quakerace

[quakerace]

This is exactly what I was feeling when I watched the documentary Watermark on Monday. The ending sequence, after the emotional investment drawn by the film, gave me the sense of a prayer felt in the beauty and majesty and pure Spirit-filled-ness of the world.

“Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray I’ll tell you what I’d do. I’d go out into a great big field all alone or in the deep, deep woods and I’d look up into the sky—up—up—up—into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I’d just feel a prayer.”

— Anne of Green Gables

[quakerace]

“We are holy creatures living among other holy creatures in a world that is holy. Some people know this, and some do not.”

— Wendell Berry, ‘Christianity and the Survival of Creation’ 

[quakerace]

[quakerace]

“We are against war because it is contrary to the spirit of Jesus Christ, and the only important thing is that we abide in His spirit. It is more important than being American, more important than being respectable, more important than obedience to the State. It is the only thing that matters. We are against Universal Military Training because it is preparation for sin, For the sin that is war. That it is better that the United States be liquidated than that she survive by war.”

— Dorothy Day (via catholicworker-blog)

[quakerace]

[quakerace]

This is a moral crisis.

[quakerace]

Student problem: having a deadline for a paper, and stopping yourself from spending some of that precious time looking at the intriguing articles cited as samples on the Chicago Manual of Style website. Pete Souza’s post-Obama instagram, for example.

[quakerace]

List of Non-sexual forms of intimacy

[quakerace]

“You functioned as a polite singular for centuries, but in the seventeenth century, singular you started appearing in all contexts, replacing thou, thee, and thy, except for some dialect use. That change met with some resistance. In 1660, George Fox, the founder of Quakerism, wrote a whole book labeling anyone who used singular you an idiot or a fool. And eighteenth-century grammarians like Robert Lowth and Lindley Murray regularly tested students on thou as singular, you as plural, despite the fact that students used you for both singular and plural when their teachers weren’t looking. It's a sure bet that teachers also used singular you when their students weren’t looking. Anyone who said thou and thee was seen as a fool and an idiot, or a Quaker, or at least hopelessly out of date.”

https://blogs.illinois.edu/view/25/677177

[quakerace]

An action being “punishable by a fine” basically means “legal for rich people”.

[quakerace]

Angela Bowen, Dance Teacher and Gay Activist, Is Dead at 82

[quakerace]

From Bryan Stevenson, *Just Mercy*

[quakerace]

When you come out as aro/ace and have to include an explanatory lecture, legal disclaimer, and proof of humanity.

[quakerace]

“We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God.”

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer  (via grace-after-the-fall)

[quakerace]

Super late to the game, but on this 13th day of the month after pride, all this is just as important!

On this, the first day of pride month, let’s remember that:

- trans women of color were the founders of the queer community and deserve remembrance and respect

- ace and aro people are part of the queer community solely on the virtue of being ace/aro

- bi erasure is a real thing and the gender of someone’s partner doesn’t change the fact that they are bi

- ace/aro people aren’t less human or broken, you can be happy and live a full life without romantic love or sex

- race, religion, and culture can have significant and important meaning to queer people and their identities, and it’s vital to respect that

- no queer person has the same experience in life, but one type of oppression being bad doesn’t mean another kind is less valid or damaging, it’s not a contest

- straight passing privilege is bs and you should never have to feel happy or thankful that your gender/sexuality is being erased

- gay bars were an important and fundamental part of queer history, and while it’s ok to desire more inclusive spaces, we should not forget how they were (and still are) one of the few places where queer people are free to be themselves

- while not everyone relates to or uses the split-attraction model, it’s a valid and useful identifier and there’s nothing wrong having split attractions

- demi, be it demi-gender, demi-sexual or demi-romantic are completely valid identifiers and there’s nothing wrong with being in the middle, sexuality and gender are fluid and you can embrace that

- you don’t have to experience disphoria to be trans/non binary/genderqueer, if you are happier expressing yourself as another or no gender you are trans/queer enough

- bi people aren’t untrustworthy, promiscuous or more likely to cheat

- it’s ok to change your labels as much as you need, there’s nothing wrong with exploring who you are, and changing doesn’t mean that your previous labels were invalid or something to be ashamed of

- it’s ok to not label yourself at all if that’s what makes you happy, you don’t owe anyone an explanation or have to reveal personal details to prove you are ‘____ enough’ to belong

- trans people who chose to medically transition are just as valid as those who don’t, you aren’t less trans if you are ok with your body, and frankly, your choice is no one’s business but your own

- wlw aren’t predatory for looking at, being attracted to, and appreciating other women

- ace people who are sex positive, or who have/enjoy sex aren’t less ace than ones who are sex adverse/repulsed, ace just means you don’t feel sexual attraction, and that’s perfectly normal

- trans women are women and genitalia does not equal gender

- pansexual people aren’t inherently more inclusive of trans/nb people and bi people aren’t inherently transphobic

- the queer community is not inherently sexual or sinful, and offering outreach to queer youth is not wrong, dirty, perverted or brainwashing, queer people are just normal people, not sexual predators

- you don’t have to experience same gender attraction to be queer/lgbtqa+

- it’s ok to be religious and queer, the two are not mutually exclusive

- we should never forget those who we have lost, be it from suicide, violence, the holocaust or the AIDS crisis, and we should strive to ensure future generations never have to experience the pain and fear we have been through

- it’s ok not to like the term queer or other reclaimed slurs, but it isn’t ok to police how others chose to identify their gender and sexuality, or to ignore the history, importance, and power of reclaiming hateful words

- there are still people out there who cannot come out and celebrate pride for many reasons, and we still have a long way to go until all queer/lgbtqa+ people can be free to be who they are

- just becuase a couple looks straight doesn’t mean they don’t belong at pride

This month is a time to stand together and support each other. It’s a time for all queer/lgbtqa+ people to be loud and proud of who they are, and for us to remember our past, and those who fought and died to give us that freedom.

Happy Pride Month ❤️

[quakerace]

not giving your money to a business that’s currently striking is literally an essential part of a strike.

Amazon brings in over 34 BILLION dollars every day. Even a one-day boycott could mean massive leverage for the strikers – especially if the boycott coincided with one of the most profitable days Amazon expected to have all year, as this one does.

Do not visit Amazon.com on 10 July 2018 (or July 15-16 in the US)!

[quakerace]

“Once, when I was particularly depressed, a friend and pacifist from Holland told me something very beautiful: ‘The people who worked to build the cathedrals in the Middle Ages never saw them completed. It took two hundred years and more to build them. Some stone-cutter somewhere sculpted a beautiful rose; it was his life’s work, and it was all he ever saw. But he never entered into the cathedral. But one day, the cathedral was really there. You must imagine peace in the same way.’”

— Dorothee Solle, Against the Wind: Memoir of a Radical Christian