Today, a beautiful interview with two of Santa Fe’s performing art treasures and the co-founders of Praising Earth.  Madi Sato holds the songs of many cultures including her Irish and Japanese Ainu roots.  She shares her Irish heritage with her husband, wild earth poet and ceremonialist Timothy McLaughlin.  Together they bring their wisdom and wonderful voices to the KSFR studio ahead of Saturday’s Winter Solstice Celebration where they will be joined by several other beloved local musicians.  The concert begins at 4:00 pm in the Railyard Performance Center, December 17th. To attend please email info@praisingearth.org attendance by donation to the work of Praising Earth. www.praisingearth.org

A poignant interview with local author Shirley Melis on her memoir Banged-Up Heart: Dancing with Love and Loss.  How do you cope with and survive losing two beloveds just a few years apart?  How do climb out of the despair of grief and risk loving again?  Or don’t take that risk and live only a half-life.  A wide-ranging interview touching also the importance of advocacy for a loved one with medical needs and somehow taking care of oneself. A tender interview that allows us to glimpse life’s hardest lessons through the eyes and words of someone who has been there twice.  www.shirleymelis.com

Eleven years before New Mexico’s largest recorded wildfire in Hermit’s Peak and Calf Calf another vast, destructive and shockingly hotter fire called the Las Conchas Fire devastated the Jemez Mountains, wildlife and unique flora of the area.

Photographers Patricia Galagan and her late husband Philip Metcalf, then new to the American west, chronicled the devastation, the stark aftermath, and the ultimate recovery of the land over a seven year period, creating and publishing a volume of photographs to treasure in a beautiful book called Fire Ghosts.

Patricia joins me in the studio to talk about their journey of visual discovery and her observations as a photographer on how fire transforms and teaches.  And how nature responds as best she can in this time of escalating climate change.  A sensitive and enlightening interview. 

Fire Ghosts published by George F. Thompson 2019. 

Do not miss this sparkling interview with renowned travel journalist and delightful storyteller Judith Fein, back in the KSFR studio with her fascinating book, How to Communicate with The Dead and How Cultures Do It Around The World.  Why are we in the United States generally wary of discussing death and the “beyond” and expected to wear somber black for funerals? During her decades of travel Judith observed and actively participated in ceremonies and rituals celebrating the death of loved ones. She learned that the simple willingness to open our hearts and minds can offer us a glimpse through the gossamer thin veil that separates life from death. And that rather than being frightening or spooky the communications and conversations are filled with love and grace.  Discover Judith Fein and all her books at www.globaladventure.us

Pull on your “wellies” or sturdy trail sneakers we’re going into the woods for a delicious journey with anthropologist Lisa Rose who’s focus on ethnobotany has taken her around the corner and across the globe to study plants and people.  Like our hunter-gatherer ancestors of old we’re Urban Foraging, the title of her new book filled with photographs and recipes and essential information to help you recognize what’s growing in your neck of the woods and whether it’s edible and safe, especially in our modern civilization.  Santa Fe’s glorious golden aspens will take on a new light and our plentiful aromatic Russian Sage holds surprises.  Urban Foraging: Find, Gather. and Cook 50 Wild Plants and Herbs. www.authorlisamrose.com

A rare privilege to interview Dr. Temple Grandin professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, bestselling author and outspoken advocate for the autism community.  Dr. Grandin reveals her very personal journey from being non-verbal as a child to the highly respected scientist, activist and sought-after problem solver she is today as a visual thinker.  Some of the greatest inventors and makers of our time (and before) were and are visual thinkers. Are you ?  Her new book Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns and Abstractions. Published by Penguin Random House www.templegrandin.com

When I tend to the world from the heart, it becomes poetics.”  The words of artist Dominique Mazeaud begins her description of her work and book, The Heartist’s Secret. A former gallery owner in France who has lived in Santa Fe since 1987, Dominique is best known for her ritual performances and installations which she considers prayers. Her lifetime quest for the spiritual in art has taken her around the world and brought her deep insights informing everything she creates and touches.  In this gentle interview Dominique takes us on her journey as a “heartist” including along the Santa Fe river and the Rio Grande as a kind of pilgrimage, a walk of art.  www.earthheartist.net

Robert Jensen, Professor Emeritus, University of Texas, Austin, brings clarity and honesty to KSFR listeners on the most critical challenge facing us today.  His latest book, An Inconvenient Apocalypse: Environmental Collapse, Climate Crisis, and The Fate of Humanity is co-authored with Wes Jackson, recognized as this country’s leader in the sustainable agriculture movement. 

In their very readable, short and clear book Jensen and Jackson don’t mince words, their style of writing is infectious and brings readers close to home as it lets our awkward feelings arise.  But is there any hope left amidst the multiple converging and cascading crises, or is hope now irrelevant ? How do we do our part, however small, to offset or slow down inevitable contraction and collapse in cultures and society as we know them ?  How do we move on from being a consumer even as we think our familiar habits are not adding to the problems? 

An Inconvenient Apocalypse: Environmental Collapse, Climate Crisis and The Fate of Humanity published by University of Notre Dame Press.

