I Do It For the Kids - Geoffrey Land SLO County Teacher of the Year - 022
Release Date: 09/21/2022
Braver Angels - Connecting Across the Partisan Divide - 027
People of Faith for Justice
Civic engagement in the U.S. has been on the decline for many decades. Citizens are participating in public affairs too infrequently, too unequally, and in too few venues to develop and sustain a robust democracy. What’s more, effective engagement is being seriously hampered by a partisan divide between people that seems to be growing. Our podcast this month takes a look at how these divisions are affecting our relationships, and what we can possibly do about it. There are groups currently working to facilitate interactions between people despite their political disparity. The non-profit...
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Weaving Our Garment of Destiny - A Pilgrimage - 026
People of Faith for Justice
“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere… hatred and bitterness can never cure the disease of fear, only love can do that.” These words, written by Martin Luther King, beckon us to a search for truth and meaning in the quest for racial justice and human rights everywhere. Two of our guests today, Ken Hill and Gina Whitaker, spent three weeks traveling the U.S. Civil Rights Trail this past October through Mississippi and Alabama. Everywhere they went, everyone they met and all the...
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Climate Change - Global Challenges, Local Solutions - 025
People of Faith for Justice
Global climate change is on all our minds these days…or is it? Should it be? How can we ignore it? We live our lives, trying to maintain the status quo, but our status quo is leading to suffering and destruction. There is nothing that is in our lives that is not touched today by global climate change. The homes we build and live in, our transportation, the weather we experience every day, the clothes we wear, the trash we discard, the fuel that powers our heat, lights and automobiles, the food we choose to eat, how our cities, towns and buildings are designed…there is nothing that isn’t...
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How to Do Prison Time Successfully with Author Emanuel Bell - 024
People of Faith for Justice
None of us ever thinks that they, or anyone they know, will ever end up in jail or prison. But if life throws you a curveball and you find yourself, a family member, or friend incarcerated, wouldn't it be good to know all that awaits you behind those prison walls? During his 17 ½ years in prison, Emanuel Bell hit a lot of bumps in the road. It took him 14 years to understand how to successfully do prison time and stay out of trouble. Emanuel attended a creative writing class at Solano Prison, and learned how to successfully write a book; the result is the newly published How to Serve...
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2018 Paso High Grads - Still Dreaming Big - 023
People of Faith for Justice
We hope you were able to listen to last month’s conversation with Geoffrey Land, Social Studies teacher at Paso High, along with two of his current students who shared their process of becoming scholar activists, learning to speak out for justice and inclusion. We are excited this month to have Beatriz Lopez as our guest! Beatriz was also a student of Geof Land while at Paso Robles High School. In 2018 she participated in a community forum in which Beatriz and eight other undocumented students at PRHS came from the shadows to share their stories openly. Following the forum, Mr. Land...
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I Do It For the Kids - Geoffrey Land SLO County Teacher of the Year - 022
People of Faith for Justice
Our guests today are Geoffrey Land, a Social Studies teacher at Paso Robles High School who has just been named the SLO County Teacher of the Year, and two of his students, Israel Perez and Ana Lopez, both seniors at Paso High. A teacher and his students? What could be more ordinary, right? Not so…what makes this podcast special is the fact that Geoffrey Land is no ordinary teacher, and Ana and Israel are no ordinary high school seniors. Mr. Land has been busy teaching justice-making and activism at Paso Robles High School, and Israel and Ana have both been applying his lessons to real life...
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Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall - 2022 Woman of the Year - A Lifetime of Service - 021
People of Faith for Justice
Rev. Dr. Caroline Addington Hall, Rector of St. Benedict’s Episcopal Church in Los Osos, has been recognized this year by the office of Congressional Representative Salud Carbajal as an outstanding Women of the Year Award recipient. Caro has been our friend, colleague and partner in working for positive change in our Central Coast communities for decades. Rev. Hall has been described as tireless, fearless, and an incredible communicator. She is a published author, an advocate for the unhoused, for the LGBTQA+ community, for the environment, for social justice, for children, and for our furry...
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America’s Gun Problem - What Makes Us Different? - 020
People of Faith for Justice
There are too many guns in the United States of America! Four hundred million firearms are owned by civilians in America–400 million–more guns than the US population. Nationally, there are more than 45,000 deaths caused by guns every year; that’s nearly 125 Americans per day killed by firearms. As of this year, guns are now the leading cause of death for Americans ages 1-19. As horrifying as these statistics are, they are only a small part of the story. The real stories are told by the victims, their families, friends, teachers and all who loved them. The loss, trauma, pain, fear,...
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Earth Eternity - Healing Our Mistakes - 019
People of Faith for Justice
Our guests today are three friends from the Central Coast of CA who share a mission: to make the Earth a better place for all their descendants. Earth Day, Earth Month, Earth Year–why not an Earth Eternity? We know that nothing lasts for eternity; one day, scientists say, our Sun will fail us and leave everything in darkness and cold, long after life on planet Earth no longer exists. But what about now? How do we celebrate our Earth’s longevity, long after a day in April, a month in Spring or a year from now? Spend the next hour with our guests June Cochran, Kelly Fisher and Grace...
