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Making Something of Myself

• Authored by:
• Gary Miller

Gary Miller helped found the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club in 1971 and served as its president in 1975. He was the first openly gay person to serve as the chair of the Sacramento Democratic Party and was Sacramento’s first openly gay human rights commissioner. As a staff person in the 1970s with Friends Committee on Legislation in California, Miller worked to defeat Proposition 6, the Briggs Initiative, which would have banned gays, lesbians, and their supporters from working in California public schools. Miller is a member of Sacramento Friends Meeting (PYM). He spoke to Western Friend by phone on June 18, 2014. Following are edited excerpts from a transcript of that interview.

On Pride (July 2014)

Song of Myself

• Authored by:
• Graciela Martinez

 

On Balance (May 2017)

Making Peace a Reality

• Authored by:
• Diane Randall

OUR principle is, and our practices have always been, to seek peace and ensue it; to follow after righteousness and the knowledge of God; seeking the good and welfare, and doing that which tends to the peace of all. . . All bloody principles and practices, as to our own particulars, we utterly deny; with all outward wars and strife, and fightings with outward weapons, for any end, or under any pretense whatsoever; this is our testimony to the whole world world.

On Control (July 2019)

Something to Restore Justice (news item)

Decision Making & Spiritual Discernment – Review

• Authored by:
• Rocky Garrison

Spiritual discernment, broadly defined as listening, relaying observations to others, and acting on divine guidance, is at the core of spiritual practice for our Society of Friends. In Decision Making & Spiritual Discernment: The Sacred Art of Finding Your Way, Nancy Bieber describes the discernment process in this way:

On Media (September 2016)

Giving Up Something Good for Something Better - Review

• Authored by:
• Diane Pasta

Beth Blodgett and Prairie Naoma Cutting have chosen a simple life in rural Honduras, one of the three poorest countries in this hemisphere. Over several years, they became Hermana Alegría and Hermana Confianza, sisters of their newly founded monastic order, Amigas del Señor, which serves medical needs in the local community. They use their Methodist faith and Quaker practices to guide them in this new, but better, life. Giving Up Something Good for Something Better is based on emails the sisters sent home from computers costing $1.40 an hour. It consists of narratives of their daily life, their worship, and their work, which together chronicle their spiritual growth and the creation of this new religious order. The book includes a “geographic orientation,” a glossary, and worship-sharing guidelines.

On Balance (May 2017)

Giving Up Something Good for Something Better (book)

Coloring Page: Making Less Trash

• Authored by:
• Lisa Yagoda

On Garbage (November 2017)

Coloring Page: Something in Common

• Authored by:
• Mary Klein

On Mediation (January 2020)

Beautiful Article about Minding the Earth

• Authored by:
• Kathleen Shadell

Dear Editor: “A New Story for Earth” by Mary Ann Percy, in the November/December issue, is one of the best articles that I have ever read. I happened to read it right after our meeting held our second-hour discussion one First Day, concerning what each of us can do to be more mindful of the earth (and promised to try). I think we might discuss this article in another second hour soon. It ties a lot of big questions and big concepts together really well, and it is beautifully written.

On Mediation (January 2020)