Tony McQuail brings with him a wide and passionate view of what the world needs, and the commitment to make it happen. From his antiwar activism from age 16, to his move to Canada where he and his wife founded MeetingPlaceOrganicFarm.CA, to the numerous organizations he has founded and worked for to bring folks together in world-healing, Tony makes crops and people grow. He has run for national office in Canada, and is now focused on local election.

Kate Minogue's music is done under the name Rowan Sway, and she has two releases, an EP from back in 2021 called What's Begun, and she's currently releasing Conjure. Starting from classical flute and performing with orchestras, other bands, and a singer-songwriter father, she caught a passion for Celtic music (especially while living in the Boston area), honed her Irish chops, and played for a while with The Beggar Boys before moving to Switzerland almost ten years ago. Along the way, she added guitar to her skills and became a singer-songwriter, which was a major step for a person who cringed at the thought of singing in public at one point. Catherine Theresa Minogue, AKA Kate, AKA Rowan Sway, lives in Basel, Switzerland.

Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Catholic, Non-affiliated, Tai Chi

Following up on our recent interview with Gretchen Primack about the March to Abolish Animal Testing, we speak today to Meredith Blanchard, following up on vital relevant information about the value, or non-value, of animal testing. Meredith is the director of policy and advocacy at the National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS.org), drawing on her B.S. in Zoology, and her M.S. in Animals and Public Policy, the latter from Tufts University. Meredith advocates for a scientifically-rooted policy around the role of animals in testing, rooted also in the humane treatment of animals. She exposes the fallacies past animal testing policy has been based on, and shares about the promising alternatives to these mistaken practices. Meredith Blanchard joins from Boulder, CO.

This episode of guest-host Jan Spencer's A Primer For Paradigm Shift brings together a graphic flow chart that explains the basic progressive dynamics of paradigm shift with a review of a recent article about social enterprise and, in the second half, a fiction story of the near future. Based on the article, the story describes how uplifted neighbors buy the local suburban strip mall and turn its 3 acre parking lot into a thriving mixed use development that addresses many of the challenges of a more economically constrained but increasingly conscious future. Both the article and the fiction story fit in the flow chart and illustrate what paradigm shift can look like. You can find a text version of this episode with graphic and images at aprimerforparadigmshift.org.

Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Anglican, Non-affiliated

We're headed down under to Perth, Australia for a deep dive with Marie Hopkinson. While passionate about music from the age of 4, including playing, over the decades, violin, cello, and guitar, her life included a passion for healing using acupuncture needles and the other tools for healing of Chinese medicine. Along the musical path, Marie performed with Smash Monkeys and she also has hosted her own music interview program called The Good Vibes Show. She released her second album in July of 2026 called Every Darkness, and she'll likely touch your heart with her voice and lyrics.

Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Christian

Peterson Toscano is our guest host today as he explores how we can find our footing and maintain our spiritual integrity during times of profound global disruption. In the first half, Peterson shares an excerpt from The BTS Center's Climate Changed podcast, featuring a conversation between host Autumn Brown and Norma Wong. A Zen Buddhist practitioner and former legislator, Norma shares her insights on indigeneity, what it means to live in the "source way," and how we can become good ancestors.

Seldom have we had guests for Song of the Soul matching such incredible singing with such penetrating and offbeat lyrics, full of alternate visions of divine workings and mayhem, as what we have today with Heather Aubrey Lloyd. Heather was on the way to a profession as a reporter when a curve on the road of life placed her instead in front of a microphone, sharing music for a living. In addition to her two solo albums, she has worked and performed with Baltimore's acclaimed ilyAIMY for 23 years and on 12 albums, she's been the Girlfinkel in a Simon and Garfunkel tribute band, and she's been ramping up and performing with a Renaissance lute-rock rebel group, Ayreheart.

Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Jewish

Following up on the successful efforts of Save the Dogs to close down the dog breeding for experimentation operations at Ridglan Farms in Blue Mounds, WI, eyes have turned to other major contributors to such abusive companies. Gretchen Primack is the co-director of the March to Abolish Animal Testing (MAAT), a march taking place in New York from September 12-26, 2026 traveling 207 miles from Albany to the small town where Marshall BioResources is located. Gretchen and other volunteers are doing amazing, deeply-motivated work bringing together many hundreds of people to organize and participate in part or all of this march.

We don't have much rap music as part of Song of the Soul, so it's about time, and I think I found a perfect guest for my show; Colby Jeffers is all about making a better world, as evident from the title of his book, Building a Better World: 5 Pillars for Transforming Yourself and Humanity. He also has released 9 rap recording over the past 13 years, and done numerous concerts across the lower 48 states. He is Baha'i and draws on inspiration and motivation of the religion, on top of his personal experience, to craft rap songs as part of his Better World Project. Colby Jeffers is from Phoenix, Arizona.

Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Baha'i

Patti Nesbitt & Kristin Camitta Zimet have co-written a book dealing with end-of-life preparation and issues. The name of the book is A Tender Time, which it beautifully helps us prepare for, with the subtitle, Quaker Voices On the End of Life, created under the care of Baltimore Yearly Meeting. They are Quaker, so the title is accurate, but actually this book is for everyone, with very widely appropriate information, knowledge, & counsel for all people. In fact, Patti's work with palliative care was with a general population, so her expertise was honed with a wide range of people of a wide range of spiritual, on non-spiritual, viewpoints. Patti's education, expertise, and work included time with environmental issues, organic agriculture, and as a cancer survivor.