Search For Meaning Book Festival 2011 - Author Bios

 

 Anne Lamott - Keynote Speaker

 

Anne Lamott is the author of six novels including, Hard Laughter, Rosie, Joe Jones, All New People, and Crooked Little Heart (the sequel to Rosie), as well as four bestselling books of nonfiction. Anne Lamott writes and speaks about subjects that begin with capital letters: Alcoholism, Motherhood, Jesus. But armed with self-effacing humor – she is laugh out-loud funny – and ruthless honesty, Lamott converts her subjects into enchantment.

 

 

 Tariq Ramadan - Keynote Speaker

 

Tariq Ramadan is Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University. Through his writings and lectures, he has contributed substantially to the debate on issues of Muslims in the West and Islamic revival in the Muslim world. His books include What I Believe, Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation and In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad.

 

 

 Valerie Albrecht, MA Writing, B.SP.Path 

Presentation Title: Mother - A Reflection of God's Love

Valerie Albrecht shares writing, yoga, yoga birthing, massage therapy, hypnotherapy, and speech pathology from her home by the ocean in Australia. She has a Bachelor of Speech and Hearing Pathology, with a double major in psychology, and this book “Search for Mother” completes her Masters Degree in Writing. In her role as Yoga and Massage Educator for Northern Sydney Area Health, New South Wales between 2002-2007, Valerie introduced Yoga Birthing and Natural Therapies in maternity hospitals and conducted Moving Into Motherhood Retreats for women and their partners in many locations on the east coast of Australia. She has taught yoga in Portugal, India and America, worked with obstetricians in rural Rajestan India, and trained pre-natal yoga teachers in India. Valerie presented for Birth India at their 2008 international conference for Indian Caesarian Awareness Week, and presented “Search for Mother” to the Algarve Cultural Society Portugal in 08.  Her story, work and inspirations became Search for Mother, released in Feb 2010 by Inkwell Productions Arizona, followed by a 3 month US book/speaking tour. She is now with Balboa Press – A Division of Hay House. She is also a commissioned biographer- her current work is of a Navajo Medicine Man in Monument Valley. Most recently she has been launching her book in Australia, teaching writing at colleges of adult education, festivals and expos, completing her second book, and establishing Moving Into Motherhood Programmes locally. Her Yoga Birthing programme is now an accredited course with the Australian College of Midwifery.  Valerie is passionate about spirituality/oneness in health care, and embracing the spiritual essence of “mother’ from biological to adopted, cultural and spiritual, mother nature and the mother within. She also loves to write poetry and play her cello.

Links:  www.theoceansofenergy.com | Facebook and LinkedIn: Valerie Albrecht

 

 Ellie Belew 

Presentation Title: Everyday Stories That Matter: Witnessing the Sacred in the Mundane

Ellie Belew is a novelist, freelancer writer, and oral historian. She believes in the power of the stories we tell ourselves and each other, and what we could know if we paid better attention. Her fiction follows generations of sometimes hard-bitten characters in one allegorical town. Run Plant Fly, her first novel, tells the story of the first virtual reality theme park as it forever alters the fabric of a small community. Ursula LeGuin called Run Plant Fly "a fireball of a novel [where] the lives of ordinary people in a small American town strike across each other and flare up into pain and beauty." Belew also gathers community oral histories. She is coordinator of the Heritage Interviews Project, an ongoing program to document Upper Kittitas County (Washington), author of a book about union fire fighters, Fully Involved, and editor of About Wallowa County, a kaleidoscopic sampler of locals' essays, poems, drawings, and photographs.

Links: http://www.elliebelew.com/

Sheila Bender, M.A. in Creative Writing, M.A. in Teaching 

Presentation Title: Writing Through Grief: The healing power of metaphor, images, and details that appeal to the senses

Sheila Bender publishes Writing It Real, an online magazine for those who write from personal experience, at www.writingitreal.com. Her memoir, A New Theology: Turning to Poetry in a Time of Grief, is built from personal essays written as she grieved the loss of her 25-year-old son, who died in a snowboarding accident at the end of 2000. Her current popular book, Writing and Publishing Personal Essays, is out in a second addition. It includes the methodology she uses to explore personal experience through essay forms that guarantee surprising slants on both old and new topics, helping those who wish to write toward insight and discovery.  Her newest book is Creative Writing Demystified from McGraw-Hill.

Links: http://facebook.com/writingitreal | http://facebook.com/ANewTheology | http://twitter.com/writingitreal

 Sharon A. Bray, Ed.D.

Presentation title:  Healing Others, Healing Ourselves: The Power of Writing

For the past decade, Dr. Sharon Bray has been leading therapeutic writing groups for men and women living with cancer.  The author of two books on expressive writing, When Words Heal:  Writing Through Cancer (2006), A Healing Journey:  Writing Together Through Breast Cancer (2004), she was also co-editor of Learning to Live Again, an anthology of cancer patients’ writing published by the Stanford Medical School in 2007.  In addition to her books, she has also written and published personal essays, poetry and a number of professional articles.

Sharon currently leads ongoing writing groups for cancer patients at Stanford Cancer Center, Palo Alto, CA and Scripps Green Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA.  She also leads “The Writers’ Workshop at Stanford Medical School,” a popular creative writing series for medical faculty, students and alumni.  Since 2002, she has been a regular summer session faculty at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA, where she teaches a week-long course, “Writing as a Healing Ministry.”  She also teaches online classes in creative nonfiction for the UCLA extension Writers’ Program.  Born and raised in Siskiyou County, California near Mt. Shasta, she lived in Canada for 23 years and earned her doctoral degree at the University of Toronto.  She presently makes her home in San Diego, CA.

links: www.writingthroughcancer.wordpress.com | http://twitter.com/Braywriter | http://facebook.com/Braywriter

 

 Marcus Brotherton, MA 

Presentation Title: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives: How the Band of Brothers Inspires Us to Unlikely Greatness

Marcus Brotherton is a journalist and professional writer known internationally for his literary collaborations with high-profile public figures, humanitarians, inspirational leaders, and military personnel. He has authored or co-authored more than 20 books, including biographies and directive non-fiction. Notable works include We Who Are Alive and Remain (Penguin 2009), which reached No. 28 on the New York Times best sellers list, and A Company of Heroes (Penguin 2010), which ranked No. 1 in the country among World War II / Western Front books. A forthcoming book, Shifty's War, about legendary sharpshooter Sgt. Darrell "Shifty" Powers, will be out in May 2011.

Links: www.marcusbrotherton.com  | http://www.facebook.com/people/Marcus-Brotherton/1277460425

 

 Bruce Brown 

Presentation Title: God, Demon, Servant, Master, pParasite or Provider -- What is the Corporation?

