The New School at Commonweal

~Part of the Roots of Resilience in An Age of Crisis event series; co-presented with Real Food Media and the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance~ Sea vegetables, shellfish, fish—each species has its own story, culture, and policy issues. These species, their environments, and the cultures that depend on them are at risk due to agricultural runoff, genetically engineered seafood, and the climate crisis. Peleke Flores of Mālama Hulēʻia and Carl Wassilie of Dam Watch International join Host Tiffani Patton to share stories of resistance against the corporate takeover of the ocean and their efforts to protect keystone species, livelihoods, and cultures along the Pacific Northwest and in Hawai’i. Photo by Peter Vanosdall on Unsplash Carl Wassilie Carl was born and raised in Alaska, rooted deep in salmon culture and Salmon communities. His Yup’ik name is Angut’aq; and has feet in both the Yup’ik and Western worldviews as a Yup’ik biologist. Since the devastating 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Carl has worked on defending salmon ecosystems and the communities and Relations on Mother Earth, that depend on them. As the rapid climate warming in the Arctic has brought natural changes to the marine and terrestrial landscape, Carl has been challenging the military industrial complex expanding North. Carl has worked with sovereign Tribes, First Nations and other communities across Turtle Island to protect the cultural survival of indigenous cultures by resisting oil, gas and mining companies that attempt to colonize some of the last great ecosystems left on the planet Peleke Flores Peleke Flores was born in Hilo, Hawai‘i, and raised in Waimea, Kaua‘i. He is a 2001 graduate of Waimea High School and attended Kapiolani Community College in the Pre-Travel Industry Management Program then transferred to UH Manoa taking up Hawaiian Language and Hawaiian Studies with a special focus on Mālama ‘Āina (Caring for Traditional Hawaiian food systems). He has dedicated over 20 years of his career working and volunteering for ‘Āina Based Non-Profit Organizations and family farms. He served as the Kū Hou Kuapā Coordinator at Paepae o Heʻeia on the Ko’olaupoko district of Oʻahu where a 88 acre 800 year old fishpond is located. His knowledge of mālama ‘āina practices and dry stack wall-building were of great value in the restoration of this sacred space. Peleke currently works for Mālama Hulēʻia where his ʻike and expertise are integral in restoring this wahi pana including the 40 acre, 600-year-old Alakoko fishpond. He is experienced in Traditional Hale Building, Uhau Humu Pohaku (hawaiian dry set), and restoring traditional Hawaiian food systems such as lo’i kalo, lo’i pa’akai, and loko i’a. Host Tiffani Patton Tiffani is a lifelong “foodie” turned activist, writing and researching food system change for more than seven years. A gifted writer and storyteller, she leads several areas of educational programming, communications strategy, engagement, and internal operations at Real Food Media. She co-produces and co-hosts the Real Food Reads and Foodtopias podcasts with Tanya Kerssen. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

~Part of the Roots of Resilience in An Age of Crisis event series co-presented with Real Food Media~ In this conversation, Real Food Media’s Tiffani Patton talks with Mai Nguyen—farmer, organizer, and co-founder of Minnow—and Vera F. Allen—mother, partner, organizer, and farmer, and the co-founder of the Midwest Farmers of Color Collective—about the history of land theft, the work to get more land into the hands of BIPOC farmers, and what it means to farm regeneratively. Together, they’ll share strategies for personal and collective liberation through soil. Photo: Paige Green Photography in Made Local Magazine Mai Nguyen, Minnow Mai (pronouns they/them) is a farm owner-operator and social justice activist. They grow heirloom grain, cooperative economics, and racially equitable farm policy. Mai is currently co-director of Minnow, an organization focused on land tenure for farmers of color within the framework of indigenous sovereignty. You can find out more about Mai on their websites: farmermai.com and weareminnow.org. You can follow them on Instagram: @farmermainguyen. Vera F. Allen, Midwest Farmers of Color Collective Vera is a Black Navajo, mother, partner, organizer, and farmer, and the co-founder of the Midwest Farmers of Color Collective. She spends her time on issues affecting Indigenous peoples and all of our food. Although she has been a grower for most of her life, it was the Youth Farm and Market Project of Minneapolis that opened her world to food activism. Serving as the market coordinator and being guardian to a garden sewn by kids was a once in a lifetime experience that influences the work Vera chooses to do every day. Vera is working on food policy projects, a food fellowship, and continues to look for ways to serve BIPOC people in the quest for land rematriation and food autonomy. Tiffani Patton, Real Food Media Host Tiffani Patton is a lifelong “foodie” turned activist, writing and researching food system change for more than seven years. A gifted writer and storyteller, she leads several areas of educational programming, communications strategy, engagement, and internal operations at Real Food Media. She co-produces and co-hosts the Real Food Reads and Foodtopias podcasts with Tanya Kerssen. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

