The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope

How do we use art to dismantle colonial narratives and stay grounded in our cultural truth? In this moving episode, host Dwight Dunston is joined by mother-daughter "artivists" Anito Gavino and Malaya Ulan. Together, they explore the intersection of family-centered practice, Filipina identity, and the power of storytelling as a tool for justice and healing. The conversation begins with a quote from environmental activist Vandana Shiva on ecofeminism and our refusal to be divided by race or separated from nature. From there, Anito and Malaya invite us into their creative process—a "living archive" that honors their ancestors while equipping the next generation to lead with love. About the Guests Anito Gavino is a Filipina multidisciplinary artist, movement scholar, and cultural worker based in Philadelphia. A top 25 Dance USA awardee and Leeway Transformation Award recipient, her work focuses on the intersections between Afro-Indigenous cultures and Filipino archives. Malaya Ulan is a 17-year-old Filipina-American "artivist" and the 2024-2025 Youth Poet Laureate of Philadelphia. A multi-dimensional poet, she merges writing with dance and film, recently delivering a TEDx talk on poetry as activism. Together, they lead the collective Ani Malaya Works, creating theatrical pieces that encourage critical dialogue and education. Key Themes Explored The Burden of History: Deconstructing Rudyard Kipling’s "The White Man’s Burden" and its impact on Black and Brown bodies. Hidden Legacies: The history of Filipino involvement in the U.S. military and the origins of police tactics like the baton (Kali/Escrima). Love as Practice: How their relationship evolved from childhood "theater games" to a shared ministry of cultural preservation. The Immigrant Experience: The "growing pains" of moving to new geographies and finding the "village" that sustains revolutionary work. "I felt the change started when Malaya came. It was a spiritual connection that is just reuniting... how can I now use what I know to prepare you? This is love." — Anito Gavino ✨ Listen in for a conversation on why every act of remembering is an act of resistance. Learn more about Ani Malaya Works: https://www.anigavino.com/ NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page. The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Help us to grow The Seed! Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey. Follow us @PendleHillUSA on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released.  To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

In this intimate mini-episode of The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope, the roles are briefly shifted as host Dwight Dunston shares his own Quaker journey with guest John Calvi. From an antsy teenager in a Quaker high school to finding his "spiritual home" as an adult, Dwight reflects on the power of silence, memory, and the "upper room" of communal worship. Dwight recalls the bittersweet grief of his final high school meeting for worship, a moment where he realized the profound value of "settling in" with others. "We were bodies in space, but we were also... in a different room," Dwight reflects. After years of traveling and studying poetry abroad, it was a return to Philadelphia during a time of personal loss that led him back to a meeting house, where he finally felt he had found his place. In this episode, we discuss: The transition from "antsy teenager" to a seeker of silent worship. The lasting impact of Quaker education on alumni and their spiritual lives. Dwight’s journey through grief and his eventual "spiritual homecoming" at Merion Meeting. +2 How the practices of poetry and faith intertwine in Dwight's work as an artist and facilitator. Related Resources: Dwight Dunston’s Official Website John Calvi’s Official Website Merion Friends Meeting Kingian Nonviolence Training Information WWUH Radio: Gay Spirit Archive Guest & Host Bios: Dwight Dunston (aka Sterling Duns) is a West Philly-based facilitator, hip-hop artist, and activist. A Level 2 Certified Kingian Nonviolence Trainer, Dwight brings creativity and care to his work in schools, festivals, and community centers to support healing and wholeness in individuals and ecosystems. John Calvi is a Quaker healer and singer-songwriter. For over thirty years, he has offered massage and healing touch to survivors of trauma and those living with AIDS. He is the author of The Dance Between Hope and Fear. NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page. The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Help us to grow The Seed! Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey. Follow us @PendleHillUSA on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

