Audio by Adam » Spirituality

“Deep-Down Irishness” (NPR 1989)

adamphillips — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:43:20 +0000

A survey look at what being Irish is all about deep down –from the “fairy faith” to its music, to Celtic myth, to sean nos and storytelling. Collected entirely in the West of Ireland down some very very back roads.

See also “Visions and Beliefs in the West Ireland,” which focuses on the spirituality and folkways of the Irish Gaeltacht.

Gifts of the Rainforest: Indigenous Healing Systems of Belize (NPR), The Loopy Art of English “Changeringing” (NPR 1989?), The Pentacle and The Wand: Contemporary Witchcraft (NPR 1989)

Alan Ginsberg Post-Mortem Tribute (VOA 1998)

adamphillips — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:27:02 +0000

Related Posts Gary Snyder: Poet and Bio-regionalist (Earth Day 2009), Native American “Drying the Tears” Ceremony (post 9/11), The Ink Dark Moon: Buddhist Love/Sex Poetry from Courtly Japan (written by women)

Gary Snyder: Poet and Bio-regionalist (Earth Day 2009), Native American “Drying the Tears” Ceremony (post 9/11), The Ink Dark Moon: Buddhist Love/Sex Poetry from Courtly Japan (written by women)

Black “Born Again” Christian Hair Salons

adamphillips — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:33:47 +0000

The Bible says that a woman’s hair is a glory to her, and they take that quite literally at several African American beauty salons that are springing up in the Washington DC and other urban areas. Come with me on my visit to a salon where being “born again,” amazing hair-dos and “prayerful” and joyous sisterhood intertwine in a sacred (often musical) weave.

“Grandma” Cora’s Sweet Potato Pies, The Status of Women in Israel (NPR 1990)

Gary Snyder: Poet and Bio-regionalist (Earth Day 2009)

adamphillips — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:03:33 +0000

For nearly 60 years, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gary Snyder has combined an environmental awareness shaped by America’s Far West with a Zen Buddhist perspective that celebrates and reveres the natural world. Related Posts Alan Ginsberg Post-Mortem Tribute (VOA 1998), Jane Hirshfield discusses “Given Sugar, Given Salt”, Kay Ryan, US Poet Laureate (2008-present)

Alan Ginsberg Post-Mortem Tribute (VOA 1998), Jane Hirshfield discusses “Given Sugar, Given Salt”, Kay Ryan, US Poet Laureate (2008-present)

Gifts of the Rainforest: Indigenous Healing Systems of Belize (NPR)

adamphillips — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:45:59 +0000

A sound-rich odyssey in which Adam explores various healing systems that use the plants of the rainforest for physical and spiritual healing. Includes interviews with Mayan shamans, and peasant Catholic and Creole healers. Related Posts “Deep-Down Irishness” (NPR 1989), Montana’s Blackfeet Indians: Tradition Meets Today, Profiles of People with Disabilities (Berkeley CA 2008)

“Deep-Down Irishness” (NPR 1989), Montana’s Blackfeet Indians: Tradition Meets Today, Profiles of People with Disabilities (Berkeley CA 2008)

How Dost Thou Love Me? – Everyday Americans Talk About What Makes Them Feel Cherished (VOA 2009)

adamphillips — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 04:13:16 +0000

Valentine’s Day is usually associated in the public mind with candy and lots of pink hearts. But beneath the fun and frippery lies a core human need — to feel loved, cherished and cared for by one’s romantic partner. I spoke with a random sampling of happily-bonded everyday Americans about the things that make their hearts feel full.

Grieving New Yorkers Search for Their Loved Ones (VOA 9/14/01), Labor Day: Everyday Americans Reflect, Labor Day: Everyday Americans Reflect on the Meaning of Work (VOA 2009)

Masonry as a Spiritual Path for Men

adamphillips — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:00:54 +0000

The Masons have long been the subject of curiosity, derision, persecution and admiration for their tight brotherhood, which claims millions of members worldwide, and which has been a mainstay for most American presidents and untold numbers of movers and shakers. The purported “secrecy” of their rites and symbols, which are sometimes riffs on the belief systems of non-Christian cultures, notably that of Egypt and ancient Greece, has added to their allure and cache. I met with a group of elite Amercian Masons, who described for me the spiritual path that Masonry can represent for men, and was granted some insight into how this fraternity works.

Nanotechnology and Molecular Machinery

Montana’s Blackfeet Indians: Tradition Meets Today

adamphillips — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 16:12:49 +0000

Native Americans are far more likely than their mainstream counterparts to die young and be poor along the way. This story examines, through interviews and sound, how the Blackfeet Tribe of western Montana are trying to hold on to traditional ways while bettering themselves economically. Related Posts Gifts of the Rainforest: Indigenous Healing Systems of [...]

Gifts of the Rainforest: Indigenous Healing Systems of Belize (NPR), Hillbilly Stereotypes (VOA 1999), Jewish Humor in America (VOA 1993)

Native American “Drying the Tears” Ceremony (post 9/11)

adamphillips — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:30:55 +0000

New York City was full of ritual, ceremony, art and other forms of creative and numinous expression in the months following September 11th. This tells the story of one old ceremony that Native Americans brought to the Museum of the American Indian, near Ground Zero after several months had elapsed. It was a ceremonial moment to mark the necessity for drying the tears and moving on.

Alan Ginsberg Post-Mortem Tribute (VOA 1998), Astrobiology: The Search for Extra-terrestrial Life, Blue Collar Ground Zero

Old-Time Communists Reminisce (May Day)

adamphillips — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 12:50:12 +0000

People often think of the American Communists of the 1920s and 30s as angry political types alone. There is no denying that the systems that grew out of the Bolshevik and other revolutions failed miserably, largely discrediting Communism in practice. Still there a powerful spiritual vision underlying the embrace of Communism — equality, justice, brotherhood (generically understood), and a day when people would help each other without the self-interested and hamfisted mediation of the politicians, the police or the priests. For this interview connected with May Day 2004, I interviewed two darling octogenarian women living who remember their youths in Communist New York during the 1930s. The fact that I did it for the Voice of America heightened its appeal for me.

How Dost Thou Love Me? – Everyday Americans Talk About What Makes Them Feel Cherished (VOA 2009), Middletown NJ: A Town Reels in Grief (2001), The Meaning of Gratitude: Everyday Americans Reflect (VOA Tksgvng. 2008)