Quakers Today

By: Friends Publishing Corporation
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  • Summary

  • Quakers Today features writers, musicians, and thinkers seeking wisdom and understanding in a rapidly changing world. We do not pretend to have all the answers. Instead, we have a place where you can hear people speak from the heart, grapple with faith, and share the insights they have found along the way. It is also a place where you can share your insights, reflections, and questions. Hosted by Peterson Toscano, he/him and Miche Mcall they/them, Quakers Today is a project of The Friends Publishing Corporation. Season Three of Quakers Today is sponsored by American Friends Service Committee (AFSC.)
    Copyright 2022 All rights reserved.
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Episodes
  • Queer Quaker Responses to Climate Change

    Queer Quaker Responses to Climate Change
    Sep 17 2024
    In this episode of Quakers Today, co-hosts Peterson Toscano (he/him) and Miche McCall (they/them) explore how queer Quakers respond to climate change with joy, creativity, and radical inclusion. The episode features Damon Motz-Storey and Lina Blount, who delve into the intersection of queerness, spirituality, and climate activism. Miche and Peterson also review two books that provide fresh perspectives on environmentalism and queer ecology. Featured Segments: Queer Quaker Responses to Climate Change with Damon Motz-Storey and Lina Blount Damon Motz-Storey (they/them), a genderqueer Quaker, discusses the importance of radical joy, play, and community in climate work: “We’re going to save the earth, and we’re going to do it in six-inch heels and full makeup.” Damon Motz-Storey became the Chapter Director of the Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club in 2023. They have a wealth of experience leading environmental and climate justice campaigns in the Pacific Northwest. Their achievements include blocking major new coal, oil, and gas expansions, pioneering the Portland Clean Energy Fund initiative, and contributing to Oregon's 2021 state legislation for low-income utility bill discounts, home energy retrofits, and a commitment to 100% clean electricity by 2040. Damon also worked with the Coalition of Communities of Color, managing communications for Portland's successful 2022 city government reform measure and organizing record-breaking fundraising events to support racial justice efforts. They live in East Portland near Powell Butte and enjoys hiking, cycling, weightlifting, cooking, and performing in drag. Lina Blount highlights the role of interconnectedness and reciprocity in climate justice: “Our liberation is bound up in each other's, especially in climate work, because it’s how ecosystems work.” Lina Blount is an organizer, trainer, and nonviolent action strategist who has been involved in environmental justice campaigns in the Philadelphia area for over fifteen years. She currently serves as the Director of Strategy and Partnerships with the Earth Quaker Action Team. Lina has previously worked with the Divestment Student Network and has extensive experience as a canvas director and anti-fracking organizer in Pennsylvania. She identifies as a Quaker and considers the Earth Quaker Action Team, her primary spiritual community. Book Review: Queer Ecologies and Sustainable Futures Books Reviewed: Deviant Hollers: Queering Appalachian Ecologies for a Sustainable Future Peterson and Miche review this collection of essays edited by Zane McNeil and Rebecca Scott, which critiques environmental exploitation and maps alternative futures through queer perspectives.Smarter Planet or Wiser Earth? by Gray Cox Miche introduces this book, published by the Quaker Institute for the Future, which examines the ethical implications of smart technology and its role in building a sustainable global community. Read Brad Gibson's Friends Journal review. Quotes: "It is our superpower to insist upon joy, even in a world insistent on pushing us back into the closet." – Damon Motz-Storey"Chosen family and ecosystems both offer models of connection that are life-giving and generative." – Lina Blount"We can laugh and dance through climate action because that’s how we’ll keep going." – Damon Motz-Storey"Ecosystems don’t just work locally. There’s this incredible web of interconnection." – Lina Blount Announcing Season Four: After a short break, Quakers Today will return to producing regular programs on November 12, 2024. Look out for extra features and announcements in October that will appear in your podcast feed. Question of the Month: We want to hear from you! Here is a question for you: What novel, film, or television series changed your relationship with the world? The world of fiction can alter the way we see ourselves, each other, the natural world, the political order, history, and society. What work of fiction shifted your perspective or altered your worldview? Leave a voice memo or text with your name and the town where you live. The Quakers Today number is 317-QUAKERS. +1 if calling from outside the U.S. You can also answer on any of our social media pages: Instagram, X, or TikTok. Quakers Today is the companion podcast to Friends Journal and other Friends Publishing Corporation (FPC) content online. It is written, hosted, and produced by Peterson Toscano and Miche McCall. Season Three of Quakers Today is sponsored by American Friends Service Committee. Do you want to challenge unjust systems and promote lasting peace? The American Friends Service Committee, or AFSC, works with communities worldwide to drive social change. Their website features meaningful steps you can take to make a difference. Through their Friends Liaison Program, you can connect your meeting or church with AFSC and their justice campaigns. Find out how you can become part of AFSC’s global community of changemakers. ...
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    24 mins
  • Quakers in the Future