In this mini-episode, host Dwight Dunston returns to his conversation with Quaker healer John Calvi. They explore the history of John’s seminal song, "The Ones Who Aren't Here," and the weight of carrying love across time and loss. John shares the song's origins, written in his 20s during a time of "personal exile". Reflecting on the "fierce closet" of the early 80s, John notes, "As Pete Seeger said, you build a good building, can be used for a lot of different things over time". For John, the song became a "good building" for those seeking community during the AIDS crisis. The episode features a 1982 recording from WWUH radio. John reflects: "Perhaps ministry is that rare, too rare, song that teaches the pain as it lifts us up towards knowing what is possible". In this episode, we discuss: The social origins of "The Ones Who Aren't Here". Healing touch as Quaker ministry during the AIDS crisis. John’s work with the late nonviolence educator William J. Kreidler. Resources: "The Ones Who Aren't Here" (Song): https://youtu.be/3EANcOHwLbc (1982 Recording) John Calvi: https://johncalvi.com/ Suede (Singer - Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suede_(singer) Meg Christian: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg_Christian LGBTQ Religious Archives Network (Calvi Profile): https://lgbtqreligiousarchives.org/profiles/john-calvi William J. Kreidler (Memorial Archive): https://williamjkreidler.com/ "Nonviolence in the Classroom" (Reference to William Kreidler's work): https://biblioteca.cejamericas.org/handle/2015/4078 Guest Bio: John Calvi is a Quaker healer and songwriter who offered massage and healing touch during the AIDS crisis. A member of Putney (VT) Friends Meeting, he has had his music recorded by artists such as Meg Christian and Suede. NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page. The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Help us to grow The Seed! Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey. Follow us @PendleHillUSA on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

What does love look like when it moves beyond sentiment and becomes a force for healing, justice, and transformation? In this Season Six finale of The Seed, we welcome John Calvi, a Quaker healer, certified massage therapist, and longtime advocate for survivors of trauma. John began offering healing touch during the AIDS crisis in 1983 and has since worked with survivors of war, torture, sexual abuse, and incarceration—always centering presence, compassion, and deep listening. He is also the founding convener of the Quaker Initiative to End Torture. The conversation is grounded in All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks, including her insistence that “there can be no love without justice.” From there, Dwight and John explore how love is experienced somatically—in the body—and how it becomes power when it refuses domination and instead fosters dignity, accountability, and repair. Reflecting on decades of healing work, John describes moments when the boundary between stranger and kin dissolves, when tenderness reveals both suffering and possibility at once. He speaks candidly about power—how “power over” wounds and constricts, while power rooted in love expands our capacity to remain present even in the face of immense pain. As John puts it: “Pain becomes suffering when it becomes all that we are. The work is to loosen the contraction of the body, of the heart, of the mind—so that pain does not take over our entire existence.” John and Dwight discuss the wisdom of the body, Quaker worship as a deeply somatic practice, and the slow, cyclical nature of healing. John distinguishes between pain and suffering, noting how laughter, stillness, touch, and truth-telling can interrupt despair and make space for hope. In his closing reflection, Dwight weaves together John’s stories with his own experiences of intergenerational care—of children and elders, beginnings and endings—inviting listeners to consider how love becomes real when it is practiced in tangible, embodied ways. This episode closes Season Six with a grounded offering of wisdom: that love, when paired with justice, is not abstract. It is practiced with hands, breath, presence, and courage. NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page. The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Help us to grow The Seed! Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey. Follow us @PendleHillUSA on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

In this mini-episode of The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope, we return to a Season Six conversation with Inaara Neal-Shiraz and ,O—two people whose lives and work embody love as a healing force for justice. Inaara Neal-Shiraz served as the Inclusion and Belonging Coordinator for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, supporting Friends across four states and nurturing communities of care, discernment, and connection—especially among young adult Friends. ,O is a longtime healer, educator, and community organizer who has spent more than twenty-five years working at the intersection of social and environmental justice, supporting individuals and communities in healing legacies of harm. In this excerpt, Inaara and ,O reflect on fear not as something to conquer or eliminate, but as something to listen to. They explore breath, nervous systems, worship, and what it means to practice alchemy with our emotions. Fear, they suggest, may carry distorted messages—but also wisdom—inviting us to slow down, breathe, and remain present long enough to hear what is asking for our attention. As Dwight reflects, this conversation points toward a form of love that is not sentimental or passive, but embodied, intentional, and deeply attentive—a love practiced in grocery stores, on train platforms, and in moments when nothing appears to be “wrong,” yet everything is asking for care. To hear the full conversation this excerpt comes from, visit pendlehill.org/podcast or listen on Spotify.  What did you notice in your body as you listened? What did fear reveal to you? You can share reflections by emailing podcast@pendlehill.org or connecting with @PendleHill on social media. NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page. The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Help us to grow The Seed! Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey. Follow us @PendleHillUSA on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

