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Child Refugees from Central America

Dear Editor: I met Lynnette Arnold last year at Pacific Yearly Meeting when she called for interested Friends to meet to discuss the problems of the overwhelming numbers of children fleeing to the U.S. from Central America. For Lynette, this concern has evolved into serving as the convener of a sub-committee of the PYM Latin American Concerns Committee (with monthly conference calls), two trips to a detention center for families in Karnes, Texas, and fasting recently in solidarity with a hunger strike by detained mothers. Lynnette is a member of the Santa Barbara Meeting and is currently completing a PhD in Linguistics at UC Santa Barbara. We met at the Santa Barbara Meetinghouse where she was fasting, and I am sending you my record of my interview. Please share this with “Friends Everywhere.”

On Difference (July 2015)

First Day School Lesson Plans

Dear Editor: As I have said before, I love the “Pages for All Ages.” Reading all the themes that you have planned in the months ahead (money, beginning, limits, etc.), this one comes to mind for me: “First Day School Lesson Plans.” I am sending you a few that I have developed, which you can share with other Friends, and I’ll share more with you soon. I have this fantasy that if we are prepared, children will show up!

On Difference (July 2015)

Those Other Quakers

The majority of liberal Friends in the West share similar traits: First, very few of us grew up among Quakers; we arrived as adults, often fleeing dogmas or religious paths that we now reject. Second, many of us feel a sense of “homecoming” in Friendly traditions like our Peace Testimony, silent expectant worship, and the general spirit of tolerance in our meetings.

On Difference (July 2015)

Monday Morning Quarterbacks

Dear Editor: I want to thank Mr. Urner for a very provocative article, “Sticking Out Like Sore Thumbs.” I, too, have often asked myself:  What happened to the progressive movement? I want to focus on what we might have done better, rather than resting on our laurels.

On Play (September 2015)

Family Differences

Dear Editor: I applaud Pablo Stanfield for his excellent article, “Those Other Friends.” My first experience with a Friends World Committee on Consultation conference was back in the 70s, in Wichita, Kansas. It was then that I realized Quakers are good about working towards peace outside our family of “Friends,” but we are not very good at working towards peace within our own family. Quaker Evangelicals threatened to boycott that conference if an LGBT presence was allowed. Finally, we found a compromise and were allowed to hold an LGBT discussion, as long as it was not on the campus of Friends University.

On Play (September 2015)

Gaza Devastation Continues

Dear Editor: July 8, 2015, is the one-year anniversary of “Operation Protective Edge,” the most recent devastation of Gaza by Israel. According to the United Nations, about 2,200 Gazan people were killed during the onslaught, 65% of them civilians. I think it is high time that Friends discuss more vigorously and publicly the issues surrounding Israel and the Palestinians.

On Play (September 2015)

Video on the Doctrine of Discovery

Dear Editor: I read the July/August issue of Western Friend, “On Difference,” with great interest, especially the pieces concerning the history of Native peoples in the U.S. I would like to recommend to your readers a video of apresentation given by Steve Newcomb of the Indigenous Law Institute in Arizona, In it, he explains very powerfully and clearly “The Doctrine of Discovery,” which was declared by the Popes in the 15th and 16th centuries to legitimize the domination of non-Christian people.

On Play (September 2015)

Public Banking – Friendly Values

Quakers introduced public banking to the original colony of Pennsylvania, helping the colony prosper. North Dakota created its public bank in 1919, and is currently the only state to own its own bank. There are public banking efforts in more than thirty states, many of them in the west (Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and my own State of New Mexico).

On Money (November 2015)

Emergency Preparedness

Dear Editor: Two items have come to my attention recently for Meetings to consider. Could Western Friend share these with monthly meetings? 1) La Jolla Meeting’s Youth Protection Minute and 2) Emergency Plan Template for Faith Based Organizations. Thanks.

On Beginning (March 2016)