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Response to a Telling of History

• Authored by:
• Doug Wile

Dear Editor:

On Control (July 2019)

The Fancy Sunday Hat

• Authored by:
• Elizabeth Boardman

We have one Friend in our Quaker meeting who often comes to worship in a highly-colored and carefully put-together outfit, including an ornate Sunday hat. This is unusual for an unprogrammed meeting.

On Art (March 2020)

Calls to the Annual Sessions 2020

• Authored by:
• Gale Toko-Ross,
• Valerie Ireland,
• Sandy Kewman,
• David Zeiss

June 14-21, 2020; Fort Lewis College, Durango, CO

On Art (March 2020)

Peace through Pieces

• Authored by:
• Patty Federighi

Several years ago, a co-worker gave me a little book entitled Things I Learned about God from Quilting. I laughed, and thought I could have written this book. So, here are a few of the things I’ve learned and a story or two.

On Art (March 2020)

Racism, Housing, and Cities

• Authored by:
• Anthony Manousos

Eight years ago, I married Jill Shook, a housing justice advocate and Evangelical Christian who loves Jesus and justice. She also loves Quakers and attends Orange Grove Meeting (and the Methodist Church). The more I walk or drive around Pasadena with her, the more I see a side of this city that I never even imagined before. I have come to see the “secret life” of this city – how housing policies determine where and how homes are built and businesses are situated. Cities don’t just happen, they are created and shaped by policy makers with values that are often colored by classism, xenophobia, and racism.

On Secrets (July 2020)

Disclosures and Wonder

• Authored by:
• Bethany Lee

Recently, I joined a new group on social media and was asked to introduce myself, to say a bit about where I was from, and to share a little-known fact about myself. Immediately, I started sorting through personal details. Should I pick something big – share about my family, say, or my work? Or open with something small – my favorite ice cream flavor?

On Secrets (July 2020)

Resisting Empire (review)

• Authored by:
• David Tucker

Revelation is probably most the polarizing book of the Bible. Continually refashioned and remixed to support countless views crossing over from religious to political, Revelation is a text that is tempting to avoid confronting directly.

On Secrets (July 2020)

Liturgies of Empire, Liturgies of Resistance (abridged)

• Authored by:
• C. Wess Daniels

[The following text was drawn from a complete transcript of C. Wess Daniels’s keynote talk, which is published at: https://westernfriend.org/media/liturgies-empire-and-resistance]

On Teachers (September 2020)

Quaker Worship and Intentional Design

• Authored by:
• Eleanor Dart

The best college class I ever took was called “Design” and was offered by the Art Department at the University of Oregon during the summer of 1967. There were two sections. One section had a textbook, and studied things like color theory and perspective. By some lucky chance I ended up in the other section, taught by Dr. Stannard, a gifted artist and potter of worldwide renown.

On Rules (November 2020)

Next Year in Bunnytown

• Authored by:
• Natalie Ramsland

A couple years ago, I took my white family to see the Langston Hughes production Black Nativity in a small church in a historically Black neighborhood in Portland. The pews were packed, and the performance space overflowed into the audience. We were specifically invited to sing and stand and move as we felt led. When, in the telling of Jesus’ birth, the lovingly wrapped black plastic baby doll was carried down the aisle, my four- and six-year-old kids whispered to me in awe “Hey, we know that guy!”

On Vision (January 2021)