TheSocialEdge.com

by Gerry McCarthy

Alexander Shaia is an educator, spiritual director, author, psychotherapist, and professional speaker. He’s also the founder and director of the Blue Door Retreat in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

     Shaia has a doctorate in clinical psychology. He travels internationally and conducts retreats and seminars on Quadratos, Christian Spirituality, rites of passage, and Jungian Sandplay therapy.

     His new book, Beyond the Biography of Jesus: The Journey of Quadratos (Book 1) was published by Cold Tree Press. Book 2 will be published this summer. I reached him in Orlando, Florida.

Gerry McCarthy: You’ve talked about fundamentalisms on the left and right in Christian denominations today. Can you speak to me more about this?

Alexander Shaia: Today both sides of the continuum are flattening the message of Jesus Christ down to one aspect. One side is passionately focused on the literal words in the scriptures. The other side is concerned about history, and the re-creation of the first century and Jesus’ original words. Quadratos uses both perspectives, but toward a new end. The Gospels were not intended to be about a dead philosopher, but a risen Jesus the Christ.

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by Gerry McCarthy

Salvatore Antonio in Léo Photography by Cylla von Tiedemann

Rosa Laborde is a 27-year-old Canadian playwright and actor. She is a graduate of the Oxford School of Drama. Her play Sugar was selected by Toronto’s NOW magazine as Outstanding Play in 2003. Currently the play is being made into a feature film.

     Laborde has acted in numerous plays, including: Lust’s Labour Lost, Nurture, Svengali’s, and Pericles. She is currently in CBC TV’s At The Hotel.

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by Gerry McCarthy

Dr. Gregory Baum is an Officer of the Order of Canada. He taught theology at St. Michael’s University College in Toronto for 28 years. He also served as an expert for Vatican II from 1960 to 1965. Since 1986 he has been Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at McGill University in Montreal.

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by Gerry McCarthy

Kathy Kelly in Iraq 2003 Photo by Lorna Tychostup

Kathy Kelly is a long-time activist and teacher. She was instrumental in launching Voice in the Wilderness, a campaign to end the United Nations / United States sanctions against Iraq. She also helped initiate the Iraq Peace team. In October 2002, Kelly joined the team in Baghdad. She was present when the U.S. launched their invasion in March 2003.
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by Gerry McCarthy

Zygmunt Bauman is considered one of the most influential and renowned sociologists in the world today. His numerous books include: Modernity and the Holocaust, In Search of Politics, Globalization: The Human Consequences, The Individualized Society, Modernity and Ambivalence, Liquid Modernity, and Society Under Siege....

by Gerry McCarthy

Gregory Baum is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at McGill University in Montreal. A prolific author, he’s published 20 books. Some of these include: Nationalism, Religion, and Ethics (McGill-Queen’s University Press), The Church for Others: Protestant Theology in Communist East Germany (Eerdmans), and Karl Polanyi on Ethics and Economics (McGill-Queen’s University Press)....

by Gerry McCarthy

Joseph Epstein is a best-selling author. He’s also a lecturer in English and writing at Northwestern University. His previous books include: Narcissus Leaves The Pool, Ambition, and Divorced in America. From 1978 to 1997 Epstein was editor of The American Scholar. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and Harper’s Magazine.
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by Gerry McCarthy

Margot Van Sluytman is a poet, writer, and teacher. Some of her books include: Feeding Dreams, Alba the Spanish Woman, Of Dark Night and Studying Love.

     Van Sluytman is a Canadian pioneer in the field of mentoring and teaching poetry as both art and healing. She is also the founder of Palabras Press, which is a small poetry press and eZine. Her latest books are Dance With Your Healing and morning tasting whispers. I reached her in Calgary, Alberta.

Gerry McCarthy: It’s been said that poetry is equipped to bring the inner and outer worlds together to rehabilitate modes of perception that have been undermined by a non-contemplative society. What are your thoughts?

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Risa Shuman is the Senior Producer of Saturday Night at the Movies on TVOntario. She graduated in 1973 from York University with an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts degree majoring in film. Shuman has worked at Saturday Night at the Movies for almost 28 years.

We continued our monthly conversation when we met in Toronto recently.

Gerry McCarthy: One movie you’ve screened before is Goodbye Columbus with Richard Benjamin and Ali MacGraw. It was made in 1969, but it still holds up. Is it a film you like?

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by Gerry McCarthy

Dr. Sallie McFague is currently Distinguished Theologian in Residence at Vancouver School of Theology. She recently retired as Carpenter Professor of Theology Emerita at Vanderbilt Divinity School. She has a Bachelor of Divinity from Yale Divinity School and a Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Yale University....

by Gerry McCarthy

Jennifer Harbury’s investigation into torture began when her husband disappeared in Guatemala in 1992. She told the story of his torture and murder in her book Searching for Everardo.

     Harbury received her law degree from Harvard. She has lived and worked with human rights activists, peasants, and Mayan villagers in Guatemala. Harbury has also worked with members of the U.S. Congress and the Organization of the American States to locate her husband and 35 other members of the Guatemalan resistance believed to be held by the military. She currently directs the STOP (Stop Torture Permanently) Campaign at the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.

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by Gerry McCarthy

Mary Grey is a leading British theologian and social activist. She is currently the D.J. James Professor of Pastoral Theology at the University of Wales. Some of her numerous books include: The Outrageous Pursuit of Hope, Beyond The Dark Night: A Way Forward for the Church, Prophecy and Mysticism: The Heart of The Post Modern Church, Redeeming The Dream and Feminist Images of The Sacred....

by Gerry McCarthy

Alain de Botton is the best-selling author of The Consolations of Philosophy and The Art of Travel. Other books he’s written include: How Proust Can Change Your Life....

by Gerry McCarthy

Stacey Kent with husband Jim Tomlinson

Stacey Kent is an award-winning singer with six best-selling albums. She won the 2002 BBC Jazz Award for "Best Vocalist."

     A native of New York, some of Kent’s albums include: In Love Again, Close Your Eyes, The Tender Trap, and Boy Next Door.

     The Lyric is Kent’s latest album. On the album she collaborates with her husband Jim Tomlinson –who is a saxophonist. I reached Kent in New York City to speak about her work and new album.

Gerry McCarthy: I understand The Lyric was "Album of The Year" at the 2006 BBC Jazz Awards this past July.

Stacey Kent: Yes –we’re so thrilled.

GM: Congratulations.

SK: Thank you.

GM: When is the album available in the United States?

SK: It’s released on September 12. It was released in Canada earlier. It makes the rounds according to when we’re touring –and we come to America in October.

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by Gerry McCarthy

George McGovern is a former U.S. Senator from South Dakota and the 1972 Democratic Presidential Candidate. In 1997, he was appointed by President Clinton as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food And Agriculture. In 2001 he was appointed United Nations Global Ambassador on World Hunger. He’s also a recipient of the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom....

by Gerry McCarthy

Abel Laurent is a Peruvian medical doctor. He works with one of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace’s Latin American partner agencies, the Guaman Poma de Ayala Centre. The mission of the centre is to improve the quality of life for Peruvians who have been marginalized and excluded from the socio-economic and political process.
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