In this intimate mini-episode of The Seed: Conversations for Radical Hope, the roles are briefly shifted as host Dwight Dunston shares his own Quaker journey with guest John Calvi. From an antsy teenager in a Quaker high school to finding his "spiritual home" as an adult, Dwight reflects on the power of silence, memory, and the "upper room" of communal worship.

Dwight recalls the bittersweet grief of his final high school meeting for worship, a moment where he realized the profound value of "settling in" with others. "We were bodies in space, but we were also... in a different room," Dwight reflects. After years of traveling and studying poetry abroad, it was a return to Philadelphia during a time of personal loss that led him back to a meeting house, where he finally felt he had found his place.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The transition from "antsy teenager" to a seeker of silent worship.
• The lasting impact of Quaker education on alumni and their spiritual lives.
• Dwight’s journey through grief and his eventual "spiritual homecoming" at Merion Meeting.
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• How the practices of poetry and faith intertwine in Dwight's work as an artist and facilitator.

Related Resources:

• Dwight Dunston’s Official Website
• John Calvi’s Official Website
• Merion Friends Meeting
• Kingian Nonviolence Training Information
• WWUH Radio: Gay Spirit Archive

Guest & Host Bios: Dwight Dunston (aka Sterling Duns) is a West Philly-based facilitator, hip-hop artist, and activist. A Level 2 Certified Kingian Nonviolence Trainer, Dwight brings creativity and care to his work in schools, festivals, and community centers to support healing and wholeness in individuals and ecosystems.

John Calvi is a Quaker healer and singer-songwriter. For over thirty years, he has offered massage and healing touch to survivors of trauma and those living with AIDS. He is the author of The Dance Between Hope and Fear.

NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page.

The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/
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The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people.

Help us to grow The Seed!
Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey.

Follow us @PendleHillUSA on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast.

Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details.

This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

In this mini-episode, host Dwight Dunston returns to his conversation with Quaker healer John Calvi. They explore the history of John’s seminal song, "The Ones Who Aren't Here," and the weight of carrying love across time and loss.

John shares the song's origins, written in his 20s during a time of "personal exile". Reflecting on the "fierce closet" of the early 80s, John notes, "As Pete Seeger said, you build a good building, can be used for a lot of different things over time". For John, the song became a "good building" for those seeking community during the AIDS crisis.

The episode features a 1982 recording from WWUH radio. John reflects: "Perhaps ministry is that rare, too rare, song that teaches the pain as it lifts us up towards knowing what is possible".

In this episode, we discuss:

• The social origins of "The Ones Who Aren't Here".
• Healing touch as Quaker ministry during the AIDS crisis.
• John’s work with the late nonviolence educator William J. Kreidler.

Resources:

• "The Ones Who Aren't Here" (Song): https://youtu.be/3EANcOHwLbc (1982 Recording)
• John Calvi: https://johncalvi.com/
• Suede (Singer - Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suede_(singer)
• Meg Christian: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg_Christian
• LGBTQ Religious Archives Network (Calvi Profile): https://lgbtqreligiousarchives.org/profiles/john-calvi
• William J. Kreidler (Memorial Archive): https://williamjkreidler.com/
• "Nonviolence in the Classroom" (Reference to William Kreidler's work): https://biblioteca.cejamericas.org/handle/2015/4078

Guest Bio: John Calvi is a Quaker healer and songwriter who offered massage and healing touch during the AIDS crisis. A member of Putney (VT) Friends Meeting, he has had his music recorded by artists such as Meg Christian and Suede.

NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page.

The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/
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The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people.

Help us to grow The Seed!
Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey.

Follow us @PendleHillUSA on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast.

Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details.

This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.

What does love look like when it moves beyond sentiment and becomes a force for healing, justice, and transformation?

In this Season Six finale of The Seed, we welcome John Calvi, a Quaker healer, certified massage therapist, and longtime advocate for survivors of trauma. John began offering healing touch during the AIDS crisis in 1983 and has since worked with survivors of war, torture, sexual abuse, and incarceration—always centering presence, compassion, and deep listening. He is also the founding convener of the Quaker Initiative to End Torture.

The conversation is grounded in All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks, including her insistence that “there can be no love without justice.” From there, Dwight and John explore how love is experienced somatically—in the body—and how it becomes power when it refuses domination and instead fosters dignity, accountability, and repair.

Reflecting on decades of healing work, John describes moments when the boundary between stranger and kin dissolves, when tenderness reveals both suffering and possibility at once. He speaks candidly about power—how “power over” wounds and constricts, while power rooted in love expands our capacity to remain present even in the face of immense pain.

As John puts it:
“Pain becomes suffering when it becomes all that we are. The work is to loosen the contraction of the body, of the heart, of the mind—so that pain does not take over our entire existence.”

John and Dwight discuss the wisdom of the body, Quaker worship as a deeply somatic practice, and the slow, cyclical nature of healing. John distinguishes between pain and suffering, noting how laughter, stillness, touch, and truth-telling can interrupt despair and make space for hope.

In his closing reflection, Dwight weaves together John’s stories with his own experiences of intergenerational care—of children and elders, beginnings and endings—inviting listeners to consider how love becomes real when it is practiced in tangible, embodied ways.

This episode closes Season Six with a grounded offering of wisdom: that love, when paired with justice, is not abstract. It is practiced with hands, breath, presence, and courage.

NEW Video Version available at Pendle Hill's YouTube page.

The transcript for this episode is available on https://pendlehillseed.buzzsprout.com/
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The Seed is a project of Pendle Hill, a Quaker center open to all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. We’re located in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, on the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape people.

Help us to grow The Seed!
Share your thoughts with us through our listener survey.

Follow us @PendleHillUSA on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to The Seed wherever you get your podcasts to get episodes in your library as they're released. To learn more, visit pendlehill.org/podcast.

Online Quaker Worship with Dwight: Dwight will attend the Pendle Hill online Quaker worship on the last Friday of the month from 8:30 to 9:10 AM (Eastern Time). Visit Pendle Hill Online Worship for details.

This project is made possible by the generous support of the Thomas H. & Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund.