The Holden Village Podcast

Ed Miles lived and worked at the Holden mining community from 1936, fought in World War II, and was an employee of Howe Sound at Holden until the mine closure in 1957.   Ed visited Holden Village in the summer of 2021 and was interviewed by Director Mark Bach and archivist Larry Howard during his visit.  Ed recounts living first on Honeymoon Heights, then in Chalet 8 with his parents, and then lat...

"My work is about being embodied, about being connected; whole." Maya Mineoi 三根生 真矢 (they/them) comes from a lineage of gardeners, community organizers, and musicians. They are a somatic therapist with a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Maya brings ancestral values of creativity, attentiveness, and slowing down into sessions.  With play and gentleness, participan...

Rev. Terry Kyllo is a Lutheran pastor serving as the director of Paths to Understanding: Bridging Bias and Building Unity. He is the founder of Neighbors in Faith, answering Islamophobia with building the beloved community and recognizing and honoring one another’s humanity. A graduate of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, he began his pastoral career in 1991 and has served in partnership...

Through their work with Team Naturaleza, Elisa and Monica are creating a space where the Hispanic/Latinx community can gather, learn about the environment bilingually, and gain a sense of belonging in the outdoors. In this episode, Elisa and Monica talk about what brought them to their work, and their experience spending a week at Holden. Team Naturaleza is one of the recipients of offerings colle...

"How do we bring forward a counternarrative to political oppression?" "Those vestiges of colonialism when empire was present in a particular context, when it left, those forms of knowledge still exist and they're still informing how you make decisions and how you move with one another and we can ask those questions of the Lutheran Church." - Hierald "I think the quest...

When we talk about healing, what it means to bring some of our stories or our voice forward ,activating our senses or coming home to the body is one way to do that. Through the arts, it’s entering through another door. – Shabrae How do we give ourselves permission to play? To stand in that is an act of resistance against a culture of production, of exploitation of labor, of refusal for rest. What...

Michael Ramos came to the Pacific Northwest 37 years ago as a Jesuit Volunteer to work with people on the streets at a day drop-in center in Tacoma. He proceeded to work with housed and un-housed Central American refugees in Seattle. He has continued bringing a faith lens to working alongside people and communities experiencing marginalization for most of the last three decades, and was involved i...

"In my experience of Christianity, we've been a very word-focused people. Word and intellect have been honored above the wisdom of the body and wisdom of the felt sensibilities of our emotions and the vaguer sensibilities of our imaginations and intuitions and sense of prompting, and all the ways the Spirit can work through those other modalities. So yes, we can pray with our bodies. Yes...

Tamisha Tyler, MDiv (she/her) is Executive Director of Arts, Religion and Culture (ARC) and a Ph. D. candidate studying Theology, Culture, and Ethics. In this conversation, Tamisha talks about finding the field of theopoetics, developing the Subversive Liturgy Project in front of the Pasadena Police Department, and her dissertation, which explores Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower as a wo...

Cynthia Moe-Lobeda is the Founding Director of the Center for Climate Justice and Faith at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (PLTS), and a co-founder of Seattle University's Center for Environmental Justice and Sustainability. She has provided education worldwide in theology; ethics; and matters of climate justice and climate racism, eco-feminist theology, and faith-based resistance to sy...

Chasity is a new mom with a beautiful baby girl named Lola and is in the Master of Divinity program at Boston University School of Theology. She identifies as a Womanist theologian, a decolonizer, and a liberationist. Originally from Louisiana with a Baptist and missionary background, she is now centrally devoted to Black women’s health and healing. She became a Krista Colleague while a Community...

Pastor Liv Larson Andrews talks about her response to this week's programming, which reflected on themes of lightness and darkness in liturgy as well as the story of Hagar, and the experience of trying out new language in the Holden Evening Prayer. To learn more about Holden Village, visit: http://www.holdenvillage.org or to listen to more audio recordings visit: http://audio.holdenvillage.or...

