Comments on: Aggregating our Webs

By: Martin Kelley

Martin Kelley — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 09:13:13 +0000

Hi Mitch,
Thanks both for your kind comments and the donation.
I don’t know the details of Chuck Currie to know just how he’s been supported (I’ve found that among Quakers, the details often make a big difference as to who gets noticed). Still, I find it hard to imagine someone like him being recognized by Friends.
I recently got an email out of the blue from a famously unapologetic liberal Friend (enough of a clue?) who had just read my “Peace and Twenty-Something”:http://www.nonviolence.org/martink/peace_and_twentysomethings.php essay and challenged me to stop complaining and actually do something (he even offered to use his “mojo” so I could lead a breakout workshop at a particularly boring-sounding conference later this summer even thought the deadlines had passed). His email was pretty nasty, though I think he wanted to come off as a gruff-but-lovable goad. How do I even start to explain that I’m a bona fide internet pioneer and publish one of the most widely read Quaker peace publications in the world? I don’t like to boast and even if I did I’ve found it to be a waste of time.
It doesn’t seem like Currie needs to spend all of his time convincing the UCC higher-ups that he’s actually doing something. That must be nice.

By: Mitchell Santine Gould

Mitchell Santine Gould — Sun, 19 Jun 2005 00:50:25 +0000

The discussions above cover an awful lot of ground, so it's neither feasible nor desirable to respond to some pregnant lines of thought... But at the risk of repeating something I have probably written elsewhere, I feel (intuitively, that is--perhaps even mistakenly) that Friends, who once represented the leading edge of all human-rights advocacy, have long since fallen behind the Unitarians in effectiveness, and the Unitarians in turn now lag behind United Church of Christ in their advocacy for justice. Now, I can't prove this perception; it's just a concern... Assuming that I am not mistaken in my concern, even this has a silver lining; namely, the opportunity to study our neighbors as a model for powerful ministry. Which brings me to the point of my post... I like "Quaker Ranter" very much. But I also like the blog run by UCC seminarian Chuck Currie: http://chuckcurrie.blogs.com/ I would like to know whether Chuck has been enabled in his Ministry-Via-Diary by superior cooperation and superior funding from his denomination...? If so, does that explain what he is able to achieve? I suspect The Ranter has a legitimate Travelling Ministry. He has the ability to travel the world over, virtually, with the speed of an electron. This is far less romantic than the horseback labors of early Friends, and involves less risk and hardship, but Friends need to adjust their perceptions to appreciate a twentyfirst-century ministry. I would like to see this ministry continue, and thrive, in new directions. Finally, taking a leaf from the parable of the starving widow who contributed a tiny mite to the Temple, I have taken advantage of The Ranter's convenient PayPal button to make a little contribution. Use it in good health... I wish I had more to give.

By: Martin Kelley

Martin Kelley — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 11:24:43 +0000

Hi Joe,
Thanks for taking the time to think about it. I’ve always been leery of grand-sounding internet projects that don’t follow a model that’s been shown to be working elsewhere. My Nonviolence.org started off modeled after Slate and the (late great) Feed, for example. It adapted into what is now a recognizable blog format in December 1997 when I named the homepage “Nonviolence Web Upfront.” Researching a little, I see that was the same month that Jorn Barger coined the term “weblog” which I think is less a coincidence than a confirmation that many of us were trying to figure out a format for sharing the web with others. (Wait, it’s even closer than that: the first use of “WebLog” was “December 29, 1997”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Weblog.png, the same _day_ that Upfront debuted!). I’ll have to post this…

By: Joe G.

Joe G. — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:26:53 +0000

Yes, that’s what I was thinking of: the informal network of Friends linking and commenting on each other’s blogs, etc.
I thought about this post for a day or two. I think I like things the way they are. There are already places to post on Bulletin Boards, which I find of limited use or interest (in general, not just in regards to Friends).
OTH, maybe there is another format that might work better in creating a solid “place” on the web for fellowship, reflection, discussion. Etc. What that is beyond what is already out there is unclear to me.
By the way, how much money was actually available from the fellowship that you applied for? For example, was it 10K, but meant to be distributed over five applicants? I have to admit that $500 does seem rather paltry.