Dear Editor:
Another wonderful issue in November/December, concerning one of my favorite subjects: words and language. I have a question about one article. In the “Pages for All Ages” story about Sarah Blackborow, it states: “Blackborow even wrote about the divine as a “Mother” at times, although she always wrote about God as a male.”
How delighted we are when our children first begin to talk! What a miracle, what a joy!
Certain domains of words take aim at strangers –
to accuse, assault, open fire
on persons denounced, held to blame
Labels can bar the delicate image imprinted
behind every eye –
unbroken, unique –
secured in the soul’s secret lining
I admit it, I’m a word nerd. I grew up with Scrabble and Boggle, then progressed to New York Times Sunday crossword puzzles. At one point, I even wrote my own twelve-page dictionary of invented, adapted, and deliberately mangled words and meanings.
Language is a technology, a means of employing experience-based knowledge for practical purposes. Words are torches that beam from mind to mind, prompting individuals to turn their attentions in the same direction and to coordinate their efforts for survival. Many species rely on communication systems in this way.
“Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to Adam to see what he would name them; and whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.” (Genesis 2:19)
Dear Editor: I am saddened by your increasing use of web sites for you publication. Like nearly half of Americans, I cannot afford a computer system and, as we age out, that number will increase. This is a new form of classism and exclusion. My understanding of Quakerism is to be in the world but not of it – and to strive for simplicity.
The current century is one of political, economic, and cultural upheaval in Bolivia, which has long been the poorest country in South America. Extreme rural poverty, lack of educational opportunity, and discrimination have held the indigenous majority captive for centuries. These are the Aymara – people who have lived high in the Andes for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
