The video “Lawai International Center: A Place Remembered” provides a profound historical and spiritual context that aligns closely with the themes of peace, healing, and global unity found in your “Strength Through PEACE ’25 TOUR” document. AEIA CERTIFIED ‘26 Pressing

Sacred Soil of Lawai Valley.mp3Click2Hear

Below is an evaluation of the video’s content and how it can serve as a “Development Guide” for your project:

1. Historical & Spiritual Foundation
   • Healing Roots: The video highlights the Lawai Valley on Kauai as a place of “forgiving waters” where Hawaiians originally built a heiau (temple) for healing [02:03]. This mirrors the document’s focus on moving away from a “War Economy” toward social
   • The 88 Shrines: Built 100 years ago by Japanese immigrants, these shrines are a replica of the 1,000-mile Shikoku pilgrimage [01:46]. They represent the “Strength Through Peace” theme by showing how displaced people created a sanctuary of hope and spirit in a new land [04:46].
2. Key Narratives for Development
   • The “Soil of Protection”: A powerful story features Grandma Nonaka, who took soil from the 88 shrines to protect her sons during WWII and the Korean War [03:35]. Their safe return and the subsequent return of the soil to the shrines [03:49] provides a moving visual and narrative metaphor for the protection found in peace rather than weaponry.
   • Grassroots Restoration: The Lawai International Center (formed in 1990) is a non-denominational effort to restore these forgotten shrines [05:23]. This aligns with the document’s call to “reclaim democratic traditions” through community-led action.

3. Visual & Symbolic Synergy
   • The Turtle Platform: The planned pagoda is shaped like a turtle, a symbol of the “bearer of life” [05:41]. This matches the “Axis of Hope” imagery in the Kucinich
   • Diverse Voices: The video features Riley Lee (a non-Japanese Grandmaster of the Bamboo Flute) and Hawaiian elders [01:00, 06:08], illustrating the interconnectedness of all people—a core pillar of your 2025 Tour draft.
4. Integration Strategy

For your “Deep Dive PeaceCasts4Good,” this video serves as a perfect “Case Study in Peace.”

• Actionable Insight: Use the Lawai International Center as a real-world example of the “Department of Peace” concept in action—where historical trauma (immigrant struggles/war) is converted into a “non-denominational cultural and healing center” [05:33].
• Closing Sentiment: The video ends with the “Aloha” spirit being Hawaii’s gift to the New Millennium [06:16], which provides a strong, hopeful conclusion that matches the “Prayer for America” vision.

YouTube Link for Reference: Lawai International Center: A Place Remembered

A PeacePreneuring Incubator Project

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In a conversation as uplifting as his music, Randy Edelman graced the microphone of the Good News Podcast hosted by the brilliant Paul  Sladkus — delivering an episode that feels like a breath of fresh inspiration.

Recorded with warmth, wit, and heartfelt insight, Randy shared stories from his remarkable career as a composer — from writing unforgettable themes for beloved films to the deeper personal reflections that shape his art. With each answer, he radiated the same generosity and joy that have made his music resonate across generations.

Paul guided the dialogue with thoughtful curiosity, creating space for Randy to open up about the power of creativity, the bridges between emotion and melody, and the moments that define a life in music. The conversation was candid yet poetic, inviting listeners into a rare glimpse of the man behind the scores.

Listeners will find themselves smiling, nodding, and ultimately walking away with something rare: true Good News — a reminder of how beauty, perseverance, and heartfelt expression can uplift the world.

Whether you’re a longtime fan or discovering Randy’s genius for the first time, this episode is an inspiring journey — one that echoes long after the final note.

Tune in, turn up the volume, and let the good news play on.

Watch Randy Edelman on the Good News Podcast with Paul Sladkus here:

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There’s still time to register for Inner Climate: Rediscovering Connections, tonight’s Climate Week NYC event that goes deeepr than data to explore the emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions of climate engagement.

Featuring Dr. Kate Marvel, Dr. Kritee Kanko, Jody Sperling, and Carey Russell!

And don’t miss our follow-on workshops with some of our speakers, where they’ll take us deeper into the themes being explored tonight:

On Friday, September 26, Buddhist priest and former climate scientist Kritee Kanko will share her holistic approach to environmental engagement to help us work through anxienty, grief, and rage in the face of the overlapping crises we face.

On Saturday, September 27, world-renowed choreographer Jody Sperling will lead an interactive workshop on ecokinetics, a dance practice cultivating the relationship between humans and ecological systems. People of all ages and abilities welcome!

On Saturday, October 4, master naturalist and dendrologist Carey Russell will lead a tree workshop and tour of Central Park, showing how a basic knowledge of trees can help us develop a closer relationship to the incredible life around and above us.

We hope you’ll join us!

Inner Climate

Thursday, September 25, 2025 7:00 PM

Inner Climate: Rediscovering Connections • Climate Week NYC

Register

Adler Hall at The New York Society for Ethical Culture

Friday, September 26, 2025 10:00 AM

IC Workshop w/ Kritee Kanko: ‘Islands of Belonging in a Sea of Chaos’

Register

New York Society for Ethical Culture

Saturday, September 27, 2025 11:00 AM

IC Workshop with Jody Sperling: ‘Ecokinetics: Dancing Your Inner Climate’

Register

New York Society for Ethical Culture

Saturday, October 4, 2025 10:00 AM

IC Workshop w/ Carey Russell: Central Park Tree Identification for Everyone

Register

New York Society for Ethical Culture

Discover More Events

The post You’re Invited! Inner Climate Event and Workshops appeared first on Good News!.

Mario René Padilla was born in Detroit and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He’s of Italian and Mexican descent, but grew up, nevertheless, a typical “mid-western” kid. Needless to say, multi-culturalism and mixed-cultural identity are central themes in his work. His poetry and stories have appeared in North American Review, The Antioch Review, New Letters, Alligator Juniper, The Ledge, INKWELL Magazine, Americas Review, Tulip Tree Review, Westwind, Chiron Review, Atlanta Review, among others. His second collection of poems, Blue Plums and Weeds, was published in Feb. 2021 by PSPoets in Los Angeles. The collection was a finalist in the Ohio University Press “Hollis Summers Poetry Prize, the Akron Poetry Prize, the Snake Nation Press poetry contest, and Crab Orchard Review’s, all national competitions for book publication. He is a winner of a Fulbright Award for his dissertation, Jorge Luis Borges: Young Poet of Prose (1919-1925). His first collection of poems, Reaching Back for the Neverendings, appeared in 1994. His unpublished collection of stories, Scales and Other Stories, was runner-up in the Red Hen Press 2016 Fiction Prize, as well as in Snake Nation Press’s Serena McDonald Kennedy Fiction Award, 2017 and the editors of each press nominated the collection for a Pushcart Award for runner-up collections. Two of his stories “La Château Possonniere” and “Scales” won first prize in TulipTree Publishing’s story contest, Stories That Need to Be Told, 2017 and 2020 respectively. He received a B.S from Ohio State University, an M.A. in English from Loyola Marymount, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Lit. from USC. He’s a longtime resident of Venice, CA with his wife and blended family of six. He teaches English, Creative Writing and Latin-American Literature full-time at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California.

Blue Plums & Weeds is available at PSPOETS.com

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