Exploration of how spiritually-root service can transform the paths of young volunteers. There's riches in the experience with the Peace Corps, Americorps & VISTA, Teach for America, & many more, but today we visit with several folks with QVS (Quaker Voluntary Service). QVS provides a year of service, living at the intersection of transformational spirituality and activism.

Special guest, Joy Ladin, joins Liam Hooper and Peterson Toscano for a moving and insightful exploration of the Book of Jonah. Joy Ladin holds the Gottesman Chair in English at Yeshiva University, and, in 2007, became the first (and still only) openly transgender employee of an Orthodox Jewish institution. 

Kori Riesenweber has an angelic voice & a love for harmonies that has been lived out in many ways: in the bluegrass band of her extended families, in the intricate arrangements of her time as part of Beacon James (on Facebook and on Bandcamp), and currently with Girl Band. She also performs solo, and sings constantly with her newborn son.

Pamela Boyce-Simms does so much & is active at so many different levels that there is just too much to talk about. In addition to her work with Evolutionary Cultural Design, her engagement with The Transition Movement, her 37 years of Buddhist practice, and 13 years of Quaker practice, Pamela is engaged with the African Diaspora Plant Medicine Project, intending to root, empower, & build resilience at the fundamental level of food & medicine.

Lew Blaustien, editor of Green Sports Blog, is very concerned about climate change.  A sports nut since childhood, Lew began a career in sportscasting, and eventually settled into the marketing side of professional sports. There was nothing in his background to suggest he would turn into a passionate climate advocate. The 911 attacks on New York City in 2001 though changed everything for him. You will hear about how that traumatic event set him on a new career path. 

John McCutcheon is classic & cutting-edge folk music. An amazing singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, he has now produced 40 albums, performed with all kinds of musical greats, like Pete Seeger, Tom Chapin, Tom Paxton, and Carrie Newcomer. He's witty, deep, creative, prolific, and he's in person for this interview on July 4th, 2019, at Grinnell College as part of the FGC Gathering.

Jim Kessler has taught biology for 34 years in Iowa, in the course of which he found a leading to restore the native habitats on a plot of 29 acres that he and his wife bought, including some 15 acres of Tall Grass Prairie, now held by the Bur Oak Land Trust. Jim Kessler is passionate about the type of environment we can, and need, to restore, and has been carrying the good news of an Earth reborn widely, including working Quaker Earthcare Witness to get the word out.

Tim Reed is active with a number of protests, witnesses, and helping hands to those in pilgrimmage across the Mexico/USA border in the Las Cruces NM area. He is active with Oak Tree Project and NM CAFé (Comunidades en Acción y de Fé), protested at Tornillo Dentention tent city, and sought communication with the authorities on the border.

Past/current religious/spiritual influences:
Quaker 

Featured Music:
People Once Were Welcome Here - by Steve Deasy

Regla Garcia-Schmidt is half of The Hollywood Rockstarz. Regla's powerful voice & keyboards are born of Cuban immigrants, cultured in Connecticut, expanded in Los Angeles, and have reached full fruit in Ladysmith, WI. She will wow you with the depths of her passion & the extent of her talent.

We need a vision of the better world in order to energize our drive to it, and Martin Schoenhals does an amazing job of providing a scientifically-based vision in Work, Love, & Learning in Utopia - Equality Reimagined. He is a cultural anthropologist who has taught at several universities, including Johns Hopkins, Columbia, and, currently, Appalachian State University, in Boone, North Carolina. Confronting hierarchy as a primary destructive force, Martin envisions a world where full equality is the norm and coercion no longer employed, and in which the happiness of all is maximized. Discuss your issues & insights about Utopia with Martin at mdsnewyork@gmail.com.