'Tis the season

March 30's Oh My Gods! reminded me of something.

Many years ago, I was attending a meeting after work one night just before Easter and Passover. During the break, I was having a conversation with a friend who'd sought me out for mutual support: we were the only two non-Christians in a room full of fairly religious people... many of whom kept looking at us oddly. The program was supposed to be "spiritual, not religious," but we often found ourselves, well, misunderstood. The butt of jokes. Fielding "questions" about the same stereotypes, over and over. From people who insisted they were truly accepting. Or from those who were just truly clueless.

"May the Force be with you! [giggle] No, really, I'm not making fun of you. I think it's fine that you're a Witch."

"You're Jewish? Why did you kill Jesus when He's our Lord and Savior?!"

Our best educational efforts reached a number of folks; but nonetheless, cluelessness can be awfully persistent. After a weeks and then months of it, well, our humor got... warped.

That night, my friend drew me off to the side while we drank our tea.

"How's it going?" I asked.

"Okay, okay."

"Ready for Pesach?"

"Not entirely. We still need the blood of some unbaptized Christian babies so we can make matzoh, you know. Hey, you're a Witch -- you know where to get that stuff, right?"

"No, man, are you kidding? We had to use squirrels last Full Moon. Do you know how hard those damned things are to catch? If you get a line on babies, please let me know."

At which point, one rather young and earnest fellow -- the one who consistently greeted me with, "May the Force be with you," followed by giggles and the insistence that no, really, he accepted me -- stalked up to us and said, "I don't appreciate you making fun of my religion like that." And stalked off.

My friend and I looked at each other. We were speechless.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peeps... Passover... ow

While Peeps were originally an Easter candy, they've come to fill many other roles over the years. For example, they were often an important part of Roses, Too!'s Eostara and Samhain observances.

But it had never occurred to me that they could have such an educational role for Pesach...

"Peeps for Passover"

Grace

I am in the middle of a stressful, anxiety-producing couple of weeks -- a lot of life is happening in a short period. On the plus side, it's time-limited and is already in the process of resolving. But until more of it sorts itself out, I'm chewing my fingernails and not getting enough sleep.

But I am getting good support.

And in the middle of this, there are ways in which the Goddess is clearly dancing in my life.

Or, in Quakerspeak, there are ways in which the Spirit is clearly moving in my life.

This makes me happy.

And, all things considered, She's leading me pretty gently right now. I think this is what happens when I am able to listen better. (Less need to shout, perhaps?) :)

It's all right, it's all right
It's all right
She moves in mysterious ways...

Done is good

My final rainbow shawl commission is done! I just have to put it in the mail.

Hooray!

I have now done five of these -- the original one, two commissions from that same auction, plus two more in subsequent auctions. I am sooooo done. (At least, for now. If someone's heart is set on one, or on a rainbow throw, I would consider it.)

Now I can work on my first-ever sweater, a present for my beloved wife. :)

What does a bunny have to do with Easter?

Here's a fairly good video -- "History of the Holidays: Easter" -- from History.com, regarding how certain practices and customs from the Pagan festival of Eostara came to be associated with the Christian festival of Easter...

FGC Summer Gathering 2008: Courageously Faithful

This year's Friends General Conference Gathering will be held in Johnstown, PA, from 28 June through 5 July. Gathering can be a truly wonderful experience. Financial assistance is available, so don't let that be the thing that stops you. Click here for more information.

Hope to see many of you there!

Courageously Explicit

The theme for this year's Gathering of Friends General Conference is "Courageously Faithful."

Thanks to my Beloved Wife, I started attending Summer Gathering in 2001. And the Goddess made it clear right off the bat that She was calling me to active ministry among Pagan Friends, not just in my life in general, but at Summer Gathering: that year, I was asked to facilitate the Women's Center Full Moon Ritual; from 2002 to 2006, I facilitated evening interest groups for and about Pagan Quakers; and in 2007, I facilitated a week-long workshop for Pagan Friends.

This year, I am being led in an even broader, deeper direction.

For the last several years, I've been having conversations with Friends in different locales about who feels "most welcome" and "most at home" in our Meetings. I've talked with Pagan Friends, of course, but also Non-Theist Friends, Jewish Friends, Christian Friends, straight Friends, and queer Friends. These conversations have led me to conclusions I didn't necessarily expect, coming at first solely from my own experience and that of other Pagan Quakers.

It's never who we'd necessarily think.

Here's one example, from a large, East Coast Monthly Meeting:

---------------------------

In this Meeting, Pagan Friends feel that they are not welcome to give vocal ministry that's explicit -- that comes from their experience of the Divine, or comes in the language of how they experience the Divine. They feel that it's not okay for them to talk about the Goddess or the Gods, Samhain or Beltane, or the like. They've been eldered for it, they've been criticized for it, they've been told they have to give up the Goddess if they're going to be Quakers -- even though some of them are members of their Meeting.

These Pagan Friends have the impression it's okay for Christian Friends to give explicit ministry. They feel like it's okay for Christian Friends to talk about Jesus or Christ, Christmas or Easter, or the like.

I've heard from Christian Friends in this same Meeting, who were also told their vocal ministry wasn't welcome. I've heard from Friends -- including members of the Meeting -- who were asked not to return after giving explicitly Christian ministry during worship.

I felt an answering pain and anger.

But, they told me, Pagans can say whatever they want.

So, in this one example: The Christians think the Pagans are welcome to speak clearly and openly from their experience of the Divine, but not Christians. The Pagans think the Christians can speak clearly and openly from their experience of the Divine, but not Pagans.

And they've both got it wrong.

---------------------------

Here's my theory:

Friends who experience the Divine in explicit, specific ways rarely feel like we're the "most comfortable" or the "most welcome" in our Meetings.

Somehow, our explicitness is threatening. And folks have let us know that.

Now, I freely admit, when someone stands and speaks their truth, and makes it clear that theirs is "The One Right Way" and that they're prepared to act accordingly, that I feel threatened.

But all of the Pagan, Jewish, and Non-Theist Friends, and most of the Christian Friends, whom I've heard give ministry in the explicit language of their experience are not preaching theirs as "The One Right Way." Most of them are very clear: This is my experience. This is my facet of the whole.

