After a period of extended personal crisis nearly a decade ago, Nick Oredson embarked on a healing and growth journey to try and understand and recover from the childhood trauma and abuse he experienced. In 2015 he was introduced to the Mankind Project, a national organization that utilizes circle work and retreats to help men heal from emotional wounds and live more authentic lives.  Nick found the circle work he encountered there to be so effective for personal healing that he now co-leads a weekly open men’s circle in Ashland, Oregon. 

He is also the founder and facilitator of the Campus Connection Circle at Southern Oregon University, a weekly, mixed gender group that utilizes circle work as a mental health resource for faculty, staff and students. 

In addition, Nick is the author of an upcoming book entitled Fear. Shadow. Joy – A Handbook for Working with Shadow  which will be available in April 2021.  I spoke to him in Ashland, Oregon in 2021.

For more information, or to find out how to purchase Nick’s book, please visit his website: www.nickoredson.com.
email: [email protected]

Music by: Manpreet Kaur   @manpreetkaurmusic

www.sacred-truths.com

The Cold War is still going on when Emmy treks across the Soviet Union on the Trans Siberian Railroad in 1987, landing her in Moscow .  There, she meets  the legendary Russian music icon Stas Namin and his rock band the Stas Namin Group.  Together they travel to East Berlin where Emmy and her new friends are forced to face the horrors and reality of the Berlin Wall and the political borders that define their fates and separate her from her friends.  It is a story of fate and coincidences, friendships despite borders, heart ache,  and the harsh realities of post-war Germany.

"This is brilliant. You are gifted." KH, Atlanta, GA

"Such an absorbing account!" CC, Medford, OR 

"Another amazing story, beautifully told...you have a gift for storytelling, touching the heart of the listener... " GP, Port Townsend, WA

"What a powerful experience you describe! I think many of us have walked through metaphorical "checkpoint Charlies" but to hear your build up to, and literally crossing through the Berlin Wall puts the courage we all may take for granted ("I only did what needed to be done...") in its right place, at the center of the story." MKJ, Great Barrington, MA

Photo credit: Freeimages.com/Andy Reid  

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On December 12, 2018, the poet Meng Lang died in Hong Kong. He was 57. He was a well-respected writer, a human rights advocate, and tirelessly promoted Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

One year later, to commemorate the anniversary of his death, his long-time friend and collaborator, Beiling requested essays from friends and colleagues who knew Meng Lang, so that he could put together a book dedicated to Meng Lang’s memory. 

I contributed this piece which was translated into Chinese and published in December 2019.

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Dami Roelse is an author, certified life coach, and an avid hiker. Born in Holland, she has traveled the world and as a young woman, began her spiritual quest by traveling to India in search of answers.  By her late 50s, and while suffering through a personal loss, Dami revisited India where a trek through the Himalayas brought illumination and peace. Since then, she has become an avid hiker/backpacker and has hiked most of the Pacific Crest Trail, including the John Muir Trail, and across the entire states of Washington and Oregon. She has also hiked parts of the Himalayas, including a Mount Kailash Kora (or pilgrimage) in Tibet, considered Asia’s holiest mountain. Most of her treks took place while in her 60s and 70s. Dami uses her passion for long distance hiking and backpacking as a means to deepen her connection with nature and the universe. Dami is enthusiastic about leading and mentoring women over 50, in the third phase of life, on the physical and spiritual benefits of walking and backpacking, and she serves as a model for redefining the aging process for women.  She has written a book Walking Gone Wild: How to Lose Your Age on the Trail directed to women over 50. Her latest book  Fly Free, a memoir of love, loss and walking the path is a journey of spiritual and physical exploration as she deals with the loss of her life partner and goes on a trek in the Himalayas. 

 I spoke to her in 2020 at her home in Ashland, Oregon

Music by Manpreet Kaur, @manpreetkaurmusic

www.sacred-truths.com

A family constellation therapy session reveals an unknown family grief, a loss that happened over 70 years ago,  that Emmy attempts to heal and bring to completion.

The Mourner's Kaddish is recited in this podcast.  It is done with reverence, sincere intention, and respect.

"This was a very powerful one. You are sending out good waves in the world." SV, Vancouver, BC
 
"Wow! Such a moving story and you, my dear, have a radio voice designed for your subject matter! " JS, Portland, OR

"So so very beautiful... in every regard. I stand in Awe of your ability to convey such complex, multidimensioned ideas, impressions, experiences... all of which reflect the universal themes that bind and connect us...as well as complicate and divide us." TS, Cleveland, OH

"Priceless." MKJ, Great Barrington, MA

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Emmy talks to teenagers about life. This episode focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 virus on teenagers.

