From GlennReinhart at aol.com Fri Apr 1 06:29:37 2005 From: GlennReinhart at aol.com (GlennReinhart at aol.com) Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 05:29:37 EST Subject: [saymaListserv] Quakers in the News - 4/1/2005 Message-ID: <1a1.30c3899c.2f7e7c91@aol.com> Dear Friend, Please find below Quakers in the News for the week ending 4th Month, 1, 2005 To comment on News Stories or visit the archive of previous postings, please visit http://quakersinthenews.blogspot.com Friend, Glenn ---------- The most widely reported article of the week is: Quaker Schools /Earlham/Politics and Economics/Conservative gets pie in eye at Quaker college/Chicago Sun-Times/Chicago/IL/USA/31-Mar-05/Associated Press 37 Instances in Major and Mid-Market Newspapers in the U.S. and U.K. The second most widely reported article is: FCNL/Politics and Economics/United Nations/Bolton faces stiff fight over UN nomination/Chicago Tribune/Chicago/IL/USA/31-Mar-05/LA Times 7 instances in Major Market Newspapers in the U.S. Other stories reported this week were: Cateogories/Article Title/NewsSource/City/Region/LGRegion/Date/WireService Arts/Theater/Nixon//`Red Herring's' cast wields a wide net/Chicago Tribune /Chicago/IL/USA/26-Mar-05 Arts/Theater/Literature/Starbuck/Our Man in Arlington/Falls Church News Press/Falls Church/VA/USA/31-Mar-05 Arts/Music/James Dean/She enjoys playing God's music/Marion Times/Marion/IN/USA/30-Mar-05 Arts/Painting/Radicalism/Socialism/Artist put seaside folk in the picture /Norfolk Eastern Daily Press/Norfolk/England/UK/31-Mar-05 Business/Quaker Schools//Teens talk fads, fashions, credit/Bergen Record/Hackensack/NJ/USA/29-Mar-05/Knight-Ridder Business Integrity/Investment//Diana Clement: Weeding out ungodly companies /New Zealand Herald/Auckland/NZ/Oceania/26-Mar-05 Community /Meetinghouse/Home Schooling/Clarke home-schooler competes in state geography bee/Centreville Times/Centreville/VA/USA/31-Mar-05 Family Court/Youth Services//Families plan to picket YOC/Muncie Star Press/Muncie/IN/USA/30-Mar-05 Natural Science/Business /Obituary//Renowned horticulturalist dies aged 98 /Norfolk Eastern Daily Press/Norfolk/England/UK/31-Mar-05 Non-violence/Youth Program/AFSC//Quakers to launch nonviolence program /SouthCoastToday.com/New Bedford/MA/USA/31-Mar-05 Pacifism/Science/Eddington//Centenario - Einstein publishes article that changes Physics/Semana/Bogota/Columbia/S.A./25-Mar-05 Prayer/Nixon/Book Review/A faith-based view of history/Los Angeles Times/Los Angeles/CA/USA/27-Mar-05 Quaker History/Slavery /Underground Railroad/Business/Masons Honor Pepper /Alexandria Gazette Packet/Alexandria/VA/USA/31-Mar-05 Quaker History/Religious Diversity//Historian Gould introduces Newcomers to Old Comers/Barnstable Patriot/Barnstable/MA/USA/31-Mar-05 Quaker History/Architecture/Fire//Fire sweeps through oldest meeting house /Guardian/London/England/UK/30-Mar-05 Quaker History/Slavery /Underground Railroad/Freedom connection/Newsday/Long Island/NY/USA/31-Mar-05 Quaker History/Natural Science Mythology still larger than life in Tasmania / Age/Sydney/Australia/Oceania/25-Mar-05 Quaker History/Pacifism/Military Service/Whittier Museum curator leaving for New Mexico post/Whittier Daily News/Whittier/CA/USA/31-Mar-05 Quaker Schools /Trust/Silence//School teaches student value of silence/The Daily Orange/Syracuse/NY/USA/31-Mar-05 Religious Faith /Health Care/Love thy neighbour Times Online/London/England/UK/25-Mar-05 Seriousness/Humorlessness//German Heat!/SF Weekly/San Francisco/CA/USA/30-Mar-05 Silence/Stress Management//Mind your own business for a weekend/Shoreline Times/New Haven/CT/USA/30-Mar-05 War/Conscientious Objection /Draft//Peace churches warn of ?back door draft? /The Christian Century/Chicago/IL/USA/27-Mar-05 War/Counter-Recruiting/Politics and Economics/Cookville, TN/Inside the First Amendment: Censors say the darnedest things/Naples Daily News/Naples/FL/USA/27-Mar-05 AFSC/Homelessness//Nights with the homeless/Concord Monitor/Concord/NH/USA/27-Mar-05 AFSC/War/Boots//Exhibit shows the human cost of war/Corvallis Gazette Times/Corvallis/OR/USA/28-Mar-05 AFSC/War///Foundation is tapping experience/Kansas City Star/Kansas City/MO/USA/25-Mar-05 AFSC/Politics and Economics/CAFTA//Guatemalan bishop joins voices opposing trade treaty/National Catholic Reporter/Kansas City/MO/USA/29-Mar-05 AFSC/Politics and Economics/Women//City calendar: March 28 to April 3, 2005 /Pittsburgh Post Gazette/Pittsburgh/PA/USA/28-Mar-05 AFSC/War/Boots//Memorial's Aim is to Open Eyes to Human Cost of War/KXTV/San Francisco/CA/USA/31-Mar-05 AFSC/War/Boots//Memorials seek to make public grief personal/San Francisco Chronicle/San Francisco/CA/USA/31-Mar-05 AFSC/War/Boots//SAN FRANCISCO/San Francisco Chronicle/San Francisco/Ca/USA/26-Mar-05 AFSC/War/Boots//HUMAN COST OF WAR/San Jose Mercury News/San Jose/CA/USA/26-Mar -05 AFSC/Prison Reform/Privatization/Report: No reliable data on private prison savings/Northwest Explorer/Tucson/AZ/USA/30-Mar-05 AFSC/Immigration/Minuteman/'Minuteman' organizers depart from Oceanside for Arizona border/North County Times/Ventura/CA/USA/30-Mar-05 AFSC/Immigration/Minuteman/Activists to monitor border vigil/Washington Times/Washington/DC/USA/29-Mar-05 AFSC/War/Boots//Fallen US military personnel honored in Capitol Park/Daily Democra/Woodland/CA/USA/31-Mar-05 AFSC/War/Boots//Haunting Iraq War Exhibit Makes Its Way through California /New California Media/CA/USA/25-Mar-05 AFSC/Death Penalty//'Hamp forum predicts end of death penalty/The Republican/MA/USA/27-Mar-05 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From nc_stereoman at charter.net Fri Apr 1 13:35:51 2005 From: nc_stereoman at charter.net (Steve Livingston) Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 12:35:51 -0500 Subject: [saymaListserv] Quakers in the News - 4/1/2005 In-Reply-To: <1a1.30c3899c.2f7e7c91@aol.com> Message-ID: <424D4027.13590.648D9C8@localhost> What a shame that the most widely reported article of the week is: > Conservative gets pie > in eye at Quaker college/Chicago And an even greater shame that one story that is most deserving of reportage has gone unnoticed. I direct my fellow SAYMA Friends to the Christian Peacemakers Team's current press release at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cpthebron/message/580 Here you will learn that Peacemakers are helping Palestinian peasants in the very dangerous process of removing highly toxic poison from their livestock's grazing fields, after this Chemical Weapon was deployed twice in one week, presumably by terrorists from a neighboring Israeli settlement. Why is this story deserving of coverage? First, because it is indicative of the ongoing acts of oppression and terrorism suffered by Palestinians, especially women and children. Second, because the Christian Peacemakers consistently make a clear distinction between peace- loving, considerate Israeli's and those who commit acts of oppression and terrorism - for example, in this story we learn that it was an Israeli who reported the poisoning to the police. Third, because this and other stories on the CPT listserv give us Americans a glimpse into the lives of the people of the West Bank, how their lives are affected by the apartheid policies of the Sharon government, and how they adapt their lives to the persecutions that they suffer. This story is of particular importance to us as Quakers because the Christian Peacemakers practice non-violence in a way that is exemplary to Friends. They speak truth to power, they defend the innocent with their presence and their good will, and they constantly seek that of the Divine in those whom they must confront, and answer to it. This story is of particular concern to SAYMA Friends, and Asheville Friends especially, because among the CPT'ers we have a Traveling Minister, Christy Bischoff, who is involved in the cleanup effort. Please hold her in the Light, Friends, as she must use her hands to touch this highly toxic chemical, and breathe its fumes. Please pray that it does not rain before the cleanup is completed. Steve From freepolazzo at comcast.net Fri Apr 1 19:22:13 2005 From: freepolazzo at comcast.net (free polazzo) Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 18:22:13 -0500 Subject: [saymaListserv] Afganistan turning into a "Huge US Jail" Message-ID: <6.2.1.2.2.20050401181031.031a4258@mail.comcast.net> Hello Friends, War is not the answer! We know this in our Quaker souls. How to help those who think that the "ends justifies the means!"? Perhaps it's by staying informed of the truth of the war against terror. (and all the other wars the US is fighting). US Citizens are NOT being told the truth about how we are treating prisoners we take captive. If they knew, perhaps the mistreatment would stop. Remember that our Quaker ancestors languished in jails for no reason other than they worshiped in ways that were not accepted by the governments in power. Let us not forget them as new prisoners are mistreated by our government. The article from "Truthout.org" tells what is happening in Afganistan. Not reported in the media, so we have to use SAYMA Kitenet to get the truth out. An excerpt from the attached article is copied below: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "And perhaps this event above all others - of a nervous phalanx of US marines forcing its way across a prayer ground on one of the holiest, most joyous days in the Islamic calendar, an itching trigger away from a Somalian-style dogfight of their own making - is the one that encapsulates everything that has gone wrong with the global war against terror. The US army came to Afghanistan as liberators and now are feared as governors, judges and jailers. How many US marines know what James Madison, an architect of the US constitution, wrote in 1788? Reflecting on the War of Independence in which Americans were arbitrarily arrested and detained without trial by British forces, Madison concluded that the "accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judiciary, in the same hands may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny" The full article can be found at: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/040105C.shtml Long but important. Blessings, Free Peace doesn't mean "Peace of Mind" I -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From GlennReinhart at aol.com Sat Apr 2 09:28:17 2005 From: GlennReinhart at aol.com (GlennReinhart at aol.com) Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2005 08:28:17 EST Subject: [saymaListserv] Re: CPT Message-ID: Dear Steve, Thanks for your message. There were a few stories about the CPT in the last two months. One is: http://quakersinthenews.blogspot.com/2005/03/war-christian-peacemakeriraq.html The other one is: http://quakersinthenews.blogspot.com/2005/03/christian-peacemaker-terms-war.html In Peace, Glenn -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From nwinfrey at bellsouth.net Sat Apr 2 12:28:14 2005 From: nwinfrey at bellsouth.net (Nancy Winfrey) Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2005 11:28:14 -0500 Subject: [saymaListserv] Afganistan turning into a "Huge US Jail" Message-ID: <6.2.1.2.2.20050402112635.0312f798@mail.comcast.net> Hello Friends, Nancy said it would be ok to pass this message on to the SAYMA list. Blessings, Free ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The abuses of power are not new. Once again, there are many causes, from inexperienced soldiers all the way to those who join the military because it is a milieu where cruel tendencies can be indulged. God alone knows when our civilization will be ready to forego violence. Until then, as a Quaker, I feel I have two duties: 1. Being an example - which means not using violence and speaking out against it when encountered. 2. Persuading others to follow that example, which only works one-on-one. Even Jesus wasn't successful in converting everyone, nor did he expect to. The parable about the sower and the seed illustrated this. When God wills a complete change, non-violence will become a human attribute for all. Until then, all I can do is pray for peace and follow the above. In addition, "Speaking Truth to Power" when opportunity arises, and being an educated and concerned citizen who votes is a third duty. Nancy Winfrey [] -------Original Message------- From: free polazzo Date: 04/01/05 18:22:23 To: sayma at kitenet.net; Atlanta Friends Meeting Subject: [saymaListserv] Afganistan turning into a "Huge US Jail" Hello Friends, War is not the answer! We know this in our Quaker souls. How to help those who think that the "ends justifies the means!"? Perhaps it's by staying informed of the truth of the war against terror. (and all the other wars the US is fighting). US Citizens are NOT being told the truth about how we are treating prisoners we take captive. If they knew, perhaps the mistreatment would stop. Remember that our Quaker ancestors languished in jails for no reason other than they worshiped in ways that were not accepted by the governments in power. Let us not forget them as new prisoners are mistreated by our government. The article from "Truthout.org" tells what is happening in Afganistan. Not reported in the media, so we have to use SAYMA Kitenet to get the truth out. An excerpt from the attached article is copied below: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "And perhaps this event above all others - of a nervous phalanx of US marines forcing its way across a prayer ground on one of the holiest, most joyous days in the Islamic calendar, an itching trigger away from a Somalian-style dogfight of their own making - is the one that encapsulates everything that has gone wrong with the global war against terror. The US army came to Afghanistan as liberators and now are feared as governors, judges and jailers. How many US marines know what James Madison, an architect of the US constitution, wrote in 1788? Reflecting on the War of Independence in which Americans were arbitrarily arrested and detained without trial by British forces, Madison concluded that the "accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judiciary, in the same hands may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny" The full article can be found at: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/040105C.shtml Long but important. Blessings, Free Peace doesn't mean "Peace of Mind" -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 1dcf47f8.gif Type: image/gif Size: 19576 bytes Desc: not available URL: From jhminshall at comcast.net Sat Apr 2 19:19:57 2005 From: jhminshall at comcast.net (Janet Minshall) Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2005 18:19:57 -0500 Subject: Fwd: Re: [saymaListserv] Fwd: Globalization and the Poor: Do Quakers have a realistic view of world poverty? Message-ID: Hi Again Bill Reynolds, I will answer your question about documentation of my commments in my 3/28 message concerning globalization and outsourcing and how the companies which go abroad "most usually pay significantly better wages, provide better benefits and combat sexual, class and cultural/tribal/caste discrimination more effectively than do local employers in the countries where they send their work". First I have to tell you that I have read examples which illustrate this cause/effect relationship for many, many years. I don't have access to a good academic economics library to go back and find the chain of articles that lead me to my conclusions but it exists. However, my primary interest is in reading and writing popular political economics and so I am familiar with the location of current detailed commentary from that area which is relevant to your question. All of the academics who write for a popular audience about the economic areas that most grab my attention, my head and my heart, do also provide the necessary footnotes so I am able to respond to your question with references which have extensive footnotes. The examples which you seek are actually in the two books I referenced in that last message - In Defense of Globalization by Jagdish Bhagwati and Why Globalization Works, by Martin Wolf. Of the two, Bhagwati's book is more responsive in many ways to the concerns of anti-globalizers than is Wolf's. In general, he gives details from a longer perspective in economic history, which may be the result of his being older. In Chapter 1, pg. 10, "Anti-globalization, Why?" Bhagwati begins telling the history of the current anti-globalization movement from his perspective. Read it. It is short and to the point and provides continuity between anticapitalism as a Socialist focus before the wars to antiglobalization as a wider focus after the wars. Both Bhagwati and Wolf get carried away from their reader's interests at times by pedantic concerns or repetitiveness, but they are both worth reading. Bhagwati starts his comments relevant to your question with the first intensive efforts at globalization and outsourcing after WWII -- in Japan. All of us over 65 recall that after WWII, suddenly we in the US began to be inundated in the stores with articles made in Japan. That was the result of the efforts made by the US and its allies to bring their two major foes during the war, Japan and Germany, back to economic and political equilibrium to minimize the possibility of further wars. Indeed, from WWII on, increasingly, economics became the focus of the same competitiveness and passion as armed conflict and the coveting of another's land and military had been up to that time. As a result of Marshall Plan type economic development, Europe became the major market for Germany and the US became the major market for Japan. Bhagwati cites the importance of the exchange of management personnel and the exchange of students to and from Japan as being one of the most effective steps in post WWII globalization efforts. In his Chapter 7, pg.73-74-75, "Women: Harmed or Helped?" Bhagwati uses that exchange as an example of the beginning of the emancipation of women in Japan. Japanese male executives were first sent to the US with their wives and children. Wives saw how women lived, worked and went to college in the US and began slowly pressuring for similar opportunities in Japan, as did the wives of college and graduate students after they returned home. (Remember that now, in 2005, many, many more countries where multinationals are operating are sending their foreign executive personnel with their families to live and work in the US for awhile, and 60% of the students in US graduate schools are foreign students who often bring their wives and children along, just as the Japanese did). Similarly, Japanese men learned back then during their time in the US, and continue to learn more significantly over time that the old habits of paying women lower wages for the same work that men did was no longer acceptable. They have learned that "prejudice has its price: any firm that indulges in it is going to be at a competitive disadvantage to firms that hire without this prejudice....Now if there is a closed economy and all domestic firms share this prejudice (and pay women a lower wage) all firms will be equally handicapped. But when we introduce foreign competition, the foreign firms that do not share this prejudice will be able to gain in competitiveness against domestic firms....Liberalized trade which enables foreign firms to compete with domestic firms in open markets, therefore, puts pressure on domestic firms to shed their prejudice. The gender wage gap will then be reduced in industries that must compete with imports produced by unprejudiced firms elsewhere." This same principle applies even more widely now, both in regard to multinationals who move production abroad to take advantage of a lower wage structure and to the process of outsourcing to cheaper labor markets. Multinationals and outsourcers have easy access to traditional domestic labor forces as long as they they pay somewhat higher wages and provide equal wages for equal work. In the rest of the globalizing world both women and minorities in countries whose producers have traditionally paid lower wages on the basis of sexual, class, caste or color prejudices are experiencing a progressively rising wage scale and a higher standard of living. If a woman or minority worker's current domestic employer won't pay them adequately they can go to the other side of town, or even move to the outskirts of a nearby city, and work for a higher wage for a multinational or a domestic company with an outsourcing contract. To counter the loss of trained laborers in this manner, domestic producers must adjust their wages and their discriminatory hiring and benefits policies to retain their workers. This opening up of foreign labor markets ultimately produces the impressive statistics I cited in my first message about the significant and continuing reduction of world poverty in those countries which are in process of globalizing. Janet Minshall Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 12:11:45 -0500 To: CIsland at aol.com From: Janet Minshall Subject: Re: [saymaListserv] Fwd: Globalization and the Poor: Do Quakers have a realis... Cc: Bcc: X-Attachments: Hi Bill Reynolds, Thanks for your question. I'm in the midst of a medical emergency right now but will respond as soon as I'm able. Janet Bill Reynolds wrote on 3-29-05: In a message dated 3/28/2005 9:19:47 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, jhminshall at comcast.net writes: Our companies which outsource most usually pay significantly better wages, provide better benefits and combat sexual, class and cultural/tribal/caste discrimination more effectively than local employers in the countries where they send their work. Janet, I would like to see two or three specific examples of companies outsourcing as you describe here with some concrete detailed examples of how they accomplish these various ideals. Such detailed examples would make these points more real to me. Thanks, Bill Reynolds "Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders, than from the arguments of its opposers." - William Penn [I have added this quote to my signature setting. I did not attach it for you or anyone else in particular but simply for general awareness.] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From reddeanna at charter.net Mon Apr 4 20:49:30 2005 From: reddeanna at charter.net (Red & Deanna) Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 19:49:30 -0500 Subject: [saymaListserv] SAYMA bookstore Message-ID: <004101c53979$539d2200$2d109f18@D714S421> Greetings, Friends, The bookstore will again be open during SAYMA's Yearly Meeting. Y-a-a-a-y! I would like to line some volunteers up in advance if possible. Here are the dates and times. Thursday, June 9 6:00 - 6:45 PM 9:30 - 10:30 PM Friday, June 11 11:00 AM - 12 noon 1:00 - 5:00 PM 6:00 - 6:45 PM 9:30 - 10:30 PM Saturday, June 12 2:15 - 5:00 PM 6:00 - 6:45 PM 9:30 - 10:30 PM Sunday, June 13 9 AM - 12 noon (repack for shipment) If you would like a chance to "mind the store," contact me at reddeanna at charter.net and let me know your name, e-mail address, and time you would like to serve. I still say it's a wonderful thing to be in a room filled with books and Quakers! See you in June. Peace, Deanna Nipp SAYMA Bookstore Coordinator reddeanna at charter.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bright_crow at mindspring.com Mon Apr 4 22:21:13 2005 From: bright_crow at mindspring.com (Michael Austin Shell) Date: Mon, 04 Apr 2005 22:21:13 -0400 Subject: [saymaListserv] Fwd: Oppose REAL ID Act Message-ID: <6.1.2.0.0.20050404222014.02935660@pop.mindspring.com> >Friends, >Please write or call your senators to ask them to oppose the REAL ID >Act. This is urgent! > >I appreciate your help. Thanks >Joyce Miller, AFSC/Community Relations Division -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: AFSC Talking Points on REAL ID 3-24-05.doc Type: application/msword Size: 47104 bytes Desc: not available URL: From jewen at bellsouth.net Sun Apr 3 17:38:07 2005 From: jewen at bellsouth.net (Julia Ewen) Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 17:38:07 -0400 Subject: [afmdiscussion] Fwd: Re: [saymaListserv] Fwd: Globalization and the Poor: Do Quakers have a realistic view of world poverty? References: Message-ID: <001501c53895$6d027f90$6101a8c0@amd1gig> Thanks to Janet for a very interesting and helpful letter, in which she wrote in part. citing Bhagwati: >Japanese male executives were first sent to the US with > their wives and children. Wives saw how women lived, worked and went > to college in the US and began slowly pressuring for similar > opportunities in Japan, as did the wives of college and graduate > students after they returned home. (Remember that now, in 2005, many, > many more countries where multinationals are operating are sending > their foreign executive personnel with their families to live and > work in the US for awhile, and 60% of the students in US graduate > schools are foreign students who often bring their wives and children > along, just as the Japanese did). > > Similarly, Japanese men learned back then during their time in the > US, and continue to learn more significantly over time that the old > habits of paying women lower wages for the same work that men did was > no longer acceptable. They have learned that "prejudice has its > price: any firm that indulges in it is going to be at a competitive > disadvantage to firms that hire without this prejudice....Now if > there is a closed economy and all domestic firms share this prejudice > (and pay women a lower wage) all firms will be equally handicapped. > But when we introduce foreign competition, the foreign firms that do > not share this prejudice will be able to gain in competitiveness > against domestic firms....Liberalized trade which enables foreign > firms to compete with domestic firms in open markets, therefore, puts > pressure on domestic firms to shed their prejudice. The gender wage > gap will then be reduced in industries that must compete with imports > produced by unprejudiced firms elsewhere." This has IMHO also been happening regarding women from the predominantly Muslim countries, who have met American Muslim women who are freer in their dress and privileges (rights) and inclination to challenge male traditional interpretation and doctrine and male authority. It has helped fuel the already burgeoning women's rights movements "back home" > This same principle applies even more widely now, both in regard to > multinationals who move production abroad to take advantage of a > lower wage structure and to the process of outsourcing to cheaper > labor markets. Multinationals and outsourcers have easy access to > traditional domestic labor forces as long as they they pay somewhat > higher wages and provide equal wages for equal work. In the rest of > the globalizing world both women and minorities in countries whose > producers have traditionally paid lower wages on the basis of sexual, > class, caste or color prejudices are experiencing a progressively > rising wage scale and a higher standard of living. If a woman or > minority worker's current domestic employer won't pay them adequately > they can go to the other side of town, or even move to the outskirts > of a nearby city, and work for a higher wage for a multinational or a > domestic company with an outsourcing contract. To counter the loss > of trained laborers in this manner, domestic producers must adjust > their wages and their discriminatory hiring and benefits policies to > retain their workers. This opening up of foreign labor markets > ultimately produces the impressive statistics I cited in my first > message about the significant and continuing reduction of world > poverty in those countries which are in process of globalizing. Here is where I have a question or two. I agree that American or Western businesses can easily outbid local companies for these offshore workers' labor--and do--and still be considerably under the rates they would have to pay in the US. However, just because they offer these women more wages than the local companies offer, it does not follow that these women are paid equal to the male workers hired by the American or Western company. Since the women are used to accepting lower pay than men, there is every incentive for US companies to continue paying them less than men, even though the total wage context is higher than the local custom. As far as I know, US laws and regulations regarding equal pay, fair employment practices and safe/healthy working conditions do not apply offshore--which is a large element in motivating US companies to go offshore for labor. American companies might continue to voluntarily honor equal pay practices among executives and consultants exported from the US to supervise or monitor the offshore business, but the ordinary worker might not be aware of same, or if aware, might not conclude that executive pay had any relationship to labor wages. Is there any reliable data in these sources, Janet, or any others, about how often US companies exhibit the high degree of altruism needed to pay women equally and eschew child labor when there are no laws or penalties in these countries? And has the Bush administration suddenly gotten a case of conscience and passed massive tax credits and incentives for paying foreign labor more than absolutely necessary in order to advance female equality and eliminate child labor??? Just asking... From jewen at bellsouth.net Tue Apr 5 22:30:18 2005 From: jewen at bellsouth.net (Julia Ewen) Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 22:30:18 -0400 Subject: [saymaListserv] Fw: Voices in Wartime Newsletter 4-5-2005 Message-ID: <001101c53a50$932de3a0$6101a8c0@amd1gig> Voices in Wartime NewsletterThis group was originally called Poets Against The War, with which I have been involved, and I have some poems which have been published on their website. This film is worth seeing when it comes to a theater near you. Julia Parker Ewen ----- Original Message ----- From: info at voicesinwartime.org To: jewen at micronetsystems.net Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2005 5:53 PM Subject: Voices in Wartime Newsletter 4-5-2005 Poem of the Week I am a warrior for peace. And not a gentle man. Steve Mason I have looked death in the eye and spat blood I have faced life squarely and made love I am a combat veteran of Vietnam And not altogether certain of my direction, But sure of myself- A delegate en route to a national convention And proud to count for more than my pain; At 30,000 feet there are no flat clouds Which point to the nation's capital No calendars to enumerate a just-right world of sequential firmness on-going below, My unresolved hurt makes it difficult to look out this small round window And know beyond reason what time & place my mind suspends outboard this aircraft-- I look to see a mirrored on-board image of myself & question with a hard blink & a sharp eye, Where are my epaulettes? Who took the hash marks from my sleeve? Damn--it's been a long time between rides A long time since I looked out another aircraft window & watched real life Refracted across the lawns of the world-- Sat helpless as the thick, plastic window distorted the courage of my innocence So that I might distinguish capitalist jungles from communist jungles at a distance of 6 miles straight up... A former Army captain and decorated Vietnam combat veteran, Steve Mason is Poet Laureate of the Vietnam Veterans of America. His poem, "The Wall Within," was delivered as part of the official activities prior to the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial ("The Wall") as a national monument in November 1984. It was entered into the Congressional Record, January 10, 1984. Steve was diagnosed with terminal cancer in April 2004. Read the rest of the poem by Steve Mason. (Share this poem by forwarding this e-mail to a friend.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Excerpt from an essay by Christopher Sawyer-Lauanno This article is a review of Voices in Wartime: The Movie. Voices in Wartime is a startling, gripping film that chronicles the writings of poets about war. Interspersed with the contemporary footage of poets-famous and unknown-reading their work are often grisly and horrifying segments depicting the actual face of war: Civil War soldiers face down in the mud; infantrymen dying in the trenches in World War I, the bombings of cities during World War II, bloodied soldiers and civilians (many of them children) in Vietnam, and, of course, the mayhem in Iraq. There are also poignant scenes of "forgotten" wars such as those in Biafra and Colombia, where civilians were mainly the casualties of power politics. Voices in Wartime reveals how for millennia poets have taken a stand, how war has always compelled poets to speak out, to chronicle the horror with words. The haunting verse of poets long gone, such as Homer, Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Walt Whitman and Shoda Shinoe from Hiroshima are combined with more recent voices: South Boston native David Connolly, a Vietnam vet; Sinan Antoon and other poets in war-torn Baghdad; and Nigerian poet Chris Abani, a poet whose family experienced the devastating war in Biafra. Soldiers, journalists, historians and experts on combat are also interviewed in Voices in Wartime. All of these, including Lieutenant General William James Lennox, Jr., Superintendent of West Point, add diverse perspectives on war's effects on soldiers, civilians and society. Among the more famous poets featured are Sam Hamill, Marie Howe, Marilyn Nelson, Emily Warn, Rachel Bentham, Terry Tempest Williams and Todd Swift. But the unknowns are also quite remarkable. Nine-year-old Alexandra Sanyal from Boston recites a moving poem she wrote that combines images of snow and war. Sampurna Chattarji, a poet from India, reads a stunning and stirring poem "Easy," that ends with these words: "Death is easy to pronounce / it's the smell of burning children / that's hard to pronounce." [The film's] focus on poetry seems natural, for poets have always been in the forefront as witnesses to the immense human catastrophe that is war. Or as British poet Wilfred Owen, killed in World War I, put it: "Above all I am not concerned with Poetry. My subject is War, and the pity of War. The poetry is in the pity. Yet these elegies are to this generation in no sense consolatory. They may be to the next. All a poet can do today is warn. That is why true Poets must be truthful." Read the complete essay by Christopher Sawyer-Lauanno. Christopher Sawyer-Lauanno is Writer-in-Residence at MIT. His many books include a recently released biography of e.e. cummings, one of the 20th century's greatest anti-war poets. (Help spread the word by forwarding this e-mail to a friend.) Please forward this e-mail to a friend. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- See Voices in Wartime on the big screen! The movie opens April 8 in New York City at the Landmark Sunshine and the New Metro Twin. More dates and theaters >>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Host a Dialogue to help educate millions of Americans about PTSD and the trauma caused by war. What are these events for? All of us can agree on the need to care for and support returning combat veterans and civilian victims of war, no matter how we feel about the government policy that launched the war. These events are a way to reach out across the political spectrum and create a new kind of discussion- about our responsibility to heal the trauma caused by war for both soldiers and civilians, and to prevent future wars. Sign up to be a host >>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sign up to get this weekly e-mail from the makers of the film Voices in Wartime. A weekly newsletter of art, essays, and ideas for healing the trauma of war, plus news about Voices in Wartime, scheduled for release in selected theaters in April 2005. Sign up now >>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- From a four-star review at Entertainment Insiders "The film focuses smartly on the nature of poetry and war. And this is important because awareness is raised uniquely by Voices in Wartime leaving interpretation ultimately to the viewer." -Jonathan Hickman Capturing the War Poetic -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ideas of the Week How you can help Help rebuild lives shattered by war. Make a donation to the American Refugee Committee. More than 90 cents of every dollar donated goes to helping refugees and displaced people by providing food, shelter, water, sanitary facilities and medical care. For more information, visit the America Refugee Committee at http://www.archq.org. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Top Tip/How to Use Our Website Do you have a question you would like to share with others? Post a question or a topic of discussion in the Forum page of our Voices in Wartime site. You'll find the Forums link at the top navigation bar. Home . About the Movie . Filmmakers . Library . Get Involved Poems in the Film About the Healing and Support Network . Contact Us To unsubscribe: If you'd rather not receive e-mail from us, please click Unsubscribe or send an e-mail to info at voicesinwartime.org, with "unsubscribe" in the "Subject" line -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ElizaKeiser at aol.com Tue Apr 5 14:34:59 2005 From: ElizaKeiser at aol.com (ElizaKeiser at aol.com) Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 14:34:59 EDT Subject: [saymaListserv] Invitation to AFSC Palestine/Israel Study Seminar in Black Mountain Message-ID: <1fb.5e53d29.2f843453@aol.com> Common Light Meetingplace 137 Center Avenue Black Mountain, NC 28711 April 3, 2005 Dear Friends, This is a special invitation to Friends and attenders of your Meeting who care deeply about peace and justice in the Middle East to come to Black Mountain on April 15 and 16 for a seminar at Common Light Meetingplace, the home of Swannanoa Valley Friends Meeting. We will focus on current developments in the region, as well as on the study entitled When the Rain Returns: Toward Justice and Reconciliation in Palestine and Israel by the International Working Party of the American Friends Service Committee, published 2004. Two of the co-authors, Tony Bing (Clerk of Swannanoa Valley Friends Meeting) and Zoharah Simmons (Muslim, coming from the U of FL at Gainesville where she is a professor of Islamic and Women?s Studies) will be joined by Sam and Lulla Shermis (of Black Mountain, Jewish leaders of interfaith dialogues) in this interfaith opportunity to think together about the issues raised by the book and its recommendations for action on the part of readers. Short talks and films will help focus us on the most critical issues for dialogue as we reach for a common understanding of recent developments and how to support peacemaking efforts here and abroad. This will be the fifth weekend in our first year?s programming on the theme SEEDS OF PEACE/SEEDS OF WAR. Dan Snyder?s three-part series on the Spiritual Basis of Peacemaking (co-sponsored by Pendle Hill) drew participants from a variety of Meetings, and all who came, including many from other churches, found this strong Quaker presence valuable. However, thus far we have only two representatives from the Society of Friends registered for the April 15-16 seminar, so we are waiving all fees for Friends and attenders, as well as friends of Friends! An onsite donation of $25 would cover the book and two delicious meals (dinner Friday, lunch Saturday). Perhaps a participant or two from your Meeting could be helped financially with travel expenses and the cost of overnight accommodations. Hospitality by local Friends can be arranged here for some; there are many other options for convenient and reasonably priced accommodations in Black Mountain. For more information or to register for the seminar, you may reach us at 828-669-3616 or _commonlightm at aol.com_ (mailto:commonlightm at aol.com) Thank you for bringing this letter to the attention of those in your Meeting who might be interested in such an opportunity. We hope you will help us put to good use the AFSC?s most recent study of Palestine and Israel. This weekend focused on When the Rain Returns co-led by two of its authors will inspire and equip participants to provide more effective support for peacemaking efforts here and in that region. Beth & Mel Keiser Co-Directors, Common Light Meetingplace -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jhminshall at comcast.net Fri Apr 8 09:34:59 2005 From: jhminshall at comcast.net (Janet Minshall) Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 09:34:59 -0400 Subject: [saymaListserv] Fwd: Globalization and the Poor: Do Quakers have a realis... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Charles Schade, Thanks for your note. Sorry for the delay in responding. I have been indisposed. I understand your comments, but cannot provide the point of discrimination between "sweatshops" and normal conditions of employment in less developed countries. Many of the materials from the US and Western European labor movements have generalized the use of the term "sweatshops" so broadly that I, personally, have visited sites in East Africa and Eastern Europe where there was production referred to by them as being done "in sweatshops", where the conditions of employment were standard for less developed countries, not substandard. I have written about that extensively on this list in previous messages. My recommendation to those who really care to find out for themselves about working conditions in other countries is to go there and visit. Make sure you get together with ordinary people from the community -- not paid NGO or union reps/agitators. Then ask the people themselves about their jobs, the conditions, the hours, the facilities, and the policies concerning breaks, days off, bathrooms, lighting and heating/cooling/air circulation, the wages, and the benefits. Then ask about comparable places of employment in the area/region. Find out if there is a difference between the conditions of domestic employment and the conditions of employment in multinational production and outsourced contracts. Those of us who go instead on organized union-sponsored visits must do so with the understanding that everyone we talk with and speak to will have been "prepped" on what to say and how/when to say it. What comes out of such visits is propaganda, not economic analysis. I understand fully that child labor continues but is being dramatically reduced year after year. Many cultures have a millenia-old tradition of sending their children out to work when they reach a certain age to contribute to family income. Reducing child labor has been a focus of The World Bank and the World Trade organization and employers face sanctions. The pressure of world sentiment is being felt and acted upon. Jagdish Bhagwati writes about it in a whole chapter in his book, in Defense of Globalization. Please read it. The primary issue for me is that many people who have read union-produced materials automatically tie "slave labor" with standard conditions of employment in both the US and in other countries. It is not connected. Slavery has existed all over the world for thousands of years, and it has been a criminal activity for hundreds of years. Criminal activity (as in "the war on drugs") is far harder to root out than child labor because criminals control the use of slaves for labor and prostitution, not ordinary business people. That is the distinction that many NGOs (non-governmental human rights organizations) fail to point out -- in some cases may not even have noticed because of the pressure and funding from organized labor. Therefore, Friend, I think sweeping statements such as you quote from me are quite appropriate. Truth is always better then propaganda-based prejudice and it is especially appropriate for Friends to seriously seek the Truth. Janet Minshall Charles Schade's note sent 4-02-05: >Yes, Friend, I am sure you are correct about many of the points made >in your note. But some of it sounds as if you are denying the >existence of sweatshops and forced labor. We know they exist in the >United States. We know they exist in third world countries >undergoing globalization. China, for example, has extremely high >economic growth, but is also well known to have numerous abuses, >including slave labor. We know that slavery (under other names) >goes on in both the US and third world countries. So sweeping >statements aimed at critics of globalization such as, "Similarly >they say any places and conditions of employment which do not meet >the standards of those in the US and Western Europe are sweatshops. >Further, anyone who works in production in countries outside of the >US or Western Europe is said to be at considerable risk of being >kidnapped and forcibly enslaved." are not particularly helpful, and >detract from the thoughtful tone of the rest of your note. A >better approach might be to help Friends distinguish between those >practices in places where globalization is "working" that genuinely >lift individuals out of poverty and those that merely benefit a >ruling class or outside exploiters. > >cps -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jhminshall at comcast.net Fri Apr 8 11:09:33 2005 From: jhminshall at comcast.net (Janet Minshall) Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 11:09:33 -0400 Subject: [afmdiscussion] Fwd: Re: [saymaListserv] Fwd: Globalization and the Poor: Do Quakers have a realistic view of world poverty? In-Reply-To: <001501c53895$6d027f90$6101a8c0@amd1gig> References: <001501c53895$6d027f90$6101a8c0@amd1gig> Message-ID: Hi Julia, Sorry to have been slow to respond. I have been indisposed. I will respond to your questions at the bottom: Julia wrote on 4-3-05: >Here is where I have a question or two. > >I agree that American or Western businesses can easily outbid local >companies >for these offshore workers' labor--and do--and still be considerably under >the rates they would have to pay in the US. However, just because they offer >these >women more wages than the local companies offer, it does not follow that >these women are paid equal to the male workers hired by the American or >Western company. Since the women are used to accepting lower pay than men, >there is every incentive for US companies to continue paying them less than >men, > even though the total wage context is higher than the local custom. As far >as I know, >US laws and regulations regarding equal pay, fair employment practices and >safe/healthy >working conditions do not apply offshore--which is a large element in >motivating >US companies to go offshore for labor. American companies might continue to >voluntarily >honor equal pay practices among executives and consultants exported from the >US to >supervise or monitor the offshore business, but the ordinary worker might >not >be aware of same, or if aware, might not conclude that executive pay had any >relationship to labor wages. > >Is there any reliable data in these sources, Janet, or any others, about how >often >US companies exhibit the high degree of altruism needed to pay women equally >and eschew child labor when there are no laws or penalties in these >countries? >And has the Bush administration suddenly gotten a case of conscience and >passed >massive tax credits and incentives for paying foreign labor more than >absolutely necessary >in order to advance female equality and eliminate child labor??? Just >asking... First, continuing my messages earlier to Charles Schade and Bill Reynolds of SAYMA,it does not follow, necessarily, that women would have to be paid an equal wage for equal work, but it happens that US multinationals and those which are letting outsourcing contracts to countries which have a lower wage scale are having to consider not just public pressure from women and other activists in the US for equal pay for equal work, but also European (EU) pressures which are far more rigorous and demanding than those in the US. It generally is not practical to try to maintain different payscales when there are analysts from various international agencies as well as the NGOs looking over your shoulder around the globe and going to court to subpoena employment records from which they can and will produce bad publicity and successful complaints to international bodies such as The World Bank and The World Trade Organization. These international bodies, so thoroughly maligned by anti-globalizers and some Friends, are actually doing some good things for poor and working people around the world. The only reliable data I can offer are the two highly recommended books and the article in Foreign Affairs I recommended in previous messages and their very thorough footnotes. It doesn't really make sense for you to get the names of companies and how much they pay in local currency because unless you are an economist specializing in the current economy of the country in question, you won't know how to interpret that information. Jaghwhad Bagdish, like Jack Powelson, the Quaker economist I refer to frequently, has been to a wide variety of other countries and studied the issues and relationships in the political economy they found there. They can, and do thoroughly document information relevant to how a pay scale relates to a living wage in that country -- and it differs somewhat in every country. Simplistic mass distributed materials from some union representatives and spokespersons use a rough translation from local currency into US dollars or Euros and imply that the lower wages are obviously inadequate. Yes, they would be in the US or Western Europe, but the point is that workers in lower wage countries live in very different circumstances. Their housing, food and medical care costs far less than in the US. That is how their standard of living increases dramatically even with a somewhat lower wage than that given to US and European workers. Best Regards, Janet Minshall >Thanks to Janet for a very interesting and helpful letter, in which she >wrote in part. >citing Bhagwati: > >>Japanese male executives were first sent to the US with >> their wives and children. Wives saw how women lived, worked and went >> to college in the US and began slowly pressuring for similar >> opportunities in Japan, as did the wives of college and graduate >> students after they returned home. (Remember that now, in 2005, many, >> many more countries where multinationals are operating are sending >> their foreign executive personnel with their families to live and >> work in the US for awhile, and 60% of the students in US graduate >> schools are foreign students who often bring their wives and children >> along, just as the Japanese did). >> >> Similarly, Japanese men learned back then during their time in the >> US, and continue to learn more significantly over time that the old >> habits of paying women lower wages for the same work that men did was >> no longer acceptable. They have learned that "prejudice has its >> price: any firm that indulges in it is going to be at a competitive >> disadvantage to firms that hire without this prejudice....Now if >> there is a closed economy and all domestic firms share this prejudice >> (and pay women a lower wage) all firms will be equally handicapped. >> But when we introduce foreign competition, the foreign firms that do >> not share this prejudice will be able to gain in competitiveness >> against domestic firms....Liberalized trade which enables foreign >> firms to compete with domestic firms in open markets, therefore, puts >> pressure on domestic firms to shed their prejudice. The gender wage >> gap will then be reduced in industries that must compete with imports >> produced by unprejudiced firms elsewhere." > >This has IMHO also been happening regarding women from the predominantly >Muslim countries, who have met American Muslim women who are freer >in their dress and privileges (rights) and inclination to challenge male >traditional interpretation and doctrine and male authority. It has helped >fuel the already burgeoning women's rights movements "back home" > >> This same principle applies even more widely now, both in regard to >> multinationals who move production abroad to take advantage of a >> lower wage structure and to the process of outsourcing to cheaper >> labor markets. Multinationals and outsourcers have easy access to >> traditional domestic labor forces as long as they they pay somewhat >> higher wages and provide equal wages for equal work. In the rest of >> the globalizing world both women and minorities in countries whose >> producers have traditionally paid lower wages on the basis of sexual, >> class, caste or color prejudices are experiencing a progressively >> rising wage scale and a higher standard of living. If a woman or >> minority worker's current domestic employer won't pay them adequately >> they can go to the other side of town, or even move to the outskirts >> of a nearby city, and work for a higher wage for a multinational or a >> domestic company with an outsourcing contract. To counter the loss >> of trained laborers in this manner, domestic producers must adjust >> their wages and their discriminatory hiring and benefits policies to >> retain their workers. This opening up of foreign labor markets >> ultimately produces the impressive statistics I cited in my first >> message about the significant and continuing reduction of world >> poverty in those countries which are in process of globalizing. > >Here is where I have a question or two. > >I agree that American or Western businesses can easily outbid local >companies >for these offshore workers' labor--and do--and still be considerably under >the rates they would have to pay in the US. However, just because they offer >these >women more wages than the local companies offer, it does not follow that >these women are paid equal to the male workers hired by the American or >Western company. Since the women are used to accepting lower pay than men, >there is every incentive for US companies to continue paying them less than >men, > even though the total wage context is higher than the local custom. As far >as I know, >US laws and regulations regarding equal pay, fair employment practices and >safe/healthy >working conditions do not apply offshore--which is a large element in >motivating >US companies to go offshore for labor. American companies might continue to >voluntarily >honor equal pay practices among executives and consultants exported from the >US to >supervise or monitor the offshore business, but the ordinary worker might >not >be aware of same, or if aware, might not conclude that executive pay had any >relationship to labor wages. > >Is there any reliable data in these sources, Janet, or any others, about how >often >US companies exhibit the high degree of altruism needed to pay women equally >and eschew child labor when there are no laws or penalties in these >countries? >And has the Bush administration suddenly gotten a case of conscience and >passed >massive tax credits and incentives for paying foreign labor more than >absolutely necessary >in order to advance female equality and eliminate child labor??? Just >asking... From freepolazzo at comcast.net Mon Apr 11 21:38:56 2005 From: freepolazzo at comcast.net (free polazzo) Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2005 21:38:56 -0400 Subject: [saymaListserv] June 24-26th, 2005 Sweat Lodge Gathering Message-ID: <6.2.1.2.2.20050411213755.031e29d8@mail.comcast.net> > >Mark your calendar and please spread the word! > >Quaker Sweat Lodge Gathering >June 24-26th, 2005 >at Snipes Farm (just north of Philadelphia, PA) > >Join f/Friends for a weekend of camping, a labyrinth, sweat lodges, a >breathing workshop (as well as a workshop led by you, perhaps?) and >more! We plan to gathering in the manor of Friends for a several >wonderful summer days of fellowship and fun. We welcome any that want to >join us! > >For more information or to get involved with planning, contact: > > >In the Light, >George Price >Breeze Luetke-Stahlman >Cullen Carns-Hilliker > >April 2005 >________________________________________________________________________ > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From GlennReinhart at aol.com Tue Apr 12 00:39:20 2005 From: GlennReinhart at aol.com (GlennReinhart at aol.com) Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 00:39:20 EDT Subject: [saymaListserv] Quakers in the News - week ended 4/9/2005 Message-ID: <5b.6789c663.2f8caaf8@aol.com> Dear Friends, One may click on any blue underlined text for a link to a summary and the full text story. Please see http://quakersinthenews.blogspot.com to make comments to share with other Friends. The most widely reported article mentioning or featuring Quakers ? the week ending 4th Month 9. 2005 (55 instances in the US and UK) was: Quaker Schools /Politics and Economics/Violence/Pat Buchanan Doused With Salad Dressing At University Appearance/CBS News /ALL/ALL/USA/01-Apr-05/Associated Press This week?s AP wire story, makes the second widely picked-up mention about a Quaker, (who attends Earlham College) who threw a pie in the face of a conservative political figure at a lecture/discussion on March 30. The 2nd story, reported on April 1, involving Pat Buchannan, mentions that the student in Michigan was inspired by the act at Earlham college two days previous. The total of 129 instances of these two stories makes Food Throwing the most reported story about or mentioning Quakerism in 2005 so far, specifically reinforcing Quaker Schools and Politics and Economics in the minds of the public associated with ?Quaker?. Considering the many good works of Friends, this is sad in many ways. What might have been planned as a humorous act mimicking black-and-white slapstick cinema, which some of us love, in a parody of the rich and powerful, really came off poorly in the eyes of the public. This especially, considering the composure that was held and ultimate refusal to press serious charges by the 'Conservative' speakers after being hit with food. One source close to the throwing action was quoted, commenting: ?The cause (for this action) seems to be prolonged exposure to anarchists. ? The source also said, ?This is a good student who made a bad choice.? One may read more if one likes: Commentary after the fact was published, one in which the student explained his action. Three articles, two in Indiana, and one in Chicago analyzed the after affects these acts might leave in the public sentiment. ------ The most inspiring story (to me) also regards Quaker schools and public schools. This story was widely reported in the Education Section of USA Today - a national publication in the United States: Quaker Schools /Sidwell Friends/Public Schools/Mahoney/Math teacher resets the learning curve/USA Today /ALL/ALL/USA/06-Apr-05/... --------- The other stories, for those who seek the many treasures buried within, are: Category/Article Title/News Source/City/State/Region/Date AFSC/Immigration//US - Mexico Border Becomes Busy Northbound Highway After Nightfall/Watchman Herald/TX/USA/09-Apr-05 Arts/Film/James Dean/adherents.com/Religion in the media: A look at recent books, magazines and Web .../Fort Wayne News Sentinel/Fort Wayne/IN/USA/06-Apr-05 Arts/Literature/Moby Dick/Starbuck/'Moby Rehearsed' is often Welles-run /Washington Times/Washington/DC/USA/05-Apr-05 Arts/Theater/that of God in each person'/Buck Celebrates Friends, 'Strangers' /Washington Post/Washington/DC/USA/06-Apr-05 Business////How about a spiritually rich list? /Guardian/London/England/UK/04-Apr-05 Domestic Violence///Bethel Friends holds benefit for Desert Rose/Mooresville / Decatur Times/Mooresville/IN/USA/02-Apr-05 Environment/Religious Diversity//Coastline protection effort hitting the pews /Times Picayune/New Orleans/LA/USA/05-Apr-05 FCNL/Politics and Economics/Smith, Daniel/US Economic Decline and the Rise of China/Palestine Chronicle /Palestine/M.E./08-Apr-05 FCNL/War/Politics and Economics/President is not worthy of blank check for Iraq/Palladium-Item/Indianapolis/IN/USA/06-Apr-05 Intrnational Conflict/Genocide/Rwanda/Friends Peace Teams/Quaker discusses work in Africa/Corvallis Gazette Times/Corvallis/OR/USA/06-Apr-05 Obituary /Arts /Painting//Services to celebrate local artist Janet Church, 87 /Whittier Daily News, /Whittier/CA/USA/07-Apr-05 Obituary /Business ///Community leader Jack Porter, 83, passes away/Wabash Plain Dealer/Wabash/IN/USA/04-Apr-05 Quaker History/Architecture/Fire/Jordans/OZZY OSBOURNE ON..EVERYTHING/Sunday Mirror/London/England/UK/03-Apr-05 Quaker History/Business ///Clarks left with a sole survivor after closure /Times Online/London/England/UK/01-Apr-05 Quaker History/Geneaology//Books help track down English ancestors/Daily Press/Newport News/VA/USA/02-Apr-05 Quaker History/Natural Science /Ethnic Diversity/Cook /Making it up as you go along/Age/Sydney/Australia/Oceania/01-Apr-05 Quaker History/Politics and Economics/Peace//Inside the First Amendment: For advocates of workplace religious .../Naples Daily News /Naples/FL/USA/03-Apr-05 Quaker History/William Penn/Jury System/Law Breaking/Why A Fully Informed Jury?