Listening

J.E. McNeil has powerful points of view, but she also has a profound devotion to communication and unity, skills and attributes fostered by the Conversations with the Other trainings she presents widely.

For decades there has been a political war about abortion where the only acceptable answers were pro-choice or pro-life. Aspen Baker, founder of Exhale & author of Pro-Voice: How to Keep Listening When The World Wants a Fight, has been advocating for empathic listening to women who've had abortions as a new path to peace in the abortion wars.

Ben Merens is well-known throughout Wisconsin and beyond for his 21 years on WPR and, especially, for his years as host of At Issue. His latest book is People Are Dying to Be Heard, where he shares his lessons & insights about listening, silence, and being heard.

Anne LeClaire is an author whose 20 years of twice-monthly days of silence taught her the potential for rest, healing and growth of the practice. She shares the lessons of the experiment-turned-way-of-life in Listening Below the Noise". She leads workshops and retreats on silence, creativity and authenticity, like the program she'll lead on March 23-24 at the Franciscan Spirituality Center in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

John Noltner is photographer and author of a new book, A Peace of my Mind: Exploring the meaning of peace, one story at a time, a captivating inquiry into how common folks - and some not-so-common folks - think about peace. It attempts to bring diverse, sincere, voices into a big tent, to do the work of listening for possibilities.