Suicide

The topic today for Spirit In Action is the mental health of our children, and who better to talk about it than the director of Wisconsin's Office of Children’s Mental Health, Linda Hall.

In mid-August, Liam and Don were joined by Portland Maine’s Poet Laureate, Maya Williams. Maya is not only a creative, gifted spoken word artist and poet, they are also a suicide survivor, theological thinker, and utterly enchanting person.

Justin Jay Arnold is himself and nobody else, happy to wrestle with the full range of beliefs, heading toward preacher-hood complete with his tattoos, scraggly beard, & shaved head, and making his own music of whatever type. With a father who played in the Feather River Canyon Band, and with influences like CCR, Waylon Jennings, & Elvis, Justin's gravelly, open-hearted vocals and lyrics swim on the deep side with no saccharine taste at all. Who else sings of choosing between a guitar and a bullet to his head? Find his 3 albums to-date on CDBaby.

Listen to Nici Peper and you'll know why she won the title of Minneapolis's most authentic artist at the Wholly Guacamole contest. Whether performing solo, as part of Firefly, with The Big Smooch, or in other configurations, Nici radiates. Titles like indie, Americana, folk, etc, do not capture the reality of this love-based, Lutheran-raised, intense and deep woman who delights in performing in rowdy dive bars.

How does climate change affect us psychologically? When faced with  extreme weather affects how is our mental health threatened? What can we do to protect ourselves and our family from the mental health risks that come with extreme weather? How can climate advocates avoid being overwhelmed by the work? How de we address the anxiety, the anger, and the despair? You will hear answers to these questions and much more.

Kim Callinan is Chief Program Officer of Compassion & Choices, an organization that works for and attempts to empower personal choice in end-of-life decisions. After Oregon approved the Death With Dignity Act in 1997, other states have continued and advanced the ways in which medical consumers were put in control of their own life decisions. The latest initiative by Compassion & Choices is Truth In Treatment.

There's a sea change going on around marriage equality/homosexuality/alternative sexuality, and one sign is 3 new memoirs. Chana Wilson wrote Riding Fury Home, including the trials of the "mental illness" of her lesbian mother. Annie Lanzillotto released L is for Lion: An Italian Bronx Butch Freedom Memoir, including her trials with cancer, a raucous Italian family, and much more.

Sonny Ochs, sister to folk legend Phil Ochs, has helped carry forward the powerful legacy of Phil's music. On almost every topic - war, prejudice, immigration, etc - the songs are as meaningful today as back in the 60-70's. Just released, the documentary, Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune.