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Alarmed

• Authored by:
• Kathy Barnhart

In response to Harvard University’s refusal to divest from its fossil fuel stock, a recent mayor of Seattle, Mike McGinn, commented, “[pullquote]We're the first generation to see the effects of climate change, and the last generation who can do anything about it.[/pullquote] To refuse to use every tool at our disposal in this fight – to embrace inaction – is to endorse a trajectory that will lead to suffering, privation, and calamity. We owe it to those who our institutions and investments serve and will serve in the future to do everything we can to prevent this crisis.” With an unprecedented drought ongoing throughout the West, we might be directly experiencing this crisis already.

On Production (May 2014)

Slow, Simple, Not Easy

• Authored by:
• Molly Wingate

Parenting summons the best in a person; it also sometimes triggers, well . . . less than the best. When I brought together my Quaker faith with my aspirations for parenting, I found “a way” to be a parent, especially as my children became teenagers. With my friend Marti Woodward, I coauthored a book, Slow Parenting Teens [reviewed on page 10], and I now conduct trainings on this approach.

On Family (September 2014)

A Faith Frame on Climate Disruption

• Authored by:
• Jose Aguto

An interview with Jose Aguto

On Needs (May 2015)

The Economy of Unknowing

• Authored by:
• Tom Head

As an economist, I study and teach about money, markets, and the economy. Given that I have been on this professional journey for nearly half a century, something makes me feel that I should have it all pretty much figured out by now. But I don’t. In some ways, I know less now than I once did. Perhaps this is good. Perhaps some unknowing is just what we need to improve our understanding of what the economy is and how it should work.

On Money (November 2015)

On Play (letter)

• Authored by:
• Elspeth Benton

Dear Editor:  It was wonderful to see an entire issue of Western Friend devoted to play! (Sept/Oct 2015) As a retired childcare director who believes in the value of play for young children, I am thrilled.

On Money (November 2015)

Seventieth in Nagasaki

• Authored by:
• David Poundstone

At 11:02 on August 9th, 2015, the bell at the rear of Nagasaki Peace Park began to peal. It was the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of that city. A siren’s wail soon overtook the bell with its shrill, piercing alarm. With my head deeply bowed, I prayed for the sound to carry my sorrow-filled compassion to all the spirits of the dead: the tens of thousands killed instantly by the atomic blast above that very spot; and the tens of thousands more who suffered cruelly lingering deaths, burning from the inside out. I summoned all the intensity of my longing to be present as an Amen. Then the moment was over.

On Countries (January 2016)

Eastern Light - Review

• Authored by:
• Irene Webb

Eastern Light: Awakening to Presence in Zen, Quakerism and Christianity

On Beginning (March 2016)

Desire for Connection in Guatemala

• Authored by:
• Hannah Billen

It is so hard to escape teenage-land when you’re on a trip with nineteen other teenagers. Our Junior Friends Service Trip to Guatemala was full of silly dramas and crushes and a lot of very loud laughter. In my head, I was culturally sensitive, inquisitive, and open. But I’m not sure that’s how I appeared to the Guatemalans I met. We dressed respectfully, and I used my broken, beginner’s Spanish. We loved it all – and we didn’t quite know how to interact with any of it.

On Heritage (July 2016)

Mindfulness and Quaker Worship

• Authored by:
• Donald W. McCormick

In meeting for worship, we center down, listen to vocal ministry, discern authentic vocal ministry, and hold people in the Light. The practice of mindfulness helps me with all of these. Also, if it weren’t for my mindfulness practice, I probably would have had to abandon Quakerism decades ago.

On Flesh (November 2016)

Competing to Find Out

• Authored by:
• Quetzal Gallagher

As a religious pacifist, I have learned a great deal on the battlegrounds of competition.

On Competition (January 2017)