age Album, the Indie Award for Best New Age Album and Keyboard Magazine’s “New Age Keyboardist of the Year.”
Suzanne Ciani In the early nineties, Suzanne relocated to Bolinas from New York City to concentrate on her artistic career after 20 years as a leader in the field of sound design for film and television, creating award-winning music for a host of high profile Fortune 500 clients. Additionally, she has the recognition of being the first woman hired to score a major Hollywood feature, scoring the Lily Tomlin feature The Incredible Shrinking Woman. Suzanne also brought her special talents to games, scoring original musical FX for Bally’s Xenon Pinball and becoming the first female voice in a game; the story of her creative work became the subject of a television segment of Omni Magazine, hosted by Peter Ustinov.
In 1995, she established her own record label, Seventh Wave, after many years as an artist on major labels (Atlantic, Private Music/Windham Hill/BMG/Sony). In addition to her fifteen albums, she has published four books of original piano music through the Hal Leonard Corporation. Her signature composition, “The Velocity of Love,” appears in numerous anthologies of romantic music.
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Ken Wilson On the Resilience of Connected Diversities and the Backing of Indigenous Innovation Dr. Ken Wilson serves as executive director of The Christensen Fund, a private foundation established in 1957 and currently focusing on sustaining the “biocultural”—the rich but neglected adaptive interweave of people and place, culture, and ecology. The Fund backs indigenous initiatives to restore relationships between traditional lands, living cultures, and community well being in ways that are not “preservationist” but instead seek to support revitalization and resilience: bottom up processes of innovation and adaptive change.
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Ken about his work as a philanthropist focused on indigenous cultures.
Ken Wilson, PhD Born in Malawi with a life spread rather across the world, Ken Wilson studied zoology at Oxford and anthropology at University College London where his doctorate focused on indigenous knowledge, health, and human ecology in the agro-pastoral arid savannahs and woodlands of Southern Zimbabwe (a community with whom he is still closely involved). In 2002, after nine years at the Ford Foundation in Africa and then as deputy to the Vice President for Education, Media, Arts, and Culture in New York, Ken was the first non-family executive director of The Christensen Fund. Ken lives in San Francisco and has played a variety of roles in international philanthropy, including as past president of International Funders for Indigenous Peoples, and on such boards as the Consultative Group on Biological Diversity and the Seva Foundation. He currently chairs the steering committee of the Global Alliance for the Future of Food and is a board member of the Prince of Wales Charitable Foundation.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott Ramblin' On with Ramblin' Jack Jack was King of the Folksingers. -Bob Dylan
Nobody I know—and I mean nobody—has covered more ground and made more friends and sung more songs than the fellow you’re about to meet right now. He’s got a song and a friend for every mile behind him. Say hello to my good buddy, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. -Johnny Cash
One of the last true links to the great folk traditions of this country, with more than 40 albums under his belt, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott is a living legend of American music. A longtime West Marin resident and Grammy Award winner, he has recorded more than 40 albums, influencing countless other well-known musicians. Join Ramblin’ Jack and Commonweal’s Steve Heilig, a veteran music journalist, for an informal talk about Jack’s amazing life story, the many figures he has known and played with through the decades—names like Guthrie, Seeger, and Dylan—and even hear a song or two.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott There are no degrees of separation between Jack and the real thing. He is the guy who ran away from his Brooklyn home at 14 to join the rodeo and learned his guitar from a cowboy. In 1950, he met Woody Guthrie, moved in with the Guthrie family and traveled with Woody to California and Florida, from the redwood forests to the Gulf Stream waters. President Bill Clinton awarded Jack the National Medal of the Arts, proclaiming, “In giving new life to our most valuable musical traditions, Ramblin’ Jack has himself become an American treasure.”
He has recorded 40 albums; wrote one of the first trucking songs, Cup of Coffee, recorded by Johnny Cash; championed the works of new singer-songwriters, from Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson to Tim Hardin; became a founding member of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue; and continued the life of the traveling troubadour influencing Jerry Jeff Walker, Guy Clark, Tom Russell, The Grateful Dead, and countless others.
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Michael Lerner Body, Soul, and Spirit in Archetypal Psychology In this podcast, Michael Lerner continues his exploration of archetypal psychology with a talk at the Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, DC.
Michael Lerner, PhD Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal and of Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, D.C. His principle work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press). He has spent the past months reading intensively in archetypal psychology and wants to share the exploration with New School friends.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Michael Lerner Body, Soul, and Spirit in Archetypal Psychology In this podcast, Michael Lerner continues his exploration of archetypal psychology with a talk at the Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, DC.
Michael Lerner, PhD Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal and of Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, D.C. His principle work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press). He has spent the past months reading intensively in archetypal psychology and wants to share the exploration with New School friends.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Oren Slozberg Dialogue, Art, and Group Intelligence Wicked Problems: problems that are difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize. (Wikipedia)
Many of our core issues—like climate change, economic inequality, and the Middle East—are examples of “wicked problems.” How can we use group intelligence to re-wire our thinking and address these challenges? One approach is through facilitated engagements with visual art, such as the image above.
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Commonweal’s new chief strategies officer and director of the new Dialogue, Art, and Innovations program, Oren Slozberg. Oren demonstrates and explores a visual-arts based process he helped develop and popularize world-wide called Visual Thinking Strategies. VTS builds group intelligence and can be the foundation for a dialogue on complex social issues.
Oren Slozberg Oren joined Commonweal in November 2013 as the chief strategies officer and the director of the Dialogue, Art, and Innovation program. Prior to Commonweal, he was the national executive director of Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS). He started at VTS in May 2006, bringing more than 20 years of experience in nonprofit leadership and the arts to the organization. Oren is an expert trainer in VTS, and he has trained hundreds of educators in the process, working in a variety of setting ranging from teachers in elementary schools to college faculty.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
John Gouldthorpe Imagination Is Reality ~Part of the Archetypal Psychology Series~
Join Michael Lerner in his second conversation with archetypal psychologist John Gouldthorpe.
Find the transcript of the lecture by James Hillman (mentioned in the podcast) here.
Find Michael’s first conversation with John Gouldthorpe here.
John Gouldthorpe John has been immersed in the work of archetypal psychology for more than 20 years. In 1989, through the suggestion of James Hillman, he studied with Gordon Tappan at Sonoma State and then stayed on for several years to teach the graduate seminar in Archetypal Psychology.
For many years John was a deep tissue massage therapist working with a clientele of psychologists influenced by Stanly Keleman followed by brief period as a clinical psychologist then onto working on the issue of understanding economic globalization and its structural antidote: localized economies. Living in West Marin since 1994, he worked for 8 years helping to start KWMR; for several years he was chairman of West Marin Commons, and spent two years as president of the Point Reyes Village Association.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
John Gouldthorpe Imagination Is Reality ~Part of the Archetypal Psychology Series~
Join Michael Lerner in his second conversation with archetypal psychologist John Gouldthorpe.
John Gouldthorpe John has been immersed in the work of archetypal psychology for more than 20 years. In 1989, through the suggestion of James Hillman, he studied with Gordon Tappan at Sonoma State and then stayed on for several years to teach the graduate seminar in Archetypal Psychology.
For many years John was a deep tissue massage therapist working with a clientele of psychologists influenced by Stanly Keleman followed by brief period as a clinical psychologist then onto working on the issue of understanding economic globalization and its structural antidote: localized economies. Living in West Marin since 1994, he worked for 8 years helping to start KWMR; for several years he was chairman of West Marin Commons, and spent two years as president of the Point Reyes Village Association.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Robert McDermott Philosophy, Spirituality, and Community—A Professor's Journey Join Michael Lerner in dialogue with California Institute of Integral Studies President Emeritus Robert McDermott as they explore his journey in wisdom philosophy, Hindu and Buddhist spiritualities, inclusive and esoteric Christianity, CIIS and higher education, and anthroposophy—including Waldorf education, biodynamic farming, ecology, arts, and karma (birth, life, old age, death, rebirth).
Robert McDermott Robert is president emeritus and professor of philosophy and religion at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He served as president and chair of the board of many institutions, including the Rudolf Steiner Institute (1983-94) and the Sophia Project for Mothers and Children at Risk of Homelessness in West Oakland and San Rafael (1999–2014).
His publications include: Radhakrishnan (1970), The Essential Aurobindo (1974; 1987), co-editor, The Spirit of Modern India (1974; 2009), Six Pillars: Introductions to the Major Works of Sri Aurobindo (1974; 2012), The Essential Steiner (1984), The Bhagavad Gita and the West (2009), The New Essential Steiner (2009), and many essays on philosophy, spirituality, and American thought. He is currently writing Unique Not Alone—Steiner and Others.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Robert McDermott Philosophy, Spirituality, and Community—A Professor's Journey Join Michael Lerner in dialogue with California Institute of Integral Studies President Emeritus Robert McDermott as they explore his journey in wisdom philosophy, Hindu and Buddhist spiritualities, inclusive and esoteric Christianity, CIIS and higher education, and anthroposophy—including Waldorf education, biodynamic farming, ecology, arts, and karma (birth, life, old age, death, rebirth).
Robert McDermott Robert is president emeritus and professor of philosophy and religion at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He served as president and chair of the board of many institutions, including the Rudolf Steiner Institute (1983-94) and the Sophia Project for Mothers and Children at Risk of Homelessness in West Oakland and San Rafael (1999–2014).
His publications include: Radhakrishnan (1970), The Essential Aurobindo (1974; 1987), co-editor, The Spirit of Modern India (1974; 2009), Six Pillars: Introductions to the Major Works of Sri Aurobindo (1974; 2012), The Essential Steiner (1984), The Bhagavad Gita and the West (2009), The New Essential Steiner (2009), and many essays on philosophy, spirituality, and American thought. He is currently writing Unique Not Alone—Steiner and Others.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Ross Chapin Design, Body Knowing, and the Inner Life On Whidbey Island, north of Seattle, the imprint of architect Ross Chapin’s vision of enchanting small homes and livable pocket neighborhoods is palpable. Ross came to Whidbey in the 1970s, drawn by the vision of the Chinook Learning Center, founded by Fritz and Vivienne Hull. Chinook later became the Whidbey Institute. Ross designed Thomas Berry Hall, the Woodland Sanctuary, and the Whidbey Island Waldorf School on the Chinook land.
In addition to his professional life as an architect and planner, Ross has an inner life enlivened by a sustained engagement with body and spirit. His work has been deeply influenced by the iconoclastic British architect Christopher Alexander.
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Ross about his work, about Christopher Alexander, and about the evolution of his inner life in a wide-ranging conversation.
Ross Chapin, FAIA Ross is a passionate advocate for sensibly-sized homes and pocket neighborhoods—a term he coined for small groupings of households around shared common spaces, which he sees as building blocks for vibrant and resilient communities.
Ross has designed and partnered in developing six pocket neighborhoods in the Puget Sound region. He and his colleagues have designed dozens of communities for developers across the US, Canada and the UK. Many have received international media coverage and design awards. Ross is a member of the American Institute of Architecture College of Fellows and the William S. Marvin Hall of Fame for Design Excellence.
Ross is author of Pocket Neighborhoods: Creating Small Scale Community in a Large Scale World (Taunton Press), a Nautilus Book Award Winner and listed by Planetizen as one of the Top Ten Planning and Design Books of 2012. Ross’s work has appeared in more than 35 books, including Sarah Susanka’s Not So Big House series, The Good Green Home, and Solving Sprawl.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Steve Heilig Confessions of an Accidental Activist Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for a conversation with Steve Heilig—healthcare ethicist, environmentalist, and ethnomusicologist—about HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, medical ethics, addiction medicine and drug policy, environmental health and ecology, surfing medicine, and music.
Steve Heilig Steve is a healthcare ethicist, editor, epidemiologist, environmentalist, and ethnomusicologist with strong roots in Bolinas. Trained in public health, economics, and biology at five UC campuses, Heilig has worked with nonprofits, hospitals and in biotechnology. He has written more than 500 articles on a wide range of topics, with particular interest in reproductive health and rights, death and dying, environmental science and policy, and addiction medicine. Heilig is a co-editor of the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, and is affiliated with the San Francisco Medical Society, California Pacific Medical Center, and Commonweal. He is also a widely published music journalist and author of fiction, poetry, and literary criticism, and a Huffington Post blogger and longtime sometimes editor of the Bolinas Hearsay News.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Peter Goldmark When Our Country Loses Its Way Join Host Michael Lerner in a conversation with Peter Goldmark, an environmentalist whose career has included leadership in major governmental, philanthropic, news media, and environmental organizations.
Peter C. Goldmark, Jr. Peter is an environmentalist whose career has included leadership in major governmental, philanthropic, news media, and environmental organizations. Goldmark retired in 2010 as director of the Environmental Defense Fund’s climate and air program. He was previously the chairman and CEO of the International Herald Tribune, the president of the Rockefeller Foundation, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the budget director for the State of New York. He is noted for being an advocate for social causes and environmental issues in many of his assignments. Goldmark is the son of Peter Carl Goldmark, who led the development of LP records and invented the first practical color television, among other innovations. He graduated from Harvard University in 1962.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Dick Russell Getting to Know James Hillman Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Dick Russell, author of the first volume of what promises to be the definitive biography of the psychologist James Hillman (1926-2011), the founder of the field of archetypal psychology. Hillman studied and taught at the Jung Institute in Zurich. He went on to critique Jung while also acknowledging Jung’s critical importance to his thinking. After leaving the Jung Institute, he discovered the Renaissance Florentine Marsilio Ficino (1433-99), who had translated Plato into Latin and whose Florentine academy sought to emulate Plato’s academy. Ficino was among the important influences on Hillman’s archetypal psychology.
Hillman’s landmark Re-Visioning Psychology was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1976.
This is one of an ongoing series of New School conversations on archetypal psychology and archetypal studies.
Dick Russell Dick has published eleven books, ranging from environmental subjects to the genius of African-Americans and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The Life and Ideas of James Hillman, Volume One: The Making of a Psychologist was published in 2013. The authorized biography emerged out of a friendship between Russell and Hillman, who granted many hours of interviews but gave the writer complete freedom to reach and publish his own conclusions. Hillman is not well known in the United States (his book The Soul’s Code was his only best seller). But among those interested in depth psychology, his more than twenty books have been a major contribution. For anyone with a serious interest in Hillman and archetypal psychology, Russell’s biography is required reading.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Peggy Taylor Unleashing the Creative Potential in Youth--and Adults Join TNS host Michael Lerner for a conversation with Peggy Taylor, a social entrepreneur known for her work integrating creativity into youth development and group facilitation. Peggy provides accessible arts-based methods for adding life and depth to any program—for youth or adults—and she talks about how her organization PYE: Partners for Youth Empowerment is igniting the creative spark in youth in nine countries.
Peggy Taylor Peggy is a social entrepreneur and creativity specialist, known for creative approaches to youth development and group facilitation. She is co-founder and director of training at PYE: Partners for Youth Empowerment, and co-founder of Power of Hope and Young Women Empowered — arts/empowerment programs for youth in the Greater Seattle area. Her new book, written with PYE co-founder Charlie Murphy, Catch the Fire: An Art-Full Guide to Unleashing the Creative Power of Youth, Adults, and Communities is available on her website.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Ted Schettler The Ecology of Breast Cancer Breast-cancer is not one disease, but many. The causes are many as well. Join TNS host Michael Lerner in conversation with Ted Schettler—a leader in the development of the “ecological paradigm of health.” His new book The Ecology of Breast Cancer offers a fresh perspective integrating stress, diet, exercise, toxic chemical exposures, EMFs, and more.
Ted Schettler, M.D., M.P.H. Ted is an authority on environmental links to reproductive and developmental disorders, neurotoxicity, and other public health problems. He is the science director of the Science and Environmental Health Network, and science advisor to Health Care Without Harm, an international campaign in support of environmentally responsible health care. His books Generations at Risk: Reproductive Health and the Environment (MIT Press, 1999) and In Harm’s Way: Toxic Threats to Child Development (Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility, 2000) describe what scientists know and suspect about environmental causes for a host of disorders from learning disabilities to cancer. They also describe the great uncertainties and the limits of science in establishing links between cause and effect.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Lloyd Kahn The Half-Acre Homestead You want to be more self sufficient, but you only have a small piece of land. What can you do and where do you begin?
The reality is that you can’t be completely self-sufficient (even with a large acreage), but self-sufficiency, like perfection, is a direction. Join host Michael Lerner for a conversation with Bolinas’ Lloyd Kahn—editor-in-chief of independent California publisher Shelter Publications and author of Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter—about the tools and techniques he’s developed or settled on during 40 years of raising food and animals, foraging, cutting firewood, and other urban homesteading activities. He’ll talk about what works and doesn’t, the tools he’s found most helpful, and why he still has chickens, but no longer goats or bees.
Lloyd Kahn Lloyd is an author, photographer, and pioneer of the green building and green architecture movements. With a degree from Stanford University, he began work as a carpenter in the 1960s, eventually building four houses. Influenced by Buckminster Fuller, in 1968 he started building geodesic domes. Kahn next worked for Stewart Brand as Shelter editor for the Whole Earth Catalog. In 1970 Kahn published his first book, Domebook One, followed the next year with Domebook 2, which sold 165,000 copies. In 1971, he bought a half-acre lot in Bolinas, California, and built a shake-covered geodesic dome (later featured in Life magazine). After living in his dome for a year, Kahn decided domes did not work well: he stopped the printing of Domebook 2 and disassembled and sold his dome. He then went in search of other (non-dome) ways to build – across the United States, Ireland, and England, and the book Shelter (1973) was the result.
Kahn’s next book, Tiny Homes On The Move: Wheels & Water, is set for publication in May 2014.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Jaune Evans Creative Spirit: A Life of Art, Service, and Contemplative Practice Join host Michael Lerner in a conversation with Jaune Evans—poet, visual artist, and Zen priest—about life, philanthropy, and public service.
Jaune Evans Jaune is a poet and visual artist. Ordained as a Buddhist priest in the Soto Zen tradition in 1983, she is now a sangha member of Everyday Zen under the guidance of Norman Fischer, Roshi. Jaune has worked in philanthropy and public service for twenty-five years. She is now managing director of Tamalpais Trust (San Rafael, California) which supports indigenous-led organizations outside of the United States in the areas of human rights, traditional knowledge and education, indigenous rights, cultural integrity, protection of sacred lands and waters, and gender equity. She previously served as managing director of Tides Foundation, executive director of Lannan Foundation, and executive director of the New Mexico Community Foundation.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Malcolm Margolin 30 Years of Publishing California Culture Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in this quirky, funny, and poignant conversation with Malcolm Margolin, who is celebrating 30 years of publishing through his small, Berkeley-based indy press, Heyday Books. One of numerous thriving presses in Berkeley, Heyday had its beginnings in the tumult of the 1960s. It has not only survived but become a much lauded publisher of some of the best books on California history and culture. Margolin is also a naturalist and inveterate hiker.
Malcolm Margolin Malcolm is the founder of Heyday Books, established in 1974. The mission of Heyday Books is to deepen people’s appreciation and understanding of California’s cultural, natural, historic, literary, and artistic resources. Malcolm’s vision has led the press to be especially active in publishing works by and about the California Indian community. Heyday has published more than thirty books on California Indians and since 1987 has been distributing News from Native California, a quarterly magazine devoted to California Indian culture and history. Many of the existing tribes indigenous to the state of California were nearly wiped out, due to disease, enslavement, and institutionalized genocide. In his role as publisher, Malcolm has supported the revitalization of Native language, dance, basketweaving, storytelling, and religious practice. He is the author of four books, the best known of them being The Ohlone Way: Indian Life in the San Francisco-Monterey Bay Area.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Artist Tu-2 (Tu Ying-ming) and Angela Oh 108 Portraits of Compassion — The Blue Portrait Series ~Co-presented with the Institute for Art and Healing~
Join Michael Lerner in a second conversation with artist Tu-2 and his wife, attorney and Zen priest Angela Oh, about the opening of Tu-2’s show at the Commonweal Gallery and the inspiration for his work. This show is the first-ever of portraits from Tu-2’s infinite Blue Series, a series of spiritual portraits in silver pencil on blue paper that reveal the interior qualities of their subjects. Creating these portraits is an act of intense meditation, as Tu-2 works exclusively in a focused meditative state – connected to the subject’s essence, free of ego… and drawing only on the exhale. Find out more and see more artwork on Tu-2’s website. See the show at Commonweal Gallery (by appointment) through December 15, 2013.
Watch a beautiful slideshow of the making of, and the inhabiting of, the exhibit at Commonweal Gallery.
Tu-2 (Tu Ying-Ming) Tu-2 is a Los Angeles-based Taiwanese-born artist who has created an internationally exhibited, acclaimed body of work in fine art, photography, and film. After a decade of robust success from his Mao-ology and Timeless series, both of which garnered critical acclaim from America to Asia and Europe in the 1990s, he took a prolonged sabbatical from painting to search his soul and reset his spiritual compass. A new body of work emerged: a series of spiritual portraits in silver pencil on blue paper that reveal the interior qualities of their subjects. Creating these portraits is an act of intense meditation, as Tu-2 works exclusively in a focused meditative state – connected to the subject’s essence, free of ego… and drawing only on the exhale. The resulting works of conscious art inspire awakening, affinity, and compassion, and when viewed as a group, illustrate the infinite ways in which humanity is connected through space and time. It is a rare gift to be able to view a multimedia installation of such a large collection, due to the usual constraints of space and logistics.
Angela Oh Angela is the former executive director of the Western Justice Center Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advances peaceful resolution of conflict. She has worked as an attorney, public lecturer, and teacher of Zen meditation. In 1992, Oh gained national prominence as a spokesperson and mediating force for the Asian American community during the Los Angeles riots. Thereafter, she was appointed by President Bill Clinton as one of seven Advisory Board members to the President’s Initiative on Race, which was charged with engaging the nation in a dialogue on race relations in the United States of America. Oh is also an ordained priest, Zen Buddhist—Rinzai Sect.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Patrick Holden The Global Food Movement Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in a conversation with Patrick Holden—British biodynamic dairy farmer and advisor to the Prince of Wales.
Patrick grew up in London but was deeply influenced by a year he spent in California at the beginning of the seventies. He returned to the UK to study biodynamic agriculture and started a community dairy farm in West Wales in 1973. It is now the longest established organic dairy farm in Wales, with a herd of 75 Ayrshire cows – the milk from which is made into raw milk cheese by his son, Sam.
Patrick Holden Patrick is the founding director of the Sustainable Food Trust. Between 1995 and 2010, he was the director of the Soil Association and became a much sought-after speaker and campaigner for organic food and farming. He spearheaded a number of prominent food campaigns around BSE, pesticide residues and GM food. More recently, he was a member of the UK Government’s working group on the Foresight Report into Future of Food and Farming and is advisor to the Prince of Wales International Sustainability Unit.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Francis Weller Beauty, Imagination, and the Life of the Soul Join Michael Lerner in a second conversation with author and soul activist Francis Weller about his work with people living with grief, and his studies and experience with the grief rituals and ceremonies of indigenous cultures. Carried privately, sorrow lingers in the soul, slowly pulling us below the surface of life and into the terrain of death. Learning to hold sorrow and loss close to our hearts is a deep spiritual practice, a fierce and unflinching acknowledgement of the way of the world. This spiritual practice is a tempering of the soul, a gradual deepening that moves us closer to the earth, into an intimacy with our surroundings where we lean into those we love. In his recent book, Entering the Healing Ground, Francis reveals the hidden vitality in grief, uncovered when the heart welcomes the sorrows of our life and those of the world.
Francis Weller, MFT Francis is a psychotherapist, writer and soul activist who has developed a style he calls soul-centered psychotherapy, synthesizing diverse streams of thought from psychology, anthropology, mythology, alchemy, indigenous cultures and poetic traditions. His book Entering the Healing Ground: Grief, Ritual and the Soul of the World discusses creating pathways to reclaiming our indigenous soul, what psychologist Carl Jung called the “unforgotten wisdom” that resides in the heart of the psyche. Recognizing the lack of existing dialogue and the profound need for sacred ritual and grief work in his community and beyond, Weller founded WisdomBridge in Northern CA, an organization that offers educational programs that integrate the wisdom from traditional cultures with the insights and knowledge gathered from western cultures. He is currently completing his second book, A Trail on the Ground: Tracking the Ways of Our Indigenous Soul.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Lazaro Pedroso Santeria (Way of the Saints) Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Lázaro Pedroso, 79, a percussionist and singer from Havana, Cuba. For 50 years, he has been a Santero (priest in the Afro-Cuban Santeria religion). Santeria involves polyrhythms, song, and dance. There are herbal elements, musical elements, magical elements, and prayers, carried over by West African slaves.
Lázaro is a professor at two major universities in Havana teaching folkloric tradition, and a sought- after priest who sings ceremonies. He has published Lazo (a translation of 72 songs sung to the spirits of deceased ancestors in the tradition of the Afro-Cuban Santeria religion), Olodumare (an essential encyclopedia of the tradition of the Afro-Cuban Santeria religion), and Patakia (a dictionary of ancient Yoruba words, translated to Spanish and then to English.
