Guns Making Music

Last October I wrote about an effort in Washington State to reduce gun violence by requiring background checks for most firearm purchases and transfers, including gun show and online sales. Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility recently announced they’d gained enough signatures for Initiative Measure 594 to be considered by the legislature.

The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence knows how helpful gun laws can be to prevent the loss of lives caused by gun violence. The non-profit organization, founded by attorneys in 1993 in the aftermath of an assault weapon rampage at a law firm at in San Francisco, works in support of gun violence prevention and the promotion of smart gun laws. They’d agree that I-594 is a step in the right direction.

Clearly, every step is needed.

•     The 2/12/14 issue of The Guardian reports that since the Sandy Hook massacre in Dec. 2012, there have been 28 deaths in 44 US school shootings.
•         A new study reported jointly by Moms Demand Action and Mayors Against Illegal Guns notes that in the first six weeks of 2014 there were shootings in 13 schools.
•          Joe Nocera posts even more grim statistics about violence involving guns in his regular NY Times blog, Gun Report.  The “Presidents’ Day Edition” cites dozens of shootings over the 3-day holiday.

Recently I learned from a friend about another response to the devastation of gun violence.

Mexico City artist Pedro Reyes first explored reimagining weapons in his 2008 project, Palas por Pistolas. In that effort, Reyes melted the1527 guns collected by the Mexican city of Cualiacan as part of a campaign to curb shootings and made them into the same number of shovels. The shovels, in turn, were used to plant 1527 trees. A few years later, Reyes created Imagine, a set of 50 electric guitars, violins, flutes and percussion instruments fabricated out of destroyed revolvers, shotguns, and machine-guns—6700 of them—seized in Ciudad Juarez.

The results of Reyes’s latest transformations are part of an exhibition called Disarm currently at the University of South Florida's Contemporary Art Museum. Reyes talked about the project in a recent NPR interview and of his belief that “…art should address social issues like gun violence, even if the issue is difficult or controversial.” This series was made in collaboration with a team of musicians and Cocolab, a media studio in Mexico City. These new pieces can be programmed and operated via computer, making them capable of performing music concerts with compositions prepared beforehand.

While President Obama spoke about the need for gun control in his State of the Union address last month, a 20-year-old man was shot in the leg during an argument over a gambling debt following an intramural basketball game at Tennessee State University.

“Citizenship means standing up for the lives that gun violence steals from us each day,” Obama said in his address and pledged,  “… to keep trying, with or without Congress, to help stop more tragedies from visiting innocent Americans in our movie theaters, shopping malls, or schools like Sandy Hook.


Pedro Reyes is standing up in his own way for the lives stolen by gun violence. Watch him at work.

Afterthought #24 - A Leading Is...

The January 2014 issue of Friends Journal offers several stories of people following what Quakers call leadings.  Their journeys are potent reminders of the joys and challenges of being open to a Wisdom within and beyond that directs our actions. I keep experimenting with ways to put into words this sense of presence and guidance.  Here’s what came out of a recent free-writing exercise.

A leading is…

          whispering words

          a shout from above

          a dog with a bone

        sun burning through the fog
         a water witch’s dousing rod

         a door opening

         a door closing

   

   

     a flashing turn signal
     a curve in the road

     a straightening in a curved road

     a detour returning you home

  a telephone call in the middle of the night

  an unopened envelope
  a rhythmic beat on a drum

                                                              

                                                       a gate ajar

                                                       a breath.

This month begins my third year of posting an “Afterthought” on the last day of each month. It’s my blog version of a practice followed in some Quaker meetings. After meeting for worship ends, people continue in silence for a few more minutes during which they’re invited to share thoughts or reflect on the morning's worship. I’ve adopted the form here for brief reflections on headlines, quotes, comments overheard, maybe even bumper stickers.

Next Chapters for Quakerism

Just a few months away from my 61^st birthday, I’m aware of stiffness in my joints and how white is overtaking blonde in my hair.  I’ve noticed, too, how gray the heads are in my Quaker meeting, and I can’t help but worry about the future of this spiritual community.  

The latest issue of Friends Journal gives me hope, though, that there is new energy to write the next chapters for Quakerism.

In Coming Alive-Discerning the Next Chapter of Quaker Service, Christina Repoley writes of her journey to find a way “to live my Quaker faith.”  Despite her fire “to make a difference in the world” following graduation from Guilford College in 2002, she struggled—as many young, inexperienced people I know do—to find fulfilling work. She knew that earlier generations of Friends had found such support through workcamps organized by the American Friends Service Committee, but those no longer exist. While Christina discovered people in a  Catholic Worker Movement house in Philadelphia who shared her belief in the relationship between peace and justice work and faith, she still yearned for Quaker-based places to act on her desire to serve.  She noticed, too, that she wasn’t alone:  “I wondered why so many young people in my young adult age group were drifting away from the Quaker faith.”

