Episode Summary

In our first mini-episode of Season 5, Dr. Riyam Kafri Abu Laban, a writer and educator from Ramallah, explains how Palestinian cuisine is a powerful expression of identity rooted in the land and traditions of the Palestinian people. Forced displacement and cultural appropriation have posed significant challenges to preserving this culinary heritage. Food is nourishment and a bridge to the past—a living memory of their villages and communities. Palestinian food continues to serve as a source of resistance, memory, healing, and celebration.

Guest Bio

Dr. Riyam Kafri Abu Laban writes personal essays, poetry, short stories, and articles on Palestine, motherhood, and education. She sees writing as "the tangible outcome of thinking" and believes the first sentence requires the most courage. She describes writing as an incredible gift, a way to bring ideas to life—whether technical, creative, or fictional.

With a PhD in Chemistry, Riyam started her career as a research scientist but soon realized her passion was working with people. She shifted to education, first as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry and a founding faculty member at Al Quds Bard College in Palestine. She then spent seven years as the Upper School Principal at Ramallah Friends School.

As a proud Ramallah Friends School and Earlham College graduate, Quaker values have shaped her life and faith. Today, Riyam is the Educational Lead at AlNayzak Organization, focusing on pedagogy, curriculum design, and training.

Riyam lives in Ramallah, West Bank, Palestine. Follow her on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Special Music

In this episode, you will hear the song Sada by the Sada Trio. Ahmad Al Khatib, Pedram Shahlai, and Feras Sharestan are virtuoso musicians from three parts of the Middle East who now live in Sweden. Ahmad Al Khatib was born in 1974 in a Palestinian refugee camp in Irbid, Jordan. He started his musical journey at an early age. In the Sada Trio, the three musicians keep the Middle Eastern music tradition alive, pairing traditional instruments with original compositions.

The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/
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The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people.

Help us to grow The Seed!
Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey.

Follow us @pendlehillseed on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast.

Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details.

This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

Episode Summary:

In this opening episode of Season 5 of The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope, host Dwight Dunston speaks with Francisco Burgos, Executive Director of Pendle Hill, about the theme of world-building. They explore what it means to co-create new systems rooted in cooperation, reciprocity, and love. Francisco reflects on his experiences at Pendle Hill, his childhood in the Dominican Republic, and the prophetic witness that inspires his work.

In addition, Dwight introduces the exciting changes in Season 5. These changes include a second guest in each episode who will bring a reflection,  song, poem, or reading.

Key Highlights:

• Primary Guest: Francisco Burgos—Francisco shares stories from his upbringing and how his family's generosity has influenced his worldview. He also reflects on the prophetic role Pendle Hill has played in building a different world since its founding in 1930.
• Second Guest: Dwight Dunston – As the second guest, Dwight offers insights into his journey with Quakerism, continuing revelation, and how his experiences at Pendle Hill have shaped his vision of world-building. He also reflects on the transformative experience of attending a writing retreat in Ireland in the summer of 2024.
• World-Building in Practice – Dwight and Francisco discuss what it means to build new worlds in the cracks of broken systems, drawing on their personal experiences and the influence of Pendle Hill.

New Features for Season 5:

• Mini-Episode Preview: This season will include alternating mini-episodes featuring unaired content and new material created on the Pendle Hill campus. These shorter episodes will deepen the season’s exploration of world-building.
• Two Guests! Each of our full episodes will include a main guest in conversation with Dwight and a second guest who will offer a short reflection, reading, poem, or song.
• Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details.

The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/
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The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people.

Help us to grow The Seed!
Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey.

Follow us @pendlehillseed on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast.

Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details.

This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

🌱 Welcome to Season 5 of The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope! 🌱

In this special promo, host Dwight Dunston invites you into a season focused on world-building and imagination, exploring the deep questions about the future we envision and how we can start living it today. This season is packed with inspiring conversations, reflections, and new features designed to expand your sense of justice, love, and peace.

🎙️ Episode Highlights:

• Dr. Riyam Kafri Abu Laban shares a powerful and personal perspective from Ramallah, Palestine, reflecting on the struggles mothers face across the globe in times of violence.
• Manchán Magan from Ireland delves into the healing power of language and place, offering a glimpse into his deep connection with nature and spirit through gardening.
• Special guests like Alexx Temeña, Zenaida Peterson, and Steve Tamari bring fresh insights on spirituality, creativity, and justice, bridging the gap between faith and action.

