Musings on Dance, Food, Geek Stuff
The New York Times has an inspired write up about Quaker activist Benjamin Lay, “You’ll Never Be as Radical as This 18th-Century Quaker Dwarf.” It really speaks to my condition, as Friends say: “Lay, a hunchback as well as a dwarf, was the world’s first revolutionary abolitionist. Against the common sense of the day, when slavery…
Here is the message that was communicated from New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) to President-elect Donald Trump a few days ago. Although I have not attended Quaker Meeting for a very long time, I am still formally a member of the New York Yearly Meeting and the Brooklyn Monthly…
This video has all of the awesome: Spot on parody of the already excellent "The Fox" music video Interesting content about the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and our founder, George Fox Great production values, from music to cinematography, for a volunteer production Hilarious Quaker references: giving vocal ministry, the bonnets and hats, sitting…
Today I went to my first "programmed" Quaker Meeting for Worship, at the Berkeley Friends Church. There are many strains of Quakerism, only some fraction of which I am familiar with. One of the largest divisions among Quakers are between the "programmed" and "unprogrammed" Meetings for Worship. "Programmed" for Quakers refers to the kind of…
I am happy to share that a really beautiful new mural on a pro-migrant social justice theme is being officially unveiled on Friday August 26 in downtown San Francisco. On the northern wall of the San Francisco Quaker Meetinghouse, the new mural is called "67 Sueños" (67 dreams). Created by muralist Pancho Pescador in collaboration…
Yesterday at San Francisco Quaker Meeting, after the morning worship, I performed for the first time publicly my solo dance piece "The Message" before an audience of about 30 people. This is a personal piece that comes out of my experience at Quaker Meeting for Worship, particularly what Quakers refer to as "sharing a…
Here’s the gist of my message in Quaker Meeting today: I recently read an article on how the state of boredom is no longer a part of our daily experience. We have in our pockets small devices that allow us to entertain, amuse or at least stimulate us whenever we want, whether it is riding…
Rounding out my tour of local Quaker meetings and churches, on Sunday afternoon I found myself at the simple home of Pam Calvert and Helen Haug in Oakland. Pam and Helen have been holding a Quaker worship group in their home on Sunday afternoons for several years now. I have been wanting to attend this…
Today I finally got to check out the San Francisco Quaker Meeting, almost completing my tour of local Bay Area Quaker communities. A fairly nondescript building on 9th Street near Market, the San Francisco meeting gathers every Sunday at 11am for worship, followed by socializing and committee meetings. This morning there were about 30-40 Friends…
I realized reading through the #QuakerBuses tweets that I had long ago likened Quaker Meeting for Worship (aka "church") to being on the subway. This is a poem I wrote in 1997 called "Subterranean." subterranean I take the subway to churchSharing this unguarded early Sunday spaceWith others seeking their own destinationsTheir own agendas Who can…