A universal longing in spiritual/religious community is for a place where we can have these conversations about the Divine in our lives. "How fares the Truth with thee, Friend?"

It's time for explicit Friends -- and I'm using this term for lack of a better one, not because I think it's necessarily the best term -- it's time for explicit Friends to reach out to one another, talk with one another, support each other, lift each other up, help each other be faithful, have deep, chewy conversations with each other, build community together.

So, here's the beginning of the language I'm fantasizing about for the interest group proposal:

Title: Courageously Explicit.
Description: Three Friends walk into Meeting for Worship: a Christian, a Pagan, a Non-Theist, and a Jew.

What might the next sentences be?
They all give explicit ministry.
They all experience gathered worship.
Come help tell the rest of the story.
If you experience the Divine in a specific, explicit way, come build community and share fellowship.

I don't know yet what the rest of the language will be.

I welcome discussion on this.

(And yes, I know that's more than three: Jewish, Non-Theist, and Pagan, at least, are not mutually exclusive. *smile*)

England 6: Quaker Country

My final day visiting Beloved Wife in England, we headed further up north, into Quaker Country (also called "1652 Country").

(Two wonderful websites about walking tours of 1652 Quaker country: Bill Samuel's Quaker Tour of England, and Dai Williams' An Attender in Quaker Country.)

We were limited to places we could get to by the combination of public transit and our own two feet, and by the time of a dinner date in Manchester that evening. Beloved Wife did some on-line research, and we decided to visit Briggflatts Meeting House and hopefully Firbank Fell.

We took the train to Oxenholme, then the bus to Sedbergh. The bus ride was, um, dramatic: here we were on this big bus, in hilly country, on these very narrow lanes bordered by stone fences, going rather fast. (It didn't seem to bother any of the other passengers -- three elderly women -- at all.)

From the bus, we had a lovely view of Lambrigg Wind Farm. That was neat!


Here we are in Sedbergh:


(Don't ask me why there are palm trees in Sedbergh.) From Sedbergh, we walked to Briggflatts Meeting House and Burial Ground. (For the map, click here. Briggflatts is southwest of Sedbergh; Firbank Fell is northwest of Sedbergh.)

Walking along paths in this part of England involves some interesting customs regarding private property and public rights-of-way. And gates. As with our trip from Edale, we found ourselves walking along paths that bordered as well as cut through the middle of sheep pastures. (In Edale, there were some cattle, too.)


The customs seem pretty simple: don't scare the critters, keep your dog on a lead if you're walking with one, and make sure you close the gates behind you. Interestingly, as we approached Briggflatts, and saw there was repair work taking place on one of the buildings, we also saw signs for the re-routed footpath. Very neat.

So we walked out of town, through fields, over hills, along lanes, and under an abandoned railroad track, until we came to Briggflatts. First we visited the burial ground, then the meetinghouse itself.


The burial ground was beautiful.


The meetinghouse, which dates from 1678, was also beautiful. Even now, just looking at the picture and remembering the deep, deep sense of peace in the meeting room, I find myself with tears in my eyes.


Many of the folks who signed the guest register -- Friends and non-Friends alike -- commented on the simple beauty and the peace of the meetinghouse.

Perhaps, as Friends, we shouldn't care, or it shouldn't matter to us, what our Meetinghouses look like, if they're beautiful or not. But it does. And I don't think worse of us for it.

Briggflatts is in my absolute favorite style of meeting room. There's a meetinghouse in the midwest of the US, whose insides just look like a Methodist church to me: medium-blond wood paneling on the walls, the same shade of medium-blond wood in the benches, pale blue-green cushions, and very modern. Somehow, it just doesn't work for me. (I realize this sense of what's "right" in a meetinghouse is a distinct result of the East Coast Catholic portion of my upbringing.)


There is a small set of rooms in the same building, accessible from outside, that houses the Meeting's library, a bathroom, and even a small kitchen. There were mugs and tea placed out in the library, with a note that milk was in the fridge, and an invitation to eat one's lunch and have a hot cup of tea. Such lovely hospitality!

We had our lunch out in the garden, in spite of the chill, while consulting the map. We sadly concluded that we could not both walk to Fox's Pulpit on Firbank Fell and make our train, and prepared to leave. As we were walking up the lane towards the footpath, one of the wardens, Tess, appeared out of their house to talk with us, and offered to drive us up. This gave us a lovely chance to visit with her, and talk about the life of the Meeting, Quakerism in the US and Britain, her husband and children, and just to enjoy fellowship. It was a treat.

Tess told us how George Fox preached to 1,000 people here. We had heard this, but found ourselves in puzzlement. Firbank Fell is in the middle of nowhere, as you can see in this picture. Why did Fox decide to preach there, and why on earth were 1,000 people there, 350-odd years ago, to hear him?


According to Tess, the people of Kendal and Sedbergh couldn't decided which of the two towns should get the church, so the church was built on top of Firbank Fell, between them. When Fox came to preach, word spread, and so not only did the folk of both towns come to hear him, so also did all their friends and relatives from far away. When Fox was denied entry to the church, he chose this rock, next to the church, from which to preach.


(Evidently, he later took over the pulpit in the church, too.)


Tess offered to drive us to Sedbergh to catch our bus, but because of her help, we had plenty of time to walk back to town; so we asked her to drop us off back at her house and the meetinghouse. When we got there, a committee meeting was about to start, so we got to meet several folks from the Meeting. In spite of all the visitors they get every year, they welcomed us enthusiastically (in an understated British way). Like the warden in York, they seemed to feel some extra kinship on learning that the two of us are part of the unprogrammed tradition.

To walk back to Sedbergh, we cut along the old railway bed so we could walk along the Dales Way footpath.


We were in good time to catch our bus, and then our train, and then to have dinner with folks in Manchester.

The day was definitely one of the highlights of my trip.

Click below for the full album.

2008-02 England 6: Quaker country

The Snow Bunny

The Ostara Bunny and the Snow Bunny announced together today that the Snow Bunny will distributing eggs to Pagan children for Ostara/Spring Equinox this year in Southeastern Michigan.

"With the National Weather Service and my own instincts calling for 5-8 inches of snow, the Snow Bunny is just much better-equipped to handle winter storm conditions while delivering eggs to the Pagan children of Southeastern Michigan," the Ostara Bunny stated.

