From Sparks to Light - Inspiring Stories for Challenging Times

“We create safety by numbers. The more of us there are, the safer we make everyone.” - Laura DotyI met Laura Doty in 2017 after catastrophic fires leveled much of the county where we both live. We'd shown up to assist the survivors of the fire, people who were now living at the local fairgrounds, uncertain if their house would still be standing when the flames were finally extinguished. For far too many, the answer was no. Over the years we've become friends who share a  passion for engagement, for showing up to do what we can, when we could, to make a difference. Laura, or Dr. Doty as she is known by many, has spent the better part of her life as a therapist and forensic psychologist.Laura is also one of a group of local women who call themselves the Benton  Street Improvement Association. Inspired by a yard sign project she saw in Washington DC when she attended the Climate March, Laura wanted to bring the idea back to her local community. The collection of yard signs created by the The Benton Street group is what Laura calls, “small potato activisim,” to create a community that is safe and welcoming for everyone.This is a conversation between friends, about the importance of engaging in local activism in a time of great peril. About what it means to show up and bring our authentic selves to the conversation. About speaking the truth because mall potato activism is about planting seeds and watching them grow.As you listen to this episode, consider:We create safety in numbers. What is one thing you can do to lend your voice to a cause that matters to you?Laura talks about the small things we can do, even in our neighborhood. Bringing soup to a sick neighbor. Stopping to talk to someone as you walk the dog. Look for ways to help build community, one person at a time. Summon up your courage to join a community clean up, pot luck or local gathering. Bring your authentic self. Watch what happens next.Learn more about the Benton Street Improvement Association here.Benton Street Improvement Association Facebook page.Do you know someone who has a story to tell? Someone who is giving back to their community? Working to make our world a better place? Send an email to suzanne@suzannemaggio.com. Nominate them for a future episode of From Sparks to Light.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Threads @suzannemaggio_author

“I get a call, … I'm waiting outside on the street corner. … A pickup truck shows up, with a fridge on it. Two guys get out and drop this fridge on the street. And that's literally the way it started. These two anonymous guys, who drop this fridge on the street. … And there's this guy named Ruben. And he's the gatekeeper of the block —making sure everyone's on good behavior and nobody messes up the block and he says to me, ‘What is this?' And I say ‘Its a community fridge'. ‘A fridge for the community?' Yeah, I say. And he says, ‘I got you Dan, you and me, we're going to do this'…It was during COVID, and Dan Zauderer was a 6th grade Humanities teacher at the American Dream School in the South Bronx, a charter school in New York. The American Dream School specifically served the undocumented Latin American community. And because Dan taught in Costa Rica for a while, his Spanish skills were good, and it allowed him to get to know his students really well.Because he took the time to lean into the school community, he discovered that many of many of his students' families did not have access to basic resources. He sent out a survey via text message to eighty eight families and what he learned changed the course of his life. One in four families were cutting down on meals or skipping meals a few times a week. “The first project,' he tells me, “Was raising money online. By tapping into the contacts he'd made throughout his life, he was able to raise in the tens of thousands of dollars. They raised money for hotspots, for books for summer reading and food supplies… "It was a great experience, to know that you could rally community that way.”  They began to send staples to his student's families —cleaning supplies, beans and rice. But some of the families struggled more than others.  They enrolled six families in a food delivery program, where they received weekly boxes of produce. Over time, the money ran out, but the food insecurity did not. It was in that experience that the seeds of Grassroots Grocery were sown.  Dan Zauderer is a community builder, social entrepreneur, and the driving force behind Grassroots Grocery. His journey began as a middle school teacher at the Bronx's American Dream School, where he discovered that one in four of his students were facing food insecurity. That moment changed everything. Leaving his teaching job, he co-founded the Mott Haven Fridge Network, a grassroots initiative that grew into Grassroots Grocery, a volunteer-powered movement bringing fresh, healthy food directly to communities that need it most.Learn more about Grassroots Grocery here.Do you know someone who has a story to tell? Someone who is giving back to their community? Working to make our world a better place? Send an email to suzanne@suzannemaggio.com. Nominate them for a future episode of From Sparks to Light.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Threads @suzannemaggio_author

“If we're not in community with other people, it's much easier to throw rocks at each other.” - John Crowley, Aqus Community Foundation.Perhaps you've had the opportunity to travel to England or Ireland and experienced it first hand. You step inside a darkly lit room, hard wood paneling defines the space. You step up to the bar, littered with glasses, beer taps and warm bodies waiting to be served. The walls are filled with dozens of yellowing photographs, framed football kits and requisite Guinness signs. Around you, a couple dozen unfamiliar friendly faces, but. strangers, the saying goes, are just friends you haven't met yet. The match is on, conversation reverberates in the air, and before you know it, people start singing. “I worked in my father's pub when I was a kid, “ says John Crowley, a native of Dublin, Ireland. “I really fell in love with it —with the community aspect of it, and I missed it when I got here.” When he emigrated to the United States, it was one of the things he longed for, but no matter where he looked, he couldn't seem to find. Sure, there were great bars and restaurants —he was in the San Francisco Bay Area after all, but he couldn't find the sense of community reminiscent of his formative years. Twenty five years ago, Crowley read Bowling Alone, and it changed his life. The book was about the power of social connection, asking the question, Where is our social capital? Where are the networks in community that bind it together and make is stronger? Unable to find it in his new home, he went about trying to create it. He invited people to join him in conversation at a local restaurant. The topic? What was the last postcard you received? That night, he waited to see what would happen. A couple of new acquaintances arrived. As they sat and chatted, a few others joined. And then a few more.  A social quorum emerged., and as they sat and chatted, the threads of community began to emerge. The rest, as they say, is history.From the seeds of those early conversations, to a lifetime of dedication to building social connection, John Crowley has dedicated his life to expanding social capital. Along with British American business partner Lesley McCullaugh, he is the the owner of Aqus Cafe and founder of Aqus Community Foundation, a nonprofit focused on building a community connection that provides a sense of belonging and encourages people to invest in where they live.You can learn more about John Crowley and Aqus Community Foundation here.Do you know someone who has a story to tell? Someone who is giving back to their community? Working to make our world a better place? Send an email to suzanne@suzannemaggio.com. Nominate them for a future episode of From Sparks to Light.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Threads @suzannemaggio_author

It is a phone call no parent wants to receive. A child is missing —or even worse, presumed dead. That was the call that Sally McQuillen and her husband, Joe, received on a cold January day, nine years ago. Their 21 year old son, Christopher, and three friends, drowned in a boating accident when the canoe they were in capsized on an icy lake in Wisconsin. Sally shares her journey through that life changing experience in Reaching for Beautiful, a memoir that captures her deep love for her son, the agonizing grief of his loss and the lessons learned through a profound experience she has since learned to embrace as a gift. Christopher was, in Sally's words, a “wild child.”  Prior to getting married and beginning a family, both Sally and her husband struggled with addiction, but by the time Christopher was born, both had embraced years of sobriety and believed they could protect their children from the mistakes they'd made. And yet, despite all the preparation that goes into it, parenting is often a journey without a road map. The oldest of three, Christopher struggled with ADHD and later, addiction, but years of treatment gave him a path to sobriety, so by the time he entered college, he was on his way to a brighter future. But it was not meant to be.  “He had a couple of near death accidents, even when sober, says Sally, “So that just kind of showed me that what I've come to believe is true, I don't think that he was meant to be here for longer than his 21 years.”Sally McQuillen, LCSW, CADC, is a psychotherapist specializing in addiction, grief, and trauma recovery. Based in the Chicago area, she provides ongoing support for addiction recovery, as well as support for those recovering from the impact of a loved one's addiction. She works with clients to find peace and healing from trauma and loss. You can learn more about Sally and Reaching for Beautiful hereDo you know someone who has a story to tell? Someone who is giving back to their community? Working to make our world a better place? Send an email to suzanne@suzannemaggio.com. Nominate them for a future episode of From Sparks to Light.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Threads @suzannemaggio_author