"I realized my first year in this position that art is a muscle that you have to develop and flex and train to be in the flow to produce and cultivate inspiration." ~ Kate Egolf,  PotterHolden Village has long been known for incredible programming, sparking minds and imaginations with insightful and engaging sessions. And now we're bringing Holden programming to you! Through this Vi...

"Garbology has increased my understanding of how we get into cycles of consumption and is also a way to be mindful, care for creation, and show respect for the interdependent web of which we are all a part of. " ~ Rachael Meadors, Garbologist Holden Village has long been known for incredible programming, sparking minds and imaginations with insightful and engaging sessions. And now we&ap...

"We're not always taught how blackness became a thing. How does white become a race? How does black become a race, when race itself has no meaning? It is a social construct. " ~ Asa lee Rev. Dr. Asa Lee is a socially conscious religious educator and pastoral leader. He is the new President of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. He is a sought-after lecturer explorin...

"Writing an ode is a form of meditation and gratitude practice. It's also a method for repairing our relationship with something, someone, someplace, to write in it's praise." ~ Elizabeth Austen Former Washington State Poet Laureate Elizabeth Austen believes poetry is part of our human birthright. Among the many things poetry can do, she’s most invested in its capacity to confr...

"According to the Audubon society, over the past century, urbanization has taken intact, ecologically productive land and fragmented and transformed it with lawns and exotic ornamental plants. The continental U.S. lost a staggering 150 million acres of habitat and farmland to urban sprawl, and that trend isn't slowing." Amy Tongue, Naturalist Holden Village has long been known for i...

"We are focusing on curiosity and making space for questioning our practices, processes, and crafts. That fits into our summer theme of Samaritan Traveler of approaching projects without expectation, and allowing the processes to unfold out of curiosity and play. Then we leave with a deeper understanding of the practice, the materials, and ourselves." ~ Kelly Snyder, Craft Studio Coordin...

"There are so many people coming in and out of the village.  Hellos and goodbyes are a way to acknowledge the time we have with this group of people as a community, be grateful, try to experience everything as fully as we can (without thinking of the end), be present, and then let go." ~ Emer Kate Sanders, Holden Program Associate Holden Village has long been known for incredible program...

"I help people tell their story... I've tried to create art that keeps that lens in mind. Anything I make, if it doesn't ring true to the subject that is involved, then I've fallen back into that tourist trap, where I'm assigning meaning to someone's face or life story." ~ Todd Drake Todd is a human rights artist who paints, prints, photographs, and works with co...

"Holden exists for what Holden does down lake... The food philosophy is here to bring people into a way of thinking about food that they can bring with them when they leave." ~ Chance Voigt From 2017, Chance worked and lived in the village as the Food Services Coordinator, as well as Community Services Manager. He graduated from Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, California. To l...

"Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism offer a strict adherence to non-violence or non-harm, and in that way, these religions really emphasize the community." Matt and his wife, Miranda, were married in June 2000 and moved from Texas to the Pacific Northwest. IT was there that they fell in love with the outside work and each other. Matt has worked in the arenas of youth and family ministry, ne...

"We have a treasure. The buildings here are fragile and susceptible to damage and deterioration. It is our privilege to be able care for them and be able to pass them on to next generations." ~ John Lauber "So many experiences from the people that have come to Holden Village have included a special time on these porches. They in themselves are a sacred space." ~ Chris Gustafson...

"The covenant is more than just a set of rules. The process for creating it was key to healing and developing new relationships and allows a place like Holden to thrive through a spirit of care and compassion for one another." ~ Sarah Sarah Sherry, Mark Bach, Callie Mabry, and Tori Kerssen-Griep discuss how the village navigated the pandemic and created a wellness pod through a community...

This podcast is part of a series called Food for Thought. The meal table is a place of gathering, conversation, connection, and nourishment. During the slower winter months, Food For Thought is a weekly practice at Holden Village promoting dialogue in the dining hall. It is grassroots led and infused by the curiosities and passions of the people present in the Valley, inviting Villagers to engage...