The Snow Bunny added, "It's very important to both of us that children everywhere know how much they mean to us, and this means making sure there are eggs for them to find in the snow. I consider it an honor to accept this mission."

In addition to being better able to handle snowy conditions, the Snow Bunny's white fur will make it easier for her to remain hidden in plain view while she does her work.

The Ostara Snow Bunny Cometh

There's a winter storm warning in effect, with 5-8 inches of snow predicted between Friday night and Saturday morning.

Happy Equinox/Ostara! ;-)

"When Girls Will Be Boys"

This is a fascinating article on college students -- particularly at women's colleges -- who come to identify as transmen and genderqueer, and many, many of the issues this raises. (The NY Times requires free registration.)

"Rosa's Stew"

I love it when Ben calls me up and sings to me.

Before you go any further, please say the following two phrases out loud, one after the other:

• Rosa's Stew
• Roses, Too!

(Roses, Too! is the Coven my best friend and I co-founded in Philadelphia in 1993.)

Now you know all you need to know. Enjoy!

"Rosa's Stew"
lyrics by Benjamin Newman
ttto: "Bread and Roses" by James Oppenheim, set to music by Mimi Farina

/ G CG-- / C D / 1st / DA D /: G - / C(Am) D :/ G - /

As we go marching, marching
To fight the noble fight
A band of angry women
Can work up an appetite

All day we've walked together
Voices raised in songs of protest
And we sing a little louder
When the potluck is at Rosa's

As we go marching, marching
Singing songs of love and toil
In Rosa's cluttered kitchen
Something good is on the boil

When marching makes us hungry
There's one thought that sees us through
Yes, it is bread we fight for
What we crave is Rosa's stew

It's often said of Martha
That her sourdough never fails
But leave it out all April
And it gets a little stale

When bread and hearts have hardened
There is just one thing to do
There's no crust that will not soften
When it's dunked in Rosa's stew

Now, stew can be nutritious
But this is so much more
In it we have a foretaste
Of the world we're fighting for

At Jane's pie and Sarah's salad
We will not turn up our noses
But for hungry souls and bellies
There's no cooking quite like Rosa's

Spring is on Her way!

Tuesday, I saw a white-breasted nuthatch at our suet feeder. It was -- predictably, celebratorily -- upside-down.

I love white-breasted nuthatches. :)

They supposedly do not migrate, but I've seen very few this winter at our feeders, and I've missed them.

Then yesterday, I saw the bird which is the true harbinger of spring in southeastern Michigan: the red-winged blackbird!

I was unloading the car after running errands, and heard a bird-sound I hadn't heard in months: it sounded a lot like the "clack" sound red-winged blackbirds make, one of two of their calls with which I'm familiar. (The other call sounds like the bird is caroling, "I'm heee-re!") (Or, "Mate with mee-eee!")

When I looked around, I saw three or so medium-sized black birds in the tree above me and at the neighbor's feeders. They looked a lot more like grackles at first glance, but they sounded wrong for grackles. And then I saw thin strips of pale yellow at the shoulders. A few moments later, the two at the feeder mantled, and I saw both the yellow and the red. Not as bright as it will be later in the year, but definitely there!

We're about three blocks from the river, and don't usually get red-wingeds this far away from the water. But I guess food is a good draw this time of year and at the end of a long migration!

The temperature hit about 55 F here yesterday. My driveway is no longer an ice rink or a pond, but getting fairly muddy; the top few inches of the ground are starting to thaw. It may be dipping into the 20s F at night, and we may well get more snow -- 5 more inches, I'm told, and we'll break our record -- but Spring is definitely on Her way.

Blessed be!

A cup of tea...

According to scientists at the University of Maryland and Cardiff University, via Environmental Graffiti: English Breakfast Tea can help inhibit anthrax. As long as you take your tea without milk.

Click here for the Cardiff press release.

Too funny!

City View Quaker Church in Asheville, NC

A Quaker Church in NC which was part of Friends United Meeting has withdrawn from FUM and lost their building after taking a united stance to support gay rights, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.

The church is still meeting in the former minister's home.

Read the Citizen-Times story here.

According to the article, City View lost their building and were officially disbanded by FUM. In addition:

The Quarterly Meeting also told Vestal’s church they could no longer use the word Quaker in their name.

“They don’t have proprietary right to the name, so we kept it,” Vestal said.

Vestal has lost his pastoral salary and has gone to work at a bookstore. His church now meets in his home in North Asheville.

Blessed are these brave Friends.

The changing of the seasons...

The forecast is calling for overnight thunderstorms, sleet, and snow. There's still snow on the ground here.

Several of our patients at work have told me they've seen robins. I've heard birds who wintered over singing their spring songs -- especially chickadees! Yesterday, I saw a white-breasted nuthatch.

There is something pleasing about the relentlessness of spring's coming. It doesn't matter that there's snow on the ground, or what winter weather will happen this week.

Daylight Spending Time?

My understanding is that Benjamin Franklin was thinking about saving candles when he came up with daylight saving time. And while it turns out that nowadays we may be saving electricity by changing to DST, it also turns out we might be using more energy to heat and cool our homes. So yes, Daylight Saving Time saves daylight -- but not, necessarily, energy.

Interesting!

Links:

• For the study itself, click here or here (home pages of co-authors, with links to study).
• For a good summary, click here.
• For the NPR story, click here.

England 5: York

Another of our day trips was to York, where there was lots to see and do.

When we got off the train, we walked up the hill to the Cathedral. It's a beautiful space. (What an understatement.) We appreciated the open spaces, the stained glass windows (many with notes regarding who took responsibility for their preservation during WWII, or for their restoration over hundreds of years), the organ, the fact that it's a working faith community, the atmosphere in general... I really liked the fact that there was an atmosphere of worship that nonetheless welcomed tourists; that combination felt really nice. And the docents were lovely to visitors.

I particularly noticed the stained-glass window "sacred to the memory of the women of the empire who gave their lives in the European war of 1914-1918."


In general, the mix of old and new, historical and present-day, was much less awkward in the parts of England I visited than what I've experienced in the US. (And -- aside from places like the pueblos in Frijoles Canyon in New Mexico -- "old things" in Europe are definitely older than "old things" in the States!)