"When I sit down with someone and hear their life story —when we're just hanging out and I'm getting to know them and getting to be with them, there's this feeling of mutuality in getting to be together, of getting to melt down the walls between us. There's something really beautiful about that,” says Michael Larson, the founder and visionary behind Humans for Housing. When Michael Larson was just two years old, his parents went to prison. He and his two siblings, found themselves on a journey that would inform the rest of his life. As they navigated their journey through various foster homes in the foster care system, they finally landed with a family that would eventually adopt them, and one that afforded them the stability, love and support they would need to succeed. Michael and his siblings were some of the lucky ones.As a sociology major at Gonzaga, Michael learned about the stark reality of homelessness among youth aging out of foster care. This revelation ignited a passionate commitment to serve at a local homeless shelter and eventually to leading a student-group named Meals in the Margins. He directed “Humanizing Spokane”, a documentary that told the powerful stories of four unhoused individuals and helped to build empathy for those experiencing homelessness across the city. It is those experiences and others that led him to create Humans for Housing, a Portland based nonprofit organization that aims to tackle the critical issue of homelessness through powerful storytelling, education and community engagement. In this wide-reaching conversation, Michael's journey to pay it forward has something to inspire all of us.As you listen to this episode consider:Stories have the capacity to bring us together and teach us something new. Invite friends to watch a documentary about a topic that you know little about. Have a conversation about what you learn.Learn about the issues facing your community. Attend a city council meeting or a talk about affordable housing in your community. Sign up for a shift at the local food bank. There are many local organizations that are already working to make sure everyone has safe place to call home. What is one way you can do to support their work in your community?You can learn more about Humans for Housing here.Learn about the film, No Place to Grow Old here.Do you know someone who has a story to tell? Someone who is giving back to their community? Working to make our world a better place? Send an email to suzanne@suzannemaggio.com. Nominate them for a future episode of From Sparks to Light.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Threads @suzannemaggio_author

This is part two of a two part episode. If you haven't listened to part 1, go back and listen to that one first.When Brian McNaught was in eighth grade, Sister Claire Marie, IHM, a nun at his school in Birmingham, Michigan, pulled his mother aside and proclaimed, “Your son is a prince of a boy.” ‘Did Sister Claire Marie say that because I was well behaved? Nice? Funny? Or did she see in me a vibration as the empathetic soul I aspired and imagined myself to be.” writes McNaught in his new memoir, A Prince of a Boy.It was that vibration that led Brian McNaught towards a life of service, a renowned speaker, educator and leader in the field of gender advocacy, Brian spent 50 years as an educator on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer issues in colleges, government agencies, and corporations. Born in Detroit in 1948, Brian McNaught was one of seven Irish Catholic children. He was a civil rights and anti-war activist and filed as a conscientious objector to the American war in Vietnam. Called by the New York Times “the godfather of Gay diversity training,” he's the author of 15 books, and is featured in seven DVDs.  He lives with Ray, his husband of 49 years. in Wilton Manors, FL.You can learn more about Brian McNaught here.You can purchase A Prince of a Boy here.Do you know someone who has a story to tell? Someone who is giving back to their community? Working to make our world a better place? Send an email to suzanne@suzannemaggio.com. Nominate them for a future episode of From Sparks to Light.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Threads @suzannemaggio_author

When Brian McNaught was in eighth grade, Sister Claire Marie, IHM, a nun at his school in Birmingham, Michigan, pulled his mother aside and proclaimed, “Your son is a prince of a boy.” ‘Did Sister Claire Marie say that because I was well behaved? Nice? Funny? Or did she see in me a vibration as the empathetic soul I aspired and imagined myself to be.” writes McNaught in his new memoir, A Prince of a Boy.It was that vibration that led Brian McNaught towards a life of service, a renowned speaker, educator and leader in the field of gender advocacy, Brian spent 50 years as an educator on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer issues in colleges, government agencies, and corporations. Born in Detroit in 1948, Brian McNaught was one of seven Irish Catholic children. He was a civil rights and anti-war activist and filed as a conscientious objector to the American war in Vietnam. Called by the New York Times “the godfather of Gay diversity training,” he's the author of 15 books, and is featured in seven DVDs.  He lives with Ray, his husband of 49 years. in Wilton Manors, FL.You can learn more about Brian McNaught here.You can purchase A Prince of a Boy here.Do you know someone who has a story to tell? Someone who is giving back to their community? Working to make our world a better place? Send an email to suzanne@suzannemaggio.com. Nominate them for a future episode of From Sparks to Light.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Threads @suzannemaggio_author

"Trust your heart, because in addiction, we lose faith in our own judgement and what we see as right or wrong," says “Taylor”, the name he gave himself after he embraced sobriety After years of struggling to leave addiction behind, he works to help others find their way to a sober life.  "Have faith in yourself,” he says. “Believe in yourself because that's the only way that you're going to get sober and stay sober." Born in Sedalia, Missouri in a segregated community, his early years were marked with the traumas inherent in racism. At 10 he witnessed an event that would change the trajectory of his life, casting him into an abyss so deep it would take years to dig himself out.But dig deep he did. Now, more than seven and a half years sober, he is grateful for the life he has and for the family, both biological and chosen, who have loved and supported him. Today he has built a life he is proud of, one in which service to others is central.As you listen to this episode, consider:We all have times of struggle, when we need someone to listen. Who do you depend on? Taylor speaks about the importance of having someone to listen. Learning to listen means meeting people where they are, without judgement or expectation. How can you be truly present for someone who is struggling?Life is filled with challenges. Focusing on what we are grateful for helps keep us steady and puts life into context.  Practice finding one or more things to be grateful for each day. Consider keeping a gratitude journal.You can learn more about Taylor here.Do you know someone who has a story to tell? Someone who is giving back to their community? Working to make our world a better place? Send an email to suzanne@suzannemaggio.com. Nominate them for a future episode of From Sparks to Light.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Threads @suzannemaggio_author

"We think we're so different across our communities. We may come from a different country. We might work in different jobs. We might work the land, or work in tech, but we're not all that different —we're human,” says Brian Muegge of the divisions so prevalent in society today.  “There really needs to be a better way to connect across the urban-rural continuum. I hope it's through  food. and I hope it can be around natural resource conservation." Ikigai is a Japanese word that means "a reason for being". It's a concept that refers to something that gives a person a sense of purpose and joy.  Brian Muegge has found his ikigai. A 31 year old with a deep passion for the environment,  he has found his purpose in working to steward the planet we are lucky to call home.  Growing up in a tech focused community in northern California, Brian always felt like a fish out of water.  Instead of following in the path of his father who was a semiconductor engineer, he found himself drawn to the natural world.  A fan of Steve Irwin and others, he had his share of pets. "My mother was not particularly good at saying no," he says with a smile. But it was when he accepted a gift of two, fertilized emu eggs and an incubator from a relative that he would test his mother's resolve.A biology major at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, Brian studied the habitat of the yellow-bellied marmot, a research project that earned him the moniker "Marmot Man". He  now works with an organization called Salmon Safe, a non-profit organization in the Pacific Northwest that works with West Coast farmers, developers, and other environmentally innovative landowners to reduce watershed impacts. As you listen to this episode, consider:How much do you know about the environment in which you live? Where does your water come from? What birds build their nests in the trees? If you live in a city, what is the impact of city life on the natural world?Take a field trip to a local park or natural setting. Use your senses. Spend some time observing the environment. Read up on the environmental issues facing your community. Consider getting involved in a river clean up or collecting signatures for a local environmental effort.You can learn more about Salmon Safe here.Do you know someone who has a story to tell? Someone who is giving back to their community? Working to make our world a better place? Send an email to suzanne@suzannemaggio.com. Nominate them for a future episode of From Sparks to Light.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Threads @suzannemaggio_author

