This month on The Growing Edge podcast we revisit our December 2018 conversation with poet Naomi Shihab Nye. Naomi has received numerous honors for her work, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Book Critics Circle, and the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award. She is currently the Poetry Foundation’s Young People’s Poet Laureate. In this conversation we read and discuss her luminous poem, “Shoulders” and explore the gift of being present to the small moments of our lives. We loved this conversation, and still treasure the life-giving ideas and stories that came up as we talked. Warmest Greetings of the season from The Growing Edge, and a lovely gift of wisdom from Naomi Shihab Nye!
In this episode Carrie and Parker discuss May Sarton's powerful poem, "The Angels & The Furies." In this conversation we talk about the angels and furies of our nature. In these times when many of us are wrestling with what to do with our furies in life giving ways, what does it mean to be "perfectly human but never perfect"? How do we also incline our heads and notice where the graces of our lives appear and support our own better angels? And finally, how do we balance the both/and of our lives.
In this episode Carrie and Parker continue their conversation about creativity and the undivided life, writing from the "margins", following a call to and beyond the growing edge, and the red threads that run through Parker's work over the past 50 years. This podcast also features one of Parker's poems, "The Poem I Would Have Writ."
In this episode Parker and Carrie take a moment to talk about Carrie's newest companion projects Until Now CD & Until Now: New Poems. They discuss the themes that run through these two companion pieces; resilience and uncertainty, loss, discover and being in process. They discuss how creativity can be expressed in a traditional art form, but also in how we approach our relationships, parenting, community, vocation and as a spiritual practice. We'll be giving a sneak peek listen to the new songs and poetry before it's release date, September 10, 2021
In this episode Parker and Carrie are in conversation with author, journalist, activist, Courtney Martin, about her new book, Learning in Public: Lessons for a Racially Divided America from My Daughter's School. Courtney has a popular Substack newsletter, called Examined Family, and speaks widely at conferences and colleges through out the country. She is also the co-founder of the Solutions Journalism Network, FRESH Speakers Bureau, and the Bay Area chapter of Integrated Schools. We're both very moved by Courtney's new book and her open, honest, informed and humble presentation of the story of this book, which reads like a memoir and yet filled with such important information about what it means to try to live a moral and ethical life in such divided times.
A conversation with beloved meditation teacher and founder of The Insight Meditation Society. In this episode we explore the practice of mindfulness and meditation to deepen our own lives and sustain our capacity to stay engaged and serve others. We discuss Sharon's book "Real Change" and her work with diverse groups to process suffering and create a sustainable positive change. Sharon leads us and our Growing Edge listeners in a short mindful meditation.
Because Carrie was in the studio this month working on a new album, we decided not to record a new podcast for June. Instead, we are revisiting our 2019 interview with our dear friend, Mark Nepo, poet and author. In this interview we explored what it means to show up as our authentic self and how when we are in touch with our deepest human experiences we are in touch with our shared human experience.
For our May, 2021 podcast, we welcome Dr. Luther E. Smith Jr., Professor Emeritus at Candler Seminary, author, educator, pastor, mystic, and elder. In this episode we talk about how identity is shaped and expanded and how conversations about race could be more authentic and powerful. We also explore what it meant for him to follow a spiritual calling and the experiences that led him to his friendship and academic study of author and mystic, Howard Thurman.
Parker and Carrie welcome singer songwriter, activist John McCutcheon, musician, activist and spiritual seeker. He has 41 albums to his credit, has received six Grammy Award nominations and worked for 40 years bringing together intelligent thoughtful songs, fearless commentary and music for social change. In this episode we talk about the power of music to connect and inspire, the dignity and value of each human being told in story and song, spiritual seeking and embracing the role of elder. For more information about John, his albums, workshops and performances visit his websiteHERE.
For our March, 2021 podcast, we welcome John Paul Lederach, Professor Emeritus of International Peacebuilding, and internationally respected expert in conflict transformation. John Paul describes the stages that lead to violence in a society, as well as the ways people heal and create communal networks of change. Please join us for this insightful conversation. "Peacebuilding is walking toward a horizon. You never really reach the end of that walk, but it gives you an orientation.”
