A Friendly Letter

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                           --Traveling Wilburys

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Monthly Archives: November 2024

Henry Taylor: A Quaker Poet Departs — A Holiday Read

Late  one spring morning in 1986, I was creeping along the edge of Ox Road, Virginia route 123, driving with one hand, and shoving mail into the boxes on posts with the other.  I was a substitute rural mail carrier,  working a route just south of the seemingly nonexistent town of Fairfax Station. Beyond the … Continue reading Henry Taylor: A Quaker Poet Departs — A Holiday Read →

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A Sign of The Times, Our Times

 

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Maybe There’s Hope: Simon & Garfunkel Are Friends Again . . .

Maybe— This wasn’t written on the subway walls, or some tenement halls; It isn’t a mashup of parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme; Or the boxer, humming ly-la-lye while homeward bound. But maybe . . . it could turn out to be a Bridge Over Troubled Waters . . . The Guardian: ‘I was a fool’: … Continue reading Maybe There’s Hope: Simon & Garfunkel Are Friends Again . . . →

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New Issue of a Quaker Arts Journal — Now Online

Can art help us get through (and bear witness in) hard times?  The Fellowship of Quakers in the Arts (aka FQA) thinks so. A new example is the just-published issue of FQA’s journal, Types & Shadows, (aka T&S) online right now, right here. T&S was launched in 1996, the new issue is #101, for Autumn … Continue reading New Issue of a Quaker Arts Journal — Now Online →

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How Pizza, Porn & Public Executions Made Good Politics in North Carolina

Every Democrat who won a state-level race in North Carolina this week ought to be tossing  at least a fiver into a common hat. Then that wad of bills should be plunked down at Greensboro’s greasiest pizza parlor, to have at several dozen steamy pies delivered to the front porch of Chez Mark Robinson, topped … Continue reading How Pizza, Porn & Public Executions Made Good Politics in North Carolina →

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Classic 20th Century Quaker Books That Need to Live on

From “Tell It Slant,” Excerpt #2: Encouraging Rejections

(Excerpt #1 is here.) In the spring of 1956 — Chuck was in eighth grade — orders came for the family to  leave an Air Force base in California. His father, now a major, was...

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A Sparkling New Podcast on “Tell It Slant” – The Biography of Chuck Fager

Announcing A Brand-New, free podcast, now online at the link below: Tell It Slant-Podcast with Emma, Chuck & Mark A Review of Tell It Slant By Dan Whitley (Chuck, here is...

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A History of NOW and its Women who Made History

The Women of NOW review: superb history of feminist growth and groundswell Katherine Turk has produced a must-read on the group which did so much for American women in the 1960s and 70s Clara BinghamSat...

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John Calvi: Boon Companion for Spiritual Travel

English-speaking Quakers today are in dire need of some new “spiritual” books, and I have a top candidate to recommend here. It is John Calvi’s How far Have You Traveled? Amid all the wonderful stuff...

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Announcing: A Very Special Quaker Publishing Award

For years, I’ve been loudly protesting the sky-high, exclusionary prices on “academic” or “scholarly” books and monographs.  The particular focus of my ire has been publications by or about Quakers and Quakerism, though the price-gouging...

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Let’s Go Goatwalking, Friends

Jim Corbett was a fascinating guy, but like all of us he had his faults. In his amazing first book, he way overdid the self-deprecation: ”Goatwalking is a book for saddlebag or backpack —to live...

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Recent Books by Chuck Fager: Click a book for ordering information

New release

Selma Alabama Voting Rights March

. . .widely recognized as the most vivid and accurate account of the Selma movement . . .

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Memoir of early Civil Rights Movement .

. . vivid, revealing first-person counterpart to the author's highly-praised historical account, Selma 1965 . . .

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Iraq, Afghanistan Wars

Examines the strategy & tactics, successes & failures, history & future of faith-based work to end war, and to dismantle militarism and the repression it has spawned.

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Progressive Quaker Activism

Examines the neglected role of Progressive Quakers in 19th and 20th century activism -- abolition, women's rights & more.

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Progressive Quakers

How Progressive Quaker activism helped change America.

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Quaker Humor

A new collection of jokes, humorous anecdotes, cartoons and graphics about Quakers.

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Hey, Big Political Media — You MISSED Tuesday’s NC Political Earthquake!

Chuck Fager November 6, 2025

So 2025 is a municipal election year in North Carolina, with seemingly little to catch wider public attention. A crowd  of candidates with only local name recognition was running for...

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Ten Funny/Defiant Music Videos to Keep Your “NO KINGS” Spirits Humming

Chuck Fager October 25, 2025

On October 18, I helped host a ZOOM No Kings virtual rally, meant to include & encourage resisters who couldn’t attend in-person events. We didn’t want droning speeches, and had...

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Is Arthur Waskow Now Done With “Godwrestling”? I doubt it.

Chuck Fager October 23, 2025

In 1978, a Jewish writer-activist named Arthur Waskow published a book called Godwrestling. I read the book a year or two later, and have never forgotten it. Waskow died this...

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New Quaker Art Journal Now Online

Chuck Fager October 22, 2025

In these tough times, the arts can support resistance, endurance, and vitality. Yet Friends were firmly opposed to the arts for 200 years. That era is over, but in many...

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Homeland Invasion Update: 09-26-2025

Chuck Fager September 26, 2025

Homeland Invasion: Update 09-24-2025 – Chuck Fager Recent scenes from the front: — A combat vet protesting Chicago ICE raids, emerging from a thick cloud of their tear gas, unmasked...

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Adding Other Voices to the Memorial in Phoenix on Sunday

Chuck Fager September 21, 2025

Hear & Watch Black pastors Speak on Idolizing Charlie Kirk: Excerpts from clips compiled by Roland S. Martin on YouTube Martin: Black pastors from across the country certainly were not...

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