“…Give without remembering,” encourages Bryan Driscoll, the creator of the goodness game who prefers to give out of the spotlight. “It's not about me, “ he says, humbly.  Driscoll suggests several “rules” for playing the goodness game. “One way is to be the only one who knows what you're doing… helping from afar. [The] second is where only you and the recipient knows what you're doing. There's no bragging. No posting on social media. The only way you can let anyone else know is if you engage their help.”  — the goodness game rulesTwenty five years ago Bryan Driscoll found himself at a crossroads. He was 18 years old and preparing to spend the night at a bus station in Orlando, Florida when a stranger offered him a hot meal and a place to sleep. It was that simple act of kindness that launched his desire to pay it forward, offering help to anyone who needed it. He placed an ad on Craigslist, and what happened after that became the impetus for what happened next. As he tells us, Bryan Driscoll is just your average guy, a real estate developer and marketing expert from Pittsburg Pennsylvania whose book, the goodness game, reminds us that we can all make a difference, one small act at a time.Bryan Driscoll is a first-time author with a passion for inspiring kindness and creating positive change in the world. He lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he runs a successful digital marketing agency. He credits his amazing wife with putting up with his insanity—and probably encourages it more than she should. He has three sons, all different and awesome in their own way. They say they get their awesomeness from their father, and he won't argue, even if everyone knows the truth. As you listen to this episode, consider:“Give without remembering,” Bryan encourages. Can you challenge yourself to give anonymously, without fanfare or appreciation?Helping is easier when we recognize our helping style. Some of us are physical helpers. Others emotional. Still others financial. What is your helping style? When giving is a planned activity, Bryan says, it's more likely that you will be able to commit to it long term; for example, having a “give fund” for cash donations, or a “time fund” for in person helping. Can you create a plan to engage in your community?You can learn more about the giving game here.Do you know someone who has a story to tell? Someone who is giving back to their community? Working to make our world a better place? Send an email to suzanne@suzannemaggio.com. Nominate them for a future episode of From Sparks to Light.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Threads @suzannemaggio_author

This is part 9 of a special series focusing on the community of Honoring Our Experience, a program of  San Francisco's Shanti Project, and their work with long-term survivors of the HIV/AIDS virus.“I think that's the purpose of volunteer work," says Lilian Talero of her work with the HIV/AIDS immigrant community. "We think, ‘I'm going to give my time for free. I'm going to do this for [other] people,' but all I'm doing is healing. Through the time that I'm giving. Through the work with others. I'm not giving anything. Honestly, we're getting so much."Lililana Talera immigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area from Bogota, Columbia after her mother's death from endometrial cancer. In the challenging and heartbreaking final years of her mother's life, Liliana was by her side, caring for her through the darkest of times. That loss prompted a crisis for Liliana, a young, single woman who had dedicated her life to her family.With the help of a few “guardian angels”, Liliana struggled for months to reclaim her life and then,  a shocking diagnosis of HIV and her own endometrial cancer brought her to a crossroads. She faced a difficult question. Would she give up and prepare to die or choose life, and the challenges that would follow. This is the story of that choice. Of Liliana's courage to face uncertainty, and her journey to find meaning and purpose that would eventually sustain her.As you listen to this episode, consider:Liliana speaks of the angels in her life, people who stood by her in her darkest hours. Who are the angels in your life?How can you be an angel for someone today? Self care is a priority for those who dedicate their lives to helping others. How do you take care of your own physical and mental health?Learn more about Honoring Our Experience here.Do you know someone who has a story to tell? Someone who is giving back to their community? Working to make our world a better place? Send an email to suzanne@suzannemaggio.com. Nominate them for a future episode of From Sparks to Light.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Threads @suzannemaggio_author

“Just getting to hear her life story was so incredible, the difficult things she's been through in her life —it really puts it into perspective… it makes me just want to ask any senior I talk to, ‘What is your story?' because everyone has a story.” - Lee StumbaughAs we begin the spring semester of From Sparks to Light, I have a special treat for you. I'm joined today by a few of my students, Jenn, Mikayla and Lee, who were a part of my fall semester Careers in Psychology class. One of the assignments of the class is to engage in what we call in education, service learning. Service learning involves going out into the community to engage in service and then coming back into the classroom to discuss that experience through weekly writing and discussion. Today Jenn, Mikayla and Lee are here to talk about their experience. What they did. How it felt to give back. What they learned from the experience and finally, they offer their advice for anyone listening who is wondering how and if to get involved.Let me tell you how proud I am of them and their classmates who give hundreds of hours of service to our community each semester. They really are the future.Welcome Jenn, Mikayla and Lee.Do you know someone who has a story to tell? Someone who is giving back to their community? Working to make our world a better place? Send an email to suzanne@suzannemaggio.com. Nominate them for a future episode of From Sparks to Light.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Threads @suzannemaggio_author

“Hi, My name is Matt and I'm a teacher. Today I'm going to tell you a story about a sticky note.”Perhaps, like me, you're one of the more than 345K followers who tune in to Instagram or Tik Tok to hear one of Mr. Eich's wildly popular stories about his students. Matt Eicheldinger is an author and sixth grade language arts teacher who has amassed a treasure trove of stories, lessons that  help him, and us, learn what it means to be fully human. Stories are, as he quotes author Jason Reynolds, baked-in empathy machines.“I happen to have a really good memory from my childhood,” he says of his new found superpower. “I remember lots of embarrassing moments… and so [one day] I told my class, if I tell you an embarrassing story, will you do what I ask?”  Needless to say they said yes. He placed a jar in his classroom and filled it with stories from his own life, sharing them with his students. It was that first collection of stories from his own life that formed the basis for his first book, Matt Sprouts and the Curse of Ten Broken Toes.  But over the years of teaching, his collection of stories grew to include anecdotes from his time with his students. His new book, Sticky Notes, captures them in narrative form.Matt Eicheldinger, or Mr. Eich, as he is known to his students, is a teacher, storyteller and author of three books, Matt Sprouts and the Curse of Ten Broken Toes, Matt Sprouts and the Day Nora Ate the Sun and Sticky Notes, Memorable Lessons from Ordinary Moments. He lives in Minnesota with his wife and two children, and tries to create new adventures with them whenever possible. When he's not writing, you can find him telling students stories in his classroom, or trail running along the Minnesota River Bottoms.As you listen to this episode, consider:We all have favorite stories from our childhood. What is one that opened your eyes and heart to a new way of understanding? In his story “Phillip”, Matt talks about the power of the pause. Where can you find places in your own life to pause and open yourself up to something surprising?“Stories are baked-in empathy machines,” says Jason Reynolds, the author and former Ambassador for Young People's Literature. How can we use the power of story to create a more compassionate world?To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Threads @suzannemaggio_author

This is part 8 of a special series focusing on the community of Honoring Our Experience, and their work with long-term survivors of the HIV/AIDS virus.“I was a reluctant activist,” says Vince Crisostomo of the humble beginnings of his advocacy for LGBTQ communities. He'd done his share of sitting by the bedsides of friends and community members as they succumbed to the deadly virus, but it would be a few more years until he would step into a role he has now occupied for more than 30 years.An invitation to return to his native Guam on World AIDS Day changed all that. They were looking for a gay Chamorro who was HIV positive to speak. “Oh my God that's me,” he thought, but he dismissed it outright. Surely there was someone else, he mused to a friend. But it was his time. A time to lean into the moment.  He didn't want to regret the chances he didn't take.  Now, more than three decades later, he has committed his life to the healing power of community.Vince Crisostomo is a gay Chamorro (Pacific Islander) long-term HIV/AIDS survivor  He is passionate about bringing health care to all and social justice equity to people of every sexual identity, HIV status, gender, race and age.  Vince is currently SFAF's Director of Aging Services and is seated on the SF Human Rights Commission's LGBTQI+ Advisory Committee and California State Equity on Aging Committee.As you listen to this episode, consider:Where are the opportunities to step forward, even reluctantly, to make a difference?What kind of world do we want to “age in to?” What is one thing we can do to work towards that vision?Vince talks about making optimistic choices?  What is one optimistic choice you can make today? Learn more about Honoring Our Experience here.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Threads @suzannemaggio_author

