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On Water

• Authored by:
• Mary Klein

Activists chant, “Water is life.” Introductory chemistry teachers instruct, “Water is the universal solvent.” Because of water’s exceptional ability to dismember all sorts of materials – carbon-based molecules, metals, salts – as well as its ability to absorb all sorts of gases – paleontologists tend to assume that life on Earth began in a body of water. And although the Book of Genesis sees life as beginning on dry land on the third day, it sees God as attending to water on the first day. “In the beginning,” after creating heaven and earth, after separating light from darkness and day from night, “God said, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.’” (Genesis 1:6)

On Water (March 2019)

A Quakerly Dance Form

• Authored by:
• Sue Lauther

Two years ago, I was sitting in a circle of dancers practicing Contact Improvisation. The session started with all of us breathing together, waiting together, and listening for one of us to talk about something that connected the speaker to dance in a deep way. I was suddenly reminded of Quaker meeting for worship.

On Puzzles (May 2019)

Games for You, Perhaps

• Authored by:
• Jennifer Kavinaugh

Dear Friends: A few years ago, a friend of mine came to his first-ever Quaker Meeting. Salim is an Indian actor, a Sufi, a Reiki master. I was nervous in case the ministry didn’t speak to him. But he came out of that meeting having loved the silence and feeling that the ministry had flowed organically from it. “But,” he said, “you’re all so incredibly serious. What you need is a Quaker mirthquake.”

On Puzzles (May 2019)

Warner Mifflin, Unflinching Quaker Abolitionist (review)

• Authored by:
• Emily Teipe

In Warner Mifflin, Unflinching Quaker Abolitionist, Professor Gary B. Nash brings to life a long-neglected leader of the Quaker abolitionist movement. Although largely unknown to historians and scholars, Mifflin was known and admired by his contemporaries – including such prominent figures as Washington, Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson – who saw in him a tireless and premiere legislative lobbyist who worked at the local, state, and federal levels for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery.

On Puzzles (May 2019)

Faith, Fear, and Our Future (abridged)

• Authored by:
• Bridget Moix

So. Faith, fear, and our future. You guys don’t mess around with topics for keynote speakers!

On Neighbors (September 2019)

Tom Friendly, A Fantasy

• Authored by:
• Elizabeth Boardman

On Monday night, I went to bed fretting about how very little we old people in retirement communities are able to do about all the problems of this world.

On Neighbors (September 2019)

Expanding the Concept and Practice of Nonviolence (abridged)

• Authored by:
• Mike Yarrow

The following text is an abridged version of a recently discovered, previously unpublished article. The full version is published online at: westernfriend.org/media/expanding-nonviolence

On Neighbors (September 2019)

Our Neighborhood

• Authored by:
• Kristina Rozdilsky Stapleton

Once there was a broad forest. Once there was a deep field With horses and barbed wire. The grave of a fallen house now just Depression abandoned by settlers. Lilacs bloomed to mark the outhouse.

On Neighbors (September 2019)

A Friendly Gift for an Unhoused Person (abridged)

• Authored by:
• Diana Egly

Dear Friends:

On Neighbors (September 2019)

Matters of Race and Witness (4)

• Authored by:
• Marian Rhys

Dear Editor:

On Neighbors (September 2019)