Saji Villoth (author)
Not many know of the travels of the historical figure we now call St. Thomas, who is reputedly the founder of the Christian communities in South India, who is believed to have been martyred and buried there. He is known by other names: Yehuda, brother of Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth, Doubting Thomas, Thoma Didymus (The Twin), and several others, of which I prefer the Syriac "Thoma."
My family traces its origins to this historic individual, but very little is known about the person or the journey of this very human brother of "Jesus Christ." My narratives, in Letters to Cephas, imagine what Thoma's perspective may have been, as a human being who lived, walked, talked, and was forever changed by, the Man from Nazareth.
How many of us could bear that burden, let alone carry it well?
"THE PROSE IS VOLUPTUOUS AND IMAGINATIVE, WITH SENTENCES THAT TWIST AND TURN AROUND THE SIGHTS AND SMELLS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD... MAINTAINS A LINE OF ANCIENT MYSTICISM... COMPELLING AND WELL-RESEARCHED..."
KIRKUS REVIEWS
On January 28, 2018 Ron Jones was featured on Milwaukee's CBS 58 "Sunday Morning" Spotlight with Mike Strehlow.
Are you looking for radio that is authentic and hip, informed and Indigenous? Then tune into Earthsongs, a weekly one-hour blend of today’s contemporary Indigenous artists that are setting new directions in blues, folk, jazz, country, reggae, and hip-hop music, hosted by Alexis Sallee (Iñupiaq/ Mexican American).
Each week, Earthsongs gives public radio listeners the chance to explore Indigenous influences that help shape and define contemporary American music.
Earthsongs is distributed by Native Voice One and can be heard on radio stations across the country. The program is produced by Koahnic Broadcast Corporation (KBC), a nonprofit, Alaska Native governed and operated media center located in Anchorage, Alaska.
- "My name is Thorsten. I live in Germany. For some reason I started listening to Native Voice One some days ago. One day I heard a show where you, Melissa, gave an interview. They played 'Bullet Dress' on that show. To me it was really powerful and touched me deep. I am into what you call 'plastic shamanism' and I can see and understand why. So I am used to praying to Mother Earth and Father Eagle even though this is your roots but not mine. It is important to me because we lost this kind of praying but we need it to get reconnected to nature and Mother Earth and Father Sky. Today I started some research on the song and found this website. Your story is really touching and the power of the song is amazing. I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you! What a gift."
The Mambo Surfers and
Melissa Doud
were Earthsongs'
featured artists
for the week of
November 6, 2017