Lázaro Pedroso Lázaro is a scholar of the song traditions of Yoruba-Lukumí. The Lukumi community in Cuba originated with kidnapped Africans from Oyo, Egbado, and other Yoruba areas in Nigeria and Benin, Africa. Lázaro is a respected batá player, and an elder of the Yoruba-Lukumí tradition, with a half century of experience as a santero (a mediator between people and Olodumare, the Creator) in Havana. Lázaro has been employed as professor of folkloric percussion and professor of the Escuela National de Arte, Instituto Superior de Arte, and senior adviser of the Centro Superior de la Enseñanza Artistica in Havana. He has participated as a musician in festivals of music and dance throughout Cuba. He has also traveled internationally as a leading participant in a folkloric performance tour of France in 1994, a teaching and performance excursion to Mexico in the year 1992, and in 2001 to the United States to give performances, workshops, and classes.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Vicki Robin Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money Join host Michael Lerner in a conversation with the “prophet of consumption-downsizers,” Vicki Robin—co-author of the national best-seller, Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Achieving Financial Independence and author of Blessing the Hands that Feed Us; what eating closer to home can teach us about food, community and our place on earth (Viking 2014).
Vicki has influenced literally hundreds of thousands of people to rethink their consumption and to value the vast non-material forms of pleasure, security, freedom, and prosperity available to all of us. Her work focuses on the intersection of the “big picture” and our daily lives.
Vicki Robin Vicki Robin, a prolific social innovator, writer and speaker, is coauthor with Joe Dominguez of the international best-seller, Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Achieving Financial Independence. Her new book, Blessing the Hands that Feed Us; what eating closer to home taught me about food, community and our place on earth tells how her experiment in 10-mile eating not only changed how she ate, but also renewed her hope and rooted her in her community.
Vicki has helped launch many sustainability initiatives including: The New Road Map Foundation, The Simplicity Forum, The Conversation Cafes, The Turning Tide Coalition, Sustainable Seattle, The Center for a New American Dream, Transition Whidbey and more. For fun, Vicki is a comedy improv actress, appearing frequently with her troupe, Comedy Island. Find out more about Vicki on her website.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Diana and Kelly Lindsay Something More Than Hope Host Michael Lerner talks with Diana and Kelly Lindsay, authors of Something More Than Hope: Surviving Despite the Odds, Thriving Because of Them.
In April 2006, Diana was diagnosed with incurable stage IV lung cancer. Her doctor estimated the odds of her making it to 5 years were 1%. “How do I make it into the 1% Club?” she asked herself. The answers Diana and her husband, Kelly, discover together—about the healing power of love and joy, and the body’s astonishing ability to communicate its needs down to the cellular level—have not only kept her in good health for seven years but deeply enriched both their lives. The conversation explores how Diana and Kelly sought to see life differently when the world became unrecognizable. “It’s about overturning assumptions, embracing obstacles, and opening one’s heart, mind, and spirit. It’s not just about who we are but what we are—and what we’re capable of doing,” Diana says.
We held this conversation on August 8, 2013 in the Lindsay’s living room on Whidbey Island north of Seattle with a circle of a dozen friends who have all been touched by cancer. Find out more about Diana experience on her website.
Diana and Kelly Lindsay Diana met Kelly Lindsay when he was a biology major and she was a dance and music major at Stanford University. During nearly 40 years of marriage, they have taught college students and children, been global activists, and built the marketing and financial skills to found their own company.
In 2006, Diana and Kelly Lindsay were chief executives of Lindsay Communications, a high-tech marketing and communications company serving hundreds of companies from Fortune 100 multi-nationals to start-ups. When she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, they realized the customers they most needed to communicate with were Diana’s cells. While she learned how to visualize them and ask for their guidance, he created a high-bandwidth grid with his hands as a Reiki master to power those cells back to health. Today Diana and Kelly speak to anyone facing seemingly insurmountable odds, inspiring them to find something more than hope.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Duane Elgin The Living Universe Join Michael Lerner in conversation with social visionary Duane Elgin, best selling author of Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life that is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich; and Changing Images of Man, which was co-authored with Joseph Campbell.
For more than three decades, Duane has defined the cutting edge in consciousness research, in the ecology movement and in future studies. Duane Elgin pioneered the “Voluntary Simplicity” movement with his now classic first book of the same name.
Duane Elgin Duane is a social visionary who looks beneath the surface of the turbulence of our times to explore deeper trends transforming our world. In 2006, Duane received the International Goi Peace Award in Japan in recognition of his contribution to a global “vision, consciousness, and lifestyle” that fosters a “more sustainable and spiritual culture.”
His books include: The Living Universe: Where Are We? Who Are We? Where Are We Going? (2009) and Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life that is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich (2010). With Joseph Campbell and others he co-authored the book Changing Images of Man (1982). He worked as a senior social scientist with the think-tank SRI International where he coauthored numerous studies of the long-range future. He has also studied ESP and human consciousness in depth.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Eric Karpeles Jozef Czapski's 20th Century Life Polish painter and writer Jozef Czapski (pronounced CHAP-skee) is virtually unknown to American artists and readers of the English language, though he is a figure of considerable historical, political, and cultural importance in both Western and Eastern Europe. Moved by the quality of Czapski’s work and the integrity of his life, Commonweal Board Member Eric Karpeles is writing a book that will be both an introduction to his character and achievements, and a critical assessment of his painting and writing, placing this creative legacy into an historical context. Fresh from his return after a long research trip to Poland, Eric presents an illustrated talk about Czapski to TNS, followed by a conversation with Michael Lerner.
Eric Karpeles Commonweal Board Member Eric Karpeles is a painter and writer. Born and raised in New York, he has also lived in India and in France, settling in Bolinas in 2007. His painting career has been shaped by the quest for a spiritual presence in art, and by a negative response to the elitism of the contemporary marketplace. The Rockefeller Chapel is a room-sized painting he completed in 1996, a permanent installation at the HealthCare Chaplaincy in New York City. Karpeles writes about painting and the intersection of literature and visual aesthetics; his book, Paintings in Proust, translated into several languages, was a “book of the year” in the NY Times, the Times of London, and The Wall Street Journal.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Ilene Serlin, PhD Dance and Psyche: How Moving Moves Us Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Ilene Serlin, psychologist and registered dance/movement therapist. Ilene apprenticed with Anna Halprin and worked with the New York Psychological Association in the 1970s to require creative artists in hospitals. She’s been a psychologist for 30 years on Union Street in San Francisco and Mill Valley, California. Ilene takes American psychologists to Israel to facilitate art therapy for trauma victims there, and has worked with autistic children using dance and art therapy. She created a video on Dance Movement Therapy for women with breast cancer, and is the author of Whole Person Healthcare, introduced by Dean Ornish.
Ilene Serlin, PhD Ilene is a psychologist and registered dance/movement therapist in San Francisco and Marin. Past-president San Francisco Psychological Association, Fellow APA, and past-president Division of Humanistic Psychology, she taught at Saybrook University, Lesley University, UCLA, the NY Gestalt Institute, and the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich. Editor of Whole Person Healthcare (2007, 3 vol., Praeger) more than 100 chapters and articles on body, art, and psychotherapy, she is on the editorial boards of PsycCritiques; American Dance Therapy Journal; Journal of Humanistic Psychology; Arts & Health: An International Journal of Research, Policy and Practice; Journal of Applied Arts and Health; and The Humanistic Psychologist.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Angeles Arrien, PhD Nothing Special: The Mystery of Everyday Life
As a cultural anthropologist, Dr. Angeles Arrien’s research and teaching focused on values and beliefs shared by humanity cross-culturally, and on the integration and application of multi-cultural wisdoms in contemporary settings. She taught universal components of leadership skills, communication, health care, and education, showing how indigenous wisdoms are relevant in our families, professional lives, and our relationship with the Earth.
Join us for conversation with Angeles and Michael Lerner—where they explore her writings, her Basque roots, her life journey and inspirations, what she’s doing now, and what is still to come.
Angeles Arrien, PhD Angeles was a cultural anthropologist, award-winning author, educator, and consultant to many organizations and businesses. She lectured and conducted workshops worldwide, bridging cultural anthropology, psychology, and comparative religions. Her work is currently used in medical, academic, and corporate environments. Her books have been translated into thirteen languages and she received three honorary doctorate degrees in recognition of her work.
Angeles’ books include The Four-Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior, Teacher, Healer and Visionary; Signs of Life: The Five Universal Shapes and How to Use Them, (Winner of the 1993 Benjamin Franklin Award); and The Second Half of Life: Opening the Eight Gates of Wisdom, (Winner of the 2007 Nautilus Award for Best Book on Aging). Her recent book, Living in Gratitude: A Journey That Will Change Your Life is a Gold Medal Co-Winner of the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY Award) in the category of Inspiration and Spirituality.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Angeles Arrien, PhD Nothing Special: The Mystery of Everyday Life
As a cultural anthropologist, Dr. Angeles Arrien’s research and teaching focused on values and beliefs shared by humanity cross-culturally, and on the integration and application of multi-cultural wisdoms in contemporary settings. She taught universal components of leadership skills, communication, health care, and education, showing how indigenous wisdoms are relevant in our families, professional lives, and our relationship with the Earth.
Join us for conversation with Angeles and Michael Lerner—where they explore her writings, her Basque roots, her life journey and inspirations, what she’s doing now, and what is still to come.
Angeles Arrien, PhD Angeles was a cultural anthropologist, award-winning author, educator, and consultant to many organizations and businesses. She lectured and conducted workshops worldwide, bridging cultural anthropology, psychology, and comparative religions. Her work is currently used in medical, academic, and corporate environments. Her books have been translated into thirteen languages and she received three honorary doctorate degrees in recognition of her work.
Angeles’ books include The Four-Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior, Teacher, Healer and Visionary; Signs of Life: The Five Universal Shapes and How to Use Them, (Winner of the 1993 Benjamin Franklin Award); and The Second Half of Life: Opening the Eight Gates of Wisdom, (Winner of the 2007 Nautilus Award for Best Book on Aging). Her recent book, Living in Gratitude: A Journey That Will Change Your Life is a Gold Medal Co-Winner of the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY Award) in the category of Inspiration and Spirituality.
Angeles Arrien died in April 2014.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Rachel Naomi Remen, MD Symbols, Rituals, and Archetypes: Speaking the Language of the Deep Unconscious Mind The “affective domain” is the learning domain concerned with values, calling, and meaning, and is the basis of authentic community and sustained action and commitment. Although the affective domain is widely recognized as the foundation of direction, purpose, and deep satisfaction in work and in life—as well as the basis of spiritual hardiness in meeting with obstacles, difficulties, and stress—traditional models of education are not designed to accomplish such learning.
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, about her journey balancing her life as mystic, scientist, and educator.
Rachel Naomi Remen, MD Rachel is clinical professor of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine and founder and director of the Institute for the Study of Health and Illness at Commonweal. She is one of the pioneers of integrative medicine and relationship-centered care. As a clinician, she was a therapist to end-of-life people and their families for more than 30 years. Dr. Remen is the founder and director of The Healer’s Art curriculum for medical students, which is now taught in more than half of American Medical schools and medical schools in 7 countries abroad.
She is co-founder and medical director of the Commonweal Cancer Help Retreat Program, one of the first integrative care support groups for cancer patients in America. Dr. Remen’s bestselling books, Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories that Heal and My Grandfather’s Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge and Belonging, have more than a million copies in print and have been published in 21 languages.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Lynnaea Lumbard, PhD New Stories: Who We Are, What We Are Becoming, Where We Are Going Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with Lynnaea Lumbard—co-president of New Stories, a non-profit educational organization serving as a resource center, creative collaboratory, and project incubator in support of emerging new stories for who we are as humanity, what we are becoming, how we are changing and where we are going together.
Three principle foci of New Stories are (1) strengthening great transition stories, (2) fostering thriving communities, and (3) the Whidbey GeoDome Project, headed by Rick Ingrasci, a portable inflatable dome with an internal projector that offers the experience of the universe story in a way similar to a planetarium.
Lynnaea Lumbard, PhD Lynnaea is a transformational psychologist, an ordained interfaith minister, and a wilderness guide. Her interests include depth psychology, conscious evolution, community weaving, social change philanthropy, and evolutionary spirituality. Lynnaea is co-president of New Stories, a nonprofit educational center on Whidbey Island.
Lynnaea works at New Stories with collaborators who include her husband, psychologist and ordained minister Rick Paine, author Duane Elgin (Voluntary Simplicity and The Living Universe), entrepreneur Jeff Vander Clute, life coach Rick Ingrasci, and many others.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Stephan Schwartz Trends That Affect Your Future and Consciousness Research Join Michael Lerner for a conversation with Stephan Schwartz, the creator of the free daily on-line Schwartz Report: Trends That Will Affect Your Future. Stephen tracks significant social trends while postulating the reality of non-local consciousness. Integrating tough-minded social trend analysis with a deep knowledge of consciousness research, Schwartz arrives at challenging non-obvious approaches to thinking about social change.
Stephan A. Schwartz Stephan Schwartz is a senior Samueli fellow at the Samueli Institute, columnist for the journal Explore, and editor of the web publication Schwartz Report. He has spent a lifetime focused on exceptional human performance, particularly involving nonlocal aspects of consciousness, and is one of the founders of modern remote viewing. Parallel with that, he has researched and written about trends that are shaping the world for many years. He is the former research director of the Mobius Society, research director of the Rhine Research Center, senior fellow of the Philosophical Research Society, scholar in residence at Atlantic University, and adjunct professor at John F. Kennedy University. He is the spokesperson for the Parapsychological Association, and a former board member; co-founder of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness of the American Anthropological Association, the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine, and the International Remote Viewing Association. He is the author of four books, 20 chapters in others, and more than 100 technical papers and peer-reviewed publications.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Tom Cheetham, PhD Spiritual Imagination in the Work of Henry Corbin, CG Jung and James Hillman Tom Cheetham makes a presention on Henry Corbin’s work and the links with Jungian psychology, and has a conversation with Dr. Michael Lerner on aspects of this topic.
Henry Corbin (1903-1978) was a visionary Protestant theologian and a ground-breaking scholar and translator of Islamic mysticism. His understanding of the imagination as the fundamental creative principle in the world is urgently needed in our pluralistic and interconnected global society. He was a friend and colleague of C.G. Jung and shared his view of the significance of the active imagination in human life as well as his profound grasp of the importance of alchemy for religious psychology.
Tom Cheetham, PhD Tom is a biologist, a philosopher, and the author of four books on the imagination and the meaning of Henry Corbin’s work for the contemporary world. He is a Fellow of the Temenos Academy in London and Adjunct Professor of Human Ecology at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. He lectures regularly in Europe and the United States. Tom’s website, and the official Henry Corbin website, have more information.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Rebecca Katz, MS The Longevity Kitchen: the Top 16 Age-Busting Power Foods Despite America’s anti-aging obsession and numerous medical advances, for the first time in recorded history, life spans are actually shortening because of what people eat. But it doesn’t have to be so. The scientific community has come to recognize the extraordinary power good culinary choices have over our bodies. Taking the very best of this science into the kitchen, wellness authority Rebecca Katz, MS, and her latest cookbook, The Longevity Kitchen, prove that great taste and flavor along with culturally specific, nutrient-dense foods are the best ways to promote a healthy long life. Tapping into the cooking wisdom of elders from noted longevity hotspots, including Okinawa, Greece, and Costa Rica, the book shows how cuisines particular to each region lengthen lives.
Join us for a conversation with Michael Lerner and Rebecca, looking at the science and recipes that went into her new book and at the work she does in Commonweal’s Healing Kitchens Institute.
Rebecca Katz, MS As a consultant, speaker, teacher and chef, Rebecca works closely with patients, physicians, nurses, and wellness professionals to include the powerful tools of flavor and nutrition in their medical arsenal, and with hotel kitchens and events to deliver healthy food with the taste their customers love. She is the founder and director of the Healing Kitchens Institute at Commonweal, which is dedicated to transforming lives through nutritional science and culinary alchemy. Rebecca serves as core faculty of Food As Medicine,The Center for Mind-Body Medicine’s renowned professional training in medical nutrition therapy and as faculty for Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine’s Nutrition and Health program.
Rebecca is the author of The Longevity Kitchen: Satisfying Big Flavor Recipes Featuring the Top-16 Age Busting Power Foods, along with the award-winning cookbook The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Beyond, and One Bite at a Time: Nourishing Recipes for Cancer Survivors and their Friends (Second Edition).
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Michael Lerner, PhD Wounds of the Self, Wounds of the Earth This is a talk Michael gave on April 4, 2013, to graduate students and faculty at Sophia University in Palo Alto. Sophia University was previously called the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology.
Michael says, “Most of the students had a working knowledge of Carl Jung, James Hillman, and Roberto Assagioli, as well as of eco-psychology. They were young and irreverent and we had a very good time together.
Michael Lerner, PhD Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal and of Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, D.C. His principle work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press). He has spent the past months reading intensively in archetypal psychology and wants to share the exploration with New School friends.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Michael Lerner, PhD Pilgrims of the Way: Integral Yoga and Archetypal Psychology Integral Yoga and archetypal psychology offer complementary ways of understanding ourselves and other people. The triadic relationship between love, wisdom, and will is found in both traditions. Useful readings include the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutras, and any of the works of archetypal psychologists James Hillman and Thomas Moore — but no readings are necessary or assumed.
Michael gave this presentation at the Integral Yoga Institute in San Francisco.
Michael Lerner, PhD Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal and of Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, D.C. His principle work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press). He has spent the past months reading intensively in archetypal psychology and wants to share the exploration with New School friends.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Michael Lerner, PhD Archetypal Psychology: The Role of Soul in Daily Life Join Michael Lerner in this discussion about his studies and journey with archetypal psychology.
James Hillman, a Jungian analyst, founded archetypal psychology to explore the power of archetypes and the place of soul in our psyches and daily lives. Thomas Moore popularized Hillman’s sometimes obscure writings. We’ll trace the lineage of archetypal psychology from the pre-Socratics through medieval and contemporary sources as a great tradition of Western psychology that complements Buddhist and other Eastern psychological traditions.
Useful homework for listening to the podcast:
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Read the Wikipedia entries on both Hillman and Moore, and background entries on Carl Jung and the Sufi scholar Henry Corbin. Note especially Corbin’s seminal book about the Sufi mysticism of Ibn Arabi, Alone with the Alone.
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If possible, read any of Hillman and Moore’s books. Suggested: James Hillman, The Soul’s Code, The Force of Character and the Lasting Life, or A Blue Fire; Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul, Dark Nights of the Soul, or Soul Mates
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Don’t do any of the above but come with an open and inquiring mind.
Michael Lerner, PhD Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal and of Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, D.C. His principle work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press). He has spent the past months reading intensively in archetypal psychology and wants to share the exploration with New School friends.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Jeff Vander Clute Compassionate Action: New Stories, Healing, and Thriving Communities Join us for this conversation between Commonweal’s Michael Lerner and Jeff Vander Clute, executive director of New Stories — an educational organization serving as a resource center, creative collaboratory and project incubator in support of emerging new stories for who we are as humanity, what we are becoming, how we are changing, and where we are going together.
Jeff Vander Clute Jeff is helping to build a world based on compassion, joy, and the creative expression of humanity’s potential for thriving. He is one spark among many in the emerging Thriving Communities movement, and he is quietly working to weave a meta-movement in which the various movements of Compassion, Happiness, Peace, Resilience, Wisdom, and Thriving Communities are all in conscious relationship. Jeff is the executive director of New Stories, and a founding editor of the Great Transition Stories project. Previously, as a software engineer, Jeff created an online publishing platform used by over 30 million people and a social-networking platform called Thrive, used to “connect the global heart.” He serves on the boards of the Compassionate Action Network International, the Happiness Initiative (board chair), and New Stories – all 501(c)(3) non-profits working to bring forth a restored, “restoried,” and thriving world.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
BJ Miller, MD Dying: Exploring the Terrain BJ Miller, MD, talks with Michael Lerner about his life, his disability, and his role as executive director at the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco.
The Zen Hospice Project works to bridge medical and social models of care in effort to provide the finest palliative care available. This necessitates a broader multi-disciplinary approach to caregiving and offers a model for the synergistic integration of arts and sciences. This also opens new possibilities for lay/volunteer and professional training and scholarship.
BJ Miller, MD BJ graduated from Princeton University in the Department of Art & Archaeology in 1993, and received his MD from UCSF as a Regents Scholar in 2001. He completed his internal medicine residency at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara where he served as chief resident. He completed his fellowship in Hospice & Palliative Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where his clinical duties split between the Massachusetts General Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He continues to attend in the Symptom Management Service of the UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCSF’s groundbreaking outpatient palliative care clinic. His academic support has largely served palliative care education and leadership development. In 2010, in only his third year on faculty, BJ received the William Osler Award, the School of Medicine’s highest faculty award.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Fritz Hull IONA Vision: the Founding of the Whidbey Institute New School at Commonweal host Michael Lerner explores Fritz Hull’s spiritual biography in this three-part series.
Fritz Hull Fritz has been leading programs with his wife, Vivienne, since 1972 when they founded the Chinook Learning Center on Whidbey Island. A native of Seattle and Whidbey Island, he is a graduate of the University of Washington and Princeton Theological Seminary. Frtiz is an ordained Presbyterian minister, receiving his Doctor of Ministry degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary.
Fritz founded the Whidbey Institute and has served as its director. He is now a member of Board of Directors and leads several Institute programs including Integral Spirit. He is editor of Earth & Spirit – The Spiritual Dimension of the Environmental Crisis.
Vivienne Hull Vivienne Hull is a native of Northern Ireland. She is a graduate of the University of Washington, holding a masters degree in Educational Psychology, and is a Lindisfarne Fellow. She was co-director with Fritz of the Chinook Learning Center and led numerous programs over twenty years. She was instrumental in the creation of the Whidbey Institute, and today is an associate director of the Institute. Vivienne is a writer, speaker, and teacher of Celtic culture and spirituality. For more than twenty five years she has been leading several retreats each year to the Island of Iona in Scotland. She participates in leadership in numerous Institute programs. Fritz and Vivienne have now created the Story House on land they own that is part of the 100 acres called Chinook.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Fritz Hull IONA Vision: the Founding of the Whidbey Institute New School at Commonweal host Michael Lerner explores Fritz Hull’s spiritual biography in this three-part series.
Fritz Hull Fritz has been leading programs with his wife, Vivienne, since 1972 when they founded the Chinook Learning Center on Whidbey Island. A native of Seattle and Whidbey Island, he is a graduate of the University of Washington and Princeton Theological Seminary. Frtiz is an ordained Presbyterian minister, receiving his Doctor of Ministry degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary.
Fritz founded the Whidbey Institute and has served as its director. He is now a member of Board of Directors and leads several Institute programs including Integral Spirit. He is editor of Earth & Spirit – The Spiritual Dimension of the Environmental Crisis.
Vivienne Hull Vivienne Hull is a native of Northern Ireland. She is a graduate of the University of Washington, holding a masters degree in Educational Psychology, and is a Lindisfarne Fellow. She was co-director with Fritz of the Chinook Learning Center and led numerous programs over twenty years. She was instrumental in the creation of the Whidbey Institute, and today is an associate director of the Institute. Vivienne is a writer, speaker, and teacher of Celtic culture and spirituality. For more than twenty five years she has been leading several retreats each year to the Island of Iona in Scotland. She participates in leadership in numerous Institute programs. Fritz and Vivienne have now created the Story House on land they own that is part of the 100 acres called Chinook.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Fritz Hull IONA Vision: the Founding of the Whidbey Institute New School at Commonweal host Michael Lerner explores Fritz Hull’s spiritual biography in this three-part series.
Fritz Hull Fritz has been leading programs with his wife, Vivienne, since 1972 when they founded the Chinook Learning Center on Whidbey Island. A native of Seattle and Whidbey Island, he is a graduate of the University of Washington and Princeton Theological Seminary. Frtiz is an ordained Presbyterian minister, receiving his Doctor of Ministry degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary.
Fritz founded the Whidbey Institute and has served as its director. He is now a member of Board of Directors and leads several Institute programs including Integral Spirit. He is editor of Earth & Spirit – The Spiritual Dimension of the Environmental Crisis.