Bruce Brown is the author of eight books, including Mountain in the Clouds, The History of the Corporation, and Dr. Whacko's Guide To Slow-Pitch Softball. As a journalist, he has done investigative reporting for the New York Times (the Karen Silkwood story), foreign correspondence for Atlantic Monthly (baseball in Cuba), and book reviews for the Washington Post Book World, as well as script-writing for PBS-TV (The Miracle Planet). He is also a successful businessman and CEO, having created BugNet and built it into the world's largest supplier of PC bug fixes before it was acquired by a Fortune 500 company at the height of the dot com boom. As an artist and graphic designer, he pioneered Web design and digital painting, and as an athlete, he set a world record for climbing on a mountain bike in 2000 that stood for five years. He is currently working on a number of projects, including Conversations With Crazy Horse and the accompanying 100 Voices.

Links: http://www.astonisher.com

 Sister Madonna Buder, MA, MC 

Presentation Title: The Grace to Race: The Wisdom and Inspiration of the 80-Year-Old World Champion Triathlete Known as the Iron Nun

Sister Madonna Buder entered the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in 1953 and has served in St. Louis, Kansas City, Phoenix, San Francisco, New Orleans,New York, and Spokane. Sister Buder transferred to Sisters for Christian Community in 1986 and has remained in Spokane since 1971.

Known as the “Iron Nun,” Sister Buder was introduced to running in 1978. She competed in the Boston Marathon in '82 &'83, raising over $4,000 each year in pledges for MS. Sister Buder was the oldest woman to compete in the 2008 Boston Marathon earning 3rd Place. Sister Buder has run over 38 Marathons NOT counting those attached to the Ironman Triathlons.

Since 1982, Sister Buder has completed over 350 triathlons (to date), including 44 Ironman distances. She’s held three Age Group records in the Canadian Ironman, and two in the Hawaiian Ironman. Sister Buder has won 12 World Championship Triathlons, and won all four of the World Champion Duathlons she has engaged in. Sister Buder was inducted into Maryville University's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991 (St. Louis, Mo.), she received the 1999 GRAND MASTER FEMALE TRIATHLETE of the Year Award presented at the Competitor Magazine Endurance Athlete's banquet in San Diego, and in 2001 she received the 2001 IRONMAN SPIRIT AWARD at the same function.

Sister Madonna Buder has been featured in many foreign magazines and media interviews, as well as national TV shows. US coverage includes USA Today, Runner's World, Sports Illustrated, Northwest Runner, and the list goes on.

Sister Madonna Buder has authored three books: I Have Finished the Race (about the 1987 Hawaiian I.M. where Pat Griskus was killed 9 days before race while training in Kona), The Man Behind the Miracles, and most recently, The Grace to Race.

In addition to all her running, Sister Buder volunteers as a “Guardian ad Litem,” representing juveniles in court, and also at Cops Northwest, a police substation in a low income neighborhood. Sister Buder visits jail and does pastoral counseling. She earned a M.A. in Educational Psychology and a M.C. (Master of Counseling) at Arizona State University in '67 and '68, respectively.



Links: Sister Madonna Buder on Facebook

 

 

 Carol Wiley Cassella, MD 

Presentation Title: Intimate with Strangers: Creative Writing as an Act of Spiritual Self-Discovery and Revelation

Carol Cassella is a practicing anesthesiologist and novelist. She was a closet writer for years before blending medicine and fiction in her first novel, Oxygen, (Simon & Schuster, July, 2008), the story of an anesthesiologist tangled in the aftermath of an operating room catastrophe. Oxygen was an Indie Best Pick for July 2008, and has become a national bestseller. Her second novel, Healer, released in September, 2010, was also an Indie Best Pick.

Carol grew up in Dallas, Texas and graduated from Duke University with a degree in English Literature. After working in publishing for several years, Carol decided to pursue her fascination with all the weird and wonderful ways humans behave and misbehave by studying medicine. She initially intended to become a psychiatrist, but when she couldn’t separate the body and the soul she veered into internal medicine and then, six years later, into anesthesiology. She is board certified in both internal medicine and anesthesiology. Prior to writing fiction, Carol wrote about global public health issues in the developing world for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She lives on Bainbridge Island, WA with her husband Steve and their four children.

Links: Website: http://www.carolcassella.com | Facebook Fan Page: Carol Cassella | Twitter: http://twitter.com/carolcassella  | Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/carol-cassella

 Christina Dudley 

Presentation Title: Church Librarians Beware: Writing So-Called 'Christian Fiction' from the Edge

When not writing novels or doing the pastor's wife thing, Christina Dudley can be found crashing local book clubs, acting in Sunday school skits, and speaking for love or money to any large group that will have her. She is the author of Mourning Becomes Cassandra and its sequel The Littlest Doubts, as well as co-author of the Zola-Award-Winning Children's Picture Book Mia and the Magic Cupcakes. Midwest Book Review praised her debut novel as "a fun and highly recommended read that should not be overlooked." Christina also blogs for the Bellevue Farmers Market as the UrbanFarmJunkie. She and husband Scott live with their three children in Bellevue, Washington.

Links: Website: www.christinadudley.com | Twitter: http://twitter.com/CNDudley | Blogs: www.christinadudley.blogspot.com and www.urbanfarmjunkie.blogspot.com

 Rev. Dr. Bob Ekblad, Th.D.   

Presentation title: Pledging Allegiance to Jesus and God's Realm Amidst the Poor

Bob Ekblad is director of Tierra Nueva and The People’s Seminary in Burlington, Washington. A minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), he holds a ThD in Old Testament and is committed to empowering and equipping the body of Christ to effective ministry to people on the margins of society: the poor, rejected, broken and oppressed. He is married to Gracie who serves as associate director of Tierra Nueva and is a minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Together they minister both at Tierra Nueva and at their home-based retreat center New Earth Refuge. They have three children ages 19, 18 and 15.  Since 1994 Bob and his wife Gracie have served as Directors of Tierra Nueva, which has grown into a ministry that includes jail chaplaincy, a Family Support Center to help immigrants, ex-offenders and the homeless, Spanish and English congregations, The People’s Seminary and Tierra Nueva Honduras.

Bob is part-time Associate Professor of Old Testament at Mars Hill Graduate School and Lecturer in Old Testament at Westminster Theological Centre in the UK.  He has a growing itinerant ministry, which takes him to Honduras, Guatemala, France, the UK, Mozambique, South Africa, Korea, SE Asia, Canada and the United States teaching on the ministry of Jesus and the Kingdom of God. 

Links: Websites: www.bobekblad.com and www.tierra-nueva.org

 

 Fran Ferder, FSPA, Ph.D.

Presentation title: Enter the Story: Encountering the Holy in Everyday Life

Fran Ferder is a Franciscan nun, Clinical Psychologist, and author.  She speaks nationally and internationally, both alone and with her colleague, Fr. John Heagle.  Fran resides in Oregon, and serves on the Oregon Board of Psychologist Examiners.