“There's a longing that runs through our species. People are so hungry for belonging and recognition.”Irwin Keller was in third grade when he knew he wanted to be a rabbi, but it would be many years before he would heed his calling. Along the way he became a lawyer and gay rights advocate and a marginally famous singing drag queen for 21 years with America's Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet, the Kinsey Sicks.With war raging in the middle east and a fractured world around us, we talk about the desire to find connection to something greater than ourselves, a way to lean into a sense of compassion and kindness and the courage to sit with uncertainty. Rabbi Irwin Keller is the spiritual leader of Congregation Ner Shalom in Sonoma County, California. The author of Shakinah at the Art Institute, a collection of memoir, essay and poetry that aims to bring the reader closer to the divine.As you listen to this interview, consider:The last ten years or so have brought some significant challenges to many of our lives. Where do you look to find peace in times of profound distress? Many of us have had religious experiences that have caused us deep pain and yet, we long for sense of spiritual connection, something that touches us and gives us a connection to something bigger than ourselves.  Where do you find that in your life? What, if any, role does religion or spirituality play in that?How might we reinvent old practices, rituals, and ceremonies to allow us to find new meaning in them, changes that might create the possibility of seeing ourselves more deeply in the practice?To learn more about Rabbi Keller, visit his website.You can purchase Shakinah at the Art Institute here.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Threads @suzannemaggio_author

It was just a ham sandwich.Karen Olson walked that route hundreds of times. Heading home after a long day of work in New York City at pharmaceutical company Warner Lambert, she noticed a woman sitting in front of Grand Central Station who appeared to be homeless. Instead of walking past as she'd done so many times before, she ran across the street and bought the woman a sandwich and a bottle of orange juice. “Thank you,” the woman said. It was the first time she had eaten since the day before. As she sat beside her, Karen took the woman's hand in hers. She was struck by its warmth, even in the cold of a winter's day. “It was in that moment that the vail was lifted,” she said. “I recognized our shared humanity.”  What happened that evening changed the course of her life. A few years later Karen founded the Interfaith Hospitality Network, now renamed Family Promise, to address the devastating effects of family homelessness. Now a national movement with more than 192 affiliates across the country, Olson's work has inspired more than 160,000 volunteers in 42 states to make a difference in the lives of families who are struggling.Karen Olson is President Emerita of Family Promise and the author of a new memoir, Meant for More in which she shares the stories of the many people she met and worked with during her uncanny journey. As you listen to this episode, consider:Karen's work reminds us that small acts can have big impact. What is one small act you can take to help someone today?The power of a single act can be multiplied when we invite others to join us. Where are the opportunities to expand your reach by inviting others to join in the work?Karen believes we are “Meant for More?” What is the “More” that you are called towards?You can learn more about Karen Olson on her website. Get your copy of Meant for More here.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Threads @suzannemaggio_author

Traei Tsai was 6 years old when her family emigrated from Taipei, Taiwan to make a new start in Vancouver, Canada.  New to a country and community where they didn't speak the language, Traei began school where, for the first time in her life, she began to recognize that she was different. Some othe the children teased her, and to manage the discomfort she found solace in books. She began learning English through reading, even though her grasp of the language was still tenuous. In books she found the power of sharing a story, a way to open oneself to world where a different way of being was possible. She was grateful to her teachers and recalls a time when a teacher corrected her after she'd read aloud. “She did it with such grace,” she said, not shaming her in any way.  Perhaps not surprisingly, Traei found her voice in sharing the stories of others.  On her podcast Her Stories Untold, she shares stories from women from various walks of life as a way to build connection to the ordinary (and extraordinary) lives we all lead. As an actress and filmmaker she aims to open hearts and minds to the challenges that exist in the world around us.  Film has the ability to break us open, encouraging us to think about things differently, and then, perhaps, to shape our actions to make the world a better place.Traei Tsai is a Taiwanese-Canadian multi-talented artist based in Vancouver, Canada, who gained recognition for her role in the globe's first "Corona Movie," which in addition to the subject of the film's title, explored issues of racism and xenophobia. As the Vice-President of the BC Minorities in Film & TV Society, she champions diversity in the film industry, advocating for representation both in front of and behind the camera. Traei speaks seven languages with varying degrees of fluency, including English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Taiwanese, and Russian. She is currently developing new digital art series to promote harmonious living and is in pre-development on several documentary, web series, and TV/film projects.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Threads @suzannemaggio_author

At the age of 19, Manizha Wafeq traveled to Oklahoma City with 13 women to participate in Peace Through Business, a program to support women from her native Afghanistan to become entrepreneurs. No sooner had they arrived in the United States when it became clear that three of the women did not speak enough English to follow the lectures. Manizha volunteered to serve as an interpreter. She taught them to type in Farsi on their laptops, creating an alternate keyboard to the English one they had. Sitting beside them, she assisted them in writing their business plans, all the while working on her own.  The rest, as they say, is herstory.Now, more than 20 years later, she has garnered a wealth of experience in development, with a dedicated focus on women's empowerment and gender equality. She has positively impacted the lives of thousands of women. In her role as the PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS country facilitator and trainer, she has directly trained and mentored approximately 800 women from over 17 provinces of Afghanistan in the last 17 years. She has co-authored a training manual on Business Start-ups and contributed to the creation of “Gender and the Legal Framework of Afghanistan.” Manizha Wafeq has learned valuable lessons through years of working to change the lives of women in her native Afghanistan, a country of 41 million people that has seen dramatic cultural shifts in recent years. "Long term commitment, patience and building your network with the right people" are key.  She admits to a revolutionary streak in her personality. She is someone who is not afraid to take on whatever challenges await her. But big change takes time. “You have to keep on learning,” she says.  If you don't learn, you will never succeed. Passion only goes so far.  You have to be well versed. You have to take the time to learn what you need to make the changes you want to make.” She is the winner of several awards such as the Enterprising Women Magazine's Advocacy and Leadership Award, Leadership Award from the National Business Association of the US, and Young Activist Award from the Afghan Women's Network and the Afghan Lower House of the Parliament. She also won the award for the best membership services and entrepreneurship development of SMEs at the 11th World Chambers Congress. She has MBA from the American University of Afghanistan and she is the mother of a 9 year old daughter.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Threads @suzannemaggio_author

To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

This summer we're replaying some of our favorite episodes from season 3, episodes that offer inspirational ideas to help you get involved in making a difference in your community. This week we're revisiting an episode with Koen van Rompay, an infectious diseases researcher and the founder of Sahaya International. In this powerful episode, Koen reminds us that action begins with one small step.For the full show notes, please refer to episode 57.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

This summer we're replaying some of our favorite episodes from season 3, episodes that offer inspirational ideas to help you get involved in making a difference in your community. This week we're revisiting an episode with non-profit administrator and public health professional Wendy Voet. She began her career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger, and in this impactful episode, she reminds us that when the going gets tough, "Keep Moving Forward."For the full show notes, please refer to episode 53.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

This summer we're replaying some of our favorite episodes from season 3, episodes that offer inspirational ideas to help you get involved in making a difference in your community. This week we're revisiting an episode with author and activist Dan Glass, whose advice is simple —sometimes you have to get into Beautiful Trouble.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

This summer we're replaying some of our top episodes from season 3, episodes that offer inspirational ideas to help you get involved in making a difference in your community. This week we're revisiting an episode with Joey Garcia whose advice is simple - Say Yes!To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