We took the dare of climbing to the top of the tower. I like taking pictures of spiral staircases, but the two staircases to the tower are closed, not open, so I did not get any nautilus-type pictures of the spirals. Given just how long the climb is, it's probably better that way: I couldn't tell how much further we had to go up. Down, of course, took much less time and effort...

The stairs up the tower are so narrow that you can't pass while on them. Therefore, they only let people up every half hour. Everyone who's going in that time slot goes up, and nobody else goes up til they've all come down.

There's a lovely stop in the middle, where you walk along the outside edge of the roof, over to the second set of stairs. Also a nice place for a picture.


Happily, there are chairs at the top for wimps like me... Actually, I can't claim wimpdom on this one: the docents recognized us later as folks who'd made the climb. "Are we so memorable?" I asked. "No," one docent answered, "we just haven't had many people go up today," in a (Britishly understated) tone of admiration.

We had a lovely lunch of Cornish pasties, which we ate outside in St. Helen's Square. Then we wandered around the old part of the city, including the Shambles.


From the Shambles, we walked to the other side of the old part of town and visited Clifford's Tower, the remaining part of the Castle of York. More stairs -- first, up to the tower, then, in the tower. As my wife pointed out to me, there was a theme to our day... However, I did get a partial spiral stair picture out of the climb.

After Clifford's Tower, we crossed the River Foss, one of York's two rivers, and walked along most of the remaining city walls. This was fun.

And then we had afternoon tea in a Tea Room. Hee. Yum. We had lovely tea, accompanied by divine sultana scones and a Yorkshire curd tart. This made me happy.

We discovered mention of the Quaker Meetinghouse in a tourist map's list of "places to eat your lunch out of the rain." I insisted we go find it, and find it we did. Friargate Meeting is a lovely place, and visiting it -- especially so unexpectedly -- was one of the highlights of my day. The warden was also very hospitable, and we were very glad we stopped in. The Meetingroom itself is a place with a deep sense of peace, and it was a centering experience for me to spend a few minutes there. As I said, a highlight.


The warden showed us a picture of the interior of the old Meetingroom -- destroyed in WWII? I don't quite remember -- and Arch Street Meeting in Philadelphia is a spitting image of it.

I felt very welcomed and at home among British Friends, when we worshipped in Manchester, and when we visited Friargate and Briggflatts.

After visiting Friargate Meeting, we dashed back up the hill to the Minster for choral evensong, which was beautiful. (The organ was amazing!) Beloved Wife noted with amusement the addition of scripture regarding earthquakes. She also clearly found evensong a centering experience, a good end to our day in York.

(My reaction, particularly coming right after being in the Friargate Meetingroom, was, "Thank you, Goddess, for making me a Quaker!")

We crossed the River Ouse at sunset, on our way back down the hill to the train station.


For more pictures of our day in York:

2008-02 England 5: York

England 4: Manchester & Alan Turing

One of our days in Manchester, I briefly visited the new Alan Turing Building at the University of Manchester, as well as the memorial to Alan Turing in Sackville Gardens.


Alan Turing was a brilliant mathematician, cryptologist, and computer scientist in the first half of the 20th century. When he was discovered to be gay, he was arrested and convicted; lost his security clearance, his livelihood, and much of his participation in the world of mathematics; and was forced to undergo hormone treatments. Turing eventually committed suicide.

The statue in Sackville Gardens was dedicated in 2001. Not one major computer company contributed towards this memorial to the father of the computer and computer science.

Yet, he is honored in many other ways.

Still, his story gives me the chills...

England 3: Edale and Mam Tor (Heights of the Mother)

One of the first things I noticed in Manchester is what birdsongs I was hearing, and what birds I was seeing. The first of these was definitely the magpie, who seems to be a cheerful and sociable bird.


Our first day trip outside Manchester was to the town of Edale, in Derbyshire. It's in the Peak District National Park, halfway between Manchester and Sheffield. (Click here for the Ordnance Survey Map.) We headed south from Edale, up to Hollins Cross, then headed east (and further up!) towards Mam Tor. It was quite a climb! At the top, it was very, very windy; the closer we got to Mam Tor, the more the wind tried to knock us over. (My wife compared it to Mt. Washington in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in the US.)


The weather ranged from bright and sunny to cold and very windy, and everything in between, including (of course) a little rain. Somewhat like Michigan in that respect. We saw lots of sheep, and even a few cows. We also saw lots of gorse, and even a little heather, although none was in bloom until we got back down into town.

It was an amazing day spent out of doors, doing lots of walking. Our mileage wasn't actually as high as one might expect, but I was pretty proud of myself for doing as much as I did and under such conditions. I might not be up to what I used to be able to do before my injury, and my improvement might still be long and slow, but I can keep reminding myself that I am definitely improving... :)

2008-02 England 3: Edale & Mam Tor

England 2: Manchester

I worshipped with Friends in Manchester on 24th February, at Mount Street Meeting (Central Manchester Quaker Meeting). On the whole, I found British Friends very hospitable, both in Manchester as well as in York and Cumbria (more on those visits later).

We didn't make it to Pendle Hill, but I was nonetheless entertained by the name of the bus service we'd have taken if we had gone.


Spring is definitely further along there than in this part of the US; I have some pictures of crocuses, daffodils, and snowdrops (and later, a cherry tree in bloom).


More pictures from Manchester:

2008-02 England 2: Manchester

A trip to England

I've just returned from spending a week in the north of England, where my wife and partner is spending the semester. We were based mostly in Manchester, but took several day trips -- Edale, York, Cumbria/"Quaker country." I have lots of outdoorsy, nature-worship things to share, and also lots of neat Quaker historical things to share. I'm in the process of uploading pictures, and will add posts as I get my thoughts together.

More on the First Amendment

It continues to blow my mind how so many people understand so little about the basics of the Constitution of the United States. And it continues to anger and frighten me how intolerant so many Americans are of religion other than their own.

School Board to Pay in Jesus Suit

Reducing our carbon footprints

Here's an interesting article from the New Yorker on the complexities of reducing carbon footprints. Is it better to grow something locally if it actually uses more energy and produces more greenhouse gases than growing it further away and transporting it? And other questions.

"Big Foot: In measuring carbon emissions, it's easy to confuse morality and science," by Michael Specter.