Christina’s questions led her to conversations with Mennonite friends whose desire for faith-based, meaningful work had been met through Mennonite Voluntary Service (MVS) and Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).  Both programs offer young adults opportunities to live in community and to serve others and reminded Christina of the AFSC workcamps of the past and the Quaker Youth Pilgrimage she’d participated in as a teenager.

After ten years of listening—inwardly and to those who shared her vision—Christina found openings and help to establish a Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS) house in Atlanta.

In August 2012, QVS welcomed seven young adults for a year of living in intentional community and working with local peace and social justice organizations. A year later, QVS opened two more houses—one in Philadelphia and another in Portland, OR—and accepted twenty-one new Volunteers into the three-city QVS network.

Christina isn’t alone in her yearning to put faith into action, though, and those desires aren’t limited to young people. Gray-haired Lynn Newsom writes in Friends Journal as well about her own search in My Path to Quaker House. Thirty years after first volunteering at Quaker House, a Fayetteville, NC center that provides counseling and support to service members who are questioning the military, Lynn found herself back on the organization’s board as it searched for a new director.After contacting all the people she thought would be “perfect for the job,” she had a revelation about herself and her husband, Steve:

Suddenly it hit me. Steve and I could and should take on the position. I ran to the kitchen and announced to Steve, as he sat peacefully with his tea, that we would be perfect for the job. “What job?” he replied.

Lynn describes the many opportunities and openings she’s experienced since retiring (for a second time) as an art teacher and sharing the post at Quaker House with her husband. “There is no doubt in my mind that I was led and continue to be led on this path,” she writes.

The searches Christina and Lynn write about are examples of persisting to seek clarity about a leading and about remaining open to the ways Spirit works in our lives. Their stories suggest there are many   chapters in Quakerism yet to be written.

What are other ways Quakers can support young people who are drifting away from Quakerism?

How do you put your faith into action?

When have you felt led to action?

Convinced to Tweet

Day One of my writing program’s (Whidbey Writers Workshop) Spring residency found me in the session How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Social Media, led by poet and Whidbey alum Kelly Davio. I smiled when I read the title of the handout Kelly passed around—“My Plan for Launching an Online Presence in 2014.” ­ No problem, I thought, I already have an online presence.

First there was the website and then the Facebook fan page for my book, Hands at Work. Soon, another Facebook page for me.  That seemed like plenty of “social media” for this semi-introverted-living-on-a-remote-island Quaker writer—until April 2010, when I attended a meeting of QUIP - Quakers Uniting in Publications. There, Friends of all ages spoke of the Quaker history of writing as ministry and how it is evolving as publishing and communication change. With the guidance and encouragement of QUIP participants, I returned home convinced to blog; a few weeks later, as my writing group cheered me on, I created this blog site.

Maybe I hadn’t quite learned to love social media by the time I was sitting in Kelly’s workshop, but I wasn’t worrying about it—until I read the first item on the handout:  My Twitter Plan. I started to hyperventilate.

“Don’t you need a smartphone to tweet?” I asked Kelly. I’m off the hook on this one, I thought; my antique flip phone can barely make calls and handle texts.

“That’s how Twitter worked when it first started,” Kelly said. “But now you can tweet from your computer, too.”

“Oh… good,” I said, sweat starting to prickle my hairline.

Kelly became my interpreter and guide, introducing me to this new culture, a part of today’s communication stream I’d avoided. She walked me through the steps to begin:

·        Go to https://twitter.com/ and register a user name (mine is @irisgraville)

·        Add photo (or else Twitter will use the default image of an egg)

·        Write a brief bio – as with all things Twitter, you have 140 characters.

The mechanics seemed easy enough, now that I understood I could do all of this on my laptop. Then Kelly introduced beginning Twitter-speak:

·        Following – people whose tweets you want to read when you check your Twitter feed (a string of their photos and 140-character tweets show up when I log in)

·        Followers – people who want to see your tweets when they check their Twitter feed

·        @ is used to “tag” someone that you mention in a tweet

·        # - hashtags before words (such as #Quakerblogger) allow you to become part of larger conversations by linking you to all posts on this subject

·        Retweet – lets you “recycle” someone else’s tweet so your “followers” see it.

I know there’s much more vocabulary and nuance to this new language. Just as I do with my elementary Spanish skills, I’ll undoubtedly fumble and make mistakes, but Kelly taught me enough to get started.  And she offered some advice about hanging around this “water cooler of the Internet.”

·        Act like a person, not like a sales robot.

·        Think about the things you’re willing to talk about and share with others—Twitter is very public.

·        Demonstrate a sense of humor.

·        Share things that are worth reading.

·        Interact with other people, such as asking someone a question.

·        Promote other writers (or whoever your community is) in a real and honest way.

So far, I’m enjoying my exploration of this form of communication. I’ve been surprised by who else is involved.  For example, I’m following a number of Quakers and Quaker organizations such as:

@pendlehill

@westernfriend

@friendsjournal

@DianeFCNL

@jonwatts.

Many of my writing friends, plus well-known authors (@AnneLamott, @AmyTan) tweet regularly, too. 