This is part 8 of a special series focusing on the community of Honoring Our Experience, and their work with long-term survivors of the HIV/AIDS virus.Today on the podcast we're revisiting a conversation from Season 2, with Martina Clark. Author, Activist, and HIV survivor.Imagine being 28 years old, arguably at the beginning of your life, and told you have 5 years to live. With a sense of nothing to lose, Martina Clark, writer, teacher, and activist, dove into an activism that led her to becoming the first openly HIV-positive person to work for UNAIDS in 1996. She captured that life in her memoir, My Unexpected Life, a mix of personal story, travel, humor and an up-close look at the squishy underbelly of the United Nations that follows her personal journey—emotional and physical—interwoven with her professional path. It is an insider's view to the history of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, particularly as pertains to women. A native Californian, Martina teaches in the City University of New York system at Laguardia Community College where she empowers the next generation of young people to explore their passions to find their voice in the world.To learn more about Martina's work visit her website:martina@martina-clark.commartina-clark.comTo learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

This is part 7 of a special series focusing on the community of Honoring Our Experience, and their work with long-term survivors of the HIV/AIDS virus.“I am an educator, listener, advocate, supporter and challenger,” reads Greg Casillas from his version of the George Ella Lyon poem, I Am From. “I am from the belief that it's  never as bad as it is good. I am from a brother that said the only thing that we are given is a chance.” Greg Casillas knows the power of story. The gift of showing up and listening. Of bearing witness to someone else's journey. In April, Honoring Our Experience held it's biannual retreat.  Tucked away in the California hills, long term survivors of HIV/AIDS. gathered with the newly diagnosed and those who support them, for a weekend to remember. A time to share their stories. To  be grateful. To hold each other close. And to heal.It was on that weekend that Greg Casillas came to terms with pain he'd been carrying for far too long. Pain he barely acknowledged was still there. But that's what happens when you bear witness. When you show up for yourself and others. Slowing down allows you to look inside —and come to terms with moments sometimes long forgotten. Pain shared is pain divided. That's the healing power of story.Greg Casillas is a healer. The Strategic Program Director at CRRC (Community Resource and Recreation Center) in Canyon Lake, TX, he provides program development, dissemination, coordination and policy & procedure structure to 4 different programs housed at CRRC.As you listen to this episode, consider:Think about someone in your community who needs support. What is one thing you can do to to lessen their load?Consider writing your own “I Am From” poem. What are the experiences of your own life that make you who you are?It's easy to look outward, seeing the work others need to do. How can we use those opportunities to look inward and challenge ourselves to grow?To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

“I felt as empty as a drum,” says Molly Carr, a Juilliard-trained, world class violist. It was a career she had worked her whole young life for. She travelled the world and performed on some of music's most iconic stages. From Carnegie Hall to the Kennedy Center, Molly has shared the stage with some of the world's greatest musicians and yet, “the  constant focus on career and the fear that it could all go away,” sucked the joy from the instrument and the music that she had loved since she was a little girl. When a shattered glass bowl made it impossible for her to play, she found herself searching for a way to make meaning of her life.  A chance experience with a late stage Alzheimer's patient changed all that and opened her up to a new way of using the gifts she had been given.As she sat at the bedside of Ruth, the late stage Alzheimer's patient, she promised her that if she could ever play her instrument again, she would return with some of her friends to play for her. Six months later she made good on that promise, and Project: Music Heals Us was born. From  prisons to hospitals and refugee camps, Project: Music Heals Us brings the healing power of music to some of the darkest places in our world.Under the direction of Dana Martin, Project Manager for the Music for the Future Program, PMHS recently completed a seven week program with the Sonoma County Jail in Santa Rosa, CA.  participants earned certificates and school credit for their participation as part of a new pilot project with the Juilliard School in New York City, NY.Dana Martin, Project Manager, Music for the Future, Prison Programs, PMHUMolly Carr is the founder and artistic director of Project: Music Heals Us. A world renowned viola player, she is on the faculty of the Juilliard School and performs as a member of the Juilliard String Quartet and the Carr-Petrova Duo.Dana Martin is the Program Manager for Music for the Future; a music composition course presented by Project: Music Heals Us. Dana is an actor, multidisciplinary artist, educator and theater critic based in Los Angeles, CA.You can learn more about Project: Music Heals Us here.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

"No matter who other people are, when you peel back the skin, we're all the same," says Hulda Brown of her struggle to find her place in a world that hasn't always been welcoming.The daughter of a single mom, she had a difficult childhood. She was taught that she was not worthy of love. That she had no value. That her voice should not be heard.  But despite those early messages and painful experiences, Hulda Brown would not be silent.In 1991 she was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, contracted, she believes, from a needle stick while collecting bottles and cans to earn some cash. It was that experience, she says, that opened the door to a future that would allow her to find her voice and use it to share her experiences to educate and support others.In this very special episode of Honoring Our Experience, Hulda speaks to us about what it was like to be a flake of pepper in a salt shaker, a metaphor she uses to remind us of the discomfort and challenges in trying to find our way in a world of difference.  On the eve of her 80th birthday, Hulda Brown reminds us that finding your voice is a powerful thing, and once we've found it, we need to use it for good.Learn more about Honoring Our Experience Here.Photograph from here.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

“I'm not Melinda Gates,” says Joy Kolin, the founder of Giving Joy, an organization that encourages and strengthens women entrepreneurship world wide through micro grants and mentorship.  “But you don't need to be. What we've learned is that you can do a lot with a little.  We can all make a difference —and we should.A self described Tex-Israeli, Joy Kolin was born in Texas but spent most of her formative years in Israel. It was those international beginnings that led her to a love of travel. Of a curiosity for exploration that would pave the way for finding her true passion. She's spent her professional life working in the area of international relations —making a global difference. From health care to peace negotiations, she's been a part of some interesting work. Work that many of us could only imagine. But it wasn't until she made the choice to shift her focus to supporting women directly through her innovative micro grant program that she experienced the joy of truly making a difference.As you listen to this episode, consider:We often worry that we don't have the capacity to make an impact —that what we have to offer might be too little. But Joy teaches us that it doesn't take a lot to make a difference.  What is one small thing you can do today to help someone else? Joy talks about the multiplier effect, the idea that even the smallest action can produce big ripples. How can you extend your reach by doing something that has a multiplier effect.Practice curiosity. Try something new today.   What did you learn? Learn more about Giving Joy here.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

“I wanted to work in something that could better the lives of my community,” says Mariana Incarnato, an Ashoka Fellow and the Founder of Doncel, an agency in Buenos Aires Argentina that focuses on changing the way youth who leave residential care are supported as they find their way into adulthood.  A clinical psychologist from Buenos Aires Argentina, she worked in Spain for a few years before returning home to her native Argentina.  “My sense of belonging was very deep,” she says of her desire to return home.  “And my sense of working for social justice was very deep as well.”That injustice motivated her. “Almost  50% of the people live below the poverty line so when you feel you belong to a community, that sense is very strong —that commitment is very strong, if you've had more opportunity than others.”She founded Doncel, an organization dedicated to fighting for the rights of children who were timing out of residential care. Faced with the end of care at the age of 18, young people who have been in the foster care system face an uphill battle. Without family to support them, many end up on the streets, struggling to find their way.  Armed with the knowledge that youth leaving care had knowledge to share, Mariana Incarnato and her band of activists fought to create laws that would put in place supports that would give them the help they needed to take their place in society.As you listen to this episode, consider:Each of us have an opportunity to create a community where we all belong. Which are the communities where you feel a sense of belonging?Mariana believes that if we are fortunate enough to have opportunity, we can do something that could better the lives of others. Where have you been given opportunity?  Is there something you can do to share what you have been given?Who are the voices that need to be heard in society?  What might we learn if we could take the time to listen?Learn more about Mariana's work here.Visit her Ashoka Fellows page here.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