Delighted to interview Professor Chantel Prat, a cognitive neuroscientist who has been described as “making neurons sing and dendrites dance.”   A fascinating 23 minutes discussing her new, very readable book The Neuroscience of You: How Every Brain is Different and How to Understand Yours.  Are you more inclined to be “left brained” or “right brained” and can we train our own brains to think differently?   Why do languages or mathematics seem to come effortlessly to some people while the rest of us struggle to grasp the basics?  Are we born that way?  These and other questions answered or at least ruminated upon! www.chantelprat.com

Continuing a critical and heart-warming conversation from last week, Mariah is joined by her husband Byron as the two explore together the way to “Journey Well: You are More than Enough.”  Who is this book written for and why even begin the Journey when all around us chaos seems to rule and no one can add one more thing to their agenda? And why More than Enough ?  Isn’t it enough to just make it to the end of the day and collapse on the sofa ?  In a loving husband-and-wife style By and Mariah discuss their mission “Mandate to Elevate,” something they’ve been doing all their lives, first in their respective professions giving and giving thanks, and now as writers and professional speakers.  How can we, too, without feeling duty-bound or putting extra pressure on ourselves? mandatetoelevate.com

How do we take care of ourselves while taking care of so many others ?  Is self care selfish? These and other questions are answered by Mariah Edgington co-author with her husband Byron Edgington of “Journey Well: You Are More Than Enough.” Mariah, a former critical care nurse flying to accident scenes met her husband Byron, the helicopter pilot and Vietnam veteran, and when both retired were inspired to continue their mission to “mandate to elevate.”  This time elevating friends and strangers by speaking and writing about rediscovering our passion and purpose and love of life.  Journey Well has a companion Guidebook and invites readers in with personal and very relatable stories.   mariahedgington.com and byronedgington.com   Byron joins Mariah for Part Two next week, August 18.

We continue our conversation and pilgrimage to Minkowitz in Ukraine with Paul Ross and Judith Fein.  Their journey a few years ago predated this year’s new horrors inflicted upon a beautiful land tossed back and forth in blood since at least the 15th century. What were the six, small facts that Judie’s grandma recounted of her youth in the shtetl and how did they form clues to lead Paul and Judie to their ancestral village?   Who did they meet and how important is simply being completely in the moment critical for all of us who love to travel?  How do you become fully present, how do you stumble upon people and places with such synchronistic timing?  And did they ever find the village of Minkowitz and what happened just before they arrived?  The Spoon from Minkowitz: A Bittersweet Roots Journey to Ancestral Lands. www.globaladventure.us

Award-winning travel journalist Judith Fein and her husband, photojournalist Paul Ross, join me with their most personal and provocative book yet, The Spoon from Minkowitz: A Bittersweet Roots Journey to Ancestral Lands.  Sitting in her Grandmother’s kitchen, little Judie learned six seemingly unrelated facts about the shtetl where her maternal ancestors lived until forced to flee or be killed first by the pogroms decimating Jews and later by Nazis.  Her grandma’s stories were few and filled mostly with sadness, yet ignited in Judie a burning desire to see from where she came.  How surprised she was on the eve of her wedding to Paul when his usually-distant father presented the young couple with a old spoon, a last remaining memento of his family’s life in the very same shtetl, Minkowitz.  In Ukraine.  This is part one of a riveting interview filled with history and hope and more. Find Judie and Paul, their books and travel tips at www.globaladventure.us  

Part 2 next week!

Continuing the conversation with Bonnie Blue about her new book, Finding My Soul: Five Years at The Findhorn Community.  Tips for listeners and writers hoping to publish, Bonnie shares her process of writing a memoir and finding help in the world of self publishing and book design.  Why write a memoir, we ask ?  She also shares more about what’s happened since she “found her soul” and also more about life in the inspiring Findhorn Community now, 35 years since she lived there.  Contact Bonnie at beaublue4@gmail.com and the Findhorn Foundation at findhorn.org

At age 33 Bonnie Blue’s life in the 1980’s Midwest took a turn that would transform her for ever.  A lifelong spiritual seeker and always happiest in nature she took herself off to Scotland to the pioneering Findhorn Community originally made famous for its miraculous gardens grown in sand.  Nearly 40 years later Bonnie shares her memoir, Finding My Soul: Five Years at The Findhorn Community.  She weaves a fascinating tale of adventure and very personal exploration inner and outer, inspiring for all of us. This is Part 1 of a chat with Bonnie Blue.  Part 2 next week on July 21st.  Contact Bonnie at beaublue4@gmail.com and learn more about The Findhorn Foundation at findhorn.org

Santa Fe listeners monsoon season is upon us and as excited as we are to finally have blessed rain on our parched land what’s the chance of being Struck by Lightning? Statistician Jeff Rosenthal joins us from the University of Toronto to reassure us. The respected author of numerous professional research papers and two books for the lay person (us), we chat about the weather, election polls, algorithms, gambling and how statistics help to make order out of our lives. His fascinating books are Struck by Lightning: The Curious World of Probabilities and Knock on Wood: Luck, Chance and The Meaning of Everything.  Find Jeff and his work at www.probability.ca

A show filled with heart for the week of Juneteenth with Laurie Gunst discussing and reading from her memoir Off-White.  Born into a prominent Jewish family in Richmond, Virginia, Laurie tells the intimate story of being raised by the family’s beloved Rhoda Lloyd.  Beautifully written with the deft hand of mystery, Off-White reveals a life of many twists and turns uncovering shocking and often shameful actions of the family’s hidden past that shaped this country’s history as well as the author’s own. How do you find a way to belong ?  And what if you never do ?  Laurie Gunst can be reached at lgunst49@gmail.com

History is written by the victors, so it is said.  If that is so, how do we know it is accurate? Even oral history handed down through millennia may have changed as each generation adds their unique flourish.  With this in mind, how can we rely and trust how history is taught in schools ? Today’s guest, Wendy Leighton, has been teaching Social Studies for 31 years and in 2021 she was invited to join the team of educators writing and revising the New Mexico K-12 Social Studies Standards.  Ms. Leighton’s focus on the US high school history team was specifically on including the history of marginalized peoples including LGBTQ+ history [for the first time in the history of the state], tribal sovereignty, social justice and sustainability. Adopted earlier this year by the New Mexico Public Education Department, this ground-breaking document could prove to significantly improve education in the state and set an example for the teaching of history nationwide.