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Ten Days

Authored by:
Carlos Valentin III

Ten days a wisp of smoke from one ancestral strum to the next distant guitar on the horizon stark like a city sunset.

On Weapons (January 2019)

Dear Friends: David Zarembka’s concerns about the September/October 2018 cover of Western Friend were eye-openers for me. I appreciate the “teachable moment” his thoughts provided, through his letter to the editor in the November/December issue. I now have a better understanding of another hidden bias to be mindful of as we move forward.

On Weapons (January 2019)

Preserving a Meaningful Life on Earth

An interview with Carol Urner by Natalie Ramsland

On Weapons (January 2019)

Desert Church

Authored by:
Carl Magruder

The broad brim of my plain hat shades my face and neck from the relentless Arizona sun as my old mule packer’s boots crunch along a dry creek bed. A small band of us, strangers just days before, are holding what my journal describes as “Meeting for Worship on the Occasion of the Sonoran Desert.” We are a delegation of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). Our ages span five decades, we are more women than men, we are citizens of four nations, and our faith walks include Judaism, agnosticism, secular humanism, Quakerism, Roman Catholicism, evangelical Christianity, Buddhism, and neo-paganism. We are a motley crew, and not just theologically.

On Water (March 2019)

River Magic

Authored by:
Geoff Poole

“I started studying rivers pretty late in life,” says the ebullient voice of my mid-20s-research-technician-self. “Actually, I got a master’s degree in Forestry first.”

On Water (March 2019)

Appalling Content (2)

Authored by:
Trudy Myrrh Reagan

Dear Friends: We needed to learn the struggle of Quaker Alice Herz, who died in 1965. Without warning, we are plunged into her story by the poem “Ten Days,” found in the Jan/Feb 2019 issue of Western Friend.

On Water (March 2019)

Minutes are Important

Authored by:
Gail Thomas

I came to California and PYM over three years ago. PYM is my seventh yearly meeting. One of the delights for me of yearly meeting is wrestling with a seasoned minute brought forth by some group. Often I knew of the concern, sometimes had even agonized about the concern, but now there was a minute. Often it had passed through many hands as groups of people struggled to find the right words, the right tone, to state a truth that came from leadings of the Spirit. I have experienced the power of a feeling of Presence, of being “covered,” of feeling Spirit there in the room when we united on a minute. Also a thankfulness. My feeling that something needed to be said in the public sphere had happened. With joy, I would unite.

On Water (March 2019)

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)