The Middle Ground w/ Charney & Byler: Religion & Politics

CORRECTION: In the opening seconds of the show, we praised Sen. Scott Brown for voting for Equal Pay for Women. He voted against it.

Presented by Coffee Party USA, "The Middle Ground" covers a variety of topics on both the left and right sides of the political spectrum, but always with an eye to finding the place where both sides share that 'middle ground.'

Our guest for the June 5th show is Mary Johnson, author of the memoir "An Unquenchable Thirst." She joined the Missionaries of Charity, the group commonly known as the Sisters of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, at age 19. For fifteen of Mary Johnson's twenty years as a sister, she was stationed in Rome and often lived with Mother Teresa for weeks at a time. Johnson also lived and worked as a nun in the South Bronx, Washington DC, and Winnipeg.

After leaving the sisters in 1997, Johnson completed a BA in English at Lamar University and an MFA in Creative Writing at Goddard College. She also married. A well-respected teacher and public speaker, Johnson has led retreats, workshops, classes, and training sessions of various kinds for nearly thirty years. Most recently she has taught creative writing and Italian to adults and is Creative Director of A Room of Her Own Foundation's retreats for women writers.