Join Host Michael Lerner in conversation with medical oncologist and professor of medicine Adam Lerner, MD, about his work as a senior oncologist working with a large community of low-income communities of color in the Boston area (recorded in May of 2021). Adam Lerner, MD Adam is a Professor of Medicine, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and a medical oncologist at Boston Medical Center. He received his MD from Yale School of Medicine, followed by an internal medicine residency at Boston City Hospital. He did his fellowship in Medical Oncology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, and subsequently remained there while carrying out research in the cellular and molecular biology of T lymphocytes. In 1996, he joined the Hematology/Oncology Section at Boston Medical Center. Clinically, Dr. Lerner cares for patients in a large community of low-income communities of color with hematologic malignancies, cutaneous malignancies and sarcomas. Host Michael Lerner Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, Healing Circles, Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press). Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

Join TNS Host Michael Lerner for a webinar conversation with astrologer and intuitive Rachel Lang. We will be looking at what astrology suggests may be ahead for us as individuals, as a country, and as a planet over the coming decade. We encourage you to view our last New School conversation with Rachel: Intuition, Astrology, Magic: A Spiritual Biography. https://tns.commonweal.org/podcasts/lang-lerner/#.Ye85-y-B1Z0 Rachel Lang Rachel is a professional astrologer, psychic medium, and author of Modern Day Magic: 8 Simple Rules to Realize Your Power and Shape Your Life. Rachel teaches courses like Astrology for Creatives, Working with Magic, and Relationships and Astrology, and she mentors the members of development circles. Her monthly horoscope columns appear in the Omega News and Conscious Living, and she contributes to a variety of publications, including Well+Good and Women’s Health. Rachel is the Outreach Director for the National Council for Geocosmic Research (NCGR), the VP of the Los Angeles NCGR chapter, and a committee member with the International Association of Ethics in Astrology. Find out more about her on her website. https://rachellangastrologer.com/ Host Michael Lerner Michael is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, Healing Circles, Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press). Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

