What religion is most dominant in the world? Is Islam on the rise accompanied by its US shadow Islamaphobia? Is Christianity flying high with curving right wing? Is it atheism? Buddhism ? No. Truthfully, it’s the religion of violence: our belief that war (with...
In high school I avoided chemistry as much as I refused to eat kale. But most teens don’t understand what’s good for them. I guess I couldn’t get past the chemistry of Scarlett and Rhett. What I never knew was how the falling leaves is all about chemistry. The...
Halloween is first seen in the 1500s as a Scottish version of All-Hallows-Evening. Centuries before that, the Celtics called the festival Samhain, a term meaning ‘summer’s end.’ Christians began observing All Saints’ Day on November 1 in 837. By the 1100s many...
WINTER Cold, spiny. Wind that sucks the sap from your skin The sky itself is frozen blue Yet i am safe while i can light one soft candle My mind can burrow further than the cold can freeze My eye can dance on the ice even when i dare not open the door. For the...
Kim Odom is a friend who lost her 13-year-old son because of a drive by killing. She speaks openly about the pain and need for forgiveness in order to help others. She, and a group called Mothers for Justice and Equality are looking at how do you offer curricula to...
There’s 3 types of forgiving. The first type comes like a sharp pebble in your shoe. Usually I wiggle it around a bit, I tap my shoe trying to shift the stone so I doesn’t poke me. This pebble is when I’ve said something unkind, or maybe when I’ve ignored someone who...
The hot summer gusts bow to a rain squall. A hard rain pours into the ground and the air is sharp and ivory. A bluebird flickers among the cedar tree out my window. His eye like a wet stone, fixes on a reality I cannot know. Boston has seen humid days, but the sultry...
Mabel Lourdes Mena Fonseca is a 29 year old Aymara Quaker living in El Alto, Bolivia. Mabel plays the ancient Andean flutes, las sampoñas. Like many Quakers in Bolivia she is poised to use all her talents for the good of her people. Here is her story: Do you want to...
In July humidity hits you like a wall of heavy cream. This July floods, flash storms, and droughts abound. Heaven, please pour down on us. We live in dangerous times. In that spirit six of us arranged our lives to walk for a few hours near Franklin Park. We prayed at...
Take note of these killings: 2012 The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora with 12 dead, 58 wounded, heroic moviegoers. 2011 Remember the shooting rampage in Tucson when Rep Gifford was shot and ultimately resigned from office. 2009 Remember at Fort Hood, an army psychiatrist...