Here is the article Margaret refered to:
Cloudy with a chance of war
Another play? Maybe!
Sunday, April 25, 2021
As I may have shared with you, I have been dealing with an unusual situation in our area. We have wild horses - feral really - and somebody shot four of them in town, and then, when people seemed to not get too mad, went and shot a couple more out in the country, or at least on a country road.
It is true that they are a little too successful in this area, and are somewhat of a hazard - not only on the road, but also in town, eating at the park or in the schoolyard where young kids could get hurt or trampled. It's not ideal. But shooting them wasn't quite cool either. For one thing, this person just left them there for someone else to clean up.
The question is, what is a good Quaker to do? I've been mulling it over. You can join the conversation, if there is one. It's mostly me and myself. I admit, I don't know what to do...
It is true that they are a little too successful in this area, and are somewhat of a hazard - not only on the road, but also in town, eating at the park or in the schoolyard where young kids could get hurt or trampled. It's not ideal. But shooting them wasn't quite cool either. For one thing, this person just left them there for someone else to clean up.
The question is, what is a good Quaker to do? I've been mulling it over. You can join the conversation, if there is one. It's mostly me and myself. I admit, I don't know what to do...
Milhous Cousins
Somewhat upbeat after seeing my John Bartram play performed on zoom, I have stepped up efforts to finish my new book of Quaker closet plays. Here is the latest one:
It is a story of Richard Nixon and Jessamyn West, second cousins who grew up in the East Whittier Friends Church community in what one could call rural LA (is that possible?). Jessamyn is in contrast to Nixon partly because, though not staying Evangelical as she was raised, she used her writing to explore Quakerism and took it seriously as a lifelong interest. Nixon, on the other hand, did not even try to be a Quaker, and ended up justifying burglary as a political action with political motives and justification.
As it says clearly on top, this is a first draft. If you see anything objectionable or even non-factual, I'd like to know. Most of the things they said, and I'm referring mostly to Jessamyn here, I'm not sure they actually said, but I tried to make them at least agreeable. In other words, I am not aware Jessamyn ever said anything about Nixon, besides that they were related, but I had her saying things that she wouldn't get mad about my attributing to her, hopefully. After all, Nixon was a public figure, and almost everyone had at least something to say about him.
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Update
New Quaker Play
Bombing the Quaker Zoom is a comedy, but undoubtedly lots of people will take it very seriously. It is the early days of Zoom Quaker meetings, so lots of people just won't try them, or have trouble with the technology when they do. Some of the other problems: being embarassed about the appearance of your living room, or having trouble clerking it - are barely touched here. In fact, if you think it should deal with these issues more, or touch other issues, let me (Tom) know as I can always make it bigger.
Maurine reports that she is feeling better, her skin is healing and she's about to start walking again, and also, will be moving to Indiana as soon as possible. She appreciates the concern shown by Cloud Quaker meeting (worship group) and sends her love!
This article, Turning, Turning by Emily Provance, seems to be saying a lot of things I've been saying. Namely that having all these Quakers on zoom is an opportunity that could change Quakerism for the better. You've heard me say it before. And I personally won't be the one who really moves the whole picture online, although my whole picture has certainly moved online. The play above is my humorous view of how changed everything is. Cheers! -Tom
Sunday, February 14, 2021
Resources with a Spiritual Kinship to Quakers
This is a good free film on nonviolence produced by the Metta Center in California.
63 Boycott screening
https://mettacenter.org/
posted 11 February, 2021 free till 3am ET 19 February
On October 22, 1963, more than 250,000 students boycotted the Chicago Public Schools to protest racial segregation. Many marched through the city calling for the resignation of School Superintendent Benjamin Willis, who placed trailers, dubbed ‘Willis Wagons,’ on playgrounds and parking lots of overcrowded black schools rather than let them enroll in nearby white schools. Blending unseen 16mm footage of the march shot by Kartemquin founder Gordon Quinn with the participants’ reflections today, ’63 Boycott connects the forgotten story of one of the largest northern civil rights demonstrations to contemporary issues around race, education, school closings, and youth activism.
When: Anytime between February 11-18
Where: Vimeo On-Demand
Click here for the link for the film.
https://www.flipcause.com/
How much: Please make a donation to support our programs. We recommend a $10 ticket donation. Options available.
https://mettacenter.org/
From nonviolence podcasts https://mettacenter.org/
Vandana Shiva ‘Neither Extinction nor escape’
December 21, 2020
https://mettacenter.org/ppr/
“… the ecofeminist option is a third option. Neither extinction nor escape. We stay here on this earth and protect her. That is the work we’ve done. That’s the work that we are called to do, and that’s the revolutionary work of our times. We know the earth is living and all ancient cultures recognized Mother Earth.” — Vandana Shiva
This week’s episode of Nonviolence Radio is a recording of a talk given by Vandana Shiva, environmentalist, activist, author, and scholar. For decades, Shiva has been advocating — nonviolently — for sustainable agriculture, for the rights of small farmers, for biodiversity, for women. She calls for a shift not only in the way we grow and distribute food, but a radical change in the way we understand our relationship with the earth.
While the environmental crisis we face today has led many to seek to escape (for instance, through space travel) or become pessimistic, convinced of our species’ imminent extinction, Shiva sees a third possibility: ecofeminism.
Sunday, February 7, 2021
Quaker Poetry
From my experience with the Cloud Quakers, they have quite a creative streak! One of our members has written some beautiful and thought-provoking poetry. Please take a look at two poems below!
Felled Infodemic
The infodemic has been spotted
sleeping fetal position in ditches
by the roadside now.
Even curious bobcats, packs
of feral dogs turn away.
