For the Fourth of July, U.S. born Pope Leo left the Vatican early to make a short flight to the island of Lampedusa. Lampedusa is an 8-square mile windblown rock, about 110 miles south of Sicily, and 60 miles north of the Tunisian coast. Its population of 6000 depend on fishing, olives and tourism. … Continue reading Postcards from Lampedusa With Leo — July 4 2026
After sixty years among Quakers, I’ve developed a few seat-of-the-pants markers for evaluating yearly meetings (or YMs) annual sessions. These events are busy. Days are filled with committee meetings, workshops, fund appeals from service groups, wordsmithing save-the-world minutes to be sent to (& ignored by) the powerful, and in between, endless chatter. My Evaluation Form, … Continue reading How to Grow a Quaker Yearly Meeting: A Piedmont Case Study
Here’s a Quaker story for Juneteenth. When I wrote it, I had read John Woolman’s famous Journal (it’s online here, free, and if thee claims to be a Quaker, or even Quaker curious, Friend, thee should read it too. Here’s also a historian’s sketch of Woolman.). Like so many, I admired the book, and the … Continue reading A Quaker Story for Black History Month: John Woolman & the Slave Girl
The Defense Department dropped a big shoe yesterday (June 4): it released a revised list of “faith groups” (aka religions) that will continue to be recognized by the military. And the “good news” is, ” Quakers are on it. (There’s “bad” Quaker news on it too; we’ll get to that shortly.) This paperwork “shoe” is … Continue reading Jesus Loves (Quakers), This I Know — Because “Pope” Pete Hegseth Told Me So
“Write to Congress!” That’s what our Quaker lobby told us. “Frequently. Your letters make a difference.” Well, I was skeptical; but I did it anyway. For a year-plus. Did it make a difference? Sort of: it produced my new book: Whistles That Rhyme. But in Congress? That jury’s still out. I remain skeptical. Why? Two … Continue reading A New Book of Resistance Verse, Serious & Whimsical