How do we move beyond the "gatekeeping" of our institutions to practice a love that is truly transformative? In this soul-stirring conversation, host Dwight Dunston is joined by Zae Illo and Lisa Graustein to explore the intersection of spiritual practice and radical justice. Together, they challenge us to look beyond "market logic" and historical comfort to find a faith that meets people exactly where they are—on the streets, in the struggle, and in the heart. The episode grounds itself in the words of early Quakers Isaac Pennington, John Woolman, and Catherine Payton, using their 17th and 18th-century visions as a springboard to ask: What does it mean to "restore love to its right place" in a world of broken systems? Zae Illo is a public theologian and street minister in San Francisco. His ministry focuses on the material and spiritual needs of the unhoused, bridging the gap between faith and the harsh realities of urban life. He is the author of Wild Deep Waters and a prophetic voice on the necessity of "transgressive" love—a love that flows outside the bounds of what society deems "normative." Lisa Graustein is a lifelong Quaker, artist, and justice educator. Her work centers on healing, transformation, and dismantling white supremacy within spiritual and secular institutions. She brings a wealth of experience in mutual aid, peacebuilding, and "Afrofuturism," inviting us to imagine a future where resources are shared in common and every gate is opened. They explore: Love as Transgression: Why following the spirit often requires us to break cultural norms and "market logic." The Myth of Private Property: A critical look at the "Diggers" vs. early Quakers and the radical call to hold all things in common. Institutional Gatekeeping: How our organizations (and meeting houses) inadvertently limit access to the "light" and how to dismantle those barriers. Tools for Connection: Lisa’s "Great-Great-Grandchild" framework for finding common ground in a polarized world. The Ministry of the Streets: Why material assistance is a vehicle for hearing the testimonies of those the state deems "disposable." Politics does not determine someone’s character or someone’s essence... What if we were curious as to why?" -Zae Illo Hear "radical curiosity" and a call to live into the Kingdom of God as a present, breaking reality. NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page. The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Help us to grow The Seed! Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey. Follow us @PendleHillUSA on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

In this mini-episode of The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope, we return to Season Three for a powerful moment from Dwight’s conversation with artist, facilitator, theologian, and mother Autumn Brown. Autumn reflects on fugitivity, freedom, and what it means to step into lostness so that belonging can find us. She explores how community, agency, vulnerability, and mutual care shape the conditions where people can come home to themselves and to one another. This excerpt comes from  Creating the Conditions for Belonging with Autumn Brown  Season 3, Episode 2  https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/2032871/13365431-creating-the-conditions-for-belonging-with-autumn-brown Learn more about Autumn Brown Website: https://www.iambrown.org/  Autumn Brown is an artist, facilitator, theologian, mother, and freedom worker. She is the front woman of the soul-pop band AUTUMN and the co-host of How to Survive the End of the World, the long-running podcast she creates with her sister, adrienne maree brown. Autumn brings twenty years of experience in movement strategy, consensus process, and racial justice facilitation, and has worked with community-based organizations across the U.S. and internationally. She is a former facilitator with AORTA (Anti-Oppression Resource & Training Alliance) and previously served as Executive Director of RECLAIM!, supporting queer and trans youth in reclaiming their lives from oppression. Autumn will also be the guest host of the Climate Changed podcast, a project of The BTS Center. Learn more at https://ClimateChangedPodcast.org NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page. The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Help us to grow The Seed! Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey. Follow us @PendleHillUSA on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

How do we speak truth in love—and stay grounded in care, courage, and connection while doing so? In this powerful, heart-centered conversation, host Dwight Dunston is joined by two guests whose lives embody the practice of love as a healing force for justice: Inaara Neal-Shiraz and ,O. Together they explore what it means to balance bold truth-telling with tenderness, to hold anger and compassion in the same breath, and to become “alchemists” of our own emotions. The episode begins with a passage from the Pendle Hill pamphlet Nonviolence on Trial by Robert W. Hillgas, which asks how we might name evil without losing sight of our shared humanity. From there, Dwight, Inaara, and ,O invite listeners into a living meditation on love—as practice, discipline, and transformation. About Our Guests ,O is a longtime healer, educator, and community organizer working at the intersection of social and environmental justice. For more than 25 years, they have led workshops and healing circles that support individuals and groups in addressing the legacies of racism, sexism, homophobia, and class privilege. ,O serves as Healing Justice Coordinator at Philly Thrive, is a founding member of Alternatives to Gun Violence, and leads the Quaker ministry Love and Respect Transform, which explores the transformative power of love. Inaara Neal-Shiraz (she/her) served as the Inclusion and Belonging Coordinator for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, supporting 10,000 Friends across four states and nurturing communities of belonging among young adult Friends. She brings her background in education, the arts, and nonprofit work to her ministry of connection—helping Quaker spaces become more inclusive and life-giving for people of all identities and experiences.  Elder Wisdom Throughout the episode, Inaara and ,O speak from different generations yet a shared spiritual lineage. They remind us that love is not sentimental—it is an ancient rhythm, an elder wisdom that lives in the heart. Love can be fierce, restorative, and revolutionary. Dwight reflects: “What if we weren’t afraid of love—to be seen, to be powerful, to let go of the king’s language and speak from the heart instead?” NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page. The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Help us to grow The Seed! Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey. Follow us @PendleHillUSA on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

