Common Good Podcast

The Common Good podcast is a conversation about the significance of place, eliminating economic isolation and the structure of belonging.  Your host is Rabbi Miriam Terlinchamp. In this episode, Joey Taylor and I speak with Reverend Ben McBride.

Ben is a native of San Francisco, spiritual leader and longtime activist for peace and justice in the Bay Area. In 2008, he relocated his family to a difficult neighborhood in Oakland called the “Kill Zone” to understand and respond to the epidemic of gun violence, firsthand. During this tenure, he was an instrumental leader of relaunching Oakland’s first successful iteration of Operation Ceasefire, a data-driven, violence reduction strategy, contributing heavily to a 50% reduction in homicides over five years. In 2014 Ben launched Empower Initiative to support bridging and belonging work across the country. Ben is an expert at fostering belonging and serves as a national leader around reconstructing public safety systems and gun violence prevention work, including a background of training over 100 law enforcement departments and executives. Ben joined PICO California, the largest grassroots community organization in the state, representing 450,000 people across 73 cities, in 2015 and serves as the Co-Director. Ben founded the Bring the HEAT campaign, a peacemaking initiative to address police violence, and serves as the Co-Chair of California’s Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board focusing on ending racial profiling in California. Ben was featured in the Sundance Film Festival Award winning film, THE FORCE, focusing on his peacemaking work. Ben is also an experienced trainer around equity, diversity and inclusion; working with companies and values based organizations across the country. Ben and his wife Gynelle have been married for 20 years and have 3 amazing daughters. They reside in Oakland, CA.

Ben's new book (coming out in October) is Troubling the Water: The Urgent Work of Radical Belonging.

Rabbi Miriam Terlinchamp serves as the spiritual leader of Temple Sholom in Cincinnati, Ohio. Temple Sholom sets itself apart through dynamic, mission-driven initiatives. Rabbi Miriam Terlinchamp, a native of Seattle and previous to joining Temple Sholom, she served as chaplain and at the Los Angeles County Men’s jail, the Los Angeles Home for the Aging, as a rabbinic fellow at Temple De Hirch Sinai in Seattle and a national Kol Tzedek fellow for American Jewish World Service. Rabbi Terlinchamp serves as the Immediate Past President of The Amos Project, the largest faith-based organizing body in Ohio with 55 Cincinnati-area congregations. She serves on the national clergy organizing board and the Large Grant Commission of Faith in Action. She is a Rabbis Without Borders Fellow and part of the CLAL Spiritual Entrepreneur 2017 cohort incubator, a collaborative partnership between CLAL and the Columbia Business School. Rabbi Terlinchamp received her Masters degree in Hebrew Letters in 2008, was ordained as a rabbi in 2010 at HUC-JIR, Los Angeles, received BA in Philosophy of Religion and Studio Art from Scripps College in Claremont, CA and received additional studio art training at the London Slade School of Art. Rabbi Terlinchamp is a poet, an artist and a mother to two fabulous daughters, Sienna and Magnolia.

This episode was produced by Joey Taylor and the music is from Jeff Gorman. You can find more information about the Common Good Collective here. Common Good Podcast is a production of Bespoken Live & Common Change - Eliminating Personal Economic Isolation. 

The Common Good podcast is a conversation about the significance of place, eliminating economic isolation and the structure of belonging.  For this episode we speak with Dr. Martin Accad about a theology of staying, how it's developed into a theology of hope and resistance and the ways in which it has manifested in his work as an urban beekeeper.

Martin Accad has a DPhil from the University of Oxford, UK. Formerly, he was the Chief Academic Officer at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Mansourieh, Lebanon. Dr. Accad is now the Director the Action Research Associates in Beirut. The vision of the ARA is “To see peace, reconciliation, and a new sense of the common good develop among the various communities of Lebanon.”

Urban Bees Beirut deals with honey production from three perspectives:

• An economic perspective, initiating urban honey production in Lebanon.
• An ecological perspective, surveying the environment of honey production and locations related to the ecological history of Lebanon in innovative ways.
• A normative perspective, protecting ecosystems and developing ecological awareness.

