Dr. Wu Dhi was born Sherwood Swartz but mostly known as "Woody" to friends and family. As a student of various traditions he as received various names and titles over the years as is appropriate in those schools. Among these names was Wu Di, very similar to the pronunciation of Woody, in China the name means "has no enemies". Wu Di was later renamed by a Tibetan Lama to Wu Dhi with an "h". Although this may not seem like that much of a change from Wu Di or even Woody for that matter, it is in fact a high honor to receive such a name directly from a Lama. Dhi in this case is the Sanskrit seed syllable "Dhi" and associated with the great wisdom holder Manjurshri.

Dr. Wu Dhi has been a pioneer in alternative health care for over 30 years and a master of Medical Qi Gong. Dr. Wu Dhi completed his advance studies in neurology under the direction of Professor Sun at the prestigious Heilongjiang, University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Harbin P.R.China.

As a part of his comprehensive training, he worked in the immunology department at South Shore Hospital in Miami Beach Florida.  He has a degree in Oriental Medicine and is also State licensed and nationally board certified as an Acupuncture Physician.

In China, Dr. Wu Dhi was afforded the privilege of studying under many of today’s living masters of Chinese Medicine. He has extensive experience working and training in the medical, spiritual and martial Qi Gong disciplines (Chinese Energetic Medicine). He is presently completing his doctoral degree in Medical Qi Gong, under the direction of Dr. Jerry Alan Johnson, one of the few internationally recognized non-Chinese Grand Masters of Medical Qi Gong therapies.

Dr. Wu Dhi has been practicing and teaching an integration of Ancient Eastern and Modern Western healing practices for the greater portion of his professional career. Through seminars, public speaking, and direct practice, he continues to inspire and guide professional health practitioners in the United States and abroad who are just now realizing the value of utilizing Traditional Chinese and Alternative Therapies.

Laura F. Dabney, MD wants to live in a world where people with emotional problems are treated with dignity and respect and not as pharmaceutical experiments or parts of an assembly line.

As a relationship expert who specializes in professional men with relationship problems, she’s been showcased as a regular weekly co-host on the Hampton Roads local radio show WPTE Relationship 911,  featured as a guest on Alice Radio, Chicago, Ill, highlighted as a regular blogger for Hampton Roads Women’s Magazine and pegged as a regular admissions interviewer at Eastern Virginia Medical School.

When she’s not devoting time to helping professional men be as successful in their personal lives as they are in their business lives, you can find her slinging paint on canvases in her art studio, schussing down a mountain or hanging with her husband and two boys (young men really) at their favorite sushi bar.

Her first (and quite possibly the world’s first) book on the unique difficulties professional men face in long-term relationships is due to hit the shelves later this year. 

My first guest, Dr. Katie Rickel, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in weight management and health behavior modification. Dr. Rickel graduated summa cum laude from Duke University with a B.S. in Psychology. She earned her M.S. and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology at the University of Florida. Following this, Dr. Rickel completed a clinical internship in Health Psychology – specializing in obesity – at Duke University Medical Center where she was trained in the management of chronic pain, behavioral weight loss and surgical interventions for obesity. Dr. Rickel’s research has been presented at numerous professional conferences and has been published in scientific journals and peer-reviewed publications. She has also been featured on The Doctor Oz show and on local news and radio media.  Additionally, Dr. Rickel has been quoted in Women’s Health magazine, Health magazine, the Huffington Post, Yahoo! Health, and CurvyGirlHealth.com.

Dr. Rickel serves as a Licensed Clinical Psychologist at Structure House – a residential weight loss facility in Durham, North Carolina – where she provides clinical services and develops novel program enhancements. Most recently, she created a specialized program to treat binge eating disorder as well as a behavioral pain management program. She also developed a series of courses to educate and coach family members of overweight and obese individuals. In addition, Dr. Rickel strives to reach those individuals who cannot attend Structure House’s residential program in person. To that end, she has written a self-guided weight management workbook, “Structured for Life ®: 28 Day Weight Loss Action Plan” and has assisted in the creation of an online version of the Structure House treatment program.  In her spare time, Dr. Rickel is passionate about fitness and enjoys challenging herself in the areas of weight lifting, indoor cycling, and yoga.

CRAIG and CINDY CORRIE - the parents of American activist Rachel Corrie, speak about the Israeli Supreme Court dismissal of appeal in the wrongful death case of their daughter Rachel.

ABOUT RACHEL CORRIE

Rachel Corrie was a 23-year-old American peace activist from Olympia, Washington, who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer on 16 March 2003, while undertaking nonviolent direct action to protect the home of a Palestinian family from demolition.

Since her killing, an enormous amount of solidarity activities have been carried out in her name around the world.