    Quakers in the Future
    Aug 13 2024
    In this episode of Quakers Today, we ask, “What does Quakerism have to offer society?” Co-hosts Peterson Toscano (he/him) and Miche McCall (they/them) explore the concept of prefigurative practice within a Quaker classroom and beyond. What happens when students don't just learn about the future but begin to live it? They also feature queer Jewish poet Jessica Jacobs, who in her new book of poetry, interacts with the ancient book of Genesis. Sam Thacker and Zoe Levenstein Sam Thacker is a history teacher at Germantown Friends School. Every January, GFS offers “mini-courses” that provide teachers and students a space for experimentation, investigation, and reflection. In his Friends Journal article “Let Your School Speak: The Power of Prefigurative Practice in Friends Education,” Sam wrote about his course, “Another World is Possible.” Through it, he invites students to engage deeply with hopeful and ambitious visions for social change. Sam and one of his students, Zoe Levenstein, explore how they brought prefigurative practice to life in their classroom. Sam explains that prefigurative practice is about more than just learning about change; it's about living it. We don't have to wait to build the institutions that will bring about the change we seek. Instead, we can start creating those institutions and practices now, making sure they align with the inclusive, just, and loving world we envision for the future. Sam says, “If, for example, we are working toward a just, inclusive future, our institutions now should be just and inclusive. Prefigurative practice is proactive, courageous, and true to itself. In Quaker parlance, its life speaks.” Sam reasons that prefigurative practice is nothing new for Quakers, “I see Quaker institutions as examples of prefigurative practice. By and large, I mean in my article, I discuss meetings for business. Quaker meetings are prefigurative, both in their organization and in the form of worship: Prefigurative practice is vital. Zoe shares her experiences of engaging with this radical educational approach. Through readings from influential thinkers like George Lakey, Joanna Macy, and Adrienne Maree Brown, the students were encouraged to reimagine the world and consider how they could contribute to creating it. I imagine a world where everyone is engaged because I think what really dampers my hope a lot is that it seems like people don't care in 20 years, my hope would be that even on the street level, I see people actively working to help each other. I also kind of imagine a world where song and music is more incorporated and like groups singing because I think it just kind of boosts the mood. I imagine a world in which doing activities like that is more encouraged. Yeah, I think it all comes down to human connection, and that makes people care. Sam Thacker (he/him) teaches high school history at Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia, where he works with students on sustainability and climate action. He lives with his wife, Pam, and two young children; they are pursuing membership at Germantown Meeting in Philadelphia, Pa. He is a songwriter, musician, artist, and lover of nature. In this episode, you heard Sam singing Purple Dreams. Hear more of his music on his BandCamp page: 2xtruck.bandcamp.com Zoe Levenstein is a rising junior at Germantown Friends School, a member of the Quaker Unity & Inclusivity Team (QUILT) at GFS, and helped to plan the 2024 Quaker Youth Leadership Conference in partnership with Penn Charter. Next year, Zoe will be the Environmental Action Club's student leader and participate in the community-wide Campus Climate Coalition. Zoe’s passion is music—listening, singing, and playing the oboe. Jessica Jacobs In the August 2024 issue of Friends Journal, Michael S. Glazier reviewed Jessica Jacobs’ latest poetry collection, Unalone: Poems in Conversation with the Book of Genesis. Jessica Jacobs shares her journey as a writer, teacher, and editor, including founding Yetzerah, the first literary organization in the U.S. dedicated to supporting Jewish poets. Jessica reflects on her secular Jewish upbringing, her return to spirituality through studying the Torah, and the seven years she spent immersed in the Book of Genesis. She reads her poem "Prayers from a Dark Room," where Jessica reimagines Gehenna—not as a place of torment but as a mirrored space of self-reflection and repentance. Jessica Jacobs (she/her) is the author of “unalone, poems in conversation with Genesis” (Four Way Books, March 2024); Take Me with You, Wherever You’re Going (Four Way Books, 2019), one of Library Journal’s Best Poetry Books of the Year and winner of the Devil’s Kitchen and Goldie Awards; and Pelvis with Distance (White Pine Press, 2015), winner of the New Mexico Book Award and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award; and is the co-author of Write It! 100 Poetry Prompts to Inspire (Spruce Books/Penguin RandomHouse, ...
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    30 mins
  • Reckoning with Quaker Racism