The blessing shared by Jan Richardson can be found here.

This episode was hosted and produced by Joey Taylor and the music is from Jeff Gorman. You can find more information about the Common Good Collective here. Common Good Podcast is a production of Bespoken Live & Common Change - Eliminating Personal Economic Isolation. 

The Common Good podcast is a conversation about the significance of place, eliminating economic isolation and the structure of belonging.  For this week's episode we partner with April Doner and the Abundant Community to speak with Yuki Jackson.

Yuki Jackson is a Black and Japanese poet, text-based artist and educator. She focuses on empowerment and enlightenment,  specifically seeking to share her perspective and experiences as the divine feminine. Her poetry has been published in literary journals such as Four Way Review and Cream City Review, for which she was nominated for a 2021 Best of the Net Award and the 2020 Summer Poetry Prize. She is a regular contributor for the “Poet’s Notebook” column of Creative Loafing Tampa Bay and has been featured as a poet, speaker and panelist at various institutions, organizations and media outlets, including the University of South Florida, Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, Metro Inclusive Health, 88.5 WMNF radio station and WEDU PBS. Among her commissioned work, she has written and performed a poem for the Goodwin-Procter global law firm.Yuki has taught writing classes as a professor at Ringling College of Art and Design and as a freelance teaching artist for community-based nonprofits such as Keep St.Pete Lit, SpaceCRAFT and Cultured Books. Her work as an arts educator includes being the founder of The Battleground, a youth program serving a historically marginalized community in Tampa, Florida. She holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing from the University of Tampa and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Criminology from the University of South Florida.The inspiration for all of Yuki’s work is based on her Soka Gakkai International Buddhist practice, hip-hop lyricism and the art in daily life.

Yuki's recited poems were Power, Rocket Ships and The Sower.

April Doner is a community connector, artist, and mother who is passionate about igniting the intersection between re-weaving neighbor relationships, strengthening local economies, and healing / reconciling inequities and injustices. She is a Steward at the ABCD Institute DePaul University and, while not practicing neighboring in her own neighborhood, she trains, coaches, and consults in Asset Based Community Development. April also documents local resilience as well as group processes through various creative means including writing, photography, video, and graphic recording. Since 2020, she has curated content for Abundant Community.

Abundant Community is a place to visit. To read and hear stories of action. More valuable than your daily newspaper. A way to learn about citizen-led action that illuminates a new direction, away from the dominant consumerist and dependency-producing habits that we thought we had to purchase. Communities forever have known how to produce family and neighborhood functions such as raising children, building healthy local economies and caring for people on the margin. This website invites you into this possibility.

This episode was hosted and produced by Joey Taylor and the music is from Jeff Gorman. You can find more information about the Common Good Collective here. Common Good Podcast is a production of Bespoken Live & Common Change - Eliminating Personal Economic Isolation. 

The Common Good podcast is a conversation about the significance of place, eliminating economic isolation and the structure of belonging. For this episode, John McKnight & Cormac Russell discuss their new book, The Connected Community: Discovering the Health, Wealth & Power of Neighborhoods, as a part of the ABCD Book talk on January 19. This week's episode is part 2 of the previous episode so if you haven’t heard the last episode it would be good to press pause, go listen to it and then come back when you’re finished. In this episode, John McKnight & Cormac Russell continue discussing their new book by responding to questions.

The Asset-Based Community Development Institute (ABCD) is at the center of a large and growing movement that considers local assets as the primary building blocks of sustainable community development. Building on the skills of local residents, the power of local associations, and the supportive functions of local institutions, asset-based community development draws upon existing community strengths to build stronger, more sustainable communities for the future.

The recited poem was Inner Twined by Marcus Amaker.

About the book: We may be living longer, but people are more socially isolated than ever before. As a result, we are hindered both mentally and physically, and many of us are looking for something concrete we can do to address problems like poverty, racism, and climate change. What if solutions could be found on your very doorstep or just two door knocks away?