Vivienne Hull Vivienne Hull is a native of Northern Ireland. She is a graduate of the University of Washington, holding a masters degree in Educational Psychology, and is a Lindisfarne Fellow. She was co-director with Fritz of the Chinook Learning Center and led numerous programs over twenty years. She was instrumental in the creation of the Whidbey Institute, and today is an associate director of the Institute. Vivienne is a writer, speaker, and teacher of Celtic culture and spirituality. For more than twenty five years she has been leading several retreats each year to the Island of Iona in Scotland. She participates in leadership in numerous Institute programs. Fritz and Vivienne have now created the Story House on land they own that is part of the 100 acres called Chinook.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Sister Miriam MacGillis Opening the Christian Mysteries to the New Cosmology ~Co-sponsored with Point Reyes Books~
In response to the global crisis, Sister Miriam MacGillis — and her community at their biodynamic Genesis Farm in New Jersey — focus on connections between the health of Earth and of human communities within particular bioregions. From the Genesis Farm website:
Genesis Farm is rooted in a belief that the Universe, Earth, and all reality are permeated by the presence and power of that ultimate Holy Mystery that has been so deeply and richly expressed in the world’s spiritual traditions.
Join us for a conversation between Sister Miriam MacGillis and Michael Lerner about the New Cosmology — talked about by Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme — and how she and the Genesis Farm bring these rich spiritual insights into the practical realm of agriculture, community, and care-taking the Earth.
Sister Miriam Therese MacGillis Sister Miriam is a member of the Dominican Sisters of Caldwell, New Jersey. She lives and works at Genesis Farm, which she co-founded in 1980 with the sponsorship of her Dominican congregation. Miriam describes Genesis Farm as a learning center where people of good will are welcome to search for more authentic ways to live in harmony with the natural world and each other. The farm practices Biodynamic methods of agriculture, which are in tune with the natural rhythms of Earth. It was one of the early pioneers in converting to Community-Supported Agriculture, (CSA), a movement which has expanded across the country. Presently, nearly 300 families from the region are shareholders in its economic base.
Miriam lectures extensively, and has conducted workshops in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. In 2005, she was presented with the Thomas Berry Award by the Center for Respect for Life and the Environment, and in 2007 was named among the planet’s top 15 green religious leaders by Grist magazine.
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Tribute to Elizabeth Bishop Presented by Eric Karpeles and Melissa Smith The embrace of Elizabeth Bishop’s modest but exacting body of work into the canon of English literature continues unimpeded. In her lifetime (1911-1979) she was admired and celebrated, acclaimed by fellow poet John Ashbery as “a writer’s writer’s writer,” but it is only since her death that her influence on the literary arts of her time has been fully recognized. A troubled life was marked by struggle and pain, while her inspirited poetry was painstakingly crafted by determination and integrity.
Painter and writer Eric Karpeles presents this talk about Bishop as a celebration at the end of her centenary year, discussing her work, her life, and the world through which she moved. Integrated into Karpeles’s talk, actress Melissa Smith reads poems and excerpts from Bishop’s stories and letters.
Eric Karpeles Commonweal Board Member Eric Karpeles is a painter, author of Paintings in Proust, and translator of Proust’s Overcoat. A graduate of Haverford College, Oxford University, and The New School, he lived in France in the 1970s, holding fellowships both at la Cité des Arts in Paris and the Camargo Foundation in Cassis. Karpeles writes about painting and the intersection of literature and visual aesthetics. Find out more about Eric on his website.
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Richard T LeGates Chinese Cities: Their Amazing Rise and Possible Futures Since China’s “reform and opening up” beginning in the late 1970s, China has had double-digit gross domestic product (GDP) growth almost every year, including close to a 50% increase in GDP since the global economic crisis began in 2007. From an impoverished rural country where more than 80% of the population engaged in near-subsistence farming, half of China’s population now live in cities.
What are the impacts of China’s urban transformation on the ground? What are China’s greatest urban planning accomplishments, failures, and challenges for the future? Join Michael Lerner for this discussion with Richard LeGates about China’s urbanization and China’s urban future.
Richard T. LeGates Richard is a professor emeritus of Urban Studies and Planning at San Francisco State University and an authority or urbanization and city and regional planning. Earlier in 2012 he was a visiting professor of urban planning at Tongji University in Shanghai and Renmin University in Beijing and a Fulbright scholar at the Technical Institute of Bandung, Indonesia.
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Rupert Sheldrake, PhD Science Set Free: Ten Paths to New Discovery Join Michael Lerner for a discussion with Dr. Rupert Sheldrake about his life, his views, and his new book: Science Set Free — Ten Paths to New Discovery.
In his book, Rupert discusses his views on the ways science is being constricted by assumptions that have, over the years, hardened into dogmas. Such dogmas are not only limiting, but dangerous for the future of humanity. According to these principles, all of reality is material or physical; the world is a machine, made up of inanimate matter; nature is purposeless; consciousness is nothing but the physical activity of the brain; free will is an illusion; God exists only as an idea in human minds, imprisoned within our skulls. In the skeptical spirit of true science, Sheldrake turns the ten fundamental dogmas of materialism into questions, and suggests how all of them open up new possibilities for discovery.
Rupert Sheldrake, PhD Rupert is a biologist and author and a former research fellow of the Royal Society. He studied natural sciences and biochemistry at Cambridge University and philosophy and history of science at Harvard University. He is a fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, near San Francisco. He has appeared in many TV programs in Britain and overseas, and was one of the participants in a TV series called A Glorious Accident, shown on PBS channels throughout the United States.
In addition to Science Set Free, his books include The Sense of Being Stared At and Other Aspects of the Extended Mind (2003), Trialogues at the Edge of the West (1992), republished as Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousness (2001, with Ralph Abraham and Terence McKenna), and The Physics of Angels: Exploring the Realm Where Science and Spirit Meet (1996, written with Matthew Fox). Find out more on his website.
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Stephanie Sugars What Do I Have to Offer before I Leave My Body? In this podcast, long-time alumna of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program Stephanie Sugars talks with Michael Lerner about her journey with illness, treatments, and healing–and the insights that come from living on the “edge of life.”
Stephanie Sugars Stephanie is a human being, a friend to life and death, and a passionate participant in the natural and human worlds. She’s lived with a serious genetic illness for more than 50 years (Peutz-Jeghers syndrome) and with metastatic breast cancer for more than 20 years. Her healing quest led her to Commonweal’s Cancer Help Program in 1992, 2009, and 2012. She seeks to be of use to the world. She explores the intersection of the personal and universal on her blog.
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Francis Weller, MFT Entering the Healing Ground: Grief, Ritual, and the Soul of the World Join Michael Lerner in conversation with author and soul activist Francis Weller, about his work with people living with cancer, and his studies and experience with the grief rituals and ceremonies of indigenous cultures.
Carried privately, sorrow lingers in the soul, slowly pulling us below the surface of life and into the terrain of death. Learning to hold sorrow and loss close to our hearts is a deep spiritual practice, a fierce and unflinching acknowledgement of the way of the world. This spiritual practice is a tempering of the soul, a gradual deepening that moves us closer to the earth, into an intimacy with our surroundings where we lean into those we love. In his recent book, Entering the Healing Ground, Francis reveals the hidden vitality in grief, uncovered when the heart welcomes the sorrows of our life and those of the world.
Francis Weller, MFT Francis has been working with the emotional, creative, and spiritual life of men and women for thirty years. He is a community builder, writer, teacher, and psychotherapist in Northern California. He draws from an extensive background in depth psychology, mythology, group work, and indigenous traditions. His work embodies his love of soul, the arts, ritual and his devotion to bringing these into living and sustainable community. His writings have appeared in anthologies and magazines such as Sacred Fire. He has taught at many colleges and universities throughout the Bay Area including New College, the Sophia Center, and Sonoma State University. He is the founder/director of WisdomBridge and is currently completing his second book, A Trail on the Ground: Tracking the Ways of Our Indigenous Soul.
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Walter and Aggie Murch The Bird that Swallowed its Cage: The Selected Writings of Curzio Malaparte ~Co-presented by KWMR and Point Reyes Books~
Join us for a reading and conversation between Walter and Aggie Murch about Walter’s recently published book, The Bird that Swallowed its Cage: The Selected Writings of Curzio Malaparte.
Walter Murch Working within the growing Bay Area film community, Murch settled his family in West Marin in 1972. Since that time Murch has been honored by both British and American Motion Picture Academies, winning BAFTA and Oscar awards and nominations for The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, The English Patient, Julia, and Cold Mountain.
Murch wrote In the Blink of an Eye (2001), which has been translated into ten languages. The Bird that Swallowed its Cage (2012) is Murch’s selected translation of work by the Italian poet and novelist Curzio Malaparte (1899-1956). Between films, he pursues interests in the science of human perception, cosmology and the history of science.
Muriel (Aggie) Murch Aggie graduated as a nurse in England in 1964 and obtained a BSN from San Francisco State in 1991. In 1965 she married Walter Scott Murch and from 1972 raised their four children on Blackberry Farm in Bolinas. She is a founder of of KWMR(FM) radio in West Marin, and author of Journey in the Middle of the Road, One Woman’s Journey through a Mid-Life Education. Muriel continues to write stories and poetry while working as an independent radio producer for KWMR. When not traveling with Walter, Aggie runs the small organic Blackberry Farm, which remains the Murch home
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Bob Holman Sing This One Back to Me: The Spoken Word Bob Holman studied poetry at Columbia University in the 1970s (where he now teaches), but considers his “major poetry schooling” to be his time on the Lower East Side in New York with Allen Ginsberg, John Giorno, Anne Waldman, Miguel Piñero, Hettie Jones, Ed Sanders, Amiri Baraka, Ted Berrigan, Alice Notley, Pedro Pietri, David Henderson, Steve Cannon, and many others.
Join Michael Lerner in a conversation about Bob Holman’s life, history with the Beat Poets, his activism, and the oral tradition of spoken word or “slam” poetry.
Bob Holman As a promoter of poetry in many media, Bob has spent the last four decades working variously as an author, editor, publisher, performer, emcee of live events, director of theatrical productions, producer of films and television programs, record label executive, university professor, poet’s house proprietor, and archivist. Bob is the founder and proprietor of the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City, which opened to the public in September 2002. Holman’s most recent work has been devoted to bringing attention to Endangered Languages — he is the host of Language Matters!, a PBS documentary shot in Wales, Hawaii, and Australia, that airs in late 2013. His most recent collection, Sing This One Back to Me, was released by Coffee House Press in May 2013. Find out more about Bob on his website.
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Julie McIntyre Wild Earth, Wild Plants, Wild Woman Join us for a conversation with Julie McIntyre and The New School’s Kyra Epstein exploring Julie’s life as an herbalist treating Lyme disease with a successful herbal protocol, an Earth ceremonialist, and the author of a new book: Sex and the Intelligence of the Heart; Nature, Intimacy and Sexual Energy.
Julie McIntyre Julie is an Earth ceremonialist and metis of Norwegian and Mohawk/Blackfeet decent. Julie recently directed a state ceremonial program for Native men in prison and also works with young women with ceremonial rites of transition into womanhood.
She has a private holistic health practice working with herbal medicine and chronic illness–she is the leading practicing expert using the herbal lyme protocol developed by her partner, Stephen Harrod Buhner. In her practice, she also works with sacred plant medicine, spiritual mentoring, ecological reclamation of the soul, becoming authentic, and sexuality. You can see more of her and her work on her website.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Tu-2 and Angela Oh Insight: Seeing the Inner Self Join us for a preview of the show “108 Bodhisattvas,” as well as a conversation with artist Tu-2 (Tu Ying-ming) and meditation teacher and lawyer Angela E. Oh. The full body of work, 108 Bodhisattvas, will be premiered in fall of 2013 at a workshop and show in Commonweal Gallery.
Tu Ying-ming (Tu-2) Tu-2 is a visual fine artist who focuses on painting, photography, and documentary films. His current body of work began to emerge around six years ago: a series of spiritual portraits in silver pencil on blue paper that reveal the interior qualities of their subjects. Depicted in chiaroscuro (a light-dark technique with ancient roots)—but using a silver pencil to draw only the light—the images seem to be floating from darkness to light, mostly in a state of serenity. Learn more about Tu-2 on his website.
Angela E. Oh Angela is the former executive director of the Western Justice Center Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advances peaceful resolution of conflict. She has worked as an attorney, public lecturer, and teacher of Zen meditation. In 1992, Oh gained national prominence as a spokesperson and mediating force for the Asian American community during the Los Angeles riots. Thereafter, she was appointed by President Bill Clinton as one of seven Advisory Board members to the President’s Initiative on Race, which was charged with engaging the nation in a dialogue on race relations in the United States of America. Oh is also an ordained priest, Zen Buddhist—Rinzai Sect.
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Mark Renneker, MD, Michael Lerner, and Others Clinical Advocacy Public Forum As part of the first clinical advocacy conference at Commonweal October 11-14, this public forum brought ideas, experiences, and findings of the conference to a discussion with the larger New School and Commonweal community. This was a special day of presentations and discussions on clinical advocacy — bringing together clinicians, educators, patients, families, and researchers to share and explore the principles and methods of improving clinical care for patients with cancer, cardiac, vascular, and autoimmune disorders.
Mark Renneker, M.D.: Introduction to Clinical Advocacy Dwight McKee, M.D.: Patients’ Use of Novel Natural Compounds (download PDF of presentation) Raymond Chang, M.D.: Integrative Use of Cancer Immunotherapies Penny Block, Ph.D.: Psycho-Oncologic Therapies Michael McCulloch, L.Ac., M.P.H., Ph.D.: Integrative Use of Chinese Medicine (download PDF of presentation, and link to original Pine Street Clinic studies) Gwen Stritter, M.D.: Preventing Breast Cancer Recurrence Sandee Birdwell, M.D. and Mark Renneker, M.D.: Summary of Findings Will Kennedy, D.O., Hospice and Palliative Medicine Specialist, Portland, OR (download PDF)
Mark Renneker, MD Dr. Renneker used to be an oncologist at UCSF and then Cal Pacific before starting his research and patient advocacy practice. He founded it because he realized that there is far too much information about fighting cancer, and innovative treatments both in western medicine and in integrative treatments, for any doctor to stay on top of while practicing medicine full time. So Dr. Renneker stopped practicing as a doctor and dedicated himself to keeping abreast of treatment from all around the world for fighting cancer. He consults with patients, particularly those with serious or advanced cases of cancer, and helps them develop attack plans, find second opinions, and identify new treatments.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Mark Renneker, MD, Michael Lerner, and Others Clinical Advocacy Public Forum As part of the first clinical advocacy conference at Commonweal October 11-14, this public forum brought ideas, experiences, and findings of the conference to a discussion with the larger New School and Commonweal community. This was a special day of presentations and discussions on clinical advocacy — bringing together clinicians, educators, patients, families, and researchers to share and explore the principles and methods of improving clinical care for patients with cancer, cardiac, vascular, and autoimmune disorders.
Mark Renneker, M.D.: Introduction to Clinical Advocacy Dwight McKee, M.D.: Patients’ Use of Novel Natural Compounds (download PDF of presentation) Raymond Chang, M.D.: Integrative Use of Cancer Immunotherapies Penny Block, Ph.D.: Psycho-Oncologic Therapies Michael McCulloch, L.Ac., M.P.H., Ph.D.: Integrative Use of Chinese Medicine (download PDF of presentation, and link to original Pine Street Clinic studies) Gwen Stritter, M.D.: Preventing Breast Cancer Recurrence Sandee Birdwell, M.D. and Mark Renneker, M.D.: Summary of Findings Will Kennedy, D.O., Hospice and Palliative Medicine Specialist, Portland, OR (download PDF)
Mark Renneker, MD Dr. Renneker used to be an oncologist at UCSF and then Cal Pacific before starting his research and patient advocacy practice. He founded it because he realized that there is far too much information about fighting cancer, and innovative treatments both in western medicine and in integrative treatments, for any doctor to stay on top of while practicing medicine full time. So Dr. Renneker stopped practicing as a doctor and dedicated himself to keeping abreast of treatment from all around the world for fighting cancer. He consults with patients, particularly those with serious or advanced cases of cancer, and helps them develop attack plans, find second opinions, and identify new treatments.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Mark Renneker, MD, Michael Lerner, and Others Clinical Advocacy Public Forum As part of the first clinical advocacy conference at Commonweal October 11-14, this public forum brought ideas, experiences, and findings of the conference to a discussion with the larger New School and Commonweal community. This was a special day of presentations and discussions on clinical advocacy — bringing together clinicians, educators, patients, families, and researchers to share and explore the principles and methods of improving clinical care for patients with cancer, cardiac, vascular, and autoimmune disorders.
Mark Renneker, M.D.: Introduction to Clinical Advocacy Dwight McKee, M.D.: Patients’ Use of Novel Natural Compounds (download PDF of presentation) Raymond Chang, M.D.: Integrative Use of Cancer Immunotherapies Penny Block, Ph.D.: Psycho-Oncologic Therapies Michael McCulloch, L.Ac., M.P.H., Ph.D.: Integrative Use of Chinese Medicine (download PDF of presentation, and link to original Pine Street Clinic studies) Gwen Stritter, M.D.: Preventing Breast Cancer Recurrence Sandee Birdwell, M.D. and Mark Renneker, M.D.: Summary of Findings Will Kennedy, D.O., Hospice and Palliative Medicine Specialist, Portland, OR (download PDF)
Mark Renneker, MD Dr. Renneker used to be an oncologist at UCSF and then Cal Pacific before starting his research and patient advocacy practice. He founded it because he realized that there is far too much information about fighting cancer, and innovative treatments both in western medicine and in integrative treatments, for any doctor to stay on top of while practicing medicine full time. So Dr. Renneker stopped practicing as a doctor and dedicated himself to keeping abreast of treatment from all around the world for fighting cancer. He consults with patients, particularly those with serious or advanced cases of cancer, and helps them develop attack plans, find second opinions, and identify new treatments.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
erry Mander The Capitalism Papers: Fatal Flaws of an Obsolete System Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with Jerry Mander about his new book, in which he researches, discusses, and exposes the momentous and unsolvable environmental and social problem of capitalism—in the vein of his bestseller, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television. Mander argues that capitalism is no longer a viable system and that capitalism, utterly dependent on never-ending economic growth, is an impossible absurdity on a finite planet with limited resources. Climate change, together with global food, water, and resource shortages, are only the start.
Jerry Mander Called the the patriarch of the anti-Globalization movement by The New York Times, Jerry Mander was founder and is a distinguished fellow of the International Forum on Globalization. He also spent 15 years in the advertising business as president of Freeman, Mander & Gossage, including producing the famous Sierra Club campaigns of the 1960s that saved the Grand Canyon.
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William Rosenzweig Food: Business, Movement, or Both? Join Michael Lerner for a conversation with William Rosenzweig about sustainable living and ethical business. William is the Republic of Tea’s founding CEO, and also co-author of the bestselling book The Republic of Tea: How an Idea Becomes a Business, recently named one of the 100 best business books of all time.
William Rosenzweig William is currently co-founder and Partner at Physic Ventures, a venture capital firm supporting science-based companies focused on health and sustainability. Will currently works closely with EnergyHub, GoodGuide, Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy, Own, Recyclebank, Revolution Foods, and Yummly.
As an entrepreneur, Will has been involved as a founder and executive of more than a dozen early-stage ventures. Will was founding CEO (and Minister of Progress) of The Republic of Tea, an award-winning specialty tea company that is credited with creating the premium tea category in the United States. He has played key leadership roles at Nakamichi, the TED Conference, Odwalla, Leapfrog Toys, Brand New Brands, Hambrecht Vineyards and Wineries, Kingdom of Herbs, and Winetasting.com.
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Robert N Bellah Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age ~Co-presented with Point Reyes Books~
Join Michael Lerner for a conversation with Robert Bellah—a great sociologist of religion—about religion in human evolution.
Robert N. Bella Robert is a renowned author, international speaker, and Elliott Professor of Sociology Emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley. His last book, Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age, is a work of extraordinary ambition—a wide-ranging, nuanced probing of our biological past to discover the kinds of lives that human beings have most often imagined were worth living. In it Bellah offers what is frequently seen as a forbidden theory of the origin of religion that goes deep into evolution, especially but not exclusively, cultural evolution. Robert’s website has more information.
Robert Bellah died in July 2013.
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Michael Tilson Thomas in conversation with Eric Karpeles The New School at Commonweal is very pleased to present this conversation between San Francisco Symphony Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and Commonweal Board Member Eric Karpeles. Informal and wide-ranging, the conversation will be accessible to music-lovers of all degrees, and in keeping with Commonweal’s ongoing commitment to exploring the role of healing and the arts.
Michael Tilson Thomas Just recently becoming the longest-reigning conductor in the San Francsico Symphony’s 100 year history, Michael repeatedly leads performances of intensely powerful music-making in programs full of emotional depth and staggering clarity. The orchestra is playing with virtuosic ebullience these days and the term “golden era” has been increasingly used to describe the institution’s current state of being. Thomas works from an encyclopedic breadth of musical history which helps listeners make connections and understand the context of a piece to great effect. A tireless educator, Thomas created a series of fascinating musical portraits of composers known as “Keeping Score” which air on PBS. In terms of impact, the orchestral academy Thomas created, New World Symphony, has been very significant to the artistic, personal, and professional development of outstanding young instrumentalists since 1987. Thomas is also the principal guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, a composer, and a concert pianist.
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Kate Munger and the Threshold Choir Making Kindness Audible through the Gift of Song Threshold Choir is a network of a cappella choirs of primarily women’s voices: a community whose mission is to sing for and with those at the thresholds of living and dying. Founded in 2000 by Inverness resident Kate Munger, beauty and strength now bloom in the more than 100 choirs worldwide who provide singers at no cost when invited to the the bedsides of folks who are struggling.
During this event, Kate talks with Commonweal Executive Director Susan Braun about Threshold Choir—the practice, the history, and the future. There will be opportunities for the audience to join with choir members to become a spontaneous Threshold Choir: coming together to sing a few of the many songs in their repertoire.
Kate Munger Kate has devoted herself for over 35 years to creating non-hierarchical, collaborative models for spirited and contemplative group singing, joyful community building, creative problem solving, and deep fellowship through rounds and parts singing. In 2000 she founded the first of now more than 100 Threshold Choirs worldwide. This singing ministry has re-imagined what true service can look like: healing the giver as it offers comfort, presence and ease for the receiver. Kate lives, swims, works, and sings along the shores of Tomales Bay in CA where she lives with her husband, son, and daughter-in-law and her precious grandsons Dillon and Rory.
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Brother David Steindl-Rast Spiritual Biography Brother David Steindl-Rast is an 86-year-old Benedictine monk who many consider the successor to Thomas Merton at the intersection of Christianity and Buddhism. Together with Merton, Brother David helped launch a renewal of religious life. From 1970 on, he became a leading figure in the House of Prayer movement, which affected some 200,000 members of religious orders in the United States and Canada.
More than that, Brother David has developed a “common sense spirituality” that touches the heart of all the great spiritual traditions. He is an apostle of the spirit of gratefulness, described on his remarkable website. He says his favorite name for God is “Surprise,” because “Surprise” is the only name that does not limit the Nameless One.
Brother David’s books include Belonging to the Universe (winner of the 1992 American Book Award), a dialogue on new paradigm thinking in science and theology with physicist, Fritjof Capra. His dialogue with Buddhists produced The Ground We Share: Buddhist and Christian Practice, co-authored with Robert Aitken Roshi. His most recent books are The Music of Silence, co-written with Sharon Lebell, and Words of Common Sense.
In these interviews with Michael Lerner, which took place over a span of six months, Brother David talks about his life and work, the people and experiences that made him who he is, and his philosophy of living life with gratitude.
David Steindl-Rast David Steindl-Rast was born July 12, 1926, in Vienna, Austria, where he studied art, anthropology, and psychology, receiving an MA from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and a PhD from the University of Vienna. In 1952 he followed his family who had emigrated to the United States. In 1953 he joined a newly founded Benedictine community in Elmira, NY, Mount Saviour Monastery, of which he is now a senior member.
After twelve years of monastic training and studies in philosophy and theology, Brother David was sent by his abbot to participate in Buddhist-Christian dialogue, for which he received Vatican approval in 1967. His Zen teachers were Hakkuun Yasutani Roshi, Soen Nakagawa Roshi, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, and Eido Shimano Roshi. He co-founded the Center for Spiritual Studies in 1968 and received the 1975 Martin Buber Award for his achievements in building bridges between religious traditions. At present, Brother David serves a worldwide Network for Grateful Living, through www.gratefulness.org, an interactive website with several thousand participants daily from more than 240 countries.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Brother David Steindl-Rast Spiritual Biography Brother David Steindl-Rast is an 86-year-old Benedictine monk who many consider the successor to Thomas Merton at the intersection of Christianity and Buddhism. Together with Merton, Brother David helped launch a renewal of religious life. From 1970 on, he became a leading figure in the House of Prayer movement, which affected some 200,000 members of religious orders in the United States and Canada.
More than that, Brother David has developed a “common sense spirituality” that touches the heart of all the great spiritual traditions. He is an apostle of the spirit of gratefulness, described on his remarkable website. He says his favorite name for God is “Surprise,” because “Surprise” is the only name that does not limit the Nameless One.
