newsletter

By Alyson The festival draws a lot of creative and open-minded folks who enjoy the safe place to be themselves and their energy is contagious. Our team worked very smoothly together. We had time to get to know each other while we were setting up and doing the outreach. Jace was an amazing help getting…

By Kelly Little was understood about mental illness in the Middle Ages. Sufferers were viewed either as eccentric or possessed by demons. The high point of abuse, however, actually came in the 1600s and it was just then that early Quakers began to counter the conventional wisdom. Perhaps it was Friends’ experience with prisons that…

By Adrian I’ve been thinking a lot about what creates an authentic community. At Illinois Yearly Meeting last June, I had the chance to talk with Windy Cooler whom I had met at a Pendle Hill retreat a few years ago. As she talked about her many experiences with both healthy and unhealthy communities, I…

By Carol The first spring in our meetinghouse (2009) we grappled not only with how to organize our rooms but also how to manage our yards. Mowing was a challenge because we have three — front, side, and back. We soon realized the front yard was mainly for show, the side yard for gardening, and…

By Kali As encouragement to new Quakers with a mix of questions, doubts, and wonder, I think it’s like that for long-time Quakers, too! Imagine how new it must have felt for the first Quakers nearly 400 years ago. They had serious doubts about the religious thought of their day and felt it would be…