Spirit In Action

Recipients of the 2008 McGovern-Tracy Scholarships "exemplify the values of community service and leadership", and we visit with 5 of the med students recognized this year: Callie O'Neil, Michelle Buelow, Betsy Doherty, Joseph Hansen and Kevin Thao - great examples of the promise of the the upcoming generation of doctors.

Holly Near has put in more than 4 decades advocating and training for peace and justice through her music. With more than 27 recordings, she has spoken out on a diverse rainbow of issues and provided inspiration and fuel for millions of workers for improving our world.... Holly does more than "just sing" - she enlightens and trains. In addition to concerts, she provides experiences like "Change of Heart: The Art of Activism--A talk with song" and her "Demystifying Activism" workshop. You can find her concert schedule at her web site. Music featured on this program includes the following songs, available at Holly's web site: I Am Willing I Ain't Afraid Hattie & Mattie Planet Called Home Foolish Notion Original Air Date: 10/29/2006

Wix Covey is one of the founders of the Northwoods Peace Fellowship, centered in Wausau Wisconsin, and he also serves on the executive committee of the Wisconsin Network for Peace & Justice The attack on the twin towers was a wake-up call for Wix. He had felt abused by our government as a soldier during the Vietnam War, something that took him 20 years to come to grips with. He eventually found a calling and personal peace work as an elementary school art teacher. He shares the life experiences that led him to become a public peace activist and how he integrates non-violence and peace work into his life. Music Featured: What Did You Learn In School Today? - Pete Seeger Waist Deep In the Big Muddy - Pete Seeger Brave Man From Ohio - Andy Murray Original Air Date: 04/16/2006

Aaron Ellringer's journey to living consciously, responsibly and healthily on this planet has included a number of years working with Sunyata Food Co-op before its closing, and as a major force in the creation of Just Local Food, a worker's collective bring local and healthy food to Eau Claire. Just Local Food's flagship products included doorstep delivery of organic milk and dairy products, and has grown to include a wide array of meats, dairy products, vegetables and more, primarily from local source, to minimize the ecological overhead and to maximize the local benefit. They are now established at a storefront at 104 Gibson in downtown Eau Claire. Music Featured: Too Many People - Fred Small Step By Step - John McCutcheon Gone Gonna Rise Again - Si Kahn Original Air Date: 02/05/2006

Uzi Weingarten started teaching Communicating with Compassion about 10 years ago, a way of listening with empathy which transforms workplaces as well as personal relationships. Uzi is a Rabbi, a teacher and a compassionate presence. Communicating with Compassion is an organization and a course of study. Uzi Weingarten and Marlene Strom both present courses on different aspects of communication. Uzi has presented his course in a variety of settings, religious and secular, He is currently helping the staff and administration at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to learn to treat one another and clients with respect and dignity. You can learn about their offerings at UziTeaches.com Music Featured: We Are Not Alone - John McCutcheon Our Life is More Than Our Work - Charlie King Get Together - The Youngbloods Original Air Date: 10/30/2005

Judith Ann Wagener has been a School Sister of Notre Dame since 1961, a period that has seen vast changes in American society and in the Catholic Church. She started as a teacher but followed a leading into pastoral ministry over 20 years ago, for the last 9 with St James the Greater Catholic Church in Eau Claire. Her spiritual travels have included geographical travels to Central America and Israel, trips that have widened her vision and deepened her commitment to all of god's people.

Cathy Sultan, Tom Chisholm & Jason Hicks were recently part of a delegation to Israel/Palestine sponsored by the Interfaith Peace-Builders, witnessing first-hand the suffering and aspirations of the people both sides of the wall. Cathy Sultan is the author of 3 books about the Middle East from a human viewpoint. Her latest release is Tragedy in South Lebanon: The Israeli-Hezbollah War of 2006. Tom Chisholm spent most of his work life as a military doctor, is a member of Veterans for Peace, and serves the Chippewa Valley as a volunteer doctor for the local free clinic. Jason Hicks has a Masters of Science in Conservation Genetics and is pursuing a career in International Conflict Resolution and Human Rights.

