Singer/songwriter/guitarist Alice Di Micele has a deep connection to Spirit in nature, especially through the element of water. With 12 recordings to her name, she's been prolific and profound. Raised Catholic, nature is now her church.

The topic is race, racism & religion, both within Quaker meetings and in America at-large. Paul Kriese co-ediited Black Fire: African American Quakers on Spirituality and Human Rights, and he draws on his experience growing up in a black neighborhood and his academic formation in Political Science and Peace Studies to shine the Light on race relations.

Paul Kriese co-edited Black Fire along with Hal Weaver & Stephen Angell. The book contains writings by 18 remarkable African American Quakers across 3 centuries.

Featured Music:
Number One In America - David Massengill

Larry Heagle has created serious & humorous music for the Midwest for 33 years. He's mostly Irish, with all the sentiment and humor that frequently comes with those origins, though I doubt that he'd ever blame anyone else for his sometimes-bawdy sense of humor.

Stasa Morgan-Appel is a Pagan Quaker with the gift of leading & sharing music and her feminist-pagan identity puts her at a particular spot on the wide Pagan spectrum. She co-authored A Winter Solstice Singing Ritual book & CD. She led a workshop on "Singing the Goddess" at the 2011 FGC gathering and is accompanied by 3 members of the workshop - Sandy Moon, Peggy Bright and Denise Madland - for this program.

Wendy Call spent 3 years with organizers in southern Mexico, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, facing the threat of globalization in the form of a Megaproject to develop the area. With her book, No Word for Welcome: The Mexican Village Faces the Global Economy, and drawing on her experience as a community organizer, Wendy brings deep insight to the process and the work, as well as a sensitive ear to the experience of the local folks facing loss of their lifestyle & livelihoods.

Sally Barris is pure Minnesota-raised, but she found her musical home in Nashville, first as a music writer, and now as a singer/songwriter. With a beautiful voice and a loving spirit, her music is both moving and meaningful.

Don Pardee has a life-long love affair with music, from the symphony trumpet of his earlier years, to the finger-picking guitar of the past decades. Though music is not his day job, much of his life is sung through his songs

John Calvi was led to found QUIT (Quaker Initiative to end Torture), in part, because of the profound healing work he has done over the decades with victims rape and other sorts of torture, including refugees from Central America. John knows the external facts of torture, including statistics, laws and motivations, but because of his work as a healer, he knows the suffering from the inside as well.

QUIT (Quaker Initiative to end Torture) will hold a consultation meeting November 12, 2011 in Durham, NC.

Copies of his plenary presentation about ending torture can be purchased here. It is called "To Go Where There Is No Light".