“There’ll be no peace without a planet…” Ruah Swennerfelt quotes Mary Ann Percy, a Quaker from La Jolla, by way of providing background on her shift fifteen years or so ago from working on peace and social justice issues to ecological awareness and active concern. Ruah and Louis Cox, two people who do their best to support their local economy and to live lightly on the land, are interviewed by Mark Helpsmeet on his weekly Northern Spirit Radio show which originates from WHYS radio in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Mark has recorded dozens of broadcasts and they’re available as streaming media or for download here.
Another show I heard tonight was an interview with Ina May Gaskin. Ms. Gaskin is a midwife and a prime mover in the home birth movement. She and Steve Gaskin provided a model for living from 1966 forward to today, starting with Steven’s Monday Night Class in San Francisco and continuing through all of her good work with home birthing in her community as well as the lights she lit across the world with her book on the subject. Mark’s interview was wonderful in drawing that out.
Mark has chosen the good people among us for his interview subjects. I’ve met some of these people and their commitment to doing right stuff is totally impressive… George Watson, a world war 2 conscientious objector… Mike Boehm, a Vietnam war veteran who’s been instrumental in establishing peace parks in Vietnam and starting micro-credit loan funds, helping to heal those wounds… Chuck Fager, who runs Quaker House in North Carolina, a place where soldiers with second thoughts about war and peace can find support… J.E. McNeil, a woman who wrote the book on draft counseling.
There’s a lot of food for thought in these podcasts, a lot of wisdom about community, peace, and living rightly on the earth.
Steve Gaskin has published some wonderful books as well, including one about the Monday night class. I own two. This Season’s People is spiritually out there, and Amazing Dope Tales is fun.
her book (ina may’s) spiritual midwifery was v important reading and helped me have 5 daughters without any “medical” interference. all with midwives, the last 3 at home.
the politics of birth is a fascinating subject. when i was pregnant with my youngest daughter the other white middle class ladies in the yoga class i attended who fancied themselves “progressive-ish” would ply me with fear based questions/statements when they found out i was having a home birth. everything from “is that legal?” to “do they have an ambulance waiting?” to “i prefer to have mine the old fashioned way, with a doctor”…
i plan on listening to the interview tomorrow morning.
the trend in childbirth among those who can choose seems to favour scheduled ceasarians with male obs, highly recommended, who use military metaphors when describing birth.
gods help us.
okay. when you listen you will want to ignore the music he uses for a lead-in and probably also the couple of tunes he has cut into the “show.” Gaskin’s stuff is very interesting pointing straight at the issues you touch lightly in this comment… legality, custom and practice, scheduled ceasarians versus the good old fashined forceps on the skull extraction method. Mark’s subject matter in these interviews is brilliant, progressive, and pointed, but his production instincts seem very so-so.