/Magic City Morning Star/Portland/ME/USA/06-Apr-05 Quaker History/Women ///Alice Paul 1885-1977 Faithful Suffragist/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette /Little Rock/AR/USA/03-Apr-05 Quaker Schools /Genocide/Genocide Intervention Fund/Swarthmore/Students Fund Sudan Peacekeepers/Harvard Crimson/Cambridge/MA/USA/07-Apr-05 Quaker Schools /Sidwell Friends/Partners for Peace/Council for the National Interest/'Peace' panel stirs debate at Sidwell/Washington Jewish Week/Washington/DC/USA/07-Apr-05 Quaker Schools /Silence///Treading softly/Advance of Bucks County/Newtown/PA/USA/07-Apr-05 Quaker Schools ///Williamstown Youth Center director to leave after summer /Berkshire Eagle/Pittsfield/MA/USA/08-Apr-05 Religious Diversity/Catholicism//Memorial joins area residentsof many faiths /MLive.com/Detroit/MI/USA/08-Apr-05 Religious Diversity/Catholicism//Readers share their thoughts on the pope /Salem Statesman Journal/Salem/OR/USA/06-Apr-05 Religious Diversity///Davidson's rule change rooted in faith/Charlotte Observer/Charlotte/NC/USA/04-Apr-05 Religious Diversity///Protestants say pope's message transcended religious boundaries/Asbury Park Press/Asbury Park/NJ/USA/04-Apr-05 Religious Faith /that of God in each person'/Cheshire man finding God within people/Waterbury Republican American/Waterbury/CT/USA/07-Apr-05 War/Conscientious Objecton /Jesus//'Conscientious objectors' discuss service alternatives/University of Central Oklahoma Vista/Oklahoma City/OK/USA/06-Apr-05 War/Counter-Recruiting/Consensus/God-Connected/Grannies rage against the machine/San Francisco Chronicle/San Francisco/CA/USA/01-Apr-05 War/Counter-Recruiting/Politics and Economics/Cookville, TN/Censorship chips away at freedoms/Provo Daily Herald/Provo/UT/USA/04-Apr-05 War/Peace Activity/Iraq//Iraq war vets events here/The Capital Times/Madison/WI/USA/07-Apr-05 War/Peace Activity/Iraq//Arundel woman's anti-war message quiet but visible /Baltimore Sun /Baltimore/MD/USA/06-Apr-05 War/Peace Activity/Lynd, Staughton/Teach-in set at Albion/The Jackson Citizen-Patriot/Jackson/MI/USA/08-Apr-05 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pennywright at earthlink.net Wed Apr 13 13:22:14 2005 From: pennywright at earthlink.net (Penelope Wright) Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2005 12:22:14 -0500 Subject: [saymaListserv] Fw: FGC Good News: Youth Ministries Message-ID: <001d01c5404d$56dab380$b63045cf@user2ih5nie4yp> Dear SAYMA Friends, This is good news indeed (see a related article in the just out SAF)! Our yearly meeting was well represented by Jonah McDonald (Atlanta and Memphis) Elaine Ruscetta (Atlanta) and Christina VanRegenmorter (Nashville). I feel confident in saying that any one of them would be happy to talk further with those who share these concerns, whether individuals or meetings. Penelope Wright one of SAYMA's rep to FGC ----- Original Message ----- From: Barbara Hirshkowitz To: Penelope Wright Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 8:02 AM Subject: FGC Good News: Youth Ministries FGC Good News: Youth Ministries Friends, Spirit is alive and moving in a powerful and dynamic way through our High School and young adult Friends! We want to spread the good news that by building a true intergenerational community we feel the Religious Society of Friends will be nourished and invigorated in a way that could be breathtaking. Faithfully building authentic and deep intergenerational ties may require nothing short of a cultural shift in the Religious Society of Friends?the rewards could be tremendous. On March 11-13, the Ad Hoc Youth Ministries Discernment Committee met for a Consultation with twenty High School teenage and young adult Friends. The gathering of thirty Friends was consistently Spirit led and was filled with deep searching, listening and sharing about the needs of our young people. While there was a strong emphasis on the need for well organized and adequately supported opportunities for connections among young Friends of similar ages, perhaps more powerful and unexpected was the deeply felt need on the part of young Friends to feel welcomed into the wider community of Friends. Powerful ties based in mutual respect and reciprocal nurturance developed over the weekend. We learned that Friends of all ages need the same things: a.. To feel loved and valued as individuals b.. To be seen as we really are without assumptions based on age, race or sexual orientation c.. To have our gifts recognized and well used d.. To receive eldering and to be available to elder others e.. To be held accountable for living our faith >From this rich insight and experience, the committee met and has begun to put this powerful calling into concrete program recommendations to be considered by FGC. Robin Greenler, Clerk, and Karen Stewart, Staff Ad Hoc Youth Ministries Discernment Committee -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friends General Conference 1216 Arch St #2B, Philadelphia PA 19107. USA http://www.fgcquaker.org The good news bulletin is sent by Barbara Hirshkowitz, FGC's publications manager. If you wish to unsubscribe please email her at barbarah at fgcquaker.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From perryt at bellsouth.net Thu Apr 14 10:52:47 2005 From: perryt at bellsouth.net (Perry Treadwell) Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2005 10:52:47 -0400 Subject: [saymaListserv] 2005 Gathering Message-ID: <425E83BF.9010307@bellsouth.net> ? FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PLEASE USE FOR YOUR NEWSLETTERS OR OTHER PUBLICATIONS! You may request a digital copy of this release from gathering at fgcquaker.org Friends General Conference will hold the 2005 Gathering of Friends at the Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, July 2 - July 9, 2005. The theme is Weaving the Blessed Tapestry. We want to recognize all the threads that are part of our Quaker community, says Jean-Marie Prestwidge Barch, co clerk of the Gathering. Our theme brings together all the elements of a Gathering, adds Frank Barch, who is co-clerking the Gathering committee. Frank and Jean Marie are members of Schuylkill Meeting (PhlYM) and attend Valley Meeting (BYM) in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The Gathering Community will be gathered in worship from the opening Meetings on Sunday morning through a closing Meeting on Saturday, July 9. A daily Bible half-hour, extended worship in the mornings, FLGBTQ worship and the Silent Center will also be available. Gathering will open with a family welcome and concert by Atlanta Friend Deidre McCalla on Saturday evening. On Sunday, July 3, we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Friends Journal with an address by Quaker historians Thomas Hamm and Mary Ellen Chijoke. With her Native American and Scots ancestry, Jean Bosserman will add color to our tapestry in a talk on Monday evening. The Gathering is thrilled to present Trout Fishing in America, the duo who perform music for people who take their fun seriously. We expect this all Gathering concert to delight all ages on Wednesday evening. Trout Fishing in America will also present two workshops for Gathering attenders. Quaker Universalist Fellowship will bring us the first Elizabeth Watson lecture on Thursday, July 7, with Bishop John Shelby Spong, author of bestsellers including Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism and Why Christianity Must Change or Die. Jonathan Vogel-Borne will close the week with his talk titled What a Friend I Have in JesusTrue Confessions of a Beanite Quaker. In Junior Gathering, children entering grades 1 to 7 will choose among theme groups appropriate to their age. Younger children (including infants) have a warm and supportive environment, staffed by adults who consider it a treat to be with them. Those in Junior High form a strong community, sharing a variety of activities including some practice in Quaker decision-making. High Schoolers may expect to experience a loving spiritual community that allows them freedom to explore their spirituality and what it means to be a Quaker in community. Adult Young Friends is a community that provides an intimate space within the Gathering for post high school age Friends to live and have fun together while exploring their spirituality and roles as adult Quakers. Music making and singing will abound. Yoga, contra dancing, folk dancing, and other movement opportunities will occur throughout the Gathering. Friends creativity will be displayed, performed and celebrated again this year in the Lemonade Art Gallery, now joined by the Limeade Cabaret. The Gathering Store will offer a unique collection of books, First Day School materials, tapes, Gathering and FGC merchandise, and handcrafted consignment items. Located in the New River Valley, Virginia Tech will provide a variety of accommodations, including single and double rooms, with and without air conditioning. Camping will be available on campus. Blacksburg is served by Roanoke Regional Airport, which is less than an hour away. Friends General Conference has financial support for Gathering attenders. Scholarships and workgrants are available to help make Gathering affordable. First time attenders scholarships match grants from monthly and yearly meetings. General scholarships assist families and individuals with the expenses of room/board and registration. Workgrant opportunities include staffing the Junior Gathering program, assisting at the information desk, helping with routine tasks or taking on a specialized assignment. Additional information is available from Liz Perch, Conference Coordinator, at the address below. Friends are urged not to let cost issues keep them from considering attendance. Detailed information about the Gathering will be available in the Advance Program. The Advance Program is mailed to all monthly meetings and to Friends on FGC mailing lists as well as all Friends in nearby Yearly Meetings in March and should arrive by 1 April 2005. You may also request an Advance Program by contacting Friends General Conference at 1216 Arch Street, 2B, Philadelphia, PA 19107, (215) 561-1700 or email (gathering at fgcquaker.org). For the first time, this year, Friends will be able to register online and pay by credit card. For more details, please check the website after March 30. More information about the Gathering and FGC is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.fgcquaker.org/gathering/. Access to the World Wide Web is often available at your local library. The Gathering of Friends is a program of Friends General Conference, which provides resources to help members and attenders of constituent meetings discover how Gods Spirit is leading us individually and corporately and to follow that leading. ### From nc_stereoman at charter.net Thu Apr 14 22:10:17 2005 From: nc_stereoman at charter.net (Steve Livingston) Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2005 22:10:17 -0400 Subject: [saymaListserv] Danger Brewing Near Hebron Message-ID: <425EEA49.2348.32389CF@localhost> Dear Friends, With each passing day, there is more tension on the West Bank in Palestine, and particularly it seems in the vicinity of Hebron, where Friend Christy Bischoff is serving with the Christian Peacemakers Team among the Palestinian people. In the village of Beit Ummar, some 15 km from Hebron (the same distance as Asheville to Swannanoa), the peasants have been informed that a "security fence" will be erected around the illegal settlement of Karme Tzur, effectively cutting off the people from their farmland and orchards, and increasing the size of the illegal settlement by a factor of three. The Palestinian people were given seven days to appeal the plan. The seventh day is tomorrow, April 15. After that, who knows what may happen. It is important to note that the US consulate in Jerusalem has declared that the US considers the plan to be a violation of the peace process. If you are moved to take action, please follow the link to the CPT website where you will find guidance. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cpthebron/message/587 Please hold our Friend Christy in the Light as she and other international peaceworkers are increasingly being targeted by settlers intent on blocking the road to peace. Remember her at noon each day, pray for the Palestinians and for the Israelis as well, who must learn to coexist in order for peace to prevail. Steve -- Steve Livingston nc_stereoman at charter.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bright_crow at mindspring.com Sun Apr 17 07:45:33 2005 From: bright_crow at mindspring.com (Michael Austin Shell) Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2005 07:45:33 -0400 Subject: [saymaListserv] FW: AgJOBS Vote on Tuesday: Act Mon. Morning Message-ID: <6.1.2.0.0.20050417074454.02927c60@pop.mindspring.com> Friends, Forwarded by AFSC. Thanks, Mike. >ACTION NOW. THANKS. > > >---------- >From: Mark Miller [mailto:mark at larkspring.com] >Sent: Friday, April 15, 2005 1:23 PM >To: Central Valley Partnership Partnership >Cc: Joyce Miller >Subject: Fwd: AgJOBS Vote on Tuesday: Act by Tues. Morning > >Please Respond to Bruce's call for help! > >Begin forwarded message: > >From: "Bruce Goldstein" >Date: April 15, 2005 10:59:57 AM PDT >To: >Subject: AgJOBS Vote on Tuesday: Act by Tues. Morning > > Action Action Alert on AgJOBS -- April 15, > 2005 1:55 pm EDT -- From the Farmworker Justice Fund, Inc. > > > Ok, folks, this is it, thanks to all your hard work and the > efforts of the AgJOBS bill sponsors, Larry Craig and Ted Kennedy, and > Howard Berman and Chris Cannon. AgJOBS has risen to the top of the > priority list in the United States Senate. We have a chance of improving > conditions for hundreds of thousands of farmworkers. It won't happen > unless we all take time out from our busy schedules and mobilize and do > it now. > > THERE WILL BE A VOTE ON AGJOBS ON TUESDAY AFTERNOON. There will also > be a vote on Sen. Chambliss's harsh, backward-looking alternative to the > AgJOBS bill. > > We need your help again. AgJOBS will need 60 votes to pass. We > have 48 cosponsors now, including Sen. Craig. We must get sixty (60) > votes IN FAVOR of the "cloture" vote on AgJOBS to win. AgJOBS is coming > up as an amendment to the supplemental appropriations bill under special, > complicated rules. The Chambliss amendment, which we want to defeat, > would also need 60 votes to pass (so we only need 41 votes against it to > defeat it). > > Please take action by Tuesday morning, but preferably today (Friday) > or Monday. We need a MASSIVE number of missives to Senators so please > talk to everyone you can. Please have them fax letters to your Senators > and call your Senators' offices. Here is the message: please cut and > paste it into letters to fax and please use it as talking points, or do > your own similar letter. > > SAMPLE LETTER AND TALKING POINTS > >Dear Senator: > >1. On Tuesday, please vote FOR CLOTURE on the CRAIG-KENNEDY AGJOBS >AMENDMENT to the supplemental appropriations bill on Tuesday. The >amendment is the same as the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and >Security Act of 2005, also known as "AgJOBS," S. 359. The AgJOBS bill is a >product of bipartisan compromise, is favored by workers and employers, and >should be supported. By voting in FAVOR of CLOTURE on AgJOBS, you voting >FOR AgJOBS. Please vote yes on AgJOBS. > >2. · Please vote AGAINST CLOTURE on the CHAMBLISS AMENDMENT because it >is a proposal for a harsh guestworker program that is unfair to workers >and bad for the nation. It would allow employers to bring in many >guestworkers under low wage rates, poor working conditions and without any >meaningful government oversight. Please vote NO on the cloture vote on >the Chambliss amendment. > >3. Please vote AGAINST THE FEINSTEIN AMENDMENTS to AgJOBS and any other >amendments that are submitted on AgJOBS unless they are agreed to by both >Sen. Craig and Sen. Kennedy. The AgJOBS compromise is carefully drafted >after years of negotiations; we must not upset the delicate balance in the >bill. Vote NO on amendments to AgJOBS. > >Thank you. > >-------------------------------------- > > PLEASE FAX OR CALL YOUR SENATORS WITH THE ABOVE MESSAGES. > > SENATE FAX NUMBERS APPEAR BELOW. YOU MAY CALL THE CAPITOL > SWITCHBOARD AND ASK FOR YOUR SENATORS' OFFICES: 202-224-3121. To obtain > additional contact information for your Senator, please go to > www.Senate.gov and click onto your Senator’s website. > > Summaries of the AgJOBS farmworker immigration bill are > available on our website, www.fwjustice.org, under Legislative News or go > to http://www.fwjustice.org/LEGISLAT.HTM. Also available is the letter > to Congress signed by over 500 organizations in support of AgJOBS. We > will soon post an analysis of the Chambliss amendment. > > >First > >Last > >Party > >State > >FAX > >Daniel > >Akaka > >D > >HI > >202-224-2126 > >Lamar > >Alexander > >R > >TN > >202-228-3398 > >Wayne > >Allard > >R > >CO > >202-224-6471 > >George > >Allen > >R > >VA > >202-224-5432 > >Max > >Baucus > >D > >MT > >202-228-3687 > >Evan > >Bayh > >D > >IN > >202-228-1377 > >Robert > >Bennett > >R > >UT > > > >Joseph > >Biden > >D > >DE > >202-224-0139 > >Jeff > >Bingaman > >D > >NM > >202-224-2852 > >Christopher > >Bond > >R > >MO > >202-224-8149 > >Barbara > >Boxer > >D > >CA > > > >Sam > >Brownback > >R > >KS > >202-228-1265 > >Jim > >Bunning > >R > >KY > >202-228-1373 > >Conrad > >Burns > >R > >MT > >202-224-8594 > >Richard > >Burr > >R > >NC > >202-228-2981 > >Robert > >Byrd > >D > >WV > >202-228-0002 > >Maria > >Cantwell > >D > >WA > >202-228-0514 > >Thomas > >Carper > >D > >DE > > > >Lincoln > >Chafee > >R > >RI > > > >Saxby > >Chambliss > >R > >GA > >202-224-0103 > >Hillary > >Clinton > >D > >NY > >202-228-0282 > >Tom > >Coburn > >R > >OK > >202-224-6008 > >Thad > >Cochran > >R > >MS > >202-224-9450 > >Norm > >Coleman > >R > >MN > >202-224-1152 > >Susan > >Collins > >R > >ME > >202-224-2693 > >Kent > >Conrad > >D > >ND > >202-224-7776 > >John > >Cornyn > >R > >TX > >202-228-2856 > >Jon > >Corzine > >D > >NJ > >202-228-2197 > >Larry > >Craig > >R > >ID > >202-228-1067 > >Michael > >Crapo > >R > >ID > > > >Mark > >Dayton > >D > >MN > >202-228-2186 > >Jim > >DeMint > >R > >SC > > > >Mike > >DeWine > >R > >OH > >202-224-6519 > >Christopher > >Dodd > >D > >CT > >202-224-1083 > >Elizabeth > >Dole > >R > >NC > >202-224-1100 > >Pete > >Domenici > >R > >NM > >202-228-3261 > >Byron > >Dorgan > >D > >ND > >202-224-1193 > >Richard > >Durbin > >D > >IL > >202-228-0400 > >John > >Ensign > >R > >NV > >202-228-2193 > >Michael > >Enzi > >R > >WY > >202-228-0359 > >Russell > >Feingold > >D > >WI > >202-224-2725 > >Dianne > >Feinstein > >D > >CA > >202-228-3954 > >Bill > >Frist > >R > >TN > >202-228-1264 > >Lindsey > >Graham > >R > >SC > >202-224-3808 > >Charles > >Grassley > >R > >IA > >202-224-6020 > >Judd > >Gregg > >R > >NH > >202-224-4952 > >Chuck > >Hagel > >R > >NE > >202-224-5213 > >Tom > >Harkin > >D > >IA > >202-224-9369 > >Orrin > >Hatch > >R > >UT > >202-224-6331 > >Kay > >Hutchison > >R > >TX > >202-224-0776 > >James > >Inhofe > >R > >OK > >202-228-0380 > >Daniel > >Inouye > >D > >HI > > 202-224-6747 > >Johnny > >Isakson > >R > >GA > >202-228-0724 > >James > >Jeffords > >I > >VT > > > >Tim > >Johnson > >D > >SD > >202-228-5765 > >Edward > >Kennedy > >D > >MA > >202-224-2417 > >John > >Kerry > >D > >MA > >202-224-8525 > >Herb > >Kohl > >D > >WI > >202-224-9787 > >Jon > >Kyl > >R > >AZ > >202-224-2207 > >Mary > >Landrieu > >D > >LA > >202-224-9735 > >Frank > >Lautenberg > >D > >NJ > >202-228-4054 > >Patrick > >Leahy > >D > >VT > >202-224-3479 > >Carl > >Levin > >D > >MI > >202-224-1388 > >Joseph > >Lieberman > >D > >CT > >202-224-9750 > >Blanche > >Lincoln > >D > >AR > >202-228-1371 > >Trent > >Lott > >R > >MS > >202-224-2262 > >Richard > >Lugar > >R > >IN > > > >Mel > >Martinez > >R > >FL > >202-228-5171 > >John > >McCain > >R > >AZ > >202-228-2862 > >Mitch > >McConnell > >R > >KY > >202-224-2499 > >Barbara > >Mikulski > >D > >MD > >202-224-8858 > >Lisa > >Murkowski > >R > >AK > >202-224-5301 > >Patty > >Murray > >D > >WA > >202-224-0238 > >Bill > >Nelson > >D > >FL > >202-228-2183 > >E. > >Nelson > >D > >NE > >202-228-0012 > >Barack > >Obama > >D > >IL > >202-228-5417 > >Mark > >Pryor > >D > >AR > >202-228-0908 > >Jack > >Reed > >D > >RI > >202-224-4680 > >Harry > >Reid > >D > >NV > >202-224-7327 > >Pat > >Roberts > >R > >KS > >202-224-3514 > >John > >Rockefeller > >D > >WV > >202-224-7665 > >Ken > >Salazar > >D > >CO > >202-228-5036 > >Rick > >Santorum > >R > >PA > >202-228-0604 > >Paul > >Sarbanes > >D > >MD > >202-224-1651 > >Charles > >Schumer > >D > >NY > >202-228-3027 > >Jeff > >Sessions > >R > >AL > >202-224-3149 > >Richard > >Shelby > >R > >AL > >202-224-3416 > >Gordon > >Smith > >R > >OR > >202-228-3997 > >Olympia > >Snowe > >R > >ME > >202-224-1946 > >Arlen > >Specter > >R > >PA > >202-228-1229 > >Debbie > >Stabenow > >D > >MI > >202-228-0325 > >Ted > >Stevens > >R > >AK > >202-224-2354 > >John > >Sununu > >R > >NH > >202-228-4131 > >James > >Talent > >R > >MO > >202-228-1518 > >Craig > >Thomas > >R > >WY > >202-224-1724 > >John > >Thune > >R > >SD > >202-228-5429 > >David > >Vitter > >R > >LA > >202-228-5061 > >George > >Voinovich > >R > >OH > >202-228-1382 > >John > >Warner > >R > >VA > >202-224-6295 > >Ron > >Wyden > >D > >OR > >202-228-2717 > > > >Bruce Goldstein >Farmworker Justice Fund, Inc. >1010 Vermont Ave., NW, Ste. 915 >Washington, D.C. 20005 >202-783-2628 fax: 783-2561 >www.fwjustice.org >Farmworker Justice Award Reception May 17 From GlennReinhart at aol.com Tue Apr 19 01:11:16 2005 From: GlennReinhart at aol.com (GlennReinhart at aol.com) Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2005 01:11:16 EDT Subject: [saymaListserv] Quakers in the News - Week ended 4/16/2005 Message-ID: <149.438e9a30.2f95ecf4@aol.com> Dear Friend, Welcome to the latest Quakers in the News. A snapshot of the face of English speaking Quakerism in last week's news is as follows: An additional 100 articles mostly appearing in mid and small market journals in the US published stories mentioning Earlham College (not necessarily mentioning the word 'Quaker') and the subsequent two food throwing incidents. one at Butler University, in Indiana and another one involving Pat Buchannan in Michigan. The op-ed commentary stories were mostly similar to - Liberals prevent free speech A list of News Stories reported last week are as follows: Category/Article Title/Journal/City/Area/Region/Date War/Protest///Peace campaigner faces Asbo over protest at US base /Guardian/London/England/UK/13-Apr-05/ QUNO////2005 UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON HUMAND RIGHTS: UN REFORM?