Rachel’s journals and emails from her time in Palestine are available in a variety of forms. They have been published in books, turned into plays and dramatic readings, and used around the internet.

ABOUT THE RACHEL CORRIE FOUNDATION
The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice is a grassroots, 501(c)3 non-profit organization that conducts and supports programs that foster connections between people, that build understanding, respect, and appreciation for differences, and that promote cooperation within and between local and global communities. The foundation encourages and supports grassroots efforts in pursuit of human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice, which we view as pre-requisites for world peace. Continuing the work begun and envisioned by our daughter, Rachel Corrie, our initial emphasis has been on Israel/Palestine.

We conduct and support projects that educate for peace and justice, that foster connections and understanding between peoples on global and local levels, that promote the use of art and the written word in fostering justice and peace, and that encourage individual grassroots participation in bringing to fruition a positive world vision.

We hope people will take from our work the same, simple understanding that Rachel expressed as a young child: that we are interconnected. The future of us all depends on our ability to truly want for other children those basic things that we want for our own – shelter, health, education, safety, opportunity, and joy – and to work for that. Our leaders seem very parochial now, emphasizing the differences between people and pointing to “the other” with fear and disrespect. Through our projects, we hope to illustrate how much we have in common with one another and that our differences should be points of celebration rather than fear.

The creation of the foundation was one response to Rachel’s killing. Shortly after her death, we had the opportunity to meet Linda Biehl whose daughter Amy was brutally killed as she registered voters for the first election in which all South Africans could participate. We learned how the Biehl family, guided by their daughter’s spirit and values, had established a foundation in South Africa. At the same time in the spring of 2003, people were asking us what they could do to remember Rachel. The conjunction of those two things encouraged us to believe that through a foundation inspired by Rachel’s values and spirit, we might make some difference. We slowly took the steps to organize the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice. The structure and work evolve as we continue to learn and to think about sustainability. We have drawn on the expertise of those in the Olympia community and elsewhere who have been eager to help us.

It requires tremendous effort and resources to establish the infrastructure for such an organization, and sometimes there is frustration at not being able to accomplish actual projects as quickly as we would like. We are primarily an all volunteer organization at this point. Certainly one of our frustrations is the struggle to keep up with communications that we have with wonderful people and supporters from throughout the U.S. and the world.

With the devastation and loss of life in Palestine, Lebanon, and Israel, Iraq and elsewhere it is challenging to hang on to hope. Still, it is always there for us, prompted by the many extraordinary people we meet throughout this country and in the world who work for justice on this issue and on many others. We are personally blessed each day with seeing the very best in humanity. A moment that stands out was at the West Bank village of Bi’lin in December where we joined Israelis, internationals, and an entire village of Palestinians who for over a year have been nonviolently protesting the Israeli military confiscation of sixty percent of their West Bank farmland. An apartheid wall and illegal settlements now stand where olive groves did before. Whenever we experience this convergence of Israelis, Palestinians, and many others – all recognizing the injustice, opposing it, and supporting human rights and international law – it is very heartening; and it happens for us frequently.

It can happen for others as well. The first thing Americans can do is to reject the idea, the myth really, that the Israeli/Palestinian situation cannot be solved. That kind of thinking makes it far too easy to avoid responsibility and action. Then, citizens can become better informed by seeking information from a variety of sources, including alternative media and from those with direct experience in the Middle East. They can join or lend support to one or more of the growing number of secular and religious groups that oppose the Israeli occupation and seek a just peace in the Middle East. They can educate their communities by monitoring local media coverage of this issue and writing informed letters to the editor. They can educate their representatives in Congress, challenge them to act and vote responsibly on this issue, and insist that U.S. laws regarding weapons exports are adhered to. The U.S. Government maintains a very biased stance in support of Israel that is not in the long-term interest of either Americans or Israelis, let-alone Palestinians. We must insist on more balanced policy that assures justice, freedom, security, and economic viability for both Israelis and Palestinians. Then there may be a chance for peace. Avoidance of this issue only makes the situation increasingly perilous for all involved, including the U.S.

JP SOTTILE is a freelance journalist, published historian, radio co-host and documentary filmmaker. His credits include a stint on the NewsHour news desk, C-SPAN, and as a newsmagazine producer for ABC affiliate WJLA in Washington. Joseph “JP” Sottile is a two-time Washington Regional Emmy Award Winner. Documentary film credits include: writer, director, producer of The Warning and various production and photography credits on other public interest films. His weekly show, Inside the Headlines w/ The Newsvandal, co-hosted by James Moore, airs every Friday on KRUU-FM in Fairfield, Iowa. He is the Newsvandal.