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Slava Ukraini - A Nation of Survivors - 018
People of Faith for Justice
Our guests today are three women from the Central Coast of CA who share their Ukrainian heritage and the pain, fear and anger they are experiencing during the current, ongoing Russian invasion of their country of origin. Our interview was remarkable. You will hear strong emotions expressed; some of the stories and concerns will be troubling. There is death, famine, war and struggle in Ukraine’s history. But there is beauty, art, joy, resolve and strength as well. RELEVANT LINKS (Permanent Makeup Artistry site) (Fine Art site) (Santa Ynez Valley Star) (by Oksana Yakushko) (by...
info_outlineOur guests today are Geoffrey Land, a Social Studies teacher at Paso Robles High School who has just been named the SLO County Teacher of the Year, and two of his students, Israel Perez and Ana Lopez, both seniors at Paso High.
A teacher and his students? What could be more ordinary, right? Not so…what makes this podcast special is the fact that Geoffrey Land is no ordinary teacher, and Ana and Israel are no ordinary high school seniors. Mr. Land has been busy teaching justice-making and activism at Paso Robles High School, and Israel and Ana have both been applying his lessons to real life as they ready themselves for a world that needs much more justice and many more activists. Listen in as we find out how Geoff Land teaches students to stand up for justice, and how Ana and Israel have rallied for representation and inclusivity in an environment that has not always been supportive of these goals.
RELEVANT LINKS
- PFJ
- Unitarian Universalists San Luis Obispo (UUSLO)
- United Church of Christ (Congregational) of San Luis Obispo (UCC)
- Paso Robles High School
- New Times 8/25/22 “Paso school board passes symbolic resolution about gender specific titles”
- Border Ecology Project
- ECOSLO
- San Diego Office of Binational Affairs
- M.E.Ch.A.
- Coming Out Against Hate Paso Robles Daily News October 22, 2021
- Baile Folklorico
- Baile Folklorico You Tube
- Ethnic Studies Elective at PRHS New Times April 15, 2021
- AVID Program
- Paso Teacher Butts Heads with School Board…New Times September 8, 2022
- See additional links to articles in Geof Land’s bio below.
MORE ABOUT OUR GUESTS
Geoffrey Land
Geoffrey Land has been teaching Social Studies at Paso Robles High School since 1998. He holds degrees from UC Santa Barbara (B.A.) and UC San Diego (Master’s in Pacific International Affairs). He has lived and studied in Spain and Costa Rica. Land served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Caribbean (Grenada, 1984-86) and with San Diego’s Office of Binational Affairs, which coordinated the city’s relations with Mexico. Before becoming a teacher, he worked with nonprofit groups—Border Ecology Project and the Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo (ECOSLO). While working at ECOSLO, Land spearheaded local efforts to protect the coast from offshore oil and gas development and the county’s north coast from the proposed Hearst hotel and golf development at San Simeon Point. He also oversaw an environmental health project to educate local farmworkers about environmental and health risks associated with pesticides.
At PRHS, Land has led hundreds of students on field studies and backpacking trips, helping establish the Field Studies Collaborative. In 2005 he created and still teaches one of California’s only Modern World History classes conducted entirely in Spanish for bilingual students. In 2010, he was part of an effort to defend the teaching of Kaffir Boy at SLO High School and penned a Tribune viewpoint on the subject (“Don’t censor Kaffir Boy because it discomforts some”). In 2017, Land worked with students who had organized a school walkout to honor immigrants, encouraging them to put their reasons for the protest into a Viewpoint for the local paper (“Paso High protest aimed to support immigrants”) In 2018, Land helped organize a community forum in which nine undocumented students at PRHS shared their stories; he encouraged them to write a Viewpoint for the Tribune explaining why they decided to speak out. (“These Paso seniors are bound for college, if they’re allowed to stay in the U.S.”) His Viewpoint on racial conflict and local news coverageappeared in the SLO Tribune in August, 2020. He developed and teaches the Honors Ethnic Studies course at Paso Robles High School. He was recently named 2022 Teacher of the Year for San Luis Obispo County.
Israel Perez
Israel Pérez is a senior at Paso Robles High School. Last year, Israel spoke out publicly during the “Coming Out Against Hate” forum, held at Paso High, when students stood up courageously against homophobic hate. More than 300 people attended. Israel is a member of many campus clubs and an officer for three of them. He is Co-President of the Activists’ Coalition for Tomorrow Club (ACT); the Events Coordinator for M.E.Ch.A.; and the Social Media Coordinator for the Black Student Union. He is also a member of these clubs: Conservative Club, Red Cross Club, Life Savers Club, Friday Night Live, Wilderness Club, Beach Beautification Club, and Equity Club member. Currently, Israel is applying for placement on the Paso Robles Youth Committee which advises the City Council on youth affairs. In college, Israel plans to major in International Relations and Environmental Law and hopes to become a staff member of the United Nations.
Ana Lopez
Ana López Isidro was born in Santa Barbara, CA and raised in Paso Robles, CA. Ana is a proud daughter of immigrants whose parents come from San Juan Nuevo, Michoacán, México. She is currently a senior at Paso Robles High School and Co-President of M.E.Ch.A. (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlan), a club that she’s participated in since her freshman year. Ana helped organize numerous cultural events last year, most notably the first ever Baile, a Spanish language dance on campus. As a junior, Ana was also a member of PRHS’ Ethnic Studies class. She is currently the Carmesi Editor of PRHS’ Crimson News Magazine and President of the high school’s AVID program. Since her junior year she has been a member of the Diversity & Policy Committee with three other students and Paso Robles Joint Unified School District staff. Ana identifies as a student, a community member, and an activist. Ana believes in the importance of striving for equity among everyone in our society, creating healing & safe environments, and working for inclusiveness and representation within our schools.
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People of Faith for Justice is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
CREDITS
The People of Faith for Justice Podcast is produced and edited by Jeff Manildi
Music for the People of Faith for Justice Podcast is provided by Andrew Gorman