Florencia Lalor's adopted family always spoke openly of her adoption. “It was one of the things they did right,” she says. And if she ever wanted to search for her birth mother, she always knew she would have their support. That moment came in 2004, when curious about the mother that gave her up, she grabbed the phone book and began making calls. What she discovered set her on a path that would change her personal and professional worlds.Florencia Lalor has spent her life working to understand the experience of adoption. An adoptee herself, she has spoken to hundreds of adoptees from all corners of the world. “I found one common thing… that we all have in common,” she says of the experience of the adoptee, “And that is that very profound fear of not being loved.”Florencia Lalor is a psychologist and social worker in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is the founder of La Voz del Hijo, a virtual platform for adoptees to bring their voices forward. She is co-author, (Belén López Medus y María Casabal)  of a children's book, Ojos Color Cafe, Hazel Eyes, that is geared towards helping adoptees speak out about their experience.As you listen to this episode, consider:Florencia says that the early wound created when a child is given up for adoption creates a “fear of not being loved”, a fear that exists, no matter how much they are loved by their new family. How might knowing that help us to understand the journey of friends who are adopted.How does knowing where you come from affect your sense of belonging —or deepen your understanding of yourself?A truth about adoption is that adoptees belong to two families. Creating space for that duality is critical for the adoptee. Think about the “families” that you belong to. How do you integrate them in your own life?You can learn more about Florencia's work here.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

This is part 5 of a special series focusing on the community of Honoring Our Experience, and their work with long-term survivors of the HIV/AIDS virus.Harry Breaux never thought he'd live past 30. His father died of a heart attack at 50. His mother passed away when she was 51. Now, at 79, he's outlived them both. Being diagnosed with HIV did not come as a surprise. “You can't play in the water and not expect to get wet,” he says. When he finally grew sick in his early 50s, he battled three simultaneous infections that threatened to take his life. Hospitalized, he found himself forced to make a decision he never expected to make. Would he let the virus take him, or would he figh?. The rest, as they say, is history.There's something that happens when you accept that this is your life now,” he says. “You can beat it back …but it will never go away.” Now as an “elder” member of the Honoring Our Experience Community he bears witness to the journeys of so many who have come after him, sharing his story and  listening to theirs, holding a deep compassion and empathy for the struggle that unites them.As you listen to this episode, consider:Harry grew up in a small town in Louisiana, where what was acceptable was colored by a very conservative world view. How are you shaped by the culture, environment or community in which you live?When Harry got sick he made a decision that would change his life. What important decision(s) have you made that changed the course of things to come?  What did you learn from those decisions?Sharing our stories help us to recognize we are not alone. Listening to others helps us develop empathy. Who can you listen to this week?  With whom can you share your story?Learn more about Honoring Our Experience here.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

“I knew I wanted to look at things differently,” says Cleveland Harvey, a social worker who works in palliative care with people who are struggling with serious illnesses. “When I interact with people I want to either help or understand them better.” Cleveland Harvey's journey to social work is rooted in his early experience as a child in South Central Los Angeles during the mid-eighties when the area was steeped in the gang and crack epidemics. As the only black child in the neighborhood, he struggled to find direction. A chance meeting at a local hospital led him to find people who mentored him and nudged him towards social work, encouraging him to commit his life to making a difference for others.March is National Social Work Month. Social workers are professional helpers, people who are committed to  making the world a better place. From the care and protection of children to creating policy that shapes communities for years to come, the work of a social workers is diverse and wide reaching, guided by a set of principles aimed at fighting against discrimination, supporting the disenfranchised and lifting up those who struggle to have a voice.As you listen to this episode, consider:Who are the people who have mentored you?What are the lessons you learned from them? How did they shape your journey?How can you pay it forward? Are there opportunities in your community for you to mentor and guide someone?To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

Hi folks,March is national social work month.  Social work is one of many professional helping careers, but it's also an identity.  I am a social worker, I tell my students with pride.  It's not my career, its my calling.  A calling to serve others. A calling to raise up the disadvantaged, the voiceless and the marginalized. To walk beside the people who often walk alone.Today I'm sharing an episode from season 2 with my friend and fellow social worker Gary Mallon who reminds us that being seen for who you truly are is one of the greatest gifts we can give one another.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

“I'm very much a proponent of chop wood, carry water. Just do,” says Paula Sheil, an educator, writer, poet and the founder and president of Tuleburg Press. “My sock drawer is incredibly organized.”It's an old Zen proverb. Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. When it feels like things are tough, we can still wash the dishes. Weed the garden. Clean out our sock drawer.Paula Sheil is a dynamo. As an elementary school teacher she filled her classroom with student created cardboard missions so that they could experience exploring California's  Camino Real. As a college educator she teaches her poetry students to shift their perspective from their own internal strife to the external world they live in. To begin to notice, to connect with the universal in life's experience. It is there that true connection happens.  As the founder of Tuleburg Press, she works to bring the voices of Stockton area writers into the world.She's a learn by doing kind of person, so it's no surprise that when she was gifted an old fashioned printing press, she used it as an opportunity to create The Write Place, a non profit center where students of all ages can learn the book arts.As you listen to this episode, consider:What does Paula mean when she says “chop wood, carry water”? When you feel stuck, discouraged or frustrated, what  is one simple action you can take?How can you turn your attention outwards?  Can you approach life with an observer's curiousity? You can learn more about Paula, Tuleburg Press and The Write Place here.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

This is part 4 of a special series focusing on the work of Honoring Our Experience, and their work with longterm survivors of the HIV/AIDS virus.It started like a nightmare. Pregnant, in a toxic relationship and far away from the family she loved, Deirdre Johnson learned she'd been infected with the HIV virus. It was December 5th, a day Deirdre now celebrates. The day her life changed forever. On a Christmas Day hike to the top of a nearby mountain, Deirdre asked for guidance. “I was about 5 months pregnant…, and when I got to the top of the mountain I prayed. Wherever you want to send me,” she promised, “I'll go.”  No longer afraid, she took matters into her own hands and the rest, as she says, is history.She turned her focus to making a difference, not just for herself and her children but for those who would come after. Now, a celebrated public speaker and advocate, she is the co-founder of Ending Criminalization of HIV and Over-incarceration in Virginia (ECHO VA). You can learn more about her work here.As you listen to this episode, consider:In those moments of great challenge, where do you seek answers?What have you learned through those darkest moments?Where are the opportunities for you to share that wisdom so that others may benefit from your journey?You can learn more about the work of Honoring Our Experience here.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

“There is no getting over this. You will find a way to use it,” says Dr. Joyce Mikal-Flynn of the traumatic injury that changed her life. “You will find a way to incorporate this into your life. You will make meaning of this pain and you will find a way to exist —sometimes in the loss.”22 minutes. That's the amount of time Joyce Mikal-Flynn lay on the pavement beside a swimming pool while friends worked desperately to resuscitate her. She'd just swam the final leg of friendly competition when she sank to the bottom of the pool. Those 22 minutes became the catalyst for a profound life change. The motivation she used to come back stronger. Not just to survive but to thrive. Dr. Joyce Mikal-Flynn is the founder of Metahab, a strength based system to help individuals recover from traumatic events.  She is the author of two books, Turning Tragedy into Triumph: Metahabilitation, A Contemporary Model of Rehabilitation and Anatomy of a Survivor: Building Resilience, Grit, and Growth After Trauma as well as numerous articles about post traumatic growth.As you listen to this episode consider:What is one difficult experience you struggle to recover from?How can you focus on the ways in which this struggle has presented you with gifts you did not expect? (For example, feeling grateful for having survived?)How can you begin to incorporate these gifts into your life?You can learn more about Dr. Joyce Mikal-Flynn here.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

In honor of Black History month, we revisit a conversation from Season 2 with Dr. Samuel Aymer, a professor of Social Work at Hunter College."How do we hold multiple truths?  How do we (as people of color) embrace our humanity when that humanity is not always valued," asks Samuel Aymer, a professor of Social Work at Hunter College.  "It's not the first thing that comes up...  This is difficult stuff to talk about."This is a conversation about the importance of reflection. Of seeing ourselves when we walk through the world. Having role models to look up to who challenge and encourage us to be our best selves. And in the face of difference, to have those conversations that give us a window into experiences we have not lived so that we can learn and grow. Samuel Aymer teaches Clinical Practice with Individuals and Families and Violence Against Women at Hunter College in New York. His scholarly and research endeavors centers on the intersection of masculinity, African American men, race, trauma, intimate partner violence, fatherhood and psychotherapeutic interventions. As you listen to this episode consider:How are you reflected in the community around you?What impact does that reflection have on you? On your sense of belonging? On your understanding of value?How can we work to expand our experiences? Of enhancing the reflections around us? How might that expansion enhance our own growth?To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