Brother David’s books include Belonging to the Universe (winner of the 1992 American Book Award), a dialogue on new paradigm thinking in science and theology with physicist, Fritjof Capra. His dialogue with Buddhists produced The Ground We Share: Buddhist and Christian Practice, co-authored with Robert Aitken Roshi. His most recent books are The Music of Silence, co-written with Sharon Lebell, and Words of Common Sense.
In these interviews with Michael Lerner, which took place over a span of six months, Brother David talks about his life and work, the people and experiences that made him who he is, and his philosophy of living life with gratitude.
David Steindl-Rast David Steindl-Rast was born July 12, 1926, in Vienna, Austria, where he studied art, anthropology, and psychology, receiving an MA from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and a PhD from the University of Vienna. In 1952 he followed his family who had emigrated to the United States. In 1953 he joined a newly founded Benedictine community in Elmira, NY, Mount Saviour Monastery, of which he is now a senior member.
After twelve years of monastic training and studies in philosophy and theology, Brother David was sent by his abbot to participate in Buddhist-Christian dialogue, for which he received Vatican approval in 1967. His Zen teachers were Hakkuun Yasutani Roshi, Soen Nakagawa Roshi, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, and Eido Shimano Roshi. He co-founded the Center for Spiritual Studies in 1968 and received the 1975 Martin Buber Award for his achievements in building bridges between religious traditions. At present, Brother David serves a worldwide Network for Grateful Living, through www.gratefulness.org, an interactive website with several thousand participants daily from more than 240 countries.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Brother David Steindl-Rast Spiritual Biography Brother David Steindl-Rast is an 86-year-old Benedictine monk who many consider the successor to Thomas Merton at the intersection of Christianity and Buddhism. Together with Merton, Brother David helped launch a renewal of religious life. From 1970 on, he became a leading figure in the House of Prayer movement, which affected some 200,000 members of religious orders in the United States and Canada.
More than that, Brother David has developed a “common sense spirituality” that touches the heart of all the great spiritual traditions. He is an apostle of the spirit of gratefulness, described on his remarkable website. He says his favorite name for God is “Surprise,” because “Surprise” is the only name that does not limit the Nameless One.
Brother David’s books include Belonging to the Universe (winner of the 1992 American Book Award), a dialogue on new paradigm thinking in science and theology with physicist, Fritjof Capra. His dialogue with Buddhists produced The Ground We Share: Buddhist and Christian Practice, co-authored with Robert Aitken Roshi. His most recent books are The Music of Silence, co-written with Sharon Lebell, and Words of Common Sense.
In these interviews with Michael Lerner, which took place over a span of six months, Brother David talks about his life and work, the people and experiences that made him who he is, and his philosophy of living life with gratitude.
David Steindl-Rast David Steindl-Rast was born July 12, 1926, in Vienna, Austria, where he studied art, anthropology, and psychology, receiving an MA from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and a PhD from the University of Vienna. In 1952 he followed his family who had emigrated to the United States. In 1953 he joined a newly founded Benedictine community in Elmira, NY, Mount Saviour Monastery, of which he is now a senior member.
After twelve years of monastic training and studies in philosophy and theology, Brother David was sent by his abbot to participate in Buddhist-Christian dialogue, for which he received Vatican approval in 1967. His Zen teachers were Hakkuun Yasutani Roshi, Soen Nakagawa Roshi, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, and Eido Shimano Roshi. He co-founded the Center for Spiritual Studies in 1968 and received the 1975 Martin Buber Award for his achievements in building bridges between religious traditions. At present, Brother David serves a worldwide Network for Grateful Living, through www.gratefulness.org, an interactive website with several thousand participants daily from more than 240 countries.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Brother David Steindl-Rast Spiritual Biography Brother David Steindl-Rast is an 86-year-old Benedictine monk who many consider the successor to Thomas Merton at the intersection of Christianity and Buddhism. Together with Merton, Brother David helped launch a renewal of religious life. From 1970 on, he became a leading figure in the House of Prayer movement, which affected some 200,000 members of religious orders in the United States and Canada.
More than that, Brother David has developed a “common sense spirituality” that touches the heart of all the great spiritual traditions. He is an apostle of the spirit of gratefulness, described on his remarkable website. He says his favorite name for God is “Surprise,” because “Surprise” is the only name that does not limit the Nameless One.
Brother David’s books include Belonging to the Universe (winner of the 1992 American Book Award), a dialogue on new paradigm thinking in science and theology with physicist, Fritjof Capra. His dialogue with Buddhists produced The Ground We Share: Buddhist and Christian Practice, co-authored with Robert Aitken Roshi. His most recent books are The Music of Silence, co-written with Sharon Lebell, and Words of Common Sense.
In these interviews with Michael Lerner, which took place over a span of six months, Brother David talks about his life and work, the people and experiences that made him who he is, and his philosophy of living life with gratitude.
David Steindl-Rast David Steindl-Rast was born July 12, 1926, in Vienna, Austria, where he studied art, anthropology, and psychology, receiving an MA from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and a PhD from the University of Vienna. In 1952 he followed his family who had emigrated to the United States. In 1953 he joined a newly founded Benedictine community in Elmira, NY, Mount Saviour Monastery, of which he is now a senior member.
After twelve years of monastic training and studies in philosophy and theology, Brother David was sent by his abbot to participate in Buddhist-Christian dialogue, for which he received Vatican approval in 1967. His Zen teachers were Hakkuun Yasutani Roshi, Soen Nakagawa Roshi, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, and Eido Shimano Roshi. He co-founded the Center for Spiritual Studies in 1968 and received the 1975 Martin Buber Award for his achievements in building bridges between religious traditions. At present, Brother David serves a worldwide Network for Grateful Living, through www.gratefulness.org, an interactive website with several thousand participants daily from more than 240 countries.
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David Whyte A Pilgrimage of Identity ~Co-presented with the Institute of Art and Healing~
A captivating speaker with a compelling blend of profound poetry and insightful commentary, David Whyte is one of the few poets to take his perspectives on creativity into the field of organizational development. His life as a poet has created a readership and listenership in three normally mutually exclusive areas: the literate world of readings that most poets inhabit; the psychological and theological worlds of philosophical enquiry; and the world of vocation, work, and organizational leadership.
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with poet David Whyte at the David Brower Theater in Berkeley.
David Whyte David grew up with a strong, imaginative influence from his Irish mother among the hills and valleys of his father’s Yorkshire. The author of six books of poetry and three books of prose, David Whyte holds a degree in Marine Zoology and has traveled extensively, including living and working as a naturalist guide in the Galapagos Islands and leading anthropological and natural history expeditions in the Andes, the Amazon, and the Himalaya. He brings this wealth of experience to his poetry, lectures and workshops.
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Christine Brandes and Eric Moe An Afternoon of Classical Music The New School at Commonweal presents Soprano Christine Brandes and pianist/composer Eric Moe, offering a recital of rich music-making. Two contemporary song cycles by Eric Moe (one set to poems by American poet May Swenson, the other to poems from Rainer Maria Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus cycle) will flank Joseph Haydn’s thrilling cantata for soprano and piano, Arianna a Naxos, which Haydn himself was known to sing, a test of any singer’s dramatic mettle. May Swenson (1919-1989) was an American poet of rare lyric and dramatic gifts, repeatedly drawn to love and eros as subject, while the Prague-born Rilke (1875-1926) wrestles in these poems with questions of music and our human existence.
See the video showing how the grand piano got up the stairs and into the Commonweal Gallery for this recital.
Christine Brandes Christine has sung around the world. Her repertoire, ranging from 17th century music to contemporary works, will be perfectly showcased in this program. With a crystalline, dramatic voice, full of life and longing, Brandes will be coming to Commonweal fresh from having sung Despina in Jonathan Miller’s production of Cosi fan tutte with the Washington National Opera. She has sung at New York City Opera, with the LA Philharmonic and as part of the Mark Morris Dance Company, has been conducted by Pierre Boulez and Esa-Pekka Salonen, has fashioned fresh interpretations of numerous classic heroines and has also forged strong characters in new operas. She has an impressive discography of recordings.
Eric Moe Eric is active both as a pianist and keyboard player. As a composer, Moe’s music is rhythmically rich and varied, propulsive at times, and his style has been called “maximal minimalism” and “music of winning exuberance.” The New York Times recently described his compositions as “subversive” in their fusion of classical forms and pop culture; a disc of compositions entitled “Kicking and Screaming” gives us an idea of his animated, irreverent enthusiasm.
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Terry Tempest Williams When Women Were Birds: A Reading Terry Tempest Williams has been called “a citizen writer,” a writer who speaks and speaks out eloquently on behalf of an ethical stance toward life. A naturalist and fierce advocate for freedom of speech, she has consistently shown us how environmental issues are social issues that ultimately become matters of justice. “So here is my question,” she asks, “what might a different kind of power look like, feel like, and can power be redistributed equitably even beyond our own species?”
Williams, like her writing, cannot be categorized. She has testified before Congress on women’s health issues, been a guest at the White House, camped in the remote regions of Utah and Alaska wildernesses, and worked as “a barefoot artist” in Rwanda. Join us for a reading by Terry from her latest book, When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice.
Terry Tempest Williams In 2006, Williams received the Robert Marshall Award from The Wilderness Society, their highest honor given to an American citizen. She also received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western American Literature Association and the Wallace Stegner Award given by The Center for the American West. She is the recipient of a Lannan Literary Fellowship and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in creative nonfiction. In 2009, Terry Tempest Williams was featured in Ken Burns’ PBS series on the national parks.
Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Orion Magazine, and numerous anthologies worldwide as a crucial voice for ecological consciousness and social change.
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Tribute to Adrienne Rich Presentation by Eric Karpeles Adrienne Rich, who died at her home in Santa Cruz on March 27, 2012, was a writer and thinker of enormous stature. Her first book of poetry was singled out by W. H. Auden for the Yale Younger Poets series in 1951 and Rich continued publishing books of poems in every subsequent decade. She used her awareness of herself as a woman—full of passion and compassion, gentleness, rage—as a framework to understand the inequities of modern life. Unabashed in her critical thinking, she possessed a unique and oracular voice in American poetry.
…I have been standing all my life in the direct path of a battery of signals the most accurately transmitted most untranslateable language in the universe I am a galactic cloud so deep so invo- luted that a light wave could take 15 years to travel through me And has taken I am an instrument in the shape of a woman trying to translate pulsations into images for the relief of the body and the reconstruction of the mind.
—Adrienne Rich, from “Planetarium,” 1971
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Pauline Tesler Integrative Law: A Healing Approach for Resolving Divorce and Other Conflicts A divorce is the fate of about half of all marriages, and is the reason most Americans will encounter the legal system. In addition to the inherent stresses of divorce, many families experience serious and avoidable collateral damage as a consequence of handling complex and personal family systems breakdown in a court system designed to resolve automobile accidents and breaches of contract. Nearly every family, business, and community institution is harmed by outdated ways of providing legal help for people experiencing conflict.
Pauline Tesler, author of two groundbreaking books on the new and revolutionary Collaborative Divorce method that is changing the practice of family law worldwide, joins Michael Lerner to explain Collaborative Law and other dramatic transformations taking place in the legal profession. Pauline will explain how integrative lawyers working in interdisciplinary teams can help people discover deep and durable solutions for legal issues that arise from deeper, more pervasive breaches of trust within human relationships and systems.
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Paul Hawken An Uprising: The Global Crisis and Our Response Paul is a truly visionary thought and action leader. He is among the great contributors to the global effort to re-imagine our place in nature and how we may live balanced and creative lives together.
In these recordings, Paul talks with Michael Lerner about the interlocking global environmental, financial, and human crises we face and the ways we can respond.
Paul Hawken Paul is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author who has dedicated his life to sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment. He is author of seven books including The Next Economy, The Ecology of Commerce, and Blessed Unrest.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Paul Hawken An Uprising: The Global Crisis and Our Response Paul is a truly visionary thought and action leader. He is among the great contributors to the global effort to re-imagine our place in nature and how we may live balanced and creative lives together.
In these recordings, Paul talks with Michael Lerner about the interlocking global environmental, financial, and human crises we face and the ways we can respond.
Paul Hawken Paul is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author who has dedicated his life to sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment. He is author of seven books including The Next Economy, The Ecology of Commerce, and Blessed Unrest.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Emilie Conrad Moving Medicine: Continuum, Movement, and Enlivening Health Visionary somatics pioneer, Emilie Conrad, shares with us the “medicine” of movement, from the cellular to the global, as it relates to health, thriving and the limitless possibilities of what it means to be human. In this conversation, she discusses the work of Continuum as a way to uncover our birthright as part of an ongoing evolutionary process that began millions of years ago, and extends past what can be imagined today. Her life-long investigation into how the fluids of the body resonate with the fluids of the planet and the cosmos contributes vast new ideas and innovative approaches to what is needed for humans to flourish, and therefore what is needed to in order to heal at the deepest levels.
Emilie Conrad Emilie is a compassionate rebel against the cultural forces that engender lifeless, patterned thinking and movement. She pioneered Continuum more than 45 years ago, and has made a profound impact on the entire field of Somatics. Emilie began as a dancer, and weaves her artistry into all her explorations of what is it to be a body. Emilie continues to evolve Continuum as a way for people to slow down and access the subtle energy that is the source of all creativity and healing. She is considered a visionary, and her work is incorporated by an International audience of professionals from fields such as Rolfing, Zero Balancing, Hellerwork, Osteopathy, Physical Therapy, Dance, CranioSacral, Psychoneuroimmunology, and Physical Fitness. Emilie has been a featured teacher, lecturer, and keynoter at major universities and centers across the USA and Canada, including: Esalen Institute, Kripalu Institute, Omega Institute NY, UCLA, USC, U of Arizona, Rolf Institute, and the Lee Strasberg Institute.
Sharon Weil Sharon is an award winning screenwriter, producer and director. She is also a long time student and teacher of Continuum. Sharon and Emilie have been in a 22 year, ongoing collaboration of putting the vastness of Continuum into words.
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Irene Borger Ten Thousand Joys and Ten Thousand Sorrows ~Co-presented with the Institute for Art and Healing~
Attention Listeners: You may want to do some writing while you listen along with the participants of this event. If so, have a pen and some paper handy and use the pause or start/stop buttons of your audio player to pause the audio while you reflect and write.
The sources of our writing life – the range of joys and sorrows – are close at hand: What we have seen, heard, smelled, touched and been touched by, what we remember, how we have befriended our life experiences through words.
Whether we are dealing with illness, creating something from scratch, or just going about our business in the wild world, we are always swimming in the stream of the unknown. Transformed through the eyes of curiosity, uncertainty becomes vitality, and the core of our creative life.
Irene talks with Jaune Evans about her life as a writer, master teacher, and muse—and offers an opportunity for the audience to participate in simple exercises that invite discovery, playfulness, and, no less important, a bit of exhalation. No prior experience or talent is required.
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Stephen Parker, PhD Jung, Art, and Healing I have been struggling with this never-ending wound for more than a year, and still it haunts me by the hour.
A heart attack is also a deeply isolating event. Others act as if their lives will go on forever, but how can I participate in this charade, knowing deeply and irrevocably that any moment could be my last one? I identify much more with people who have terminal illness than with those who are caught up in the illusions and routines of everyday life.
In hopes of reducing this isolation and finding a way through this purgatory, I thought I would try to post a daily blog about the experience.
I am fascinated and struck by the story of Chiron, that mythical Centaur who had a permanent wound in his knee that would not heal. In Puget’s painting, Achilles is being dragged by his rationality, his head, and it looks like there isn’t much he can do about it.
Not particularly wanting to be hunted, I have to somehow find out just where this heart attack is leading me.
With these words written in his blog, Dr. Parker begins an exploration – in words and paintings – of the dreams and meanings around his 2005 soul-changing heart attack.
In The New School conversation with Michael Lerner February 19, Dr. Parker talks about this journey and presents the opening of his show at Commonweal Gallery. His talk was followed by a gallery reception.
Stephen Parker, PhD Stephen is has lived in Fairbanks, Alaska, since 1980, consulting in many of the Alaskan communities as a psychologist and as an expert witness in all of the superior courts of Alaska. In 2005, he experienced a severe heart attack, changing the focus of his life. He now works extensively with people with chronic illness and life-threatening conditions. Stephen is a graduate of Stanford University and the California School of Professional Psychology – San Diego.
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Donald Abrams, MD, and Clint Werner Marijuana: Is It Medicine Yet? Please join us for a science-based talk and conversation with Donald Abrams and Clint Werner on the medicinal uses of this ancient herbal remedy.
Donald Abrams, MD Don is one of the world’s foremost experts on the medicinal uses of marijuana, especially for cancer. He is professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and chief of hematology/oncology at San Francisco General Hospital. He provides integrative oncology consultations at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine.
Clint Werner Clint is author of Marijuana: Gateway to Health: How Cannabis Protects Us from Cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease, which Andrew Weil, M.D., says “should be required reading for all medical professionals, elected officials, and everyone interested in health and wellness.” He has worked in preventive health for more than 25 years.
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Tom Nash Our Particular Universe: Understanding What We Know, What We Don't Know (Yet) See article about the event on Michael Lerner’s blog.
Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with physicist Tom Nash in a combination physics tutorial and cosmology exploration… pondering questions such as whether there is one universe or many, whether the universe is alive or inert, and whether life is an accident or part of a cosmic design. Tom helps us understand some challenging, very current, and surprisingly related subjects. These include:
The conceptually difficult “Standard Model,” and the Higgs Boson (aka the “God” particle); Stephen Hawkings’s beautiful book The Grand Design about the structure of the universe and the suggestions that there is a multi-universe, of which ours is just one of a huge number; The technically heroic search for gravitational waves.
Tom Nash Tom is now an emeritus scientist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, where he spent more than 30 years as an experimental high-energy and astro physicist, a high-performance computer developer, and finally as associate director for Computing and Technology. He is presently a member of the California Institute of Technology group collaborating on the LIGO Gravitational Wave Project. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society.
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Eric Karpeles The Last Threshold: Artists and Mortality Bolinas painter and writer Eric Karpeles will talk about the role that artists have played in helping to imaginatively frame and comprehend the idea of how we cease to be.
How is it that artists, engaged in the most willful need to express their very beings, seem to overcome the fear of the loss of self? Focusing on three distinct art forms—painting, poetry and music—and three supreme practitioners—Mark Rothko, Emily Dickinson and Gustav Mahler—Karpeles will attempt to create an awareness of how, in their struggle to give voice, artists make use of their accumulated subjective experience to look and listen and learn with acute attention and focus, navigating between the physical world and the life of the mind. The boundary between what we know and what we cannot know is a minefield of stimulation for artists, who help teach us by example how to meaningfully embrace the end that awaits us all.
Erik Karpeles Commonweal Board Member Eric Karpeles is a painter and writer. Born and raised in New York, he has also lived in India and in France, settling in Bolinas in 2007. His painting career has been shaped by the quest for a spiritual presence in art, and by a negative response to the elitism of the contemporary marketplace. The Rockefeller Chapel is a room-sized painting he completed in 1996, a permanent installation at the HealthCare Chaplaincy in New York City. Karpeles writes about painting and the intersection of literature and visual aesthetics; his book, Paintings in Proust, translated into several languages, was a “book of the year” in the NY Times, the Times of London, and The Wall Street Journal.
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Cam Trowbridge West Marin County and Marconi's Dream Around-the-World Wireless Network This presentation—followed by a conversation with The New School’s Kyra Epstein—held at the Point Reyes National Seashore’s Red Barn, focused on Guglielmo Marconi’s construction and operation of two wireless radio stations in Bolinas and Marshall between 1912 and 1919. Marconi’s ambitions and business acumen, the topic of his 2010 book, will be explained in relation to the sites near Bolinas and Marshall that could connect wirelessly with Hawaii.
In 1916, service to Hawaii opened, and, through Hawaii, to Japan. In World War I, the U.S. Navy took over operation of stations owned by American Marconi, a subsidiary of British Marconi. In 1919, after World War I, the United States government, led by the U.S. Navy, forced British Marconi to sell American Marconi to General Electric and its subsidiary, the Radio Corporation of America, thereby ending Marconi’s participation in the California stations.
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Rebecca Katz and Jeanne Wallace, PhD The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen A cancer diagnosis is shocking, disorienting, and capable of scrambling anybody’s mental GPS—not to mention their culinary compass. To find a stabilizing force, a grounding activity such as cooking and eating well can provide more than nourishment; it can offer a huge psychological boost. Join Rebecca, Jeanne, and Michael Lerner for a presentation and discussion about the healing power of food.
When you get a cancer diagnosis, suddenly you become a very powerless person. A nutritional plan can give a sense of empowerment. So many common foods—everything from broccoli to blueberries—have multiple cancer-fighting properties, including everyday herbs and spices ranging from ginger to cinnamon to turmeric. In addition to supporting you nutritionally, they can help quell side effects ranging from nausea to fatigue. Download Jeanne’s presentation here.
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Robert Hass, Eric Karpeles, and Others Community Reading of Walt Whitman's 'Song of Myself' In 1855, Whitman published 795 copies of his book Leaves of Grass, paying for publication himself. “Song of Myself,” as it came to be known, was the first experiment in long, free-verse poetry—a poem that former U.S. poet laureate and Whitman scholar Robert Hass calls, “the most unprecedented poem in the English language.” The poem is Whitman’s “song” about democracy and imagination, life and death. With an introduction by Robert Haas, local volunteers read the 52 numbered sections of the 1891 “Deathbed” edition of Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself in its entirety.
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David Spangler Apprenticed to Spirit Michael Lerner talks with David Spangler about his life and his recent book, Apprenticed to Spirit. Apprenticed is a memoir of David’s journey to understanding how we can learn to lead lives of greater blessing and to be sources of blessing and service for the world as a whole. In the book, David documents his encounter in 1965 with an extraordinary presence, which he named “John,” and which over the next quarter-century would be his colleague and mentor, assisting him in exploring the “inner worlds” of the spirit.
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Richard Heinberg The End of Growth: Adapting to Our New Economic Reality ~Co-presented with Post Carbon Institute, Point Reyes Books, the Regenerative Design Institute, Transition West Marin, and the Mainstreet Moms~
Economics has failed us . . . but there is life after growth! Economists insist that recovery is at hand, yet unemployment remains high, real estate values continue to sink, and governments stagger under record deficits. Richard Heinberg’s latest book, The End of Growth, proposes a startling diagnosis: humanity has reached a fundamental turning point in its economic history. The expansionary trajectory of industrial civilization is colliding with non-negotiable natural limits. In conversation with Michael Lerner, Richard explores the ongoing financial crisis—explaining how and why it occurred; what we must do to avert the worst potential outcomes; and what policy makers, communities, and families can do to build a new economy that operates within Earth’s budget of energy and resources.
Richard Heinberg Richard Heinberg is the author of ten books—including The Party’s Over, Peak Everything, and The End of Growth—and a senior fellow-in-residence at Post Carbon Institute. He is widely regarded as one of the world’s most effective communicators of the urgent need to transition away from fossil fuels. With a wry, unflinching approach based on facts and realism, Richard exposes the tenuousness of our current way of life and offers a vision for a truly sustainable future.
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Ted Shettler, MD, and Sharyle Patton The Ecological Paradigm of Health Ted Schettler, M.D., is unquestionably one of the most eminent science educators in the field of environmental health and justice. Dr. Schettler talked with Commonweal Biomonitoring Resource Center Director Sharyle Patton and Michael Lerner about the ecological paradigm of health, a truly “holistic” science-based way of thinking about how the environment affects our health integrating factors including socioeconomic status, nutrition, stress, chemical exposures, and much more. Most studies of these factors isolate them, but the truth is we all swim in a soup of mixtures with unknown biological consequences. Dr. Schettler is Science Director at the Science and Environmental Health Network and at the Collaborative for Health and the Environment.
Ted Schettler, M.D., M.P.H. Ted is an authority on environmental links to reproductive and developmental disorders, neurotoxicity, and other public health problems. He is the science director of the Science and Environmental Health Network, and science advisor to Health Care Without Harm, an international campaign in support of environmentally responsible health care. His books Generations at Risk: Reproductive Health and the Environment (MIT Press, 1999) and In Harm’s Way: Toxic Threats to Child Development (Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility, 2000) describe what scientists know and suspect about environmental causes for a host of disorders from learning disabilities to cancer. They also describe the great uncertainties and the limits of science in establishing links between cause and effect.
Sharyle Patton Sharyle is director of the Commonweal Health and Environment Program and directs the Commonweal Biomonitoring Resource Center, a program that helps geographical and non-geographical communities learn more about the tool of biomonitoring. She also is director of special projects for the Collaborative on Health and Environment, a Commonweal-sponsored network that seeks to raise the level of awareness about possible linkages between environmental threat and health outcomes.
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Arjun Makhijani Carbon-Free and Nuclear Free: A Design for U.S. Energy Policy Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with environmental researcher Arjun Makhijani about his new book: Carbon-Free and Nuclear Free—A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy and Ecology and Genetics: An Essay on the Nature of Life and the Problem of Genetic Engineering.
Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free
Arjun Makhijani Carbon-Free and Nuclear Free: A Design for U.S. Energy Policy Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with environmental researcher Arjun Makhijani about his new book: Carbon-Free and Nuclear Free—A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy and Ecology and Genetics: An Essay on the Nature of Life and the Problem of Genetic Engineering.
Arjun Makhijani Arjun is an eminent researcher on energy, nuclear weapons, and environmental issues. His work is strongly endorsed by Helen Caldicott, M.D., among many others. He is president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, and author of Carbon-Free and Nuclear Free—A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy and Ecology and Genetics: An Essay on the Nature of Life and the Problem of Genetic Engineering, among other books and pamplets.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Orland Bishop Spiritual Biography In this remarkable series of four interconnected conversations, we trace Bishop’s spiritual biography from his childhood in Guyana to his teen years in Brooklyn, his college years in California, and the subsequent conscious emergence of his shamanic journey. These conversations with Michael Lerner took place in the presence of a small group of friends at The New School at Commonweal.
Orland Bishop combines an extensive study of medicine, naturopathy, psychology and indigenous cosmologies with a deep dedication to human rights advocacy and cultural renewal. He was a research fellow at the Center for the Study of Violence at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles and has consulted for many human development organizations in the United States and internationally.
Orland is co-founder and Executive Director of ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation in Los Angeles, California, a unique organization devoted to the mentoring of young people and the creation of communities to support them. Through ShadeTree, Orland has pioneered approaches to urban truces and working with at-risk youth that combine indigenous wisdom and practices with contemporary methodologies designed to mentor the human potential and create intentional communities. He has developed processes that support people to come into deeper inner and collective agreements in order to heal violence and social exclusion. Orland is currently focusing on understanding the deeper meaning money as a pathway to designing new economic forms that support healthy community life.
Orland Bishop Orland Bishop is the founder and director of ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation in Los Angeles, where he has pioneered approaches to urban truces and mentors at-risk youth that combine new ideas with traditional ways of knowledge. ShadeTree serves as an intentional community of mentors, elders, teachers, artists, healers, and advocates for the healthy development of children and youth. Orland’s work in healing and human development is framed by an extensive study of medicine, naturopathy, psychology and indigenous cosmologies, primarily those of South and West Africa.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Orland Bishop Spiritual Biography In this remarkable series of four interconnected conversations, we trace Bishop’s spiritual biography from his childhood in Guyana to his teen years in Brooklyn, his college years in California, and the subsequent conscious emergence of his shamanic journey. These conversations with Michael Lerner took place in the presence of a small group of friends at The New School at Commonweal.
Orland Bishop combines an extensive study of medicine, naturopathy, psychology and indigenous cosmologies with a deep dedication to human rights advocacy and cultural renewal. He was a research fellow at the Center for the Study of Violence at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles and has consulted for many human development organizations in the United States and internationally.
Orland is co-founder and Executive Director of ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation in Los Angeles, California, a unique organization devoted to the mentoring of young people and the creation of communities to support them. Through ShadeTree, Orland has pioneered approaches to urban truces and working with at-risk youth that combine indigenous wisdom and practices with contemporary methodologies designed to mentor the human potential and create intentional communities. He has developed processes that support people to come into deeper inner and collective agreements in order to heal violence and social exclusion. Orland is currently focusing on understanding the deeper meaning money as a pathway to designing new economic forms that support healthy community life.
Orland Bishop Orland Bishop is the founder and director of ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation in Los Angeles, where he has pioneered approaches to urban truces and mentors at-risk youth that combine new ideas with traditional ways of knowledge. ShadeTree serves as an intentional community of mentors, elders, teachers, artists, healers, and advocates for the healthy development of children and youth. Orland’s work in healing and human development is framed by an extensive study of medicine, naturopathy, psychology and indigenous cosmologies, primarily those of South and West Africa.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Orland Bishop Spiritual Biography In this remarkable series of four interconnected conversations, we trace Bishop’s spiritual biography from his childhood in Guyana to his teen years in Brooklyn, his college years in California, and the subsequent conscious emergence of his shamanic journey. These conversations with Michael Lerner took place in the presence of a small group of friends at The New School at Commonweal.
Orland Bishop combines an extensive study of medicine, naturopathy, psychology and indigenous cosmologies with a deep dedication to human rights advocacy and cultural renewal. He was a research fellow at the Center for the Study of Violence at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles and has consulted for many human development organizations in the United States and internationally.
Orland is co-founder and Executive Director of ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation in Los Angeles, California, a unique organization devoted to the mentoring of young people and the creation of communities to support them. Through ShadeTree, Orland has pioneered approaches to urban truces and working with at-risk youth that combine indigenous wisdom and practices with contemporary methodologies designed to mentor the human potential and create intentional communities. He has developed processes that support people to come into deeper inner and collective agreements in order to heal violence and social exclusion. Orland is currently focusing on understanding the deeper meaning money as a pathway to designing new economic forms that support healthy community life.
Orland Bishop Orland Bishop is the founder and director of ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation in Los Angeles, where he has pioneered approaches to urban truces and mentors at-risk youth that combine new ideas with traditional ways of knowledge. ShadeTree serves as an intentional community of mentors, elders, teachers, artists, healers, and advocates for the healthy development of children and youth. Orland’s work in healing and human development is framed by an extensive study of medicine, naturopathy, psychology and indigenous cosmologies, primarily those of South and West Africa.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Orland Bishop Spiritual Biography In this remarkable series of four interconnected conversations, we trace Bishop’s spiritual biography from his childhood in Guyana to his teen years in Brooklyn, his college years in California, and the subsequent conscious emergence of his shamanic journey. These conversations with Michael Lerner took place in the presence of a small group of friends at The New School at Commonweal.
Orland Bishop combines an extensive study of medicine, naturopathy, psychology and indigenous cosmologies with a deep dedication to human rights advocacy and cultural renewal. He was a research fellow at the Center for the Study of Violence at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles and has consulted for many human development organizations in the United States and internationally.
Orland is co-founder and Executive Director of ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation in Los Angeles, California, a unique organization devoted to the mentoring of young people and the creation of communities to support them. Through ShadeTree, Orland has pioneered approaches to urban truces and working with at-risk youth that combine indigenous wisdom and practices with contemporary methodologies designed to mentor the human potential and create intentional communities. He has developed processes that support people to come into deeper inner and collective agreements in order to heal violence and social exclusion. Orland is currently focusing on understanding the deeper meaning money as a pathway to designing new economic forms that support healthy community life.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Kate Levinson Emotional Currency: A Women's Guide to Building A Healthy Releationship with Money The emotional connection that we all have with money is undeniable. Whether we feel comfortable with it and understand how it works in the world or ignore our finances completely, there is a strong psychological dimension to our personal dealings with money. But there is also a strong taboo about discussing personal details around money—what we earn, what we save, and what we spend—that has contributed to women, in particular, feeling financially isolated and vulnerable.
Through her own experiences and her longtime work as a psychotherapist, Kate Levinson talks with Commonweal’s Susan Braun about the ways that money and emotions are intricately entwined. Watch the video of this conversation on Point Reyes Book’s website.
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Leslie Medine, John Esterle, and Ellen Schneider Creating Bi-Cultural Youth-Led Change in Napa, CA Join Michael Lerner in this conversation with three thought partners in social change talking about what it takes to make a difference.
Leslie Medine Leslie is one of Northern California’s most respected public sector leaders. She has created youth-led innovative schools and community programs for young people. Now she is organizing the first Democracy Zone in the country located in Napa where Latino and Anglo young people are making decisions and taking action on behalf of 2000 children and youth in their neighborhood. Find out more about her work on her website.
John Esterle John is the executive director of The Whitman Institute, a San Francisco Foundation that supports Leslie’s work and is the only foundation in America with a pure focus on dialogue, critical thinking, and civic engagement. In 2004 he led TWI’s transition from an operating to a grantmaking foundation. John is a board member of Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement, which he chaired from 2008-2010, as well as The Germanacos Foundation.
Ellen Schneider Ellen created Active Voice, an organization that tackles social issues through the creative use of film. She founded the organization in 2001 and was its first executive director. As of July 2012 she is heading up the Active Voice Lab for Story & Strategy (AVLab), the organization’s incubator for new models for “engaged storytelling.” Ellen was the executive producer of P.O.V., PBS’s longest running independent documentary series. She lectures widely about the role of story in public life, and has served on juries ranging from the Sundance Film Festival to the RioCine Festival in Brazil.
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Anna Deavere Smith Listening between the Lines Observation is one of the most exacting skills every artist must cultivate. For a writer, listening is critical to the process of transmuting observed reality into art. Playwright and performer Anna Deavere Smith has shaped a singular career mining the riches of both spoken and unspoken language. Honoring her sources, she has developed an idiosyncratic theatrical form that is composed exclusively of verbatim texts hobbled together from years of interviews with both ordinary and extraordinary people. Her journey has led her through riot-torn streets and up academic ivory towers, encountering a dazzling cross-section of American individuals.
Commonweal Board Member Eric Karpeles talks with Anna about her production, “Let Me Down Easy,” which is centered on the drama of the human body and its rough handling in the hands of the medical-industrial complex.
Anna Deavere Smith Anna a poet, teacher, actor, and playwright. Her explosive theater works about race in America—Fires in the Mirror and Twilight: Los Angeles 1992—garnered considerable acclaim. Television and film credits include Nurse Jackie, The West Wing, The American President and The Human Stain. A professor at NYU, Smith is founder of The Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue and has taught at Harvard and Stanford. She was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1996. Find out more about her work on her website.
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Jean Shinoda Bolen, MD, and Kristina Flanagan Goddess Archetypes in the Ring Cycle and in Us: Psychological, Political, and Spiritual Parallels ~Co-presented with Point Reyes Books~
Join Jean Shinoda Bolen, MD, and Kristina Flanagan in a lively discussion with Michael Lerner for lovers of archetype, myth, opera, and Jung.
This year’s SF Opera presents a powerful interpretation of Die Walkure, showing Brunhilde’s evolution from an archetypal Athena into a “true hero,” a woman with courage and compassion, free of being an extension of her father. Fricka and Freya have qualities that connect them to a diminished Hera and Aphrodite. There are strong parallels between patriarchy’s effect on the planet, and the end of the World Ash Tree and Erda’s wisdom. Wagner’s genius is in the multiple levels of meaning.
Jean Shinoda Bolen, MD Jean is a Jungian analyst , psychiatrist, and author. Her book, Ring of Power: Love vs. Power in the Ring Cycle and in Us, connects archetypal psychology, dysfunctional family psychology, and patriarchy. The archetypes she described in Goddesses in Everywoman and Gods in Everyman—based on Greek myths—transfer readily from Zeus on Olympus to Wotan and Valhalla. The symbol of the World Ash and the deeper significance of it is in her new book, Like a Tree: How Trees, Women, and Tree People Can Save the Planet. Find out more at her website.
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Frank Ostaseski Being A Compassionate Companion ~Co-presented with the Coastal Health Alliance~
Caring for people who are dying can be an intense, intimate, and deeply alive experience. It often challenges our most basic beliefs. It is a journey of continuous discovery, requiring courage and flexibility. We learn to open, take risks, and forgive constantly. Taken as a practice of awareness, it can reveal both our deep clinging and our capacity to embrace another person’s suffering as our own.
This conversation with Michael Lerner aims at supporting professionals or those caring for family members or friends facing life-threatening illness.
Frank Ostaseski In 1987, Frank helped form the Zen Hospice Project, the first Buddhist hospice in America. In 2004, he created Metta Institute to broaden this work and seed the culture with innovative approaches to end-of-life care that reaffirm the spiritual dimensions of dying. A primary project of Metta Institute is the End-of-Life Care Practitioner Program that Frank leads with faculty members Ram Dass, Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, and many others. His website has more information.
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Sarah Hobson Working with Women in Sub-Sahran Africa When Sarah Hobson travels in the developing world and sees green hills, she wants to walk into them. She is drawn to peasant villages untouched by modern life. In the 1970s Sarah disguised herself as a boy and traveled through Iran alone. She wrote a book about it. As a documentarian, writer, and foundation director, Sarah has devoted herself to women in peasant communities around the world. Now executive director of the New Field Foundation, she is supporting village women in Sub-Saharan Africa in their quest for sustainable livelihoods. In this interview at The New School at Commonweal, Sarah talks with Michael Lerner about her adventures, her philanthropic strategy, and her efforts to balance family and work.
Sarah Hobson Sarah is a writer, documentary film-maker, and foundation director. A West Marin resident, Hobson is author of Through Iran in Disguise and executive director of New Field Foundation, which supports rural women creating change in sub-Saharan Africa. Hobson previously served as executive director of International Development Exchange (IDEX), partnering with community organizations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America on grassroots economic development. She is founder and trustee of Open Channels, a British nonprofit working with indigenous peoples in Africa to define their lands, resources, and rights. Hobson is author, contributor and editor of eight books and producer of many documentaries for television. She is a mother and grandmother, with a strong sense of the critical issues facing the world today.
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Steve Heilig The Modern Evolution of Death ~Co-presented with the Coastal Health Alliance~
For the past century or so, more humans than ever before have lived in a historical bubble of relative affluence, medical sophistication, philosophical discussion, and unprecedented longevity. Modern times have had significant impacts on how we think and feel about death, and what we try to do about it. The limits of our lives and our technologies have raised many questions, most still unanswered.
You won’t get many, if any, of those answers from this discussion, but in this conversation, Steve Heilig talks with Commonweal’s Susan Braun to shed some light on the ways sophisticated, modern people confront death and dying in our times.
Steve Heilig Steve is director of Public Health and Education for the San Francisco Medical Society and the Collaborative on Health and the Environment at Commonweal, co-editor of the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, and a clinical ethicist at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.
He is also a trained hospice worker and former volunteer and director of the Zen Hospice Project. A longtime book critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and other publications, he has authored more than 400 pieces on a wide range of medical, public health, ecological, literary, and other topics.
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Gregory Orr The Blessing: Poetry as Survival Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Gregory Orr, considered by many to be a master of short, lyric free verse. Much of his early work is concerned with seminal events from his childhood, including a hunting accident when he was twelve in which he accidentally shot and killed his younger brother, followed shortly by his mother’s unexpected death, and his father’s later addiction to amphetamines.
WARNING: Because of the subject matter, listeners should be prepared for what is, to some, emotionally difficult content.
Gregory Orr Gregory was born in 1947 in Albany, New York, and grew up in the rural Hudson Valley. He is the author of nine collections of poetry, including How Beautiful the Beloved (Copper Canyon Press, 2009); Concerning the Book that is the Body of the Beloved (2005); The Caged Owl: New and Selected Poems (2002); Orpheus and Eurydice (2001); Burning the Empty Nests (1997); City of Salt (1995), which was a finalist for the L.A. Times Poetry Prize; and Gathering the Bones Together (1975).
He is also the author of a memoir, The Blessing (Council Oak Books, 2002), which was chosen by Publisher’s Weekly as one of the fifty best non-fiction books the year, and three books of essays, including Poetry As Survival (2002) and Stanley Kunitz: An Introduction to the Poetry (1985). Read more about Gregory Orr on Poets.org.
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Gregory Orr The Blessing: Poetry as Survival Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Gregory Orr, considered by many to be a master of short, lyric free verse. Much of his early work is concerned with seminal events from his childhood, including a hunting accident when he was twelve in which he accidentally shot and killed his younger brother, followed shortly by his mother’s unexpected death, and his father’s later addiction to amphetamines.
WARNING: Because of the subject matter, listeners should be prepared for what is, to some, emotionally difficult content.
Gregory Orr Gregory was born in 1947 in Albany, New York, and grew up in the rural Hudson Valley. He is the author of nine collections of poetry, including How Beautiful the Beloved (Copper Canyon Press, 2009); Concerning the Book that is the Body of the Beloved (2005); The Caged Owl: New and Selected Poems (2002); Orpheus and Eurydice (2001); Burning the Empty Nests (1997); City of Salt (1995), which was a finalist for the L.A. Times Poetry Prize; and Gathering the Bones Together (1975).
He is also the author of a memoir, The Blessing (Council Oak Books, 2002), which was chosen by Publisher’s Weekly as one of the fifty best non-fiction books the year, and three books of essays, including Poetry As Survival (2002) and Stanley Kunitz: An Introduction to the Poetry (1985). Read more about Gregory Orr on Poets.org.
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Margaret Kripke, PhD Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk ~Co-presented with the Breast Cancer Fund~
Margaret L. Kripke, Ph.D., recently co-authored a pioneering Report on Cancer and the Environment as a member of the President’s Cancer Panel. This report has reverberated through the global public health community as the first authoritative science-based report to recognize the contribution of environmental factors in cancer. Join Jeanne Rizzo (president of the Breast Cancer Fund), Susan Braun (then executive director of Commonweal), and Michael Lerner (co-founder of Commonweal), in this conversation with Margaret that took place shortly before she spoke to a large audience at Fort Mason in San Francisco about her experience on the President’s Cancer Panel.
Margaret L. Kripke, Ph.D. Margaret is a professor of immunology and executive vice president and chief academic officer of the University of Texas Anderson Medical Center. She was appointed to the President’s Cancer Panel by President George W. Bush and is currently serving her second term.
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Stuart Lord, PhD East-West Contemplative Education at Naropa University Dr. Lord, president of Naropa University, talks with Michael Lerner about his journey from being a foster child to leading America’s foremost center of contemplative education. Dr. Lord previously led civic education, community service and religious and spiritual life programs at both Dartmouth College and DePauw University, where he guided relief efforts in New Hampshire’s Upper Valley, the Mississippi Delta and the areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. He has also worked in Bangladesh, Nicaragua, the Philippines and Sierra Leone. Dr. Lord brings a unique voice to the contemplative community with a strong focus on reaching out to serve low income communities and communities of color.
Dr Stuart C Lord Stuart, a nationally recognized expert in service learning, multicultural and spiritual education, and leadership and ethics, became the fifth president of Naropa University on July 1, 2009. At Dartmouth College and DePaww University, he served as an administrator and managed civic education, community service and religious and spiritual life programs. Stuart served as executive director of the 1997 President’s Summit for America’s Future, working under General Colin Powell during the Clinton administration.
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Peter Kingsley The Great Taboo: A Story Waiting to Happen Michael Lerner talks with Peter Kinsgley, an internationally recognized writer and lecturer, about his groundbreaking work on the origins of western spirituality, philosophy and culture. Through his writings as well as lectures he speaks straight to the heart and has helped to transform many people’s understanding not only of the past, but of who they are.
Peter Kingsley, PhD Peter is the author of four books which, in the space of only a few years, have exerted the profoundest and most far-reaching influence outside as well as inside academia. His new book, about the forgotten connections between Mongolia, Tibet and the origins of western civilization, became available in November 2010.
After graduating with honors from the University of Lancaster, England, in 1975, Peter Kingsley went on to receive the degree of Master of Letters from King’s College Cambridge before being awarded a PhD by the University of London. He has worked together with many of the most prominent figures in the fields of classics and anthropology, philosophy and religious studies, ancient civilizations and the history of both healing and science.
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Kai Lee Compass and Gyroscope: Integrating Science and Politics for the Environment Kai Lee, Ph.D., has written a beautiful book called The Gyroscope and the Compass: Integrating Science and Policy for the Environment about real-world work toward sustainability. “I have come to think of science and democracy as compass and gyroscope—navigation aids in the quest for sustainability,” he writes.
Join Michael Lerner for a conversation that explores the interface of science, policy and large-scale philanthropy.
Dr Kai Lee Dr. Kai Lee joined the David & Lucile Packard Foundation in June 2007 as program officer with the Conservation and Science program, where he is responsible for the science subprogram. Before joining the foundation, Kai taught at Williams College from 1991 through 2007, and he is now the Rosenburg Professor of Environmental Studies, emeritus. He directed the Center for Environmental Studies at Williams from 1991–1998 and 2001–2002. Lee also taught from 1973 to 1991 at the University of Washington in Seattle. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University and an A.B., magna cum laude, in physics, from Columbia University. He is the author of Compass and Gyroscope (1993) and coauthor of the National Research Council study, Our Common Journey (1999). He is a National Associate of the National Research Council. He is a member of the National Academies Roundtable on Science and Technology for a Sustainability Transition, and served most recently as vice-chair of the National Academies panel that wrote Informing Decisions in a Changing Climate (2009). Earlier, Lee had been a White House Fellow and represented the state of Washington as a member of the Northwest Power Planning Council. He was appointed in 2009 to the Science Advisory Board of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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Scott Eberle, MD, and Rob Feraru The Final Crossing: Learning to Die in Order to Live Join Commonweal’s Susan Braun and Commonweal Cancer Help Program alumnus Rob Feraru in a conversation with Scott Eberle, MD—a physician specializing in end-of-life care, who helped School of Lost Borders Founder Steven Foster at the end of his life in 2003 and is the author of The Final Crossing. As he has written in the book: “So now I am a physician who specializes in supporting life transitions. I am a hospice doctor who sits with the dying in their homes, and I am a rite-of-passage guide who sits with ‘the dying’ out in the desert.”
Scott Eberle, MD Scott serves as medical director for Hospice of Petaluma in his hometown of Petaluma, California. Having first learned the science of medicine at U.C. San Francisco medical school, he then learned the art of medicine from countless people living and dying with AIDS in the 1980s and 1990s. He survived this difficult time by regularly seeking sanctuary, either in monasteries or in the natural world, completing over 150 retreats during a 15-year period. He recently ended a 16-year career as an an AIDS specialist so he could focus his energies on hospice work and “The Practice of Living and Dying” work he does with Meredith Little, co-founder of the School of Lost Borders.
Rob Feraru Rob is an 11-year survivor of metastatic kidney cancer. Before taking early retirement in 2004, he worked for 25 years for the State of California, (7 years for the State Senate and 18 for the California Public Utilities Commission). He attended the Commonweal Cancer Help Program (in 2005) and the Practice of Living and Dying at the School of Lost Borders (in 2008). He lives in Berkeley.
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Mike Witte, MD Fighting 'till the End? People with life-threatening illnesses often face the difficult decision of whether or not to continue active therapy.
For some, the decision is, “Let’s fight till the end,” and they work with their doctors to receive treatment within days, or even hours, of their death. Others decide to put their effort toward the best possible quality of life, minimizing pain and suffering. But is this always a conscious decision? Without explicit instructions and/or an informed and caring dialog between patient and physician, patient and loved ones, and family and health professionals, the individual’s end-of-life wishes about medical care may go unknown or unheeded.
Commonweal’s Susan Braun will explore this divide with Mike, creating a public space where questions of death and dying can be explored in safety and without judgment. Stories from the audience will be welcomed.
Mike Witte, MD Mike has worked at the Coastal Health Alliance (CHA) since its beginnings in 1981, and is now medical director of the three sites in West Marin County. He has proudly watched CHA grow and develop into an exceptional center for family health care in West Marin.
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Nick Yiangou History, Readings, and the Beshara School Michael Lerner talks with Nick Yiangou about Ibn ‘Arabi and about his work with the Beshara School of Intensive Esoteric Education in Scotland. The Beshara School grew out of the timeless wisdom tradition that includes the universal teachings of great visionaries such as Ibn Arabi and Rumi.
Nick Yiangou Nick is president of the United States branch of the Ibn Arabi Society, which promotes the teachings and translations of this great spiritual teacher. He has been engaged with the Beshara School of Intensive Esoteric Education in Scotland for over thirty years in the transformative work based on the principles and teachings of the way of oneness and unification, and previously served on the board of the Beshara Foundation in the United States for twenty years. He currently works in the software industry and holds a master’s degree in Transpersonal Psychology.
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Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr. The Hip Hop Caucus Join Michael Lerner in conversation with the Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Jr.—minister, community activist, and a national leader in Hip Hop social advocacy.
He is president of the Hip Hop Caucus in Washington, D.C. The Hip Hop Caucus engages young people in urban communities in elections, policy making and service projects. Rev. Yearwood co-created the 2004 campaign “Vote or Die” with Sean “Diddy” Combs and was the Political and Grassroots Director for Russell Simmons’ Hip Hop Summit Action Network in 2003 and 2004. In 2008, he created the “Respect My Vote!” a voter registration and engagement campaign with T.I. and Keyshia Cole. His vision is to forge a more just and sustainable world by engaging more people, particularly young people and people of color in the civic and policy making process.
Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr. Rev. Yearwood is a minister, community activist, and one of the most influential people in Hip Hop political life. He currently serves as president of the Hip Hop Caucus in Washington, D.C. The Hip Hop Caucus is a national, nonprofit, nonpartisan, organization that engages young people in urban communities in elections, policy making and service projects. Their vision is to create a more just and sustainable world by engaging more people, particularly young people and people of color in the civic and policy making process.