~Part of the Money as Medicine series of conversations at TNS~ Join TNS Host Victoria Santos in a conversation with ancestors and money coach Morgan Curtis and with Xicana climate justice organizer, human rights advocate, and storyteller Niria Alicia Garcia. Morgan and Niria Alicia both live at Canticle Farm, a multi-racial, inter-faith, cross-class, intergenerational intentional community in Lisjan Ohlone territory (Oakland, California). They’ll talk about their journeys transforming ancestral legacies—one from the perspective of a person growing up in a wealthy, privileged family, and the other from the perspective of a person growing up in a migrant farmworker family. Niria Alicia Garcia Niria Alicia is a Xicana Indígena community organizer, educator, storykeeper and human rights advocate devoted to protecting the sacredness of Mother Earth and the dignity of historically oppressed peoples. She is a first-generation proud daughter of immigrant farm worker and forestry workers from Michoacan and Chihuahua, Mexico. In 2019, her climate justice work earned her the national “Emerging Leader Award” from GreenLatinos. This year, the United Nations gave her the highest honor given to young people, naming her the Young Champion of the Earth for North America for her work with Run4Salmon. Niria Alicia believes that true justice and healing will only begin when we rematriate and indigenize land, normalize indigenous values and honor the sacredness of women, 2 spirit peoples, and Mother Earth. Her proudest accomplishments and honors have been learning how to make tortillas in the traditional way from her grandmother, growing her first milpa from her family’s heirloom corn seeds, and inheriting her great-great grandmother’s metate, a culturally significant ancestral tool made from lava rock that has the hand imprints of the strong women she is proud to descend from. Morgan Curtis Guided by the call to transmute the legacy of her colonizer and enslaver ancestors, Morgan is dedicated to working with her fellow people with wealth and class privilege towards redistribution, atonement, and repair of ancestral harms. As a facilitator, money coach and ritualist, she works to catalyze the healing of relationships with self, family, ancestors, community, and the land, enabling the surrender of power and control so that resources can flow towards social, environmental, and economic justice. She is in the process of redistributing 100% of her inherited wealth and 50% of her income to primarily Black- and Indigenous-led organizing and land projects. She is currently a Masters of Divinity student at Harvard Divinity School, focused on racial justice and healing. Our Host, Victoria Santos, MA Victoria designs and facilitates group processes in communities, organizations, businesses, universities and schools. Warm authentic presence, compassionate communication, commitment to social justice and racial equity, and lifelong learning are threads running through all of Victoria’s work. She brings more than thirty years of experience and leadership in education, community organizing and community development. For ten years, Victoria assisted Sobonfu Somé in leading grief rituals according to the Dagara traditions of Burkina Faso. She is a Spanish-fluent Afro-Caribbean immigrant who was born in a rural village in the Dominican Republic. Music: Devi Daly singing, music composed by Coco Love Alcorn. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

Indigenous Writers Address the Seventh Fire * Podcast listeners can follow along with the visual elements of this program at: Slides: https://tns.commonweal.org/app/uploads/2021/11/Ancestor-P2-Slide-1-3.pdf Film excerpts: Seed Mother: Coming Home https://youtu.be/RVqmM_DUZtk Nourishing the Body, Honoring the Land https://vimeo.com/100924901 Braiding the Sacred https://vimeo.com/193666359 Co-presented by the New School at Commonweal and the Center for Humans and Nature—in celebration of the book What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be? and the 10th anniversary of the Center’s Questions for a Resilient Future Series Join us for a series of two conversations with indigenous leaders about the Seventh Fire—an Anishinaabe prophecy that points to our current time, with opportunities for healing, solidarity, and Indigenous cultural recovery and revitalization. In this conversation, Host Melissa K. Nelson (Anishinaabe/Metis) speaks with Rowen White (Mohawk) and Rachel Wolfgramm, PhD (Whakatōhea, Ngāi Takoto, Te Aupouri, Tonga). The follow-up conversation event with Kaylena Bray (Seneca) and Nicola Wagenberg (Colombian) can be found at: https://tns.commonweal.org/podcasts/7th-fire-part-2/#.YZVrKS-B1Z0 Kaylena Bray (Haudenosaunee/Seneca) Kaylena is Turtle Clan from the Seneca Nation of Indians. She has grown up eating traditional white corn, which has given fuel to a career focused on strengthening Indigenous knowledge of traditional agriculture, Native foodways, and environmental health. Her work throughout the Americas has served to educate and strengthen vital links between Indigenous food systems, local economies, and climate change adaptation. She holds degrees from Brown University and the University of Oxford, and currently supports small-scale funding for traditional farming and local economic development initiatives throughout Turtle Island. Nicola Wagenberg, PhD Nicola is a clinical and cultural psychologist and educator. She has worked for more than 20 years with diverse individuals, communities, and organizations on personal and cultural transformation. Since 2005, Nicola has been working with the Cultural Conservancy, directing media projects, and developing and implementing arts and cultural health programs. Nicola is also a psychotherapist in private practice where she sees individuals, couples, and groups in Berkeley, California. Host Melissa K. Nelson (Anishinaabe/Metis) Melissa is an ecologist and Indigenous scholar-activist. Formerly a professor of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University, she now teaches at Arizona State University in the School of Sustainability, Global Futures Laboratory. From 1993 to 2021, she served as the founding executive director and CEO of the Cultural Conservancy and continues to serve as president of their board. She is a contributor and co-editor of What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want To Be? (2021), Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability published (2018), and Original Instructions: Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future (2008). She is Anishinaabe/Métis/Norwegian and a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