Tom Neilson is a tireless activist for many causes - supporting the family farm, civil rights, and opposing war, among many others. He shared his songs and the causes before an audience at the 2007 FGC gathering at River Falls. All of the songs are by Tom Neilson, featured on the recordings listed below: 4 Lane Highways and Mobile Homes from Living on the Maximum Wage WMD from Fools No More Root Beer Makes Me Burp from Root Beer Makes Me Burp You Can Not Have War And Tell The Truth from Fools No More Ministry of Oil from Fools No More Spirit of Justice from Spirit of Justice That Was the Week Reprise from Spirit of Justice Original Air Date: 09/16/2007

A "field trip" to an environmentally friendly model home near Waupaca, Wisconsin, built by A-A Exteriors, including a discussion of a number of technical options. If you care to visit the model home, click here for directions. Music featured on this program includes: We Will Build This House - Sally Rogers Power - Holly Near G-Gee Its Warm Out Here - Peter Alsop Original Air Date: 05/18/2008

Mary Rose O'Reilley is an author, a contemplative and an activist. Author of (at least) 6 books and many more publications, she lives with a concern for the kind of centerness which allows us to live fruitfully and faithfully in the world. Raised Catholic, attuned to Buddhist thought, and a longtime Quaker activist, she brings rich and diverse perspective to her writing. Among Mary Rose's writings: The Love of Impermanent Things: A Threshold Ecology Half Wild: Poems (Walt Whitman Award) The Garden at Night: Burnout and Breakdown in the Teaching Life The Barn at the End of the World: The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd Radical Presence: Teaching as Contemplative Practice The Peaceable Classroom Music featured on this program includes: Wonderous Love - Annie Grieshop & Mike Ross of Voices of Hopkinton

As a dual citizen of Iraq and the USA, resident for 20 years of the Twin Cities in Minnesota, Sami Rasouli brings a special perspective to his work with the Muslim Peacemaker Teams. Sami spoke at Eau Claire area schools, including UW-EC, on March 31, 2008, and in a personal interview with Northern Spirit Radio. This was part of a 2-month tour across the USA to bring on-the-ground news to the American people. The speech at UW-Eau Claire was sponsored by Staff and Faculty for Peace and Justice and the midwest tour was assisted by Mike Miles of Anathoth Community Farm.

Gigi Pomerantz is a Jewish nurse practitioner doing her part to be a force for health, peace and good in the world. Recently, that includes work in Haiti, including dry composting toilets, to help agricultural productivity while improving health. But that just scratches the surface of Gigi's living out of tikkun alom - restoration of the world. Gigi grew up as a reformed Jew in NYC, but is part of the Reconstructionist arm of Judaism, and a member of Congregation Shir Hadash in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She has been active with their social action committee for 20 years, and is active with Tikkun Ha-Ir, a Milwaukee organization bringing together Orthodox, Conservative, Reformed, Reconstructionist and other Jews, integrating the study of Jewish texts with social action. But her newest passion is Haiti, which she visited as part of a medical mission sponsored by St Thomas Aquinas of Naperville (Illinios). This has led to her subsequent connection with Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL) and their effo

John Ikerd was the keynote speaker for the 2008 Midwest Value Added Agriculture conference, held in Eau Claire. Agricultural economics is his field, and his work with with sustainable agriculture and the move toward localization of food. The conference is hosted annually by River Country Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc.

Dan Nerhaugen has a deep concern that we build literacy in the USA - in our schools, but especially in our citizenry. Civic engagement and political literacy are built by reading, and reading books in particular. On his web site, The48er.com, Dan highlights resources to strengthen the civic mind - books and other publications which will help folks in the USA to competently uphold our democratic republic. Dan's efforts at supporting responsible citizenship have included teaching high school English for nearly a decade, editing a couple small-town newspapers, and creating syndicated history items for newspapers - items with substance and import, to inform wiser decisions by "we the people". Dan was raised Catholic and his seeking has included exploration of evangelical Christianity, philosophy, Buddhism and Unitarian Universalism. Music featured on this program includes: Our Flag Was Still There - John McCutcheon The Internationale - Sheffield Socialist Choir Original Air Date: 08/27/2006

