In 1971, I was without a job or apartment, living with friends in Boston.  A friend told me about a place on the south shore that was hiring, so I got a ride there.  This place was an old abandoned... [more]

I’ve always had a complicated relationship with parenting.  I knew that I wanted children, but I didn’t NEED to be a parent.  Parts of it sounded nice.  Sharing knowledge, a sense of pride as they grow older, someone to keep me connected to... [more]

You know I get so weary, Lord,

And I lose my way,

But then I turn and see 

You smile at me, and 

I can hear you say,

“If you want me to, I will

Walk with you

Down this lonely road,”

And I said, yeah, yeah,

Yeah, yes,... [more]

Sometimes it takes an insightful friend to change an “Of course I won’t! Are you serious?” into a difficult “yes”.  My friend Georgia helped me to see clearly during a difficult time with another friend, Teresa.

Teresa and I had... [more]

Recently, when one hurricane after another was making landfall on US soil causing widespread devastation and human suffering, I was wondering how I could help. How could I possibly make a difference given the enormous scope of these disasters? The... [more]

Sometimes I've said what has to be said.  The organization Veterans For Peace had mutual friends to Women's International League for Peace & Freedom. I attended a small meeting at Veterans For Peace and volunteered to speak at the public... [more]

Last month I was given the opportunity to be a traveling minister for Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC), to visit Jamaica Yearly Meeting. The committee that receives requests for traveling ministers had discerned that this request from JYM was... [more]

Contemplating this query, I couldn’t think of a time that I had said an unlikely yes. Looking back on the yeses in my life I saw unwarranted yeses, self-betraying yeses and unexamined yeses. There were rash yeses, self-harming yeses and... [more]

You will have to decide

if you want this—

want the blessing

that comes to you

on an ordinary day

when you are minding

your own path,

bent on the task before you

that you have done

a hundred times,

a thousand.

You will have to choose

for yourself

whether you will attend

to... [more]