Indigenous Writers Address the Seventh Fire * Podcast listeners can follow along with the visual elements of this program at: Slides: https://tns.commonweal.org/app/uploads/2021/10/What-Kind-of-Ancestor-for-Melissa-Nelson-Rach-29-October.pdf Film: https://youtu.be/RVqmM_DUZtk Co-presented by the New School at Commonweal and the Center for Humans and Nature—in celebration of the book What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be? and the 10th anniversary of the Center’s Questions for a Resilient Future Series Join us for a series of two conversations with indigenous leaders about the Seventh Fire—an Anishinaabe prophecy that points to our current time, with opportunities for healing, solidarity, and Indigenous cultural recovery and revitalization. In this conversation, Host Melissa K. Nelson (Anishinaabe/Metis) speaks with Rowen White (Mohawk) and Rachel Wolfgramm, PhD (Whakatōhea, Ngāi Takoto, Te Aupouri, Tonga). The follow-up conversation event with Kaylena Bray (Seneca) and Nicola Wagenberg (Colombian) can be found at: https://tns.commonweal.org/podcasts/7th-fire-part-2/#.YZVrKS-B1Z0 Rowen White (Mohawk) Rowen is a seed keeper and farmer from the Mohawk community of Akwesasne and a passionate activist for Indigenous seed sovereignty. She weaves stories of seeds, food, culture, and sacred Earth stewardship on her blog, Seed Songs, and cultivates a legacy of seeds and cultural memory with the Indigenous Seedkeepers Network. She is the director and founder of Sierra Seeds, an organic seed cooperative focusing on local seed production and education, based in Nevada City, California. She teaches creative seed training immersions around the country within tribal and small farming communities. Rachel Wolfgramm, PhD (Whakatōhea, Ngāi Takoto, Te Aupouri, Tonga) Rachel is a principal investigator for Nga Pae o te Maramatanga and is currently leading a project along with a team of senior Maori academics and doctoral students investigating leadership in economies of well being. She is a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland Business School and is an active researcher, author, and consultant in sustainability, leadership, intercultural communications, and Maori development. Over the past 15 years, her research has been published in international journals and books and presented at numerous conferences across Europe, the United States, and Asia Pacific. Host Melissa K. Nelson (Anishinaabe/Metis) Melissa is an ecologist and Indigenous scholar-activist. Formerly a professor of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University, she now teaches at Arizona State University in the School of Sustainability, Global Futures Laboratory. From 1993 to 2021, she served as the founding executive director and CEO of the Cultural Conservancy and continues to serve as president of their board. She is a contributor and co-editor of What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want To Be? (2021), Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability published (2018), and Original Instructions: Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future (2008). She is Anishinaabe/Métis/Norwegian and a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.