“Everyone is looking for the same things,” says Catherine Schweikert, a PhD and Physician Assistant who has spent the past few years researching the profound power of compassion. “We are all in search of what makes us feel safe, happy, healthy and free," she says. “What that means to me may be wildly different than what it means to you,”  she adds, but that's not the point. It is understanding that desire which has the power to heal us.  As different as we may be, we have the potential to hold compassion for everyone we meet, even when we disagree.Catherine has devoted her career to exploring the transformative power of compassion with special emphasis on the medical profession. With a PhD in Psychophysiology, she is the author of The Compassion Remedy, How to leverage the psychophysiological benefits of compassion to beat burnout, renew relationships and enjoy greater well-being.As you listen to this episode, consider:What does it mean to you to feel safe, happy, healthy, and free?How does understanding that others are looking for the same thing shift your experience of them?What is one place where I can practice holding compassion today?To learn more about Catherine's work, visit her website.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

“I got tired of being tired,” says Ms. Billie Cooper of her life as an addict.  ,Along term HIV survivor and trans activist, she knew she needed to make a change. “I got tired of not being able to eat, of living on top ramen. I wanted a better life.”Ms. Billie has had her share of challenges. But through it all, she has learned to turn pain into purpose. Sober for 23 years, she is a cancer survivor and veteran. HIV positive for more than 35 years, her history with the long term survivor community began many years ago with her involvement with AIDS, Medicine and Miracles. She was in that first healing circle, more than 10 years ago, and she remains a loud and proud voice for everyone who needs someone to stand by their side, to lift them up and to give people a fighting chance.As you listen to this episode, consider:We are all shaped by the paths we've walked.  How do the paths you've walked shape how you show up in the world?What challenges do you face?  What are the lessons to be learned from them?Ms. Billie talks about a person who challenged her to follow her truth, someone whose support was instrumental to Billie's life journey. Who is that person in your life? How can you be that person for someone else?You can learn more about the work of Honoring Our Experience here.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

On From Sparks to Light, we hear the stories of people who are making a difference. People who are giving back in various ways. What we don't often hear, however, is the stories of how their actions impact others. What happens because of that work. In 2024, Honoring Our Experience will celebrate its 10th anniversary. Over the next year we will hear the voices of the people who have become integral members of the long-term survivor's community that Honoring Our Experience has helped create. People who never imagined they would live long enough to look back and recognize the path they'd walked and discover the new one that stood in front of them. People who have found their spark and are leading the journey forward.This week, Gregg Cassin, the founder of that extraordinary program and I talk to Carlos Ferriera who tells us how important community was in his recovery and learned to forgive himself and find his purpose.Carlos immigrated to America at the age of 4 from the then Portuguese African colony of the Cape Verde Islands. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and fulfilled his parent's dream by becoming the first member of his family to obtain a college degree. In 1982, he left for Southern California as the New York City winters were bleeding him and the pall of death hung heavy.He hoped to escape the ravages of AIDS. But in 1985 he tested positive with a 3-year life expectancy. Fortunately, he turned out to be a long term non-progressor. He survived HIV/AIDS, but  almost did not survive the meth epidemic in the 2010s. He am eternally grateful to SFAF, in particular the harm reduction based Stonewall Project, for helping me turn his life completely around.“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so, with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some STYLE”. - Carlos FerrieraYou can learn more and support the work of Honoring Our Experience here.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

When Sandy Holman was a teenager, she watched as the Klu Klux Klan burned a wooden cross on her high school soccer field. This wasn't in the deep south, but in the Sacramento, California neighborhood where her family moved when she was in elementary school. It was that experience, as well as several others, that led her to recognize the work she was meant to do in the world. A world that does not treat all people with love, dignity and kindness.Sandy Holman, also known as the Purple Lady for her passionate love of the color purple, has dedicated her life to breaking down the systems of inequality and injustice the poison our communities. As the director of the Culture C.O.-O.P., she travels the country working with organizations to create environments of equity, diversity and inclusion.  "But change is hard," she reminds us.A powerful storyteller, she is the author of several children's books, including Grandpa, is Everything Black Bad? and We All Have a Heritage.To learn more about Sandy and the Culture C.O.-O.P., visit their website.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

Back on the podcast this week is my dear friend Gregg Cassin. Gregg is an HIV/AIDS activist, a public speaker and someone I've known since our college days back in Boston.  He is also someone who has dedicated his life to serving the HIV/AIDS communities, bringing healing to those whose lives are impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The focus is simple. To bring people together to build community because as Gregg knew intuitively from the very first days of the epidemic, community has the power to heal. Gregg works in San Francisco for Shanti Project, an organization that is celebrating it's 50th anniversary next year, where he leads a program for long term survivors of the epidemic called Honoring Our Experience.    This month on From Sparks to Light we are joining forces to launch a special project, the Honoring Our Experience Series.  Each month on the last Thursday of the month we will introduce you to some of the people who have experienced the epidemic firsthand, people who have found that when we share our stories and build communities, healing happens. Today Gregg joins us to take us back to the early days of the epidemic and the experiences that lead him forward.You can learn more about Honoring Our Experience and Shanti Project, here.You can  support the work of Honoring Our Experience here. To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

Bill Glenn, a retired therapist and author, spent 18 years preparing to be a Jesuit priest before he realized he was being called to something else.  “I knew my work was elsewhere," he says, although I had no idea what it was.   Two years later, the AIDS epidemic hit. “It was as if I'd been called out of the Jesuits to be present to this epidemic. He realized this was the work he was trained to do, to attend to the pain in the world. This is the journey he writes about in his memoir, I Came Here Seeking a Person. One Gay Man's Spiritual Journey.A question I that comes up often when talking to guests on the podcast. How did you get started?  What prompted you to take action? In this powerful conversation Bill Glenn challenges us to attend to the pain around us. “Pain is all around us,” he says. “And each of us is called to bear witness to it. To be present to those in need. That is at the heart of making a difference.To learn more about Bill, or to purchase a copy of his book, I Came Here Seeking a Person: One Gay Man's Spiritual Journey, please check out his website.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

“[The poverty] was a really big shock,” said Koen Van Rompay, an infectious disease researcher who was in India to speak at a conference.  Seeing all the people on the streets of Chennai begging for food was  painful. “I felt very frustrated. Here I was a scientist… trying to do something about HIV, but these people lacked even the basic necessities in life.” He had to do something, but what?He met a social worker named Mr. Selvam, He showed Koen some hand embroidered greeting cards made by the women of his village. He was selling them to make money to support his fledgling nonprofit, one that was focused on giving the children of his small rural community a chance at something better.   Koen bought them all with the pledge to sell them to his friends and family and send the money back to Mr. Selvam.  One small step. This was the humble beginnings of Sahaya International, the nonprofit Koen runs from his kitchen table in his home in Davis, California. Twenty years later, the organization is a 100% volunteer-based network of friends that supports a growing number of programs in developing countries, aimed at helping underprivileged communities by promoting education, health, socio-economic empowerment and conservation.As you listen to this episode, consider:Action begins with one small step. What is one small step you can take today to make a difference?How do you handle adversity. “Don't give up,” Koen says. Even if you don't meet your desired outcome, keep going.Who are the organizations in your community that are doing good work?  Consider partnering with them.Dr. Koen Van Rompay is a veterinary doctor, originally from Belgium, who leads a dual life. For the past 3 decades, he has been an infectious disease researcher at the University of California, Davis. Most of his career has focused on studying HIV, which has led to several interventions that are now used globally to treat or prevent HIV infection. In more recent years, he has also done research on the latest pandemics, such as Zika virus, and SARS-CoV-2. In 1997, a trip to an AIDS conference in India inspired Koen to step outside his comfort zone and become more socially engaged. During his spare time, he founded and manages the Davis-based 501(c)3 nonprofit organization Sahaya International (www.sahaya.org). Sahaya International is a 100% volunteer-based network of friends that supports a growing number of programs in developing countries, aimed at helping underprivileged communities by promoting education, health, socio-economic empowerment and conservation.To learn more about Koen and Sahaya international, visit their website.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