/Montana News Association/MT/USA/13-Apr-05/ Quaker Schools /Tolerance/Integrity of Testimonies/Body, Mind and Spirit /Teaching Tolerance Magazine/Montgomery/AL/USA/16-Apr-05/ Quaker Schools /Public Schools//A Touch of Fame for Three Teachers/Washington Post /Washington/DC/USA/12-Apr-05/ Quaker Schools /Politics and Economics/Violence/Earlham/Great moments in pie throwing/Chicago Tribune /Chicago/IL/USA/12-Apr-05 Quaker Schools /Politics and Economics/Violence/Earlham/You can't prevail in politics with pie - Tuesday, April 12, 2005 /Missoulian/Missoula/MT/USA/12-Apr-05/ Quaker History/William Penn/Holy Experiment/Does Pa. believe in God? /Pittsburgh Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh/PA/USA/14-Apr-05/ Quaker History/William Penn/Civil Rights/Why A Fully Informed Jury?/Knox Village Soup/ME/USA/14-Apr-05/ Quaker History/William Penn/Civil Rights/When Silence Is Golden /ChristianityToday.com /ALL/ALL/USA/13-Apr-05/ Quaker History/War/Slavery/Underground Railroad/Here are some new developments that may get you to the polls/News of Delaware County/PA/USA/13-Apr-05/ Quaker History/War/Humanitarian Assistance/Holocaust survivor educates future generations with haunting .../Purdue Exponent /Purdue/IN/USA/11-Apr-05/ Quaker History/Slavery /Women//A list of the first five inductees/New York Newsday/Long Island/NY/USA/16-Apr-05/ Quaker History/Slavery /Underground Railroad/Elias Hicks/A list of New York's Underground Railroad heritage trail sites/Newsday/Long Island/NY/USA/16-Apr-05/ Quaker History/Philadelphia/Franklin, Benjamin/French twist/Boston Globe /Boston/MA/USA/11-Apr-05/ Quaker History/Business /Quaker Schools/Johns Hopkins/Retired teachers restore historic schoolhouse/Annapolis Capital/Annapolis/MD/USA/16-Apr-05/ Quaker History/Business ///Timber baron carved out his place in province's history/Globe and Mail/Toronto/Ontario/Canada/14-Apr-05/ Quaker History/Animals///Dear circus: Forget the elephants/Philadelphia Daily News/Philadelphia/PA/USA/16-Apr-05/ Obituary /Natural Science //Alan Bloom/The Herald/London/England/UK/14-Apr-05/ Gentleness///Pastor who helped break down city?s racial barriers dies at 87 /The State/Charleston/SC/USA/11-Apr-05/ Catholicism/Religious Faith /Peace Studies/Smith-Christopher, Daniel/Papal qualities of leadership: Trust, compassion, faith/The Tidings/Los Angeles/CA/USA/12-Apr-05/ Book Review/Quaker Schools/Earlham//Kimmel creates another memorable protagonist/Columbus This Week Newspapers/Columbus/OH/USA/14-Apr-05/ Arts/Theater///Curtain coming down Saturday on cabaret series /OregonLive.com/Portland/OR/USA/14-Apr-05/ Architecture/New Meetinghouse//Quakers promise merchants not to dry up Old Town/City Pulse/Detroit/MI/USA/14-Apr-05/ AFSC/War/Politics and Economics/Anti-war resolution on warrant /Republican/MA/USA/12-Apr-05/ AFSC/War/Iraq//More US troops questioning Iraq duty /Aljazeera.net/Qatar/M.E./11-Apr-05/ AFSC/War/Boots//Boots of dead US soldiers to be displayed in Tacoma/KING5.com /Seattle/WA/USA/12-Apr-05/ AFSC/War/Boots//War?s human costs added up, in pairs /TheNewsTribune.com/Seattle/WA/USA/12-Apr-05/ AFSC/Politics and Economics/Labor//What? Me Work?/Cleveland Scene Weekly/Cleveland/OH/USA/13-Apr-05/ AFSC/Politics and Economics/Immigration/Minuteman/Arizona Minutemen Driven Largely By Sense of Insecurity .../The NewStandard/New York/NY/USA/16-Apr-05/ AFSC/Politics and Economics/Immigration/Minuteman/Legal observers to provide update on Minuteman activities to .../Douglas Daily Dispatch/Tucson/AZ/USA/15-Apr-05/ AFSC/Politics and Economics/Immigration/Immigration bill too restrictive, won't aid security/Asbury Park Press/Asbury Park/NJ/USA/12-Apr-05/ AFSC/Politics and Economics/Immigration/Drivers' Licenses/Bills draw new avenues for driver's license/OregonLive.com/Portland/OR/USA/11-Apr-05/ AFSC/International Conflict/Israel//Group protests use of bulldozers in Israel/Mid-Hudson News/Poughkeepsie/NY/USA/14-Apr-05/ AFSC/Humanitarian Assistance/City workers' hobby offers a way to help/San Jose Mercury News /San Jose/CA/USA/14-Apr-05/ AFSC/ACLU/Immigration/Minuteman/Local man to join group watching US-Mexico border/MetroWest Daily News/Worcester/MA/USA/13-Apr-05/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From GlennReinhart at aol.com Tue Apr 19 01:11:16 2005 From: GlennReinhart at aol.com (GlennReinhart at aol.com) Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2005 01:11:16 EDT Subject: [saymaListserv] Quakers in the News - Week ended 4/16/2005 Message-ID: <149.438e9a30.2f95ecf4@aol.com> Dear Friend, Welcome to the latest Quakers in the News. A snapshot of the face of English speaking Quakerism in last week's news is as follows: An additional 100 articles mostly appearing in mid and small market journals in the US published stories mentioning Earlham College (not necessarily mentioning the word 'Quaker') and the subsequent two food throwing incidents. one at Butler University, in Indiana and another one involving Pat Buchannan in Michigan. The op-ed commentary stories were mostly similar to - Liberals prevent free speech A list of News Stories reported last week are as follows: Category/Article Title/Journal/City/Area/Region/Date War/Protest///Peace campaigner faces Asbo over protest at US base /Guardian/London/England/UK/13-Apr-05/ QUNO////2005 UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON HUMAND RIGHTS: UN REFORM?/Montana News Association/MT/USA/13-Apr-05/ Quaker Schools /Tolerance/Integrity of Testimonies/Body, Mind and Spirit /Teaching Tolerance Magazine/Montgomery/AL/USA/16-Apr-05/ Quaker Schools /Public Schools//A Touch of Fame for Three Teachers/Washington Post /Washington/DC/USA/12-Apr-05/ Quaker Schools /Politics and Economics/Violence/Earlham/Great moments in pie throwing/Chicago Tribune /Chicago/IL/USA/12-Apr-05 Quaker Schools /Politics and Economics/Violence/Earlham/You can't prevail in politics with pie - Tuesday, April 12, 2005 /Missoulian/Missoula/MT/USA/12-Apr-05/ Quaker History/William Penn/Holy Experiment/Does Pa. believe in God? /Pittsburgh Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh/PA/USA/14-Apr-05/ Quaker History/William Penn/Civil Rights/Why A Fully Informed Jury?/Knox Village Soup/ME/USA/14-Apr-05/ Quaker History/William Penn/Civil Rights/When Silence Is Golden /ChristianityToday.com /ALL/ALL/USA/13-Apr-05/ Quaker History/War/Slavery/Underground Railroad/Here are some new developments that may get you to the polls/News of Delaware County/PA/USA/13-Apr-05/ Quaker History/War/Humanitarian Assistance/Holocaust survivor educates future generations with haunting .../Purdue Exponent /Purdue/IN/USA/11-Apr-05/ Quaker History/Slavery /Women//A list of the first five inductees/New York Newsday/Long Island/NY/USA/16-Apr-05/ Quaker History/Slavery /Underground Railroad/Elias Hicks/A list of New York's Underground Railroad heritage trail sites/Newsday/Long Island/NY/USA/16-Apr-05/ Quaker History/Philadelphia/Franklin, Benjamin/French twist/Boston Globe /Boston/MA/USA/11-Apr-05/ Quaker History/Business /Quaker Schools/Johns Hopkins/Retired teachers restore historic schoolhouse/Annapolis Capital/Annapolis/MD/USA/16-Apr-05/ Quaker History/Business ///Timber baron carved out his place in province's history/Globe and Mail/Toronto/Ontario/Canada/14-Apr-05/ Quaker History/Animals///Dear circus: Forget the elephants/Philadelphia Daily News/Philadelphia/PA/USA/16-Apr-05/ Obituary /Natural Science //Alan Bloom/The Herald/London/England/UK/14-Apr-05/ Gentleness///Pastor who helped break down city?s racial barriers dies at 87 /The State/Charleston/SC/USA/11-Apr-05/ Catholicism/Religious Faith /Peace Studies/Smith-Christopher, Daniel/Papal qualities of leadership: Trust, compassion, faith/The Tidings/Los Angeles/CA/USA/12-Apr-05/ Book Review/Quaker Schools/Earlham//Kimmel creates another memorable protagonist/Columbus This Week Newspapers/Columbus/OH/USA/14-Apr-05/ Arts/Theater///Curtain coming down Saturday on cabaret series /OregonLive.com/Portland/OR/USA/14-Apr-05/ Architecture/New Meetinghouse//Quakers promise merchants not to dry up Old Town/City Pulse/Detroit/MI/USA/14-Apr-05/ AFSC/War/Politics and Economics/Anti-war resolution on warrant /Republican/MA/USA/12-Apr-05/ AFSC/War/Iraq//More US troops questioning Iraq duty /Aljazeera.net/Qatar/M.E./11-Apr-05/ AFSC/War/Boots//Boots of dead US soldiers to be displayed in Tacoma/KING5.com /Seattle/WA/USA/12-Apr-05/ AFSC/War/Boots//War?s human costs added up, in pairs /TheNewsTribune.com/Seattle/WA/USA/12-Apr-05/ AFSC/Politics and Economics/Labor//What? Me Work?/Cleveland Scene Weekly/Cleveland/OH/USA/13-Apr-05/ AFSC/Politics and Economics/Immigration/Minuteman/Arizona Minutemen Driven Largely By Sense of Insecurity .../The NewStandard/New York/NY/USA/16-Apr-05/ AFSC/Politics and Economics/Immigration/Minuteman/Legal observers to provide update on Minuteman activities to .../Douglas Daily Dispatch/Tucson/AZ/USA/15-Apr-05/ AFSC/Politics and Economics/Immigration/Immigration bill too restrictive, won't aid security/Asbury Park Press/Asbury Park/NJ/USA/12-Apr-05/ AFSC/Politics and Economics/Immigration/Drivers' Licenses/Bills draw new avenues for driver's license/OregonLive.com/Portland/OR/USA/11-Apr-05/ AFSC/International Conflict/Israel//Group protests use of bulldozers in Israel/Mid-Hudson News/Poughkeepsie/NY/USA/14-Apr-05/ AFSC/Humanitarian Assistance/City workers' hobby offers a way to help/San Jose Mercury News /San Jose/CA/USA/14-Apr-05/ AFSC/ACLU/Immigration/Minuteman/Local man to join group watching US-Mexico border/MetroWest Daily News/Worcester/MA/USA/13-Apr-05/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From freepolazzo at comcast.net Wed Apr 20 09:12:09 2005 From: freepolazzo at comcast.net (free polazzo) Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 09:12:09 -0400 Subject: [saymaListserv] Re: [afmdiscussion] 2005 FGC Gathering In-Reply-To: <425E83BF.9010307@bellsouth.net> References: <425E83BF.9010307@bellsouth.net> Message-ID: <6.2.1.2.2.20050414170919.03238c70@mail.comcast.net> Dear Friends, I agree with Perry that FGC Gathering is a wonderful place to go and be with Friends of all persuasions from all over the world. My children, Chad and Justin, still have fond memories of their FGC Gathering experiences, as do Janet and I. We recommend it highly. There was one important item that was omitted from the following press release concerning the FGC 2005 Gathering which has led me and our family to decide not to attend this year's FGC Gathering. Unfortunately, the Tapestry which is being woven in Blacksburg VA will have one thread missing that had been a very important part of the Gathering since the early 1990's. The Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience, which had been offered for many years at the FGC gathering until last year and which has seen around 1,000 Quaker Teens and Adults participate over the years, has been banned from the 2005 Gathering by the Long Range Planning Committee. This same activity has received the blessings of a Cherokee Medicine man (who lived near Asheville) and who attended a Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience with Friends when we met at Appalachian State College in Boone, NC many years ago. The Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience has received the blessings of Native Americans whenever George has asked. The Clerk of the 2006 Gathering has indicated that it should be offered, after reviewing all the arguments for and against and consulting with a local Native American leader she respects. I would like to quote from a letter by George Price, the Friend who has been led to create and offer the Quaker Sweat Experience to Friends. (George was invited to come to SAYMA' s Yearly Meeting at Warren Wilson, in 1995, to lead a Quaker Sweat Lodge. It was very well attended.) "I ask you to consider the following story. Lynne Phillips, Clerk of the 2006 FGC Gathering in Vancouver, had deep concerns about the sweat and voiced these at the two listening sessions we had in Philadelphia over the last two years. Last month at FGC's LRCP (Long Range Conference Planning) committee gathering at Rochester she related the following: She read my article in the February 2002 Friends Journal about the sweat and took it to a local Native American leader for whom she has great respect. She said the Native American leader told her, after reading the article, that he had no problem with our use of the sweat. This reflects my experience with many Native Americans. Once they understand the honor and sensitivity that we have used to share the sweat they endorse our use of it. Lynne further said that she would like to see the Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience take place at the 2006 Gathering." I am praying that way will open for FGC Gathering Long Range Planning Committee to allow the Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience to be offered in 2006 on the West Coast and that they do not try to close a door to the Spirit through which so many have experienced the Light Within. Blessings, Free Polazzo Anneewakee Creek Worship Group Attender, Atlanta Friends Meeting, Member. At 10:52 AM 4/14/2005, Perry Treadwell wrote: >FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE > >PLEASE USE FOR YOUR NEWSLETTERS OR OTHER PUBLICATIONS! >You may request a digital copy of this release from gathering at fgcquaker.org > >Friends General Conference will hold the 2005 Gathering of Friends at >the Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, July 2 - July 9, 2005. The >theme is Weaving the Blessed Tapestry. >We want to recognize all the threads that are part of our Quaker >community, says Jean-Marie Prestwidge Barch, co clerk of the Gathering. >Our theme brings together all the elements of a Gathering, adds Frank >Barch, who is co-clerking the Gathering committee. Frank and Jean Marie >are members of Schuylkill Meeting (PhlYM) and attend Valley Meeting >(BYM) in Harrisonburg, Virginia. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From nc_stereoman at charter.net Wed Apr 20 10:16:24 2005 From: nc_stereoman at charter.net (Steve Livingston) Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 10:16:24 -0400 Subject: [saymaListserv] Re: [afmdiscussion] 2005 FGC Gathering In-Reply-To: <6.2.1.2.2.20050414170919.03238c70@mail.comcast.net> References: <425E83BF.9010307@bellsouth.net> Message-ID: <42662BF8.9383.941C13@localhost> I have many regrets around the Sweat Lodge issue, as you know Free. Among them I must now add that I will miss you and Janet at the 2005 Gathering. I am grateful that the Experience will once again be offered at the 2006 Gathering, and hopeful that those Friends who were uneasy enough about it to stand in the way for the 2005 Gathering have settled their objections. I am hopeful that we can all put this episode behind us and that we have learned something of value from the experience. I look forward to hearing what it is. On 20 Apr 2005 at 9:12, free polazzo wrote: > > Dear Friends, > > I agree with Perry that FGC Gathering is a wonderful place to go and > be with Friends of all persuasions from all over the world. My > children, Chad and Justin, still have fond memories of their FGC > Gathering experiences, as do Janet and I. We recommend it highly. > > There was one important item that was omitted from the following press > release concerning the FGC 2005 Gathering which has led me and our > family to decide not to attend this year's FGC Gathering. > Unfortunately, the Tapestry which is being woven in Blacksburg VA will > have one thread missing that had been a very important part of the > Gathering since the early 1990's. > > The Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience, which had been offered for many > years at the FGC gathering until last year and which has seen around > 1,000 Quaker Teens and Adults participate over the years, has been > banned from the 2005 Gathering by the Long Range Planning Committee. > > This same activity has received the blessings of a Cherokee Medicine > man (who lived near Asheville) and who attended a Quaker Sweat Lodge > Experience with Friends when we met at Appalachian State College in > Boone, NC many years ago. The Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience has > received the blessings of Native Americans whenever George has asked. > > The Clerk of the 2006 Gathering has indicated that it should be > offered, after reviewing all the arguments for and against and > consulting with a local Native American leader she respects. I would > like to quote from a letter by George Price, the Friend who has been > led to create and offer the Quaker Sweat Experience to Friends.