Links: http://facebook.com/FranFerder | http://www.linkedin.com/pub/fran-ferder

 

 

 Dr. John W. Gibson 

Presenation Title: Nothing Was the Same: Love, Illness, and Personal Safety Nets Under the Shadow of Giving and Receiving Care

John is a counselor, coach and author. He is a cancer survivor, ballroom dancer and spouse. He has written and spoken about aging, adult development, health and illness, and personal safety nets from a variety of perspectives. www.LifeStrategiesByDesign.com for more information.

Links: Website: www.personalsafetynets.com | Facebook   

 

  Leticia Guardiola-Sáenz, Ph.D.

Presentation Title: Becoming Honest Readers: Culture and Bible in the 21st century
(This presentation will be conducted in Spanish.)

Leticia Guardiola-Sáenz, Ph.D., teaches Christian Scriptures using contextual hermeneutics to bridge the gap between the Bible and the reader, highlighting culture as a way to bring to life the message of the Bible for today. She is assistant professor at the School of Theology and Ministry and the Theology and Religious Studies department at Seattle University. Her most recent work is The Peoples’ Companion to the Bible, a resource for studying the Bible featuring multicultural perspectives and culture-critical methods, for which she served as editor for the New Testament material (February 2010). She holds a Ph.D. in New Testament from Vanderbilt University. 

Leticia Guardiola-Sáenz, Ph.D., enseña  

Nuevo Testamento usando una hermenéutica contextual como puente entre la Biblia y sus lectores/as, resaltando el papel de la cultura como un medio de actualización del mensaje de la Biblia para el día de hoy. Es profesora asistente de la Escuela de Teología y Ministerio y del departamento de Teología y Estudios Religiosos de la Universidad de Seattle. Su obra más reciente es The Peoples’ Companion to the Bible, un recurso para estudiar la Biblia que integra perspectivas multiculturales y varios métodos críticos, en esta obra colaboró como editora del material del Nuevo Testamento (Febrero 2010). Tiene un doctorado en Nuevo Testamento de la Universidad de Vanderbilt.

Links:

 Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, Ph.D.

Presentation Title:  Buscando espiritualidad en la literatura latina / Looking for Spirituality in Latina Literature

Dr. Gutiérrez y Muhs is associate professor in the Departments of Modern Languages and Women Studies as well as director of the Diversity, Citizenship and Social Justice (DCSJ) Core Track and the Latin American Studies Program. She is the author of three books: El Libro de Plástico, Communal Feminisms and A Most Improbable Life, and many opinion pieces and literary articles. She is currently working on finalizing a novel, Fresh as a Lettuce, and editing two academic books: Presumed Incompetent and Rebozos de Palabras: An Helena Maria Viramontes Critical Reader.

In January 2011, Dr. Gutiérrez y Muhs was the featured American poet at the 2011 International Festival of Poetry in Nagpur, India. The festival, known as Kritya 2011, included 60 poets from all over the world. Its focus was on the manifestations and realizations of gender through poetry. 
 

Links:

 

  Catherine Echon Haffner 

Presenation Title: Life's What You Think - Making Your Life a Little Better

Cathy is a transformational leader, with a 20+ year career as successful executive with General Electric, Merrill Lynch, U.S. Bancorp, and Bank of America.

Her book "Better Because of You" which was featured on Forbes.com "Personal Best" video, and was named by Nordstrom as a "Gift We Love". In June 2010, Cathy was highlighted in the national "Health" magazine, "4 Tips for a Healthier Summer".

Cathy has a bachelor’s degree from Seattle University, and earned her certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University. She is married, with three daughters, and resides in San Antonio, Texas.

Links: www.BetterBecause.com

 

  Michael Hansen 

Presentation Title: Another Way to Be – The Path Within 

Michael Hansen is a facilitator, trainer, and experiential educator who has an ability to highlight individual and group learning patterns in a manner that is simple, effective, and relatively painless (fun). He has worked with thousands of people throughout the United States, Europe, and South America, providing hands-on learning experiences that have an immediate impact as well as a heightened sense of awareness that unfolds over time. Another Way to Be – The Path Within won first place honors for best Visionary Fiction from the Independent Publishers of North America. The book offers a serious look at the human condition without taking itself too seriously. Michael is a life-long Washingtonian who loves to spend time in nature. He lives in Seattle with his wife.

Links: www.highpointexp.com/anotherwaytobe  

 

 

  Lyanda Lynn Haupt  

Presentation Title: The Monk and the Crow: Finding Grace and Wisdom in the Urban Wilderness

Lyanda Lynn Haupt is an award-winning author, speaker, and naturalist based in Seattle. Her new book Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness was published by Little, Brown in July 2009. She blogs at The Tangled Nest .

Lyanda’s first book, Rare Encounters with Ordinary Birds (Sasquatch, 2001), explores the relationship between humans, birds, and ecological understanding, and is a winner of the 2002 Washington State Book Award. Her second book, Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent: The Importance of Everything and Other Lessons from Darwin’s Lost Notebooks, was published by Little, Brown to nationwide acclaim, and continues to resonate with audiences interested in natural history, Darwin, birds, and their intersection.

Lyanda has created and directed educational programs for Seattle Audubon, worked in raptor rehabilitation in Vermont, and as a seabird researcher for the Fish and Wildlife Service in the remote tropical Pacific. Her writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including Utne, LA Times, Image, Open Spaces, Wild Earth, and Conservation Biology Journal. She lives in Seattle with her husband and daughter, and their mixed backyard chicken flock.

Links: Website:  http://www.lyandalynnhaupt.com | Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LyandaLynnHaupt | Blog: http://www.thetanglednest.com

  Rev. John Heagle, JCL  

Presentation title: Justice Rising: The Emerging Quest for Inclusion and Solidarity

John Heagle is a Catholic priest, counselor, and author with more than 45 years of pastoral experience as a campus minister, college professor, and pastor.  In 1976 he was appointed the first director of the Office of Justice and Peace for the diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin.  Since 1985 he has served as a licensed mental health counselor and co-director of Therapy and Renewal Associates in the Pacific Northwest.  John is the author of eight books on spirituality, ministry, and human relationships, and a co-author with Fran Ferder, FSPA, PhD, of three books, including Tender Fires.

Links: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/john-heagle

  Rev. Terry Hershey 

Presentation Title:  The Power of Pause: Becoming More by Doing Less

Terry Hershey has served as a Protestant minister, and is now a writer and garden designer on Vashon Island, near Seattle, Washington. He speaks throughout the US on relationships and spirituality and gardening. The Power of Pause (Loyola Press), 2010 IPPY AWARD-WINNER and named a 2009 Best Spiritual Book by Spirituality and Practice, is his eleventh book. Mostly he loves to dance with his son, and watch bald eagles ride the currents in the canyon behind his house.

 

Links: Website: www.terryhershey.com | Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TerryHersheyFanPage | YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/TerryHersheyMedia

 Dr. Gordon J. Hilsman, D.Min.

