Spirit In Action

We visit with David Welder, and his wife, Veronica, at their off-grid home called Fisher Cat Creek Forest Preserve (on airbnb and Hipcamp), to talk about his book, Forth to Basics: A Guide to Goin' Off-Grid (And Living More With Less), and his life experience leading up to

In this special Spirit in Action episode, guest-host Nicole Diroff welcomes Dr. Shanon Shah, Director of Faith for the Climate, for a conversation that weaves together faith, identity, and the urgent call for climate justice. A queer Muslim scholar, journalist, and advocate, Shanon shares how his lived experience and academic insight converge in powerful ways to challenge systems of oppression and invite communities into courageous collective action.

A dive deep into the analysis and understanding of why & how evil is done in the world - not theologically, but behaviorally - with our guest Elizabeth Minnich, author of The Evil of Banality – On the Life and Death Importance of Thinking.

Jan Spencer is guest-host today for the sixth time, sharing an episode of Creating A Preferred Future, equipping us further in anticipation of changes we need for a better future. Jan explains why anyone interested in emergency preparedness can "graduate" to an interest in paradigm shift and moving towards sustainability. Preparedness for unplanned disruption is a very prudent idea.

Today for Spirit in Action we welcome back Pamela Boyce Simms of Singularity Botanicals. In 2017 we visited with her about Evolutionary Cultural Design, and in 2019 the topic was the African Diaspora Plant Medicine Project.

Today's guest-host, Peterson Toscano, brings deep riches from his occasional podcast called Bubble and Squeak. There is deep encounter & meaning in this episode, wrestling with stories, overtones of stories, & personal resurrection of Lazarus in the Bible, and recovering from conversion therapy in reality, a recovery of oneself through true unbinding.

Our guest-hosts today are Peterson Toscano & Elise Silvestra of Citizen's Climate Radio, bringing together voices exploring how emotional honesty, sound, and art can open pathways from climate despair to collective action.

President Trump has been wreaking havoc in so many corners of our country, including the disruption caused by his executive order to dismantle all DEI (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion) programs throughout the country. Harvard has been the most prominent school to refuse the order, causing joy & celebration among many. Today we're talking with John Bach about Harvard's policies and ethics from his perspective as a Harvard chaplain.

Most of the time it is the top officials in an organization who are interviewed to learn about & understand the group, but today we're exploring The Sierra Club from the ground up. Paul Wagner has been very active with The Sierra Club for over forty years, connecting at the local, Chippewa Valley level, within the state of Wisconsin, and also nationally.

Wayne Finegar is Executive Director of QuakerHouse, a resource located in Fayetteville, SC, which provides counseling and support to service members who are questioning their role in the military; educates them, their families, and the public about military issues, and advocates for a more peaceful world. Check out the GI Rights Hotline and also their Conscientious Objection resources.

We're going back in time to the end of World War II today for SIA, to get to know about one of the 151 Civilian Public Service camps, this one for the “bad boys” of the conscientious objectors. Our guest is Jane Kopecky, and we'll be visiting about her book, World War II Conscientious Objectors - Germfask, Michigan: The Alcatraz Camp.

We're seeking world healing in a different way today, for Spirit In Action. Our guest is Peter Anderson - author, mystic, misfit, & mountain dweller. His recent books have included First Church of the Higher Elevations: Mountains, Prayer, and Presence, and most recently, Riding the Wheel: Prose-Poems.

Today we're catching a glimpse of the organization Indivisible and, specifically, Chippewa Valley Indivisible, the local chapter here in the place I happen to live. There are hundreds, even thousands, of chapters nationwide.

More than 10 years ago I interviewedBetsy Leondar-Wright about her superb book, Missing Class, and today we'll visit with her about the book she researched and wrote with Jessi Streib called Is It Racist?

Today's guest-hosts are Nicole Diroff, Ben Yosua-Davis, and Peterson Toscano, of the Climate Changed Podcast from The BTS Center. In this episode they bring us a conversation that dives deep into the heart of what it means to find hope and community in a chaotic world.

Jan Spencer is guest-host today for the fifth time, sharing an episode of Creating A Preferred Future which takes a look at an unexpected topic. In Jan upcoming new book, A Primer For Paradigm Shift, he has found a new friend in the City of Eugene, Oregon's Strategic Planning Goals.

