Spirit In Action

In the past 5 years, Fiacre Mutabazi has created an amazing variety of organizations and efforts to make both Rwanda and the world a better place. The first was the MyStoryRwanda YouTube Channel, and then there was what was first called the Rwanda Artist Network, now called Kunda Arts Collective. Soon there was the Kigali House of Stories, and then the up-cycled art of the Kunda Arts Store (or on Facebook). All of this has grown from the soil of Rwanda, perhaps best known in the West for the genocide that took place there in 1994. However, in the course of the ensuing 27 years, Rwanda has become one of the most peaceful and clean places in the world, and also the #1 country in the world in terms of female leadership in its Parliament. This is where Fiacre Mutabazi has been finding ways to nurture and harness the creative and peace-oriented energy of Rwandans through art. Featured Music: Genda Rwanda uri nziza - by Karahanyuze, and you can watch the video

Featuring 2 great thinkers mapping a better future for us all by looking deep within not only the human mind, but the mind of the Earth & Cosmos. Jeremy Lent, of Berkeley, CA, is the author of The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning and of The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science & Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe. Martin Schoenhals is author of Work, Love, and Learning in Utopia: Equality Reimagined, and Martin is a professor of anthropology at Appalachian State University. Both swim on the deep side of the vision & insight on a wide range of topics including human nature, nature's nature, science, philosophy, community, history, & the future.

The topic is individual spiritual discernment, and our guests are Jerry Knutson, author of a Pendle Hill Pamphlet on the subject, and Kat Griffith, who is working with Jerry on translating it into Spanish for a Latin American audience, with the prospect of jointly leading workshops on the topic. Jerry's first master's degree was in Environmental Engineering, and his second was a Master of Divinity degree from Earlham School of Religion. Kat studied agricultural economics, lived in Latin America for years, and has written more than a dozen articles for Friends Journal on a variety of topics. Together, Jerry Knutson and Kat Griffith provide insight and light on a better way to make fruitful, life-changing decisions. Jerry's pamphlet is Individual Spiritual Discernment: Receiving, Testing, and Implementing Leadings from a Higher Power.

Guest-host Patricia Stansbury visits with folks connected with the Veterans Resiliency Holistic Clinic, which provides a multidisciplinary approach to trauma, treating the person, not the disease. Jennifer and Aaron tell how it works, providing first hand accounts of how various non-medical modalities ease the pain and anguish of those who've endured trauma at war. Coordinator Karen Henderson explains her path to the work and how the person, body, mind and spirit, can be brought together to heal the trauma. . The Veterans Resiliency Holistic Clinic is a resource for veterans and their families. Patricia Stansbury produces Lightly On The Ground and Groundswell shows on WRIR - Richmond Independent Radio.

Guest-host Peterson Toscano brings highlights from his Bubble&Squeak podcast, including visits with queer writer/film producer Kristin Peterson Kaszubowski about Ringolevio, from various folks, including Dr. Natasha DeJarnett, about a vision of a fossil fuel-free world, from artist George Ferrandi, from Craig Middleton, co-author of the book Queering the Museum, from Aeryka Harvey of Brown Suga Diaries, & from Peggy Campolo, about her transformation from a mousy pastors wife to one of the most outspoken Evangelicals in America speaking up for LGBTQ rights. And more...

When a Jewish Trans Educator (Liam Hooper) and a Cantankerous Hermit-ish Mendicant Farmer (Don Durham) come together for a Bible Bash, you'll find radically different lessons from anything taught before. When you live outside the conventional limits, you're more likely to hear the real meaning of drawing near, and when Jesus talks about all laborers getting paid the same amount, you'll more likely call it what it was, advocating for a Universal Basic Income. Bible Bash is a gift from Ministries Beyond Welcome, started by Liam Hooper, author of Trans-Forming Proclamation: A Transgender Theology of Daring Existence.

