Andy Douglas is author of Redemption Songs – A Year In The Life of a Prison Community Choir, a piercing look inside US prisons, and he is also author of a memoir The Curve of the World: Into the Spiritual Heart of Yoga, about his 7 years in Asia as a devotee and monk with Ananda Marga. Redemption Songs is a powerful & personal book, about the US prison industry, but also, especially, about Andy Douglas's experience of singing in a choir of prison-insiders and prison-outsiders.
How does an American Hindu approach the climate crisis? What ancient values and teachings apply to modern life in America today? And how does this relate to LGBTQ issues and public health? Hari Venkatachalam connects his faith, work, heritage, and even his sexual orientation to living in a climate-changed world.
In the episode Hari reveals how extreme weather, which affects everyone, disproportionally impacts LGBTQ homeless youth. Citizens Climate Radio host, Peterson Toscano, explains,
Up to 40% of youth living on the streets in the United States and Canada are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and non-binary. Many of them avoid going to shelters because they assume they will received the same discrimination and hostility they escaped. This is especially true for transgender and gender non-binary young people. This puts them at extra risk during extreme weather events.
Carrie Elkin brings to listeners a tear-jerking joy through her songs that seek to make the world better from the vulnerable places in each of our hearts. With a life, study, and career path including saxophone, Lutheran church music, pre-med studies, physiology, and environmental work using organic chemistry, it was a long road that led Carrie to her true home & profession as a singer/songwriter folk musician. On her own or with her husband and partner, Danny Schmidt, Carrie's music enchants and enthralls.
Past/current religious/spiritual influences: Lutheran, Jewish, Yoga, Meditation, Unitarian Universalist
Dwight L. Wilson returns today for Spirit In Action - we had him with us about 2 years ago discussing, among many things, his book series Esi Was My Mother, a fictional account of the real situations of his enslaved ancestors. Dwight has been very active in the interim, serving on a police oversight commission in Ann Arbor, MI, and much more, including writing 2 books we're going to discuss. The first is called Modern Psalms of Solace & Resistance, wherein Dwight shares deep, Divine-directed, psalms from a humble, fully engaged, 21st century heart.
Alastair Moock has been playing music in the Philly area since 1995, with a specialty of family music added after the birth of his twins in 2006. He was first place in the 2020 Songs for Social Change, a project of RAWA, with his song Be A Pain. He helped found Family Music Forward in 2020, to transform family music by supporting Black artists, children, and communities and dismantling individual, institutional, and systemic racial bias within the industry, and he does a podcast/interview series, Opening Doors, with artists of color. His music has tinges of John Prine & Arlo Guthrie, with a combination of humor & insight that makes for fun & transformation.
Thom Hartmann, #1 progressive talk show host in the USA, is back today for SIA, discussing his newest book, The Hidden History of American Healthcare: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich. Thom combines incredible acumen with the ability to tell a story simply and powerfully, both spoken and written. Thom's discourse addresses the issues and tells the important stories that affect most of us profoundly, and, certainly, healthcare is big – or will be big – in all of our lives at one time or another.
I ran into Pete Bastounes at a campground in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and learned about his transition from a political conservative and a Rush Limbaugh enthusiast to a Thom Hartmann and Bernie Sanders liberal, a change that could be promising for those who wish to speak across the political & cultural spectrum. Pete Bastounes is union steward for local 150 operating engineers in Illinois, a compelling speaker, and a great hope for our future.
Past/current religious/spiritual influences:
Greek Orthodox, Evangelical Christian, Charismatic Christian, Non-affiliated
Anita Aysola was a top finalist in the 2020 Songs for Social Change contest sponsored by Renaissance Artists and Writers Association (RAWA) with her beautiful & poignant song, Heartbeat. Anita's voice is sweet & sultry, and her lyrics are evocative & moving. Mixing jazz, blues, & rock with the music from her origins in India, Anita creates new currents of music and meaning. Anita is based near Atlanta and her latest album is Beyond Our Dreams.
Citizens’ Climate Radio is a monthly podcast hosted by CCLer Peterson Toscano. Browse all our past episode recaps here, or listen to past episodes here, and check out the latest episode in the post below.
In our latest podcast episode, Chantal Bilodeau tells us about Climate Change Theatre Action (CCTA) 2021. Founded in 2015, CCTA is a worldwide series of readings and performances of short climate change plays presented biennially to coincide with the United Nations COP meetings.