Guest-host Peterson Toscano of Citizen's Climate Radio is sitting in today for Spirit In Action, sharing climate info through a True Crime lens, in the 8th and final installation of a series called Hot Mess.

The podcast, SmallTownBigGays, (also available on YouTube) is produced weekly by Travis Gorell and Chance Smith, originating from Eau Claire, WI, and sharing the reality, the strengths, and the beauty of queer folks in places most often ignored or discounted. Travis also performs regularly in drag around the Chippewa Valley as Khloe Wold as one of many Dolls of the Valley.

With the passing last week of Joe Elder, a bright light for peace and justice and a dear friend and neighbor to so many has left us. We feel led to bring you again the interview we did with Joe 15 years ago, so that we can all hear Joe's voice once more. Back then, we told you that Joe Elder was the recipient on October 3rd, 2009, of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Network for Peace & Justice. Joe has traveled the world with quiet off-the-record messages and worked for peace from Vietnam to Sri Lanka.

More than a decade ago I interviewed Daniel Hunter about a book he had written, and when I saw the article he had written just before the November election called 10 Things To Do If Trump Wins, I knew it was something I needed to check out. After all, Daniel has done organizing and training in a number of settings, in the United States and abroad, preparing folks to effectively make this a better world.

We've visited with Mike McCabe several times in the past 15 years, about his work with the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, about the need for real people in government, and relative to his run for Wisconsin governor. Today we have Mike here for something different, a book of fiction called Miracles Along County Q.

Are there alternatives to the expensive, complicated, healthcare system in the US?

This heart-opening episode is guest-hosted by Peterson Toscano, Nicole Diroff & Ben Yosua-Davis of the BTS Center and is from their Climate Changed Podcast, This program is possible because of the sound and journalism mastery of 

Alice Rothchild is many things: a woman, a Jew, a doctor, a feminist, a poet, and the author of 6 books, the latest being Inspired and Outraged: The Making of a Feminist Physician.

We welcome back Chuck Fager, a writer & activist with some 60 years of work, and we also welcome Emma Lapsansky-Werner, the co-author of Tell It Slant: Chuck Fager, A Prophetic Life of Adventure & Writing on R

Many of us have been in pain about events in the Middle East for years, a pain that was horribly amplified by the massacre of Jews on October 7th, 2023, and the horrific and disproportional retribution that followed in Gaza by Israelis. Today's guest is Sandy Green, a Jewish Quaker, formerly a Zionist, who found she could not un-see the evils perpetrated by Israel on Palestinians, not just recently, but for decades. Late in her long life, Sandy has become a visible activist, facing painful consequences, but remaining steadfast to a fuller and wider love.

Jan Spencer is back today to guest-host today Spirit In Action with the 4th installment of his series Primer for Paradigm Shift, and this one is fun for the positive and practical examples of this kind of work actually taking place. While keeping his eye on the needed ways of seeing and thinking about the world in order to become sustainable and to leave our world-wrecking ways behind us, Jan shows us real folks making real change with real fun.

Guest-host Peterson Toscano of Citizens' Climate Radio is sitting in today for Spirit In Action, sharing climate info through a True Crime lens, in a series he's calling Hot Mess.

Three speeches from the October 19th meeting of the Fall Assembly of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice. In our broadcast version we'll have only two of the three speakers, but the podcast version will have all three of them, sharing on a range of peace and justice topics.

Usually for Spirit in Action we are talking to a person or group who are engaged in some specific world-healing work, while today We'll be talking to John Bachman and Christina Yocca, former residents of Eau Claire, currently back for a short visit, who have been living in Italy for 2 years now, which is their permanent home. Our hope is that by talking with John and Christina, we'll form a clearer view of the strengths and the weaknesses of the two different countries, and to explore the possibilities for improving the world, and ourselves, by choosing a new home.

We visit with the recent executive director of FNVW/Friends for a Nonviolent World, Leah Robshaw Robinson.

An essential part of the road to full equality for women has been the opening of careers in the broad range of disciplines, many that were previously forbidden to women. Perhaps no person had as much effect as the woman known to the world as Madame Curie.

Membership in the Middle Class has plummeted over the past 40 years, making the American Dream out-of-reach for a great many Americans. Thom Hartmann addresses the history, present, & possible future of this saga in his book, The Hidden History of The American Dream: The Demise of the Middle Class – And How to Rescue Our Future.