Michael Beer, director of Nonviolence International since 1998, has just released his book, Civil Resistance Tactics in the 21st Century. In it, Michael has updated Gene Sharp's seminal text training the world in the value of nonviolent tactics. In this conversation, Michael Beer & Mark Helpsmeet examine wide-ranging examples of civil resistance & nonviolent actions to better understand the broad array of possibilities. Watch the book release webinar video, including Vronique Dudouet, Jamila Raqib, and remember to check out the invaluable Nonviolent Tactics Database. Also check out resources like the Global Nonviolent Action Database at Swarthmore, the ICNC, and the Albert Einstein Institution, among others.

Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio guest-hosts today, featuring visits with Dr. Krista Hiser, Director of the Center for Sustainability Across the Curriculum for the University of Hawaii, Bob Inglis, Executive Director of republicEn & advocate of the Eco-Right, Sarah Jaquette Ray, professor of environmental studies & author of A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet, and Tykee James, government affairs coordinator at the National Audubon Society and co-organizer of Black Birders Week.

A refreshing look beyond the distortions and rhetoric of the Islamaphobia industry in the US, Demystifying Shariah: What It Is, How It Works, and Why Its Not Taking Over Our Country by Sumbul Ali-Karamali (or type in MuslimNextDoor.com) opens eyes to the rich & complex history & present of how Muslims try to faithfully follow God. Sumbul grew up in Southern California, and after becoming a corporate lawyer, she earned an additional degree in Islamic law. Drawing on strengths related to her English degree from Stanford, she straightforwardly shares the complex reality of Islam over the centuries and over the world, with humor, humility, and insight. Her earlier books are The Muslim Next Door: the Quran, the Media, and that Veil Thing and Growing up Muslim. Sumbul serves on the steering committees of Women in Islamic Spirituality and Equality (WISE) and the Muslim Womens Global Shura Council, both of which aim to promote womens rights and human rights from an Islamic perspective.

How do we spread the peace virus instead of perpetuating fear, hate, & injustice? Matthew Legge is author of Are We Done Fighting? Building Understanding in a World of Hate and Division, which gives us deep insights & practical skills for doing just that. Matthew has been the Peace Program Coordinator of the Canadian Friends Service Committee since 2012, and he has supported locally-led peace initiatives in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. You can join in for free with the CFSC Peace Skills Training.

Listen to much of Nonviolence: An Interfaith Conversation, co-sponsored by the Norman Miller Center for Peace, Justice, and Public Understanding at St. Norbert College and The Wisconsin Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, with perspectives from David Mueller, with his Catholic Worker background, Pardeep Singh Kaleka, Executive Director of Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee and co-author of The Gift of Our Wounds: A Sikh and a Former White Supremacist Find Forgiveness After Hate, Elliot Ratzman, Assistant Professor in the Religious Studies Department of Grinnell College, and Jim Handley, certified Kingian Nonviolence trainer teaching Peace Studies at UW Stout. You can watch the full 90-minute video.

The work of the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) is to develop & share the knowledge needed for effective civil resistance, and they are providing the info in more than 60 languages to freedom, justice, & democracy workers all around the world. Hardy Merriman has been President & CEO of ICNC since 2015, and working in the field since 2003. Drawing on the best research and the most promising experience, Hardy and the ICNC are providing the vital educational support to the rapidly growing nonviolent civil resistance movements working to transform the world.

Rabbi Katy Allen co-founded Jewish Climate Action Network (JCAN) in 2013 as an urgent and visionary Jewish voice on the crisis of climate change. Growing up on a farm and having worked as a science teacher, she went on to Jewish studies and helped found the One Earth Collective, and leads Ma'yan Tikvah, a congregation in the Boston Suburb of Wayland, on spirituality and nature, which holds outdoor Shabbat services all year long - in Massachusetts. Featured Music: The Tide Is Rising - written by Shoshana Friedman and performed as part of the Songs to Sustain Us in the Struggle: A Motzei Shabbat Communal Sing, at the The Big Bold Jewish Climate Fest

