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On Alternatives

Many of the words I have said, I wish I could unsay. Many of the actions I have taken, I wish I could undo. If wishes were horses, then I would ride into the past to fix the many blunders and cruelties that lie on my conscience. Instead, I walk forward and try to do better.

On Alternatives (March 2022)

Alternatives to Prison

Prisons rank high on the list of institutions that Quakers want to eliminate, very close to war. The most recent statement of legislative priorities by the Friends Committee on National Legislation (possibly the most widely-discerned document in the Quaker world) includes advocating for a system that “eliminates mass incarceration and promotes law-enforcement that is community-oriented and demilitarized.” The Board of the American Friends Service Committee, after producing an extensive background paper, took the position – back in 1978 – that it supports the abolition of prisons. Clearly, Quakers by and large want to live in that Light and Love that takes away the occasion of all prisons – along with jails, detention centers, and other places where people are held in cages.

On Alternatives (March 2022)

Hybrid and/or Embodied Worship (2)

As meetings consider how to reimagine worship, Friends have written movingly about the value of traditional in-person Quaker worship. As I consider these heartfelt thoughts, a song comes to mind from my Methodist days: “This Is My Father’s World.”

On Alternatives (March 2022)

Hope for Racial Justice Despite U.S. History

Dear Friends: I am so excited that Taylor Stewart of the Oregon Remembrance Project will present “Finding Justice for Historical Injustice” in a Zoom webinar at 7:00 PM Pacific on May 6, 2022. Save the date! This presentation offers a blueprint for communities throughout the West who want to reckon with racial injustice in their histories. We can write new endings to the tragic stories of the past. Watch Extra, Extra Western Friend for details to come!

On Alternatives (March 2022)

Listen to Our Hearts’ Song (review)

Recently, a neighbor came to my door holding a manuscript. She’s a retired librarian from Berkeley, California, and she handed me a document, titled Listen to Our Hearts’ Song: Women in Jail for Peace.

On Alternatives (March 2022)

That Clear and Certain Sound (review)

What rings true? Something with “that clear and certain sound.”

On Alternatives (March 2022)

A Place to Work for Peace and Justice

I am new to this place, Woolman at Sierra Friends Center. I am meeting it as it is now, not as it once was, before the fire. I walk the trails and wander between the buildings, each day learning something new: where and when the deer like to cross Woolman Lane, where gophers’ paths and pipes run underground, where to stand to get cell phone reception.

On Place (May 2022)

Magnolia Grove Monastery

Batesville, Mississippi In memory of Thich Nhat Hanh, 1926-2022

On Place (May 2022)