on the cover
(c) Stephen R. Harrison
Old Tibetan Woman
from WHISPERED PRAYERS
by Stephen R. Harrison

Volume 84
Number 3
March 2001

in this issue:
"Resisting Despair"

Doing the work that reconnects -- an interview with Joanna Macy
by Marianne Arbogast
Taking the long view, says activist Macy, there is much reason to hope that ours can become a life-sustaining civilization. But on a daily basis much is being lost. Are there ways not to be stopped by the despair such loss brings? Also available in Spanish.

Entering life's rhythms -- drumming a way into sacred time
by Ana Hernandez
Drumming may be one of the oldest and most natural ways of restoring -- and grounding -- one's soul in a world where it is all too easy to be overcome by stress and depression.

Rehabilitation? -- fighting to free 'the poster boy for punishment'
by Roger Lowenstein
Lawyer Lowenstein examines his reasons for sticking with a case that for more than 18 years made him "the most hated lawyer in New Jersey."

Sustained by love -- a call for spiritual practice that restores community
by bell hooks
Cultural critic bell hooks reflects on the nation's spiritual hunger and the life-threatening nihilism that abounds in contemporary culture.

Tibetans' whispered prayers -- practicing compassion in the midst of suffering
by Stephen R. Harrison
Photographer Harrison offers poignant witness, in word and portrait, of a relentlessly oppressed people surviving through prayer.

Deadly betrayal ... and a return to childhood faith
by Nelson Johnson
Remembering a fatal confrontation with the Klan and Nazis in 1979, Nelson Johnson, now a pastor of a Greensboro, N.C., church, tells the story of his journey back to faith.

Letters

Editor's Note

Poetry

Short Takes