Writer's Voices

Writers’ Voices speaks with one of the most influential and controversial writers’ on today’s political scene, Markos Moulitsas. Markos is the author of “American Taliban: How War, Sex, Sin, and Power Bind Jihadists and the Radical Right.” Moulitsas’ journey to writing took him through journalism, military service and law school to become 26th on PC World’s list of “The Most Important People on the Web” by founding and publishing the leading progressive community blog, DailyKos.

American Taliban is a no holds barred treatise on the similarities between right-wing reactionaries in the USA and Islamic terrorists. Both camps reek with fear of change, heavy use of militaristic solutions, disdain for non-traditional lifestyles, and their ultimate goals of imposing their own worldview on the rest of society.

We asked Markos how it felt to be on the firing line with his outspoken commentary, and he said that it’s easy compared to his childhood in war-torn El Salvador.

Guest host Paul Gandy adds his perspective, gained from years of practice as a consumer rights attorney, to this timely discussion.

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex and more violent. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.

Today Monica Hadley talks with the Democratic candidate for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Francis Thicke. They will discuss his book and campaign.

The message in “A New Vision for Iowa Food and Agriculture”, is clear: plan for the end of inexpensive oil in agriculture. It is an engaging and fast read, grounded in Thicke’s experiences as an organic dairy farmer in Fairfield, Iowa. One has to agree, Iowans are not doing enough to become aware of the end of cheap oil, much less to prepare for the inevitability of it and its impact.

During the last hundred years, Iowa agriculture has been altered into an industrial behemoth when the rest of industrial society was converting to information based economy. In an information age, agriculture has been slow to accept new technologies, especially those related to energy production on the farm. Despite the emergence of new information about organic farming, renewable energy and sustainability.

Writers’ Voices host Monica Hadley, along with special guest host Cheryl Fusco-Johnson, interview Ari Berman.

They discuss his book “Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics”

Writers’ Voices welcomes Linda Joy to the show this week. Monica and Caroline will be talking with Linda about her upcoming anthology, “A Juicy, Joyful Life: Inspiration from Women Who Have Found the Sweetness in Every Day”, which she Linda Joy compiled. The book shares the personal stories of over 40 women about how they overcame their biggest obstacles, discovered who they are, and how they made the decision to live a juicy, joyful life. Linda is also, since 2005, the publisher of Aspire magazine, dedicated to inspiring women to live deeper, more authentic, and stimulated lives. Make sure to take time to tune in for this truly inspiring interview!

This week Writers’ Voices will have a fascinating interview with author and child educational psychologist, Dr. Charlotte Reznick. Dr. Reznick is the author of “The Power of Your Child’s Imagination: How to Transform Stress and Anxiety into Joy and Success,” an L.A. Times bestselling book, published by Perigee/Penguin. She will be sharing her insight into imagery techniques that she has developed that allows children to use the power of their imagination to help them cope with many childhood problems. Her techniques have helped children boost self-esteem and confidence, deal with insomnia, overcome fears and bedwetting, ease headaches and stomach aches, and soothe anger, frustration and loss. Dr. Reznick has been helping small children, adolescents, and parents for over 20 years. She has been featured on national television broadcasts and published in newspapers and professional journals.

Writers’ Voices host Monica Hadley interview Matt Hoover contestant on c.

They discuss his book “Guide to Life, Love, and Losing Weight”.

Listen to this absorbing author interview as Monica and Caroline find out what it takes to write an authoritative book on such an important topic.  How did the coauthors’ collaboration work?   Linda also  shares the story of how this book was almost published twice before it found its final home with the Maharishi University of Management Press, and why it is a better book as a result. Originally broadcast 8/6/10.

You can get this book at Amazon.com: Super Healthy Kids: A Parents Guide to Maharishi Ayurveda

In this book, Steven Schneider’s poetry employs the technique of ekphrasis, which are poems about art. His inspirations are the moving portraits done by his wife, Reefka Schneider, of people who live and work along the U.S.-Mexico border. The poems, which celebrate the region’s culture but do not ignore the economic realities of many of its citizens, have been elegantly translated into Spanish by Jose Antonio Rodriguez. In this author interview, the couple describe how this project, which began as part of Reefka’s healing process from a serious car accident, became first a traveling art exhibit, and then a beautiful book published by Wings Press.

Steven Schneider’s writing career has taken him from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop in Iowa City to the University of Texas-Pan America, where he is a Professor of English and Director of New Programs and Special Projects for the College of Arts and Humanities, and many places in between. His publishing credits are wide-ranging and include two previously published books of poems, many scholarly essays, and a treatise on A.R. Ammons.

Reefka Schneider is one of the foremost artists of “la frontera,” the binational region of the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas. Some of the portraits from this book have been published in the Afro-Hispanic Review and elsewhere. Ms. Schneider has exhibited throughout the region.

Wings Press publishes multi-cultural books and other publications with a goal of enlightening the human spirit and is dedicated to the preservation of the literature of Texas and all of the Americas.

We loved talking with Lucia René, who has been a professional actress, a computer science consultant, a teacher of self-discovery, and more recently, a writer.

Lucia’s 40 year exploration of consciousness has drawn her to the practices of Hinduism, Zen, Vadriyana Buddhism, and Advaita and a 17-year apprenticeship to an enlightened master of American Buddhism, mysticism, and psychic development.

She has been ordained as a Buddhist monk and lectured on meditation and mysticism at universities throughout the United States including University of Colorado, University of California, and Northwestern University.

Between 2002 and 2007, using her mystical training, Lucia collaborated with other female mystics to identify the hidden energy structures underlying our economic-social-political systems. She deconstructed her personal buy-ins to those structures, and now offers herself in service to facilitate the dismantling of the structures themselves and their vice-grip on the global collective consciousness.

Lucia’s current work involves monitoring the evolution of Mother Earth and collaborating with groups of women to facilitate the One Heart/One Mind. This is a delicate network of rarefied energies that connects, synchronizes, and uplifts world consciousness. This energy network is becoming increasingly activated as we transition into the post-2012 Aquarian Age.