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February, 2009
e-newsletter | |
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About The William Penn House
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| Upcoming Events |
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Potlucks - All potlucks start at 6:30, with presentations at 7:30. (NOTE: Starting this month, we will be adding a bi-monthly second potluck on pertinent social issues. This is open to all presenters and issues).
Sunday, February 8, 2009, Pat Schenck (Annapolis Friends Meeting) and Elizabeth DuVerlie (Stony Run Friends Meeting) will present a program on Being White in a Multicultural Society. After viewing the documentary film "Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible" about white privilege and racism, there will be opporunities to reflect on how "whiteness" is experienced in ourselves or in others, regardless of our own race. Sunday, February 22, 2009 - DC "Shadow Senator" Mike Brown will talk about DC, federal representation and voting rights. (This is the first of a series of bi-monthly potlucks with topical themes that are not necessarily tied to Quakers. Coming up in April is "Earth Day", and June will be "HIV/AIDS", connected with National HIV-Testing Day).
Sunday, March 1, 2009 - Join us for a very special potluck as we honor Patricia Newkirk and thank her for presence with us the past 5 years. Patricia is leaving us to go west.
Saturday, April 25, 2009 -Pedaling for Peace. 10, 26 and 40 mile rides. |
| Projector needed
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In addition to monetary donations, we are increasingly finding ourselves in need for a projector so that we can tell others about our programs and bring our own programs up to the 21st Century. If anyone knows of a projector that can be used with modern technology (i.e. laptops), please help connect us.
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| Yoga at William Penn House |
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All people are invited to join us for Yoga every Tuesday evenings from 6:30 to 7:45. Elizabeth Goodman, a certified yoga instructor, leads this class. Cost is $15 per class ($12 for public interest workers, WPH guest, students and seniors. A portion of this supports WPH work. Bring yoga mat and any props such as blanket, strap or block. |
| Staff Changes
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In addition to Patricia leaving, Faith Kelly will be gone for two months, and returning in a new role as interim hospitality coordinator. She has been an outstanding intern, and we are thrilled she will still be with us.
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Visiting DC? Go Green
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We encourage people to take advantage of our agreement with Bike the Sites to provide affordable bike rentals - the best way to get around town. |
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Seekers and the Era of Responsibility
"I want to take a another look and see who actually cares about life beyond the womb"
"To be consistently pro-life would mean being pro-everyone's-life"
"If a country is going to uphold an ethic of life, then health care has to be a part of that"
"A bad environment leads to polluted water, infant mortality, world hunger, illiteracy, and even human trafficking. All of these problems are related."
"How can you be pro-life on abortion and then go into a war that isn't pro-life?"
All of these quotes are seeking - seeking connections between issues and among humanity, and seeking a more just world. They are taken from Sojourner Magazine's November, 2008 article about "The New Evangelical Voter". They characterize what seems to be a groundswell of change in our society - people questioning, doubting, and finding their own way. Increasingly, people are stepping away from divisive ideology, both left and right, and looking to be responsible for solutions. It is exciting, but it is also challenging as cultural institutions do not adopt well to change.
"Doubt" and "Seeking", rather than having answers, is one of the commonalities of this new way. On a recent "Speaking of Faith" episode, poet, historian, and author Jennifer Michael Hecht spoke about her most recent book "A History of Doubt". Ms. Hecht says that as a scholar she always noticed the "shadow history" of doubt out of the corner of her eye. She shows how non-belief, skepticism, and doubt have paralleled and at times shaped the world's great religious and secular belief systems. She suggests that only in modern time has doubt been narrowly equated with a complete rejection of faith, or a broader sense of mystery. We wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment, and have seen this phenomenon in the secular as well as the faith community, and among the left as well as the right.
In all of our programs that we are rolling out in 2009, we are going to engage with seeking and doubt. Through questioning and openness, we can see common threads across the spectrum. and often see our way more clearly. It is the essence of Quakerism as a practice of seeking, and it is this that we seek to nurture in all that we do.