Presentation Title: The Spirituality of Intimate Loving: Filling a Hole in Catholic Theology

Born in Iowa and educated academically in Chemistry (B.S), Theology (MA), Human Development (MA), and Pastoral Counseling (Doctor of Ministry), Gordon Hilsman was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood in 1967 and Laicized in 1977. Certified as a Professional Chaplain and Clinical Pastoral Educator (CPE Supervisor) he has conducted programs of clinically educating ministry professionals for 35 years in hospital, mental health, addiction, and homeless care settings.

Gordon Hilsman brings together in his writing, the two primary thrusts of his life: Roman Catholic traditions and intimate loving. A husband of Nancy for 31 years and father of three in their late twenties, he maintains a website that works persistently in highlighting intimate loving relationships as deeply spiritual. www.sermonsfromthebed.com . He currently works part time as a chaplain and clinical pastoral educator in the Franciscan Health System in South Puget Sound. He can be reached at 253-370-3327 (cell), 253-565-4992 (home), or ghilsman@gmail.com.

Links: Websites: www.sermonsfromthebed.com and www.intimatespirituality.net | Twitter: Gordon Hilsman

 Andrew Himes 

Presentation Title:  Jesus Was a Fundamentalist and So Am I: Living the Fundamentals in the Age of the Spirit

Andrew Himes is a Seattle writer with a unique yet Southern perspective on fundamentalism and evangelicalism. His granddad, John R. Rice, was a prominent fundamentalist leader, founder of the Sword of the Lord newspaper, and mentor to younger preachers such as Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell. Himes was a youthful rebel in his family, and only later in life began a journey to reconnect with and redefine his family's spiritual heritage. He produced the 2005 film Voices in Wartime, a documentary that used poetry to explore the trauma of war. He was director of the short film on PTSD, Beyond Wartime, and co-founder of Poets Against the War and the Voices Education Project. In the early 90s he helped pioneer Microsoft's embrace of the Internet by managing the company's first web team, and was founding editor of the Microsoft Developer Network. He was a choir member for the 2010 Black Nativity production by Intiman Theatre. His books include The Sword of the Lord: the Roots of Fundamentalism in an American Family; and The Voices in Wartime Anthology.

Links:  The Sword of the Lord | FaceBook | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube | Voices Education Project

 Kurt Hoelting, MDiv 

Presentation title: The Art of Homecoming: Reconnecting Place with Purpose In An Age of Ecological Disruption

Kurt Hoelting is a wilderness guide, environmental activist, Zen practitioner and former clergyman. He received his M.Div from Harvard Divinity School, and has worked in Alaska as a sea kayaking guide and commercial fisherman for several decades. In 2008, Kurt embarked on a bold personal experiment in response to the escalating climate crisis. He lived car-free for a year, exploring his home terrain by foot, bicycle and kayak. This "year in circumference" turned into an odyssey of the spirit that changed his life. He chronicles the story of his adventures in The Circumference of Home: One Man's Yearlong Quest for a Radically Local Life.

Links:  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=107178339317853&ref=ts

Wes Howard-Brook, MDiv 

Presentation title: "Come Out, My People!": God's Call Out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond

Wes teaches in Seattle University's Theology and Religious Studies Department, and has been teaching and writing on the Bible throughout the Northwest and beyond since 1988. He and his wife, Sue Ferguson Johnson, collaborate in the ministry, Abide in Me (www.abideinme.net). Together, Sue and Wes have been called to a ministry that interweaves the mystical and the prophetic, the inner and outer journeys with God. Through word, silence, song and movement, they seek to be agents of God’s passionate desire to transform individuals, communities and the world itself into the body of Christ.

Wes was formerly counsel to the US Senate Judiciary Committee and an assistant attorney general in Washington State. He and his golden retriever, Athena, walk daily on Tiger Mountain behind their home in Issaquah.

Links:  http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=102425616481562.

 

Patrick Howell, SJ, D.Min. 

Presentation title: Desire as an Avenue to Mystery:  from breakdown to integration

Patrick Howell SJ has been rector (religious superior) of the Jesuit Community at Seattle University since 2008.  Following his six years as dean of the School of Theology and Ministry, he was Vice President for Mission and Ministry.  He currently writes a regular column for the Seattle Times religion page. 

Fr. Howell came to Seattle University as a professor of pastoral theology in 1985.  Noted for his scholarly work in pastoral theology, sacramental theology and the integration of spirituality and psychology, Fr. Howell is known in the Greater Seattle Community for his involvement with pastors and therapists who care for people with mental illness.  He has degrees in mathematics, English literature, and education from Gonzaga University, Boston College, Lewis & Clark College, and a Doctor in Ministry from the Catholic University of America.  He has been a Bannan Fellow several times at Santa Clara University, and he is the author of Reducing the Storm to a Whisper: the Story of a Breakdown (Ulysses Press, 2000) and A Spiritguide through Times of Darkness (Sheed & Ward, 1995).

Links:

 

 IMAGE Journal Staff

Presentation Title: IMAGE: How Does a Literary Journal Search for Meaning?

Mary Kenagy Mitchell, MFA serves as Image's managing editor. Her short stories have appeared in the Georgia Review, Image, Beloit Fiction Journal, and the anthologies Not Safe But Good and Peculiar Pilgrims. New work is forthcoming in St Katherine Review. She has received a grant from the Seattle Arts Commission and a special mention in the Pushcart Prize Anthology. She graduated from Stanford University and holds an MFA in creative writing from Arizona State University. She occasionally teaches fiction writing at Seattle Pacific University.

Anna Johnson is program director at Image journal. A 2007 graduate of Seattle Pacific University, she now coordinates Image’s Glen Workshops, two weeklong conferences in New Mexico and Massachusetts featuring classes with nationally recognized writers and artists.

Taylor Morris is Assistant Managing Editor at Image Journal. She worked as a student intern at the journal in 2008, graduated from Seattle Pacific University with a degree in English Literature in 2009, and has been working at Image since January 2010.

Links: http://imagejournal.org | http://imagejournal.org/page/journal/back-issues/issue-29 | http://imagejournal.org/page/events/the-glen-workshop/

 

 Interfaith Amigos 

Presentation title: Getting to the Heart of Interfaith

Rabbi Ted Falcon, Ph.D., is a popular teacher of Jewish traditions of meditation and spirituality who explores the frontier of interfaith spirituality. Ordained in 1968 at the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Rabbi Ted served in Los Angeles as a congregational and then a campus rabbi until earning a doctorate in Professional Psychology in 1975. He pursued a career in spiritually oriented psychotherapy and, in 1978, founded Makom Ohr Shalom, A Synagogue for Jewish Spirituality. When he moved to Seattle in 1993, Rabbi Ted and his wife, Ruth Neuwald Falcon, founded Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue, where served as rabbi for 16 years. Since 2001, he has been working with his interfaith colleagues, Don Mackenzie and Jamal Rahman. His books include Judaism For Dummies, A Journey of Awakening: Kabbalistic Meditations on the Tree of Life, and Getting to the Heart of Interfaith: The Eye-Opening, Hope-Filled Friendship of a Pastor, a Rabbi and a Sheikh.