Rev. Yearwood has appeared on CNN, BET Tonight, Al Jazeera, PBS, Fox, MTV, BBC, C-Span, and Hardball with Chris Mathews and featured in the Washington Post, The New York Times and VIBE.
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Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man A Jewish Perspective on Ibn 'Arabi Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man, now retired and living in Berkeley, about his continuing explorations into Jewish mysticism and studies of “sober” Sufism, classical Arabic, and Akbarian thought.
Jonathan Omer-Man For 26 years Jonathan lived in Israel, where he worked as a farmer, until he contracted polio, and subsequently embarked on a career in publishing. He served as deputy chief editor of the Israel Program for Scientific Translations, revising editor at the Encyclopaedia Judaica, chief editor of Israel Universities Press, and editor of the Shefa Quarterly. In 1981 he moved to Los Angeles, where he founded Metivta: a center for contemplative Judaism, an academy dedicated to the renewal of the Jewish wisdom tradition and to the deepening of personal religious quest.
He has lectured at universities, colleges, seminaries and monasteries throughout the United States. His publications include numerous essays, some short fiction and verse. In 1990 he visited the Dalai Lama in India, a journey that was described in Rodger Kamenetz’ The Jew in the Lotus.
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James Morris Two Conversations about Ibn 'Arabi Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Islamic and religious studies scholar James Morris in The New School at Commonweal’s ongoing series on the great Sufi poet Ibn ‘Arabi.
James Morris, PhD James is currently professor of Theology at Boston College, and has previously taught Islamic and religious studies at the University of Exeter, Princeton, Oberlin, the Sorbonne (EPHE), and the Institute of Ismaili Studies in Paris and London. His field research and exploration of living spiritual traditions have taken him to Iran, Afghanistan, Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, and Southeast Asia. Professor Morris has published widely on many areas of religious thought and practice, including the Islamic humanities (poetry and music), Islamic philosophy, Sufism, the Qur’an, Shiite thought, and the use of cinema in spiritual teaching.
His most recent books include The Master and the Disciple (2001); Orientations: Islamic Thought in a World Civilisation (2004); The Reflective Heart: Discovering Spiritual Intelligence in Ibn ‘Arabi’s ‘Meccan Illuminations’ (2005); Ostad Elahi’s Knowing the Spirit (SUNY, 2007); and Openings: From the Qur’an to the Islamic Humanities (forthcoming).
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James Morris Two Conversations about Ibn 'Arabi Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Islamic and religious studies scholar James Morris in The New School at Commonweal’s ongoing series on the great Sufi poet Ibn ‘Arabi.
James Morris, PhD James is currently professor of Theology at Boston College, and has previously taught Islamic and religious studies at the University of Exeter, Princeton, Oberlin, the Sorbonne (EPHE), and the Institute of Ismaili Studies in Paris and London. His field research and exploration of living spiritual traditions have taken him to Iran, Afghanistan, Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, and Southeast Asia. Professor Morris has published widely on many areas of religious thought and practice, including the Islamic humanities (poetry and music), Islamic philosophy, Sufism, the Qur’an, Shiite thought, and the use of cinema in spiritual teaching.
His most recent books include The Master and the Disciple (2001); Orientations: Islamic Thought in a World Civilisation (2004); The Reflective Heart: Discovering Spiritual Intelligence in Ibn ‘Arabi’s ‘Meccan Illuminations’ (2005); Ostad Elahi’s Knowing the Spirit (SUNY, 2007); and Openings: From the Qur’an to the Islamic Humanities (forthcoming).
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Michael Lerner, PhD Death and Dying: Lessons from the Commonweal Cancer Help Program ~Co-presented with the Coastal Health Alliance~
Over the past 26 years, Commonweal has offered more than 150 week-long retreats for people with cancer though the Commonweal Cancer Help Program. Many participants find the experience transformative. Conversations about death and dying are a core part of the retreats. The basic premise is that talking about death and dying in circles of trust can bring more vitality to living—and improve the likelihood of a better death for all concerned.
Michael has found these conversations and stories to be central to his work and life as the co-leader of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program for the past 26 years. Join Michael, and special musical guests Tim Weed and Debbie Daly, as he shares his insights from the program—an interactive dialogue with him as well as some of the friends, staff and alumni of the program.
Michael Lerner, PhD Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal and of Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, D.C. His principle work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press). His core interest is in the ways of being and doing that make us whole and preserve this beautiful earth that is our inheritance.
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Sim Van der Ryn Ecological Design Sim Van der Ryn is a visionary pioneer in ecological design. For more than 40 years, Sim has been at the forefront of integrating ecological principles into the built environment, creating multi-scale solutions driven by nature’s intelligence. He has served as California’s first energy-conscious State Architect, authored seven influential books, and won numerous honors and awards for his leadership and innovation in architecture and planning. A recent New York Times profile writes, “Long before sustainability became the buzzword du jour, there was Sim Van der Ryn, the intrepid pioneer on the eco-frontier.”
Join Michael Lerner in this conversation about Sim’s collaborative approach to ecological design that help show the way to an evolving planetary era that values both the integrity of ecological systems and the quality of life.
Sim Van der Ryn Sim is a visionary, author, educator, public leader, and internationally distinguished pioneer in ecological design. For more than 40 years, Sim has been at the forefront of integrating ecological principles into the built environment, creating multi-scale solutions driven by nature’s intelligence. He has served as California’s first energy-conscious State Architect, authored seven influential books, and won numerous honors and awards for his leadership and innovation in architecture and planning. Sim’s collaborative approach and meta-disciplinary accomplishments help show the way to an evolving planetary era that values both the integrity of ecological systems and the quality of life. Find out more on his website.
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Rachel Naomi Remen, MD Stories and Poems at the End of Life Join Rachel Naomi Remen, MD—one of the earliest pioneers in the mind/body holistic health movement and the first to recognize the role of the spirit in health and the recovery from illness—in a time for stories that open discussion about the “edge of life.”
As a master story-teller and public speaker, she has spoken to thousands of people throughout the country, reminding them of the power of their humanity and the ability to use their lives to make a difference. Dr. Remen has a 57-year personal history of Crohn’s disease and her work is a unique blend of the viewpoint of physician and patient.
Rachel Naomi Remen, MD Rachel is co-founder and medical director of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program featured in the Bill Moyers PBS series, Healing and the Mind, and has cared for people with cancer and their families for almost 30 years.
She is also a nationally recognized medical reformer and educator who sees the practice of medicine as a spiritual path. In recognition of her work she has received several honorary degrees and has been invited to teach in medical schools and hospitals throughout the country. Her groundbreaking holistic curricula enable physicians at all levels of training to remember their calling and strengthen their commitment to serve life.
She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal, Riverhead Books, 1996. Her newest book, My Grandfather’s Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge and Belonging, Riverhead Books, 2000, is a national bestseller. Her books have been translated into 21 languages.
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Josiah Tink Thompson Gumshoe: Sleaze or Existential Hero? Private detective Tink Thompson was a Haverford philosophy professor who taught Nietzsche and Kierkegaard before he became a sleuth. He has worked on the Kennedy assassination, the Oklahoma bombing, and the Patty Hearst kidnapping. He is a big fan of Dashell Hammett, and he believes you can trace noir detective fiction back to the cultural cataclysm of World War I in Europe and the consequent emergence of European existentialists like Husserl, Sartre and Camus.
Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with Bolinas’s own Tink Thompson about his book, Gumshoe: Sleaze or Existential Hero?, which chronicles his life as a private-eye, and his highly acclaimed book, Six Seconds in Dallas, which analyzed the JFK assassination.
Josiah "Tink" Thompson Tink took degrees in Philosophy from Yale, with two years in between as a Navy frogman working on underwater explosives. After finishing his PhD at Yale, Tink became Professor Thompson of Haverford College for several decades. But for the last thirty years, he has made his living as an investigator. His cases run the gamut from auto accidents to high-visibility criminal prosecutions—from a $100m arson case in France, to a $100m coffee fraud in Colombia. The work has included hundreds of murder cases, including several that garnered national news (e.g., proving the innocence of Chol Soo Lee; investigations on the retrial of the Billionaire Boys Club; and defense of William and Emily Harris on charges of kidnapping Patty Hearst).
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Pia Infante The Impeded Stream Is the One That Sings When we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work. And when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings. Wendell Berry
Michael Lerner interviewed Pia Infante as part of a spontaneous evolution of a whole series of interviews with people involved with The Whitman Institute, a San Francisco-based foundation with a focus on dialogue, critical thinking and civic engagement. Pia came with a series of questions about what to do next in her life that she wanted to explore.
Pia Infante Pia works with Executive Director John Esterle on the staff of The Whitman Institute. She is also an organization development consultant and coach whose mission is to support engaged and alive social justice work. She contributes regularly to the Institute’s thought leadership via its blog.
Pia is also a member of the Movement Strategy Center’s Organizational Development Practitioners for Social Change cohort and part of the Kellogg Foundation’s Coach Training Pilot Project. She has a Master’s Degree from The New School for Social Research in Education, a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California at Berkeley in Rhetoric, an executive coaching credential from The Academy for Coaching Excellence, and a secondary teaching credential from the State of New York. Pia describes herself as “a cultivator of luminosity who loves her family, the divinity of nature, everyone’s grandmother, and (in true Filipina form) karaoke.”
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John Esterle Two Conversations The Whitman Institute is a unique foundation in San Francisco that focuses its grants on organizations and projects engaged with dialogue, critical thinking, and civic engagement. The Institute is a supporter of The New School at Commonweal—and has also supported a remarkable number of the thought leaders we have interviewed at The New School. John Esterle is the executive director who has shaped the Institute since taking over from its founder.
In these two conversations, Michael Lerner explores the thinking that has led John to make The Whitman Institute the only foundation in the country focused solely on these process questions of dialogue, critical thinking and citizen engagement.
John Esterle John is the executive director of The Whitman Institute, a San Francisco Foundation that is the only foundation in America with a pure focus on dialogue, critical thinking, and civic engagement. In 2004 he led TWI’s transition from an operating to a grantmaking foundation. John is a board member of Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement, which he chaired from 2008-2010, as well as The Germanacos Foundation.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
John Esterle Two Conversations The Whitman Institute is a unique foundation in San Francisco that focuses its grants on organizations and projects engaged with dialogue, critical thinking, and civic engagement. The Institute is a supporter of The New School at Commonweal—and has also supported a remarkable number of the thought leaders we have interviewed at The New School. John Esterle is the executive director who has shaped the Institute since taking over from its founder.
In these two conversations, Michael Lerner explores the thinking that has led John to make The Whitman Institute the only foundation in the country focused solely on these process questions of dialogue, critical thinking and citizen engagement.
John Esterle John is the executive director of The Whitman Institute, a San Francisco Foundation that is the only foundation in America with a pure focus on dialogue, critical thinking, and civic engagement. In 2004 he led TWI’s transition from an operating to a grantmaking foundation. John is a board member of Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement, which he chaired from 2008-2010, as well as The Germanacos Foundation.
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John Wick and Peggy Rathmann Marin Carbon Project ~Co-presented with Mainstreet Moms: Organize or Bust, Transition West Marin and the Marin Agricultural Land Trust~
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is not enough to reverse global warming: we must also reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Join Michael Lerner in this conversation about The Marin Carbon Project, which is investigating the potential for specific land management practices to enhance sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide as organic matter in rangeland and agricultural soils in California.
John Wick John, Marin Carbon Project director and steering committee member, is co-owner with his wife, Peggy Rathmann, of the Nicasio Native Grass Ranch. His background is in construction project management. As Director of the Marin Carbon Project, Mr. Wick’s role is to help launch the Marin Carbon Project and to plan, execute, and finalize projects according to deadlines and within budget. This includes acquiring resources and coordinating the efforts of Steering Committee members, member organizations, volunteers, contractors, and consultants in order to deliver projects according to plan.
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Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, and Christina Puchalski, MD Spiritual Dimensions of End of Life Join Rachel Naomi Remen and Christina Puchalski—two pioneers in the discussion of spirituality in healthcare—in conversation about the spiritual dimensions of the end of life.
Christina Puchalski, MD Christina Puchalski, MD, MS, is the executive director of the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health, Washington, DC, and a professor of Medicine and Health Sciences at The George Washington University School of Medicine, where she has pioneered novel and effective educational and clinical strategies to address the spiritual concerns common in patients facing illness. She has authored numerous chapters in books and edited and authored a book published by Oxford University Press entitled Time for Listening and Caring: Spirituality and the Care of the Seriously Ill and Dying with a forward by His Holiness, The Dalai Lama. Her work has been featured on numerous print and television media including Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the Washington Times.
Rachel Naomi Remen, MD Dr. Remen is clinical professor of Family and Community Medicine at the UCSF School of Medicine, a co-founder of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program, and the founder and director of the Institute for the Study of Health and Illness at Commonweal, a post-graduate and undergraduate program for physicians who wish to reclaim their calling and integrate Hippocratic values into their work. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Kitchen Table Wisdom and the national bestseller My Grandfather’s Blessings. Dr. Remen was recently was recognized with the Bravewell Award as one of the earliest Pioneers of Holistic and Integrative Medicine. She has a 56-year personal history of chronic illness and her work is a unique blend of the perspectives of physician and patient.
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Richard Grossman The Tao of Ralph Waldo Emerson Richard Grossman is a Commonweal friend of 25 years. As a respected medical educator in “the other medicines,” (the title of another of his books), Grossman participated as a guest staff member in one of the early Commonweal Cancer Help Programs in the 1980s. He then started his own Cancer Help Program at Wainwright House in Rye, New York. He now teaches in the Smith Farm Cancer Help Program outside Washington, D.C. Grossman is a preternaturally youthful 88-year-old, married to the novelist Ann Arenberg. They live in Salisbury, Connecticut.
Join Michael Lerner in this conversation about Richard’s studies and thoughts about Ralph Waldo Emerson—philosopher, essayist, poet, lecturer, and journal-keeper.
Richard Grossman Richard is an essayist, psychotherapist, medical educator, and former book publisher. The six books he has written include The Tao of Emerson and A Year with Emerson, which won the Umhoefer Prize for achievement in the humanities, awarded by the Arts and Humanities Foundation. He has read Emerson daily for over 50 years. Richard’s website has Emerson’s complete journals and the bulk of his other writings on-line.
Grossman considers Emerson a precursor of contemporary humanistic and transpersonal psychology. In 1970 Michael Murphy of Esalen Institute told Grossman about Roberto Assagioli, the Italian psychologist and founder of the transpersonal psychology called Psychosynthesis. Grossman published Assagioli’s books Psychosynthesis and The Act of Will in America. Grossman also discovered fundamental resonances between Emerson and Lao Tse, the mysterious Chinese Taoist and author of the Tao Te Ching.
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Colin Greer A Discussion on Spinoza and the World Today Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Colin Greer about the philosophy of Jewish-Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza and how they apply to philanthropy, social justice, and the world today.
Colin Greer Dr. Colin Greer has been the President of The New World Foundation since 1985. Formerly, he was a Professor at Brooklyn College, CUNY. He is the author (with Herbert Kohl) of The Plain Truth of Things and A Call to Character. Other books include: What Nixon is doing to Us; The Solution is Part of the Problem; After Reagan What?; and The Divided Society. He is best known for The Great School Legend and Choosing Equality: The Case for Democratic Schooling (which won the American Library Association’s Eli M. Oboler Intellectual Freedom Award). He was a founding editor of Change Magazine and Social Policy Magazine. He is a contributing editor to Parade Magazine.
Colin Greer also writes poetry, plays and non-fiction, and now also writes a blog on this website.
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Thomas Kirsch, MD The Red Book: Reflections on Jung and the Jungians Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with Thomas Kirsch about The Red Book, Carl Jung’s richly illustrated record of his descent into his inner world, created in a period of personal crisis following his break with Sigmund Freud. Published in 2009 for the first time, The Red Book has been a surprise best seller and reviewed in major periodicals around the world. Thomas Kirsch has a deep knowledge of Jung and the Jungian movement. Born to two first generation Jungian analysts, Kirsch knew Jung as a child. He has served as president of the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco and the International Association of Analytical Psychology. He taught Jungian psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford Medical Center for many years, and is the author of an acclaimed study of the Jungian movement, The Jungians.
Thomas Kirsch, MD Thomas is the son of two first generation Jungian analysts, James and Hilde Kirsch, who began their analytic work with Jung in 1929. Through his family he met many of the first generation of Jungian analysts. He is a graduate of Yale Medical School (1961) and completed his psychiatric residency at Stanford Medical Center in 1965. A graduate of the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco, he has served there in many capacities, including being president from 1976 – 1978. Author of many papers on dreams, history of analytical psychology, and the analytic relationship, and editor of Jungian sections in encyclopedias and psychoanalytic dictionaries, he has now written a book on the history of analytical psychology.
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Robert Bray Healing Traumatic Stress Disorders with Thought Field Therapy Traumatic and developmental stress disorders in their many forms are epidemic condition of our time. Mainstream psychology has a very limited array of tools to help people with these conditions. Robert Bray is a psychotherapist based in San Diego who works primarily with clients with post-traumatic stress disorders. Michael Lerner talks with Robert about the issues of post-traumatic stress, following other New School interview with David Servan-Schreiber, M.D., James Gordon, M.D., Therese Poulsen (a yoga teacher) and others.
Robert has written a book called Heal Traumatic Stress NOW-Complete Recovery with Thought Field Therapy, No Open Wounds. Bray’s work with Roger Callahan’s Thought Field Therapy (TFT) has certain similarities to EMDR, a rapid eye-movement approach to PTSD that Servan-Schreiber teaches and endorses.
Robert Bray Robert is a psychologist with a private practice working with people suffering from post traumatic stress and other trauma. He is an adjunct faculty member at San Diego State University, School of Social Work. He is also founder of the Thought Field Therapy Center of San Diego.
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Edd Conboy Healing People, Healing Organizations Edd is not your typical therapist. He combines his training and real world business experience in his effort to help clients get unstuck and create new pathways in their lives. Edd also works with individuals whose normal stress has advanced into a state of distress, including trauma and post traumatic stress syndrome, supporting them as they move into effective action, and begin to sustain joy in their lives as they strive to attain their life goals. He uses many modalities including EMDR and hypnotherapy.
In 2006 Edd was designated a Fellow with The Whitman Institute in San Francisco, California. Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with Edd about his work as a psychotherapist treating people with trauma and stress.
Edd Conboy Edd is a seasoned therapist with more than twenty years experience in the field. He has worked as a coach and consultant to bring the skills, knowledge, and expertise of the psychotherapeutic community into non-traditional settings in addition to his work as a private practitioner. While working with people from all walks of life, from business, community and non-profit leaders to inner-city youth, he is particularly effective working with a wide range of individuals facing unique stresses like those of world-class professional and amateur athletes, survivors of trauma, as well as couples with chronically ill children. Edd has also designed and implemented leadership development programs for young emerging leaders in public-benefit organizations, as well as social-emotional intelligence and compassionate listening trainings.
Edd completed his undergraduate studies in philosophy at Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland, and completed his graduate work in counseling psychology with a dual emphasis in family therapy and school counseling at San Francisco State University. His training also included a year of post-master’s studies in family therapy at the California School of Professional Psychology in Berkeley, California.
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David Servan Schrieber The Instinct to Heal: Treating Depression, Anxiety, and Cancer without Drugs or Talk Therapy Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with psychiatrist, best-selling author, and 20-year cancer survivor David Servan Schrieber. Their conversation touches on his work with patients under stress and trauma using healing modalities such as EMDR. David died in 2011, two years after this interview. He was 50 years old.
David Servan Schrieber Dr. David Servan-Schreiber was a psychiatrist and best-selling author whose cancer diagnosis at the age of 31 compelled him to explore and then popularize the use of natural and holistic methods in dealing with cancer and depression.
Servan-Schreiber was co-founder and then director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Following his volunteer activity as physician in Iraq in 1991, he was one of the founders of the U.S. branch of Médecins Sans Frontières, the international organization that was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. He is the author of Healing Without Freud or Prozac (translated in 29 languages, 1.3 million copies sold), and Anticancer: A New Way of Life (translated in 35 languages, New York Times best-seller, 1 million copies in print) in which he discloses his own diagnosis with a malignant brain tumor at the age of 31 and the treatment program that he put together to help himself beyond his surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy.
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Bill Niman and Nicolette Hahn Niman Righteous Chops on the Family Farm Join Michael Lerner in this conversation with Commonweal neighbors Bill Niman and Nicolette Hahn Niman about their compassionate ranching practices on Niman Ranch and about Nicolette’s new book, Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms.
Nicolette Hahn Niman Nicolette is a rancher, attorney, and writer. Much of her time is spent speaking and writing about the problems of industrialized livestock production, including the book Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms (HarperCollins, 2009) and three essays she has written on the subject for the New York Times.
Bill Niman Bill Niman is a cattle rancher in Northern California, proprietor of BN Ranch, and Founder of the natural meat company Niman Ranch, Inc. He was a member of the Pew Foundation’s National Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, which released recommendations for reform of the nation’s livestock industry in April 2008.
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Fritjof Capra Science for Sustainable Living To understand how nature sustains life, we need to move from biology to ecology, because sustained life is a property of an ecosystem rather than a single organism or species. Over billions of years of evolution, the Earth’s ecosystems have evolved certain principles of organization to sustain the web of life. Knowledge of these principles of organization, or principles of ecology, is what we mean by “ecological literacy.”
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with physicist and systems theorist Fritjof Capra about ecological literacy and the science of sustainable living.
Fritjof Capra Fritjof, physicist and systems theorist, is a founding director of the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, California, which is dedicated to promoting ecology and systems thinking in primary and secondary education. He is on the faculty of Schumacher College, an international center for ecological studies in the United Kingdom. Dr. Capra is the author of several international bestsellers, including The Tao of Physics , The Web of Life, and The Hidden Connections: A Science for Sustainable Living. His most recent book, The Science of Leonardo, was published in paperback by Anchor Books in December 2008. Find out more on his website.
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Eric Karpeles It's About Lyme: Film Screening A two-part community awareness program for the town of Bolinas, this was a community discussion, film screening of Under Our Skin, and conversation with film producer Andy Abrahams Wilson to learn more about one of the fast growing epidemics in our world today.
How does one contract Lyme? What is the protocol once one is infected? What is the long range prognosis for recovery? What is the nature of chronic Lyme disease? These are among the issues to be raised and discussed, in a context of information presented and treatments explored.
Join artist and Commonweal Board Member Eric Karpeles as he facilitates this community forum about Lyme Disease.
Eric Karpeles Commonweal Board Member Eric Karpeles is a painter and writer. Born and raised in New York, he has also lived in India and in France, settling in Bolinas in 2007. His painting career has been shaped by the quest for a spiritual presence in art, and by a negative response to the elitism of the contemporary marketplace. The Rockefeller Chapel is a room-sized painting he completed in 1996, a permanent installation at the HealthCare Chaplaincy in New York City. Karpeles writes about painting and the intersection of literature and visual aesthetics; his book, Paintings in Proust, translated into several languages, was a “book of the year” in the NY Times, the Times of London, and The Wall Street Journal.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
TKV Desikachar and Kate Holcombe Healing Yoga Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with TKV Desikachar and his senior student Kate Holcombe about his teaching healing yoga method, based on T Krishnamacharya’s fundamental principle that yoga must always be adapted to an individual’s changing needs in order to derive the maximum therapeutic and personal benefit.
TKV Desikachar TKV Desikachar is the son and foremost student of the legendary yoga master T Krishnamacharya—teacher of Patthabi Jois, BKS Iyengar, and Indra Devi. Find out more on his website.
For more than 45 years, TKV Desikachar has devoted himself to teaching yoga and making it relevant to people from all walks of life and with all kinds of abilities. In addition to the three decades of yoga training he received from his father, TKV Desikachar holds a degree in structural engineering. He is one of the world’s foremost teachers of yoga and a renowned authority on the therapeutic use of yoga.
Kate Holcombe Kate is a senior student of Mr. Desikachar and founder of the Healing Yoga Foundation in San Francisco.
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Walter Murch Music of the Spheres: Rediscovering the Harmonic Relationship among Planets Walter Murch is an Academy Award-winning film editor and sound producer, but his greatest historical contribution may yet prove to be in astronomy, where he has refined and rehabilitated an ancient observation that the planets and moons in our solar system are arranged in a harmonic relationship that gives scientific expression to the concept of “the music of the spheres.” Join Michael Lerner in this conversation about the harmonic relationship among planets—the music of the spheres.
Note: This conversation relied heavily on Mr. Murch’s visual presentation, which is unavailable. Still, we found the conversation so compelling as to make it available for listening. Please familiarize yourself with this article for further understanding of Walter’s work in this area.
Walter Murch Walter is an Academy Award-winning film editor and sound designer who has done celebrated work with George Lucas, Francs Ford Coppola, Anthony Minghella, and others. He is the subject of Michael Ondaatje’s The Conversations, based on their dialogues when Murch was editing Minghella’s The English Patient (based on Ondaatje’s novel). He has written an acclaimed book on film editing, In the Blink of an Eye.