Barriers to local foods

Here's an interesting Op-Ed in the NY Times regarding the legal barriers to increasing production of local fruits and vegetables: "My Forbidden Fruits (and Vegetables)."

Total lunar eclipse

There's a total lunar eclipse tonight! Details, including diagrams for different time zones, are available on NASA's Eclipse page.

8:43 pm ET: partial eclipse begins.
10:01 pm ET: total eclipse begins.
10:51 pm: total eclipse ends.
12:09 am: partial eclipse ends.

Local, Small-Scale Dairies

Here's an article in the NY Times about local, small-scale dairies. (Free registration required.)

I still remember the first times I had fresh, local milk and butter. Then I had really fresh eggs for the first time -- what an education. The eggs, like the milk and butter, were amazing, and far, far different from what I grew up on.

The Home Energy Saver Answer Desk

We recently got a programmable thermostat, something I've wanted for quite a while to save on our heating bill. When I asked our landlady, she and our handyman both thought it was a great idea, and they installed them in both units of our building last weekend.

I haven't had it long enough to know if I'll see an immediate difference in our heating bill, but I already love the convenience.

When I went looking to see if there are recommendations for actual temperature settings, I also found The Home Energy Saver Answer Desk.

The site has answers to common questions under the following headings:
~ General
~ Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning
~ Comfort and Indoor Environment
~ Windows
~ Water Heating
~ Computers
~ Lighting

They include answers to all sorts of questions, including those niggling things like, if I turn my heat down to 55 F, does it take more energy to heat back up than it would if I'd left it at 65 F the whole time? (No -- go ahead, and "turn it down when you're not around.") Or, how much energy does my answering machine use vs my computer? (You'll be surprised.)

Anyway, it's a great resource for all sorts of everyday energy-use and energy-savings questions.

Enjoy!

Executions in Nebraska

Good news: Nebraska's Supreme Court has outlawed use of the electric chair. For the AP newswire story, click here.

More on biofuels

National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation had a segment on Science Friday today on this very topic.

For more info, including links to this segment as well as to the NPR news story, click here.

Biofuels deemed not environmentally friendly

I've long been dubious about the promise of biofuels, particularly ethanol (I have real concerns about corn, for example). There's an interesting article in today's New York Times about two studies which have just been released that indicate that biofuels are actually an environmental threat.

Click here for the article. (Free registration required.)

Breaking the Silence Exhibit

Breaking the Silence Exhibit
Israeli Soldiers Talk about the Occupied Territories

Philadelphia
February 9-24
at the Rotunda
40th & Walnut, University City
Opening night reception: February 9 at 7 pm

Boston
March 1-16
Whitehead Center for International Studies, Cambridge
Opening night reception: March 1 at 7 pm

For more information, see http://www.breakingthesilenceexhibit.org/.

The reality of life on the West Bank and Gaza

In the summer of 2002, I went to Israel-Palestine for several weeks, as part of two different peace witness delegations. One of those was with Christian Peacemaker Teams, an organization I highly recommend.

I spent time in Jerusalem (especially Old City, which is beautiful and which I loved), Hadera, Megiddo, Jenin, Jenin Refugee Camp, Hebron, and Beit Ummar.

Hadera and Meggido are in Israel proper; Jenin, Jenin Refugee Camp, Beit Ummar, and Hebron are in what is commonly called "the West Bank" -- the Israeli-occupied West Bank of the Palestinian Territories. Jerusalem is on the edge of both Israel and the West Bank, and is primarily Israeli-administered.

(Two geography notes: 1: The West Bank of what?, I used to wonder. Of the Jordan River, with the country of Jordan to the east. 2: The other Occupied Palestinian Territory is the Gaza Strip, in the southwest, on the border with Egypt.)

One of the things I learned during my time in Israel-Palestine that summer is how little we Americans understand of daily life in the Occupied Territories. What we hear, read, and watch in the news bears little resemblance to the reality of life on the ground. There is, really, no way we can grasp it from what's available to us in the media.

Spending a little time living with Israelis in Israel, and then Palestinians in Jenin, Jenin Refugee Camp, Hebron, and Beit Ummar, I witnessed first-hand what life is actually like there -- in the West Bank, both for Palestinians and for Israeli soldiers. I made a commitment to share that reality when I returned to the States.

Why should we care what is happening in Israel-Palestine, any more than what happens anywhere else? Aren't there enough peacemaking opportunities right here at home? Enough hungry and homeless kids in our own cities? These were arguments I made when I found myself led to go half-way around the world. I had plenty to do in my own backyard in Philadelphia, thank you. And it always irritated me when people hared off to other places rather than paying attention and doing needed work right where they were.

But there are huge links between us here at home in the US and what happens in Israel and Occupied Palestine. My tax dollars, and yours, are one of the largest sources of external funding for the Israeli Defense Force. As Americans, we need to understand what is being done with our money and in our names.

There's an organization called Breaking the Silence, staffed primarily by volunteers who are former Israeli soldiers, which does work geared to helping ordinary Israelis understand that is happening in their backyard, in the West Bank and Gaza. They are now bringing their work to the US, to help ordinary Americans understand what's really happening.

Here's how I first learned of them:

personal blog entry, February 15, 2007

I was listening to the radio -- NPR's Day to Day -- on my way to work today, when I heard this piece on an Israeli organization called Breaking the Silence. Staffed by former Israeli Defense Force members, they offer tours to ordinary Israelis of the Israeli-controlled portion of Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank [of the Jordan River].

Thank you, Goddess. When I was in Israel and Palestine, it was so clear that most Israelis had no idea what is going on in their names, no idea what the reality in the Palestinian territories is that accompanies the violence Israelis and Palestinians live with every day.

I am familiar with almost everything they presented in this story. I have walked through H2. I have walked down Shuhada Street. I still receive CPT updates about accompanying Palestinian children past the settlement on their way to school. I can't tell you how wonderful and refreshing it was to hear reality presented through more mainstream media.

I wish I could be in Philadelphia or Boston while their exhibit will be here. I encourage folks to attend.

"What's the Matter"

This is stuck in my head; it's from the Catie Curtis song "What's the Matter":

What if I am Black or Jew
straight or queer or mother of two
run around in a hippie dress
ride my bike in a leather vest?
What's the matter?