Pastor Don Mackenzie, Ph.D., is currently devoting himself to interfaith work with his colleagues, Rabbi Ted and Sheikh Jamal. He recently retired as Minister and Head of Staff at University Congregational United Church of Christ in Seattle. Previously he served congregations in Hanover, New Hampshire and Princeton, NJ. Ordained in 1970, he is a graduate of Macalester College, Princeton Theological Seminary and New York University. His interest in interfaith work began while a student at Macalester and continued while living and teaching in Sidon, Lebanon in the year prior to the Six-Day War in 1967. His country music band, Life’s Other Side, recorded the sound track for the documentary film Family Name and has sung at the Ernest Tubb Midnight Jamboree at the Opry in Nashville. He is co-author of Getting to the Heart of Interfaith: The Eye-Opening, Hope-Filled Friendship of a Pastor, a Rabbi and a Sheikh.

Sheikh Jamal Rahman, M.A., is co-founder and Muslim Sufi Minister at Interfaith Community Church and adjunct faculty at Seattle University. Besides working with his own congregation, he collaborates actively in joint programs with Rabbi Ted Falcon and Pastor Don Mackenzie. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon and the University of California, Berkeley. Jamal has a passion for interfaith work and travels often, presenting at retreats and workshops. His books include The Fragrance of Faith – the Enlightened Heart of Islam, Out of Darkness into Light – Spiritual Guidance in the Quran With Reflections from Jewish and Christian Sources and Getting to the Heart of Interfaith: The Eye-Opening, Hope-Filled Friendship of a Pastor, a Rabbi and a Sheikh.

Links: Twitter: IntrfaithAmigos |  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=207960850084&ref=ts

Maggie Kast, MA, MFA 

Presentation title: How Loss Can Give Birth to Faith: One Woman's Incredible Journey

Maggie Kast was raised with books and plays and music, but strictly without religion, as she reveals in her new book, The Crack between the Worlds: a dancer’s memoir of loss, faith, and family. In mid-life, at the peak of a career in modern dance, she lost a three-year-old daughter in a car accident and was shattered. Mired in grief, she sensed a persistent connection to the little girl, a love somehow more powerful than the brute fact of death. This sense led her, over several years, to the Catholic Church.

Her faith sought understanding, and she enrolled in Catholic Theological Union, where she received a Masters in Theological Studies and developed a practice of liturgical dance, dancing in churches and temples of all denominations and teaching the art form at Valparaiso University. In the ‘90s she began to write and earned an M.F.A. in writing from the low-residency program of Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has published fiction in The Sun, Nimrod, Paper Street, Rosebud and others and essays in America, Image, Writer’s Chronicle and others. A memoir excerpt, published in ACM/Another Chicago Magazine, won a Literary Award from the Illinois Arts Council. She has received two Pushcart nominations, and currently teaches writing and rhetoric at Columbia College Chicago. She is at work on a novel.

Links: Website: http://www.maggiekast.com | Blog: http://www.ritualandrhubarbpie.blogspot.com | Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/magdance1 | Twitter: @tweenworlds

 

 

Nancy Clare Kehoe RSCJ, PhD

Presentation Title: Wrestling with Our Inner Angels: The Journey to Wholeness

Nancy C. Kehoe, RSCJ, PhD., is a member of the Religious of the Sacred Heart. She is a Clinical Instructor in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry  at Harvard Medical School, a position she has held since 1980.  Her area of expertise is religion and spirituality in the clinical context. Between 1974 and 1977 she was a staff member at Seattle University Master’s  of Religious Education  (SUMORE).  She had a private psychotherapy practice for 23 years and for twenty-nine  years, using a model she created, Dr. Kehoe has led groups on spiritual beliefs and values for adults with psychiatric disabilities.

She currently consults with healthcare providers in mental health and geriatric settings. She has presented at regional, national, and international conferences and published on the subject of religion and psychotherapy. She has recently published “Wrestling with Our Inner Angels: Faith, Mental Illness and the Journey to Wholeness.” Additional information can be found on her web site at: www.expandingconnections.com

Links: www.expandingconnections.com

 Rev. Katherine C. (Kedda) Keough, MDiv 

Presentation title: What Difference, if any, Does it Make to be a Christian?

Katherine C. Keough, known to her friends as "Kedda," has conducted many workshops, retreats and classes in her years as a pastoral minister; facilitated small groups, organized councils and communitites; prepared liturgies and "missions" and preached at liturgies.  She is presently a Deacon of the Ecumenical Catholic Communion, and will be ordained a Priest in 2011.  She is serving as the co-pastor of the Emmaus Ecumenical Catholic Community in Olympia, WA, where all are welcome.  Katherine received her Master of Divinity Degree, and Certificate of Pastoral Leadership from the School of Theology and Ministry at Seattle University, Seattle WA.  Her book, All Creation Waits, was written in the great expectation that there are many who wonder why Christianity has not had a greater impact on our world.  It is written with the intention that it be read in small groups, and includes reflection questions for that purpose. 

Links: www.Emmaus-ECC.org

 Susan Little, MA

Presentation Title: Mary Magdalene: Searching for God in an Intolerant World

Susan Little is the author of Disciple: A Novel of Mary Magdalene and a scholarly essay on Mary Magdalene in Goddesses in World Culture. Her work on Disciple began on a 1967 trip to the Holy Land with the U.S. Foreign Service. She returned 40 years later to conduct research for her novel by walking in the footsteps of Mary Magdalene and Jesus beside the Sea of Galilee. In that time, she learned that a woman searching for God is often lonely in her work. And she came to understand that Mary, favored by Jesus but rejected by the church, is in a unique position to lead the way for women and men seeking God in an intolerant world.

Little studied history and biblical research at Harvard University. She later earned a master’s degree through the Leadership Institute of Seattle and went on to teach the science of human motivation and group dynamics. She has a sacred dance ministry in which she uses music and movement to embody the life of Mary Magdalene and other people of faith. Her non-fiction is featured in an anthology from Lamberson-Corona Press, and a personal essay on her pilgrimage to the ancient ruins of Magdala in Israel was a prize winner in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association 2008 Literary Contest.

Links:  www.disciplemary.com

 Dr. Lawrence Matsuda

Presentation title: Out From My Father's Shadow

Larry Matsuda was born in the Minidoka, Idaho War Relocation Center during World War II.  He and his family along with 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans were held in ten concentration camps without a crime and without due process for approximately three years.  Matsuda has a Ph.D. in education and was recently a visiting professor at Seattle University.  He was a junior high language arts teacher and Seattle School District administrator and principal for twenty-seven years.

In 2005 he and two colleagues wrote and co-edited the book Community and difference:  teaching, pluralism and social justice, Peter Lang Publishing, New York. 