Cormac Russell is a veteran practitioner of asset-based community development (ABCD), which focuses on uncovering and leveraging the hidden resources, skills, and experience in our neighborhoods. He and John McKnight, the Co-Founder of the ABCD Institute, show how anyone can discover this untapped potential and connect with his or her neighbors to create healthier, safer, greener, more prosperous, and welcoming communities.

This episode was produced by Joey Taylor and the music is from Jeff Gorman. You can find more information about the Common Good Collective and the reader here. Common Good Podcast is a production of Bespoken Live and Common Change - Eliminating Personal Economic Isolation. 

The Common Good podcast is a conversation about the significance of place, eliminating economic isolation and the structure of belonging. For this episode, John McKnight & Cormac Russell discuss their new book, The Connected Community: Discovering the Health, Wealth & Power of Neighborhoods, as a part of the ABCD Book talk on January 19.

The Asset-Based Community Development Institute (ABCD) is at the center of a large and growing movement that considers local assets as the primary building blocks of sustainable community development. Building on the skills of local residents, the power of local associations, and the supportive functions of local institutions, asset-based community development draws upon existing community strengths to build stronger, more sustainable communities for the future.

Six Basic Building Blocks of Community

1. The contribution of residents
2. The contributions and other resources of associations
3. The community-building supports of local institutions
4. The built or natural environments of local places
5. Economic and other forms of exchange
6. Stories, shared heritage, and cultural diversity

Seven Functions of a Connected Community

1. Enabling health
2. Ensuring security
3. Stewarding ecology
4. Shaping local economies
5. Contributing to local food production
6. Raising our children
7. Co-creating care

The recited poem was Dead Stars by Ada Limón.

About the book: We may be living longer, but people are more socially isolated than ever before. As a result, we are hindered both mentally and physically, and many of us are looking for something concrete we can do to address problems like poverty, racism, and climate change. What if solutions could be found on your very doorstep or just two door knocks away?

Cormac Russell is a veteran practitioner of asset-based community development (ABCD), which focuses on uncovering and leveraging the hidden resources, skills, and experience in our neighborhoods. He and John McKnight, the Co-Founder of the ABCD Institute, show how anyone can discover this untapped potential and connect with his or her neighbors to create healthier, safer, greener, more prosperous, and welcoming communities.

This episode was produced by Joey Taylor and the music is from Jeff Gorman. You can find more information about the Common Good Collective and the reader here. Common Good Podcast is a production of Bespoken Live and Common Change - Eliminating Personal Economic Isolation. 

The Common Good podcast is a conversation about the significance of place, eliminating economic isolation and the structure of belonging. For this episode, Devin Bustin and Joey Taylor speak with Ross Gay about his books Inciting Joy, The Book of Delights, Catalogue of Unabashed Gratitude and Be Holding. 

"Ross Gay is interested in joy. Ross Gay wants to understand joy. Ross Gay is curious about joy. Ross Gay studies joy. Something like that."

Ross Gay is the author of four books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; Be Holding, winner of the PEN American Literary Jean Stein Award; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. His first collection of essays, The Book of Delights, was released in 2019 and was a New York Times bestseller. His new collection of essays is called Inciting Joy.

The recited poems were Thank You and Sorrow is Not My Name.

This episode was guest hosted by Devin Bustin. Devin Bustin is a writer and teacher who lives in Loveland, Ohio. Growing up, Devin attended well over a dozen schools across Canada and the United States. This gave him a longing to know specific places, to connect with openness, and to create belonging. Raised Pentecostal, Devin wrestles with the faith he inherited, often through fiction, essays, and poetry. He is often working on a song, and his emergent work can be found at devinbustin.com.

This episode was produced by Joey Taylor and the music is from Jeff Gorman. You can find more information about the Common Good Collective and the reader here. Common Good Podcast is a production of Bespoken Live and Common Change - Eliminating Personal Economic Isolation. 

