Elijah Nichols has been an active voice in progressive politics during the last two years. Nichols was the President of the Reeths-Puffer Gay-Straight Alliance for two terms, the Co-Founder of the Youth Activism Coalition, and a speaker and coordinator at rallies around Michigan. Nichols has connected with students and groups from across the United States, everywhere from Chicago to Washington D.C., and is grateful to have been raised to have such an empathetic mindset. He will be attending George Mason University in the fall to study Government and International Politics, where he hopes to address the systemic issues of poverty and corporate greed.

Gerald Murnane is an Australian author who has written over a dozen books, including The Plains and most recently, Border Districts. He worked as a teacher during the early part of his career and he is a great fan of horse racing. Murnane is the recipient of the Patrick White Award (1999), the Melbourne Prize for Literature (2009), the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature Award for Innovation in Writing (2010), and a special award in the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards (2007).

Gerald Murnane, an author from Australia, has written over a dozen books including The Plains and most recently, Border Districts. He worked as a teacher during the early part of his career and he is a great fan of horse racing. Gerald Murnane was also a recipient of the Patrick White Award in 1999, A special award in the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards in 2007, won the Melbourne Prize for Literature in 2009, and the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature 2010 Award for Innovation in Writing.

Kascha Sanor graduated from Aquinas College in May of 2017 with a German, International Studies, and Community Leadership triple major. She is endlessly grateful for the intergenerational and interfaith relationships that sustain our communities. She looks forward to making a dent in her summer reading list and her upcoming year of service in Los Angeles, California. Emma Wonsil is a recent graduate of Aquinas College with a double major in biology and psychology. She identifies as gay, Catholic, and an avid dog-lover. She will be spending the next year working in Missoula, Montana, as a part of Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest.

DATE RECORDED: 06/09/2017

MUSIC: Thingamajig by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…)

Artist: http://audionautix.com/

Julie Anderson, the mother of a son, Eric, who is currently serving a sentence of juvenile life without parole. Eric was incarcerated in 1995 when he was 15 years old. Anderson is the founder and coordinator of CRIIC, Communities & Relatives of Illinois Incarcerated Children. CRIIC members are family and friends of those serving juvenile life without parole, offering each other support and encouragement while working to eliminate life sentences for juveniles. Anderson is one of the founding members of the Restore Justice Illinois Board, a group that is working to reform criminal justice laws.

Julie Anderson, the mother of a son, Eric, who is currently serving a sentence of juvenile life without parole. Eric was incarcerated in 1995 when he was 15 years old. Anderson is the founder and coordinator of CRIIC, Communities & Relatives of Illinois Incarcerated Children. CRIIC members are family and friends of those serving juvenile life without parole, offering each other support and encouragement while working to eliminate life sentences for juveniles. Anderson is one of the founding members of the Restore Justice Illinois Board, a group that is working to reform criminal justice laws.

Christine Wiseman is the former President of Saint Xavier University in Chicago, and the immediate past Provost of Loyola University Chicago, where she also held a tenured position as Professor of Law. Before joining Loyola in 2007, she served as Vice President for Academic Affairs at Creighton University, and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at Marquette University, where she was a member of its tenured law faculty for 22 years. Earlier in her career, President Wiseman served as an Assistant Wisconsin Attorney General with the Criminal Appeals Division. In 1989, she received the Wisconsin Civil Liberties Union Volunteer Attorney of the Year Award, for her seven-year pro bono representation of Texas death row inmate, Billy Conn Gardner, who was executed in 1995.

DATE RECORDED: 12/11/2014

MUSIC: Thingamajig by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…)

Artist: http://audionautix.com/

For 30 years Dennis Koehn has been a management consultant, working with corporations, government agencies and not-for-profit organizations. In recent years he has focused on executive coaching with business owners and CEOs. Raised in the Mennonite Church, Dennis is now a member of the First Unitarian Church of Chicago in the Hyde Park neighborhood. As a young man during the Vietnam War, Dennis spent 18 months in Federal Prison in Englewood, Colorado as a draft resister. Dennis has a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School and recently completed a PhD at the Chicago Theological Seminary, a program he began in his early 50’s. His dissertation, “Psychology, Theology, and Ideology Shape Decisions on War and Peace: a Study of Billy Graham, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Vietnam War,” is the culmination of his decades long commitment to nonviolence and peacemaking.

DATE RECORDED: 2014

MUSIC: Thingamajig by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…)

Artist: http://audionautix.com/

For 30 years Dennis Koehn has been a management consultant, working with corporations, government agencies and not-for-profit organizations. In recent years he has focused on executive coaching with business owners and CEOs. Raised in the Mennonite Church, Dennis is now a member of the First Unitarian Church of Chicago in the Hyde Park neighborhood. As a young man during the Vietnam War, Dennis spent 18 months in Federal Prison in Englewood, Colorado as a draft resister. Dennis has a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School and recently completed a PhD at the Chicago Theological Seminary, a program he began in his early 50’s. His dissertation, “Psychology, Theology, and Ideology Shape Decisions on War and Peace: a Study of Billy Graham, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Vietnam War,” is the culmination of his decades long commitment to nonviolence and peacemaking.

DATE RECORDED: 2014

MUSIC: Thingamajig by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…)

Artist: http://audionautix.com/

Father Denny Kinderman and Sister Donna Liette are both members of the Precious Blood Order of the Catholic Church. Father Denny worked for many years in a low income urban parish in Cincinnati before moving to Chicago in 2001. He is the co-founder of the Precious Blood Center, a restorative justice program where he works with young people who have had some contact with the juvenile justice system in Chicago. Sister Donna worked for many years at Mercy Manor in Dayton, Ohio. Mercy Manor is a residential home for women recently released from prison. For the past 4 years she has also served at the Precious Blood Center. where she works closely with the mothers of young people who are incarcerated, or who have lost their lives to violence. A centerpiece of their work is the use of peace circles to help those affected by crime talk about their experiences.

DATE RECORDED: 10/31/2014

MUSIC: Thingamajig by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…)

Artist: http://audionautix.com/