Welcome to SparkOnline

The online edition of New York Yearly Meeting's print newsletter.

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Contents

Earthcare Now

• A Robust, Joyous, Post-Carbon Remnant, by Pamela Boyce Simms, Guest Editor
• An Earthcare and Culture-building Experiment: Quaker Intentional Village-Canaan, Dee Duckworth, Eric Bear Ludwig, Jens Braun. Interviewed by Pamela Boyce Simms
• Befriending Fear of Climate Change: Friends’ Community-of-Practice Rekindles the Fire of Fox, articles from Quaker Pathways Forward
  
  • Don Beldur—Mr. Fear, by Howard Hawhee
  • Our Generation’s “Lamb’s War", by Christopher Sammond
• Quakers and Climate Change, by Susanna Mattingly
• Urban Food Resilience and Community Healing by Callie Janoff
• An Inconvenient Sequel: the Book and the Movie, by Sunfire Kazmayer
• Healthy Planet, Healthy People: Reconciling Global Rules to Promote Food-secure Farming, by Susan H. Bragdon
• A Garden for All Time, by Jeffrey Aaron
• Food Production & Post-carbon Fulfillment, John Tornow, Liseli Haines, Pat Kenschaft. Interviewed by Pamela Boyce Simms
• Quaker Earthcare: Timeline & Alliance Resources, by David Miller

Other Articles

• A Call to the Light, by Don Badgley

Around Our Yearly Meeting

• Editor's note
• Upcoming Events
• Opportunities
• Notices

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Around Our Yearly Meeting

 

A Note on the Guest Editor

This special expanded issue of Spark was guest edited by Pamela Boyce Simms, member of Hudson Meeting, on the Central Committee for Friends General Conference, and the Quaker Earthcare Witness UN Representative. Pamela is dynamic, inspiring, and infectiously passionate about everything she does. She’s a leader, organizer, speaker, and social change agent. Pamela convenes the Mid-Atlantic Transition Hub (MATH), an information hub for environmental activists working throughout the Mid-Atlantic coastal megacity corridor. She also works with teams and organizations that want to build regenerative “human ecosystems.” We are fortunate and grateful that Pamela has given her time and energy to this special issue of Spark. Learn more about Pamela and her evolutionary culture-building work at: www.geo.coop/search/node/pamela%20boyce%20simms

 

Editor's Note

I encourage you—yes, you!—to write an article for Spark. Articles should be spirit-led and considered a form of ministry.

 

Upcoming Spark themes:

 

May: Learning from First Day School What did you learn in First Day School—as a child, a parent, or a teacher? Are there new ideas in First Day School coming up through the yearly meeting? Share them with us.

 

Please send your submissions for Spark, including news from your monthly meeting, to [email protected] by April 9, 2018.

 

In between issues of Spark we distribute InfoShare, NYYM’s emailed newsletter. Share your meeting’s news and events by sending them ASAP to [email protected]. Sign up to receive InfoShare—or any of NYYM’s newsletters—at www.tinyurl.com/nyymconnect

 

Keep up to date at facebook.com/newyorkyearlymeeting/
& at twitter.com/NYYMTweets.

 

Enjoy Spring!

—Sarah Way

 

Upcoming Events

 

This Evil Thing, a play about conscientious objectors in WWI

 

Performances:

March 18, 2018, at Old Chatham Meeting, NY
(12:45pm potluck, 1:45pm play with discussion afterward)

March 24, 2018, at 15th Street Meetinghouse, NYC (7:00 pm play, panel discussion afterward with the actor (Michael Mears), Bill Galvin, and Dan Seeger, a member of Morningside Meeting who was the subject of a Supreme Court case about conscientious objection.)

 

In honor of the 100th anniversary of the US entry into World War I and the persecution of conscientious objectors to that war, the Center on Conscience & War (CCW) is helping to bring actor and playwright Michael Mears to the U.S. from the U.K. to present his award-winning, one-person play, “This Evil Thing.” It is about the experiences of COs in the U.K. during WWI, but its themes and messages poignantly reflect the experiences of COs in this country, as well.

 

Upcoming Powell House Conferences

 

Powell House is the NYYM retreat and conference center in Old Chatham, NY. Visit powellhouse.org for more information!

 

Work / Messiah Sing / Scavenger Hunt

March 30-April 1, 2018

This weekend has become a favorite of many F/friends and families. Whether you come to work and sing, work and play, or work—this weekend is for you! We’ll have childcare for the young ones while we work.