It's not too late for MWG...

from FLGBTQC's Mid-Winter Gathering Planning Committee:

IT'S NOT TOO LATE... to register for the 2008 FLGBTQC Mid-Winter Gathering!!!

In 2008, the FLGBTQC Mid-Winter Gathering will take place February 15-18 in Maple Lake, Minnesota (near the Twin Cities). Not only will you get a chance to meet new friends and catch up with old ones, you'll also have opportunities to:

* Hear a plenary address by Wendy Sanford, one of the original authors of "Our Bodies, Our Selves"
* Eat wonderful meals
* Dance to music by Minnesota's best contra and square dance band, Pig's Eye Landing
* Sit in front of a fireplace (either in the main communal spaces or in any of the lodges)
* Listen to Canadian singer/songwriter/spoken word artist Evalyn Parry
* Attend workshops or activities
* Play in the snow (or NOT play in the snow, should you prefer)
* Hear Minnesotan Friend Anne Supplee share stories of courage from the Bible
* Participate in the FLGBTQC silent auction
* Sing around the piano
* Participate in Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business
* Bake cookies (and eat them, of course)
* Gaze at millions of stars (and maybe even some Northern Lights)
* Enjoy a bonfire
* ___________________ (Fill-in-the-blank with whatever YOU are bringing to share with others!)

There are still plenty of spaces remaining. Costs are only $175 per adult and $40 for anyone under 18 years old. Work grants and scholarship funds are available. Additional information and registration forms are online at http://flgbtqc.quaker.org/gatherings.html. Questions can be addressed to us through that website or by phone (John Skinner at 612-371-4769 or Nordis
Heyerdahl at 952-927-5765).

All are welcome to Mid-Winter Gathering. We hope you can join us!

Some Thoughts on Silence and Silent Worship

Note: This piece appears in the February 2008 Ann Arbor Friends Meeting Newsletter.

I’d like you to try an experiment as you read this:

• First, sit for one minute without making any noise.
• Then, sit for one minute during which you center yourself and listen for that still, small voice within.

Did those two minutes feel a little different? completely different? similar? kind of the same? absolutely the same?

As unprogrammed Friends, we worship in silence: we gather in expectant waiting for That-Which-Is-Sacred to move among us. Silent worship is the root of our ministry to each other and to the world. Our ministry often may be that silent worship, in and of itself: those of us who’ve ever been part of a meeting for worship where there was no vocal ministry, but which was nonetheless deeply gathered, remember and treasure that experience. And even the most vocal of gathered meetings for worship are sustained by deep and ringing silence between messages. Our vocal ministry, and the ministry of the actions of our lives, come of the deep spiritual spring provided by silent worship.

In Ann Arbor Friends Meeting, we often say things like: “Let’s have some silence.” “We need to make sure we leave room for silence between messages.” “Please arrive early so there is time for silence before we begin.”

When we say these things, most of of know we are using the word “silence” as shorthand for “silent worship.”

But does everyone understand that? Is it truly clear that when we say “silence,” what we actually mean is “silent worship”?

This raises some other questions:
• In what ways is using such shorthand consistent with Quaker plain speech?
• Are we speaking in “Quaker code”? Does this obscure what we really mean, or does it clarify what we really mean?
• Research has documented that the language we use to talk about things affects how we think and act about them. Are we teaching Quakerism in an effective way when we use “silence” instead of “silent worship”?

And what’s the difference, anyway?

What was your experience in that experiment at the beginning?

Separation of Church and State

I highly recommend this article, from the January 2008 issue of Friends Journal: "Separation of Church and State," by George L. Alexander.

New! Labels, or Themes

For a while, I've been wanting to start using labels for some of the themes in this blog. The ones that originally made the most sense to me were the testimonies, and resources. I decided to use separate labels for the testimonies, rather than using one label called "testimonies." Earthcare, nature, and science are intertwined for me, but they're somewhat separated out in labels. I'll see over time how useful this whole label notion is, in what ways, and which ones are helpful. Feedback is always good.

For a list of themes/labels, see the column to the right. To see all the posts marked with that label, click on the label. (I've only labelled 2007; at some point, I may or may not label 2006.)

Thanks!

The seasons

I've been noticing a few things lately that I wanted to share:

- It used to be that on days when I left the house at 8 am, it was still dark. Now, on days when I leave the house at 8 am, it's light out.

- During the darkest months, it's one of my jobs to turn the lights on in the parking lot at work. Our last patient usually leaves at 6 pm. This week, I stopped turning the lights on in the parking lot, because it's now light enough out still at 6 pm to see to walk down the step and open your car. (Although it's still dark, usually, when I leave.)

On the other hand, the wind chill here has been below zero consistently of late... I'm aiming for a hot bath tonight, so I can be completely warm for a little while!

The 35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

On this 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, there's a bitter battle still raging over access to abortion in the US -- and indeed, many other parts of the world, in situations where US funding is an issue.

Where have you, personally, gotten your information about this important court decision? History textbooks in school? Personal experience? The stories of women who've confronted unwanted pregnancies? The internet? Planned Parenthood or NARAL? Right to Life? A faith community you grew up in or that you're currently part of? News coverage?

How about from the legal decision itself?

I invite you, regardless of your position on abortion, to read the actual decision of the United States Supreme Court.

How consistent is what the Justices actually wrote with what you've learned in other parts of your life about Roe v. Wade?

(For more information about the United States Constitution, click here.)

Notes on discomfort

Note in my Book of Shadows, from a Meeting for Worship back in November:
...........................
If I have to contort myself spiritually -- put myself through all sorts of mental gymnastics -- then it isn't home.

...........................

Which kinds of uncomfortable are mental gymnastics, and which kinds are spiritual challenges and spiritual growth?
...........................

One BIG ark

One of the reasons being a Pagan, being a Witch, works for me is because of science. For me, science is a way to continue to get to know the Goddess better. (I'm taking organic chemistry right now. I might need to be reminded of that statement when the going is really hard!) Science is all about how nature and the universe work. What could be cooler than that?

So, about Noah's Ark:

There does seem to be scientific evidence of a great flood.

Whether or not there was a man named Noah, or an ark, I do not know, and as far as I know, there's not scientific evidence one way or another.

