Juliana MacDowell is sure that she was making music before she ever saw the light of day, and her music will make you believe it. A soul-deep voice and wide-open heart, you'll want her for your new best friend, singing in your ear every day.

Eric Foner is one of the preeminent US historians, particularly for the period of the 1800s involving slavery, the Civil War, & Reconstruction. His latest book is Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad, which follows The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln & American Slavery. Both are invaluable tools to understanding the dynamics of the USA that led to our current racial tensions.

Frank Florin began with hard rock music, but along the way he found his spiritual and musical appetite filled exclusively by the Hindu devotional practice called kirtan. Frank now passes on his love for this special music through performances with the group called Temple of Light kirtan.

Rachel MacNair is the author of Religions and Nonviolence: The Rise of Effective Advocacy for Peace, an enthralling look inside a number of religions. Rachel's interdisciplinary Ph.D. is in Psychology & Sociology, and her BA was in Peace & Conflict Studies.

Rod MacDonald spins deeply emotional tapestry with his songs, a sort of emotional journalism, powerfully capturing the aspirations and angst of the listener. He was a principle in the 1980s folk revival in Greenwich village, co-founding the Greenwich Village Folk Festival. You'll find a couple of his songs in Rise Up Singing because of their penetrating & enduring power. Follow him on FaceBook.

Nelia Sargent is a life-long activist, with decades under her belt doing and teaching nonviolence methods, coming of age with the anti-nuclear organization called the Clamshell Alliance. She's chair of the board of the Albert Einstein Institution, founded by Gene Sharp to advance the study & use of nonviolent action. Nelia became blind at 20, vastly compensated for this though the training & techniques of Robert Amendola, gave away an inherited fortune, and eventually got a law degree, though not to be a lawyer. And she's got marvelous, inspirational, stories to tell.

Micah Sommersmith has a real range to the music he's involved in. Part of his work is as a church music director, but he's also the kind of creative, quirky, musician you'd expect of someone who has played piano, trumpet, euphonium, guitar, and accordion, and who'd write a Song about Glass. He mixes deep and playful, and profound and surprisingly profound, lyrics.

For the past 3 years, Joe Kidd & Sheila Burke have been awarded the Detroit Music Awards for Outstanding World Music. With 60's folk music roots mixed with Appalachian/Celtic/Bluegrass/Country/Middle Eastern/African/Native American spirituality, influences, and rhythms, Joe & Sheila make moving, meaningful, music.

John Greenler is part of 2 institutions looking for energy ways forward in Wisconsin, the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center and the Wisconsin Energy Institute, where John works as director of education & outreach. In addition to these professional roles, John is co-owner of a CSA called Zephyr Farm, which keeps him grounded in hands-on sustainable alternatives as well.

More insights & music from Peter Alsop on sex, sex roles, sexuality, & relationships, using humor and creativity to shine a light on our society's too-little-examined wounds, presumptions, and possibilities of health & balance.

All the songs in this program are written & performed by Peter Alsop:
Hopelessly Heterosexual
You Ain't Been Doin' Nothin' If They Haven't Called You Gay - modified from song by Ted Judd
Good Time
Ghosts
Man Oh Man I Can
My Secret>
Look at the Ceiling
Love Is the Only Medicine