The Common Good podcast is a conversation about the significance of place, eliminating economic isolation and the structure of belonging. For this episode, Brad Wise, Darin Petersen and Joey Taylor speak with Walter Brueggemann about myth, Exodus and how it relates to the work of the Common Good.

The recited poem was Moses by Luis Alberto de Cuenca.

Walter Brueggemann is one of the most influential Bible interpreters of our time. He is the author of over one hundred books and numerous scholarly articles. He has been a highly sought-after speaker. Brueggemann was born in Tilden, Nebraska in 1933. He often speaks of the influence of his father, a German Evangelical pastor. Brueggemann attended Elmhurst College, graduating in 1955 with an A.B. He went on to Eden Theological Seminary, earning a B.D. (equivalent to today’s M.Div.) in 1958. He completed his formal theological education at Union Theological Seminary in 1961, earning the Th.D. under the primary guidance of James Muilenburg. While teaching at Eden, he earned a Ph.D. in education at St. Louis University. Brueggemann has served as faculty at two institutions in his career: Eden Theological Seminary (1961-1986) and Columbia Theological Seminary (1986-2003). He is currently William Marcellus McPheeters professor emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia. Brueggemann’s primary method with the text is rhetorical criticism. Words matter to Brueggemann, and one can tell that by listening to him speak as he hangs on to particularly theologically significant words. His magnum opus, Theology of the Old Testament (1997), is a rhetorical-critical look at the Old Testament through the lenses of “testimony, dispute, and advocacy.” Many have come to know Brueggemann through his book entitled The Prophetic Imagination. Church leaders find a friend in Brueggemann, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. His work inspires, energizes, and convicts, and he often makes time to interact personally with those to whom he speaks at large events.

Darin Petersen is the co-founder of the Common Good Collective and founder of Common Change.

Brad Wise is the co-founder of three story-driven organizations: Boonrise, Bespoken Live, and Good vs Gooder. He is the chief creative officer for Boonrise based in Cincinnati, Ohio. When he's not doing all that, Brad is hanging out with his beautiful wife, Leah, and their three kids, Henry, Jane & Eliza. Their crazy dogs, Huck & Lola, are usually close by, as well. Brad was also a Common Good Collective Fellow.

This episode was produced by Joey Taylor and the music is from Jeff Gorman. You can find more information about the Common Good Collective and the reader here. Common Good Podcast is a production of Bespoken Live and Common Change - Eliminating Personal Economic Isolation. 

The Common Good podcast is a conversation about the significance of place, eliminating economic isolation and the structure of belonging.  Your host is Rabbi Miriam Terlinchamp. This episode is the Abundant Community Conversation from November 15 where Peter Block spoke with Jenn Hoos Rothberg, the Executive Director of the Einhorn Collaborative, about "A Call to Connection." Abundant Community conversations happen every couple of months on Zoom and they always contain poetry, small groups and an exploration of a particular theme.

Jennifer Hoos Rothberg leads Einhorn Collaborative, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to addressing America’s growing crisis of connection by advancing the science and practice of empathy, mutual understanding, and relationship building in the United States. Jenn, who joined in 2007, oversees all aspects of the foundation in partnership with its Founder and Trustee, David Einhorn, including setting strategic priorities and building collaborative partnerships that advance our ability to embrace our differences, see our common humanity, and solve our country’s biggest challenges together. Jenn is a member of the Leap of Reason Ambassadors Community, the Town School Board of Trustees, and the NationSwell Council. She received her Master’s in Regional Planning and Bachelor’s in Urban and Regional Studies with Honors from Cornell University. She lives in NYC with her husband, two children, and cockapoo, Zucca. You can follow Jenn on LinkedIn and Twitter.

In addition to being the Communications Lead at Einhorn Collaborative, Chi Nguyễn is an interdisciplinary artist who uses textiles and community-engaged practices to examine the intersection of identities in the U.S., explore the concept of belonging, and reflect on her recent transition to motherhood. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Vogue, Washington Post, Salon, Ms. Magazine, Huffington Post, BusinessWeek, Vice, and Bustle, among others. She is based in The Bronx, New York where she lives with her husband, daughter, and their dog, Uni. 

Here is the recited poem, "Turning to One Another" by Margaret Wheatley:

There is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about.
Ask “What’s possible?” not “What’s wrong?” Keep asking.
Notice what you care about.
Assume that many others share your dreams.
Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters.
Talk to people you know.
Talk to people you don’t know.
Talk to people you never talk to.
Be intrigued by the differences you hear.
Expect to be surprised.
Treasure curiosity more than certainty.
Invite in everybody who cares to work on what’s possible.
Acknowledge that everyone is an expert about something.
Know that creative solutions come from new connections.
Remember, you don’t fear people whose story you know.
Real listening always brings people closer together.
Trust that meaningful conversations can change your world.
Rely on human goodness. 
Stay together.

This episode was produced by Joey Taylor and the music is from Jeff Gorman. You can find more information about the Common Good Collective here. Common Good Podcast is a production of Bespoken Live & Common Change - Eliminating Personal Economic Isolation. 

You can register for the next Abundant Community Conversation on November 15 at 1pm with Jenn Hoos Rothberg here.

The Common Good podcast is a conversation about the significance of place, eliminating economic isolation & the structure of belonging. The previous series explored the 6 conversations from Peter Block. Now we're speaking with practitioners and today, we speak with Dr. Gary Mangiofico. You can find more the biography written by Gary about Peter here: Block, Peter: A Prophetic Voice for Freedom.

You can also find more about the conversations in Community: Structure of Belonging and from these videos.

The recited poem was Transformation by Adam Zagajewski. It’s been translated by Clare Cavanagh.

I haven’t written a single poem
 in months.
 I’ve lived humbly, reading the paper,
 pondering the riddle of power
 and the reasons for obedience.
 I’ve watched sunsets
 (crimson, anxious),
 I’ve heard the birds grow quiet
 and night’s muteness.
 I’ve seen sunflowers dangling
 their heads at dusk, as if a careless hangman
 had gone strolling through the gardens.
 September’s sweet dust gathered
 on the windowsill and lizards
 hid in the bends of walls.
 I’ve taken long walks,
 craving one thing only:
 lightning,
 transformation,
 you.

This episode was produced by Joey Taylor and the music is from Jeff Gorman. You can find more information about the Common Good Collective and the reader here. Common Good Podcast is a production of Bespoken Live & Common Change - Eliminating Personal Economic Isolation. 

You can register for the next Abundant Community Conversation on November 15 at 1pm with Jenn Hoos Rothberg here.

The Common Good podcast is a conversation about the significance of place, eliminating economic isolation & the structure of belonging. The previous series explored the 6 conversations from Peter Block. Now we're speaking with practitioners and today, Brad Wise & Joey Taylor speak with Dr. Yabome Gilpin-Jackson. You can find more about the conversations in Community: Structure of Belonging and from these videos.

The recited poem was "142" by Juliane Okot Bitek.

Dr. Yabome Gilpin-Jackson is a trusted partner for leaders and professionals working to develop people and build organizational capacity for change. She is an applied social scientist and an experienced professional with proven expertise in the areas of leadership development, organizational development, facilitating strategic change and systematic organizing for social change and transformation. She is a certified executive coach and has worked with corporate, non-profit/social profit and public sector organizations, internationally. She is also adjunct faculty for undergraduate and graduate courses in her areas of expertise. Yabome has been named International African Woman of the Year by UK-based Women4Africa and was the first ever recipient of the US-based Organization Development Network’s Emerging Organization Development Practitioner award. She also received the prestigious Harry Jerome Professional Excellence Award in Canada.

Brad Wise is the co-founder of three story-driven organizations: Boonrise, Bespoken Live, and Good vs Gooder. He is the chief creative officer for Boonrise based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Brad was also a Common Good Collective Fellow.

This episode was produced by Joey Taylor and the music is from Jeff Gorman. You can find more information about the Common Good Collective and the reader here. Common Good Podcast is a production of Bespoken Live & Common Change - Eliminating Personal Economic Isolation.