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The Hamazons are an all-female comedy improv troupe from Ashland, Oregon founded in 1999. Originally a group of 7 women, they have performed consistently for over 2 decades.  Today, the Hamazons consist of 3 women, Eve Smyth,  Kyndra Laughery, and founding member Cil Stengel.  The Hamazons typically perform long form improv, a format where entire stories, that have never before been told, are weaved together with plot lines, multiple characters, conflicts, twists and turns, an intermission and a resolution, much like a two-act play. The press has said the Hamazons “meet two of our greatest needs – the need to laugh and the need to live with each other in kindness and respect.” Heart, humor and laughter are practically guaranteed in a Hamazon show.

The Hamazons teach improv workshops and classes, and present shows regularly.  They also perform for many different venues including conferences, private events, gatherings, and ceremonies. For more information and to purchase tickets to their shows, please visit their website: www.hamazons.com.

In this podcast, the Hamazons also perform a short scene! 

I spoke with them in Ashland, Oregon in 2020.

Music by Manpreet Kaur. @manpreetkaurmusic

www.sacred-truths.com

Ken Hornbeck’s career as a stage actor and director spans over 30 years where he has worked both regionally, and in NYC. In 1986 he started his own theatre company called the Eclectic Theatre Company, based in NYC where he created an AIDS education show geared for teenagers, and which became his introduction to Theatre for Social Change.  In 1989, he met Dr. Cydelle Berlin, the founder and Executive Director of STAR Theatre, a program affiliated with Mount Sinai Hospital’s Adolescent Health Center, and because of his work was asked to serve as Artistic Director there. This began a long collaborative relationship and the two of them worked with high school students, junior high and elementary students, creating age-appropriate, ensemble pieces around the subject of teenage sex education in the NYC area.  Their program was so successful that they worked internationally as theatre trainers for the United Nations.  Upon moving to Atlanta, Ken continued to devote his time to Theatre for Social Change while working at Emory University using theatre to address complicated diversity issues on campus including race, sexual orientation, and gender identification.  He is currently an adjunct faculty member at Emory, where he teaches courses in human health through the applied arts. He can be contacted at:  [email protected]. I spoke to him at his home in Atlanta, GA via Zoom.
Music by Manpreet Kaur, @manpreetkaur music

www.sacred-truths.com

In 1945, the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. In this podcast, Emmy describes her journey to the city of Hiroshima in 1986 and the impact this visit had on her.  Interwoven in her personal story, are depictions of Keiji Nakazawa's experience, a renowned Manga artist, and a Hiroshima bomb survivor.   

"So long as one atomic bomb exists, Hiroshima will remain an issue."
~Keiji Nakazawa

This podcast was published on August 6, 2020, 75 years after the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

Photo: Olin Cox

"This is brilliant. Riveting and poignant and spiritual and so so so COMPLEX! Your voice! I'm bawling one minute, horrified the next, on the edge of my seat the next!" JLG, Atlanta, GA 

"It is a fitting and staggering tribute that bears Witness, reminding us to Never Forget, and to ensure:  Never Again. " TLS, Cleveland, OH

"You have a way of creating a palpable atmosphere.  And I like the structure.  Your audience sees both your external and internal worlds.  And it has a quality of transparent truth.  We travel along with you and listen in as you experience and process the world." SV, Vancouver, BC

"You have such a gift. Fascinating, moving, educational, transformative..." KH, Atlanta, GA

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Since a very young age, Claire Burbridge has always considered herself an artist. Born and educated in Great Britain, she has been a prolific artist her entire life, working in sculpture early in her career. However, when she moved to the United States over 10 years ago, she was inspired to return to drawing using the natural world as subject. She now does exquisite, detailed pencil and ink drawings, inspired by the nature that surrounds her current home in southern Oregon. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States, England and in Germany. Recent solo exhibitions include at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene, Oregon, Nancy Toomey Fine Art in San Francisco, California, and the Davis and Cline Art Gallery in Ashland, Oregon. She is the 2019 recipient of the Oregon Percent for Art Commission through Western Oregon University. Her latest foray is in creating wallpapers, once again inspired by nature.

For more information on Claire or to contact the artist, please visit www.claireburbridge.com.

To view and purchase her wallpapers, visit www.claireburbridge

I spoke to her in 2020 at her home in southern Oregon. 

Music by Manpreet Kaur.  @ManpreetKaurmusic

www.sacred-truths.com