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Catharine A. MacKinnon Are Women Human? Reflections on Sexual Violence Join Michael Lerner in conversation with feminist legal scholar and leading public intellectual and political philosopher Catharine MacKinnon about legal views on sexual violence.
Catharine A. MacKinnon Catharine is America’s foremost feminist legal scholar and a leading public intellectual and political philosopher. She has made major contributions to law and public policy on equality, sexual harassment, pornography, trafficking, rape, and genocide. MacKinnon is a lawyer, teacher, writer, and activist on sex equality domestically and internationally. She has taught at twelve law schools including Yale, Stanford, Chicago, Osgoode Hall (Toronto), Columbia, and Hebrew University (Jerusalem).
Her books include Sex Equality (2001/2007), Toward a Feminist Theory of the State (1989), Only Words (1993), Sexual Harassment of Working Women (1979), Women’s Lives, Men’s Laws (2005), and Are Women Human? (2006). MacKinnon created the concept that sexual abuse violates equality rights, pioneering the legal claim for sexual harassment as sex discrimination and, with Andrea Dworkin, recognition of the harms of pornography as civil rights violations.
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Keith Block, MD Life over Cancer: Program for Integrated Cancer Treatment Join us for a presentation from Keith Block about his book, Life Over Cancer, an encouraging, compassionate, and authoritative program every cancer patient deserves in order to have the best chance for recovery and restoration of health.
Keith is a longtime Commonweal friend and an extraordinary resource for cancer patients and health professionals. He will be accompanied by Mark Renneker, M.D., also a longtime Commonweal friend and an equally eminent investigator of medical treatments for a wide range of serious illnesses.
Keith Block, MD Keith is an internationally recognized expert in integrative oncology. Referred to by many as the “father of integrative oncology,” Dr. Block combines cutting-edge conventional treatment with individualized and scientifically based complementary and nutraceutical therapies. In 1980, he co-founded the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Care in Skokie, Illinois, the first such facility in North America.
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Hanford Woods and Eric Karpeles What Is Art? Reading Shakespeare and Tolstoy Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Shakespearean professor Hanford Woods and artist Eric Karpeles about Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Tolstoy’s What Is Art.
Familiarity with both works of art is optional but recommended.
Hanford Woods Hanford teaches Shakespeare at Dawson College in Montreal and is a longtime Bolinas resident.
Eric Karpeles Commonweal Board Member Eric Karpeles is a painter and writer. Born and raised in New York, he has also lived in India and in France, settling in Bolinas in 2007. His painting career has been shaped by the quest for a spiritual presence in art, and by a negative response to the elitism of the contemporary marketplace. The Rockefeller Chapel is a room-sized painting he completed in 1996, a permanent installation at the HealthCare Chaplaincy in New York City. Karpeles writes about painting and the intersection of literature and visual aesthetics; his book, Paintings in Proust, translated into several languages, was a “book of the year” in the NY Times, the Times of London, and The Wall Street Journal.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Russell Jaffee, MD The Alkaline Way: Diet, Supplements, Detoxification, and Real Health Reform Join Michael Lerner in another conversation with a remarkable Commonweal friend, Russell Jaffe, M.D. Russ will talk with us about his book and research, The Alkaline Way: Diet, Supplements, Detoxification, and Real Health Care Reform.
Russell Jaffee, MD Trained in clinical pathology at the National Institutes of Health, Russ served on the permanent NIH staff as a practicing molecular biologist and molecular pathologist. In the course of his later career, Russ has worked extensively in optimal health, nutrition, oriental medicine, and color and music therapy. He was the founding chairman of the Scientific Committee of the American Holistic Medical Association. In 1984, Dr. Jaffe developed the lymphocyte response assays (LRA) by ELISA/ACT tests. These tests enable physicians to examine the responses of patients’ immune systems to challenges. He is also the founder of Perque, a nutritional supplement company.
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Eric Karpeles My Book Is A Painting: Marcel Proust and the Resonance of the Visual Image Artist and Commonweal Board Member Eric Karpeles, author of Paintings in Proust, presents this illustrated talk about the visual images alluded to in Marcel Proust’s writing.
Paintings in Proust has received considerable acclaim in the United States, Britain, and France, where the French edition sold out its first printing in three weeks. Salman Rushdie called it his favorite book of the year. The New York Times claimed the book elicited “the literary equivalent of a hosanna.” A New York Observer critic wrote that the work is “authoritative, intelligent, amusing, and can be enjoyed without prior exposure to Proust.” The same can be said about Eric’s talk, which, while specifically about Proust, is also generally about the mind of the artist and the creative process.
Eric Karpeles Commonweal Board Member Eric Karpeles is a painter and writer. Born and raised in New York, he has also lived in India and in France, settling in Bolinas in 2007. His painting career has been shaped by the quest for a spiritual presence in art, and by a negative response to the elitism of the contemporary marketplace. The Rockefeller Chapel is a room-sized painting he completed in 1996, a permanent installation at the HealthCare Chaplaincy in New York City. Karpeles writes about painting and the intersection of literature and visual aesthetics; his book, Paintings in Proust, translated into several languages, was a “book of the year” in the NY Times, the Times of London, and The Wall Street Journal.
Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.
Jeffrey and Leila Masson Dogs Never Lie About Love and Other Topics When animals are no longer colonized and appropriated by us, we can reach out to our evolutionary cousins. Perhaps then the ancient hope for deeper emotional connection across the species barrier, for closeness and participation in a realm of feelings now beyond our imagination, will be realized.
Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with Jeff and Leila Masson about their reflections and their books, including Dogs Never Lie About Love.
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson Jeffrey is a writer who lives with his family in New Zealand. He has been a professor at several universities in Canada and America. After serving as projects director of the Sigmund Freud Archives, he wrote a series of books critical of psychiatry and therapy. In the 1990s he turned his attention to animals, and in particular, their emotional lives. His book When Elephants Weep became an international best seller, as was Dogs Never Lie About Love. Since those two books, he has published six more books about animals.
Please visit Jeffrey’s website for more information.
Dr Leila Masson Leila is a pediatrician interested in disease prevention through healthy nutrition and lifestyle. Her goal is to help her two sons and her husband—and all her patients—to live in optimal health. She provides biomedical treatment for children on the autistic spectrum, a wholistic approach to behavior and learning challenges, as well as assessment and treatment of children with allergies and other pediatric health problems.
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Cindy Sage and Nancy Evans Wireless or Wellness? New wireless technologies have changed the face of the world in the last decade. Cell and cordless phones, and the wireless towers that send their signals around town have very real bioeffects. Decision-makers and the public are just learning about possible health risks of electromagnetic fields (EMFs). What can you do to help protect your health?
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with two national authorities on the impact of electromagnetic fields on our health. Both Cindy and Nancy co-facilitate the EMF Working Group of the Collaborative for Health and the Environment.
Cindy Sage Cindy Sage is the owner of Sage Associates, Montecito, CA. She also is a Research Fellow at Orebro University Hospital, School of Health and Medical Sciences, Department of Oncology, Orebro, Sweden. She and 14 other scientists and public health experts have written a definitive report on the science and public health implications of wireless technologies, and co-editor of the BioInitiative Report.
Nancy Evans Nancy Evans is a health science writer and editor with more than three decades of experience in health science publishing. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1991, Nancy became a leader in the grassroots breast cancer movement, and has spoken on breast cancer issues nationally and internationally. She is currently Health Science Consultant to the Breast Cancer Fund in San Francisco.
Nancy is the original editor of State of the Evidence: The Connection Between Environment and Breast Cancer, published by the Breast Cancer Fund in a new 5th edition. Nancy has co-produced three documentary films: Rachel s Daughters: Searching for the Causes of Breast Cancer Children and Asthma Good Food, Bad Food: Obesity in American Children.
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Julia Brody, PhD Endocrine Disruptors in Indoor and Outdoor Air Dr. Julia Brody and her team at the Silent Spring Institute in Massachusetts are well-known pioneers in exploring linkages between toxic chemicals exposures and breast cancer, prompted by the high incidence of breast cancer in Cape Cod. Upholding the legacy of Rachel Carson in exploring how environmental threats contribute to disease incidence, Brody has produced compelling results from her work in Cape Cod. Recent work has brought her team to Richmond and Bolinas where the team as tested a number of homes for the presence of toxic chemicals in indoor and outdoor air. Householders in both towns found the results surprising. Like most people, they assumed that exposures to toxicants occurred primarily if one were to live near an industrial area, a military facility or near the site of some sort of chemical accident.
Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with Julia about her research, which indicates that many of us may be additionally exposed to toxicants through the use of products we use everyday, products such as cleaners, personal care products, paints, solvents, or the materials we use in constructing our houses.
Julia Brody, PhD Julia, executive director of Silent Spring Institute, is a leader in research on breast cancer and the environment and in community-based research and public engagement in science. Brody’s current research focuses on methods for reporting to people on their own exposures to hormone disruptors and other emerging contaminants when the health effects are uncertain.
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Mark Gerzon Decision-Making As If Consciousness Matters Mark Gerzon is a leader in building global community and conflict resolution. His passion is designing environments that meet Einstein’s transformative challenge: to ensure that we do not try to solve problems on the same level awareness at which they were created.
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Mark Gerzon about decision making and the importance of nurturing a consciousness that elicits our deepest wisdom.
Mark Gerzon Mark is founder and president of Mediators Foundation and author of Leading Through Conflict: How Successful Leaders Transform Differences into Opportunities. You are also invited to visit EastWest Institute website …working to make the world a safer place by addressing the seemingly intractable problems that threaten regional and global stability.
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Terry Tempest Williams Finding Beauty in A Broken World Terry is one of the most exquisite and powerful voices for healing ourselves and the earth. Terry has been called “a citizen writer” who speaks out eloquently on behalf of an ethical stance toward life. A gifted naturalist and fierce advocate for freedom of speech, Terry has shown us how environmental issues are social issues that ultimately become matters of justice. “So here is my question,” she asks, “what might a different kind of power look like, feel like, and can power be redistributed equitably even beyond our own species?”
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Terry about her book, Finding Beauty in A Broken World.
Terry Tempest Williams Known for her impassioned and lyrical prose, Terry is the author of the environmental literature classic, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place; An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field; Desert Quartet; Leap; Red: Patience and Passion in the Desert; and The Open Space of Democracy. Her book Finding Beauty in a Broken World, was published in 2008 by Pantheon Books. She is a columnist for the magazine The Progressive.
In 2006, Williams received the Robert Marshall Award from The Wilderness Society, their highest honor given to an American citizen. She also received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western American Literature Association and the Wallace Stegner Award given by The Center for the American West. She is the recipient of a Lannan Literary Fellowship and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in creative nonfiction. In 2009, Terry Tempest Williams was featured in Ken Burns’ PBS series on the national parks. She is also the recipient of the 2010 David R. Brower Conservation Award for activism.
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James S Gordon, MD Life Lessons in Healing: Cancer, Trauma, and Mind-Body Medicine Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with James S. Gordon, MD, about healing, cancer, trauma, and the mind-body connection.
From our podcast:
Depression is not a sentence. The signs and symptoms are a signal: your life is out of balance. It is possible to discover and to right the imbalances, and in undertaking the process—taking the journey—you can heal yourself and become more healthy and more whole than you ever have been. —James S Gordon, MD
James S Gordon, MD Jim Gordon is one of America’s leading authorities in mind-body medicine. He founded the influential Cancer Guides training program, sponsors the premier Food as Medicine training, and conducts Healing the Wounds of War trainings in Israel, Gaza, and other conflict zones. Jim Gordon is the founder and director of The Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM), clinical professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at Georgetown Medical School, and recently served as chairman of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy.
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Therese Poulsen Yoga for Trauma Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Therese Poulsen—yoga teacher, acupuncturist, doula, and founder/director of Breath of Hope Foundation, which brings hope to impoverished children in south Asia.
Therese Poulsen Therese, a long time educator and holistic healer, brings nearly twenty years of experience in teaching and practicing yoga to the Breath of Hope Foundation as founder and director. Her interest in Eastern philosophy and medicine began with a study of acupuncture, including a clinical internship in China and the completion of an advanced degree. She then became a massage therapist and a doula—a birth counselor and midwife, building a busy holistic practice assisting women and their families to prepare emotionally and physically before, during, and after childbirth. These multiple areas of specialization and her first-hand experience with integrative therapy eventually led her to the study and practice of yoga, which has since become her life’s work and passion.
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Shodo Harada Roshi Dharma Talk and Meditation Harada Roshi (Roshi means “teacher”) is heir to the teachings of Rinzai sect Zen Buddhism as passed down in Japan from Hakuin and his successors. Harada Roshi’s teaching includes the traditional Rinzai practices of daily sutra chanting, zazen (seated meditation), sanzen (private interviews with the teacher), susokkan (breathing), koan (‘past cases’) study, samu (work), sesshin (intensive retreats), teisho (lectures by the teacher), and takuhatsu (alms receiving).
Join Shodo Harada Roshi for this meditation, dharma talk, and another meditation. The dharma talk is translate from Japanese into English.
Shodo Harada Roshi Shodo was born in 1940 in Nara, Japan. He began his Zen training in 1962 when he entered Shofuku-ji monastery in Kobe, Japan, where he trained under Yamada Mumon Roshi (1900-1988) for twenty years. He was then given dharma transmission (inka) and was subsequently made abbot of Sogenji monastery in Okayama, Japan, where he has taught since 1982.
In September 1989, Harada came to the United States to provide instruction for students and in 1995 founded One Drop Zendo (or, Tahoma One Drop Zen Monastery) on Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington, where the practice mirrors the practices found at Sogen-ji. Nearby the Tahoma One Drop Monastery, Harada has opened a hospice known as Enso House in 2001.
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Paul Hawken Life Lessons in Sustainability and Resilience ~Co-presented with Mainstreet Moms and Point Reyes Books~
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with author, speaker, and activist Paul Hawken about the resilience needed for a sustainable response to our ecological crisis.
Paul Hawken Paul is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, and author. Paul heads the Natural Capital Institute, which has created a hub for global civil society called WiserEarth, a collaboratively written, free content, open source networking platform that links NGOs, funders, business, government, social entrepreneurs, students, organizers, academics, activists, scientists, and citizens. Find out more about Paul on his website.
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Jed Emerson Investing for the Earth and the Common Good Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Jed Emerson—international leader in the field of strategic philanthropy and social entrepreneurship.
In 2000, Jed began focusing upon his interest in the Blended Value Proposition (BVP), which states that instead of operating in terms of non-profit and for-profit constructs or a double bottom-line, there is a single, blended value proposition for both for-profit and nonprofit firms, as well as philanthropy and capital investments, with multiple value components and generated returns.
Jed Emerson Jed is senior fellow with Generation Foundation, fellow with Said Business School at Oxford University, and past founder and executive director of Roberts Enterprise Development Fund. Find out more about Jed on his website.
He is recognized as an international leader in the field of strategic philanthropy, social entrepreneurship, and blended value investing. His career has spanned work in management, academia, investing and human services. He has launched nonprofit ventures, lead foundation initiatives and engaged in research assessing global innovations in sustainable investing and finance. His work on alternative investing, nonprofit capital markets, foundation strategy, Social Return on Investment frameworks, social purpose business development and other areas of practice has been viewed as significant in terms of its broad contribution to the field and efforts to support others engaged in the community application of business skills and practice.
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Charles Halpern Making Waves and Riding the Currents: Activism and the Practice of Wisdom ~Co-presented with Point Reyes Books~
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Charles Halpern—a pioneer in the public interest law movement, a successful public interest entrepreneur, an innovator in legal education, and a long-time meditation practitioner and advocate—about his book, Making Waves and Riding the Currents: Activism and the Practice of Wisdom. The book illustrates the life-enhancing benefits of integrating a commitment to social justice with the cultivation of wisdom.
Charles Halpern Charles is social entrepreneur and a pioneer in legal education, public interest advocacy, and philanthropy. The founder of the nation’s first public interest law firm, and a major public interest law school, he ran the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and was the founder of Demos, a New York-based think tank. During his years of activism, he began to see ways to develop his inner resources to complement his cognitive and adversarial skill, a journey described in his book, Making Waves and Riding the Currents: Activism and the Practice of Wisdom (Berrett-Koehler).
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Mark Finser Social Finance Join Michael Lerner in this conversation with socially responsible financier Mark Finser about his work with RSF Social Finance.
Mark A. Finser Mark is chair of the board of RSF Social Finance. RSF Social Finance provides innovative investing, lending, and philanthropic services to catalyze the growth of organizations creating a more sustainable future. Mark grew RSF’s assets from $6,000 in 1984 to $120M today. Since 1984, RSF has made a total of $130M in mission-related loans to social enterprises. Mark brings communities of philanthropists and socially responsible investors together to further RSF’s mission: to transform the way we work with money.
Mark is an advisor to the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) and Sophia House, a shelter for homeless mothers and children. He leads TBL Capital, a sustainable venture fund he founded in 2007. Mark has a lifelong interest in biodynamic agriculture, integrative medicine, and meditation. He lives with his family in Mill Valley, California.
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Jerry Mander Will Globalization Soon Be Over? Will globalization soon be over? What do climate change and resource depletion mean for the dominant paradigm? Join Michael Lerner in conversation with social critic, activist, and author Jerry Mander. Jerry wrote such iconic books as Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television (1977), In the Absence of the Sacred (1991), and Paradigm Wars (2006).
Jerry Mander Jerry is the founder and director of the International Forum on Globalization (IFG) a “think tank” and activist community with board and associate members on every continent. IFG has focused since 1994 on exposing the negative impacts of economic globalization on nature, human communities, equity, and democracy. IFG publishes reports, positions papers, and books, and also produces private and public education events, from private strategic seminars to large teach-ins. Best known among these were the huge events in Seattle in 1999 in opposition to the World Trade Organization. IFG has been generally credited with being among the leading international organizations that have defined, articulated and acted on a comprehensive critique of economic globalization.
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Community Forum Mapping Local Resilience in Bolinas ~Co-presented with the Mainstreet Moms~
Participants came for images and stories from the pioneering Bolinas Community Plan “old guard” days. Bolinas architect Steve Matson showed his beautiful and evolving maps, and explained how he and the Regenerative Design Institute students at the Commonweal Garden have started to visualize more local economy, diverse and creative food production, wild paths for wildlife, community-building, and more—on paper.
One of our event attendees, Bill Braasch, posted a blog with the presentation. Many thanks to Bill for the slideshow.
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Michael Samuels, MD Demeter, Buddha, and the Bears: Ancient Roots of Contemporary Spiritual Healing The Eleusian Mysteries, the story of Demeter and her daughter Persephone, was the most important art and healing ritual for consciousness transformation in history. The mysteries were enacted in ancient Greece for 2000 years. The Tibetan Buddha realms provide the technology of guided imagery and were the high point of body, mind, and spirit technology for thousands of years. The Bear Dance conducted currently in southern California has healed the Chumash people for thousands of years. These three rituals help us understand how we can heal patients with spiritual tools in present day medicine.
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Dr. Michael Samuels about his current work with all three forms to develop a contemporary spiritual technology to aid in healing patients today.
Michael Samuels, MD Michael is the founder and director of Art As a Healing Force, a project started in 1990 devoted to healing oneself, others, the community and the earth with creativity and art making. Michael teaches art and healing at San Francisco State University, Institute of Holistic Studies. He is a bear dancer with the Chumash People. He has used creativity, art, and guided imagery with patients with life threatening illness and life crises for more than thirty years in private practice and in consultation. He lectures and does workshops nationwide for physicians, nurses, artists, and patients on how to use creativity and spirituality in healing.
He is the author of 21 books including the best selling Well Body Book, Well Baby Book, Well Pregnancy Book, and Seeing With the Mind’s Eye, one of the first books on guided imagery. Find out more about Michael on his website.
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Annie Leonard The Story of Stuff: Movie Screening and Community Forum From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
Join Commonweal’s Charlotte Brody in a conversation with environmentalist and film maker Annie Leonard.
Annie Leonard Annie is an expert in international sustainability and environmental health issues, with more than 20 years of experience investigating factories and dumps around the world. Coordinator of the Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption, a funder collaborative working for a sustainable and just world, Annie communicates worldwide about the impact of consumerism and materialism on global economies and international health.
Annie’s efforts over the past two decades to raise awareness about international sustainability and environmental health issues has included work with Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance, Health Care without Harm, Essential Information, and Greenpeace International. She currently serves on the boards of GAIA, the International Forum for Globalization and the Environmental Health Fund. Find out more about Annie on her Story of Stuff website.
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Lloyd Kahn What Really Happened in the Sixties? A longtime Bolinas resident, Lloyd was living in San Francisco in the 1960s and has a powerful narrative about what he believes really happened between 1963 and 1967. He has some wonderful visual images that capture that iconic moment in time. Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with author, publisher, and Bolinas resident Lloyd Kahn about the decade and shared some slides from Home Work—evidence that the power of the 1960s lives on in the buildings visionary home builders are still creating today.
Event attendees Bill Braasch has a slideshow of the event on his blog. Thanks, Bill!
Lloyd Kahn Lloyd creates visually exquisite and conceptually visionary books about the buildings we live in. His most recent book is Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter. Lloyd Kahn is the editor and publisher of Shelter Publications in Bolinas, California. He was formerly the shelter editor for the Whole Earth Catalog, the editor of the 1973 book Shelter. Shelter Publications has been in business for 37 years and has also published the international bestseller Stretching, by Bob Anderson. Their latest book is The Barefoot Architect: A Manual On Green Building.
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Binka Le Breton Rainforests and Slavery Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Binka Le Breton, writer and lecturer on environmental and human rights.
Binka Le Breton Binka lives on a Brazilian rainforest farm, runs the Iracambi Rainforest Research Center, lectures and broadcasts internationally on rainforest and slavery topics, is president of Amigos de Iracambi, is on the board of directors of the Keystone Center, and, in her spare time, writes books. Binka’s most recent book, The Greatest Gift: The Courageous Life and Martyrdom of Sister Dorothy Stang, is based on the 40 years Sister Dorothy Stang spent aiding in the struggle of poor farmers for land rights against logging and development companies in Brazil.
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Ursula Goodenough, PhD The Sacred Depths of Nature Join Michael Lerner in conversation with professor and author Ursula Goodenough about her work and book, The Sacred Depths of Nature.
As well as her biology courses, Ursula co-teaches The Epic of Evolution, with a physicist and a geologist, for non-science students. Her research has focused on the cell biology and (molecular) genetics of the sexual phase of the life cycle of the unicellular eukaryotic green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and, more recently, on the evolution of the genes governing mating-related traits.
Ursula Goodenough Ursula is professor of biology at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. She is the author of The Sacred Depths of Nature (Oxford University Press, 1998), which offers religious perspectives on our scientific understandings of nature, particularly biology at a molecular level.
Ursula was educated at Radcliffe and Barnard Colleges, Columbia University, and Harvard University. She did two years of postdoctoral work at Harvard, and was assistant and associate professor of biology at Harvard from 1971-1978 before moving to Washington University.
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Dr Martha Herbert Can Autistic Children Recover? A pediatric neurologist and a brain development researcher, Dr. Martha Herbert’s main focus is autism. She received the first Cure Autism Now Innovator Award and directed the Cure Autism Now Foundation’s Brain Development Initiative. Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Dr. Herbert about the new paradigm of autism research and treatments.
Martha Herbert, MD Martha is the co-chair of the Environmental Health Advisory Board of the Autism Society of America and directs their Treatment Guided Research Initiative (TGRI). Her research program includes studying what makes some autistic brains unusually large and how the parts of the brain are connected and coordinated with each other. She is director of the TRANSCEND Research Program, Treatment Research and Neuroscience Evaluation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders.
Martha earned her medical degree at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Prior to her medical training she obtained a doctoral degree at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Martha trained in pediatrics at Cornell University Medical Center and in neurology and child neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, where she has remained. Find out more about Martha on her website.
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Gary Cohen Green Chemistry, Green Materials, Green Energy: A Toxic-Free Future Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Gary Cohen, executive director of the Environmental Health Fund in Boston and co-director of Health Care Without Harm—a global partnership for environmentally responsible healthcare.
Gary Cohen Gary is one of the foremost strategists and activists in the international community of those seeking to move us toward a world free of toxic chemicals. Gary is a founder and co-executive director of Health Care Without Harm, the international campaign for environmentally responsible healthcare.
Gary is also the Executive Director of the Boston-based Environmental Health Fund, which works on domestic and global chemical safety issues. Gary is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Sambhavna Clinic and Documentation Center in Bhopal, India, which provides free medical care to the survivors of the Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal. He has been working on environmental health issues for twenty years and has published numerous articles on environmental health issues in the United States and India. Gary is an advisor to the John Merck Fund on issues of environmental health and a co-founder of Green Harvest Technologies, a bio-based materials start up. He was awarded the Skoll Global Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2006 and the Frank Hatch Award for Enlightened Public Service Award in 2007.