The book won the 2006 National Association of Multicultural Education Phillip Chinn Book Award.  In addition, his poems appear in Poets Against the War website, The New Orleans Review, Floating Bridge Press, The Raven Chronicles, Cerise Press, Black Lawrence Press website, and the International Examiner Newspaper. He has read his poetry at numerous events in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho including the famous Kobo at Higo’s venue in Seattle’s International District with his mentor Tess Gallagher.  In July of 2010 his book of poetry entitled, A Cold Wind from Idaho was published by Black Lawrence Press in New York.

Links:  www.blacklawrence.com

 

 Mallory McDuff, Ph.D. 

Presentation title: Natural Saints: How People of Faith are Working to Save God's Earth

Mallory McDuff teaches environmental education at Warren Wilson College in the Swannanoa Valley near Asheville, NC, where she lives with her two daughters. She grew up on the Gulf Coast in Fairhope, Alabama, where her parents connected faith to environmentalism through actions such as giving up driving for Lent. She has a Ph.D. in wildlife ecology and conservation with a focus on environmental education.

Links:  http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mallory-McDuff-writer

 

 Margaret D. McGee, MA 

Presentation title: The Heart of a Moment: Haiku in Spiritual Practice and Direction

Margaret D. McGee, M.A., has presented on themes of mindfulness and creativity at communities such as The Priory Spirituality Center, The Center for St. Andrews, The Interfaith Community Church (Seattle), and the Western Washington Labyrinth Network. She is the author of Haiku – The Sacred Art: A Spiritual Practice in Three Lines; Sacred Attention: A Spiritual Practice for Finding God in the Moment; and Stumbling Toward God: A Prodigal’s Return. She shares her further adventures on the spiritual path on her web site, In the Courtyard, at www.inthecourtyard.com.

Born and raised in Ohio, Margaret moved to Washington state after receiving her Master in English degree at Ohio University. Today, thousands of miles from her birthplace, traveling an always-surprising spiritual path, she finds herself more and more interested in the mysterious union of spirit and matter, in the way humans experience the sacred in time and place, and in talking that over with her fellow pilgrims.

Links: www.inthecourtyard.com  

 Leticia Nieto, Psy.D.

Presentation Title: Inclusion is Not Enough: Moment to Moment Strategic Cultural Competence

Leticia is a psychotherapist and educator specializing in cross-cultural communication, motivation and creativity. Her book, Beyond Inclusion, Beyond Empowerment: A Developmental Strategy to Liberate Everyone, was published in 2010. It is an accessible analysis of the psychological dynamics of oppression and privilege, that offers readers ways to develop skills to promote social justice.

In addition to her degrees in clinical psychology and human development, she is skilled in Action Methods, including Playback Theater and Theater of the Oppressed.  She is a professor in the Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology program at Saint Martin's University.

Links: http://BeyondInclusionBeyondEmpowerment.com | http://www.facebook.com/BeyondInclusionBeyondEmpowerment

 

 

 Rev. Dr. Vincent J. Pastro, D.Min. 

Presentation title: Proclaiming the Sacramental Word of the God of the Poor
(This presentation will be conducted in Spanish.)

Vincent J. Pastro is the pastor of Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Kent, Washington. He served for five years in Lima, Perú, and has had many years of pastoral experience with Mexican undocumented immigrant communities. He holds a D.Min. in Preaching from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri

Links:

 

  Brenda Peterson 

Presentation Title: Writing Your Spiritual Memoir: From Seeker to Storyteller

Brenda Peterson is a novelist and nature writer, author of 16 books, including Duck and Cover, a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year.” Her new memoir, I Want to Be Left Behind: Finding Rapture Here on Earth was named in The Christian Science Monitor’s “Top Ten Best Non-Fiction Books of 2010” and was also an Indie Next “Top Pick” by independent booksellers nationwide. The memoir has received wide acclaim. Booklist’s starred review hailed it as “Unusually affecting and radiant . . . Peterson seeks a meeting of church and earth in this witty, enrapturing account of aspiritual journey of great relevance to us all.”

Peterson’s first memoir, Build me an Ark: A Lifewith Animals was selected as a “Best Spiritual Book of 2001” by Spirituality and Health Magazine and is now translated into Chinese. Peterson’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Oprah, and Utne Reader. She has been teaching writing since 1981 and now mentors private classes in Seattle. Many of her students have published their books. Peterson contributes commentary to NPR and The Huffington Post. Her forthcoming book for children is Pups on the Beach (2012).

Links: Website:  www.IWantToBeLeftBehind.com | FaceBook and Twitter: Brenda Peterson

 

 Rev. Michael Raschko, Ph.D.

Presentation Title: To Hunger for God

Father Michael Raschko was born in June 1948 in the flatlands of North Dakota. He fled the plains for more mountainous territory at the tender age of 1. He lived in Salem, Oregon, until he was 5 and then moved to Seattle, which he has called home since 1953. He attended St. Teresa Parish grade school and then entered the high school seminary of the Archdiocese of Seattle. He graduated from both high school and college at Archdiocesan Seminaries--St. Edward’s (which is now a state park) and St. Thomas (which is now a school of alternative medicine). He left the seminary after one year of theological study and went to Harvard, where he received a Master's of Theological Studies. He then finished up his seminary studies at St. Thomas (see above) and was ordained a diocesan priest in 1975. He served three years as Associate Pastor at St. Frances Cabrini in Tacoma, Washington, with Father Andrew Squier. He then spent four years earning his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, a degree he completed in 1982.

Father Raschko has been part of the faculty of the School of Theology and Ministry at Seattle University since its founding in 1985. (It began as the Institute for Theological Studies but became a School in 1996.) He teaches systematic theology, an area which entails such course as Christian Anthropology, Christology, and Hermeneutics. He also likes to teach courses in the history of Christianity, which naturally tend to lean in the direction of the history of Christian thought. Father Raschko has helped with priestly ministry on a regular basis in St. Antony parish in Renton and Mary Queen of Peace parish in Sammamish. He has held the Bertch Professorship in Systematic Theology at STM since the Spring of 2005, and in 2007 was named the McGoldrick Fellow, a faculty award given by the president of the university for teaching in the spirit of Jesuit education. Father Raschko has published various articles in the field of systematic theology and in the area of theology and science. His book, A Companion to the Gospel of Mark, is a commentary on that gospel written from the perspective of a systematic theologian who preaches on a regular basis.

Links:

 Dr. Patricia Clemens Repikoff, D.Min. 

Presentation Title: Dashed Dreams and Diamonds: Recovering Hope from the Margins

Patricia Clemens Repikoff grew up along the banks of the Columbia River in Vancouver. A pivotal 1969 summer in Mexico drew her to teach in underserved areas. After receiving her BA in English from Gonzaga University in 1971, her 4 year stint with the Jesuit Volunteer Corp took her to El Paso and the Hilltop area of Tacoma.

