The Iconocast

In episode 68 Joanna interviews David Solnit. David is an organizer, writer and puppeteer. His activism began in high school with draft resistance organizing and hasn’t stopped since. He was part of shutting down the WTO in Seattle in 1999 and in San Francisco the day after Iraq was invaded in 2003. This past year he spent time at Standing Rock, creating art and telling the story of that struggle, as well as helped to organize art at the People’s Climate March in Washington DC in April. He currently works with 350.org as the North American Arts Organizer. 

In the San Francisco Bay Area he organizes with anti-corporate capitalist, climate justice, anti-war, human rights, and environmental justice groups. He is editor of Globalize Liberation: How to Uproot the System and Build a Better World and with his sister, Rebecca Solnit, he co-wrote The Battle of the Story of the Battle of Seattle.

Direct download: i_68_david_solnit.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 1:23pm CDT

In this episode, recorded at the Kinsler Bartimaeus Institute in February of 2017, Elaine Enns and Ched Myers reflect on the fragmentation of movements for justice since the Beyond Vietnam speech. Ched shares about the disillusionment following the 60s when justice-minded people broke into niches, focusing on one issue to the exclusion of the rest. Elaine offers the wisdom of Audre Lorde who challenged people to "do their own work" and recognize that our very bodies are intersectional and therefore our movements must be as well.

Elaine Enns and Ched Myers are co-directors of Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries. Elaine recently completed a doctorate of ministry on historical responsibility and intergenerational trauma among Canadian Prairie Settler Mennonites and their relationship with Indigenous neighbors. Ched Myers has authored many books, including Binding the Strong Man and Say to This Mountain. Together Ched and Elaine reside in the Ventura River Watershed.


Opening song by Joshua Grace, with Charletta Erb on violin.

Direct download: i_67_Audre_Lourde_.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 11:51am CDT

In this episode, recorded at the Kinsler Bartimaeus Institute in February of 2017, Elaine Enns, Ched Myers and Joanna Shenk offer input on the history of enslavement, the eras of reconstruction and the drafting of the Beyond Vietnam speech that Dr. King delivered on April 4, 1967, one year before he was assassinated.

Many people in movement communities are familiar with the Beyond Vietnam speech, but few know about the man who drafted it, Dr. Vincent Harding. Elaine and Ched offer analysis of the history of movements for justice in the United States, encouraging us to neither overplay our current political reality or underplay the obstacles and oppression of the past. Joanna shares from her personal relationship with Dr. Vincent Harding and from his own words describing the experience of drafting the Beyond Vietnam speech and what it means for us today.


Elaine Enns and Ched Myers are co-directors of Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries. Elaine recently completed a doctorate of ministry on historical responsibility and intergenerational trauma among Canadian Prairie Settler Mennonites and their relationship with Indigenous neighbors. Ched Myers has authored Binding the Strong Man and Say to This Mountain. Together Ched and Elaine reside in the Ventura River Watershed.

Direct download: i_66_Dr._Harding_Plenary.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 9:02pm CDT

This special episode of Iconocast Canvas features live performances from Standing with Standing Rock: A Benefit Event, which took place November 12, 2016. The fundraiser, which was emceed by Canvas hosts Nekeisha and Seth, brought together musicians, dancers and artists to support water protectors resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline in Cannonball, North Dakota. All of the proceeds, more than $2,500, went to the Standing Rock legal defense fund. The event, which took place at Fellowship of Hope Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Indiana, was co-organized by students of Goshen College’s EcoPax Club and Students for Social Reform Clubs, and by Iconocast Canvas. Read a full report back on the benefit here

Intro music: “FHH 12” by FREE Hip Hop Music on Soundcloud

Performers and speakers (in order of appearance)

  • Group song: Mimi Salvador Lucero
  • Song: Nayo Ulloa
  • Q&A: Mechelle Sky Walker, Water protector of the Omaha tribe from the Buffalo Clan residing in territory known as Lincoln, Nebraska. Facilitator: Mimi Salvador Lucero
  • Spoken word: Antonius Northern
  • Spoken word: Mimi Salvador Lucero
  • Song: Nekeisha Alayna Alexis
  • Song: Nayla Jimenez
  • Rap: Abe Medellin
  • Speakers: Cecilia Lapp Stoltzfus, Katerina Friesen and Jimmy Betts
  • Song: Seth Martin (singer) and Evra Tshisola (bass)
  • Group song: Led by Nicole Bauman and Jason Shenk. Written by Keisha Soleil.

Credits
Organizers (alphabetical order): Nekeisha Alayna Alexis, Naomi Gross, Cecilia Lapp Stoltzfus, Mimi Salvador Lucero, Seth Martin, Chelsea Risser and Hannah Yoder. Dancers: Phil Chan and Nimoy Vaidya. Rockport campaign information: Jason Shenk. Photography: Verlin Miller. DJ: Caley “DJ Rushmor” Ortman. Location: Fellowship of Hope Mennonite Church, Elkhart, Indiana and Suella Gerber, pastor.

Correction: Nekeisha sincerely apologizes for saying Mimi Salvador Lucero’s name incorrectly in the special thanks during the opening. We also regret neglecting to thank event DJ, Caley “DJ Rushmor” Ortman on the podcast.

Direct download: 005Canvas-StandingRockBenefit.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 3:10pm CDT

On episode 65 of the Iconocast Joanna interviews Father Richard Smith. Father Richard Smith was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1978 and worked for several years in parishes in Washington State. Later, after receiving a Ph.D. in Ethics and Social Theory from the Graduate Theological Union, he taught Religious Studies at various San Francisco Bay Area Universities, before working as a technical writer in Silicon Valley. After his reception as an Episcopal priest in 2000, he served as a Priest Associate at St. John the Evangelist, working heavily for immigration reform in San Francisco's Mission District, a largely Latino community. In 2013, he became Vicar at St. John's and has worked to deepen his congregation's commitment to the larger community. He helped establish Mission Nightwalks, an effort by faith communities to stem both police and gang violence in their neighborhood. His congregation now opens their doors each weekday morning for homeless neighbors to sleep in a safe, dry space. And, with hostility toward immigrants increasing, St. John's has now become a Sanctuary congregation, accompanying and protecting newly arrived undocumented immigrants in San Francisco.

Father Richard lives in San Francisco with his husband Rob and their son David.

Direct download: ep65_Fr._Richard.m4a
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:27pm CDT

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