In this episode, Carrie and Parker reflect upon the happenings of 2020. They discuss challenges we've faced in the past year as well as focus and evidence for hope in the new year. They explore the idea of living in the "Tragic Gap" and living into creative citizenry. They read Mary Oliver's lovely poem "Starlings in Winter" and discuss grief and getting past it, and what is is putting lift into their boots. Carrie sings, the song “The Handing Over Time” by Carrie Newcomer and Gary Walters
In this episode, Carrie and Parker have a conversation with Poet, Ross Gay, author of The Book of Delights & Be Holding. We talk about Ross's books, his thoughts about finding delight in his daily life and as a daily practice, joy as an act of resistance and the importance of connection to one another and to the natural world. We hope you'll join us for this "delightful" and thoughtful conversation.
In this episode, Carrie and Parker ask how We the People can help renew the American body politic post-election. How do we have open-hearted conversations across lines of difference, without blinking facts or backing away from critical issues of equity and justice? As we step into the future, knowing we will help create it one way or another, how do we ground ourselves to do the hard work ahead, holding to hope and joy as we go?
Carrie and Parker talk with Preeta about the Inner work of democracy and serving the common good. A constitutional lawyer from Harvard Law School, Preeta served as General Counsel in the Obama White House, where she played a major role in the Office of Management and Budget following the financial collapse of 2008. Having returned to her hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska, Preeta now finds expression for her call to public service via ServiceSpace, a fascinating international network of citizens animated by their desire to serve the common good through volunteerism.
In this Growing Edge Podcast, we talk with author, educator, and activist Gregory Ellison II about his new book, Anchored in the Current, a collection of essays about the enduring influence of mystic, theologian, and civil rights activist Howard Thurman.
horizon line, when we become more aware of "the curious promise of limited time. Also in this episode we release a new (and free) single, "The Music Will Play On,” words & music by Parker J. Palmer, music by Carrie Newcomer. Carrie and Parker talk about the collaborative process that led to this song, and how it addresses “the curious promise of limited time."
Carrie and Parker explore William Stafford’s poem, A Ritual to Read to Each Other. Taking one verse at a time, they talk about the light the poem sheds on this moment of national awakening and our response to it. The work now required to rid the U.S. of structural racism has been left undone for 240 years—the road ahead is long and we need light along the way.
This month, we're honored to offer a second podcast: Parker hosts a conversation with Stephen Lewis, Matthew Williams, and Dori Baker, regarding their work with diverse young leaders. That's the focus of their new book, Another Way: Living and Leading Change on Purpose, which explores the justice-oriented mission of the Forum for Theological Exploration in Atlanta.
For more information about the authors and their book, click here.
Two months after the 2016 election, Valarie spoke words that went viral, offering millions of people a lasting image of hope, the kind of hope we desperately need today: “The future is dark. But what if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb but the darkness of the womb?” Those words became the seeds of The Revolutionary Love Project, a movement that has spoken to many of us. You can sign the Rev Love Declaration HERE.
In her new book, Valarie chronicles a movement that reframes the tradition of nonviolent social change for our era. Drawing deeply on the gritty love shown by women of color in moments ranging from childbirth to nurturing family and community amid devastating violence, she reaches out to all who understand (with Auden) that “we must love one another or die.” Tested and tempered by suffering, but rising up with hope and joy, Kaur shows us how to love others, opponents, and ourselves in ways that will bring us closer to the Beloved Community.
We're proud to call Valarie a friend, and to feature her important work on The Growing Edge.
In This Episode Carrie and Parker discuss the spiritual and personal aspects of loneliness and solitude. How are solitude and loneliness different? What does it mean to follow our soul's true shape and imperative, which may create a sense of loneliness at times? Solitude can be generative and life deepening, but there are also other kinds of loneliness that are created through non generative cultural and personal isolation. Also in this episode Parker's new song "The Music Will Go On" is debuted!
