Our Voices, Ourselves (general)

What is the state of maternal and child care in developing countries? Tune in to listen to Jennifer Braun executive  director of the NGO, International Midwife Assistance. We will be speaking to her about the state of maternal and child care in the United States and in other developing countries. She will also be speaking to us about the work of midwives and about the important work her organization does.

Our guests are members of the Brazos Writers, and organization of writers in the Brazos Valley.

We start the program talking with two current board members, Bill Harper and Mark Troy. We will discuss their role in this organization, as well as it's history. We will also share their writing and their personal stories of their artistic journey.
The 2nd half hour of our show we will be talking to the current president, Nancy Stebbins, as well as the former president, Rhonda Brickman. We will discuss their experiences with this organization, the role of the Brazos Writer's president,  as well as their personal and creative lives.
With such a great line-up of writers, it is a lively and engaging discussion!

A Texas folk music icon, Don Sanders http://www.donsanders.net/ has shared the stage with Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, Arlo Guthrie, Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark and many other legendary Texas musicians and songwriters. He was a founding member of KPFT in Houston http://www.kpft.org/ and also an honorary board member of the Kerrville Folk Festival.

Don is currently best known for his story and song performances in hundreds of schools, festivals and theaters throughout the Southwest.

Join us for this discussion with Don which is part interview, part history, and all of it a contemplation of what it means to live the life of an artist and troubadour.

Gregg Unterberger is a former instructor and Clinical Supervisor in Group Therapy at Texas State University and a Licensed Professional Counselor in private practice in Austn with a lifelong interest in Edgar Cayce and metaphysics. He is the developer of Transpersonal Breathwork, a unique healing modality that combines music and breath to transcend ordinary states of conciousness, making mystical experiences available to virtually anyone. Gregg is trained in a number of psychospiritual modalities, including Brainspotting and EMDR, both potentially accelerated approaches to healing traumatic experiences.
Gregg Unterberger is also a national speaker for the Association for Research and Enlightenment, shattering attendance records across the country.
His new recording, "Exploring the Mysteries of Your Mind: Live in Memphis" has just been released as a 2 CD set.
 
Join us as we discuss his work, and explore concepts of spiritual and emotional healing.
For more information about Gregg Unterberger and his workshop schedule , go to http://www.greggunterberger.com/

Kathi Appelt is the author of over thirty books for children and young adults. She has taught creative writing to both children and adults and currently serves on the faculty at Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Her books have won numerous national and state awards, including the Irma and Simon Black Award, Children's Choice Award, Teacher's Choice Award, The Oppenheimer Gold Award, Parent's Choice Award, Storytelling World Award, and a host of others.
Her first novel, "The Underneath" was a National Book Award Finalist and a Newberry Honor Book. It also received the Pen USA Award.
In this pre-recorded conducted at  the KEOS Bell Studios, Kathi discusses her life and work, and her latest novel "Keeper".
 
http://www.kathiappelt.com/

Lowell Mick White is a writer, teacher, and currently the Artist-in-Residence at the Federal Prison Camp Bryan. He is the author of 2 books: That Demon Life, a novel, and Long Time Ago Good, a story collection.

He is a former winner of the Dobie-Paisano Fellowship, and states that his goal as a writer, broadly speaking, "is to write about how we live in America, and how we came to live this way, with all the ridiculousities, absurdities and vexations that our lives entail."
His website is : www.lowellmickwhite.com and there you will also find his blog "Ordinary Horrors".

Join us as we discuss his writing, his experiences and what he has discovered from his time teaching at the Federal Prison Camp.

Sehba Sarwar is a writer, multidisplinary artist, and activist, currently based in Houston, USA. She moves between the city of her birth, Karachi, Pakistan, where she spent the first half of her life in a home filled with artists, activists and educators, and her adopted city, Houston, where she has recreated a community similar to the one in which she was raised. Her writings have appeared in anthologies, newspapers, and magazines in India, Pakistan, and the US, and her work (writings, installations and videos) explore displacement and women’s issues, moving between South Asia and the USA.

 http://www.sehbasarwar.com

Voices Breaking Boundaries (VBB) is a grassroots nonprofit arts organization open to artists, individuals and organizations from a multitude of perspectives, backgrounds and countries. From a humble start in 2000, as a grassroots literary collective organized by Sehba Sarwar and five diverse women poets and writers hosting readings at a local bookstore, VBB now produces more than 10 performance events annually at local venues and offers educational residencies and performances to local youth and adults.

http://www.vbbarts.org

Our guest is Kathleen O'Reilly.  A professor in the Geography Dept. at A&M, Kathleen O'Reilly conducts extended ethnographic research in the areas of critical development geography and political ecology. Since 1997 she has studied development projects operating in northern Rajasthan, India. She is interested in the ways that development interventions restructure social, environmental and spatial relations in communities and implementing organizations. Her research specifically focuses on the community and women's participation components of a drinking water supply project.
In this fascinating interview with Vandy, Kathleen discusses her work and her experiences in India.

Our guest is Shannon May who is the program director at Just Detention International in Washington DC. In this interview, she talks to us about the state of abuse and violence in prisons and about the work of JDI.

Here is the organization's mission:
Since 1980, JDI has worked to end the sexual abuse of detainees, in the U.S. and around the world. At the heart of JDI’s mission lies a conviction that when the government removes someone’s freedom, it takes on the absolute responsibility to protect that person’s safety. JDI works with policymakers, corrections leaders, advocates, and prisoner rape survivors to end this form of violence, once and for all. No matter what crime someone might have committed, rape is not part of the penalty.