Many Spirit In Action listeners eat consciously, maybe natural foods, local foods, or organic foods. Maybe you grow a portion of your own foods, or buy from CSAs and local farms, but if you can't verify the quality of your food first-hand, you may depend on the official federal Organic certification for that assurance. Unfortunately, big business and big money will tend to dilute organic standards and practices, if we let them, so we need help from a public-interest private eye, and that's the role of Organic Eye, an organic industry watchdog, and Mark Kastel is one of its founders. Mark has been through the system, first working for some of the agribusiness giants, before having his eyes and mind opened to vital importance of organic foods and farming, for the consumers, plants, animals, & the planet. He even had his important role in the forming of the Organic Valley Farm Cooperative, helping the coop grow from 7 members to over 2000 now. Featured Music: Working In My Garden - by Peanut Butter Jellyfish

Most of us lament the polarization of our society, but George Lakey finds promise in the blacksmith's forge. He's founded and/or worked with so many peace & justice organizations, among them A Quaker Action Group, Movement for a New Society, TraningForChange.org, Earth Quaker Action Team, WagingNonviolence.org, and, most recently, ChooseDemocracy.us. George is author of 10 books, with an 11th, his memoir, due this coming year.

Guest-host Patricia Stansbury/Sunny Gardener shares interviews with speakers at the 50th anniversary celebration at Quaker House in Fayetteville, NC, home of Fort Bragg. Guests include former director Chuck Fager, and 2 former soldiers, Monisha Rios & Ricky Clousing, who received counseling & support at Quaker House. Patricia Stansbury guest-hosts here periodically, sharing some gems from her Lightly On The Ground and Groundswell shows on WRIR - Richmond Independent Radio.

2nd installment of a discussion about race, racism, & the grace leading to solutions, with perspectives from 2 African-Americans. Selika Ducksworth-Lawton was raised in New Orleans, but now graces Eau Claire, WI, a heavily white city, with her wide-ranging activism, including her leadership in the work of Uniting Bridges, and as professor of history at UW-Eau Claire. She recently received the UW-EC MLK Social Justice Award. Rodney Long Jr. has worked as an addictions counselor, social worker, & mental health counselor in Akron, OH, his hometown, Rodney kicked off this conversation with an article in Friends Journal entitled Before My Life Matters to You, Let It Matter to Me Featured Music: Where I Grew Up - by Chester McCoy

Discussion about race, racism, problems & solutions, seen from Akron, OH, New Orleans, LA, & Eau Claire, WI. Rodney Long Jr's article in Friends Journal entitled Before My Life Matters to You, Let It Matter to Me kicked off the exchange, with insights from his life & work as a therapist, social worker, & addictions counselor in Akron. Selika Ducksworth-Lawton grew up in New Orleans and is currently professor of History and of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at UW-Eau Claire. Selika serves on several boards and is deeply involved with the work of Uniting Bridges. She recently received the UW-EC MLK Social Justice Award.

Today's guest-host, Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio, extends the range of climate change warriors by asking "What Would Jesus Do?" through his interviews with some conservative-tilting, Christian evangelical/fundamental-leaning climate activists. Kelsey Grant (on Twitter), Conservative Outreach Coordinator for Citizens Climate Lobby, co-founded environmental ministries and taught about environmental stewardship as a Sunday School teacher at her church. Andrea Zink (on Instagram) is rooted in the United Methodist Church, including activism with the UMC Circles of Grace prison ministry music team, and her professional work has been with non-profits like The Salvation Army, Vanderbilt University, and Nashville Opera. Lindsay Linsky (on Twitter) is the author of Keep It Good: Understanding Creation Care through Parables, a book that will open your eyes to how Christians are missing the mark when it comes to God's creation and provide practical suggestions for how to get there. The final guest is one o

Liam Michael Hooper's newly-released book, Trans-Forming Proclamation: A Transgender Theology of Daring Existence, envisions & invokes a call for empowerment that is both lyrical & profound, experiential & visionary. Combining Spirit-centered passion, free-wheeling prose, & well-rooted expertise, Liam harnasses energy & determination to construct a mosaic with the full inclusion of all gender-transcendent people. Liam works with Ministries Beyond Welcome, and has been part of the founding of OtherWise Engaged Publishing.