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Paul J. Growald The Way of the Bees (and Other Pollinators) Join Michael Lerner in conversation with investor, venture philanthropist, and beekeeper Paul J. Growald.
While a long-time resident of San Francisco, Paul served on and chaired the board of directors of the California League of Conservation Voters for more than 20 years. He currently lives on a farm in Vermont, is married, the father of two college-aged sons and the keeper of tens of thousands of honeybees.
Paul J Growald Paul is chairman and founder of the Coevolution Institute and its Pollinator Partnership including the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign. He is also a trustee of the Rockefeller Family Fund and donor/advisor to the Growald Family Fund. His main philanthropic interests are in the conservation of ecosystem services as exemplified by pollinators, in the minimization, mitigation, and management of climate change, and in policies and politics that impact conservation.
Paul has been an amateur entomologist and naturalist since childhood. Following graduate school Paul worked as a special correspondent for The Washington Post, and then founded what became the Second Harvest Food Bank in San Jose, California. He was appointed by the Governor as the first public member of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture.
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Carl Anthony Community Forum: Environmental Justice Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Carl Anthony, one of the preeminent thought leaders in environmental justice in the United States.
Carl is the author of many publications including Eco-Psychology and the Deconstruction of Whiteness and a ground breaking chapter in Theodore Roszak’s book, Eco-Psychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind.
Carl Anthony Carl is the founder and was for 12 years the executive director of the Urban Habitat Program, one of the oldest environmental justice organizations in the country. With a colleague, Luke Cole at the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, he published and edited the Race, Poverty and Environment Journal, the only environmental justice periodical in the country.
From 1991 through 1997, Anthony served as president of Earth Island Institute, an international environmental organization to protect and conserve the global biosphere. He taught at Columbia University and has been an advisor to the Stanford University Law School on issues of environmental justice. Anthony has a professional degree in architecture from Columbia University.
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Virginia Veach, PhD A Life Exploring Healing Virginia was a psycho-oncologist, psychotherapist, and educator who worked extensively with people with cancer and many other life-threatening diseases. From family therapy to war zones, from pain management to death and dying, her efforts to ease the effects of war, illness, and environmental degradation took her throughout the world.
In this conversation with Michael Lerner, she describes how she does her work and some of the major influences on the development of her unique approach to healing.
Virginia Veach, PhD Virginia was a psycho-oncologist, psychotherapist, and educator with a private practice in Marin County, California, who worked extensively with people with cancer and many other life-threatening diseases. The Charlotte Selver Oral History and Book Project has a wonderful interview with Virginia, where she speaks about the relevance of sensory awareness for her work, how it helped her living through severe illness, and how it informed her engagement in a Cambodian refugee camp.
Virginia died in October 2012 in Point Reyes Station, CA.
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Nancy E Adler, PhD How Increasing Income Disparities Affect Health Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with Nancy Adler, professor of psychology at the University of California, vice-chair of the Department of Psychiatry, and director of the Center for Health and Community.
Nancy Adler Nancy Adler is professor of psychology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), vice-chair of the Department of Psychiatry, and director of the Center for Health and Community. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and is currently the chair of an IOM committee on psychosocial services for cancer survivors.
Nancy’s earlier research examined the utility of decision models for understanding health behaviors with particular focus on reproductive health. As director of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health, she coordinates research spanning social, psychological, and biological mechanisms by which socioeconomic status influences health.
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Krista Tippett Speaking of Faith A journalist and former diplomat, Krista Tippett came up with the idea for her book and radio show Speaking of Faith while consulting for the internationally renowned Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research at Saint John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota. She has hosted and produced the program since the Speaking of Faith project began as an occasional feature in 2000, before taking on its current form as a national weekly program in 2003.
Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Krista about her work and her conversations about faith, meaning, and religion.
Krista Tippett Krista is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and a former Fulbright Scholar. She has reported and written for The New York Times, Newsweek, the BBC, and other international news organizations. Tippett also served as special assistant to the U.S. ambassador to West Germany. In 2007, Viking published her first book, Speaking of Faith—Why Religion Matters, and How to Talk About It. Of that book and her program, journalist and author Yossi Klein Halevi has written, “there is no more trustworthy guide to the challenges of faith in a dangerous world than Krista Tippett.”
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Paul Gorman The National Religious Partnership for the Environment Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Paul Gorman, founder and executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment since 1993.
Paul Gorman Paul is founder and executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment since 1993, received the Heinz Award for the Environment in 1999. A graduate of Yale and Oxford University, Paul worked in the U.S. Congress and served as press secretary and speechwriter to Senator Eugene McCarthy in the 1968 presidential campaign. He taught at the City University of New York, Sarah Lawrence College and Adelphi University, hosted a public radio program for 29 years and co-authoredHow Can I Help? From 1985-91, Paul served as the Cathedral of St. John the Divine’s vice president for program, overseeing community-based initiatives and helping organize international conferences on religious and environment in Assisi, Oxford, and Moscow.
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Paul Gorman The National Religious Partnership for the Environment Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Paul Gorman, founder and executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment since 1993.
Paul Gorman Paul is founder and executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment since 1993, received the Heinz Award for the Environment in 1999. A graduate of Yale and Oxford University, Paul worked in the U.S. Congress and served as press secretary and speechwriter to Senator Eugene McCarthy in the 1968 presidential campaign. He taught at the City University of New York, Sarah Lawrence College and Adelphi University, hosted a public radio program for 29 years and co-authoredHow Can I Help? From 1985-91, Paul served as the Cathedral of St. John the Divine’s vice president for program, overseeing community-based initiatives and helping organize international conferences on religious and environment in Assisi, Oxford, and Moscow.
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David Bonbright What International Philanthropy Can and Cannot Do David Bonbright has been an international grantmaker with the Ford Foundation in Africa during the end of apartheid and with the Aga Khan Development Network in pre- to post-911 Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan. Originally from Ross, California, David is based in London with his talented South African filmmaker wife, Elaine Proctor.
Join Michael Lerner in a conversation with David about his project he calls Keystone Accountability, creating a better way for foundations, non-governmental organizations, philanthropists, and other civil society actors to evaluate the actual effectiveness of third-sector projects.
David Bonbright David is founder and chief executive of Keystone. Over the past three decades, as a grantmaker and manager with Aga Khan Foundation, Ford Foundation, Oak Foundation, and Ashoka, David has sought to evolve and test innovative approaches to strengthening citizen self-organization for sustainable development as an alternative to prevailing bureaucratic, top-down models of social service delivery and social value creation.
While with the Ford Foundation, he was declared persona non grata by the apartheid government in South Africa. In 1990 he returned to South Africa and entrepreneured the development of key building blocks for civil society, including the first nonprofit internet service provider, the national association of NGOs, the national association of grantmakers, and enabling reforms to the regulatory and tax framework for not-for-profit organisations that were among the first laws passed by the newly elected Mandela government.
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Rachel Kyte Investing in Women, Equity, and Sustainability Join Michael Lerner for this conversation with Rachel Kyte, director of the Environment and Social Development Department at the International Finance Corporation.
Rachel Kyte Rachel, a British national, became director of the Environment and Social Development Department at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in January 2004. The IFC’s new performance standards serve as a basis for Equator Principles which have now been adopted by over 50 financial institutions.
A graduate of the University of London and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, she has worked extensively within the environment, women’s, and health movements as a policy analyst and advocate. Rachel has worked with and for private sector concerns on private/public partnerships in the fields of health and environment and has served as an advisor, and on the boards of a number of NGOs, private philanthropic foundations, the United Nations, and government. She has taught negotiation and public policy at a number of institutions.
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Teddy Cruz Beyond Borders: Local Architectural and Planning Solutions Urban designer Teddy Cruz ‘s work dwells at the border between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, inspiring a practice and pedagogy that emerges out of the particularities of this bicultural territory and the integration of theoretical research and design production. Join host Chris Desser, a fellow at the Tomales Bay Institute and co-editor of Living with the Genie: Technology and the Quest for Human Mastery, in a conversation about local architectural and urban planning solutions for global political and social problems.
Teddy Cruz Teddy has taught and lectured in various universities in the U.S. and Latin America, and in 1994 he conceived and began the LA/LA Latin America / Los Angeles studio, an experimental summer workshop at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles. During 2000-05, he was associate professor in the school of architecture at Woodbury University in San Diego where he began Border Institute to further research the urban phenomena at the border between the United States and Mexico. He has been recently appointed associate professor in Public Culture and Urbanism in the Visual Arts Department at the University of California, San Diego. His firm, Estudio Teddy Cruz, was selected among eight other firms as one of the national “Emergent Voices” in architecture by the Urban League in New York City.
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Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim Living Cosmologies: Nature and Spirit Converging Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Yale scholars and historians of religion Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim about the interface between religion and the environment, the cosmology of nature, and their organization, Emerging Earth Community.
Mary Evelyn Tucker Mary is a senior lecturer and senior scholar at Yale University where she has appointments in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies as well as the Divinity School and the Department of Religious Studies. She is a co-founder and co-director with John Grim of the Forum on Religion and Ecology. Together they organized a series of ten conferences on World Religions and Ecology at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School. She is the author of Worldly Wonder: Religions Enter Their Ecological Phase (Open Court Press, 2003) and many other books. More about Mary Evelyn Tucker. Find out more about Mary Evelyn on her website.
John Grim As a professor of religion John taught courses in Native American and indigenous religions, religion, and ecology, ritual, and mysticism in the world’s religions. He is currently a visiting scholar at the Institution of Social and Policy Studies, Yale University, and president of the American Teilhard Association. His published works include: The Shaman: Patterns of Religious Healing Among the Ojibway Indians (University of Oklahoma Press, 1983) and, with Mary Evelyn Tucker, a co-edited volume entitled Worldviews and Ecology (Orbis, 1994, 5th printing 2000). Find out more about John on his website.
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Peter Kingsley Finding What Is Real Join Michael Lerner in conversation with author, researcher, and professor Peter Kingsley about spirituality, culture, and philosophy.
Peter Kingsley Peter is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work on the origins of western spirituality, philosophy, and culture. He is the author of the books Ancient Philosophy, Mystery and Magic; Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition; In the Dark Places of Wisdom; Reality; and A Story Waiting to Pierce You.
Peter emigrated with his wife to the United States in 2002, and teaches and writes in North Georgia. He is currently a Research Associate at Emory University in Atlanta as well as an honorary professor both at the University of New Mexico and at Simon Fraser University in Canada. Find out more about Peter on his website.
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Geoff Lawton Permaculture Design Join permaculture teacher, designer, and speaker Penny Livingston-Stark as she hosts this New School conversation with Geoff Lawton, Australian permaculture teacher and advocate.
Geoff Lawton Since 1985, Geoff has undertaken thousands of positions consulting, designing, teaching and implementing in seventeen different countries around the world. Clients have included private individuals, groups, communities, governments, aid organizations, non-government organisations and multi-national companies.
In October 1997, Bill Mollison, upon his retirement, asked Geoff to establish and direct a new Permaculture Research Institute on the 147 acre Tagari Farm previously developed by Bill. Geoff Lawton developed the site over three years and established The Permaculture Research Institute as a registered charity and global networking centre for permaculture projects. Geoff Lawton is the managing director of The Permaculture Research Institute. Find out more about Geoff on his website.
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Jacob Needleman Why Can't We Be Good? Overcoming Obstacles to Our Higher Ideals Join this conversation between author and philosophy professor Jacob Needleman and Steve Heilig, the director of Public Health and Education for The San Francisco Medical Society and a research associate for The Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) at Commonweal.
Jacob Needleman Jacob is a professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University and the author of many books, including The American Soul, The Wisdom of Love, Time and the Soul, The Heart of Philosophy, Lost Christianity, and Money and The Meaning of Life. In addition to his teaching and writing, he serves as a consultant in the fields of psychology, education, medical ethics, philanthropy, and business, and has been featured on Bill Moyers’s acclaimed PBS series A World of Ideas. Find out more about Jacob on his website.
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Parker Palmer, PhD The Politics of the Brokenhearted Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Dr. Parker Palmer—an author, educator, and activist who focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality, and social change.
From our podcast:
I think what our times require of us is a profound understanding of how we’re all called to stand in the tragic gap between what is and what could and should be, without falling out into one side or the other of that gap…both corrosive cynicism and irrelevant idealism take us out of the action, as it were. —Parker Palmer
Parker Palmer, PhD Parker served for fifteen years as senior associate of the American Association of Higher Education. He now serves as senior advisor to the Fetzer Institute. He founded the Center for Courage and Renewal, which oversees the “Courage to Teach” program for K-12 educators across the country and parallel programs for people in other professions, including medicine, law, ministry, and philanthropy. Find out more about Parker on his website.
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Sandra Steingraber, PhD Healing Inside Out: A Poet's Quest, A Mother's Journey Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Sandra Steingraber, a mother, an American biologist, cancer survivor, poet, and author in the tradition of Rachel Carson.
From our podcast:
There are a million things that suddenly you have to learn about, that you never thought about before, when you become a new parent. But for me that responsibility includes the evidence linking air pollution to premature birth, or mercury contamination in fish to learning disabilities. And I don’t really feel any sense of conflict between the joy of parenting and the responsibility of taking care of the environment. They both spring from the love one feels for one’s child. —Sandra Steingraber
Sandra Steingraber Sandra received her doctorate in biology from the University of Michigan and master’s degree in English from Illinois State University. She is the author of Post-Diagnosis, a volume of poetry, and coauthor of a book on ecology and human rights in Africa, The Spoils of Famine. She has taught biology at Columbia College, Chicago; held visiting fellowships at the University of Illinois, Radcliffe/Harvard, and Northeastern University; and served on President Clinton’s National Action Plan on Breast Cancer. Find out more about Sandra on her website.
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Pete Myers, PhD Environmental Health Science: Human and Ecosystem Health Join Michael Lerner in conversation with environmental scientist and author Pete Myers.
From our podcast:
All this time we’ve been talking about problems. We’ve got to start showing there are practical, realistic solutions… I think one of the most important things we can do right now is to figure out how to get more resources into the field of green chemistry so that when we identify something that is dangerous, not only can we offer an alternative to the consumer, but we can argue in front of people making public health decisions that that molecule isn’t necessary because there’s a replacement. —Pete Myers
Pete Myers, PhD Pete is founder, CEO, and chief scientist of Environmental Health Sciences in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is also coauthor of Our Stolen Future (1996), which explores the threats posed by man-made chemical contaminants to fetal development and human health, and he is senior advisor to the United Nations Foundation (Washington, DC). From 1990-2002 Myers was director of the W. Alton Jones Foundation, a private foundation supporting efforts to protect the global environment and to prevent nuclear war. He received his doctorate in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley, and lives in Virginia.
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Rick Ingrasci, MD, MPH Joy, Social Intelligence, and the Ethical Imagination Join Michael Lerner in conversation with healer and activist Rick Ingrasci, MD, about joy, social intelligence, and the ethical imagination.
From our podcast:
I really feel that our generation, the sixties generation, had made a breakthrough that was almost like a recidivist, that we went back and rediscovered what indigenous cultures have known for many, many years, which is that carnival and festivity and ritual and ways to experience communitas, which is really spontaneous love in community, is probably a part of how we’re going to find our way out of the jam we’re in, as a planet let’s say. —Rick Ingrasci
Rick Ingrasci, MD, MPH Rick is a healer and activist who has been involved in consciousness exploration and social transformation since the mid 1960s. Ingrasci has a strong background in psychiatry, holistic medicine, and community development. He co-founded Physicians for Social Responsibility, the American Holistic Medical Association, Interface, and Hollyhock, a retreat center in British Columbia. He is the co-author of Chop Wood, Carry Water: A Guide to Finding Spiritual Fulfillment in Daily Life
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Nipun Mehta The Invisible Revolution of the Inner-net Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Nipun Mehta—ex-dot-com whiz kid and founder of ServiceSpace.org—in conversation about impermanence, service, and co-creating a better world.
From our podcast:
I think that so many times younger people are talked down to; they’re talked at rather than talked with. And I think that is sort of the biggest strategic mistake…I really have the view and I found that it works really well—to see them as equals, to see them as co-creators of a shared life that we are doing. And that is true at a deep spiritual level. We are all co-creating.
Nipun Mehta Nipun Mehta is the founder of ServiceSpace.org, a fully volunteer-run organization that has delivered millions of dollars of web-related services to the nonprofit world for free. The recipient of the Jefferson Award for Public Service, the President’s Volunteer Service Award and an honor from the world’s most famous clown, his work creatively leverages web technologies for collaborative and transformational giving. He serves on the advisory boards of the Seva Foundation, Dalai Lama Foundation, and Airline Ambassadors.
Nipun has a computer science and philosophy degree from UC Berkeley. He started his software career at Sun Microsystems, but, dissatisfied by the dot-com greed of the late 90s, Nipun changed direction and created a website and an organization named CharityFocus, now ServiceSpace.
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Idelisse Malave and Gihan Perera Race, Justice, and the American Dream Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Tides Foundation‘s Idelisse Malave and union organizer and activist Gihan Perera.
Idelisse Malave Responsible for the overall management of the Tides Foundation since 1996, Idelisse works with Tides staff to deliver excellent service and create opportunities for donors to increase the impact of their grantmaking. Over a twenty-five-year career dedicated to social justice, Idelisse litigated civil rights cases with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, represented women in family law matters, and co-authored a bestseller, Mother Daughter Revolution. She was a founding board member of the New York Women’s Foundation and served as Vice President of the Ms. Foundation for Women for six years before coming to Tides.
Gihan Perera Gihan co-founded the Miami Workers Center together with Tony Romano in 1999. Gihan is a native of Sri Lanka and grew up in South Los Angeles. He is a strategist, published writer, and public speaker. Prior to founding the Center, Gihan was a union organizer, leading union recognition and contract agreement campaigns in Miami, South, and North Carolina. He began his activism at an early age and became a trainer and recruitment director for the AFL-CIO’s Organizing Institute before completing college work. Gihan serves on the board of the local ACLU, PRE (Philanthropy for Racial Equality), and the Miami Light Project. He holds a bachelor’s degree in International Development Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.
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Sushmita Ghosh Social Entrepreneurs Join Michael Lerner in conversation with Ashoka social entrepreneur Sushmita Ghosh.
Ashoka’s Changemakers program is pioneering a transparent online community that “open sources” innovative solutions to social problems worldwide. With its focus on thematic, collaborative competitions, it has sourced over 500 high-impact action blueprints for solving social problems.
From our podcast:
The stories began reporting not just about this social entrepreneurial who was a hero, but how a bunch of people took initiative in their own way and connected. So the whole dynamic becomes not just about one person being great, but strategies for connecting with greatness.
Sushmita Ghosh Born in India, Sushmita was a journalist who rose through the ranks to become President of Ashoka, the global network of social entrepreneurs. In this conversation she describes Ashoka and her new work with Changemakers, an Ashoka program that extends social entrepreneurship to a wider global community. Find out more about Sushmita on Ashoka’s website.
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Chet Tchozewsi Intuition and Grantmaking In this conversation with Michael Lerner, Chet describes the critical role intuition plays if you want to distribute small grants to thousands of grassroots organizations in over one hundred countries.
Chet Tchozewski Chet is the founder and executive director of the Global Greengrants Fund, an international environmental foundation that makes small grants to grassroots environmental groups in developing nations around the globe. Since 1993, Greengrants has made in excess of 3,000 grants, in more than 100 countries, totaling about $10 million.
He was awarded the prestigious Robert W. Scrivner Award for Creative Philanthropy by the Council on Foundation, an award that honors grantmakers who “possess a combination of vision, principle and personal commitment to making a difference in a creative way through grant making.”
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Dean Radin, PhD Entangled Minds: Are We Linked Together More Deeply than We Imagine? One of the most surprising discoveries of modern physics is that objects aren’t as separate as they may seem. When you drill down into the core of even the most solid-looking material, separateness dissolves. All that remains, like the smile of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, are relationships extending curiously throughout space and time. These connections were predicted by quantum theory and were called “spooky action at a distance” by Albert Einstein. One of the founders of quantum theory, Erwin Schrödinger, dubbed this peculiarity entanglement, saying “I would not call that onebut rather the characteristic trait of quantum mechanics.”
In this conversation with host Michael Lerner, Radin describes the surprising reach of the substantial scientific literature on psi phenomena, and wonders whether psi phenomena are not ultimately an example of the universe talking to itself.
Dean Radin, PhD Dean is chief scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) and Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Psychology at Sonoma State University. Before joining the research staff at IONS in 2001, he held appointments at AT&T Bell Labs, Princeton University, University of Edinburgh, and SRI International, where he worked on a classified program investigating psychic phenomena for the US government. He is author or coauthor of more than 200 technical and popular articles, a dozen book chapters, and three books including the award-winning The Conscious Universe (HarperOne, 1997), Entangled Minds (Simon & Schuster, 2006), and most recently, Supernormal (Random House, 2013). Find out more about Dean on his website.
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Fredi Kronenberg, PhD Herbal Therapies and Integrative Approaches to Women's Health Join host Michael Lerner in conversation with Dr. Fredi Kronenberg, founding director of the The Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at Columbia University. Dr. Kronenberg has done research on herbal treatment of menopause and other women’s health issues using ethnobotany, Chinese medicine, nutrition, and integrative medicine approaches.
Dr. Fredi Kronenberg Dr. Fredi Kronenberg is professor of Clinical Physiology and director of the The Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons. She received her BS from Cornell University in neurobiology and behavior and her Ph.D. from Stanford University in physiology, where she researched thermoregulatory and reproductive physiology. Her postdoctoral research at Columbia University initiated her work in women’s health and menopause. She is a leading expert in the endocrinology and thermoregulatory physiology of menopausal hot flashes, and alternative therapies to treat them.
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Peter Warshall The Spiritual Labor of Earth Healing Join Michael Lerner in conversation with ecologist, activist, and essayist Peter Warshall, editor of Whole Earth Review, and teacher at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa Institute.
Peter Warshall Peter was an ecologist, activist, and essayist whose work centered on conservation and conservation-based development. After receiving his A.B. in Biology from Harvard in 1964, he went on to study cultural anthropology at l’École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris with Claude Lévi-Strauss, as a Fulbright Scholar. He then returned to Harvard where he earned his Ph.D. in Biological Anthropology.
Warshall’s research interests included natural history, natural resource management, and conservation biology. He worked as a consultant for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Ethiopia; for USAID and other organizations in ten other African nations; and he worked with the Tohono O’odham and Apache people of Arizona. Warshall was an editor of one of the later editions of the Whole Earth Catalog series, and served as an editor of its spin-off magazine, Whole Earth Review. He taught at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa Institute. Warshall died in 2013.
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Ram Dass and Rachel Naomi Remen, MD Healing, Aging, and Dying Now living on Maui, Ram Dass talked with Rachel Naomi Remen and host Michael Lerner about what his 1997 stroke taught him, and how he now works with others around issues of healing, aging, and dying.
From our podcast:
Compassion is when you’re one with the person… then their suffering becomes our suffering and my suffering becomes our suffering… and then we are both souls dealing with the consciousness of the incarnation.
The heart is where the oneness is.
Ram Dass Ram Dass (born Richard Alpert) is an American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the seminal 1971 book Be Here Now. He is known for his personal and professional associations with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s, for his travels to India and his relationship with the Hindu guru Neem Karoli Baba, and for founding the charitable organizations Seva Foundation and Hanuman Foundation. He continues to teach via his website.
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Ted Schettler, MD Implications of Ecological Health This conversation with host Michael Lerner and Ted Schettler explores how Ted’s exploration of the effects of chemical contaminants on environmental health have led him into a comprehensive perspective on the interaction of genes, gene expression, nutrition, stress, income disparities, chemicals, and many other factors in human health.
From our podcast:
But I do think if we’re able, in the far distant future, to look back on this period of time we will see that the period of time in which we’ve been living was characterized by an extraordinary and unjustified faith in the development of technologies that were not at all invented in the wisdom of the world. What I think, at least for me, has characterized the indigenous ways of knowing, thinking and behaving, is that it was born out of a real wisdom of how to be in the world. You know if we look at certain species that have been around for sixty-five million years, there’s a certain wisdom that’s imbedded in these organisms and similarly certain social ways of organizing that are based on a wiser understanding of the world, and so I think that it’s truly essential that we try to rediscover that as part of this effort toward restoration and building resilience.
Ted Schettler, MD Ted is science director of the Science and Environmental Health Network. He has a medical degree from Case Western Reserve University and a masters in public health from Harvard University. He is co-author of Generations at Risk: Reproductive Health and the Environment, which examines reproductive and developmental health effects of exposure to a variety of environmental toxicants. He is also co-author of In Harm’s Way: Toxic Threats to Child Development, which discusses the impact of environmental exposures on neurological development in children. He has published a number of articles on related topics in peer-reviewed journals and has served on advisory committees of the U.S. EPA and National Academy of Sciences.
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