That doesn't much bother me. If Noah and his ark existed, that's very cool; if not, it's still a neat story from which there's a lot to learn (faith, perseverance, resisting peer pressure, faithfulness, more).

So I don't believe or disbelieve that someone named Noah and his family had, say, giraffes and doves and elephants on a big boat during the flood.

However, I do not for one moment believe Noah, if he existed, had dinosaurs on his ark.

An Interview with Margaret Hope Bacon

Click here for a lovely and interesting interview with Quaker historian and author Margaret Hope Bacon, by FGC staff member Angelina Conti. Margaret's work includes The Quiet Rebels: The Story of Quakers in America; Mothers of Feminism: Quaker Women in America; In the Shadow of William Penn: Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting; and novel Year of Grace -- among many, many others.

Margaret is one of my favorite authors, particularly of Quaker history and related fiction.

Enjoy!

My thanks to Eric Evans for the note about this interview.

I held my nose and voted

I held my nose and voted.

And I had a surprisingly strong emotional reaction to the whole situation: the choices in front of me, the choices I made.

Did it make a difference? I don't know. But I refused not to vote.

Either way, MI's primary election sucked big time.

Michigan's primary

Okay, I realize there is no Constitutional guarantee to a primary vote. In fact, there were no presidential primary elections as such in the US until the early 20th century. But I grew up expecting to vote in presidential primaries, and have in fact voted in every presidential primary since I turned 18 years of age.

And this year, I'm feeling disenfranchised.

You see, this year, MI Republicans and Democrats united to get a law passed to change the date of the MI presidential primary. MI now has an "early" primary -- which violates the rules of both national parties.

I'm not familiar with all of the consequences for the Republicans, but as far as I know, all their candidates are still on the ballot, and they are losing half their delegates to the Republican National Convention.

As for the Democrats:

-- A number of Democratic candidates have withdrawn from the MI primary, including all but one of the major three. (Kucinich tried to withdraw. He is still on the ballot because, get this, he missed the deadline to withdraw.)

-- As things currently stand, none of MI's delegates will be seated at the Democratic National Convention. Ie, MI will have no say in selecting the Democratic presidential candidate.

Well, isn't this all lovely?

What does it actually mean?

The Democratic choices on the MI presidential primary ballot are Clinton, Dodd, Kucinich, Uncommitted, and Write-In.

-- If you write in a candidate, your vote will not be counted.

-- The MI Democratic Party is urging people to vote "Uncommitted," which would give the MI delegates to the Democratic National Convention the freedom to decide whom they think the Democratic presidential nominee should be.

(The MI Democratic party is insisting they'll "get things resolved" with the national party so that our delegates will be seated. Check out Jack Lessenberry's response to this nonsense. In a number of ways, the man speaks my mind.)

Right now, MI's delegates will not be seated at the convention, and therefore will have no say in choosing the Democratic presidential nominee. So, it looks to me as if it makes no difference which Democratic candidate I vote for in the primary.

However, I do have another option. I could vote for a Republican.

The two states where I've been registered to vote before, Maryland and Pennsylvania, had closed primaries -- you could only vote in the primary of the party with whom you were a registered voter. (This substantially cut down on the number of registered voters who registered as independent: if you wanted to vote in the primary, you registered with one of the parties.)

Michigan has an open primary, meaning you can vote for whomever you please, of whichever party.

This has big implications for this year's presidential primary in MI.

A number of MI voters who are registered Democrats are planning to vote (or have already voted, via absentee ballot) in the Republican primary.

None of the Republican candidates have withdrawn from the MI primary. And right now, the front-runners are Huckabee, Romney, and McCain.

This scares a number of non-Republicans. So, there are MI Democrats (and Greens, and Independents) who are planning to vote for, or have already voted for, John McCain.

Why McCain? As the perceived least reactionary/most reasonable Republican candidate. As a message to both the Democratic and Republican parties. As the only Republican candidate to oppose torture of detainees. To try to keep someone like Huckabee or Romney out of the White House. ("Anybody but ----.") (As a Quaker and a Witch, the torture issue is pretty important to me.)

So, I have a decision to make: to vote in the Democratic primary, or in the Republican primary.

Hmmm.

What happens to one, happens to all

Last Saturday, I ended up listening to This American Life, and I had a really strong reaction to this week's show. Especially the segment about Serry and her family.

Maybe it's because I had just read Susan Jacoby's book Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism. Or perhaps because I'd just read Jody Picoult's novel Nineteen Minutes, a story about bullying and school shootings.

I think that most of all, it's because I saw how easily what happened to Serry's family -- herself, her husband, and her kids -- could have happened to me. Could still happen to me.

In a country where we have a guaranteed Constitutional right to practice any religion or none at all, and where we each and all have equal protection under the law. Where there's a (wavering) "wall of separation" between church and state, which (theoretically) includes public schools. Where I don't always feel my Constitutional rights are well-honored. Where I can lose my job, my house, my kids, for being a lesbian or being a Witch -- for the gender of my partner and the gender of my Deity. Where the tyranny of the majority often trumps the rights of the individual.

In the situation with Serry and her family, the Department of Justice eventually got involved, at least with the school district. But it was too late: their lives, and their family, had already come apart. Their nine-year-old daughter had lost every one of her friends. The parents separated under the strain. They all moved.

How do we remedy that?

How do we explain it?

How do we keep things like this from happening? How do we protect ourselves and each other?

It's not enough to join or give money to organizations like the ACLU or Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. It's not enough to vote in both national and local elections. It's not enough to stand tall.

But those things are good places to start.

CPT seeks Anti-Racism Consultants

CPTnet
7 January 2008
CHICAGO/TORONTO: CPT requesting applications for Anti-Racism Consultants

Christian Peacemaker Teams is an international peace teams organization rooted in the historic peace churches that now includes support and participation from throughout the wider Christian community.* We have committed ourselves to a process of undoing racism within the organization. Therefore we request proposals for consultants who will bring an outside
perspective and expertise to support the work of CPT's Undoing-Racism Coordinator,** the Undoing Racism Working Group, and other bodies in CPT organizing for this transformative work. We are open to proposals from individuals and from organizations. The work of the consultant would include:

-Participating in the planning, facilitation and interpretation of an organization-wide anti-racism audit/assessment.

