The Power of Story in Social Change with Susan Griffin

Program Description

The human story expressed in myriad art forms has always provided the world with a reflection of itself. What is art reflecting about today’s human experience? Author, poet and social activist Susan Griffin sees that we are in somewhat of a box, and that we need the visionary power of art to help us find our way out. “I think artists can go to a level of vision that can often save us from a situation which seems to have no solution whatsoever.” As Griffin talks about the power of art and tells her own story, she addresses some of the most pressing issues of the day, including the erosion of our civil liberties, the war on terrorism, politics and the environment. She sees two motions going on in the world. “There is motion that has been going on that reconnects with who we really are which is of the Earth. At the same time, there is also the continuation of that old philosophy, which has accelerated. It has gotten so extreme that from many different fronts at once now it threatens to destroy us all.” Griffin calls us all to be social thinkers and activists.

Susan Griffin is the author of more that twenty books including A Chorus of Stones (Doubleday, 1992), What Her Body Thought: A Journey into the Shadows (HarperSanFrancisco, 1999), The Book of the Courtesans: A Catalogue of Their Virtues (Broadway Books, 2001), and Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy (Trumpeter 2008). She has won dozens of awards for her work as poet, feminine writer, playwright and filmmaker. To learn more about the work of Susan Griffin go to www.susangriffin.com

Topics Explored in this Dialogue:

• How art can lead you to a place of deeper understanding of the world
• Why the power of the story is so profound
• What new research shows about the survival of the human species
• What position our nation should take in the world
• Why speaking out about the loss of civil liberties is critical to our democracy

Program Number: 2936             Host:            Interview Date: 4/26/2002