The coming years, decades and perhaps generations, will be faced with the enormous task of walking through utterly unknown territory. We are required to develop another set of skills and ways of seeing as we descend ever further into the collective unknown. Join TNS Host Michael Lerner with Soul Activist and Author Francis Weller for a conversation about the simple things that will enable us to navigate through the Long Dark. Photo by Amritanshu Sikdar on Unsplash Francis Weller, MFT Francis Weller is a psychotherapist, writer, and soul activist. He is a master of synthesizing diverse streams of thought from psychology, anthropology, mythology, alchemy, indigenous cultures and poetic traditions. Author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief, and The Threshold Between Loss and Revelation, (with Rashani Réa) he has introduced the healing work of ritual to thousands of people. He founded and directs WisdomBridge, an organization that offers educational programs that seek to integrate the wisdom from indigenous cultures with the insights and knowledge gathered from western poetic, psychological and spiritual traditions. His work was featured in The Sun magazine (October 2015) and the Utne Reader (Fall 2016). Francis is currently on staff at Commonweal Cancer Help Program, co-leading their week-long retreats with Michael Lerner. He is currently completing his third book, A Trail on the Ground: Living a Soulful Life and Why It Matters. Michael Lerner is president and co-founder of Commonweal in Bolinas, California. He co-founded Commonweal in 1976. His projects include the Commonweal Cancer Help Program, Healing Circles, Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies, The New School at Commonweal and The Resilience Project. A Harvard graduate, he received a PhD and taught at Yale in the early 1970s before moving to Bolinas, California in 1976. He received a MacArthur fellowship for contributions to public health in 1984. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

Changing the World through Small Daily Acts, Small Gardens, and Small Groups, with Host James Stark Today’s intersecting crises seem so daunting that it can be hard to fathom our small actions having any real impact. Join Host James Stark for a conversation with Trathen Heckman—founder of the non-profit organization Daily Acts—about how all of us can amplify the power of our daily actions, gardens and groups to unleash the power of community. Trathen Heckman is the founder/Director of Daily Acts Organization, a non-profit dedicated to “transformative action that creates connected, equitable, climate resilient communities.” He also serves on the convening committee for Localizing California Waters and the advisory board of Norcal Resilience Network, and he has helped initiate and lead numerous coalitions and networks including Climate Action Petaluma. Trathen lives in the Petaluma River Watershed where he grows food, medicine and wonder while composting apathy and lack. Host James Stark James has focused his work at the intersection of ecology, community resilience, and healing over many decades. With a masters in Environmental Sciences, focusing on Sustainable Community Development and an M.A. in Spiritual Psychology, his work has centered on developing institutions and programs that strengthen the resilience of communities, and serving as a guide for individuals seeking to lead in times of change. He co-founded and co-directs the Regenerative Design Institute on Whidbey Island, Washington, and currently serves as Senior Advisor with Natura Institute for Ecology and Medicine, and Staff with Commonweal’s The Resilience Project, both in Bolinas, California. His community work has yielded the co-creation of community-based non-profits that have created replicable models for developing community resilience. He presently co-facilitates the Art of Vitality and Resilience Wayfinding programs at Natura. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

~Co-presented with OMEGA Network~ Podcast listeners: Download a PDF of Richard’s presentation to follow along with the audio program: https://tns.commonweal.org/app/uploads/2021/09/Richard_Heinberg_09-24-21_TNS_Presentation.pdf Join TNS Host Michael Lerner with Richard Heinberg for a conversation about his new book, Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival. You can hear other conversations between Michael Lerner and Richard Heinberg on our website: https://tns.commonweal.org Richard Heinberg is the author of thirteen previous books, including some of the seminal works on society’s current energy and environmental sustainability crisis. He is senior fellow of the Post Carbon Institute and is regarded as one of the world’s foremost advocates for a shift away from our current reliance on fossil fuels. He has authored scores of essays and articles that have appeared in such journals as Nature, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, The American Prospect, Public Policy Research, Quarterly Review, Yes!, and The Sun; and has appeared in many film and television documentaries, including Leonardo DiCaprio’s 11th Hour. He is also the author and narrator of Post Carbon Institute’s 22-video Think Resilience online course. Michael Lerner is president and co-founder of Commonweal in Bolinas, California. He co-founded Commonweal in 1976. His projects include the Commonweal Cancer Help Program, Healing Circles, Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies, The New School at Commonweal and The Resilience Project. A Harvard graduate, he received a PhD and taught at Yale in the early 1970s before moving to Bolinas, California in 1976. He received a MacArthur fellowship for contributions to public health in 1984. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.