In this special mini-episode of The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope, host Dwight Dunston reconnects with guest Lisa Graustein to explore how art, love, and power intertwine in daily life. Together, they reflect on the creative process as an act of resistance, connection, and renewal. Dwight shares his newest creative project—an emerging genre he calls “Anthropocene Hip-Hop,” a musical form that bridges the natural world, social justice, and lyrical artistry. “I’ve been a hip-hop artist for years,” Dwight says, “but this moment calls for music that recognizes our interconnectedness—with each other, the stars, and the earth itself.” You will hear one of his original songs.  Lisa, a potter and educator, describes her recent community projects, including an art show inspired by Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower and a new installation called Night Lights, which uses ceramics to create vessels that radiate light through perforated clay forms. “To me,” Lisa reflects, “there’s something metaphorically powerful about a bowl with holes in it. That’s what love feels like—a container that holds, but with space for things to move through.” Through their conversation, Dwight and Lisa consider how love and power, like light and clay, must move freely to remain alive. Lisa says, “If we actually saw every human being as our sibling, every social problem we have would disappear.” Dwight responds, “That’s our human family—to see each other as resource, as places to cultivate belonging and hope.” Together, they remind us that recommitting to love—through creativity, justice, and everyday care—is itself a radical act. Guest Bio A lifelong Quaker, Lisa Graustein is a former middle and high school teacher who now works as a facilitator and trainer in diversity, equity, and inclusion. She has led Young Friends programs, worshiped with the full spectrum of Quakers, co-facilitated Quaker Coalition for Uprooting Racism cohorts, and helped start Three Rivers Meeting. An artist and solo mom, she lives on Neponset Band of the Massachusett land, colonially known as Boston. Lisa’s pottery and art can be found on Instagram at @LisaGraustein. NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page. The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Help us to grow The Seed! Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey. Follow us @PendleHillUSA on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

What happens when sacred stories are used to justify oppression—and when telling the truth feels like rebellion? In this episode of The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope, host Dwight Dunston speaks with Sarah Ruden, an award-winning translator, essayist, and Quaker writer whose work exposes how language, power, and faith intersect. Known for her acclaimed translations of The Aeneid, The Gospels, The Confessions of Augustine, and Perpetua: The Woman, the Martyr, Ruden brings deep historical insight and moral clarity to this conversation about love, responsibility, and truth. Drawing on the biblical story of Hagar and Ishmael, Sarah unpacks how ancient hierarchies still shape the present. She traces the lineage of propaganda around women’s bodies from Ovid’s Rome to today’s reproductive politics—and challenges the spiritual evasions that allow injustice to endure. She also draws on her forthcoming book, Reproductive Wrongs: A Short History of Bad Ideas About Women. Key Quotes “The silence of women in the Hebrew Bible is very interesting—very provocative to think about.” “People, especially men, don’t want to take responsibility for what actually happens.”  “We have to start by telling the truth.” Together, Dwight and Sarah explore what it means to live with integrity in a time of crisis, how Quaker faith can both guide and confuse, and why empirical truth—science, evidence, and witness—matters for spiritual survival. 🔗 Resources Mentioned Reproductive Wrongs: A Short History of Bad Ideas About Women – forthcoming from Knopf Perpetua: The Woman, the Martyr – Yale University Press The Face of Water: A Translator on Beauty and Meaning in the Bible – Vintage The story of Hagar and Ishmael (Genesis 16–21) Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “When Peace Becomes Obnoxious” (1957) https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/when-peace-becomes-obnoxious Grace Lee Boggs and “The Clock of the World” – The Harvard Crimson Learn more about Sarah’s work at https://sarahruden.com/ NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page. The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Help us to grow The Seed! Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey. Follow us @PendleHillUSA on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