 

Playing in the Light: Faith & Play/Godly Play Training for Quakers

April 20-22, 2018

Transform your First Day School or Friends school classroom, and nurture your own spiritual life. Learn and practice skills to help children explore the existential limits of their lives through wonder, play, and core stories from the Bible and Quaker faith and practice. These stories are scripted and tested to work well with multi-age groups of children, as well as in multi-generational settings. A certified trainer will model stories, and you will have an opportunity to practice them with your peers.

 

Rise and Shine
(for 3rd-5th graders)

ALSO April 20-22, 2018

The sun rises, the moon rises, and new plants rise out of the ground.  Bread rises when we start it well; our ideas and spirits rise when we treat them well. What is rising in you? We will make some homemade bread, plant some seeds, and start some new friendships. And we will wait quietly to see what rises and shines in each of us.

 

Upcoming Anti-Racism Workshops

The Center for the Study of White American Culture, Inc. (CSWAC)

Registration is open for Raising Anti-racist White Children on Saturday, March 24, 9am-3:30pm, in Titusville, NJ. 

We’ll also offer Raising Anti-racist White Children in Manhattan on Saturday, April 7, 9am-3:30pm. $95 includes lunch. 

All of our workshops are appropriate for white people who are learning what to do about racism, and for people of color who support white people in taking action against racism. For full details and registration, see www.euroamerican.org.

 

Peacemaking Circles Trainings

The Conflict Transformation Committee of New York Yearly Meeting is sponsoring two three-day trainings in the Restorative Justice Practice of Peacemaking Circles with the author of Little Book of Circle Processes.

April 20–22 in Rochester

April 24–26 in the New York City region

 

This training will increase participants’ understanding of Restorative Justice and prepare them to keep/facilitate a peacemaking circle for a variety of circumstances. The Conflict Transformation Committee envisions circle processes becoming part of the culture of New York Yearly Meeting. To receive a registration form, please send an email to [email protected] with the subject line “Circle Processes Training Rochester” or “Circle Processes Training NYC region.” Please consider if you feel led to this work and committed to engage in it after the workshop.

 

Farmington Scipio Spring Gathering

Reserve the weekend!
May 18-20, 2018

At Watson Homestead in Painted Post, NY

A restorative weekend of worship and connection. Pay as you are led and able! Registration and more info coming soon.

 

FGC Gathering

University of Toledo, Ohio

July 1-7, 2018

Registration for the Gathering opens April 2, 2018 (about 10 am)—register early to maximize access to workshops and financial aid. Go to fgcquaker.org/connect/gathering for all program information. The Gathering is great place for families with children & teens. Each age group finds opportunities for spiritual growth and community AND there is plenty of family time as well! May 31st is the deadline for children and youth (birth-8th grade) to register. For more about the Junior Gathering visit www.fgcquaker.org/connect/gathering/programs-and-events/children-and-teens

 

And SAVE THE DATE for NYYM Summer Sessions!

 

Summer Sessions will be at Silver Bay on Lake George again this year, July 22-28, 2018. View the Summer Sessions page for links to the week-at-a-glance schedule, registration fees, and room rates.

 

Opportunities

Grants available for Outreach!

Time sensitive: applications deadline is April 15

There is growing energy throughout NYYM for doing Quaker outreach—whether it be in the form of Inreach (Growing Our Spirits), Publicity and Invitation (Growing our Presence), or Welcoming (integrating newcomers into the life of the meeting). If your meeting is engaged in or planning to do outreach, you may be interested in the Outreach Initiatives Support Fund, established to encourage and support outreach activities. To learn how your meeting can apply for a grant, visit nyym.org/sites/default/files/Outreach-Support-Fund.pdf or contact Arlene Johnson: 973-994-2314, [email protected].

 

Powell House Seeking Administrative and Program Intern

Role of the intern: We desire a dynamic individual able to work on their own initiative who will engage in tasks within all areas of our organization and facility. More specifically, the intern will engage in 

• data entry and processing
• facility maintenance projects
• food preparation and kitchen work
• program planning and leadership, as well as any other assignments designated by directors.

For more details visit
www.powellhouse.org/index.php/about-us/administrative-and-program-intern-2

 

Notices

New Members

Roy Allen, II—Rochester

Jeffrey W. Barr—Fredonia

Deaths

William Fairhurst, III, member of Unadilla, on January 5, 2018.

Mia Kissil Hewitt, member of Chatham-Summit, on February 28, 2018.

Cynthia Kaufman, member of Manhasset Meeting, on August 19, 2017.