A Bahá'í Perspective

Roya serves as Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the Department of Mass Communications, St. Cloud State University. In addition to research and publication in the field of international mass communication, Dr. Akhavan has maintained a research interest in peace studies. She is a frequent speaker at national and international forums on gender issues, the root causes of war, and spirituality in the 21st century. Her most recent work is a book entitled href="https://www.bahaibookstore.com/Peace-For-Our-Planet-P8829.aspx" target="_blank"Peace for Our Planet: A New Approach. We discuss the book and Roya reads an excerpt during the interview.

Michael is the author of the book href="https://www.michaelvday.com/"Journey To A Mountain (The Story of the Shrine of the Bab). It is an incredible story of the efforts to hide the remains of the martyred messenger of God, the Bab, for over 50 years, so that it could be entombed in a gold-domed shrine in the bosom of Mt. Carmel in Haifa, Israel. The story of the Bab itself is an incredibly parallel one to the life and crusifiction of Jesus.

Kathleen is the author of the book " href="https://www.amazon.com/Persian-Historical-Victorian-England-Persia-ebook/dp/B00JVE7OLO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8amp;qid=1511913287amp;sr=8-1amp;keywords=Kathleen+Babb+The+Persian" target="_blank"The Persian". A novel that takes place during the 19th century about a European professor and his experience in Persia and his fascination with the prophetic missions of the Bab and Baha'u'llah. Kathleen reads an excerpt from her novel in the interview.

Don is the author of the book " href="http://onevoicepress.com/content/ginny" target="_blank"Ginny: How Virginia Rogers went from broke to blessed" which is an interesting biography about a women who was penniless and left having to support two children, became a business success. Don reads an excerpt from the book in the interview.

Bill and his wife Jean have written two books published by Calumet Editions, " href="http://calumeteditions.com/authors/bill-jean-harley/" target="_blank"Now that I am here, What should I be Doing?" and " href="https://www.amazon.com/Transformed-Make-Decisions-That-Change/dp/1939548632" target="_blank"Transformed: How to Make the Decisions That Change Your Life". It is their 2nd book, "Transformed" that describes the concept of compassionate consultation, and how important this idea in this divisive culture we currently live in. We talk about the concept of compassionate consultation in the interview.

David is a singer songwriter with two published albums. His first album is called The Earth and the Eagle, and his second album is called Live at Erica's. We feature selections from both albums in the interview, plus one piece yet to be published. You can find his music at href="https://david-hunt-music.com/music" target="_blank"David-Hunt-Music.com.

Kacie is the author of the book Hot Air which is a young adult novel about Annie who comes from a broken family and decides to leave her home, but hasn't figured out how - until one day at a fair, she sees a hot air balloon, and gets an idea. Her experience teaches her about the people she meets and also about herself. You can find Kacie's book at href="https://onevoicepress.com/content/hot-air" target="_blank"OneVoicePress.com.

Bob is a recognized authority on life story interviewing, personal mythmaking, and soul-making, and is professor emeritus of cross-cultural human development and religious studies at the University of Southern Maine. His latest book is href="http://www.bahaibookstore.com/Story-of-Our-Time-The-P8780.aspx" target="_blank"The Story of Our Time: From Duality to Interconnectedness to Oneness. He is online at href="http://www.RobertAtkinson.net" target="_blank"www.RobertAtkinson.net.

href="http://wilmetteinstitute.org/robert-white/" target="_blank"Bob completed his undergraduate education in Agriculture at the University of Saskatchewan in 1972 but the orientation to controlling nature for economic ends was dissonant with his own life experience of relating to the natural world. In response, he traveled around the world for two years searching to develop his own understanding of humanity#39;s relationship to nature. During his travels, he met Richard St Barbe Baker (who was known as the Man of the Trees) and Bob felt an inner calling to understand St Barbe Baker's grand vision of a cooperative relationship with the earth. His intellectual inquiry and the St Barbe Baker influence led him to embrace the Baha#39;i Faith in 1982.

Jaime is founder of the href="https://www.facebook.com/SLSmicroschool/" target="_blank"Service Learning School, a micro school in Florida. She explains what a micro school is as well as the inspiration behind the Service Learning School.

Jana is an mother, educator, librarian and author. Her latest book is called href="http://www.bahaibookstore.com/What-Good-Will-Come-P8467.aspx" target="_blank"What Good Will Come. We talk about the inspiration behind the book and she reads an excerpt.