She has given the last 34 years as Lay Ecclesial Minister for the Archdiocese of Seattle: Pastoral Associate for Faith Formation, Liturgy, and spiritual director at St. Leo’s in Tacoma; Pastoral Life Director, appointed by Archbishop Hunthausen, of St. Therese Parish in Seattle; Pastoral Life Director of Christ the King/Cristo Rey Parish in North Seattle; Coordinator of Hispanic Ministry for the 14 parishes on the eastside of Lake Washington, home to 25,000 Spanish-speaking people. She earned an M. Ed. From The University of Puget Sound, an M. Div. from Seattle University, and a D. Min from San Francisco Theological Seminary.

Her only publication, Dashed Dreams and Diamonds: Dangerous Memories and Impatient Truths. Stories from Seven Women of the Gospel, was written after enchanting encounters with the scripture courses at STM. The majority of her writing has been reflections, sermons, and bulletin columns.

Links: Patty Repikoff on Facebook

 Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper 

Presentation title: Grass Roots Gardening: Rituals to Sustain Activism and How to Stay Well While Changing the World.

The Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper has been Senior Minister at Judson Memorial Church for five years.  Her life goal is to animate spiritual capacity for public ministry.  That means orienting individuals to find their power in such a way that they redistribute power and make the world beautiful and fun for all.  She imagines beauty and enchantment as God’s purpose in the beginning – and joins in the great stream of the enchanted as a life love. She also grows a fine tomato – and helps to grow fine congregations.

She keeps worms in her kitchen where they turn scrap into soil and grows a variety of greens in her backyard.  She is an avid green guerilla and weeds in public gardens whenever she can.  Her Manhattan front yard is filled with multiple hues of morning glories. Upstate in her Fishkill place, she is joined often by guest Judsonites in growing tomatoes, corn, sweet peas, and the occasional dahlia.

You can find her at Judson, often, or at the Sotheby’s auction for the finest heirloom vegetables grown in the area. Think a Turkish Orange Eggplant or Black Sea Man Tomatoes.

Previously in ministry in Chicago, at Yale, in Miami, and Tucson, Schaper has been involved with a series of turn around congregations and a host of social action issues.  She was instrumental in the God is Still Speaking Campaign for the UCC and in founding the Open and Affirming Movement in the UCC.  In Miami she was rejected for membership in the Coral Gables Garden Club because some feared she would do the same thing she had done at the church, which is to grow it with new members of color, diverse orientations and backgrounds.  She is less anti-racist than she is pro color.

Schaper was one of the first women trained by Saul Alinsky in community organizing.  She leads a group of community ministers at Judson, mostly seminarians, in learning how to get power for social change.  She calls this program “mutual mentoring.”  There are 28 graduates, many of whom “hang around” at Judson.  Additionally she is active in the New Sanctuary Movement, based in Judson and beyond, which accompanies undocumented immigrants in such a way as to shift the host and guest balance in the United States.

Schaper has written 31 books.  Her best selling book is Keeping Sabbath.  Her latest book is Sacred Chow.  Her favorite book is Grass Roots Gardening: Rituals to Sustain Activists.  She is a Slow Food Activist, guerrilla gardener, bike riding, golden retriever raising, cat loving mother of three adults and married to Warren Goldstein, author of the Biography of William Sloane Coffin, Jr. 

When the elephants fight, the grass suffers.  Schaper lives to build Judson as a grass protecting and grass-liberating place.  Her usual language is Christian but she calls herself a post denominational person.

Links:

 Rev. Suzanne K. Seaton, MSW 

Presentation Title: Finding the Authentic Self

Suzanne is ordained in the United Methodist Church and has served for the past 20 years in the areas of spiritual direction and spiritual formation in a variety of settings.  She has a Masters Degree in Social Work (MSW) from the University of Washington. She serves as a spiritual director and spiritual formation retreat leader for lay and clergy persons of a variety of faith traditions, as well as for graduate theology students at in the Institute for Ecumenical Studies at Seattle University and for participants in Seattle University’s School of Theology and Ministry Pastoral Leadership Program. She is the retreat leader for the Western jurisdiction Two-Year Academy for Spiritual Formation sponsored by the Upper Room, a program and publishing section of the United Methodist Church. She is also a member of the leadership team for a ecumenical Upper Room program (Companions in Ministry) funded by the Lily Foundation working with younger pastors to sustain pastoral excellence.

Suzanne and her writing partner, Sally O’Neil are authors of Pilgrimage of the Soul: Thresholds to the Mystery.

In her ministry, Suzanne has served in as a Christian Education Director and Associate Pastor in local congregations, as a campus ministry at the University of Washington, and as a full time Chaplain in the King County Juvenile Detention Center. Her specific experience for spiritual formation includes training in centering prayer, the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, feminist theology, creation centered spirituality, dream work and connecting work in the world with the contemplative life.  She is comfortable and familiar with issues of abuse, mental health, recovery and 12-Step work, mid-life transitions, parenting, and issues affecting gay and lesbian persons. Suzanne is the parent of two young adult daughters.

Links:

 Alexander J. Shaia, Ph.D. 

Presentation Title: The Courage to Live Free: Four Questions, Four Paths, the One Journey (for All)

Alexander J. Shaia, Ph.D., is a pastoral theologian, spiritual director, liturgist, psychologist, author and passionate professional speaker. He has led workshops worldwide for ministers and lay across the breadth of Christianity and interfaith as well as for spiritual directors, pastoral counselors, Recovery groups, hospital chaplains, Centering Prayer communities, grief and loss groups, and psychology conferences.  His book, The Hidden Power of the Gospels: Four Questions, Four Paths, One Journey (HarperOne 2010), describes the universal journey that leads to living freely and courageously.  Dr. Shaia shows how this journey is another basis for understanding the practical truths of the four gospels. He describes how each gospel text opens in answer to one of the four critical questions of faith and living: How do we face change?  (Matthew); How do we move through suffering? (Mark);  How do we receive joy?  (John);   How do we mature in service?  (Luke).  For more: www.quadratos.com and www.alexanderjshaia.com.  His home is Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Links:  http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/ashaia | http://www.facebook.com/pages/Quadratos/235162980885 | http://twitter.com/alexanderjshaia | http://twitter.com/Quadratos | www.quadratos.com | www.alexanderjshaia.com  

 Mark P. Shea

Presentation title: Mary, Mother of the Son:  The Blessed Virgin in the Life of the Church

Mark P. Shea is a popular Catholic writer and speaker. His most recent work is the Mary, Mother of the Son trilogy (Catholic Answers). In addition, he is co-author of the bestselling A Guide to the Passion: 100 Questions About The Passion of the Christ (Ascension), as well as By What Authority?:  An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition (Our Sunday Visitor), Making Senses Out of Scripture: Reading the Bible as the First Christians Did (Basilica), This is My Body:  An Evangelical Discovers the Real Presence (Christendom Press), and The Da Vinci Deception: 100 Questions About the Facts and Fiction of The Da Vinci Code (Ascension).  An award-winning columnist, Mark contributes numerous articles to many magazines, including his popular column “Connecting the Dots” for the National Catholic Register in addition to his regular feature on InsideCatholic.com. Mark is known nationally for his one minute “Words of Encouragement” on Catholic radio. He also maintains the popular blog Catholic and Enjoying It.  In addition, Mark is an internationally known speaker on various issues in Catholic faith and life.  Finally, Mark is Senior Content Editor for www.CatholicExchange.com.  He lives in Washington State with his wife, Janet, and their four sons.