One of my questions when I started to blog resurfaced with thoughts of entering the world of Twitter:

Do I want to spend more of my already-full life in front of the computer screen engaging in this virtual, but distant, way with others?

I’m still not clear about that, and I have concerns about these “connections,” about the quality of interactions, and the quantity of input.  But for now, I’m feeling convinced that Twitter is a helpful tool to expand my writing and Quaker networks.

           

How about you?  Have you been convinced to Tweet? Why – or why not?

Afterthought #23 - Quakers on YouTube

A year after organizing what likely was the largest Clearness Committee in the history of Quakerism to discern a direction for his work, Quaker singer/songwriter Jon Watts has announced where the fruits of his labor led. In collaboration with Friends Journal, Friends General Conference (FGC), and Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS), Jon will create a Quaker-themed YouTube Channel. This brief teaser has me looking forward to Jon’s new ministry.  I expect the adjectives used to describe it are apt: Succinct. Exciting. Informative.

You can join the project’s Quaker Speak mailing list to be notified when the first videos air.  Stay tuned!

Voices of Peace and Social Justice

My remote, island community doesn’t have the best cellular service, so I have yet to acquire a smart phone; the pay-as-you-go flip phone I bought years ago for travel serves just fine for phone contact on the road.  But it doesn’t do all the things its more high-tech cousins do, so when I bought my new laptop a few years ago and those nice folks at Apple threw in an iPod Touch just for the price of sales tax (about $25.00), the offer was too good to resist.  

It didn’t take me long to begin to enjoy many of the features this device offers. It now serves as my calendar, address book, and note pad.  And I never imagined how much I’d enjoy downloading and listening to podcasts; I now have quite a library stored there including food programs, author interviews, news analysis, short stories read out loud, and comedy. 

One of my favorite podcasts is offered through Northern Spirit Radio (NSR). Since 2005, Mark Judkins Helpmeet, along with the support of Eau Claire Friends Meeting, has prepared Northern Spirit Radio’s programs to “promote world healing by broadcasting inspirational voices of peace and social justice using the language of personal story, music, and spirituality.” Though Mark is a Quaker, he talks with people from a wide range of faith perspectives on his two shows, Spirit in Action and Song of the Soul. The program’s website gives a flavor for the topics Mark and his guests tackle. Over the years I’ve had some great companions on walks as I’ve listened on my iPod to people responding deeply and intimately to Mark’s questions about the ways the Spirit is at work in their lives. 

As is true for many people who are led to spiritual work, Mark has a day job to help support his broadcasts.  A recent fundraising letter from NSR nudged me to take out my checkbook to help with those efforts.  It’s a small price to pay for some regular doses of inspiration. 

Where do you find voices of peace and social justice?

New Kids on the Literary Block

Over the past two weeks, I’ve transferred a little magazine from my backpack to nightstand to kitchen table to desktop.  Its corners are curling, and its white cover is smudged, sure signs of well-appreciated reading material. Each time I pick it up, I’m glad I’ve subscribed to this new literary magazine,  The First Day. 

Published by Jana and Mike Llewellyn of First Day Press, The First Day is a quarterly print magazine that features in-depth articles, essays, and creative writing related to the arts, culture, and faith. Although The First Day is guided by Quaker principles and values, it strives to offer stories of hope, inspiration, journey, and discovery for people of all spiritual traditions and beliefs.

The inaugural issue does just that. Its pages are full of thought-provoking essays such as Chuck Fager’s personal look at racism in “Playing the Lottery,” and Kody Gabriel Hersh’s essay, “Queer Lessons for Spiritual Life.” There’s also fiction by Elizabeth Spencer and Quaker minister J. Brent Bill, and a dozen poems.

One of the issue’s highlights for me was interviews with writers Tracy Chevalier and Amy Brill.  Both authors have written novels with Quaker women as the main characters (Chevalier’s is The Last Runaway and Brill’s is titled The Movement of Stars), and the interviewers explore with the writers the books’ spiritual themes. Another delight was reviews of two television shows, Orange Is the New Black and Breaking Bad.  Even though I haven’t watched either program, I’ve heard plenty of buzz about both and appreciated the reviewers’ examination of the moral questions the shows raise.

In her introduction to this premier issue of The First Day, Jana writes of the uncertainty she and Mike felt of whether they would receive “well-written and poignant submissions.”  It’s clear from Volume 1, Issue 1, that there are plenty of writers out there who, as Jana found, “…show the deeper truths beneath stories of personal journey.”

While this slim volume supplies reading to occupy me for many hours, I don’t have to wait for Issue 2 for more offerings like these.  I’ve also subscribed to the press’s The First Day Blog for regular online posts about a wide range of personal spiritual experiences.

Jana and Mike Llewellyn bring considerable experience in writing, editing, and publishing to this endeavor, and it shows.  As a result of the couple’s faithfulness to a call to merge faith, culture, and creativity, people of all faith traditions, as well as those seeking a spiritual home, will find a welcome refuge at The First Day.