    Reckoning with Quaker Racism
    Jul 16 2024
    In this episode of Quakers Today, we ask, “Who is a historical figure you admire but whose words or actions trouble you?” Co-hosts Peterson Toscano (he/him) and Miche McCall (they/them) discuss the complex legacies of two notable Quakers: George Fox and Richard Nixon. George Fox Johanna Jackson and Naveed Moeed are a part of this year's cohort of the Quaker Coalition for Uprooting Racism. They co-authored the Friends Journal article George Fox Was a Racist: How do Fox’s writings on slavery impact Quakers today? to explore Fox’s legacy on his 400th birthday. Johanna and Naveed discuss how George Fox, a revered Quaker founder, held and expressed pro-slavery views. Fox's writings showed his alignment with the status quo of the time, defending the institution of slavery rather than challenging it. The authors explore how contemporary Quakers cannot undo the harm caused by historical figures like George Fox but can address it through acts of reparation. They also stress the importance of facing Quaker history honestly, recognizing the patterns of oppression that have persisted, and striving to transform behaviors and systems that perpetuate inequality and injustice today. Naveed says, Kintsugi is the art of repairing something that is broken with a gold powder that is combined with an adhesive. And what it does is it doesn't repair in the way that we traditionally think of repair…What we need as Quakers is a form of Kintsugi, where we don't choose to paper the past, or repair it, or replace it or fix it so that it never happened. We need to acknowledge that it happened and how it happened, and where the break occurred, and then put some gold where the break was to bridge the gap. Johanna Jackson is a white Friend and member of Three Rivers Meeting (New England Yearly Meeting), a group reclaiming Quaker practice for today’s time. Her ministry is Forward in Faithfulness. Naveed Moeed is a British-born Pakistani and a Muslim-Quaker member of Chapel Hill (N.C.) Meeting. He is part of the American Theatre Critics Association and a semi-professional photographer. You can find his work at fractalsedge.net. Richard Nixon Larry Ingle describes how Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, grew up in a Quaker household. However, Larry points out that Nixon's political career often contrasts these principles. Larry Ingle is the author of Nixon’s First Cover-up: The Religious Life of a Quaker President, a biography of Nixon's religious ideologies and background, and First Among Friends: George Fox & the Creation of Quakerism. He retired from the History Department at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and now lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This discussion features an excerpt from the video Was Richard Nixon a Quaker? See more videos like this on the QuakerSpeak YouTube channel or at QuakerSpeak.org. Reviews and Recommendations Quakers in Politics by Carl Abbott and Margery Post Abbott describes a Quaker approach to politics and encourages Friends to leverage our unique willingness to listen and seek common ground. The book is part of the Quaker Quicks, a series of short paperbacks useful for outreach and religious education. Paul Buckley reviewed Quakers in Politics for the June/July 2024 issue of Friends Journal. You can read the review for free and hundreds of others at Friends Journal Book Reviews. Question for next month Here’s our question for next month: What does Quakerism have to offer society in 2024? Quakers Today seeks wisdom and understanding in a rapidly changing world. What do you think Quakerism has to offer society in 2024? Leave a voice memo with your name and the town where you live. The number to call is 317-QUAKERS, that's 317-782-5377. +1 if calling from outside the U.S. You can now follow Quakers Today on Instagram, TikTok, and the platform now known as X. Quakers Today is the companion podcast to Friends Journal and other Friends Publishing Corporation (FPC) content online. It is written, hosted, and produced by Peterson Toscano and Miche McCall. Season Three of Quakers Today is sponsored by American Friends Service Committee. Do you want to challenge unjust systems and promote lasting peace? The American Friends Service Committee, or AFSC, works with communities worldwide to drive social change. Their website features meaningful steps you can take to make a difference. Through their Friends Liaison Program, you can connect your meeting or church with AFSC and their justice campaigns. Find out how you can become part of AFSC’s global community of changemakers. Visit AFSC dot ORG. Social Media X @QuakersToday Instagram @Quakerstodaypodcast TikTok @QuakersToday Feel free to send comments, questions, and requests for our new show. Email us at podcast@friendsjournal.org, or call our listener voicemail line at 317-QUAKERS.Music from this episode comes from Epidemic Sound.
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    30 mins
Philosophy Social Sciences Spirituality
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