Archived Radio Show

May 19, 2025

Original Radio Show  ID:
WSA250519

Listen to the Show on the Mp3 Player below

Duration 57 minutes

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Featuring

Click the Name to access the Segment below

1. Commentary by our Host, Elaine B. Holtz,

2. Guest Starhawk, Author, Activist, Permaculture Designer and Teacher

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1. Commentary by our Host, Elaine B. Holtz: I have a special guest this morning. Joining me on the phone is Starhawk. With all that is transpiring I thought it would be a promising idea to talk about her 13 Principles for a Welcoming Movement. It is an amazing piece and a shout out to the Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County for printing this information in their March April Newsletter. I encourage you to check out their website, https://www.pjcsoco.org/ . This organization is a great source of information for active peace work.

Juneteenth is approaching. Freedom Festival is from June 19th to July 4th every year, with discussion groups scheduled all year, see description at https://freedomfestivalusa.org/ .  The Sonoma County MLK/HJuneteenth Festival is on Saturday June 14th at a new venue, Old Courthouse Square, Santa Rosa, CA. See Announcements below for both events.

No Kings Day nationwide protests is on June 14th. See Announcements below.

2. Our Guest Starhawk speaks with our host Elaine B. Holtz about her path to activism and the creation of inclusive, spiritually grounded social movements. Starhawk traces her roots to a college project on witches that led to forming a coven and discovering a nature-based, goddess-centered spirituality aligned with feminist values—an empowering contrast to the male-centered Judaism of her upbringing.

Inspired by the 1970s feminist movement and the ecological consciousness of the Bay Area, she co-founded the Reclaiming tradition, blending spirituality, activism, and Earth-centered practice. Holtz reflects on her own awakening through women’s studies and the transformative experience of participating in Starhawk’s Spiral Dance ritual, deepening her spiritual and social awareness.
The conversation turns to Starhawk’s “13 Principles for a Welcoming Movement,” born from concerns that leftist movements often alienate newcomers through ideological purity. In contrast, the political right often meets people’s basic needs for belonging and meaning. Starhawk advocates for movements rooted in shared purpose, kindness, and inclusivity.

She stresses the importance of welcoming newcomers with patience and support rather than judgment, using the analogy of dog training to show that encouragement fosters growth. She critiques the use of academic jargon like “intersectionality” as exclusionary unless clearly explained, arguing that accessible language helps build community.

Key principles highlighted include #11: “Organizing is educating and educating is organizing,” emphasizing education as core to activism, and #13: “Be kind,” asserting that kindness must anchor our response to a cruel world.

Starhawk also shares information about her upcoming trainings in social permaculture and natural building at earthactivisttraining.org , encouraging practical, community-based healing. She concludes with a call to action: to live as agents of kindness, connection, and justice in a time that urgently needs transformation.

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About our Guest: Starhawk is an author, activist, permaculture designer and teacher, and a prominent voice in modern earth-based spirituality and ecofeminism. She is the author or co-author of thirteen books, including The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess and the ecotopian novel The Fifth Sacred Thing, and its sequel City of Refuge.
Her most recent non-fiction book is The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups, on group dynamics, power, conflict, and communications.

Starhawk founded Earth Activist Training, teaching permaculture design grounded in spirituality and with a focus on activism. She travels internationally, lecturing and teaching on earth-based spirituality, the tools of ritual, and the skills of activism.

She holds a B.A. in Fine Arts from U.C.L.A. In 1973, as a graduate student in Film at U.C.L.A, Starhawk won the prestigious Samuel Goldwyn Creative Writing Award. She received an M.A. in Psychology with a concentration in Feminist Therapy from Antioch University West in 1982.

Guest Links:

Starhawk's website: https://starhawk.org/

Earth Activist Training: Permaculture - Activism - Spirit : , https://earthactivisttraining.org/

  The Movement We Need - new writing by Starhawk: Click Here for Substack file. Building a movement that can meet our core needs of Safety, Belonging, Value, Agency and Meaning. It's free to read, with options to upgrade to a paid subscription to access bonus posts and take part in live discussions and in a dedicated chat.

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Our History Is Our Strength

Check out important dates to remember in Herstory at the National Women's History Alliance, where the date descriptions were sourced unless otherwise indicated.

Special thank you to the National Women’s History Alliance for making women’s history alive. Shout out to Co-Founder and Retiring Executive Director, Molly McGregor who will be on the show when we celebrate Women’s History Month in March for making the fabulous list of Women in History where I get most of the info I present in this Herstory segment.