In this first full episode of Season Six of The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope, host Dwight Dunston speaks with Lisa Graustein, a lifelong Quaker, educator, DEI facilitator, artist, and solo mom. Lisa reflects on the intersections of love, power, justice, and belonging. She shares stories of winding life paths, creating safer spaces, and the importance of daily recommitment to what matters most. Drawing on an Alice Walker quote about love activism, she reminds us that even in disorienting times, joy, truth, forgiveness, and care for the earth can ground us. Together, Dwight and Lisa explore the challenges of uprooting racism, the role of art and community in sustaining hope, and how faith can guide us toward more fluid, interconnected ways of being. Quotes from the episode Dwight: “Sometimes love actually means saying the hard things or showing up in a space even when it’s not easy.” Lisa: “Our faith at its core actively assumes there shouldn’t be norms… Listening to God and doing what God tells you to do today doesn’t mean we’re going to do the same thing all the time.” NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page. The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Help us to grow The Seed! Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey. Follow us @PendleHillUSA on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

Season Six of The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope begins with Francisco Burgos, Executive Director of Pendle Hill. Host Dwight Dunston and Francisco reflect on this season’s theme—love and power—inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? Dr. King wrote:  “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” In this wide-ranging conversation, they explore: What love requires of us in the face of injustice and despair. How power, when rooted in service, can become transformative. The resilience of community in times of crisis. The role of testimony and imagination in shaping a more just world. Dwight and Francisco share personal updates, ground themselves in King’s words, and invite listeners to reflect on what social systems and testimonies we need today to build communities of dignity, justice, and hope. 📖 Featured Reading: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page. The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Help us to grow The Seed! Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey. Follow us @PendleHillUSA on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

Episode Summary Today, we share an episode from a sister podcast, Refugia hosted by Debra Rienstra. Refugia are places of shelter where life endures in times of crisis. From out of these small sanctuaries, life reemerges, and the world is renewed. In this episode of Refugia, Debra speaks with theologian Ruth Padilla DeBorst. She describes life in Casa Adobe, an intentional Christian community in Costa Rica, and discusses what faithful living can look like as we seek to resist complicity in the abuses of empire. Season 4 of Refugia will be released this fall! Listen here or on your favorite podcast platform. Guest Bio Dr. Ruth Padilla DeBorst is a theologian, practitioner, teacher, and speaker with decades of experience in ministry throughout Latin America. She has served with organizations including The International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, Latin American Theological Fellowship, and World Vision International, among others. She is a theological educator, both in Latin America and in the United States with her position at Western Theological Seminary. NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page. The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Help us to grow The Seed! Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey. Follow us @PendleHillUSA on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

Episode Summary Pendle Hill has just released its very first audiobook for our pamphlet series! Listen to the audiobook of Pendle Hill Pamphlet #317, Members One of Another: The Dynamics of Membership in Quaker Meeting by Tom Gates, here. In this episode, we first hear Tom share a little bit of the background to his pamphlet before listening to a sneak preview of the new audiobook. Episode Resources Listen to the audiobook for Pendle Hill Pamphlet #317 Members One of Another: The Dynamics of Membership in Quaker Meeting by Tom Gates. Visit Tom Gates’ blog to read excerpts from his forthcoming book, Turning Toward the Victim: The Bible, Sacred Violence, and the End of Scapegoating in Quaker Perspective. Purchase a physical copy of Members One of Another from the Pendle Hill bookstore, or purchase an e-book from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Guest Bio Thomas Gates is a member of Lancaster Monthly Meeting, student of Quakerism, and now-retired family physician. The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Help us to grow The Seed! Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey. Follow us @pendlehillseed on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

