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Mystery
I come back from a day off and my office door is uncharacteristically closed, with a sign reading "Wet Paint." Inside are black velvet cloths acting as drop cloths and… my old walls, unpainted. Have I...
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Colorful Quakers
Hold onto your broadbrim hat! After 58 years of black and white, COLOR is on the way to Friends Journal starting in AUGUST 2013. To announce it, FJ’s first Vine video: This was what we were working on...
View ArticleAlmost Famous
Conservative godfather of the internet Instapundit almost linked to Nonviolence.org the other day. He didn’t like our take on the enola Gay exhibit, but instead of linking directly to us so his readers...
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Baby name popularity trendsetters?
The most popular post on my blog, year after year (and now decade after decade), is a 2005 piece on baby names: Unpopular Baby Names: Avoiding the Jacobs, Emilys and Madisons. We used the techniques...
View ArticleWinter in America by Gil Scott-Heron
From 1974. Or today. From the Indians who welcomed the pilgrims And to the buffalo who once ruled the plains Like the vultures circling beneath the dark clouds Looking for the rain Looking for the rain...
View ArticleConvergent Friends: Content not designed for our market?
Henry Jenkins (right) mixes up the names but has good commentary on the Susan Boyle phenomenon in How Sarah [Susan] Spread and What it Means. I’ve been quoting lines over on my Tumblr blog but this is...
View ArticleA chatty email newsletter
Over the years I’ve noticed various communication breakdowns among Friends that have made me worried. It’s often something relatively little. For example, in talking to an involved Philadelphia Friend...
View ArticleMixing Quakers & Politics
Greg Woods is the primary mover behind this Thursday’s live panel of Quaker congressional candidates. He’s written a new post about it, Quakers & Politics Do Mix (in the 2018 Midterms) This year’s...
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Have we abandoned all hope for a viral Quakerism?
So a curious statistic: so far no one has submitted any articles for the August Friends Journal issue, “Going Viral with Quakerism.” Is this a sign that we’ve all just given up all hope of Quaker...
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Portland, Oregon high school ditching controversial ‘Quakers’ mascot
On the list of religious problems, the use of “Quaker” by non-Friends is more mystery than problem. There’s the multinational giant Quaker Oats Company of course, periodically making tone deaf...
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Peterson Toscano is a reluctant minister
This week’s featured article over at Friends Journal is Peterson Toscano’s “A Reluctant Minister.” Satire and irony, especially when it is subtle, done in character, or relies on tone can be...
View ArticleNorth American Quaker statistics 1937–2017
Donald W. McCormick’s recent piece, What People Really Want from Church and Quaker Meeting, starts off with a statement that Quaker numbers are steadily declining. As part of fact checking, I felt it...
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Ask Me Anything: Conservative and Liberal Friends?
Marlborough (Pa.) Friends meetinghouse at dusk. c. 2006. A few weeks ago, reader James F. used my “Ask me anything!” page to wonder about two types of Friends: I’ve read a little and watched various...
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