Hundreds of people said “Yes!” to my Facebook call for North Carolina officials to keep our citizens safe by standing firm on pandemic safety policies relating to the planned Republican National Convention set for Charlotte in August. Thank you to everyone who “Liked” or commented on it. Now I have a request for followup: Please send … Continue reading Governor Cooper & the GOP Convention: Keep Carolina Safe!
The May 25 New York Times features a description of MLK50, a scrappy, pot-stirring news operation in Memphis. MLK50 was started by Wendi Thomas, a Memphis native and veteran journalist. “We unapologetically exist to dismantle the status quo where it doesn’t serve low-income residents in Memphis, the overwhelming majority of whom are black,” Ms. Thomas … Continue reading The Spirit of Ida B. Wells returns to Memphis?
It didn’t look or feel like lighting the fuse to a load of dynamite. But that’s what West Richmond Friends Meeting in Indiana did in June 2008 when they added a minute to their website. They placed the post without fanfare. But the fuse, once lit, sputtered and flashed for several years, and the … Continue reading Indiana Trainwreck: Trauma in Midwestern Quakerdom
May 4, 2024 is the 54th anniversary of the Kent State killings of four students by National Guard troops during an anti-Vietnam war protest. Only a few years ago, on a balmy spring Sunday, was I able to visit & pay respects at Kent State, not far from Cleveland, with my good friend Henry Bloom, … Continue reading Kent State – May 4, 1970: Part One
In a time of all-encompassing catastrophe, bad news comes at us from all directions. But insight can come from anywhere as well. There’s much of this in an editorial in the April 17-30 issue of the liberal Catholic paper, the National Catholic Reporter, (NCR) entitled “Catholics and Trump, a reckoning.” I believe it calls for … Continue reading A Catholic Reckoning? How about an Evangelical Quaker Reckoning?