(George > was invited to come to SAYMA' s Yearly Meeting at Warren Wilson, in > 1995, to lead a Quaker Sweat Lodge. It was very well attended.) > > "I ask you to consider the following story. Lynne Phillips, Clerk of > the 2006 FGC Gathering in Vancouver, had deep concerns about the sweat > and voiced these at the two listening sessions we had in Philadelphia > over the last two years. Last month at FGC's LRCP (Long Range > Conference Planning) committee gathering at Rochester she related the > following: She read my article in the February 2002 Friends Journal > about the sweat and took it to a local Native American leader for whom > she has great respect. She said the Native American leader told her, > after reading the article, that he had no problem with our use of the > sweat. > > This reflects my experience with many Native Americans. Once they > understand the honor and sensitivity that we have used to share the > sweat they endorse our use of it. Lynne further said that she would > like to see the Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience take place at the 2006 > Gathering." > > I am praying that way will open for FGC Gathering Long Range Planning > Committee to allow the Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience to be offered in > 2006 on the West Coast and that they do not try to close a door to the > Spirit through which so many have experienced the Light Within. > > Blessings, > > Free Polazzo > Anneewakee Creek Worship Group Attender, > Atlanta Friends Meeting, Member. > > At 10:52 AM 4/14/2005, Perry Treadwell wrote: > FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE > > PLEASE USE FOR YOUR NEWSLETTERS OR OTHER PUBLICATIONS! > You may request a digital copy of this release from > gathering at fgcquaker.org > > Friends General Conference will hold the 2005 Gathering of Friends > at the Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, July 2 - July 9, > 2005. The theme is Weaving the Blessed Tapestry. We want to > recognize all the threads that are part of our Quaker community, > says Jean-Marie Prestwidge Barch, co clerk of the Gathering. Our > theme brings together all the elements of a Gathering, adds Frank > Barch, who is co-clerking the Gathering committee. Frank and Jean > Marie are members of Schuylkill Meeting (PhlYM) and attend Valley > Meeting (BYM) in Harrisonburg, Virginia. From LizP at fgcquaker.org Wed Apr 20 14:03:31 2005 From: LizP at fgcquaker.org (Liz Perch) Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 14:03:31 -0400 Subject: [saymaListserv] From Lynne Phillips RE: Quaker Sweat Lodge Message-ID: <019401c545d3$42e55930$a401a8c0@fgcquaker.prv> ----- Original Message ----- From: Liz Perch To: Lynne Phillips Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 9:23 AM Subject: From Lynne Phillips RE: Quaker Sweat Lodge Dear Friends, This email is addresses to all LRCP members, to George Price, to Shelby Grantham and the New England Working Party on Racism, and others who may have received the following message from George Price regarding what he thought he heard me say at the March Long Range Conference Planning Committee meeting, From George Price to Shelby Grantham, New England Working Party on Racism I ask you to consider the following story. Lynne Phillips, Clerk of the 2006 FGC Gathering in Vancouver, had deep concerns about the sweat and voiced these at the two listening sessions we had in Philadelphia over the last two years. Last month at FGC's LRCP (Long Range Conference Planning) committee gathering at Rochester she related the following: She read my article in the February 2002 Friends Journal about the sweat and took it to a local Native American leader for whom she has great respect. She said the Native American leader told her, after reading the article, that he had no problem with our use of the sweat. This reflects my experience with many Native Americans. Once they understand the honor and sensitivity that we have used to share the sweat they endorse our use of it. Lynne further said that she would like to see the sweat take place at the 2006 Gathering. A FEW CORRECTIONS: The Anashinabe medicine man and healer from Nippissing First Nation who met with me was unknown to me until the evening of our meeting. I believe that I said that he was greatly respected by his community. I personally didn't know him but was introduced to him by a staff person from the Ontario Metis Association. He is her spiritual teacher. It was clear that he was very active in First Nations healing lodges. I believe that I reported that the Anishinabe healer said he would not forbid any one to do a sweat lodge if that was their spiritual journey. He did say that he thought the writer of the article could do a teaching lodge, but not a healing lodge. (I have that in my notes but I can't remember if I said it at the LRCP meeting.) I believe I also cited the stance of our local First Nations people in the Kootenays where I live- that any attempt on the part of our settler population to use any of their legends or practices would be fiercely resented. I said that to indicate that I realize there is nothing like unity among First Nations peoples in Canada or the United States on the question of what is appropriate "learning about"(which no one so far has objected to) and what spills over into appropriation. Another correction in George's statement: the 2006 Gathering will be held in Washington state, not in Vancouver, BC. George's final statement is only partly true. At the Oct 2004 Listening when we were asked to go around at the beginning and state our wishes, I said that I wished the sweat lodge workshop could be held at Gatherings if it could be done with respect and honour to all parties. At the LRCP meeting I said that I would like to think we could do a sweat lodge workshop at the 2006 Gathering but I didn't think that would be possible. I should have added my reasons for thinking it would not be possible but I felt that I had talked long enough. I was speaking from my heart as an individual Canadian Quaker who is deeply concerned about issues of racism, social injustice, and territorial and cultural appropriation of traditional First Nations lands and traditions, not as the clerk of the 2006 Gathering. The question of the Quaker Sweat lodge workshop and ceremony and their place in the Gathering is one which must be grappled with and decided by LRCP in their responsibility for the gathering. CLARIFICATIONS: I see two separate issues: (1) the workshop on sweat rituals as a spiritual practice and (2) the sweat lodge ceremony as practiced by George Price. George has indicated that not all attenders of his workshop attended the sweats and some came to the sweats who were not members of his workshop. I realize that in speaking on the Quaker Sweat Lodge issue, I should be making a clear distinction between workshop and ritual ceremony. Learning about the rituals of most other religions is appreciated by most of the practitioners of those religions. Practice is a more troubling issue. I suspect that a workshop about ritual sweating as a spiritual practice around the world, including Native American examples, would probably not arouse the same concerns as the ritual sweat lodge ceremony itself. I believe that we benefit from knowing about and sharing, where appropriate,the spiritual journeys of other cultures and other religions. I am a universalist Quaker. Having said that, I also say that I value the integrity of the Quaker traditions; in particular I believe in corporate spirit-led discernment as a way for a faith community to make decisions andto grow in trust and love. Last April when we were asked to make a regrettably quick decision on whether to allow the QSL workshop to continue in 2004, I agreed with the LRCP discernment that it should be canceled. I think that was the best decision we could have made and I also think our process was in right order, given the circumstances. Over the year I have sent various emails to the LRCP ad hoc committee and others on the subject of the QSL. I felt that the October Listening meeting didn't move very far in giving guidance to LRCP about the future. One set of possibilities that I think were important which were not fully explored were some of the options "in the middle". For example FGC could open a dialogue with the local Native Americans, in whose traditional territory we are gathering, to obtain their perspective on the QSL. The local people might wish to act as resource people or as invited guest speakers. The sweat lodge ceremony might be the most difficult issue to resolve, but it seems to me that the workshop does not require the ceremony in order to be powerful and transformative. Note that these are my own reflections of the day - not an official report. I will continue to be involved in this issue and, as a member of LRCP, will be part of the group that makes decisions about the QSL. I am conscious that this email is getting too long but lest I make the same error and fail to clarify what I mean by "possible", I will briefly repeat what I have said to various people on LRCP - that we could only offer the sweat lodge ceremony if we get the permission and collaboration of the local First Nations people and do it with their blessing, so to speak. This is the only honorable and respectful way to proceed with someone else's spiritual tradition. The difficulty in doing this is that every year we would need to seek the approval and if possible, participation of Native Americans. This means that every year staff and volunteers would need to find time and the money to meet with Native Americans in each locality. Even if there was unity that the QSL was "Quakerly" and therefore had a place in the Gathering, I suspect that we do not have the resources to do this. It is incumbent upon us to see that resources are fairly distributed according to the rightly ordered weight of each program. One workshop is a very small part of the whole gathering. It is also not known if the workshop leaders would be willing to collaborate or subordinate their work to the requirements of local First Nations people. I hope that there will continue to be opportunities to learn about Native American spirituality at Gatherings when such a workshop meets the criteria that all workshops must. In my opinion, it seems highly unlikely that the QSL workshop is possible at the 2006 Gathering, given the complexities of the issue yet to be explored, let alone resolved. However, this is not a question for me to decide, but a question for LRCP and perhaps the 2006 workshop committee. I have left many things unsaid, but I hope I have clarified my feelings and thoughts on the issue. Please respond to me if you feel moved. I would really like to hear you all. Blessings on our work together, Lynne Phillips Rossland, BC CANADA To be happy in this world, especially when youth is past, it is necessary to feel oneself not merely an isolated individual whose day will soon be over, but parts of the stream of life flowing on from the first germ to the remote and unknown futures. Bertrand Russell -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From nwinfrey at bellsouth.net Thu Apr 21 10:21:54 2005 From: nwinfrey at bellsouth.net (Nancy Winfrey) Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 10:21:54 -0400 (Eastern Standard Time) Subject: [saymaListserv] FW: Do Not Call Numbers Message-ID: <4267B702.000001.03212@NANCY> This message is forwarded to me by my daughter, and isn't an urban legend! Cell phone companies are releasing your phone numbers to marketers! This is a new development! Your can either call the number below, or go on line to donotcall.gov in order to register your number on the federal register. You must call from the phone you want to register. Nancy Winfrey -------Original Message------- From: Emily M. Ohland Date: 04/20/05 12:38:29 To: Anita Edge; Charles Bopp; Katie Cox; Lee Molz; Libby Hoyle; Linda Carlson; Lydia Schleifer; Marie Jensen; Sandy Severance; Allan And Laurel Preston; Barb And Steve Speck; Carole Yocum; Caroline Anneaux; Charles P. Powell III; Morris; Don Herrington \(Teri Herrington\); Erik David Ohland; Kathleen Byrne; Margaret Iannitello; Michael And Elizabeth Stuart \(Mike Stuart\); Nancy A Winfrey; Natalie A. McKeown Finegar; Richard Yerton; Stephanie Reiss Subject: FW: Do Not Call Numbers Hi all, This isn?t a joke. I received a telemarketing call just last night and my friend, Anita, one yesterday morning. What a waste of minutes!!! Give it a ring? Emily Passing this info along to all....... In a few weeks, cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing > > companies and you will start to receive sales calls on your cell phones. > > > > > > > > Call this number from your cell phone (1-888-382-1222). It is the national > > Do Not Call list. It blocks your number for 5 years. You must call from > > your cell phone. It took me just one minute to do. You may want to > > distribute this information to your friends and family > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: AUGUST~1.GIF Type: image/gif Size: 2308 bytes Desc: not available URL: From freepolazzo at comcast.net Thu Apr 21 15:07:43 2005 From: freepolazzo at comcast.net (free polazzo) Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 15:07:43 -0400 Subject: [saymaListserv] Re: [afmdiscussion] 2005 FGC Gathering In-Reply-To: <000901c54670$e45c68b0$2000a8c0@thinkertoo> References: <425E83BF.9010307@bellsouth.net> <6.2.1.2.2.20050414170919.03238c70@mail.comcast.net> <000901c54670$e45c68b0$2000a8c0@thinkertoo> Message-ID: <6.2.1.2.2.20050421090854.03266ea8@mail.comcast.net> Hi Ceal, Atlanta Freinds Meeting approved marrying any 2 people, regardless of sexual orientation. Do you think that upsets anyone in Atlanta, GA or the USA? Most all my neighbors are upset that I have a "War is Not the Answer" sign in my yard (some even rip them up and others take them away - 15 so far). Should I decide not to declare myself against war because they are upset about the signs? SAYMA Friends don't believe in having a hired Priest (or Minister or Rabbi or Shaman or Iman for that matter.) That must upset some of the groups that believe that you need someone who was "ordained" to lead religious services. Should we hire a minister so that people won't be offended? I'm sure you could add to this list. They don't call Friends the "Peculiar People" for nothing. If Friends start following the "niceness" Testimony, what are we to do with our Testimonies on Equality, Truth, Peace and Simplicity and Community? I don't think anyone wanted to offend any Native Americans. As you know, there are very few groups of humans where all the members of that group agree on how to worship and how big to make the circle. Friends who were following the leading of the Spirit. The issue is this: "Can Friends General Conference's Long Range Planning Committee close a door to the Spirit for some, at the FGC Gathering, because others think it's the "Wrong" door? Blessings, Free At 08:51 AM 4/21/2005, Ceal wrote: >However this is true in one aspect - the Sweat Lodge was removed last year >and this year because it DID offend some Native Americans. I know there >are many Native Americans who have been asked and thought it was fine but >others have been offended and upset. > >Ceal >Atlanta From Fiddlinshim at cs.com Thu Apr 21 20:24:56 2005 From: Fiddlinshim at cs.com (Fiddlinshim at cs.com) Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 20:24:56 EDT Subject: [saymaListserv] Re: [afmdiscussion] 2005 FGC Gathering Message-ID: <12b.5b99a35f.2f999e58@cs.com> freepolazzo at comcast.net writes: > >If Friends start following the "niceness" Testimony, what are we to do > with > >our Testimonies on Equality, Truth, Peace and Simplicity and Community? Is the niceness Testimony the same as the "getting along smoothly" witness? I enjoyed your post immensly! Joel Shimberg -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From stonelodge at earthlink.net Wed Apr 20 12:10:03 2005 From: stonelodge at earthlink.net (George Price) Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 12:10:03 -0400 Subject: [saymaListserv] Re: [afmdiscussion] 2005 FGC Gathering References: <425E83BF.9010307@bellsouth.net> <6.2.1.2.2.20050414170919.03238c70@mail.comcast.net> Message-ID: <001c01c545c3$69516b50$6501a8c0@SCRAPPY> Free, I want to make a correction in what you quoted of what I said. Lynn Phillps corrected me when I said she wanted to see the QSL at the 2006 Gathering. She said that she would like to see a workshop about the sweat but says that she doesn't think that we should do a sweat without the permission and collaboration of local Indians. In recalling her experience with the Native American teacher to whom I referred she said " the Anishinabe healer said he would not forbid any one to do a sweat lodge if that was their spiritual journey." I think this is an important point that may help us to resolve this issue. The QSL is not a Native American ceremony. I have made that abundantly clear since its inception. The reason it is not is because of my sensitivity toward Native American concerns that others not appropriate their ceremonies. My sensitivity on this issue has grown from my extensive education from academic and traditional Native American teachers. We have NOT appropriated a ceremony - we have developed a new ceremony which is based in part on the Native American tradition of the sweat. It is very different and has elements of several traditions incorporated. It is an example of syncretism - the melding of different spiritual ideas in to a new one. All spiritual traditions are examples of syncretism. Native Americans that have taken the time to understand what we are doing understand that this is a Quaker ceremony and have approved of our doing it. What we have before is a decision to either follow and empower a long term tested spiritual leading or to bow to a nebulous political complaint. Spirit is not owned by anyone and for anyone to attempt to enforce their spiritual or political will on others is tyrannical. I have been accused of being culturally ignorant and insensitive on this issue and that is simply not true. I have spent most of my life reseaching and educating myself on Native American concerns. If those who oppose our use of the sweat would take the time to educate themselves more deeply on this issue they will find a more enlightened point of view. I recomend Raymond Bucko's book, The Lakota Ritual of the Sweat Lodge and Joseph Bruchac's book, The Native American Sweat Lodge. Also Mikkel Aaland's book Sweat can give readers a view of the universal nature of sweat lodges as practiced by people all over the world. George Price 4-20-2005 Liz, I would like you to forward the above to LRCP members along with Free's writings - Thanks George ----- Original Message ----- From: free polazzo To: AFM Friends ; sayma at kitenet.net Cc: Bruce Birchard ; George Price ; Liz Perch Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2005 9:12 AM Subject: Re: [afmdiscussion] 2005 FGC Gathering Dear Friends, I agree with Perry that FGC Gathering is a wonderful place to go and be with Friends of all persuasions from all over the world. My children, Chad and Justin, still have fond memories of their FGC Gathering experiences, as do Janet and I. We recommend it highly. There was one important item that was omitted from the following press release concerning the FGC 2005 Gathering which has led me and our family to decide not to attend this year's FGC Gathering. Unfortunately, the Tapestry which is being woven in Blacksburg VA will have one thread missing that had been a very important part of the Gathering since the early 1990's. The Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience, which had been offered for many years at the FGC gathering until last year and which has seen around 1,000 Quaker Teens and Adults participate over the years, has been banned from the 2005 Gathering by the Long Range Planning Committee. This same activity has received the blessings of a Cherokee Medicine man (who lived near Asheville) and who attended a Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience with Friends when we met at Appalachian State College in Boone, NC many years ago. The Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience has received the blessings of Native Americans whenever George has asked. The Clerk of the 2006 Gathering has indicated that it should be offered, after reviewing all the arguments for and against and consulting with a local Native American leader she respects. I would like to quote from a letter by George Price, the Friend who has been led to create and offer the Quaker Sweat Experience to Friends. (George was invited to come to SAYMA' s Yearly Meeting at Warren Wilson, in 1995, to lead a Quaker Sweat Lodge. It was very well attended.) "I ask you to consider the following story. Lynne Phillips, Clerk of the 2006 FGC Gathering in Vancouver, had deep concerns about the sweat and voiced these at the two listening sessions we had in Philadelphia over the last two years. Last month at FGC's LRCP (Long Range Conference Planning) committee gathering at Rochester she related the following: She read my article in the February 2002 Friends Journal about the sweat and took it to a local Native American leader for whom she has great respect. She said the Native American leader told her, after reading the article, that he had no problem with our use of the sweat. This reflects my experience with many Native Americans. Once they understand the honor and sensitivity that we have used to share the sweat they endorse our use of it. Lynne further said that she would like to see the Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience take place at the 2006 Gathering." I am praying that way will open for FGC Gathering Long Range Planning Committee to allow the Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience to be offered in 2006 on the West Coast and that they do not try to close a door to the Spirit through which so many have experienced the Light Within. Blessings, Free Polazzo Anneewakee Creek Worship Group Attender, Atlanta Friends Meeting, Member. At 10:52 AM 4/14/2005, Perry Treadwell wrote: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PLEASE USE FOR YOUR NEWSLETTERS OR OTHER PUBLICATIONS! You may request a digital copy of this release from gathering at fgcquaker.org Friends General Conference will hold the 2005 Gathering of Friends at the Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, July 2 - July 9, 2005. The theme is Weaving the Blessed Tapestry. We want to recognize all the threads that are part of our Quaker community, says Jean-Marie Prestwidge Barch, co clerk of the Gathering. Our theme brings together all the elements of a Gathering, adds Frank Barch, who is co-clerking the Gathering committee. Frank and Jean Marie are members of Schuylkill Meeting (PhlYM) and attend Valley Meeting (BYM) in Harrisonburg, Virginia. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lphillip at netidea.com Wed Apr 20 13:38:02 2005 From: lphillip at netidea.com (Lynne Phillips) Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 10:38:02 -0700 Subject: [saymaListserv] CORRECTION of misquotation re 2006 Gathering and the Quaker Sweat Lodge Message-ID: <4.3.0.20050420101042.00cc0ac0@mail.netidea.com> Dear Friends, Email, like most technology, has its good and bad effects. Right now I am experiencing the dark side of email communication. The FGC office via Liz Perch will be sending you a message that I wrote to correct the misquotation of my remarks made in a meeting for worship for business at the March 2005 Long Range Conference Planning committee meeting. George Price misunderstood my remarks and has perpetrated the misunderstanding to a wider audience though a message by email to others where he appeared to be quoting me about the Quaker Sweat Lodge and the 2006 Gathering. George has apologized to me in a private email for his misunderstanding, but, alas, it is not so easy to undo messages once set loose in the easy world of internet communication. Please wait for my forwarded message from the FGC office. Read and destroy. That is, don't forward it to others but if you encounter George's misquotation of my remarks in other messages or from other people, please let them know that it is NOT accurate and urge them to contact me or the FGC office for the corrections. I would also like to know where else this message has gone, so that I can continue to try and undo the harm that this misinformation has done. I also need to say that my understanding of committee meetings are meetings for *worship* with attention to business. My experience with Canadian Yearly Meeting committees has been that individual ministry in the context of the meetings is just that - speaking as an individual. What the *meeting* decides is corporate discernment as expressed by our minute. I believe that the March LRCP session given over to the Quaker Sweat Lodge was meant to be another opportunity for LRCP to gather information, reflect on the issues, and share our degrees of clarity. What is more, LRCP's previous meetings have been conducted with the understanding that what we said was held in confidence. For this reason alone, any comments made about the discussion at the committee meeting should have reflected the minute that was written and nothing more. It seems to me to be inappropriate to quote individual remarks, even if quoted correctly. Seeking the Light, Lynne Lynne Phillips Rossland, BC CANADA "Spiritual life is like living water that springs up from the very depths of our own spiritual experience. In spiritual life everyone has to drink from his or her own well." St. Bernard of Clairvaux -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lphillip at netidea.com Wed Apr 20 15:38:18 2005 From: lphillip at netidea.com (Lynne Phillips) Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 12:38:18 -0700 Subject: [saymaListserv] Re: From Lynne Phillips RE: Quaker Sweat Lodge In-Reply-To: <019401c545d3$42e55930$a401a8c0@fgcquaker.prv> Message-ID: <4.3.0.20050420121644.00cb2448@mail.netidea.com> Dear all, I appreciate George's message in correcting my remarks made at a meeting for worship for business for Long Range Conference Planning committee, March 2005. I have purchased and read the books by Bucko and Bruchac. I am aware that there are aboriginal/First Nations/Native Americans who see the sweat lodge as a spiritual gift that can be shared. However, there are many who disagree. I am quoting with permission an email from Sarah Chandler who is currently clerk of Canadian Friends Service Committee's subcommittee Quaker Aboriginal Affairs Committee. Jennifer Preston Howe is the CFSC staff person for the QAAC committee. I have included Bill's email (hoping that it's OK to forward his words as he reflects some of the Canadian YM experience in this area). Bill Curry lives in Saskatchewan. He and his wife have been involved with First Nations peoples in many ways. Seeking the Light, Lynne >From: "Sarah Chandler" >To: "Bill Curry" >Cc: "Lynne Phillips" >Subject: RE: RE: fgc re sweatlodges >Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2005 08:51:37 -0700 > >Hi Bill, >Maybe we can set aside some time to talk about this at WHYM, if you like. >I had an experience at the Friends and Native Americans Gathering in >Boulder last April that has left me pondering deeply. The discussion came >up as to when it was appropriate for "outsiders" to participate in sacred >ceremonies. It was strongly argued that "never" was the appropriate answer. >Inez Talamantez, professor of Indigenous Spirituality at the University of >California, made the point strongly that not only are we not grounded in >what we are doing, but we can actually do harm. She cited specific examples >where ceremonies are only performed by people specially trained to perform >them, and even then, they are performed in secret....to keep the world in >balance. Others echoed her sentiments - even those who said they had >allowed outsiders to participate in the past, but had decided not to do so >any more. >Gerald One Feather of the Lakota Sioux nation said that there had been a >broad policy for awhile among the nations to allow outsiders in to >experience certain ceremonies. That policy has been reversed because of >abuses, and concerns that people were participating in ways that could cause >damage. >For myself,I have mixed emotions. My sweat lodge experiences have been >life-changing. The first experience, a private one, was organized by >Quakers for Quakers but led by an "accredited" Secwepemc sweat leader and >her assistant. Another was a womens' sweat at a womens' gathering at >Lil'Wat (Mt Currie). Others have been by invitation to (indigenous) family >sweat ceremonies, where we are considered to be part of the extended family. >I have always avoided sweats where the leader is unknown to me or I feel >uneasy about qualifications or purpose. I expressed my thoughts that this >might be OK, but there were several there who expressed concern that even >this was not OK. >I would hope that it will continue to be acceptable for sensitive >individuals to be invited to participate in ceremonies, as observers, as >inter-spiritual experiences....much as one can be invited to attend Hindu, >Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, Quaker worship. I think it is profoundly >important to peoples' understandings of one another. >However, I absolutely feel that it is inappropriate for one of us to take on >the facilitation of such ceremonies, or even to participate in them if there >is not general consensus that we should do so.. And, I expect, if we can >dig underneath the oppression of traditional ceremonies by the churches, we >can find similar ceremonies that we could engage in, within our own European >cultural backgrounds, if we feel the need to do this. >Thanks for raising the topic. Let me know if you feel a discussion would be >of interest. >Sarah >-----Original Message----- >From: mailliw at sasktel.net [mailto:mailliw at sasktel.net] >Sent: 18 April 2005 12:23 >To: Sarah Chandler >Cc: Jennifer Preston Howe; Tuulia Law; Lynne Phillips >Subject: Re: RE: fgc re sweatlodges > >Hello Sarah, >Thanks for writing. >The FGC issue sounds more difficult than I realized. >I have been wondering if in Canada - at WHYM, CYM, where/whenever truly >appropriate - we might be able to model how to approach offering such >experience for Friends, especially youth. >This thought of a truly respectful sweatlodge at one of our gatherings soon >shifts to going to a host community (ie rather than bringing a 'program' to >a gathering). [I recall a few cases - eg Neekaunis? - of Aboriginal/Friends >youth getting together; with mutual respect, such cultural etc activity has >sufficient value in itself.] >In any case, we need to remain aware of sharing in something sacred. As way >opens, particulars can come clear - with all the steps it takes, including >participating in the physical and other preparational work. >In meantime, it is interesting to learn more of these challenges in FGC. >With Good Spring Wishes, >bill >Forwarded by request >----- Original Message ----- >From: George Price >To: AFM Friends ; sayma at kitenet.net ; free polazzo >Cc: Bruce Birchard ; Liz Perch >Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2005 12:10 PM >Subject: Re: [afmdiscussion] 2005 FGC Gathering >Free, >I want to make a correction in what you quoted of what I said. Lynn >Phillps corrected me when I said she wanted to see the QSL at the 2006 >Gathering. She said that she would like to see a workshop about the sweat >but says that she doesn't think that we should do a sweat without the >permission and collaboration of local Indians. In recalling her experience >with the Native American teacher to whom I referred she said " the >Anishinabe healer said he would not forbid any one to do a sweat lodge if >that was their spiritual journey." I think this is an important point that >may help us to resolve this issue. The QSL is not a Native American >ceremony. I have made that abundantly clear since its inception. The >reason it is not is because of my sensitivity toward Native American >concerns that others not appropriate their ceremonies. My sensitivity on >this issue has grown from my extensive education from academic and >traditional Native American teachers. We have NOT appropriated a ceremony >- we have developed a new ceremony which is based in part on the Native >American tradition of the sweat. It is very different and has elements of >several traditions incorporated. It is an example of syncretism - the >melding of different spiritual ideas in to a new one. All spiritual >traditions are examples of syncretism. Native Americans that have taken >the time to understand what we are doing understand that this is a Quaker >ceremony and have approved of our doing it. >What we have before is a decision to either follow and empower a long term >tested spiritual leading or to bow to a nebulous political complaint. >Spirit is not owned by anyone and for anyone to attempt to enforce their >spiritual or political will on others is tyrannical. I have been accused >of being culturally ignorant and insensitive on this issue and that is >simply not true. I have spent most of my life reseaching and educating >myself on Native American concerns. If those who oppose our use of the >sweat would take the time to educate themselves more deeply on this issue >they will find a more enlightened point of view. I recomend Raymond >Bucko's book, The Lakota Ritual of the Sweat Lodge and Joseph Bruchac's >book, The Native American Sweat Lodge. Also Mikkel Aaland's book Sweat can >give readers a view of the universal nature of sweat lodges as practiced >by people all over the world. >George Price 4-20-2005 >Liz, I would like you to forward the above to LRCP members along with >Free's writings - Thanks George Lynne Phillips Rossland, BC CANADA "Spiritual life is like living water that springs up from the very depths of our own spiritual experience. In spiritual life everyone has to drink from his or her own well." St. Bernard of Clairvaux -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cecilia at wutka.com Thu Apr 21 08:51:49 2005 From: cecilia at wutka.com (Ceal) Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 08:51:49 -0400 Subject: [saymaListserv] Re: [afmdiscussion] 2005 FGC Gathering References: <425E83BF.9010307@bellsouth.net> <6.2.1.2.2.20050414170919.03238c70@mail.comcast.net> Message-ID: <000901c54670$e45c68b0$2000a8c0@thinkertoo> However this is true in one aspect - the Sweat Lodge was removed last year and this year because it DID offend some Native Americans. I know there are many Native Americans who have been asked and thought it was fine but others have been offended and upset. Ceal Atlanta ----- Original Message ----- From: "free polazzo" To: "AFM Friends" ; Cc: "Bruce Birchard" ; "George Price" ; "Liz Perch" Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2005 9:12 AM Subject: Re: [afmdiscussion] 2005 FGC Gathering > > Dear Friends, > > I agree with Perry that FGC Gathering is a wonderful place to go and be > with Friends of all persuasions from all over the world. My children, > Chad and Justin, still have fond memories of their FGC Gathering > experiences, as do Janet and I. We recommend it highly. > > There was one important item that was omitted from the following press > release concerning the FGC 2005 Gathering which has led me and our family > to decide not to attend this year's FGC Gathering. Unfortunately, the > Tapestry which is being woven in Blacksburg VA will have one thread > missing > that had been a very important part of the Gathering since the early > 1990's. > > The Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience, which had been offered for many years > at > the FGC gathering until last year and which has seen around 1,000 Quaker > Teens and Adults participate over the years, has been banned from the 2005 > Gathering by the Long Range Planning Committee. > > This same activity has received the blessings of a Cherokee Medicine man > (who lived near Asheville) and who attended a Quaker Sweat Lodge > Experience > with Friends when we met at Appalachian State College in Boone, NC many > years ago. The Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience has received the blessings > of > Native Americans whenever George has asked. > > The Clerk of the 2006 Gathering has indicated that it should be offered, > after reviewing all the arguments for and against and consulting with a > local Native American leader she respects. I would like to quote from a > letter by George Price, the Friend who has been led to create and offer > the > Quaker Sweat Experience to Friends. (George was invited to come to > SAYMA' > s Yearly Meeting at Warren Wilson, in 1995, to lead a Quaker Sweat > Lodge. It was very well attended.) > > "I ask you to consider the following story. Lynne Phillips, Clerk of the > 2006 FGC Gathering in Vancouver, had deep concerns about the sweat and > voiced these at the two listening sessions we had in Philadelphia over the > last two years. Last month at FGC's LRCP (Long Range Conference Planning) > committee gathering at Rochester she related the following: She read my > article in the February 2002 Friends Journal about the sweat and took it > to > a local Native American leader for whom she has great respect. She said > the Native American leader told her, after reading the article, that he > had > no problem with our use of the sweat. > > This reflects my experience with many Native Americans. Once they > understand the honor and sensitivity that we have used to share the sweat > they endorse our use of it. Lynne further said that she would like to see > the Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience take place at the 2006 Gathering." > > I am praying that way will open for FGC Gathering Long Range Planning > Committee to allow the Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience to be offered in > 2006 > on the West Coast and that they do not try to close a door to the Spirit > through which so many have experienced the Light Within. > > Blessings, > > Free Polazzo > Anneewakee Creek Worship Group Attender, > Atlanta Friends Meeting, Member. > > At 10:52 AM 4/14/2005, Perry Treadwell wrote: >>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE >> >>PLEASE USE FOR YOUR NEWSLETTERS OR OTHER PUBLICATIONS! >>You may request a digital copy of this release from >>gathering at fgcquaker.org >> >>Friends General Conference will hold the 2005 Gathering of Friends at >>the Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, July 2 - July 9, 2005. The >>theme is Weaving the Blessed Tapestry. >>We want to recognize all the threads that are part of our Quaker >>community, says Jean-Marie Prestwidge Barch, co clerk of the Gathering. >>Our theme brings together all the elements of a Gathering, adds Frank >>Barch, who is co-clerking the Gathering committee. Frank and Jean Marie >>are members of Schuylkill Meeting (PhlYM) and attend Valley Meeting >>(BYM) in Harrisonburg, Virginia. > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> > Would you Help a Child in need? > It is easier than you think. > Click Here to meet a Child you can help. > http://us.click.yahoo.com/0Z9NuA/I_qJAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM > --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/afmdiscussion/ > > <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > afmdiscussion-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com > > <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: > http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > > > > From bonnipeg at charter.net Mon Apr 25 00:29:23 2005 From: bonnipeg at charter.net (Peggy Bonnington) Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2005 23:29:23 -0500 Subject: [saymaListserv] RE: sayma Digest, Vol 27, Issue 16 In-Reply-To: <20050423020743.0074117F25@kitenet.net> Message-ID: <005b01c5494f$5f30b9c0$864a7044@default> Also, in my humble opinion, if those opposed actually were to experience the sweat we might hear a totally different story. Nothing educates like the experience itself; not everything is strictly "book learning." While the recommended books are doubtlessly excellent, the actual experience of the sweat goes beyond words and I'm uncertain should be attempted in verbalese. Peggy Bonnington Clarksville TN -----Original Message----- Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 From: "George Price" Subject:2005 FGC Gathering What we have before is a decision to either follow and empower a long term tested spiritual leading or to bow to a nebulous political complaint. Spirit is not owned by anyone and for anyone to attempt to enforce their spiritual or political will on others is tyrannical. I have been accused of being culturally ignorant and insensitive on this issue and that is simply not true. I have spent most of my life reseaching and educating myself on Native American concerns. If those who oppose our use of the sweat would take the time to educate themselves more deeply on this issue they will find a more enlightened point of view. I recomend Raymond Bucko's book, The Lakota Ritual of the Sweat Lodge and Joseph Bruchac's book, The Native American Sweat Lodge. Also Mikkel Aaland's book Sweat can give readers a view of the universal nature of sweat lodges as practiced by people all over the world. George Price 4-20-2005 From jhminshall at comcast.net Mon Apr 25 11:38:56 2005 From: jhminshall at comcast.net (Janet Minshall) Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 11:38:56 -0400 Subject: [saymaListserv] Belize Message-ID: Dear Friends, Please hold our Friend Judy Lumb and all of Belize, Central America, in the Light of the Holy Spirit. Janet Minshall From GlennReinhart at aol.com Mon Apr 25 20:59:45 2005 From: GlennReinhart at aol.com (GlennReinhart at aol.com) Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 20:59:45 EDT Subject: [saymaListserv] Quakers in the News - week ended 4/23/2005 Message-ID: <1f9.87c38aa.2f9eec81@aol.com> Dear Friend, Please see http://quakersinthenews.blogspot.com for a chronological archive, or to comment on any news story. Glenn The most widely reported story of the week was about an alumnus of Friends Seminary and her experience there, in