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Loss in Two Voices

In November 2018, my family physician, Travis Abbott, who had known me for many years, referred me for a cognitive impairment screening. It was very helpful that Dorsey accompanied me to that screening. It was helpful for her to see what happened and for her to ask questions that I did not think of. I clearly had some areas that were not so good, but I was not formally diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment until January 2020.

On Loss (May 2023)

What Friends Bring to Politics

A few other Oregon Quakers and I were in an online book group. We read We Cry Justice: Reading the Bible with the Poor People’s Campaign. This book consists of fifty-three essays, each just two or three pages long, each including Scriptural references. It’s by and for people who are working towards more dignity for poor people – by challenging the ways that our institutions keep people in poverty. This book makes one thing clear to me – local government policies and actions have been major drivers of economic inequity throughout the history of our nation, especially in terms of housing inequality. It also seems clear to me that this level of democracy – the local level – is a critical place for us to work to make a positive impact on these issues.

On Dignity (July 2023)

The Wisdom of Ordered Council

My Quaker great-great-great-grandparents settled in Georgetown, Illinois, in the early 1800s. There they got to know two neighbors, a Quaker gentleman and his Native American wife, Tsilikomah. As my ancestors grew closer to Tsilikomah, they learned that she was a Keeper of the Old Things of the Oneida (Iroquois) people. That is, she was a Keeper of a ten-thousand-year-old oral tradition that chronicles the journeys of a group of Native Americans across the Bering Strait into North America.

On Dignity (July 2023)

The U.S., Russia, and China

Dear Friends: The United States, Russia and China are closer to nuclear war than at any time since the Cuba Missile crisis in 1962. If there is a full-scale nuclear war, billions of people will be killed immediately and whole cities destroyed and the debris in the atmosphere would lead to nuclear winter in which over seven billion people would die of starvation.

On Dignity (July 2023)

Necessary Questions

Dear Friends: The fearlessness in Quaker tradition (including the pamphleteer) is speaking truth to power. As a Quaker, I am reminded of the words of Mary Dyer, who said, “We came not to cause discord, but to live in peace.”

On Dignity (July 2023)

The Flint and Light of Respect

This is a testimony to the value and differences of Quaker and Indigenous ways of respect as I know them. Quaker testimonies were taught to me through words and light. Indigenous teachings were relayed with the spark of truth and few, if any, words. I find it difficult to use words to describe the latter, but I will try because I was asked to do so.

On Dignity (July 2023)