The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope

Cai Quirk frames their art and their work expanding gender narratives as a collaboration between themself, the natural world, and Spirit. Despite the continued erasure of queer stories, Cai reminds us that the natural world keeps these stories of the “fluidity and diversity of ourselves…for us to be able to relearn.” In their conversation with Dwight, Cai invites us into those processes of collaboration, expansion, and relearning.

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Cai Quirk (they/them or ey/em) is a lifelong Quaker with passions for Witness, personal discernment, and diverse methods of spiritual deepening. With a gender that transcends binaries, Cai is practiced at deeply questioning societal expectations and norms and in shifting towards roots of individual and group integrity. Spiritual deepening, Witness, and integrity are expanded in Cai’s writing, photography, and music practices. Cai’s upcoming book of photography and stories, Transcendence: Queer Restoryation, connects themes of spirituality, mythology, and gender diversity, nature and storytelling. 

Learn more about Cai’s work here: https://caiquirk.com/

Preorder Cai’s upcoming book, Transcendence: Queer Restoryation, here.

Listen to Cai’s First Monday lecture, “Myths of Gender,” here.

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The Seed asks guests to share a quote or text that has been transformational for them. Cai shared the following quote from Winona LaDuke: 

“When we start our stories at the moment of harm, we get limited, we lose imagination. What were our stories before the harm? We can reimagine our pasts, imagine the pieces, the stories that weren’t handed down.”

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Find the transcript for this episode here. 

NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page.

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 @PendleHillUSA 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. 

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

Dwight sits down with Rev. Rhetta Morgan to discuss the power and purpose of heartbreak, the magic of sitting with grief, and the connection between healing self/others/world. What does it mean to heal and hope in the midst of the unspeakable?  “I want to invite people to go in the direction of the illogical,” Rev. Rhetta says. “It is illogical to be hopeful when everything around you is falling apart. I want you to do it anyway. I want you to go in that direction of the transcendent.” This conversation digs into the complexity, beauty, pain, and alchemy of radical hope and its power in the chaos and crises of our current moment.
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Reverend Rhetta Morgan is a singing healer, spiritual activist, and interfaith minister who has been gathering tools for healing and inspiration for over 40 years. She is a valued teacher at Pendle Hill, offering workshops and lectures on topics including faithfulness and action, grief and healing, and nonviolent action. Through her gifts of prayer, poetry, facilitation, and sermonizing she cultivates hope and nurtures connection in her community as a pathway back to belonging and wholeness.
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You can learn more about Rev. Rhetta’s work on her website, https://reverendrhetta.com/  

Listen to Rev. Rhetta’s First Monday Lecture, "Into the Night: Holiness of Darkness," here.
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Find the transcript for this episode here.

NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page.

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 @PendleHillUSA 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. 

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

Can a podcast be a seed for social and individual healing? How can we expand Pendle Hill conversations?
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Welcome to The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope! In our opening episode, host Dwight Dunston and Pendle Hill executive director Francisco Burgos share their dreams for The Seed. Can a podcast be a seed for social healing? How can we expand Pendle Hill's conversations and spaces of transformation to continue building Beloved Community with a new medium? Dwight and Francisco discuss their own relationships to spirituality, activism, and Pendle Hill and attempt to answer the questions “Who is Dwight Dunston? Who is Francisco Burgos?”
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Francisco Burgos is the executive director of Pendle Hill. Francisco comes to Pendle Hill from the Center for Community Initiatives at the Monteverde Institute in Costa Rica. He was born in Santo Domingo, but identifies as an internationalist. Francisco was a poet, an educator, a father, and as a self described dreamer whose visions are grounded in reality.

Listen to Francisco’s First Monday lecture “Re Creating Hope” here.
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Find the transcript for this episode here. 

NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page.

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 @PendleHillUSA 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. 

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

The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope is an upcoming Pendle Hill podcast where Quakers and other seekers explore visions of the world growing up through the cracks of our broken systems.

In celebration of World Quaker Day, our first episode will be released October 2, 2022.

Be sure to subscribe and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for updates! 

NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page.

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 @PendleHillUSA 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. 

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