2007 Speakers

Lenda Hand - Mother, activist and business woman, Founder, Humboldt Hemp Foods. The Hemp trail for began for her at Reggae on the River.  Humboldt Hemp Foods began as a fund raiser for her son’s non-profit alternative school, and evolved into one of the premiere Hemp food businesses. Starting with clothing, Lenda soon decided the future for her was in the exciting new uses of the hemp seed.

Mark Harris, an award winning journalist and educator, has spent decades working for the recovery of culture, promoting sobriety, healthy non-addictive living, and the importance of uncovering hidden history for personal and community healing. Mark has worked with school districts, communities, and both national and state task forces on gangs, and culturally specific addiction prevention coalitions.

mark iktomi>hitunkala thompson, ph.d. is one of the founding elders of the Otter Clan. Trained in the history and philosophy of religions, specializing at UCLA in indigenous shamanism of the Americas, he studied with three Lakota shamen during the 1970s when he worked for the US Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs.  He is a retired educator, a social justice- environmental activist, who continues to work on issues of educational philosophy and cultural review.

A positive conscious emcee, Marv Ellis has progressed through time to become a seasoned powerful performer.  From rapping and singing all original self written music, to exhibiting incredible crowd control, his skills have broadened to a new level of entertainment.

Coming off the release his seventh album, this time his second solo release "Underwater not Underground," he has taken a personal oath to make his music human, timeless, and authentic, while maintaining his integrity as an artist.

Melanie Duchin has been with Greenpeace for almost 20 years and has campaigned on a variety of issues including global warming, toxic pollution, nuclear power, nuclear weapons, forests and ocean ecology. Most recently, she worked on a Greenpeace campaign to halt commercial whaling. In early 2007, she spent seven weeks on a Greenpeace icebreaker in Antarctica where the Japanese government planned to kill almost 1000 whales as part of its sham “scientific” whaling program. Once back on land, she returned home to organize and coordinat

Michael Datcher is the author of critically acclaimed New York Times Bestseller Raising Fences.  His most recently produced play Silence was commissioned by and premiered at the Getty Museum. His poetry is widely anthologized.  He is a frequent news commentator who has appeared on Nightline, Dateline and the BBC. He teaches poetry, literary nonfiction and journalism courses at Loyola.

Hailing from Seattle, Nathaniel “Nate” Hinde has performed on stage and street, and is pretty well known wherever the language of “free style” is spoken.  He has been writing and performing spoken word pieces since he was sixteen years of age, and now at twenty-three, Nathaniel emerges as a poet ahead of his time . . . sometimes with an edge, but always with the scars to support it.  He has a style all his own, with powerful words, complex ideas, and a stage presence far more mature than his years.

Nicki Scully -  internationally acclaimed author and teacher.  During her first tour of Egypt with the Grateful Dead in 1978, Nicki experienced an epiphany on the top of the great pyramid, and realized her gift in this life time to bring forth the hidden shamanic arts of Egypt. Drawing on the knowledge gained through decades, she enlightens and uplifts all whom study and travel with her.

Olowo-n'djo Tchala gathered shea nuts as a boy to pay for clothes and school. He arrived in the U.S. in 1998 speaking not a word of English. Five years later he had degree in organizational theory -- the study of capitalism, helping him understand the root causes of poverty. Alaffia Sustainable Skin Care was born – pumping money and resources into the tiny West African nation of Togo, furnishing schools, planting trees and reducing the maternal death.

Pat is the founder of SOS (Skydivers Over Sixty) and helped set the world freefall formation record (39 skydivers, ages 60-83).  Pat and Alicia are part of the show team “The California Aerial Circus”.  Pat has been in many movies, TV programs, and commercials, usually involving skydiving stunt work.  He was also Mr. Nude USA in 1973.

Since I discovered there was a choice, I've been dedicated to organic.  Ever since I discovered the choice to trade fairly, I've been dedicated to that way of life.  I am a member of Equal Exchange, a worker owned co-op dedicated to exemplifying that a fair profit can be made while trading fairly with everyone on the path, from producer to consumer.

Roxy Jane Allen hails from the magical land of Florida. She is a local model turned youth minister.  She prefers the Atlantic to the Pacific, digs scars and tattoos, and believed it was her life's ambition to be a rockstar (being a youth minister is a close second). She loves high fives, check yes or no love poems, holding hands, laughing, glitter, high heels, the sunshine, skipping, coloring books, and grape Slurpees.  Her heart is easily won with dirty jokes, sincerity, and intelligence.

Sandor Katz - Sustainability is Participation. Eating local is more than a consumer experience. It means rebuilding a whole web of relations and demands not only interactions with farmers, but more of us becoming food producers directly involved with the sources of our food: plants, seeds, microbes, animals, earth. Get inspired to reclaim food, power, and dignity.

Sara Rich is a social worker, doula and family therapist in private practice. She was on the Eugene Human Rights Commission for 6 years the last two years as the Chair. She has served as a Chaplain at Unity of the Valley for two years, was on the Board of Directors for Community Alliance of Lane County, is on the management team for the Oregon Country Fair as a BUM, is a member of Military Families Speak Out and CODEPINK.

Hailing from the windy city of Chicago, Seasunz is a recent addition to the Wisdom vocal crew... and a welcome one. He has toured with Wisdom all of 2006 and makes several appearances on the most recent album, "Growth & Elevation." The song "Next Level" was written when Wisdom & Seasunz first linked in the studio.