New York City: Quaker Schools /Arts /Film/Peet/For Amanda Peet's sake, 'A Lot Like Love'/USA Today/All/ALL/USA/21-Apr-05 The most inspiring story of the week was about a Friend whom I've met and with whom I"ve corresponded for a few years: Arts/Music/Religious Faith/Roberts, Arthur/Troubadour of the road to heaven /OregonLive.com/Portland/OR/USA/22-Apr-05 Other Stories which were published include: Category/Article Title/Journal/City/Area/Region/Date War/WWII/Media/TV/Bunraku puppets tell saga of 'Hiroshima Maiden'/Arizona Republic/Phoenix/AZ/USA/22-Apr-05 Simplicity////KAYAK.COM/Globe and Mail/Toronto/Ontario/Canada/20-Apr-05 Silence/Obituary///One year later, students remember Elser/Johns Hopkins News-Letter/Baltimore/MD/USA/22-Apr-05 Religious Faith /Religious Diversity/Humor//Rabbi who helps to lighten our load/Manchester Evening News/Manchester/England/UK/20-Apr-05 Religious Faith//Striving for a friendlier world to live in/Mason City Globe Gazette/Mason City/IA/USA/17-Apr-05/ Religious Diversity///Faith workshop opens paths for respect/York Dispatch/York/PA/USA/19-Apr-05/ Quaker Schools /Politics and Economics/Violence/Slapstick/Pie-Faced /Newsweek/ALL/ALL/USA/18-Apr-05 Quaker Schools /Advanced Placement//A Few Lucky Students Who Don't Need AP /Washington Post/Washington/DC/USA/19-Apr-05/ Quaker History/Slavery /Underground Railroad/Mary Dugan earns grange honor for service/Kennett Paper/Kennett Square/PA/USA/22-Apr-05/ Quaker History/Politics and Economics/Labor//Labor's Role in Baltimore?s History Fondly Recalled/Media Monitors Network/Baltimore/MD/USA/18-Apr-05 Quaker History/Business /Barclay/Gurney/Landmark year for Norfolk bank branch /Norfolk Eastern Daily Press/Norfolk/England/UK/18-Apr-05 Outreach/Western Yearly Meeting/Grant money given to church will help them reachout to .../Mooresville / Decatur Times/Mooresville/IN/USA/20-Apr-05/ Outreach/Peace Activity//A Proud Cause/Winston-Salem Journal/Winston-Salem/NC/USA/23-Apr-05// Obituary /Public Schools/Library Science/Marian Dickinson/Fairfield Daily Ledger/Fairfield/IA/USA/18-Apr-05/ Obituary /Crime and Punishment/Victims remembered/Cassopolis Vigilant/MI/USA/22-Apr-05/// Membership Decline///College Freshman Seeking More Than Degrees/Kansas City infoZine/Kansas City/MO/USA/18-Apr-05/ Media/Silence///Radio to broadcast the silent sound of worship/Peninsula On-line/Qatar/M.E./23-Apr-05/ International Conflict/Peace Activity//Offer olive branch for peace's sake /Scotsman/Glasgow/Scotland/UK/23-Apr-05/ Humanitarian Assistance /Philanthropy/Kenya//'Blair hasn't come here, maybe he never will'/Guardian/London/England/UK/23-Apr-05 Humanitarian Assistance //The Well, Jonesboro carriers team up/Marion Chronicle Tribune/Marion/IN/USA/20-Apr-05// FCNL/War/Smith, Daniel/Soldier blogs bring the front line to the folks at home/ABC News/ALL/ALL/USA/18-Apr-05/ Environment/Religious Diversity/Burt, Andy/Maine churches take steps to tread more softly on the environment/MaineToday.com/Portland/ME/USA/18-Apr-05/ Business/Recreation/Politics and Economics/George, Henry/MONOPOLY Took a Meandering Route to Atlantic City/Star-Ledger/Newark/NJ/USA/22-Apr-05 Black Concerns/Protest/Quaker Upbringing/Black youth declare end to Marching and Speeches/Baltimore Times/Baltimore/MD/USA/22-Apr-05/ Arts/Quilts///Local exhibit pieced together/Newton Kansan/Newton/KS/USA/20-Apr-05 Arts/Poetry/Whittier, John Greenleaf/'Barefoot Boy's' great-grandson traces family tree to Sheffield/Kewanee Star Courier/IL/USA/19-Apr-05// Arts/Music///day 1 of Ichthus/Lexington Herald-Leader/Lexington/KY/USA/23-Apr-05 AFSC/War/Counter Recruiting/Military service workshop planned in Great Barrington/Berkshire Eagle/Great Barrington/MA/USA/19-Apr-05/ AFSC/War/Counter Recruiting/Seeking options to military recruiting/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/San Gabriel/CA/USA/17-Apr-05/ AFSC/International Conflict/Palestine//Only Public Support Can Sustain a Window of Opportunity/AMIN//Palestine/M.E./18-Apr-05 AFSC/Immigration/Minuteman/Minuteman group appears to be disbanding/North County Times/Ventura/CA/USA/18-Apr-05/ AFSC/Crime and Punishment/Prison Reform/Bill wouldn't allow parole to depend on treatment/Detroit Free Press /Detroit/MI/USA/20-Apr-05/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cecilia at wutka.com Thu Apr 21 16:40:20 2005 From: cecilia at wutka.com (Ceal) Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 16:40:20 -0400 Subject: [saymaListserv] Re: [afmdiscussion] 2005 FGC Gathering References: <425E83BF.9010307@bellsouth.net> <6.2.1.2.2.20050414170919.03238c70@mail.comcast.net> <000901c54670$e45c68b0$2000a8c0@thinkertoo> <6.2.1.2.2.20050421090854.03266ea8@mail.comcast.net> Message-ID: <003801c54992$d36dabc0$2000a8c0@thinkertoo> I was not trying to start a dicsussion on whether there should be a Sweatlodge. I only wanted to see the full truth told. Last year the Native Americans in Massachusetts wrote to the planning committee of The Gathering to express their feelings. I think these need to be honored and considered Ceal Wutka Atlanta ----- Original Message ----- From: "free polazzo" To: "Ceal" ; "AFM Friends" ; Cc: "Bruce Birchard" ; "George Price" ; "Liz Perch" Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2005 3:07 PM Subject: Re: [afmdiscussion] 2005 FGC Gathering > Hi Ceal, > > Atlanta Freinds Meeting approved marrying any 2 people, regardless of > sexual orientation. Do you think that upsets anyone in Atlanta, GA or the > USA? > > Most all my neighbors are upset that I have a "War is Not the Answer" sign > in my yard (some even rip them up and others take them away - 15 so far). > Should I decide not to declare myself against war because they are upset > about the signs? > > SAYMA Friends don't believe in having a hired Priest (or Minister or Rabbi > or Shaman or Iman for that matter.) That must upset some of the groups > that believe that you need someone who was "ordained" to lead religious > services. Should we hire a minister so that people won't be offended? > > I'm sure you could add to this list. They don't call Friends the > "Peculiar People" for nothing. > > If Friends start following the "niceness" Testimony, what are we to do > with our Testimonies on Equality, Truth, Peace and Simplicity and > Community? > > I don't think anyone wanted to offend any Native Americans. As you > know, there are very few groups of humans where all the members of that > group agree on how to worship and how big to make the circle. Friends > who were following the leading of the Spirit. > > The issue is this: "Can Friends General Conference's Long Range Planning > Committee close a door to the Spirit for some, at the FGC Gathering, > because others think it's the "Wrong" door? > > Blessings, > > Free > > > At 08:51 AM 4/21/2005, Ceal wrote: >>However this is true in one aspect - the Sweat Lodge was removed last year >>and this year because it DID offend some Native Americans. I know there >>are many Native Americans who have been asked and thought it was fine but >>others have been offended and upset. >> >>Ceal >>Atlanta > > From lingle at bellsouth.net Thu Apr 28 16:27:08 2005 From: lingle at bellsouth.net (Larry Ingle) Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 16:27:08 -0400 Subject: [saymaListserv] Re: [afmdiscussion] 2005 FGC Gathering In-Reply-To: <003801c54992$d36dabc0$2000a8c0@thinkertoo> Message-ID: I must say that I am surprised that Friends must "honor" the "feelings" of any group or person claiming to represent "the Native Americans of Massachusetts." I think Friends should certainly consider their views, but I thought we Quakers were all about honoring the will of God. Have I missed something? For what it's worth. Larry Ingle Chattanooga Meeting > From: "Ceal" > Reply-To: Ceal > Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 16:40:20 -0400 > To: "AFM Friends" , , "free > polazzo" > Cc: Bruce Birchard , George Price > , Liz Perch > Subject: [saymaListserv] Re: [afmdiscussion] 2005 FGC Gathering > > I was not trying to start a dicsussion on whether there should be a > Sweatlodge. I only wanted to see the full truth told. Last year the Native > Americans in Massachusetts wrote to the planning committee of The Gathering > to express their feelings. I think these need to be honored and considered > > Ceal Wutka > Atlanta > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "free polazzo" > To: "Ceal" ; "AFM Friends" > ; > Cc: "Bruce Birchard" ; "George Price" > ; "Liz Perch" > Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2005 3:07 PM > Subject: Re: [afmdiscussion] 2005 FGC Gathering > > >> Hi Ceal, >> >> Atlanta Freinds Meeting approved marrying any 2 people, regardless of >> sexual orientation. Do you think that upsets anyone in Atlanta, GA or the >> USA? >> >> Most all my neighbors are upset that I have a "War is Not the Answer" sign >> in my yard (some even rip them up and others take them away - 15 so far). >> Should I decide not to declare myself against war because they are upset >> about the signs? >> >> SAYMA Friends don't believe in having a hired Priest (or Minister or Rabbi >> or Shaman or Iman for that matter.) That must upset some of the groups >> that believe that you need someone who was "ordained" to lead religious >> services. Should we hire a minister so that people won't be offended? >> >> I'm sure you could add to this list. They don't call Friends the >> "Peculiar People" for nothing. >> >> If Friends start following the "niceness" Testimony, what are we to do >> with our Testimonies on Equality, Truth, Peace and Simplicity and >> Community? >> >> I don't think anyone wanted to offend any Native Americans. As you >> know, there are very few groups of humans where all the members of that >> group agree on how to worship and how big to make the circle. Friends >> who were following the leading of the Spirit. >> >> The issue is this: "Can Friends General Conference's Long Range Planning >> Committee close a door to the Spirit for some, at the FGC Gathering, >> because others think it's the "Wrong" door? >> >> Blessings, >> >> Free >> >> >> At 08:51 AM 4/21/2005, Ceal wrote: >>> However this is true in one aspect - the Sweat Lodge was removed last year >>> and this year because it DID offend some Native Americans. I know there >>> are many Native Americans who have been asked and thought it was fine but >>> others have been offended and upset. >>> >>> Ceal >>> Atlanta >> >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting and Association mailing list > posting address: sayma at kitenet.net > subscribe/unsubscribe: http://kitenet.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sayma From GlennReinhart at aol.com Thu Apr 28 23:18:45 2005 From: GlennReinhart at aol.com (GlennReinhart at aol.com) Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 23:18:45 EDT Subject: [saymaListserv] Quakers in the News - week ended 4/29/2005 Message-ID: <19f.32c105d7.2fa30195@aol.com> Dear Friends, Please see http://quakersinthenews.blogspot.com for a chronological archive, or to comment on any news story. Glenn The most widely reported story of the week comes from Chicago, USA and regards the American Friends Service Committee. Friends might notice the ambiguity of the nature of AFSC in the eyes of the public, as AFSC is referred to at different times as a 'Quaker' organization, and sometimes as a 'Quaker inspired' or 'Quaker Values in Action' organization. Friends might notice that the phrase 'religious humanitarian group' and/or the word 'Quaker' finds its way into stories describing AFSC when there is contention or controversy, in this case - alleged persecution by a police agency, according to the Chicago Tribune. One might also notice that news stories which are less controversial, such as humanitarian aid, many times do not refer to AFSC as prominently, as a 'Quaker' or 'religious' organization. The issue in question was politically and economically related, concerning a public demonstration, planned by AFSC in Chicago. The concern by AFSC and the ACLU regards the alleged police infiltration of the AFSC. The alleged inflitration being petitioned in the courts this week, occured while AFSC was planning to stage a protest at a business conference in 2002 called: The TransAtlantic Business Dialogue Conference. Do Friends see the naming of AFSC in this case and other highly charged cases, as a 'religious group', as leverage on the historic integrity of the Religious Society of Friends - even as AFSC has evolved away , or seems to be evolving away from being a 'Quaker' organization? As Friends decline in number, and 'Quaker groups' become professionalized - how do we manage to keep our identity as we work with friends from the wider world who share our outward concerns, yet are not that familiar with our inward faith? AFSC/Protest/Civil Rights/ACLU/ACLU seeks police files on infiltration of group/Chicago Tribune /Chicago/IL/USA/26-Apr-05 --------- The most inspiring story to me was not widely reported, however it shows that Friends, no matter which flavor, or where they live, do have important things in common. Architecture/Expansion//Country church to expand/Eudora News/Hesper/KS/USA/28-Apr-05 -------- Other stories which shaped the face of the Quaker faith toward the public this week were: Category/Article Title/News Source/City/Area/Region/Date War/Politics and Economics/Protest/Iraq//Peace rally was an asset to Fayetteville/Fayetteveille Observer/Fayetteville/NC/USA/25-Apr-05 War/Conscientious Objecton /Refugee or deserter?/Christian Science Monitor/ALL/ALL/USA/26-Apr-05 Slavery/Underground Railroad/Letters: Listeners Slam Poetry Scams /NPR/Washington/DC/USA/25-Apr-05 Religious Faith /Silence///Unchain my heart: - a journey with some friends /Acton-The Beacon/Acton/MA/USA/28-Apr-05 Religious Faith /Politics and Economics/An ugly new chapter in the religious wars/Boston Globe/Boston/MA/USA/25-Apr-05 Religioius Diversity///You can?t always tell a house of worship by its label /Wednesday Journal/Oak Park/IL/USA/27-Apr-05 Quaker Schools /Obituary///life's odds, ends up for auction/Greensboro News Record/Greensboro/NC/USA/25-Apr-05 Quaker Schools ///Abington Friends names new school leader/Philadelphia Enquirer/Philadelphia/PA/USA/27-Apr-05 Quaker Schools ///Best friends plan trip of a lifetime/Cherry Hill Courier Post/Cherry Hill/NJ/USA/27-Apr-05 Quaker Schools ///Paula is marvellous, we might even marry... /Scotsman/Glasgow/Scotland/UK/26-Apr-05 Quaker Schools ///Views From Third Street: Proud to promote Penn.../West Liberty Index/West Liberty/IA/USA/26-Apr-05 Quaker Schools ///School briefs: Straight A's will be honored/Durham Herald Sun/Durham/NC/USA/24-Apr-05 Quaker History/War/Book Review/REVOLUTIONARY MOTHERS. By Carol Berkin. Knopf, 224 pages, $24 .../The Decatur Daily/Decatur/AL/USA/24-Apr-05 Quaker History/Slavery /Abolition//Climbing 'Fences'/Portsmouth Herald News/Portsmouth/NH/USA/26-Apr-05 Quaker History/Slavery ///Things to do/The Jackson Citizen-Patriot/Jackson/MI/USA/28-Apr-05 Quaker History/Real Estate Development/Main Street hearing planned for May 5 /Friendswood Journal/Friendswood/TX/USA/28-Apr-05 Quaker History/Real Estate Development/Preserving agricultural acreage a top priority/Baltimore Sun/Baltimore/MD/USA/24-Apr-05 Quaker History/Quaker Schools//William Councill A&M's 1st leader/Huntsville Times/Huntsville/AL/USA/24-Apr-05 Quaker History/Natural Science /Bartram//Portable library/Up & Coming Magazine/NC/USA/27-Apr-05 Quaker History/Hicks, Elias/Whitman, Walt/Washington celebrates work of Whitman/Chicago Tribune/Chicago/IL/USA/26-Apr-05 Quaker History///Quakertown 150 years ago /phillyburbs.com/Philadelphia/PA/USA/25-Apr-05 Protest/Peace Activity//Mark Thomas/New Statesman/London/England/UK/28-Apr-05 Peace Activities /Religious Diversity//Children will fly kites in the air for peace on earth/Santa Cruz Sentinel/Santa Cruz/CA/USA/27-Apr-05 Peace Activities /Nuclear non-proliferation/My battle to ban the bomb/ic CheshireOnline/Northwich/England/UK/20-Apr-05 Peace Activities /Conflict Resolution//Quakers move to curb city violence /SouthCoastToday.com/MA/USA/25-Apr-05 International Conflict/Quaker Schools/Swarthmore/Rwandan teen, excelling in US, now lobbies for Darfur aid/Stamford Advocate/Stamford/CT/USA/24-Apr-05 International Conflict/Peace Activity//Quaker has high hopes for the Mideast /York Daily Record/York/PA/USA/25-Apr-05 Inner Peace///Single mom focused on finding success/Providence Journal /Providence/RI/USA/24-Apr-05 FCNL/Peace Activities /Obituary///Marla's legacy: Locals reflect on what Ruzicka meant to them and .../Lake County Record-Bee/Lake County/CA/USA/27-Apr-05 Business/Recreation/Politics and Economics/George, Henry/Atlantic City's monopoly on Monopoly/Birmingham News/Birmingham/AL/USA/26-Apr-05 Arts/Quilts///Locally made quilts on display at annual quilt show /Palladium-Item/Indianapolis/IN/USA/28-Apr-05 AFSC/War/Counter Recruiting/Protesters target US Army recruiters at CMU /Pittsburgh Post Gazette/Pittsburgh/PA/USA/26-Apr-05 AFSC/Immigration//Latinos edgy over use of immigration law on crime/San Diego Union Tribune/San Diego/CA/USA/26-Apr-05 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From earthsteward at urisp.net Fri Apr 29 16:47:53 2005 From: earthsteward at urisp.net (Daryl Bergquist) Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 15:47:53 -0500 Subject: [saymaListserv] Internship in Solar Energy Work Exchange Position Available Message-ID: <42729D79.1000106@urisp.net> POSITION AVAILABLE Please forward this announcement to your Meeting Clerk. OK with us to forward to Quaker high school and college programs, as appropriate. Thanks for nurturing this for us. Sara INTERNSHIP IN SOLAR AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY WORK/EXCHANGE POSITION Beginning as early as MAY 22, 2005, will consider later. Work with Daryl Bergquist Common Ground Community Royal, AL (1/2 way between Huntsville & Birmingham) Rustic room and some board provided. Must have reliable transportation, be self-reliant, self-motivated, & dependable. References required. e-mail: earthsteward at urisp.net or call: 205.429.3088 From jhminshall at comcast.net Sat Apr 30 15:36:38 2005 From: jhminshall at comcast.net (Janet Minshall) Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2005 15:36:38 -0400 Subject: [saymaListserv] The Troubles in Belize: What's Going On There? Message-ID: Dear Friends, This is a followup to my cryptic message a few days ago to please hold our Friend Judy Lumb, and Belize, Central America, in the Light of the Holy Spirit. Janet Minshall Belize Incommunicado Apr 28th 2005 From The Economist print edition Why they pulled the plug on a misgoverned country FOR much of the past fortnight, Belize, a small English-speaking country in Central America, was technophobe heaven. Phones, internet and cash machines stopped working for days and power was briefly cut after staff at BTL, the telephone company, were locked out. The prime minister, Said Musa, blamed saboteurs. The trade unions blamed Mr Musa, and told him to resign. As looters smashed shops in Belize City, a man was killed, 27 were injured and 100 arrested. The teachers' and civil-service unions called strikes. Fortunately for Mr Musa, most of their members preferred not to miss payday. Phones were more or less working again this week. But the respite may be brief. Belize is struggling with a public debt as big as its GDP. Much of it falls due this year. The country's credit rating has plunged, so new borrowing is onerous. After earlier strikes, the government backtracked on austerity measures. Most Belizeans are not keen to make sacrifices; they believe that Mr Musa has landed the country in its present mess. An inquiry into the Social Security Board heard of public money lent unwisely to well-connected businessmen. The biggest problem is the phone company. Lord Ashcroft, an Anglo-Belizean who was once treasurer of Britain's Conservative Party, owned a majority of its shares until 2003. After sniping over regulation, the government bought him out. It hoped to sell his shares to Innovative Communication, a company based in the US Virgin Islands. The two are now in dispute. This month, a Miami judge slapped a $50,000 a day contempt judgment on Belize-big money for a country whose government's total revenue is less than $800,000 a day. Perhaps Mr Musa might prefer it if his people cannot talk to each other. Copyright © 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: