An Abenaki poet and a Lutheran pastor discuss rights vs responsibility, working towards ‘survivance’, and The Great Conversion.

This summer, in a creaky Vermont farmhouse on the campus of the Middlebury College Bread Loaf School of English, Jack hosted a conversation between poet Cheryl Savageau and retired pastor Mike Fonner.

Cheryl graciously shared about leaving Catholicism as a youth, reconciling her Abenaki heritage with Jewish traditions, and the importance of telling stories of the Native diaspora.

Mike reflected on what being a Christian means to him and how his time serving with communities in Asia cultivated an admiration for Buddhist thought.

Learn about Cheryl’s forthcoming memoir Out of the Crazywoods (University of Nebraska Press, May 2020) here:

https://cherylsavageaublog.wordpress.com/books/out-of-the-crazywoods/