Busboys and Poets' WPH Fundraiser - Tuesday, November 18.  See more in right-hand column.

 

On Thursday, October 8, we held a dedication for the rainscape that is now our backyard.  The day before, there were two stories on PBS about water, the environment and health:  a story on PBS's News Hour and a show called Liquid Assets, both affirming for us that what we have done is important. 

 

Among the people joining us were Dr. Hamid Karimi, Ph.D. and Rebecca Stack from the District Department of Environment.  Rebecca was instrumental in helping us to get funding for many of the materials in the backyard.  Her initiative and the support of Dr. Hamid Karimi of DDOE made all of this possible. 

 

One of the comments made by Dr. Karimi was that the more all people turn their property into filters of rain water, the more money can be saved from replacing aging and ineffective drainage and treatment systems.  We look forward to working with DDOE to do more of this work.

 

This past month, we welcomed Tandem Friends School, New Garden Friends Meeting, and a group from Wake Forest University.  We are looking forward to welcoming students from Thornton Friends School and Olney Friends School who will be doing a joint WQW program together.  In addition, students from Global College and Wilmington College Dept. of Agriculture will be staying with us.  In mid-November, we will be welcoming our own National Consultation Committee, many of whom will be in town for FCNL's Annual Meetings.

 

Consider the possibilities with your own groups.

 

 

Join us on Tuesday, November 18 at Busboys and Poets (Arlington location, 4251 S. Campbell Ave.).  During the day, we will have a display about our facilities and programs.  During the evening, a portion of all dinner sales will be donated to WPH/WQW. 

 

Thanks to the support and spirit of Dr. Neil Snarr at Wilmington College, we held a Teachers of Peace workshop in Wilmington, OH, the last weekend of September.  Eleven people from the education profession, including people who are full and substitute teachers, librarians, and administrators, took part in the various activities that started on Friday evening and ended Sunday at noon.  We were able to work around the power outage from Hurricane Ike's winds at Wilmington Yearly Meeting retreat grounds by holding opening and closing sessions at the college's Peace Resource Center.  Dr. John Kellogg, the principal at Bexley (OH) High School, joined us on Saturday as we talked about, learned and practiced ways to integrate peace into our lifestyle, our culture, into classroom curriculum. 

 Participants sharing ideas for the classroom

 

One of the topics of discussion was bullying, which is not only an increasing problem but is becoming a focal point of state education initiatives in Ohio.  What emerged was the role of "bystanders", something that touched all of us on some level as we looked at ways that we might tolerate or even participate in the perpetuation of bullying -- everything from shopping at retail stores that bully employees to closing our eyes and ears to parts of our communities that suffer injustice.  We all participate in this on some level, so our challenge is to try and model for our children that, at a minimum, we can speak up and speak to the dilemma.

 

Our next step is to work with Wilmington College's Peace Resource Center to develop a curriculum resource for teachers.  We also look forward to holding future Teachers of Peace workshops -- perhaps one "on the road" and one here in DC every year -- as well as holding more regular support group and curriculum-sharing activities for teachers.  As we saw in Wilmington, we really are all educators and learners, so we welcome all people interested in nurturing the teacher within to participate.

 

From October 3 through 5, eighteen young adult Friends from twelve East Coast and Midwest Quaker organizations gathered at William Penn House for "Sustaining Our Spirit-Led Service: A Consultation for Young Adult Quaker Professionals."  Cosponsored by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, the weekend was a time for YAFs to share their experiences, develop new skills and be encouraged in their work.  William Penn House donated lodging for participants who stayed at the house.  Four seasoned resource people with experience working for Quaker organizations helped facilitate discussions. 

   
Mary Lord, former American Friends Service Committee Assistant General Secretary for Peace Building, led off the weekend, sharing what "Spirit-Led Service" meant to her and her own experience working for Quaker groups.  The rest of the weekend was filled with worship, small group discussions, workshops and time to explore DC. 

 

Topics included how YAFs working for Quaker organizations can be spiritually nurtured and included in the faith community they also serve; how to be effective in a workplace where many coworkers are not Quaker; and what Quaker service looks like.  The weekend was a great opportunity for Young Adult Friends to connect with others with similar jobs, goals and callings.

Quaker performer and activist Peterson Toscano performed his newest play, The Re-Education of George W. Bush, on Tuesday, September 23 at The William Penn House.  This was our first venture into hosting an event of this kind, and it was well received.  Much to our delight, we discovered that we can accommodate 45 people for events such as this, as we actually had 47 people in attendance (some younger guests found comfort in their front-row floor seats).  

 

For those not familiar with Peterson's work, we strongly encourage you to attend one of his plays if you get an opportunity.  Peterson's works are often humorous, always educational, and sometimes uncomfortable in the way that helps us all to become more understanding and compassionate.  His topics include the limitations of partisan politics, the story of sexual identity and the desire to fit in, and his interpretation of some Biblical figures as transgendered people.  The purpose of all of his work is to open us up to possibilities.  We much appreciated his performance last month, and look forward to hosting him again in the future.

 

Last month, the "8 Phases of Genocide" was erroneously attributed to Stop Genocide Now, an organization that focuses on Darfur.  The correct organization is Genocide Watch, an organization that monitors genocide-related activities around the world in all phases.  A big difference between these two organizations is the former advocates for action in a place where genocide is at its abhorrent worst; the latter challenges all of us to look at how genocide happens, and how our own silence or divisive words and deeds may nurture the seeds of genocide.