A year ago, on October 10, 2019, I had a stroke. And I saw a vision of my future. It started in the living room, about 7AM. I was in my battered recliner, reading newspapers on an Ipad. Across from me, on our long couch, grandson Calvin was stirring. His mom worked nights at Waffle … Continue reading A Whole Year In One Stroke
<one> The time I spent in the civil rights struggle for Black voting rights in 1965 was a very important part of my life. And the time I spent working for the Postal Service (USPS), beginning twenty years later in 1985, was important too. But the two experiences were very different, so different I couldn’t … Continue reading Karmic Collision – I: The Post Office, Voting Rights & Me. Dog Days Reading.
The Quaker Widow, By Bayard Taylor THEE finds me in the garden, Hannah,—come in! ’T is kind of theeTo wait until the Friends were gone, who came to comfort me.The still and quiet company a peace may give, indeed,But blessed is the single heart that comes to us at need. Come, sit thee down! Here … Continue reading “The Quaker Widow”: A diverting poem for our moment?
Cambridge, Massachusetts, late 1970s “Heads up!” called the voice from the basement. “Here come the bags!” When they heard the cry a hundred men and women straightened up, like ragtag soldiers jerking to attention. Spaced about three feet apart, they stood in a line that ran from the open end of a big tractor-trailer truck … Continue reading A Between-the-Holidays Quaker Holiday Story: Beethoven in the Basement
From Marian Rhys, “Life: The Great Balancing Act,” in Passing the Torch Despite [a youthful] service-work connection with Friends, it was not until my early twenties that I became engaged with them on any regular basis. By that time, I had begun to feel the need for some spirituality in my life, and started attending … Continue reading “Passing the Torch,” Author Speak #5: “I stopped trying to talk with Friends about evil . . .”