John W. Amidon, BA, is founder and co‐facilitator of the Kateri Tekakwitha Interfaith Peace Conference. He served as president of Veterans for Peace, Chapter 10, Albany, New York.
Maureen Baillargeon Aumand, MA; MLS, State University of New York at Albany, is a retired public school English teacher and librarian. She is a member of Women Against War, and co‐facilitator of the annual Kateri Tekakwitha Peace Conference.
Steve Breyman recently retired as associate professor of science and technology studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is a U.S. Army veteran, former New York State climate change official, and former U.S. State Department Fellow. He is author of Movement Genesis and Why Movements Matter.
Rev. Chris J. Antal served five years as a military chaplain. He resigned his commission on April 12, 2016, in a letter to President Obama, an act of protest against U.S. policies regarding killer drones, nuclear weapons, and preventive war.
Sheri Bauer, vocalist, pianist, and educator began her academic studies as a student of the piano at the Hartt School of Music and Brooklyn Conservatory. She joined the village music scene originally as a pianist, performing and recording the works of modern American composers. Her university piano mentors were John Cobb and Doris Hays.
To further a passion for American song, Sheri later took advanced studies in voice, folk music research, and Kodaly music at the Hartt School of Music, the Westminster Choir College, Shenandoah University, and with composer and arranger, Alice Parker. Sheri has studied both jazz and classical voice with Anne Turner, Jay Clayton, and Jeannette LoVetri via "Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method" workshops. She has accompanied and sung with Albany’s premiere choral group, Albany Pro Musica and has taught singing, music history, chorus, and led community sings in numerous and varied educational settings.
Sheri is also an herbalist and is the beekeeper for Twin Spruce Apiary in Climax, NY.
Medea Benjamin co‐founded the fair trade group Global Exchange and the feminist peace organization CODEPINK. She is author of several books, including Drone Warfare, Kingdom of the Unjust, and Inside Iran. She was Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate in California in 2000.
Theresa Bonpane, educator and activist, is the wife of Blase Bonpane who passed away last year. The Kateri Peace Conference book, Bending the Arc: Striving for Peace and Justice in the Age of Endless War, is dedicated to Blase. Theresa, who was his life partner as well as partner in activism for 49 years , will be joined by their children in speaking about his life and work at the Kateri Peace Conference. After years of daunting work which included working with Caesar Chavez for the United Farm Workers, she helped found in the late 70’s , and manage through its long history The Office of the Americas based in Las Angeles whose mission statement dedicated it to “furthering the cause of justice and peace in the hemisphere through broad-based educational programs.” Theresa is a native of Troy, N.Y.
Lawrence Davidson is a retired professor of history at West Chester University. His research focuses on American foreign relations with the Middle East, and he is the author of Islamic Fundamentalism and Cultural Genocide.
Stephen F. Downs was the chief attorney for the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct until he retired in 2003, shortly after he was arrested for wearing a peace T‐shirt at Crossgates Mall in Albany, New York. He was a member of the defense team for Yassin Aref in 2006, a founding member of the Muslim Solidarity Committee, and a founding member of Project SALAM, which documents and advocates against preemptive prosecution and prisoner abuse.
James E. Jennings, PhD, is founder and president of Conscience International and executive director of US Academics for Peace.
Kathy Kelly co‐coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a campaign to end U.S. military and economic warfare. She has led many delegations to conflict zones, and spent time in federal prison for direct actions against nuclear missile and drone sites.
Ed Kinane is an anti‐militarist and anti‐imperialist based in Syracuse, New York. He works with the Upstate (New York) Drone Action coalition and his local Beyond War and Militarism committee.
Dave Lippman, satirical singer songwriter for your lunch time pleasure. Get ready for high-end parodies and some very wise cracks. Since 1966, Lippman has been tuning his guitar and voice to the struggles of the common man, and woman and gender non binary.
Lippman provides a passionate, comedic, participatory romp through today’s ills and thrills. His show has delighted and en-smartened audiences throughout the Free World, and in some pretty cheap places too. His topical songs are always timely but he can be expected to touch on topics of labor rights, climate change, Wall Street, the current administration, Black Lives Matter and bigotry.
Lippman has toured from San Francisco to Sydney, from Boston to Berlin, from the Midwest to the Mideast. Utah Phillips said of Lippman, “God, that man can talk! What a great writer!” “Viciously funny,” said the Guardian. “Lippman is a national treasure,” countered the L.A. Herald-Examiner. A Skidmore College student wrote: “The Dean felt that more harm than good would come from your visit.”
Michael McPhearson served in the U.S. Army 1981-1992. Mr. McPhearson is a Persian Gulf War combat veteran who served in Operation Desert Shield/Storm 1991-92. Mr. McPhearson is also a peace activist. As a representative of Veterans For Peace (VFP) and Military Families Speak Out, McPhearson has traveled widely in the cause of peace. In December 2003, Mr. McPhearson traveled to Iraq as aVFP delegation member and also attended an international peace conference in Turkey in January 2004. Mr. McPhearson joins the ACLU today immediately upon his return from Bologna, Italy where he attended a peace conference. As a New Jersey staff member of the National Conference for Community and Justice, he focuses on teaching young people to become advocates in bringing disparate people together.
Jim Merkel is the author of Radical Simplicity and founder of the Global Living Project. He lives in Maine, volunteers, writes, lectures, and consults with campuses and municipalities on sustainability initiatives. www.radicalsimplicity.org
Nick Mottern is the founder and coordinator of Knowdrones.com. While in the U.S. Navy, he was part of the U.S. occupation of Viet Nam in 1962–63. A graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism, Nick has worked as a
reporter, researcher, writer, and political organizer over the last thirty years.
Rev. Felicia Parazaider attended the Chaplaincy Institute for Arts and 1 Interfaith Ministry, and was ordained in March 2012. She holds degrees 2 from University of California, Berkeley, in Religious Studies and Peace and 3 Conflict Studies. She has ministered extensively to drug addicts and alcoholics on the streets of Los Angeles and in the Bay Area. She is founder of the Revolution of Love ministry, which focuses on both the inner work of the self and the outer work of the world.
Bill Quigley is professor of law and director of the law clinic and the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center at Loyola University New Orleans. He served as counsel to public interest organizations on issues ranging from Hurricane Katrina recovery, voting rights, public housing, death penalty, living wage, constitutional rights, and civil disobedience.
David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is the director of World Beyond War, a global nonviolent movement to end war and establish a just and sustainable peace. David is campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org.
Ann Wright is a retired Army Reserve colonel and a twenty‐nine‐year veteran of the Army and Army Reserve. She was a diplomat for many years, and resigned from the Department of State on March 19, 2003, in opposition to the Iraq war. She is the co‐author of Dissent: Voices of Conscience.