✨ What’s New in Season 5:

• Second Guests in each episode sharing special poems, reflections, or songs.
• Mini Episodes featuring exclusive content every two weeks.
• Join Dwight in Pendle Hill's Online Quaker Worship on the last Friday of each month for more connection and reflection.

Don’t miss out! Subscribe now and step into a world of radical hope, where imagination meets action, and together, we create the future we want. New episodes drop every two weeks!

#Podcast #WorldBuilding #RadicalHope #Imagination #Justice #Peace #Season5

The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/
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The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people.

Help us to grow The Seed!
Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey.

Follow us @pendlehillseed on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast.

Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details.

This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

In our final episode of Season 4, Valerie Brown, an author, Buddhist-Quaker Dharma teacher, and executive coach, discusses yielding to the realignment of grief, the relationship between self care and social justice, and how Quaker communities are being called to transformation in our current political moment.
 

Valerie Brown is an author, Buddhist-Quaker Dharma teacher in the lineage of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and the Plum Village tradition, Courage & Renewal facilitator, and executive coach specializing in leadership development and mindfulness practices with a focus on diversity, social equity, and inclusion. A former lawyer and lobbyist, Valerie transformed her high-pressure, twenty-year career into serving leaders and nonprofits to create trustworthy, authentic, compassionate, and connected workspaces. Valerie’s unique and extensive training blends social justice, evidenced-based mindfulness practices, leadership development, and spiritual growth. 

Of Afro-Cuban descent, Valerie is a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and lives and tends a lively perennial home garden in New Hope, PA.

To learn more about Valerie's work, visit https://valeriebrown.us/

Order and read more about Valerie's newest book, Healing Our Way Home, here: https://pendlehill.org/product/healing-our-way-home-black-buddhist-teachings-on-ancestors-joy-and-liberation/

The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/
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The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people.

Help us to grow The Seed!
Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey.

Follow us @pendlehillseed on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast.

Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details.

This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

Rabbi Mordechai Liebling draws on his decades-long experience in interfaith and interracial activism and organizing to explore the role of clergy in organizing and nonviolent direct action, the power of shared heartbreak across difference, and the current fight for a ceasefire in Gaza. 

Rabbi Mordechai Liebling is the Senior Advisor for POWER Interfaith, the largest faith-based community organizing group in Pennsylvania. Prior to that he founded and directed for ten years the Social Justice Organizing Program at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Previously, he served as the executive vice president of Jewish Funds for Justice (now Bend the Arc); and was the executive director of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation for 12 years. He leads workshops on Race, Antisemitism and Christian hegemony; and on the Work That Reconnects developed by Joanna Macy.

He was a co-founder of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights; currently he serves on the boards of Faith in Action (formerly PICO),  the Faith and Politics Institute and The Shalom Center. He is married to Lynne Iser, and they have five adult children. He answered the clergy call to come to Ferguson, Mo.; Standing Rock, N.D.; and Charlottesville, VA amid their confrontations. He is a member of Rabbis 4 Ceasefire.

The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/
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The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people.

Help us to grow The Seed!
Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey.

Follow us @pendlehillseed on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast.

Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details.

This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

Felix Rosado is an abolitionist and restorative justice practitioner committed to ending human caging in all its forms. When 'justice' has become synonymous with cops, courtrooms, and cages, how do we begin to envision new ways of truth-telling and reckoning with harm? In our fourth episode of Season Four, Felix and Dwight explore this question, the griefs and gratitudes of freedom, the spiritual groundings of the fight to abolish prisons, and what it means to be 'free-ish.' 

Felix Rosado escaped a death by incarceration sentence after 27 years via governor clemency in 2022. He is cofounder of Let’s Circle Up, a restorative justice (RJ) education project. He currently serves as Program Coordinator of Healing Futures, an RJ youth diversion program with the Youth Art & Self-empowerment Project (YASP) and adjunct professor of RJ at Chestnut Hill College. He also is a founding member of the Coalition to Abolish Death By Incarceration (CABDI) and committed to ending human caging in all its forms.

