Workshop on Quaker Ecology with Cherice Bock / March 14, 2023

Art, Community, News

Tuesday, March 14th, 7pm Eastern/ 4pm Pacific / Join Quaker ecotheologian, Cherice Bock in sharing about her newest book, A Quaker Ecology: Meditations on the Future of Friends. In our best moments, Friends have been in the middle of the action around the social justice issues of each time period, discerning to the best of their abilities the direction the Inward Light leads and speaking truth to power. In our own time, climate justice can…

Rosenwald Schools Documentary on PBS-NC / March 2023

Art, Community, News, Social Concerns

Southern states, including North Carolina, largely ignored their responsibility to provide an education for rural Black children in the early 20th century. But then a plan hatched by a famous black educator and a Jewish philanthropist broke Jim Crow’s grip on funding for black schools. The resulting schools helped change the South and the nation, one student at a time. Tom Lassiter produced and wrote “Unlocking the Doors of Opportunity / The Rosenwald Schools of…

A Unique Black History Month Event This Saturday / February 18, 2023

Art, Community, News, Social Concerns

Saturday, 18 February , 1 PM ET over Zoom Webinar / The Prep School Negro (2012): African American in Quakers Schools. This Saturday, the 2023 Black Quaker Lives Matter Film Festival & Forum continues with our second event, examining the challenges of African Americans in Quaker schools and honoring lifelong Quaker-educator Joan Countryman. On Saturday, 18 February, we will screen the 2012 documentary, The Prep School Negro, directed by trailblazing filmmaker André Robert Lee, and…

Rosenwald Schools Film Premier on PBS / February 2023

Art, Community, News, Social Concerns

Dear Friends, Many of you know that I’ve been involved in a documentary film project about Rosenwald Schools for a (very) long time. Several of you have generously supported the non-profit that Jere Snyder and I started (Longleaf Productions) to do this work. Now, at long last, we have something to show for it. “Unlocking the Doors of Opportunity / The Rosenwald Schools of North Carolina” was screened on Saturday, Feb. 4, at the High…

Rosenwald Schools Film Premier / February 4, 2023

Art, Community, News, Social Concerns

Dear Friends, Many of you know that I’ve been involved in a documentary film project about Rosenwald Schools for a (very) long time. Several of you have generously supported the non-profit that Jere Snyder and I started (Longleaf Productions) to do this work. Now, at long last, we have something to show for it. “Unlocking the Doors of Opportunity / The Rosenwald Schools of North Carolina” will be screened at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4,…

Challenging Racism / January 18, 2023

Art, Community, News, Social Concerns

My husband invited me to go to a play with him this Thursday night, and I’m excited about it! The play, “Nice White Parents 2016” sounds like a possible help for me as I often find myself struggling between good intention vs actual impact. I could wait until next week and give you a review, but since it will be in Greensboro for such a limited time, I thought I would give you the “heads-up”…

2023 Black Quaker Lives Matter Film Festival & Forum / February – April 2023

Art, Community, News, Social Concerns

The American Friends Service Committee & The BlackQuaker Project Present: The 2023 Black Quaker Lives Matter Film Festival & Forum Screening & Discussion Every Other Saturday / 4 February 2023 to 8 April 2023, 1 PM Eastern Time. The BlackQuaker Project (BQP) is proud to announce the 2023 Black Quaker Lives Matter Film Festival & Forum, a groundbreaking exploration of Black Friends who made a difference throughout both USA and world history. This year’s festival-forum…

Barbershop Holiday Sing-In / December 8, 2022

Art, Community, News

I sing in a barbershop chorus, the Greensboro Tarheel Chorus, which is a local chapter of the international Barbershop Harmony Society. We are having a holiday sing-in, open to the public, at New Garden Friends Meeting on Thursday, December 8, at 7:00 PM. We are renting the Meeting Room as an outside group, but all members of the NGFM community (and the greater Greensboro community) are invited to join us. Part of the hour-long program…

Art as a Spiritual Practice / Connecting Quakers to Each Other and to God / November 30, 2022

Art, News

In summer 2022, when I attended the Swannanoa Gathering annual music camp, I took a class in Flatfoot Dancing in addition to ukulele. It was there that I met a Quaker from Berea, KY, named Jennifer Elam, who wrote a series of pamphlets at Pendle Hill. At the end of our week, she gave me 3 of those for our New Garden Library: HILLBILLY QUAKER #475, ART AS SOUL’S SANCTUARY: Meditations on Arts and Spirituality…

Western Friend Book Review of The Kendal Sparrow / June 2020

Art, Religious Education

Western Friend,  May / June 2020 Review of The Kendal Sparrow by Barbara Schell Luetke Reviewed by David Tucker Bold voices emerge from a nation wracked by years of war, political division and generational change: The origin of Early Friends was always a colorful tale. Barbara Schell Luetke uses Early Friends as a canvas on which to paint a coming-of-age portrait of individual convincement, ministry, and faithful struggle in her historical novel The Kendal  Sparrow.  The …