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“Tell Our Story.”

• Authored by:
• Peter Husby

The stories I have heard told, graphic and heart-rending, by northbound migrants and asylum-seekers along the Arizona-Mexico border and by Latinx and indigenous campesinos in Central America, have transformed me. Where I was once a concerned but passive on-looker, I am now a determined human rights activist, intent upon bringing stories from the southwestern borderlands to the American public.

On Water (March 2019)

Be Still and Know

• Authored by:
• john heid

Psalm 46:10

On Water (March 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)

Water Camp

• Authored by:
• Quaker Oaks Farm

On January 12, 2019, Western Friend conducted an interview with several members of the Quaker Oaks Farm (QOF) community. Located in the Central Valley of California, Quaker Oaks Farm is an environmental and cultural learning center that is supported by Visalia Friends Meeting. Since 2013, QOF has hosted annual service-learning camps, which have brought together youth and adults from Wukchumni, Mexican-American, and Quaker communities in the Central Valley and beyond.

On Water (March 2019)

Quaker Time – A Friendly Logic Puzzle

• Authored by:
• Sister Confianza del Señor

Plaintown Friends is a small monthly meeting that has spent several recent business meetings laboring over a concern about late arrivals to worship. The meeting struggled for unity. “Late arrivals disrupt the Silence.” “Tardiness is disrespectful to those who are already gathered.” “We should lock the doors after worship has begun.” “It’s all I can do to get my kids out the door in the morning. If we must be prompt, we can’t attend.”

On Puzzles (May 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)

On Puzzles

• Authored by:
• Mary Klein

Organelles, cells, organs, organisms, families, cultures, planets – these bodies nest within each other in irregular concentricity, one within the next, each encased by its own semi-permeable boundary. In the jigsaw puzzle of incarnation, all the pieces slip and slide, expand and contract, ignite and extinguish, push, pull, infiltrate, and emerge. There, but for the grace of God, go I. Wondrous beings abound all around, in places where I am not.

On Puzzles (May 2019)

2019 Epistle of Sierra-Cascades Yearly Meeting of Friends

• Authored by:
• Gil George,
• Jade Souza,
• James Hibbs

To All Friends Near and Far:

On Control (July 2019)

Friends-of-Color Epistle, June 17, 2019

• Authored by:
• Amanda Beattie,
• Zae Asa Illo,
• Kat Northrup

Dear Friends Everywhere,

On Control (July 2019)