From the Editor

I struggle to hear messages in meeting, from within or spoken by others. A Friend helped me understand that not every message is for me and, when it was, I would hear it. Recently I did hear The Message that was for me at a union meeting.

The nurses at my partner’s hospital recently voted, with 94% in favor, to form a union. As part of the process, seasoned union organizers from another hospital came to an event and spoke. One said, “In organizing, your strongest tool is a one-on-one, face-to-face conversation.” I thought that, to organize, you had to be a gorgeous showboat extrovert with a loud voice. Did you mean to tell me that one of my gifts, the one-on-one check-in, could be a powerful, if not the most powerful, organizing tool?

I love a check-in; I love seeing how other people are doing. If a friend is struggling, on my best days I don’t offer advice, although sometimes I can’t help myself. I’m no longer trying to be perfect or a therapist in my relationships, so I forgive myself this. I love seeing people in their inevitable struggles and self-doubt; it gives me hope for my own insecurities and experiences in the swirling and relentless current of life.

My struggle is an inability to identify when and how to ask for help or be strong enough to clearly communicate my needs. This is a human problem; my dog can’t speak, but she lets me know what her needs are. In one-on-one, face-to-face conversations, I’ve been noticing how many times people make me kind offers and how my first impulse is always to turn them down.

In exercise class, my teacher likes to season each section with reminders that “Change is coming” and “There is no right or wrong way.” After years of hearing these aphorisms, they’ve sunk into my subconscious. As I contemplate the challenge of learning everything there is to know about the administration of a magazine that has lived through many decades, and the ongoing changes in our political landscape here in the United States, each of these statements follows me.

During this transition period for myself and the magazine, I have something to ask of you: Please look over this list of themes and see if there is something arising in you. I need Friends to step forward with their talents. That could be an essay, a poem, a photograph, or a painting. You’ll also notice that the magazine is now in color, and I am already receiving submissions of beautiful photography.

• March/April: Vocation (deadline 2/28/2025)
• May/June: Rivers (deadline 4/1/2025)
• July/August: Attunement (deadline 6/1/2025)
• September/October: Our Beloved Dead (deadline 8/1/2025)
• November/December: Unions (deadline 10/1/2025)
• January/February: Seekers (deadline 11/1/2025) This deadline is an attempt to get back on ‘schedule’.

Please take it upon yourself to share your ministry.

Western Friend publishes articles that are intended to be of interest to both Quaker newcomers and "seasoned Friends." Submitted manuscripts for print publication should be somewhat longer than 600, 1300, or 2100 words. With each submission, please include a two- or three-sentence biography that explains your Quaker affiliations, vocation or family life, and general location. You may vary from this format if you please; this is just a guideline.

My editing style is for clarity. I’m interested in what you have to say and hope to communicate your message to Friends in simple, understandable terms. After I edit a piece, I send it back to the author for approval, and then it is proofread by a trusty volunteer. A piece may be trimmed once more during the layout stage. Sharing your work with an unseen being through a computer screen is an act of vulnerability and, truly, an act of submission. Thank you for your trust.

As a reminder to myself, so I don’t make promises I cannot keep: Western Friend does not pay for writing or images. The staff team consists of myself, my rescue poodle, and a second-hand laptop. The valuable software I use to lay out the magazine has been donated. This is a place of worship in paper form. Please fill this space with your dreams, epiphanies, and actions. To have the ability to read and the gift of writing is to be tasked with a responsibility: to share your inner world with others in the written form.