-Participating in the planning and formation of an organization-wide strategic plan for undoing racism in CPT based on the outcomes of the audit/assessment.

-Advising effective, just and safe structures and practices in areas such as leadership, power flow, accountability, reconciliation, policy formation and change, communication, peace team work processes, training, and internal organizing towards anti-racist identity and practice.

If you or your organization/team are interested in serving CPT as a consultant(s) for undoing racism please send the following to guest.905387@MennoLink.org by February 6, 2008

-Full contact information,

-An outline of your experience working with organizations' internal undoing racism initiatives, anti-racism audits, and strategic planning,

-A description of the strengths and training/educational background you bring to this work,

-Several paragraphs letting us know how you connect with the core values of CPT (Christian, Peacemaking, Team work)

-Contact information for six references including at least three leaders in organizations for which you have worked in a similar role.

-A brief description of how you work, and how you would propose working with CPT, including timeline of your availability

-A statement of what compensation you need for your consulting services including an estimate of total cost for your part in this process through the audit and initial strategic planning stages.

*For more background on CPT please see www.cpt.org

**Sylvia Morrison has recently been appointed to the internal staff position of CPT Undoing Racism Coordinator. See http://cpt.org/cptnet/2007/04/20/chicagotoronto-call-expressions-interest-and-nominations-cpt-undoing-racism-coordi for her job description.

"Code-switchers are not confused"

I'd like to bring your attention to Cat Chapin-Bishop's excellent post, "Code-Switching," on Quaker Pagan Reflections.

It's always very satisfying for me when someone puts something into words that reflects my experience or inner truth...

Thanks for your work, Cat!

Medical uses of honey in the news

A number of Witches and other Pagans have used honey for a long time for an assortment of ailments, from helping to heal cuts/scratches/lacerations, to soothing coughs and sore throats, to supporting and stimulating the immune system.

Honey is in the news again for its use for medical purposes. Two main items: the FDA recently approved Medihoney products for the use in the US, and recent studies and articles indicate that honey is better than over-the-counter cough meds -- which are being investigated for safety issues -- for kids' coughs.

Go, Mother Nature.

Financial assistance for MWG

A message from one of our (FLGBTQC's) co-Clerks to the listserv:

Please send your requests for travel assistance for midwinter gathering to the co-clerks by January 10th. That way we can let you know the amount you will receive before the registration deadline of January 15th.

Please ask for a specific amount. We encourage folks to also ask their local meeting and/or yearly meeting for funds, although we know that those funds are not always available. Don't let financial concerns keep you away. There is money in the budget for travel and we love to give it away. While we give first preference to folks serving the community and first-time attenders, there is enough $ to go around, so please ask!

If we don't receive your request by Jan 10th, we can't guarantee there will be funds left. So don't delay!

Love and Light,

Karen

To email the FLGBTQC Co-Clerks, please visit this link. For registration information, click here.

I am looking forward to time with our blessed FLGBTQC community!

FLGBTQC Mid-Winter Gathering 2008!

Hurrah! Complete information (including registration forms) is now available for the 2008 Mid-Winter Gathering of Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns.

Mid-Winter Gathering is a wonderful, magical experience, and I encourage LGBTQ and allied Friends to attend.

A number of my F/friends who are in mixed-gender relationships have expressed concern about coming. Please don't worry: you are welcome, and there will be other mixed-gender couples there. You will not feel awkward.

If accessibility is a concern, please do not let that concern prevent you from coming -- including financial accessibility. We are committed to making it possible for all members of our community to attend our Gatherings. (If you've ever been to any of our events, including at FGC Summer Gathering, if you're on our mailing list or email listserv, etc, if you feel like you are part of our community, you are.) For more information, see our philosophy of full accessibility.

I look forward to seeing Friends there!

What is FLGBTQC?

Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns is a Quaker faith community within the Religious Society of Friends. FLGBTQC deeply honors, affirms, and upholds that of God in all people.

We seek to know that of God within ourselves and others. We seek to express God's truth in the Quaker and in the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transsexual/transgender communities, as it is made known to us.

It is our hope to offer an oasis to those who have been spurned by the world at large. We are learning that radical inclusion and radical love bring further light to Quaker testimony and life. Our experience with oppression in our own lives leads us to seek ways to bring our witness to bear in the struggles of other oppressed peoples.

We gather twice a year, at our Mid-Winter gathering and at the Friends General Conference Annual Gathering of Friends in the summer. At these times we worship together, discern our corporate witness through Meeting for Worship with attention to business, share our individual journeys, celebrate our lives, heal old wounds, and draw sustenance from the Spirit for our work and life in the world. After almost thirty years, we are still learning to spread love in the face of rejection and hostility and to embrace new friends. We have found faith and voice to speak truth to power and the courage to be open to new revelation.

(adapted from a minute approved 15 Second Month 1999)

Besides looking forward to the chance to worship in wonderful community and spend time with neat people, I am looking forward to things like sledding down that "wicked sledding hill." And I'm thinking about taking my snowshoes. :)

This is so cool!

This year, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Jersey Shore (NJ) had a Winter Solstice Celebration based on A Winter Solstice Singing Ritual for the first time. They've been emailing me and Julie, and it sounds like it went really, really well.

In addition, they had some good coverage from their local newspaper, which you can read here.

Is that too cool or what?

Eight nights!

For the first time -- in my life, I think -- I have actually lit candles for all eight nights of Chanuka.

Third night

Blessed are You,
Goddess, our Goddess,
You Who are the universe,
in Whose honor we kindle
the Chanuka lights.

Second night

See Roz Chast's Eight Nights of Excuses.

Snow and birds...

We went back East for Thanksgiving, and returned to a confectioner's sugar dusting of snow on the ground here. Then over this weekend, a major storm came through the Midwest which started with snow, progressed to ice, and ended with rain. We had lots, and lots, and lots of rain.

This morning, we've had about an inch of snow, and it's quite lovely. (I confess that I like snow.) We have several bird feeders in front of our place, and the bird community is a lively place this morning.









from the top: dark-eyed juncos; mourning dove; fox squirrel; wren?; downy woodpecker.

First night

In my window
Where You can send Your glow
From my menorah
On newly-fallen snow
I will set You
One little candle
On this the first night
Of Chanuka.

- from Chanuka Chase (traditional? I find different sources for this)