Mud River Lee & the Bluegrass Orchestra (or sometimes the Bluegrass Bells) has been a fixture of the Milwaukee Folk Music scene for decades. Lee is also a co-founder and mainstay for the Milwaukee Musicians Coop. With a down-home style all his own, Lee warms a room with good music and a great ambiance. Lee's in Milwaukee and I'm in Eau Claire (Clear Water, in English).
Andrew Tomlinson has been the director of QUNO (Quaker United Nations Office) in New York since 2008. QUNO staff in New York & Geneva advocate for and work behind the scenes on issues like Peacebuilding, the Prevention of Violent Conflict, Climate Change, Food & Sustainability, and Human Rights & Refugees. Raised in the UK but a long-time resident of the USA, Andrew's background anthropology and finance give him the long-range and in-depth perspective needed to nudge the UN toward world-healing and peace.
Read the interview on Facing the Limits of Reconciliation with Andrew in Western Friend
Music Featured:
All the World Is One - Peter Mayer
Laurie Childers lives out a stunning world of art and activism in Corvalis, Oregon. She performs both solo and with her band, the River Rocks, and her activism takes a number of forms, including her work as chair of the National Council of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Beautiful music from a beautiful spirit.
Matt Watroba has been deeply immersed in folk music since 9th grade, including hosting the Folks Like Us show on WDET in Detroit and Folk Alley on WKSU at Kent State University, for a combined 26 years or so. With more than 3 decades performing, Matt is a master of the folk music genre, both as a performer and as a leader of group singing.
Matt Watroba has been deeply immersed in folk music since 9th grade, including hosting the Folks Like Us show on WDET in Detroit and Folk Alley on WKSU at Kent State University, for a combined 26 years or so. With more than 3 decades performing, Matt is a master of the folk music genre, both as a performer and as a leader of group singing.
Ed Nieves is coordinator of the Mendicino Environmental Center (MEC) in Ukiah, CA, a place and an organization which has been at the center of cutting edge change to improve the world, starting locally. Saving the Redwoods, banning pesticides & herbicides, legalizing medical marijuana, protecting free speech - there's a locus of community healing issuing from Mendocino County, MEC, and station KMEC-LP.
Doug MacKenzie has a long pedigree - as a jet engine mechanic and as a folk musician. Currently in collaboration with Sue West as Rural Roots Music, they are churning out music at an incredible rate. Because of his brother, Guy MacKenzie, Doug got used to having folks like Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Dave Van Ronk, and others around the house. After a hiatus of a couple decades, Doug is back doing full-time folk music.
There are ways to help individuals and organizations to overcome the impediments to adoption of alternative energy sources, and it's the work of RENEW Wisconsin to help get folks in Wisconsin past these problems, into the future. Drawing on the inspirations and experiences of other states and nations, RENEW Wisconsin's executive director, Tyler Huebner helps map a course to a decentralized, non-polluting, inexpensive energy system.
Tyler Huebner was the keynote speaker at the Affordable Solar Power Conference held in Eau Claire, WI, last year.
Mike McCabe, founder of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign creates a blueprint forward, out of our widespread disillusionment which is based on parallel situations over our history. The result is his book, Blue Jeans in High Places: The Coming Makeover of American Politics. Mike speaks powerfully of a proven way forward for the common citizen.
You can get the book at all the usual places, but also from the publisher, LittleCreekPress.com. See a number of powerful agents of change, like Mike McCabe, annually at the Fighting Bob Fest.
James O'Dea's latest book is The Conscious Activist: Where Activism Meets Mysticism, and he stands as an expert with a foot solidly in each camp. In addition to his 10 years as director of Amnesty International's Washington office, James has been President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and CEO of the Seva Foundation. He is also lead faculty for the Shift Network's Peace Ambassador Training.