When awoken, this gigolo,
so used to cleaving to wrath and untruths,
re-arranges himself in elbow and knee
threadbare thrift store garments, that reek
like the well-trodden, popcorn grey rug beneath,
not steam-cleaned for years.
There are few oases for the honest worker,
laborer, in excluding corporate deserts-
the sweating letter carrier donning an oyster-white sun helmet,
her hat turning bisque from exposure, use-
the guys who rinse the ceiling of the Holland Tunnel
out of trucks with long hoses at 3:30 AM,
invisible as NYC's early morning garbage men.
Those pre-positioned by culture, birth,
or just lucky enough to drink,
think they've outsmarted the awoken
bespoken to justice, struggle, peace
on their hoarder chessboards.
They dip their heads
like roomy and hollow-chinned pelicans
sucking up, storing tax cuts welfare,
and I dare opine,
if the poor are the ones
destined for heaven,
as still promised over two millennia,
why are most obsessed
with restoring the middle class?
You can work full-time
and still be poor-
this is not what we were created for.
1/23/2021
F.T.
The Baby Jesus Is A Joy Bomb
Everybody loves that itty-bitty baby Jesus. There he is in a barn, supine, flailing his arms in a makeshift feeding trough lined with straw, wailing those kinds of infant cries that sometimes piss off middle-aged men on airplanes, shooting looks at mothers in consternation, then resentful resignation. The first to see the Cosmic Christ were some cows, warming him up with their breath too, I hope; curious donkeys, sheep, goats, mice. Maybe a puppy, a kitten were there- that would've been nice. If St. Joseph was up a dirt way talking logistics while his 14 year old spouse was giving birth as I imagine was the custom those days, then "lowly beasts" were placed to illumine their worth too, just like that holy peanut was for homo sapien you. Last Christmas eve, 10 minutes before midnight, I excused myself from a repass to attend to a nagging task. A neighbor left a shattered bedroom dressing mirror on the corner sidewalk for days. Thousands of chunks and shards of glass in a sheet, waiting to impale the paws of urban wildlife traveling through the night. No one on the block moved to remove it. People up, feast-sated, still celebrating, the streets fallow, a quiescent-of-sound kind of vibe in the air. I went to my shed and grabbed a bin and broom, cleaned up that 15 pound mess, checked the late night street lamp light at different angles to find straggler shards that could puncture, harm, hidden in grey crannies, then triple bagged and tossed them. Happy Birthday, baby Jesus. This is for you, because you love all of your friends, not just bleaters, brayers, and moo-ers presented in seasonal, sentimental manger illustrations, but living among us. Then a hidden joy bomb exploded in my chest. No one saw it, or ever will. But I think my new community cat rescue Kamala, a calico, has come to feel its pull.
F.T.
12/20/20
Wednesday, February 3, 2021
Hold Them In The Light
At this week's Cloud Quakers worship session, the expression "hold them in the light" was uttered on a few occasions. This struck me as a uniquely Quaker phrasing. I gathered that this term meant to pray for someone, but I did a little googling to confirm my assumptions.
I found several sites that did indeed indicate it was a way to articulate you are praying for someone. It references light over darkness, that the light reflects God, or the spirit. One site mentioned an anecdote about prisoners of war literally lifting each other up to the tiny window that allowed light to come in. This poignant write up by one author distinguished holding someone in the light, versus holding someone to the light. Holding someone or oneself to the light is less of an ask for God to help someone who is struggling to heal; but rather, for the individual or oneself to stay on the side of the good/of God - that the spirit would wash over the person so the they would choose the God way. Maybe some would say it's an unnecessary distinction, but it resonated with me. He closed his write up with:
We live in the light.
We live and hold others in the light.
We. hold ourselves and others to the light.
I am in the midst of an organizing effort in my community which led me to not only offer up holding me and the other organizers in the light, but holding potentially corrupt village officials and a sleazy, bullying developer to the light. I am sure we all have many we hold in the light, but probably we all can think of several others - including ourselves - that we need to hold to the light.
On the topic of actions and organizing, one thing I love about the Quakers is that they feel compelled to take actions when they see injustice or oppression - moreso than most other Christian religions (I admit ignorance to non-Christian religions, but for Judaism). Quakers don't seem too content to just sit and pray, solely. Is that why they are called Quakers, because they quake with a sense of urgency and action? Growing up Catholic, my mother was very involved with the social justice niche of Catholicism, though it seems that type of Catholic is the exception these days (however, the current Pope sure seems to reflect a social justice action approach). My father was Methodist, and had a very social justice-minded upbringing, as well. But modern Christianity seems to suggest Christians are living a good life, so long as they take actions to oppose abortion, homosexuality, secularism, etc. In fact, many of todays Christians are far right on the political spectrum, opposing social programs that aid the poor. My mother, being very pro-life in addition to social justice-minded, tends to think modern day Christians are right leaning politically because liberals refusal to consider abortion as an immoral act. My mother's strong convictions put me in conflict with pretty much every progressive activist I know, so I tend to ignore the abortion debate, for peace of mind. Interestingly, I do not hear Quakers mention it much, which has been helpful for my being able to experience God through Quaker kinship and worship. I have perceived that Quakers seem to revere life, and appear positive and hopeful towards their fellow humans, and maybe all life forms. We seek to "hold them in the light." But, Quakers also seem not to judge, which I think is an aspect of the abortion divide that usually puts someone on the pro-choice side. Ah, it's certainly a tricky topic! I have pondered often if I revere life. Humanity these days has gotten me down. Some days I think I revere only non-human life. This has become a trying subject for me, but I am finding Quaker worship to help me view humanity positively. Or maybe, just to have hope in general.
Until next time, I look forward to your comments, and please feel free to email me at reschafer@gmail.com if you would like to contribute something to the blog.
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