 Episode Summary This episode features a condensed version of the recent First Monday Lecture, “The Exponential Impact of Historical and Ongoing Injustice: A Call To Action for Quakers,” that Dr. Harold Weaver delivered alongside Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge at Pendle Hill on February 3rd. Hal’s message is a call for reckoning and retrospective justice around Quakers’ historical participation in slavery. He urges us to re-examine our past in order to take tangible steps towards a more just future. Episode Resources Watch Dr. Hal Weaver and Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge’s First Monday Lecture Read the Pendle Hill Pamphlet that Hal references, Hypocrisy, Racism, and Self-Interest on the Path to Reparations: Quaker Complicity with Slavery (1657–1776) and White Supremacy by Mary Watkins. Read Dr. Hal Weaver’s Pendle Hill Pamphlet, Race, Systemic Violence, and Retrospective Justice: An African American Quaker Scholar-Activist Challenges Conventional Narratives. Read Dr. Hal Weaver’s anthology, Black Fire: African American Quakers on Spirituality and Human Rights. Learn more about the BlackQuaker Project. Guest Bio Dr. Harold D. (Hal) Weaver, Jr. is the Founder and Director of the BlackQuaker Project (BQP), a ministry celebrating the lives and contributions of Quakers of Color worldwide and documenting and addressing their concerns. It is an outreach and in-reach ministry of his Wellesley Friends Meeting. Hal has spent his life confronting the cancer of white supremacy throughout the world, drawing upon the Quaker testimonies of Truth, Peace, Equality, Community, and Justice. Hal is currently an Associate at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Hal lives in Newton, Mass., and Oaxaca, Mexico, with his life partner, Anne Steere Nash, and attends Wellesley Friends Meeting and the Oaxaca Quaker Worship Group. The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Help us to grow The Seed! Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey. Follow us @pendlehillseed on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

This episode features a condensed version of the recent First Monday Lecture, “Towards a Just Democracy: Spiritual Grounding and Principled Action,” that Alicia McBride delivered alongside José Santos Moreno at Pendle Hill on November 4th, the eve of the presidential election. Alicia’s powerful message about how we can transform ourselves and our political system by acting with love continues to resonate as the new president now takes office. Throughout the episode, Alicia offers several queries that call us to reflect on our participation in our country’s democracy. They are: What story are you telling yourself about this moment and about your role in it? What would a just democracy centered in love for all our neighbors look like? What part will you play in bringing it about? Guest Bio Alicia McBride (she/her) serves as the senior director for Quaker leadership at the Friends Committee On National Legislation (FCNL), where she focuses on connecting Quaker faith, practice, and community to policy advocacy in Washington, DC. Her various roles and more than 20 years of work at FCNL are united by a concern for how to act with integrity at the place where faith and the world meet. She is a member of Sandy Spring Friends Meeting (Baltimore Yearly Meeting), assistant clerk of the Earlham School of Religion Board of Advisors, a parent to two teenagers with her husband Sam Garman, and a yoga teacher. Learn about FCNL’s work at https://www.fcnl.org/.  The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Please complete our listener survey by January 1, 2025, and receive a special gift. Follow us @pendlehillseed on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

Dwight Dunston speaks with Alexx Temeña, a somatic minister, ceremonial artist, and experiential educator, about the transformative power of rest and embodied practices in world-building. Alexx shares insights from her work with the School of Embodied Praxis and her interactive public sculpture, House of Kapwa, which honors Rest, ecological grief, and Filipino indigenous wisdom. Alexx explores how creating rituals and new frameworks can disrupt grind culture and cultivate a sense of safety, connection, and liberation. Later, Quaker poet and activist Zenaida Peterson offers three evocative poems that imagine liberated futures. Zenaida reflects on the power of imagination and creativity to envision new systems rooted in justice, equity, and community. Their work reminds us that dreaming is essential to building the world we long for. Zenaida has competed and coached at national slam poetry competitions, including the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational and the National Poetry Slam, often placing in the top 10. ​Zinaida ​founded ​the ​feminine ​empowerment ​movement ​Slam, ​also ​known ​as ​Femmes. They have ​been ​published ​by ​Pizza ​Pie ​Press ​and ​Button ​Poetry, ​with ​their ​first ​full-length ​collection ​forthcoming ​from ​Game ​Over ​Books. Resources & Links: Learn more about Alexx Temeña: www.alexxtemena.com Follow Alexx: Instagram @alexxtemena Follow Zenaida: Instagram & TikTok @puppet_mcfly Learn about the Quaker Voluntary Service: https://quakervoluntaryservice.org Read more about Tricia Hersey and The Nap Ministry: https://thenapministry.com Connect with Bayo Akomolafe’s work: https://www.bayoakomolafe.net The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Please complete our listener survey by January 1, 2025, and receive a special gift. Follow us @pendlehillseed on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