Anna Sandidge is the coordinator for the Friends Peace Teams after having served with two different projects in Burundi and Rwanda as part of the African Great Lakes Initiative. Anna was raised in the Assembles of God church, but had her first serious break with the church at the age of 12. At 15 she sought out Quakers, finding herself "home" from the start at Friends Meeting. She was a professional organizer in her 20's, but found a leading to more securely connect her employment work with her spiritual work and found that with the Friends Peace Teams. Music featured on this program includes: Swimming to the Other Side - Magpie Not By Might, Not By Power - Debbie Friedman Original Air Date: 08/20/2006

Tom Walz may be the tireless force behind Iowa City's alternative cultural experience, Uptown Bill's Small Mall, but the work of the mall is the legacy of an amazing mentally retarded man, Bill Sachter. Because of his experience with Bill, Tom found his life's work, helping people with disabilities own and run their own businesses. Tom's life has been fruitful and full of service, inspired by the Catholic teachings of his childhood. He was a Peace Corps director in Central America, taught social work at the university, and is a Gandhi scholar. But it is no exaggeration to say that his friendship with Bill Sachter changed the lives of Tom and many others. Bill entered the "Faribault Institution for Epileptics and Idiots" at the age of seven and spent 45 years there, being released in the mid-1960's. He so inspired the admiration of those around him that his life became the subject of two award winning movies - both Golden Globe and Emmy's - as well as a book by Tom, "The Unlikely Celebrity". Tom's "retirement"

WW2 was a "popular war" and it so it took greater conviction to be a conscientious objector to that war. We have the privilege of talking to 2 of the surviving CO's of that war, George Watson, 91 years old, and Jack Phillips, now 86. Their experience in confronting the draft and in serving in the Civilian Public Service had a profound effect on the remainding 60+ years of their lives. Both George & Jack grew up Methodiist, a relative hotbed of pacifist convictions in some places at that time. George had already become a Quaker by the US start of WW2 and, as a father of 3 children, himself in advanced studies, confronted the draft at the tail-end of the war, while Jack, supported by his Methodist church, served about 5 years of alternative service, finding a home with the Religious Society of Friends along the way. Both currently reside in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. Jack is a member of Twin Cities Friends Meeting, while George is a member of Minneapolis Friends Meeting. Music featured in this program: Wit

Chante Wolf spent 12 years in the military, leaving on her birthday in 1992, meaning that she was part of the first Gulf War. Back then she was called Sharon Haller, thought of herself as a Republican, and nearly killed someone who messed with her gun. She speaks elequently of the changes she's been through, starting out Baptist/Methodist, a self-described "Bible thumper", a partier and, currently an activist with Veterans for Peace and attender of Quaker meetings in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. Music featured on this program includes: War - Edwin Starr Mercy Now - Mary Gauthier How Come - Ray LaMontagne Original Air Date: 07/23/2006

The Rachel Corrie Foundation continues the work and witness of Rachel, killed at the age of 23. She was in Palestine as part of the International Solidarity Movement, serving as a "human shield", protecting Palestinians and their homes. The Eau Claire Unitarian Universalist church had a service in her memory this past October and recorded some of what was shared. I also spoke with Rachel's aunt, Cathy Pierce, who is part of the Eau Claire UU congregation, about Rachel. The home of the Nasrallah family, which Rachel died protecting, was subsequently destroyed, but has been rebuilt by the Rebuilding Alliance. Rachel's story has been shared with the world through the play, My Name Is Rachel Corrie, created from Rachel's own words and performed in London, New York, Seattle, and in Rachel's home town, Olympia, Washington. You can related videos of Rachel's final moments, a 43-minute documentary, some excerpts from her play (continuation clips there), and Cindy Corrie's call to action. The Lonesome Death of Rachel

A visit with 2 long-time war tax resisters. Patricia Washburn is a religious peace educator, a seminary graduate though never ordained. She testified to Congress for the Peace Tax Fund after the IRS took her house for taxes. Perry Treadwell got a special leading from a verse of Robert Frost when he was 42 and quit his tenured position in microbiology, and found a beautiful life of service. Both address the fears and gifts of decades of war tax resistance. Perry Treadwell is the author of several books, including Boys into Men, Driving through History and The Last Negro in County is Dead.