Links: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/mark.shea2 | Twitter: chezami | Blog: http://www.markshea.blogspot.com  

 Jan Vallone, JD, MAT, MFA Creative Writing

 Presentation Title: Pieces of Someday: Finding Meaning in the Work We Do

At the age of forty-four, Jan Vallone was everything her parents brought her up to be—a lawyer, wife and mother who owned a vintage home and took European vacations. But instead of feeling happy and successful, she was consumed by frustration and anxiety that threatened to end her marriage and had dimmed her faith. Discarding prosperity and prestige, she took a job teaching English at a yeshiva—an Orthodox Jewish high school—though she was raised Catholic. There, she opened her heart to her students, who bloomed under her tutelage and taught her the meaning of faith and fulfillment. Jan's memoir, Pieces of Someday, is a story of discovering a vocation: the work God calls us to, which theologian Frederick Buechner says is the work we “most need to do and the world most needs to have done,” the place where our “deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.”

Jan grew up in New York. She holds a law degree from New York University School of Law, a Masters in Teaching from Seattle Pacific University and a Master in Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Goddard College. Currently, she teaches literature and writing at Seattle Pacific University. Her stories have appeared in Guideposts Magazine, English Journal, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Writing it Real and Curriculum in Context. Pieces of Someday is her first book.

Links: Website: http://www.janvallone.com/

 

 Diane R. Walker 

Presentation Title: Encounters with the Sacred: Contemplative Photography as an Act of Faith

Diane Walker is the Exhibitions Director for ECVA, a national arts organization whose mission is to engage the visual arts in the spiritual life of the church. A former director of communications for the Episcopal Diocese of Western Washington in Seattle, Diane has also served as an instructor at the Diocesan School of Ministry and Theology in Seattle and as a licensed lay preacher in the Episcopal Diocese of Western Washington.

After spending most of her professional life writing and editing in both the sacred and secular arenas, Diane discovered the joys of photography, and today her photos, which have a distinctly meditative and spiritual quality, appear in many galleries and shows around the Pacific Northwest.  A regular practitioner of Centering Prayer, she has been allowing the insights from her photography and meditation practice to fuel two daily blogs, and has recently published a photographic guide to the Gospel of Thomas. Diane resides, blogs, and photographs primarily on Bainbridge Island, and is currently enrolled in a graduate program at Antioch’s Center for Creative Change.

Links: Blog: http://www.contemplativephotography.com | Blog: http://www.contemplativepoetry.com | Blog: http://thomas-gospel.blogspot.com | Website: http://dwalkerphotos.com | YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwoScKDSYR8 | Diane (Ramsen) Walker on Linkedin

 Rabbi Daniel A. Weiner 

Presentation Title: Protesting Too Much:  The Futile Pursuit of a Godless Morality

The Senior Rabbi of Temple De Hirsch Sinai in Seattle since July 2001, Daniel A. Weiner strives to make community at the synagogue a ‘family of families’. Born in Cincinnati and raised in San Francisco, Rabbi Weiner received a BA in Communication Studies from the University of California at Los Angeles, where he was Commencement Speaker in 1986. He earned his Masters Degree from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1989.He is a popular lecturer at Seattle University’s school of Theology and Ministry. He teaches about the intersection of film and transcendent religious values through his “Spirit on the Screen” presentations.

Links: Blog: www.goodgodforus.com | Twitter: @danielweiner | Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1377578979 | Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/daniel-weiner/12/160/562 |  YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/GoodGodForUs  

 

 Susie Leonard Weller, MA

Presentation Title: Why Don’t You Think the Way I Do About Spirituality?

With over 30 years experience in providing educational services, Susie coaches people how to “sweeten” their life with P.I.E.S. (Physical, Intellectual, Emotional and Spiritual) Intelligences.

• Internationally known speaker with clients from Australia to Sweden.
• Former campus minister at Seattle University from 1978-1980.
• Seattle University alumni with a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Ministry, 1981
• Certified in 2009 as a Spiritual Coach through Cindy Wigglesworth, creator of the first internationally validated Spiritual Intelligence Assessment tool.
• Spiritual Director with a certificate in Spiritual Direction through Gonzaga University in 2006.
• Certified Thinking Styles Consultant through Herrmann International in 2002, applying brain research to strengthen communication at home and work.
• Adjunct Family Success & Life Skills Faculty for the Community Colleges of Spokane serving diverse and vulnerable populations.
• Director of Tools for Transformation coaching individuals, small and large groups to enjoy well-being in all areas of their life.

Links: www.susieweller.com

 Rev. Dr. George Wilson, S.J.

 Presentation Title: Clericalism: The Church Doesn't Have a Monopoly on It

George Wilson, S.J., is a Jesuit from the Maryland Province. His original academic training was in Ecclesiology, for which he received his doctorate from the Gregorian University in Rome in 1963.  After a 10-year career teaching the theology of the church at Woodstock College, he left the academic world and became a church consultant with Management Design Institute in 1972.  For over 34 years he served as MDI's Director of Church Systems, focusing on the design and execution of broad participatory projects with dioceses, religious congregations, and national projects for a variety of service-related organizations.  The continued refinement of processes for generating and maintaining member commitment has been the dominant focus of his action-research over these years.  He has published articles on organizational development in America, Human Development, The Way, NCR, and Church Personnel Issues, the bulletin of the National Association of Church Personnel Administrators.

Links:

 G. Willow Wilson 

Presentation Title: Pious Trash: Religious Writing for a Secular Audience

G. Willow Wilson is an American Muslim author, essayist and graphic novelist. Her articles have appeared in publications including the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, and the Canada National Post. Her works in the field of comics and graphic novels include the Eisner Award-nominated series AIR and ALA Top 10 graphic novel CAIRO. Her first nonfiction book, The Butterfly Mosque, a memoir of her conversion to Islam and years in Egypt, was published in June 2010. She lives in Seattle with her husband, Omar. 

Links: Twitter @g_willow | Website: www.gwillowwilson.com

 

 Dori Jones Yang

Presentation Title: What Marco Polo and I Learned about Christianity in Asia

Formerly a foreign correspondent in Hong Kong for eight years, Dori Jones Yang is an author whose latest novel, Daughter of Xanadu, was published by Random House in January 2011. It takes place in China in the time of Marco Polo and Khubilai Khan. She aims to build bridges between cultures, especially between East and West, between China and America. An active member of Newport Presbyterian Church in Bellevue, she was fascinated to discover, in her research for this novel, that Christian communities were scattered across Asia in the 13^th century.

Links: www.dorijonesyang.com  | Facebook: Dori Jones Yang, Author