Search

Rage Transmuted

• Authored by:
• Burton Housman

My Quaker meeting knew I’d long been enraged about our country’s misadventures in the Middle East. They knew I’d been volunteering at the Naval Medical Center San Diego, but they didn’t really know what I’d done about the fury that possessed me. This is a testimony to what can be done when we think we’re faced with helplessness.

On War (January 2013)

Weighty Friends and Quaker Pharisees

• Authored by:
• Steve Smith

Wouldst thou be a prophet, or perhaps a saint? Alas, he who thinks he is, most likely aint.                 William Bacon Evans (1875-1964), Quaker writer and weighty Friend.

On Power (March 2013)

The Revolution According to Mark

• Authored by:
• Paul Christiansen

Two years ago, I was one of those people who flinched every time I heard the word “Jesus.”  When I told this to my friend Joe Snyder, he said, “Read the Bible. That'll take care of that flinch.” And then he told me about Mark.

On Power (March 2013)

The Spiritual Power of Art

• Authored by:
• Maya Wright

“Does my life reflect my values and beliefs?” This query is often on my mind, and probably yours too. As a child in Mountain View Friends Meeting (Denver), I learned the Quaker belief that there is “that of God in everyone,” sometimes called “the Light within.” The Light is our best and most holy potential, our goodness, our groundedness, our Truth. That Inner Light remains a core element of my belief system. It’s an axiom: Light=God.

On Power (March 2013)

Whose Needs?

• Authored by:
• Audrey Graham

Traveling cross-country by train is a good way to see the disparity of wealth in our nation today. From the railroad tracks we see not only the underbelly of working America, but also the opulence of over-consumption. Deserted brick factories share space with sleek shopping malls. Junk-infested waterways pour into bays festooned with shrink-wrapped sloops and cocktail clubs. Is there any hope of bridging the gap of abject poverty to ridiculous wealth? What, as Quakers, could we be doing? Our nine-member worship group in Moab, Utah (pop. 6,000) has changed over the years in our responses to these questions.

On Consumption (May 2013)

If Animals Could Talk

• Authored by:
• Tyger Wright

When I was a child I loved the cuddliness and innocence of animals, and I wished they could talk. A grownup and activist now, I look for ways to use art to awaken our empathy with the natural world and to increase our climate-change consciousness. As an artist and writer, I know what fun it can be to combine pictures and text. So when my Friends Meeting in Santa Cruz put out a call for adults to share their skills with children in the First Day School, I offered a project called “If Animals Could Talk.”  

On Consumption (May 2013)

Hella Undocumented

• Authored by:
• Pablo Paredes

An interview with Pablo Paredes

On Superiority (July 2013)

Manifest Destiny Revisited

• Authored by:
• Laurie Childers

Manifest Destiny Revisited

On Superiority (July 2013)

Pushing at the Frontiers of Change - Review

• Authored by:
• Mitchell Santine Gould

Pushing at the Frontiers of Change: a Memoir of Quaker Involvements with Homosexuality by David Blamires

On Love (September 2013)

The Bonds of Animal Affection

• Authored by:
• Gracia Fay Ellwood

This article is in dialogue with “The Bonds of Animal Agriculture” by Friend Joe Snyder in the May-June 2013 issue of Western Friend. I commend Friend Snyder for highlighting the destructive aspects of the prevailing system of plant and animal agriculture, which fail to respect God’s creation. To my mind, Friends cannot overemphasize the seriousness of such threats to our health and global sustainability.

On Love (September 2013)