Needless to say, during hard economic times, it is a challenge to meet the financial needs and offer these programs to as many people as possible. But it is also times like these that we need to work together to fill the gaps. As always, we invite you to do what you can to support our ability to be inclusive of all people through your donations and support.
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Washington DC and Voter Rights
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Did you know that the District of Columbia, our nation's capital, is the only city in the country that is prevented from taxing income earned by non-residents, but non-residents make two-thirds of the income in the city? It is kind of like running a restaurant, but only charging one-third of the patrons. This is just one of the many challenges that are unique to this city that has no federal representation, according to a recently-released Brookings Institute report called "Building the Best Capital City in the World". The result is a city with immense power and wealth having some of the worst fiscal and environmental challenges (a recent Washington Post article about high lead-levels in water shows the potential lasting impact of this).
With a new administration in the White House that is apparently
sympathetic to the urban problems (environment, healthcare, education,
employment and housing to name a few), this will certainly be a topic
for discussion in many arenas. Is establishing congressional representation the answer? What about senatorial representation? Should an entire state government be established, as a recent "Statehood for DC" campaign would suggest. Would this help ease or increase budgetary issues? Or are the solutions to fiscal and constitutional rights more complex than that?
These are some of the questions that are certain to be raised at a special potluck we are holding on Sunday, February 22, from 6:30 to 9PM. We invite all of you to join us, regardless of where you live, to participate in this issue that impacts not just a city our Capital City.
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A New Conversation...
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As the theme of the new era we are entering is increasingly being called the Age of Responsibility, and people look to come together to solve the awesome economic, environmental and healthcare problems we face, one of the things needed to hold us together is a new way way conversing. Earlier this month, Dr. Amanda Kemp facilitated a workshop called "A New Conversation about Race". Coming up in the next few months, we will be holding two events that have similar goals of developing new conversations. - A New Conversation about Gender, Sexual Orientation and Identity. This event will be the afternoon lead-in to our April Potluck. From 3 to 6PM, we will have an a workshop that combines reflection, sharing and group conversations about what needs to be reconciled to bring healing to our community and society around sexual diversity. Among the participants will be people from the GLBT community from different faith and non-faith traditions. After dinner, our regular potluck will feature a return of performance artist Peterson Toscano. Peterson will be performing " Transfigurations", his interpretation of transgendered figures in the Bible. ( Please note: to offset the costs of these events, we will be accepting free-will donations).
- Appreciative Inquiry - Monday, May 11 to Wednesday, May 13. A training for people interested in learning how AI can be an effective framework for community and organizational change. AI has been widely used to bring peace to school environments and building bridges for change in society. The core practice of AI is "Inquiry" - to ask - and AI can be a very useful tool for staying open to seeking when answers start to box us in. Marge Schiller, Founder and President of The Positive Change Core, and fellow member Joyce Lemke will be leading this exciting and energizing workshop. Cost: $175/person. We hope you can join us for any of these workshops. We also welcome any suggestions you have for future workshops. |
Summer Planning
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In the midst of winter, we invite you to consider joining us this summer for one of the following workcamps:
- Family Eco-Workcamp, June 28 to July 5. For individuals and families. Teens are welcome and encouraged to join us as well in this week of environmental education, fun and service, including the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and Fireworks. $300/person.
- Convergent Young Friends Workcamp, July 5 to July 11. For high school Friends, a week of service and community while exploring the common bonds of Quakerism. $250/person
Please contact us for questions or more information.
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It is a pleasure, an honor and a charge we take seriously to be a presence for Quakerism in this powerful, exciting and troubled city. In the true tradition of Quakerism, we know that our ability to provide the opportunity to bear witness to what is and what can be in our world and to make a difference through all of our programs is exciting. We hope you will join us along the journey
Sincerely,
Byron, Patricia, Brad, Greg, Faith, Ben, Kelli, and Lynette
William Penn House |
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