Herstory Events:

May 21, 1973 – Lynn Genesko, a swimmer, receives the first athletic scholarship awarded to a woman (University of Miami).

May 18, 1970 – Tina Fey, television writer, producer, and actor, first woman head writer for Saturday Night Live (1999), creator of television series 30 Rock, youngest winner of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor (2010).

Herstory Birthdays:

May 19, 1921 (2014) – Yuri Kochiyama, civil rights and political activist, influenced by her Japanese American family’s internment and her association with Malcolm X, she advocated for many causes, including Black separatism, the anti-war movement, Maoist revolution, reparations for Japanese-American internees, and the rights of people imprisoned by the U.S. government .

May 19, 1930 (1965) – Lorraine Hansberry, first African American woman to write a Broadway play, A Raisin in the Sun (1959).

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Announcements  

Monday, May 26, 2025 11 AM # repeats 11 PM PT, the show features our guests Madonna Feather Cruz and Renalda Cruz on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). Radio KBBF 89.1 FM, North SF Bay or live streaming at https://kbbf.org/live  

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Wednesday,May 28, 2025, 10 AM PT, the show will be a repeat of the show on 5/26/2025 that features our guests Madonna Feather Cruz and Renalda Cruz on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW).   Radio KPCA 103.3 FM, Petaluma, CA. https://petalumacommunityaccess.org/kpca 

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Wednesdays, June 4 - 25, 2025, 6-7 PM PDT, Interactive Discussions on Living and Working in Community, Virtual Meeting. Online series guided by Starhawk and Charles Williams, a mixed format of presentation and group conversations.
June 4th: Self-Care
June 11th: Negotiation in Community
June 18th: Meeting Facilitation
June 25th: Dealing with Difficult People Click Here to register..

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June 14, 2025, 10 AM to 6 PM, MLK/Juneteenth Festival, (new venue) Old Courthouse  Square, Santa Rosa, CA. Free and Family Friendly. Be sure to visit our Women's Spaces booth shared with Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow, The Vendor booth application date has been extended to June 1st. Please apply now if you'd like to highlight your business at the event: https://www.sonomacountyjuneteenth.com/vendors-application .

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Saturday, June 14, 2025, 11 AM to 3 PM, No Kings - Mass Protest Nationwide, See for more info and how to get involved in Sonoma County at https://www.mobilize.us/indivisiblesonomacounty/event/785323/ and nationwide find an event at https://www.nokings.org/

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Thursday, June 19, 2025, 12:30 - 1:30 PM Freedom Festival: Opening Conversation, Free Virtual event, see https://freedomfestivalusa.org/events/  

Freedom Festival is from June 19th to July 4th every year, with discussion groups scheduled all year, see description at https://freedomfestivalusa.org/.

Thursday, June 19, 2025, 7 9 PM, Juneteenth Table Reading Play written & directed by Enid Pickett, Hybrid event, In-person:New Vintage Church 3300 Sonoma Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA. Donations accepted, A Table Reading Play about love. Love of Family, Faith, and Freedom Three acts: 1865-1963-2025. A black family's journey of struggle and survival living in the USA. Experience this event in person or watch it streaming live. A second reading will occur on June 20th.  see https://freedomfestivalusa.org/events

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Ongoing:

Every Wednesday the Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County (PJCSC) issues new weekly list of events and links to community non-profit organizations. It includes ongoing peace and human rights rallies and protests, and those sponsored by the  Community United to Resist Fascism (CURF) of which PJCSC is a member : Website www.pjcsoco.org

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Every Sunday, Palestine Support Sunday, 2- 4 pm, Old Courthouse Square, Santa Rosa, CA

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Every Thursday, Rally for Veterans Health Benefits, Protesting Potential Cuts to VA Funding, VA Center, 2285 Challenger Way, Santa Rosa, CA

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Take action every day - Calendar: https://indivisiblesoco.org/calendar/

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The North Bay Organizing Project - Rapid Response Project

https://www.northbayop.org/nbrrn

Music Selections

The Opening and Closing Theme song The Woman in Your Life is You is done with permission of the Composer and Singer Alix Dobkin ((August 16, 1940 – May 19, 2021) Alix Dobkin death was just announced - Thank you for all you did for Lesbians to be recognized and Women to be honored. May you rest in peace. See our Interview with Alix Dobkin on 12/1/2014 and our Memorial to Alix Dobkin on 5/24/2021

The Woman in Your Life is You by Alix Dobkin from the album Living with Lavender Jane (2010 Woen's Wax Works) - www.alixdobkin.com

She Rises Lke the Dophin, sung by Kate Wolf, from the album Live in Mendocino  (2018 Owl Records)

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