photo of Alivia Biko
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Alivia Biko's Song of the Soul

Alivia Bright Maple Biko is a singer/songwriter with a ministerial component, raised in the Midwest but now a longtime Oregon resident. Part of her religious and spiritual journey was in the UCC and Lutheran churches, and she is now clerk and substitute pastor for Freedom Friends Church in Salem, Oregon.

photo of Nikki Giovanni
Poetry From the Soul of a Black, a Woman, a TennesseanNikki Giovanni is an original. Through her poetry, other writings and talks, she shares vivid glimpses of the human experience which, in her case, includes the experience of growing up in the near-South of the USA in the age of segregation. Nikki is all about breaking loose and choosing direction as is evidently clear from her reflections on her experience drawing on many facets of her experience, including that of a black, Tennessean, woman, and much, much, more.
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Ellen Seagren Goes to RwandaEllen Seagren called on her community, Twin Cities Friends Meeting, for clearness and to support her in her leading to travel to Rwanda in connections with Friends Peace House. Ellen spent a month in Rwanda and returned with glimpses of life there and a sense of changes she wanted to bring back with her, for herself and for our nation.
photo of Susan Werner
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Susan Werner's Song of the Soul

Susan Werner is a Chicago-based singer/songwriter, preferring a big, big, city still close to her Iowa roots. Susan is an innovator, and among her musical creations is "The Gospel Truth", a no-holds-barred grappling with faith and doubt which raised hackles and admiration from the entire belief spectrum. But that project is just the tip of the iceberg, and there is so much more to hear and see.

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Rwandan Witness - Friends at Ground ZeroFriends Peace House/Uguru Rw'Amahoro is a striking witness in a country so recently torn by genocide of nearly 800,000 people. The Evangelical Friends Church in Rwanda has firmly taken on the task of being workers for peace, healing and reconciliation in a land much in need of Divine Love.
photo of Russ Downs
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Russ Downs' Song of the Soul

Singer/songwriter Russ Downs has been making music of many sorts for a couple decades - pop, rock, rockabilly, Christian, and more. Arlington, VA, is home with some time in Nashville, and his religious travels have taken him from non-practicing Methodist to Unitaritarian Universalist. Russ has an independent and compassionate mind, and plenty of heart in his songs.

logo for "Sustain Door" county
The Local Eating Challenge - Ann HippensteelInspired by the Local Food Challenge of SustainDoor.org, Ann Hippensteel has gone the past year eating food grown and produced within 100 miles of her home, and it's been a year of discovery, attuning to the land and dealing with global environmental issues, right at home.
photo of Stanley Campbell
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Organizing Rockford - Stanley Campbell & Rockford Urban MinistriesStanley Campbell has served Rockford Urban Ministries for almost 25 years, a voice for peace, justice and care for the disadvantaged of Illinois' second city. Stanley knows the ropes, having started as a John Birch conservative who volunteered to fight in Vietnam and having learned to question and reexamine what he's been told.
photo of Mary Shapiro playing guitar
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Mary Shapiro's Song of the Soul

Self-proclaimed as a Jewish-Christian-Mystic-Pluralist, Mary Shapiro is clearly a rich spiritual pastiche. Her music is folk-rock-progressive, and she carries deep passion for work to heal and grow the world. Native to the Midwest, Washington DC is her current home.

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Maharishi Invincibility CenterA visit with the co-directors of the newly opened center for transcendental meditation in the Twin Cities, discussing the history, present and potential ofTranscendental Meditation to promote health and peace, inner and outer.