Katharine is a singer-songwriter who has recently produced a CD called href="http://www.bahaibookstore.com/What-the-Fire-Is-CD-P8552.aspx" target="_blank"What the Fire Is. Her whole discography can be found on href="https://soundcloud.com/katkeymusic/albums" target="_blank"sound cloud. In the interview, we feature songs from her various releases including a couple rough demos of songs that she hasn't released yet. If you want to contact Katharine, you can do so by using her href="http://www.justkat.com/" target="_blank"contact request form on her website.

Martin is a singer, song writer, acoustic and electric guitarist, a bassist, and a percussionist. He is also a graphic artist who likes to write. He has a modest history of performing / recording lyrical rock, acoustic, and swing styles alone and with others from a variety of cultures. In the interview, Martin refers to a tour he made throughout the UK. In the interview we feature selections from an album, href="https://martinewman.bandcamp.com/album/p-e-r-s-p-e-c-t-i-v-e-s" target="_blank"Days of Certaintynbsp;that represents the music he created for that tour. He is offering these tracks to listeners to download. You can find a more descriptive bio of Martin on his href="https://www.facebook.com/martinewmanmusic" target="_blank"Facebook page.

As a young man Badi left his home in Iran and pursued is higher education in India as a way to provide service to the Baha'i Faith there. He found himself a refugee when the Iranian Revolutionary government refused to renew his passport because he was a Baha'i. He thus had to leave India and take refuge in Canada. Just before leaving India he started an elementary school there called the Martha Root school, named after a famous Baha'i who traveled all over the world promoting the Baha'i teachings in the early part of the 20th century. Badi's field of interest is economics and he has published a compilation " href="https://www.amazon.com/Economics-of-the-Future/dp/8185091323" target="_blank"Economics of the Future" and also recently the book " href="http://www.bahaibookstore.com/Economics-of-the-Future-Begins-Today-P8756.aspx" target="_blank"Economics of the Future Begins Today". He is retired from the education system and lives with his wife on Vancouver Island where he tends his many varieties of fruit tr

Peggy has a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from UCLA, and a Doctorate in Psychology. As an ethnomusicologist she is an accomplished musician that focused her research on Persian music and the Persian santur. She also did her research on a well-known Persian musician, Mirza Abdu'llah from the early part of the 20th century who happened to be a Baha'i. She talks about how she found out about Mirza Abdu'llah in the interview. She is a board certified music therapist and a registered dance therapist. She has taught in universities on ethnomusicology and has spent many years as a licensed psychologist working with children and adults. We talk about how she uses music and dance as a therapist.

Erin was a devout Mormon when she encountered the Baha'i Faith for the first time. She explains how a devout Mormon could become a Baha'i and still love the Mormon Church as much as she does.

Joany is a classically trained musician and was attending Mills College when she was introduced to the Baha'i Faith. After becoming a Baha'i she aspired to travel about the world promoting the teachings of the Baha'i Faith. She explains how she had to transform her music abilities to more informal genres like singer-songer writer and jazz as she was living abroad . We play her music that she had written during her life time traveling for the Baha'i Faith.

Bahiyyih is an author that has written three books. Her first book is titled href="https://www.amazon.com/Saddlebag-Fable-Doubters-Seekers-Bluestreak/dp/0807083437/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8amp;qid=1491348701amp;sr=8-1amp;keywords=Saddlebag+Bahiyyih+Nakhjavani" target="_blank"The Saddlebag: A Fable for Doubters and Seekers. It is a novel based on an historic event related to the Bab, the martyred prophet of the Babi Faith that prepared the way for the Baha'i Faith. Her second book is titled href="https://www.amazon.com/Paper-Bahiyyih-Nakhjavani/dp/0747576602/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8amp;qid=1491348741amp;sr=8-1amp;keywords=Paper+Bahiyyih+Nakhjavani" target="_blank"Paper. It is a novel tracing the origin of paper and reveals the interesting fact that the Bab produced one of His most significant works on British paper. Her third book is href="https://www.amazon.com/Woman-Who-Read-Too-Much/dp/0804799482/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8amp;qid=1491348800amp;sr=8-1amp;keywords=The+Woman+Who+Read+Too+Much+Bahiyyih+Nakhjavani" target="_bl

David is an ophthalmologist, a writer and an educator. He left the US after getting his medical degree and proceeded to eventually start an eye clinic and co-found the Brilliant Star Montessori School in Saipan. He's written two books and is now teaching at the Townsend International School in the Czech Republic.

Ramona is the cofounder of Townsend International School in the Czech Republic and is the author of "Simply Noble: A step-by-step guide to cultivating the best in your child". (To get the book, email at href="mailto:simplynoble@access-productions.eu"simplynoble@access-productions.eu). We talk about the genesis of Townsend International School and her book.