As we travel over 3 continents in search of international understanding, connection, and peace, our guest is Daniel Mamah, and he is the author of As The Rivers Merge: A Story of Love, War, and Perseverance Across Continents. Daniel & his siblings were raised between their mother's Hungary, their father's Nigeria, and in a couple other countries, with all the intricacies of attitudes, culture, and history that result in the face of major differences of perspective.

Emma Condori Mamani does the work of connection and compassion from her home base in La Paz, Bolivia. Emma has witnessed dramatic changes to the roles of indigenous Bolivians in that society, changes that have led her to higher education and work with the Friends International Bilingual Center.

In this eye-opening episode, guest-hosted by Keisha McKenzie, Nicole Diroff, Allen Ewing-Merrill, and Ben Yosua Davis of the BTS Center and their Climate Changed Podcast, they bring you an enlightening conversation with 

George Lakey is many things to many people, including activist, organizer, author, professor, father, and friend. A glimpse into his 87 years of life on the planet comes to us now through the documentary movie, Citizen George (here's the trailer).

Jan Spencer is back today to guest-host today Spirit In Action with the 3rd installment of his series Primer for Paradigm Shift – the needed ways of seeing and thinking about the world in order to become sustainable and to leave our world-wrecking ways behind us.

Rob Hopkins, co-founder of the Transition Network and Transition Town Totnes, and author of several influential books, including “The Transition Handbook” and 

Bianca van Heydoorn spoke at this year's FGC Gathering, held this year at Haverford College, just outside of Philadelphia, which made it much easier to have Bianca here for Spirit In Action.

Jonathan Kuttab was born & raised in Jerusalem, and he helped found Nonviolence International and the Palestinian rights group Al-Haq, and is the author of 

Peterson Toscano first appeared on Spirit In Action in 2007, talking about his work to support and heal ex-gay survivors, men who, like him, spent years trying to be cured from being gay, and being seriously, sometimes lethally injured by that treatment. I then observed Peterson as he dove deeply into Biblical study around non-conforming sexual roles, in the Bible, and transforming ways of seeing the lessons of that book.

Glen Retief grew up in South Africa, a story he captured in his book The Jack Bank, and he writes periodically for the South African publication, The Daily Maverick.

Our 2nd visit with Michael Beer, director of Nonviolence International since 1998. Last time Michael talked mainly about his book, 

Amanda Udis-Kessler is not only a musician, but she's a sociologist, a social ethicist, a theologian, and a writer, and it's her writing that brings her here to us today.

In 2016, Peggy & Mark Halvorson picked up and moved to Liberia, West Africa, with 4 kids in tow, as part of their growing passion of adaption, but also healing for the people of that country. That devotion has only grown in the following years, and so has the organization that Peggy shepherds, Teamwork Africa.

A visit with 2 people, from opposite corners of the globe, trying to help with recovery and healing from severe trauma. Terry Hokenson & his interest in regenerative agriculture led him to a total shift in his worldview, guided by the insights and work of Francis and Barbara Bettelyoun, and the Indigenous American organization called Buffalo Star People. This interview took place before the members of Minneapolis Friends Meeting on Easter Sunday 2024.

The team at of FNVW and their Everyday Nonviolence Podcast guest-hosts today for Spirit In Action.

Larry Tye captures history and writes books about transformation, like the progress brought about by the black musicians who captured hearts in the USA. Larry's latest book is The Jazzmen: How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America, a combination of legends, deep examination, and inspirational story-telling. This is the 9th book by Larry, all of which open hearts and minds with real-life stories.Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Jewish

Today's guest-hosts from the Climate Changed Podcast of the BTS Center, Ben Yosua-Davis and Nicole Diroff, are bringing us some hope and instruction in how to cope constructively with the threat and tribulations of Climate Changed.

Our guest is Ali Horriyat and he's an amazing human being. Ali grew up in Dubai, had loads of education in Europe, eventually obtaining 3 Masters degrees, made a huge fortune in Canada, then gave it away to reboot his life, free from a wealth addiction, and also free to direct his energy to the true betterment of the world. Ali created Compassiviste, a mutual-support organization of creative compassionate activists doing wonderful work. Ali Horriyat joins us from Dubai in the Middle East.