Love Thy Neighbor

Love Thy Neighbor Series

In our frenzied, divisive world, how often do we pause and listen to one another? Inspired by the commandment of Jesus Christ, this podcast series is intended to broadcast the stories of People of Color and White Anti-Racism Advocates so that listeners can truly learn to “Love their neighbors”. Racism, stereotypes, micro aggressions and bigotry are still alive and thriving; hopefully outlets like this will dismantle these societal and individual problems. Please leave feedback/ratings below, and if you’re interested in being interviewed, contact Jessica at lovethyneighborseries@gmail.com

  1. Guest 24: Dalton Bradford

    04/15/2020

    Guest 24: Dalton Bradford

    In this episode, Jessica speaks to Dalton Bradford. Dalton Haakon Bradford is a senior at Brigham Young University studying Middle East Studies & Arabic. He plans to graduate in the fall and begin applying to Masters' programs on the east of the United States and across Europe specialising in Conflict Resolution, Peacemaking and Peacebuilding. Growing up with three siblings—Parker, Claire & Luc—Dalton's parents, Melissa and Randall, had a vision for their children to gain a broader global understanding and thus followed where their work took them internationally. Dalton was born in Norway but has also lived in France, Germany, Singapore, Switzerland, but lived for the longest period in Versailles and Paris, France. Through immersion and  instructive experience, Dalton learned to embrace a variety of cultures, religions and languages (of which he speaks English and French fluently and has intermediate or novice comprehension of German and Mandarin Chinese). It is in his upbringing, his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and his current major that he has developed an increased awareness of the racial, gender-based and religious discriminations present in every society. With all of these experiences living abroad, not one of being in the Middle East or Arabic-speaking world, Dalton nevertheless began his path in learning about the richness of the region and learning the Arabic language in his first semester in Fall 2016 and hasn't looked back since. Countless doors have already opened and he has gained the most rewarding friendships and connections through then limited knowledge he has already acquired. He has had the privilege of applying such knowledge to working with organisations as Their Story is Our Story, collecting (and sometimes translating) the stories of refugees that have made their journeys from Syria, Iraq, Iran and Palestine. He also completed an internship and study abroad program back-to-back in 2018 which took across the Arab world, including in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Israel and Palestine. Since then, he has had the privilege of working at BYU with the Middle East Studies/Arabic Committee, the Asian and Near-Eastern Languages Department and jointly with BYU Law School and the Center for Conflict Resolution. In addition to continuing in his higher education, Dalton aims to gain proficiency in other Arabic dialects and to learn Persian, Modern Hebrew and Spanish along the way. Whatever his career path, he wishes nothing more than to be on the ground in the Middle East as frequently as possible and providing space and platforms for marginalised groups to have a voice.

    58 min
  2. Guest 22: Aalia Lanius

    01/21/2020

    Guest 22: Aalia Lanius

    In the first episode after the holiday break, Jessica introduces Aalia Lanius to the LTN podcast community! Known as a successful business entrepreneur, multiple award-winning Novelist, and founder of nonprofits geared at supporting people in their time of need, Lanius is a maverick and role model. For over 20 years, she has been sharing her personal experiences with audiences of all age groups and diverse backgrounds, across the globe, sharing tragedies and triumphs, both positive and negative, allowing others to realize that there is always hope in the dark. Lanius’ most recent literary work, a historical fiction novel, Jugend, which released in March 2019, has been awarded the 2019 Bronze Medal in the Readers’ Favorite Fiction-Cultural category and named the Top Multicultural Fiction Novel of 2019 by the Global EBook Awards. In her present stage of life, she is unapologetically interested in living life on her terms. People are often impressed with her energy, optimism and determination to defy the odds as a survivor of cancer, currently living life with two autoimmune diseases and a recent diagnosis of fibromyalgia. Here to shatter stereotypes, she warns people to not “judge this book by its cover”. As founder of Unsugarcoated Media, a 501(c)(3) organization, she spearheads EmpowerCon, an inaugural empowerment event to bring value to communities around the world. Aalia continues writing books, as well as produces and hosts the podcast "Unsugarcoated with Aalia and Alex". Married to Entertainment Attorney and Film Executive Producer, Joseph Lanius, she can be found on red carpets around the globe, or hanging out in her yoga pants being a mother to four.

    41 min
  3. Guest 17: Melissa Dalton-Bradford

    11/20/2019

    Guest 17: Melissa Dalton-Bradford

    Jessica spoke to the incomparable Melissa Dalton-Bradford in this episode. Melissa resides with her husband Randall near Frankfurt, Germany, where she and her family arrived on the eve of a turning point in world history, when hundreds of thousands of people displaced by war, terrorism, and mortal peril trekked westward, seeking safety. A global nomad of 30 years, an author, (Global Mom: A Memoir; On Loss & Living Onward; essays and poetry in several anthologies), and an intercultural integration consultant, Melissa immediately volunteered teaching refugees German in an emergency shelter set up in her local high school gym. Those people and their stories rerouted her life. Within months, she’d helped found, with a handful of creative friends, Their Story is Our Story, a rapidly-growing nonprofit dedicated to gathering and sharing first-hand refugee stories in an effort to reveal the individual behind the ‘refugee’ label, cultivate meaningful relationships with those seeking refuge locally, and build strong and inclusive communities worldwide. With the global humanitarian crisis on the rise, Melissa volunteers full time leading TSOS as its Executive Director. She is the wife of Randall, and mother of four adult children. The following articles are mentioned in this episode... 1 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/07/opinion/trump-immigration.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share and 2 https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/refugee-stories-could-do-more-harm-good/?fbclid=IwAR06DY1hUajpW71IausTAzO7Cy0HK2fSGNHqorqnLgdw9l2f_5PVen8qHMU

    1h 8m

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

In our frenzied, divisive world, how often do we pause and listen to one another? Inspired by the commandment of Jesus Christ, this podcast series is intended to broadcast the stories of People of Color and White Anti-Racism Advocates so that listeners can truly learn to “Love their neighbors”. Racism, stereotypes, micro aggressions and bigotry are still alive and thriving; hopefully outlets like this will dismantle these societal and individual problems. Please leave feedback/ratings below, and if you’re interested in being interviewed, contact Jessica at lovethyneighborseries@gmail.com