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The Gadfly

• Authored by:
• Robin DuRant,
• Gail Thomas

Dear Editor:

On Debt (July 2021)

Privilege and The Other (unabridged)

• Authored by:
• David-James Bloom

[This article is abridged from a longer one, published online at https://westernfriend.org/media/privilege-and-other-unabridged.]

On Cliques (September 2021)

On Membership and Being in the Light

• Authored by:
• Sharon-Drew Morgen

On December 14, 2018, I walked into the Multnomah Friends Meetinghouse for the first time. I felt enveloped in a circle of Light, at one with it and with everyone in the room. I had been searching, longing for this my entire life. I was Home.

On Freedom (January 2022)

Now or Never

• Authored by:
• Yumi Kawano

We must stay on our mission of being witnesses of Earthcare. Will everyone restore rare rainforest in Hawaii? No. Some will restore their aina (sacred land) by planting a small urban garden or one tree in their small yard. Some may sing songs for a local nonprofit forest refuge to raise donations and awareness. Some will talk it up on Facebook and have a window garden. “Kokua” (ko kew ah) in Hawaiian means to share and care, to take responsibility enough to take action that shows care. Easy to say, maybe not so easy to do.

On Alternatives (March 2022)

Let Our Lives Speak

• Authored by:
• Michele Shields

Within the circumstances of our lives, the Light meets us. As we recognize the Light’s presence in the events of our lives, we see the lived testimony of the Light in our experience.

On Alternatives (March 2022)

Two Quakers Living with the Military

• Authored by:
• Lucretia Humphrey,
• Molly Wingate

We are two Quaker women who raised our families in towns dominated by the U.S. military. Rather than shun the military and look away, we have lived our witness amidst strong military presences. One thing about being in a military town is that you can’t look away from how big a machine the military is. Each of us found that it was hard to raise a Quaker family in a community with a tiny Quaker presence and a huge military presence. It was hard for our children to find peer support with so few Friends in town. [pullquote]The military has certainly created plenty of occasions for us to talk about our testimonies and our practices in the face of headwinds.[/pullquote] Both of us have found that our situations have actually helped strengthen our faith, since we often have to live our witness when sustained by faith alone.

On Place (May 2022)

Presence and Place

• Authored by:
• Rick Seifert

When I tell people I was on Mount St. Helens on May 17, 1980, the day before the massive eruption that left fifty-seven dead, the first question they ask is, “Why?”

On Place (May 2022)

A Sacred Space

• Authored by:
• john heid

Dear Editor: I write regarding the article “Place of Privilege” by Ann Clendenin in the May/June 2022 issue of Western Friend.

On Normality (July 2022)

Scientific and Moral Reasoning

• Authored by:
• Raph Levien

I am a Quaker and a scientist. To be more precise, I am a Quaker and a computer scientist. Some would dispute whether my field is a true science, but what I do is pretty scientific, with gathering of empirical data and testing of hypotheses.

On Science (November 2022)

Please Do Not “Believe in” Science

• Authored by:
• Muriel Strand

Cautious confidence in the scientific process is, I believe, the best perspective. Science is akin to continuing revelation and undermined by groupthink. However, modern science is fundamentally materialistic, and we do not live by bread alone.

On Science (November 2022)