May 2005 Archives

To the best of my knowledge this is the first Quaker Google Maps hack, showing the meetinghouses of downtown Philadelphia. Click on the thumbtacks for details; click on the satellite view for a cool view! Like much of the web it looks much better in Firefox. Hack courtesy of the extremely experimental MyGmaps, data from Quakerfinder.org. Here's my short list of Google Map Hacks.

Although I love Quakerfinder, it should be noted that Google does almost as good a job listing area "Friends Meetings" via their "local search" feature.

One of the reasons I like "nonviolence" as a catch-all organizing principle is that it let you range across to some of the root issues that need to be addressed. One of these is the climatic effects that humans are having upon the Earth. The New Yorker has been running some articles: check out part one of Elizabeth Kolbert's The Climate of Man (part two is here).

One of the more useful set of links and discussions I've read lately comes from a post titled Climate Change Activism on a blog called The Public Quaker. It's not enough to know that the climate is going to hell in a handbasket and shouting the warnings out from the rooftops is often ineffective. The PQ talks about how we can help get a movement together that motivates people to build the world we want. Cool stuff and she has links to the work of others as well.

Bill Moyers, a recently-ousted PBS journalist and the elder statesman of responsible journalism recently gave a great speech on media trends:

One reason I’m in hot water is because my colleagues and I at "NOW" didn't play by the conventional rules of Beltway journalism. Those rules divide the world into democrats and republicans, liberals and conservatives and allow journalists to pretend they have done their job if, instead of reporting the truth behind the news, they merely give each side an opportunity to spin the news.

(Thanks to Beppe for the link.)

Howard Zinn, one of our favorite progressive historians looks at the tool of nationalism in this month's Progressive:

Is not nationalism--that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder--one of the great evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hatred? These ways of thinking--cultivated, nurtured, indoctrinated from childhood on--have been useful to those in power, and deadly for those out of power.

I particularly like his call to "assert our allegiance to the human race." So many of the political leaders who call for war do so by whipping up fear that the enemy has already called for war against us. We justify our armies by pointing to other armies. It's like a big global racket dreamed up by the arms dealers who are often happily selling to both sides. Threats are indeed real, but we need to see beyond our self-justifying propaganda of the war machine.

For those that might not have noticed, I have an article in the latest issue of the awkwardly-named FGConnections: Witness of Our Lost Twenty-Somethings. Astute Quaker Ranter readers will recognize it as a re-hashing of The Lost Quaker Generation and its related pieces. Reaction has been quite interesting, with a lot of older Friends saying they relate to what I've said. It's funny how so many of us feel a sense of isolation from our own religious institutions!

I've been asked to write a piece for another publication. I'm mulling doing something around Gifts and Mentorship, built around some of the observations in It's my Language Now. It would be the positive "rolling up the sleeves" response to the FGConnections article. What do you all think? If we could get a message out to larger Quakerdom, what we want it to be?

A Guest Piece from 'Quakerspeak' Claire Reddy.

"As young Friends move through high school and enter the [young] adult world, there is often a general lack of communication between young Friends and adults in Meetings, as if there’s some tension about it... As the only active young Friend at my school (I'm sort of the 'token' Quaker around), I usually do not have anyone to talk to about my spiritual findings and leadings. As I have continued to develop spiritually, I find more and more I need other Friends to talk who are familiar with my struggles."

A Guest Piece by Jeffrey Hipp

"I take this commitment of membership very seriously – to labor, nurture, support and challenge my fellow Friends; to walk in the Light together, and to give, receive, and pray with my fellow sojourners when the next step is unclear. My feet are on solid ground."

The Public Quaker writing about prayer

Prayer is one constant thing for me, a reliable base. When am I having epistemological doubt about everything, I do know that is good for me to pray.

A month ago LizOpp posted a interest FAQ on her worship group which is well worth reading. Last week she followed it up with a very chew-worthy post on Theological unity and spiritual diversity (which adds new ground to the territory we've been exploring here on Quaker Ranter on Non-Theism and Loving God).

Quakerspeak is the new blog by a high-school Friend I met last week in Oregon. Whew, is she on fire!:

I never really thought much about how I was sort of bottling up all my theological and spiritual contemplations; suddenly I feel like I'm pouring it all out on the table and examining it all.. well, except that I've been examining it all. I'm trying to better apply my sprituality to my daily life and interactions without losing sight of myself; I'm trying to figure out where it all fits into my own life without trying to alter my personality or ways of being.

Beppe's just started a new series with a post, The Troubles with Friends Part 1. This first installment focuses on our fear of judgementalism. Speak on, bro!