A Bahá'í Perspective

Ruth is a published poet whose works include "We Are The Young Magicians" (which was the result of her winning the prestigious Barnard New Women Poets Prize), "Renaissance", "Young Cornrows Callin' Out The Moon", and "Prayers Like Shoes". You can also find her work on the Dawnbreaker Collective Anthology "Arise". Ruth was interviewed on NPR where she had the opportunity to read her work "Cornrows Callin' Out The Moon". I play the interview later in the program.

Luke Slott is a musician from Dublin, who has just released his first CD "Don't Go Back To Sleep". He is now in the US working on a second CD project with the producer Kelly Snook. Before playing the interview, I play a clip from CSpan on the subject of the US Congress House Resolution 1008 that condemns the persecution of the Bah#225;'#237;s in Iran. The first speaker is Democratic representative Mark Burman of California. He is the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. The second speaker is Republican representative Steve Chabut of Ohio. The resolution was passed in the House of Representatives in August 2008

I play two items in this episode. The first is a telephone Barbara West, a 91 year old Bah#225;'#237; from California. The other is 2 parts of a 7 part series of Oprah Winfrey interviewing Rainn Wilson, star in the hit sitcom series The Office. Barbara West is 91 years old and lives in California. Barbara's mother, Ramona Allen Brown (1889-1975), became a Bah#225;'#237; when Barbara was an infant, by going to teas hosted by Helen Goodall and her daughter Ella Goodall Cooper. The tea group was called the peaches and Barbara was referred to as the baby peach. Ramona Brown authored the book about her experiences with 'Abdu'l-Baha when he was in the country in 1912 called Memories of 'Abdu'l-Baha. After Barbara's children were grown up, she traveled with Tony Lee's Tours which arranged travel tours to Bah#225;'#237; holy sites around the world.

Tom grew up in southern California. Tom's initial life goal was to become a lawyer, but circumstances prevented him from pursuing that career. Instead he found himself in Australia, where he studied music and became quite successful as a music producer there. Tom moved back to the US in the late 80's. His CDs include Songs of the Ancient Beauty. For a selection of other CDs Tom has produced you can go to the website Bah#225;'#237; Distribution Service.

At a very early age, Mary-Anne was drawn to the church community even though her parents were not. In high school she became a Southern Baptist. She ran into the Bah#225;'#237; Faith in her 20's. She tells the story of how she was able to transcend her fundamentalist Christian beliefs to become a Bah#225;'#237;. She is currently completing her B.S. in Elementary Education; lived in China for over a year and taught English at two universities; she is on the Board of Directors of MicroSteps, a non-profit that provides educational opportunities to under-served populations; and she is on the Board of the Sino-Judaic Institute, a non-denominational, non-political and non-profit organization which was founded in 1985 by a group of international scholars and lay persons for the purpose of promoting understanding between Chinese and Jewish peoples and to encourage and develop their cooperation in matters of mutual historic and cultural interest.

Mahnaz came to the US from Iran as an exchange high school student. After the Islamic revolution in Iran, Mahnaz ended up staying in the US. She is a co-founder of the educational service organization called the Mona Foundation, named after a Bah#225;'#237; high school student by the name of Mona Mahmudnizhad, who was executed in Iran for her beliefs.

Elden is an accomplished musician who graduated from the New England Conservatory. He produced a CD called 1000 Doors which are original musical compositions using the Bah#225;'#237; writings. You can find his CD on his website EldenKelly.com.

Joyce was born in a World War II Japanese internment camp. When she was 2 her family moved to Seabrook, NJ. When she was 12 her family returned to Gardena, CA where they had lived before the war. Joyce's life experiences dramatically expanded after she became a Bah#225;'#237;.

Ray grew up as an atheist. He explains how he could become a Bah#225;'#237; from such a perspective.

When Kurt was 18, doing his freshman year at Chapman College, he participated in the Seven Seas division - a four-month semester circling the globe on a ship. It was a transforming experience for him, allowing him to discover his world community. Kurt describes his finding the Bah#225;'#237; Faith, and how it informed what he would do for the rest of his life.

After getting his PhD in education at the University of Massachusetts, Phil worked at the Bah#225;'#237; National Center (as Secretary of the National Youth and Teaching Committees), then spent five years in Canada before going to Kenya in 1980 to develop and implement US Agency for International Development funded social and economic development projects. He and his family have been in Africa ever since. Most of Phil's work in Africa has been on educational development projects. Currently he is about to start up a project for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to enhance the use of radio for agricultural extension to small farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Phil had used radio before in Africa for social and economic development. His first project in Kenya used radio to teach English to children in rural primary schools.

Jess was born in New Zealand and studied film at university there. He then moved to London and started a film production company called Quest Media Productions. Their first production is called "The Wayfarer" which documents his investigation of the Bahaacute;'iacute; Faith by traveling around the world.

Juli grew up as a Bah#225;'#237; and pursued two careers: Computer Information Systems and Singer/Songwriter. Juli recorded a CD in 1998 called Jules From The Heart. Since 1997, Juli has been directing a Bah#225;'#237; Youth Dance Workshop called NINE, which stands for Now Is The New Era.

Nina is Iranian and came to this country in the late 70's with her husband to continue their education. Soon after arriving, the Islamic Revolution took place, and because they were Bah#225;'#237;s their funds for continuing school were completely cut off. They ultimately completed their education and Nina now teaches at Springfield College in MA.

For this interview I did something different for A Bah#225;'#237; Perspective. A listener asked if I would interview a Sikh performer. I thought this was an interesting proposition, so I took it on. So here is a telephone Snatam, a Sikh musical performer. Snatam is an American. Her family became Sikhs when she was young and so grew up with the Sikh way of life. She has now started a family and travels performing her music and teaching yoga to children. You can find Snatam's music on the website spiritvoyage.com.

Steve describes himself as growing up to become a "marginal" man not completely integrated with his surroundings. His first encounter with Bah#225;'#237;s was when he was 20 years old returning from England on board a boat in 1957. On the boat were Bah#225;'#237;s returning from the funeral of Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bah#225;'#237; Faith. Steve has a number of websites. He mentions his work with laughing yoga, that site is SpiritOfLaughter.com. His website promoting his writing is SLHemingway.com. And the website for his music is SLHemingway.Homestead.com.

Judy is the product of a mixed marriage. Her father is native American and her mother is white. She grew up as a pentacostal christian but she had nagging questions even as she preached the gospel. She found herself in an abusive marriage and decided to leave Kansas and go to LA. It was in LA that Judy ran into the Bah#225;'#237; Faith.

Although growing up, his community knew him as a musician, he went to college to study architectural engineering. However, music stayed with him throughout his life. In 1992 Van introduced the merging of the Gospel musical form and Bah#225;'#237; scripture at the Bah#225;'#237; World Congress in NYC. He is now the musical director at the Bah#225;'#237; House of Worship in Willmette, IL.

Charles was going through life moving up the food chain when the Vietnam War and other personal tragedy hit. This caused him to start questioning the purpose of life and it was the beginning of his spiritual search. When he was about to think there was nothing out there that would feed his spiritual need, he ran into the Bah#225;'#237; Faith.

A Native American who shares his Lakota heritage with audiences all over the world, including the traditional hoop dance and Northern Plains flute playing. You can learn more about Kevin at his website KevinLocke.com. After the close of this program you will hear excerpts from Kevin Locke's CDs Hoop of Life and Midnight Strong Heart.