In the third installment of songs inspired by the Minnesota Uprising, the songs are harvested from Minnesota, Nashville, Bethlehem, PA, and the Southern coast of England. All four musicians and songs you'll be hearing are energy & affirmation for the valiant community of the Twin Cities of Minnesota, and a spotlight on the vile government force the community has stood up against. Billy Bragg has a few decades of resisting the system under his belt, reaching all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. Peter Mayer lives a scant 30 or 40 minutes from Minneapolis, examining the world through a wonderful microscope of science & spirituality. Mary Gauthier inhabits the warmer climes of Nashville, TN, and she shares a song she co-wrote with Eliza Gilkyson.

Our guest-host today is Jan Spencer, bringing with him insights and guidance about sustainability and what he calls A Primer for Paradigm Shift. Jan has been at this for some decades, observing others moving toward sustainability, learning various systems, ideas, and techniques to support the transition, and experimenting with it on his own suburban property in Eugene, Oregon. In this episode, Jan takes a look at 5 organizations that teach values, principles & actions that are a perfect fit for paradigm shift. Then he'll share a story about Benicia, a city in the NW corner of the San Francisco Bay area, which is in the process of losing its most single important employer and source of taxes, a sprawling oil refinery. The Primer describes a choice Bernicia could take, moving the people and the city toward sustainability and financial well-being.

I interviewed Peter Mayer back in 2011 – so 15 years ago – and for some bizarre reason I've waited all this time to have him back. The recent impetus was a song Peter wrote, called “Heroes,” inspired by the recent Minnesota uprising, so near to my home and to his. But Peter's music is endless reason to visit him time and again, because it's not only beautiful, but it's deeply reflective and inspirational, dancing on the line between spirituality and science, between inward magic and outward miracles.

Past/present religious/spiritual influences:

All featured music is written & performed by Peter Mayer and all were released as singles:

Holy, Holy, Holy

This Freedom

Greyhounds

Happiness

The Miracle of Life

Little Heart

Peterson Toscano is guest-host today, and he's leading across a vast tapestry of people & subjects, starting with issues surrounding Period Poverty & Menstrual Cups. This and more is discussed as Peterson talks to 4 remarkable women: Christine Garde Denning is founder of Could You?, a global nonprofit providing menstrual cups, malaria prevention tools, and practical pathways out of extreme poverty, Mary Maker, who is the force behind Could You?'s community work across Africa, Fran Stoffer, who is Chair of the Northwest CT Community Foundation Women & Girls Fund, and Mona Norfleet, who is a community advocate, YMCA leader, equity organizer, and member of local anti-racist initiatives.

Today we're sharing part 2 of songs inspired by the Minnesota Uprising, and today's songs were birthed in West Virginia, Georgia, and North Carolina, highlighting the heart & spirit threads that knit the diverse regions of our country together with a shared passion and activism. Chris Haddox is a musician, but also an Associate Professor of Sustainable Design at West Virginia University. John McCutcheon is Wisconsin-born, attended college in Minnesota, but has lived in Virginia and then Georgia for some 5 decades. John is amazingly prolific, with more than 45 albums, and amazingly creative, funny, serious, & moving. Our third guest is David Wilcox who found a home for his body, heart, and guitar, in Asheville, NC, while biking the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Today we have a wide-ranging re-visit with musician-farmer, Andy Juhl. Though much of his music tilts Americana/Folk, he's also passionately into progressive rock music, and plays with a band of that character also. Raised on the farm, he's also been navigating that work in the direction of organic farming, working side-by-side with his father on 800 acres in NW Iowa. Time in the self-driving combine leaves him with more time than you might expect to write music, and he's expanding his range regularly.

Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Quaker, Hinduism

All featured music is written & performed by Andy Juhl:

Dharma Ship - from Go Where The Sun Goes

Loon Song - from Pine Island

El Kleiner does music from the deeper side of the pool, with profound imagery, and with sensitive sensitivity and insightful sight into the way we look below the layers of meaning of our lives. El does not define or box-in our beliefs, but creates a shifting mosaic of perception that allows the listener to flow beyond the usual constraints of analysis, all of it delivered through haunting, enrapturing, heart-opening voice, lyrics, & melodies. With El's partner, Elie Brangbour, they are The Whispering Tree, and they deliver music that weaves freely through the regions of folk, Americana, Country, and European sources. El joins us from Beacon, New York.

Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Atheist, Presbyterian, Jewish, Non-affiliated

Today we're looking at the Minnesota Uprising through the alchemy of music. Watching the events taking place in Minnesota, just next door to Wisconsin, has been both horrifying and inspirational. Watching the deaths of folks like Renee Nicole Good, Alex Pretti, and others has been frightening, but seeing how tens of thousands of common folks pulling together for their neighbors has been beautiful to watch. And there is rarely any better way to bring people together than music, so today, and also next week, we bring you newly-inspired songs birthed by the Minnesota Uprising.

We welcome back Katie Dahl for Song of the Soul today, plunging deeper into the soul-sharings she gifted us with just over 2 years ago. Immediately after the murders of citizens in Minneapolis, Katie wrote and recorded A Song for Minnesota, which made it urgent to welcome back this Minnesota-raised Wisconsinite. With typical Minnesotan modesty, she looks deep within, looks boldly at the world around her, and she transforms these into heart-opening music, and into theater. Katie Dahl joins us from Door County, Wisconsin.

Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Baptist, UU-Unitarian Universalist, Quaker

All featured music is written & performed by Katie Dahl :

We're fortunate to have Peterson Toscano back today as guest-host for Spirit In Action, is bringing us segments from his Bubble & Squeak podcast. This episode is about sex, gender, and Jesus - and what happens when our bodies get wrapped in shame, pleasure, politics, and power. It comes in 4 parts including a visit with Rev. Dr. Tina Beardsley, a priest, theologian, and trans woman who’s been quietly transforming the Church of England from the inside out. Part 2 is with Kyle Casey Chu, aka Panda Dulce, a drag queen, writer, and survivor of a Proud Boys ambush at Drag Story Hour. There's talk about sacred drag, queer disappointment, and how to live when the fantasy of queer community doesn’t match reality. Part 3 is with Rev. Dr.