Felix will be a facilitator for Continuing Revolution 2024: Restorative Justice as Spiritual Practice, a hybrid conference for young adults (ages 18-35) interested in exploring the connections between their political, interpersonal, and spiritual lives. Join us June 7-10 at Pendle Hill outside Philadelphia, Beacon Hill Friends House in Boston, Friends Place in DC, or online. We hope you'll join us! Learn more and register at https://pendlehill.org/learn/ 

The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/
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The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people.

Help us to grow The Seed!
Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey.

Follow us @pendlehillseed on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast.

Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details.

This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

In this current political moment of polarization and divisiveness, when and how do we commit to staying in fellowship with one another? How do we discern individual and institutional next steps with faithfulness and humility? In this conversation, Adria discusses the ways Jesus’s life and ministry grounds her work, the importance of approaching one another with compassion in disagreement, and her continuing discernment journeys around staying aligned with personal and organizational purpose.

You can also watch Adria's Pendle Hill First Monday Lecture, "Embracing Spiritual Gifts," on Pendle Hill's YouTube channel.

Adria Gulizia is an attorney, mediator, facilitator, and coach. Her concern for the spiritual formation of Friends of all ages has led her to serve in roles ranging from children’s religious education to Earlham School of Religion’s board of advisors. In collaboration with the School of the Spirit, she is currently exploring what it might look like to step into radical faithfulness across theological boundaries amid the twin temptations of anger and despair. Adria is a member of Chatham-Summit Meeting (NYYM) in Summit, N.J. To learn more about Adria's work, visit  https://shadowofbabylon.com/  

The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/
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The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people.

Help us to grow The Seed!
Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey.

Follow us @pendlehillseed on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast.

Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details.

This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

Parker Palmer is an teacher, activist, and writer whose work explores issues in education, community, spirituality, and social change. He and Dwight explore vocation, aging, and the paradoxes of solitude and community, life and mortality, faithfulness and urgency: How do we embrace paradox to pursue that which is life-giving?

Parker Palmer is a teacher, writer, and the founder and senior partner emeritus of the Center for Courage and Renewal, who works on issues in education, community, spirituality, and social change. He is the author of ten books, including Let your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation, The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life, and most recently, On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old. He holds a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, and his work has been recognized with thirteen honorary doctorates. 

Parker Palmer first came to Pendle Hill as a resident student in the fall of 1974, an experience that stretched into an eleven year tenure as the Dean of Studies. His time here catalyzed his relationship with Quakerism and shaped his work, thought, and writings on pedagogy and spiritual communities. This work, and his ongoing contributions to Pendle Hill, continue to have an incredible influence on the study, work and worship here on Pendle Hill’s campus and beyond.

The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/
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The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people.

Help us to grow The Seed!
Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey.

Follow us @pendlehillseed on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast.

Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details.

This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

In this opening episode of Season 4, Dwight and Francisco discuss grief, gratitude, staying grounded amidst uncertainty and polarization, and the guiding queries and themes of the season.

Dwight Dunston is a West Philly-based facilitator, hip-hop artist, educator, and activist who has brought his creativity, care, and compassion to schools, community centers, retirement homes, festivals, and stadiums all over the country and internationally.

Francisco Burgos is the executive director at Pendle Hill and has facilitated spiritual retreats and lectio divina sessions for many audiences. Francisco was a De La Salle Christian Brother for almost ten years, serving in Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Costa Rica, and has been a Friend since 2004. He is a member of Harrisburg Friends Meeting and an attender of meetings including Monteverde Friends Meeting in Costa Rica and Adelphi Friends Meeting in Maryland.

The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/
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The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people.

Help us to grow The Seed!
Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey.

Follow us @pendlehillseed on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast.

Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details.

This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

Welcome to Season 4 of The Seed! Join us as we explore what spiritual alignment looks like in this moment of escalating social and political upheaval and violence: How do we cultivate discernment to stay the course and stay connected to our leadings? How are we being called to transform ourselves and our communities to break down systems of oppression and embody new ways of being?

Guest voices in order of appearance: Adria Gulizia, Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, Felix Rosado, Valerie Brown, and Parker Palmer. 

The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/
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The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people.

Help us to grow The Seed!
Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey.

Follow us @pendlehillseed on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast.

Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details.

This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.