[Note: this post is not as long as it may appear; some attachments are at the end for completeness and accuracy.] Two years ago next week, Sharon Smith met her match. It was on March 16, 2018, in a weekend anti-racism workshop at a suburban Asheville community center. It was presented by the Racial Equity … Continue reading SAYMA’s Not Safe, III: New Trouble: Threats Against Three Meetings
[Note: This post includes strong language.] Few Quakers I’ve run into are as certain of the divinely-mandated quality of their vocation as Sharon Smith, aka “The Intruder.” Last July 4, after she was confirmed as Clerk of the SAYMA Uplifting Racial Justice Committee, capping a three-year struggle, she put this with stark certainty in a … Continue reading SAYMA: “Born for this”? Or Standing in the Way?
Dear SAYMA, Recently I received an invitation to propose a workshop for SAYMA 2020 this June. [NOTE: SAYMA is the Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting & Association; it has member meetings in North & South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, West Virginia & Kentucky.] I have many fond memories of lively workshops and rich Quaker fellowship … Continue reading A Sad Yearly Meeting Report: SAYMA Is Not Safe
On Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2020, the Washington Post ran an engaging story of two independent-minded women who faced down the CIA and won. That’s our first story: The two women were Florence Thorne and Margaret Scattergood. The Post: Five thousand square feet, wide windows, a grand staircase, a front porch with a panoramic view … Continue reading Two Stories of Quaker Women: One True, One (Maybe) Fiction
The little church challenging the huge California Quaker megachurch (described in the blog post, David vs. Goliath, the “Friendly” Version, of January 30), won a round in court on January 31; but its reward was only a reprieve. The struggle over an aborted effort to help the homeless continues. Orange County superior court judge Thomas … Continue reading Midway City Update: Quaker David, Goliath & the Two Witnesses