When I first read about the 6th World conference of Friends in Nakuru Kenya in April 2012, I was mostly excited. My heart palpitated. Then as I heard the theme a cloud descended: Being Salt and Light. Being Salt? What does that mean? Salt wrinkles the skin and all...
I. The West is obsessed with Islamophobia. Look at Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation, which had democratic elections in 1955, and, despite a period of dictatorship, had returned peacefully again. Are we fighting wars in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan for...
Occupiers, like our sisters/brothers in the Arab Spring are determined to spring forward with democracy. The Occupy movement is making a difference. We have delayed the XL pipeline and fracking (hydraulic fracturing). We are shaking down the US oligarchy, the US...
We have much to be thankful for. My life is bedecked with gifts in this rich country in 2012. This Spring in melting America can’t come early enough. What are we waiting for? The Arab Spring is sprung and carried on by Egyptians and Syrians to this day. I can't say...
Tianos call it land of mountains Ayiti The Santa Maria shipwrecked on coral, the submerged mountain The Tianos dove and dragged the splintered lumber to build the first European town, La Navidad. Another birth in Ayiti The pewter armor, the reckless white hunger...
I hear the bells on Christmas morn. I see pigeons flying in a sun kissed sky around the tower of Boston’s mosque. I smell latkes and bagels toasting in the crisp air. The Channuak candles are lit at sundown. We live in a land with freedom of religion. I have known...
At the end of October I learned that Eileen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia won the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, along with 2 other women, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman. Johnson Sirleaf is the first elected female African president and Gbowee from Liberia is...
I love the idealism of this country. The Declaration of Independence is a creed as much as it is a manifesto. In 4th grade I studied the launching of this nation. We believe in "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Americans proclaimed in its violent birthing...
I’ve been a student of nonviolence since before I cut my 12-year molars. Rather I, and you, have learned about violence since 1st grade. We get inculcated by violence when we state the Pledge of Allegiance and recite stories of pioneers conquering the American...
Hello sisters and brothers in the Journey, I’m writing as I dream. I run within a dream. My work is misty. To stop hate, my eyes turned inward. I’m as somnolent as a street walker. Hurricane Irene urges us to think about what needs doing. I reach out every day and...