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A Letter from 1900

Editors Friends' Intelligencer:

On Love (September 2013)

Collaborators - Review

Collaborators by Deborah Wheeler

On Patriotism (January 2014)

White America’s Myth of the Black Male

I received more reaction to my posting, The Iconification of Nelson Mandela and American Racism, than for any other of the 257 postings that I had done in almost seven years. Some of the responses were supportive, some critical, and some “yes, but.” Below is my original newsletter article, followed by a sampling of the responses.

On Patriotism (January 2014)

A Quaker Patriotism

Find a lesson plan here, for using this article with children in First Day School.

On Patriotism (January 2014)

A Short History of Ben Lomond Quaker Center - Review

A Short History of Ben Lomond Quaker Center by John deValcourt

On Time (March 2014)

Do Quakers Mean Business?

Recently a Methodist church invited me to a book study. They had been reading books on ethically based business, including Deborah Cadbury’s Chocolate Wars, and had grown wildly curious about these peculiar Quakers and their century and a half of confectionary success. The group leader tabulated a list of famous Quaker business leaders – not only in cocoa, but also in ironwork, railways, footwear, chinaware, household goods, pharmaceuticals, and banking. Why, she asked, was the list so long? Why were there so many Friendly industrial innovators? Why so many business names they now recognized as Quaker – from Cadbury chocolates to Barclays bank to Clarks shoes? What was it about this relatively small, seemingly austere, and ethically demanding faith that drove such a disproportionate share of business enterprise?

On Production (May 2014)

Let's Stretch Our Quaker Process

Dear Friends: One task that we surely have is to change the world for the better.  But we are far from good at this. How do our yearly meetings help?

On Production (May 2014)

Quakers, Sport, and Being in the Zone

It is surprising to me that so few Friends do sports. For me, doing a sport and going to Quaker meeting are of the same intention and compulsion. If I don’t do something physical for a few days, my body hurts. If I don’t center regularly into meditation, either in a group or by myself, I feel out of sorts. For me, Quaker meeting and sports are both essential parts of an authentic life.

On Pride (July 2014)

Your Sons and Your Daughters will Prophesy

Excerpts from a presentation to Pacific Yearly Meeting; July 15, 2014; Walker Creek Ranch, Petaluma, California

On Family (September 2014)