For this episode, we’re sharing a clip from the Quakers Today podcast featuring our recent guest, Keil Trois, who also uses the pseudonym Jeff Walburn. Hear Keil describe the creative campaign he organized with The Yes Men collective against the Mattel corporation. In the summer of 2023, Keil and The Yes Men pulled an elaborate hoax on the media and the Mattel corporation, timed to coincide with the release of the popular Barbie movie. Together with environmental activist Daryl Hannah, they faked a widely published announcement that "Mattel intends to go 100 percent plastic-free by 2030 in all their toys. Mattel was forced to publicly clarify that this statement was false, inadvertently drawing attention to the environmental crisis wrought by plastic waste. Through their artistic interventions, Keil and The Yes Men demonstrate how humor and disruption can drive conversations that inspire real-world change. Keil's work pushes boundaries to offer hope. Guest Bio Keil is a filmmaker and a core member of The Yes Men, an art-activism collective known for using creative interventions to tackle issues like climate change and corporate greed. He has collaborated with activist groups worldwide, blending creativity with direct action to inspire social change. Dig Deeper Listen to the full Quakers Today episode featuring Keil, “Quakers and Barbie: How Lies Exposed the Truth About Plastic Pollution.” Read Friends Journal’s article on this story, “Speaking Lies to Power.” Explore the rest of The Yes Men’s hijinks. Learn more about this and other campaigns against Mattel conducted by the Barbie Liberation Organization. Find Keil Troisi on Instagram and Daryl Hannah on X. The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Please complete our listener survey by January 1, 2025, and receive a special gift. Follow us @pendlehillseed on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

Dwight Dunston speaks with filmmaker and activist Keil Troisi about the transformative power of art and culture in world-building and social change. Keil shares his experiences with The Yes Men, an art-activism group that creatively disrupts corporate power to inspire long-term hope. They explore how humor, trickery, and creativity can drive real-world impact, especially in environmental and social justice movements. Favianna Rodriguez, an artist and cultural strategist, reads from her essay Harnessing Cultural Power to Heal the Planet and Ourselves, which appears in the anthology All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis. Her work calls for a cultural revolution in the climate movement, emphasizing the role of art in reshaping narratives. Listen to Favianna on The BTS Center’s podcast Climate Changed: Favianna appears in Season Three, Episode One of Climate Changed, titled The Power of Ritual and Story, alongside Brian McLaren. Listen to the episode here: https://thebtscenter.org/climate-changed/podcast-season-three-episode-1/. Resources & Links: Learn more about Keil Troisi and The Yes Men: https://theyesmen.org/ Follow The Yes Men: X: @theyesmen, Facebook: theyesmenfix Explore Favianna Rodriguez's work: https://favianna.com/ Follow Favianna: Instagram: @favianna1 Get the All We Can Save anthology: https://www.allwecansave.earth/anthology Philly-based - Vanguard SOS collabs: Climate Adaptation Toolkit in Impact Alpha or USA Today Vanguardians of the Galaxy Eco-doom carnival The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Please complete our listener survey by January 1, 2025, and receive a special gift. Follow us @pendlehillseed on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

In this episode, Dwight Dunston and eppchez yo-sí yes delve into the transformative potential of art. Drawing from experiences in reparations work and Quaker business settings, eppchez’s art seeks to disentangle integrity from perfection, instead calling for transmutation processes. This excerpt comes from The Seed Season Two Episode Three, “Integrity & Transmutation: Moving Beyond Cultures of Domination with eppchez yo-sí yes”  With “Guided Transmutations,” an interactive audio experiment, eppchez invites us to address this transformation inwardly: What would it look like to move beyond cultures and cycles of domination? How can we use noticing practices in our communities better to align our actions, words, and values? Guest Bio eppchez yo-sí yes is a Quaker playwright, inventor, and spiritual companion living in Philadelphia. Eir work uses historical research combined with channeled wisdom to remember what our culture of domination has tried to erase. eppchez is one of many Friends working to implement a cultural shift toward active anti-racism among Quakers. Ey are called to earnestly and imperfectly model strategies to do reparations and build systems that make integrity and care more possible.  To experience more of eppchez's work, visit www.almasengine.com.  The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/ ---- The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people. Please complete our listener survey by January 1, 2025, and receive a special gift. Follow us @pendlehillseed on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast. Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details. This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.