“I didn't go back to Belize until I was 30,” says author and writing coach Joey Garcia. “I was in a crisis. I'd done all the things I was supposed to do to be successful… but the corporate life was not at all what I imagined it would be.” It was then that she said Yes to an invitation to return to the land where she was born and found herself face-to-face with a people who needed her help. While there, she met the local Catholic Bishop. “If there's anything I can do for you,” she said, “Just let me know.” “You can put on a teacher training,” he said. She stumbled to respond. Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined that this would be his request. The next Yes proved to be a transformative one —one that led to the launching the nonprofit Rise Up Belize created to improve the educational opportunities for Belizean children. As you listen to this episode, consider:Are there opportunities  for you to step outside your comfort zone?Have you felt the call to to take a risk? To try something completely new?What holds you back? What keeps you from saying “Yes”?To learn more about Joey Garcia, please check out her website.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

When he was just 23 years old, Juan Pablo Romero Fuentes opened the doors of the family home in his little village of Jocotenango, to give the children of his Guatemalan community a chance at a different life —one beyond the drugs, gangs and crime that were a part of his childhood. After a brief time teaching in a private school, he recognized that education, as he saw it, could be so much more. The concept was simple. “Everyone is welcome, treat the other with respect, lets talk,” he said, and the beginnings of Los Patojos, loosely translated as The Little Ones, was born. Now, seventeen years later, El Patojismo serves more than 500 students each year, with two schools and a style of education that includes programs where creativity, wellness, sports, and job training are an integral part of the regular curriculum.  In 2015 Romero Fuentes was named a CNN hero for his work for the children of Guatemala, an honor that brought well deserved attention and recognition to his extraordinary vision.As you listen to this episode, consider:There are many challenges exist in every community. Which are the ones that matter most to you?Where are the local opportunities to get involved?What resources, talents and skills can bring to  you bting to the table? How can you use your own gifts to make a difference?To learn more about El Patojismo, visit their Global Giving page.Listen to Juan Pablo Romero Fuente's episode here.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

When her eldest son became a victim of gun violence, Nicole Gardner knew she needed to make a change. She left behind family and friends and the Boston neighborhoods she'd called home and moved with her children to California.But gun violence knows no zip code. A few years after settling in her new community in Marin County, her daughter Ronique was killed in a drive by shooting. Determined to turn her pain into purpose, Nicole joined Moms Demand Action, a national grassroots organization that works to end the epidemic of gun violence through pushing for gun safety measures, political action, and community education. It was there that Nicole honed her public speaking skills and no works to brings her energy and experience to making our communities safe for us all.As you listen to this episode, consider:What issues inspire you to get involved in your community?Where can you find others who share your concerns?Nicole reminds us that everyone is dealing with something we know nothing about. How might this change the way we approach the people you meet each day?You can listen to Nicole's episode here.To learn more about Moms Demand Action, click here.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of our theme music, "Where Love is Love," please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

Spending a month volunteering at Mother Theresa's Home for the Destitute and Dying in Calcutta, India was a life changing experience for Wendy Voet, a public health advocate and professor at the University of Pennsylvania.  The injustice of “watching people die of diseases that could be easily treated in the United States,” had a profound impact on her.  “Everyone deserves the same means to have the human experience they want to have,” she says. Her parents were academics. The academic life was inspiring. It taught Wendy to ask the questions and stay open to learning. In the summer her parents would travel, and the experiences opened the world to her, inspiring her to study abroad in college and then join the Peace Corps where she served in Niger. It was there that she recognized the shared humanity that exists between all people. While the lives of the people she met may have been different than her own, she learned that we all want the same basic things and it inspired her to go about working to make sure that the inequities that exist might be rectified.As you listen to this episode consider:How can you approach the things that are unfamiliar to you with curiosity rather than judgement? Can you listen to different perspectives and see what you might learnWhen faced with people who are different from you, can you focus on the experiences and desires that unite us?Wendy Voet is a non-profit leader and public health professional with over 25 years of experience in the areas of organizational management, fundraising, partnership development and program design. She has worked for a wide range of organizations working to meet the healthcare needs of various communities as well as work towards social justice. Currently, Wendy is a Senior Program Advisor for Jhpiego Corporation where she helps to design and seek funding for programs worldwide in maternal child and newborn health and HIV prevention and management.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

“Ninety percent of the efficacy of the transformation of activism is relational. It's how we look after each other on an everyday level… It's the everyday things that keep us loving each other.” says Dan Glass, an award-winning activist, academic, performer and writer.Dan's activism is rooted in his experiences as the grandson of Holocaust survivors. Growing up in a family steeped in intergenerational trauma inspired Dan to devote his life to making a difference. He teaches others to harness their pain to stand up for the causes they believe in. To rid the world of the hatred that divides us. At the core of Dan's work is in developing a critical consciousness and creativity to spur people to "read their reality and write their own history". A native of London, Dan is recognized worldwide for his work in the LGBTQ+ community. A prolific writer, author and speaker, he travels the world inspiring others to channel their personal power and stand up for one another. Dan's latest book, Queer Footprints, takes the reader “through the city streets to uncover the scandalous, hilarious, and empowering events of London's queerstory.”More about Dan GlassInsta - @danglassmincer  Website - The Glass Is Half FullPublicity requests to jamesk@plutobooks.com Queer Footprints - A Guide to Uncovering London's Fierce History The video from  the flagship Queer Footprints London launch and some of the tours - here in Whitechapel, Trafalgar Square and Kings Cross. The film about Dan's Polish Nan - Never Again Ever- Fighting the Polish Far-Right Dan's TED Talks - Can harnessing trauma revolutionize our world?Dan's first book - United Queerdom - from the Legends of the Gay Liberation FrontThe press interview after invading Nigel Farage's pub.Article - Running from the Synagogue to Soho To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

Hi. I'm Suzanne Maggio, the host of From Sparks to Light —the podcast about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Our third season begins Thursday, September 28. In this new season we'll be meeting people from across the globe who are making a difference in their communities.  People like Dan Glass, whose episode drops next week. He's a London based LGBTQ+ activist with a powerful story about how his family's Holocaust survival planted the seeds for a lifetime of standing up for others. And Wendy Voet, a public health advocate who began her career working at Mother Theresa's Home for the destitute and dying in Calcutta India. And that's not all. You might notice a change in our theme song.  “Where Love is Love,” the melodic intro we've used for the past two seasons is about to be released as an LP - written and performed by my talented brother Robert Maggio.Don't miss a single episode. Head over to your favorite podcast platform and subscribe to From Sparks to Light. To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth

Sometimes a long walk makes all the difference. After her marriage broke up, Leigh Brennan, a longtime yoga and meditation teacher, found herself alone. Faced with an overwhelming sense of grief for a life that no longer was, Leigh bought herself a plane ticket and walked the 500 mile Camino de Santiago into a new way of being. Leigh returned to the U.S. anxious to stay connected to her newly found Camino spirit. She created a virtual home for pilgrims, The Camino Cafe Podcast. The podcast serves as a place where pilgrims can return to the sense of community they felt as they walked.  She created a vlog show called Good Morning Santiago which features the beautiful destination city of the Camino Routes and  hosts post Camino restorative yoga, mindfulness and debriefing circles for English speaking pilgrims arriving in Santiago.To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of our theme music, please check out his website.To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website. To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de SantiagoFollow Suzanne on Social Media Instagram @suzannemaggio_author Facebook @ Suzanne Maggio author Twitter @ bottomofninth