Dean Magraw is some kind of awesome on the guitar, not just technically, but spiritually. Dean defies labels and limites - musically & spiritually - with one review saying, quite accurately that Dean is a Jazz cat, a folkie, a rock star, a front-porch bluegrass picker, a bluesman, ... and more. He's located in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, but the universe is his oyster.
Walter Craft has been spreading his message of Serve the Song for close to 50 years, on a trajectory between Minnesota down to Florida, eager to provide a force that feeds hearts & souls and nudges the world in a good direction. Down-home, sing-along, is Walter's preference, gracing places like The Bullfrog Fish Farm/Eat My Fish or the Wrong Place Saloon.
The USA has by far the highest rate of incarceration in the world, and James Kilgore spells out the many causes and factors and results of this in Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People's Guide to the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time. Looking at the War on Drugs, sentencing changes, probation/parole conditions, immigration penalties, schools as jails, and many more topics, lights go on and we have the possibility of understanding - and changing - our sick criminal justice system. James Kilgore is an adjunct instructor of global studies and urban planning at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
For much of his life of activism, Bayard Rustin was asked to stay invisible, even as he was a leading organizer behind a number of crucial actions, including the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs & Freedom, because he was gay. Bayard Rustin, Invisible Activist is a biography for young folks which paints a vivid portrait of Bayard's life. It's co-written by science and youth author, Jacqueline Houtman, Associate Professor of Religious Studies & Peace and Conflict Studies, Michael G. Long, and Bayard's partner the final 10 years of his life, Walter Naegle.
Sherry Minnick is rich in music, having been a Twin Cities mainstay in the Bluegrass genre, but she has a special passion for old timey songs. And though she's very skillful on the guitar, a capella singing has the deepest appeal for her. She's moving and funny, talented and resourceful, and very personable. She led 2 different diverse youth chorus groups for 17 years, showcasing spiritual music from many sources, including Jewish, Navajo, South African, and much more. Find her on CDBaby and Facebook, or just email Sherry.
Alex Smith has a deep voice & deep roots in the Allegheny Mountains of northern New York. He was a punk rocker in high school, but at 23 makes music of the folk/Americana vein, about the people & places of his rural home.
What led Prairie Cutting (now Sister Confianza del Señor) & Beth Blodgett (now Sister Alegria del Señor) to leave the USA & create the Methodist-Quaker Amigas del Señor Monastery in Honduras? One key motivation was a calling to lead a life of poverty, explained in an article in Western Friend called Overcoming Need.
In his memoir, Not From Here, sociologist & author Allan G. Johnson takes us on an odyssey of introspection about our unrootedness and the symptoms of that dysfunction in our personal and national identities, things like the native genocide, slavery, but also the holes in our lives because we don't belong. Allan is the author of a blog, a number of sociology books, but also novels and this memoir, to lead us to engage more deeply with our world and selves.
Allan's writings include:
Inspired by the likes of Odetta & Pete Seeger, Lisa Meissner makes music with the feel of traditional folk music, but with new tunes and themes, concerns like Climate Change and much more. With her husband, Klaus, they are The Rustic Riders.
A clear-eyed, informative, powerful look at the reality of Zionism on-the-ground in the Middle East by Eve Spangler, associate professor of Sociology at Boston College. In Understanding Israel/Palestine - Race, Nation, and Human Rights in the Conflict she uses facts and experience to call us to the best framework for true peace in the Middle East.