Connecting Friends to the work of AFSC Subscribe
A blog published by the
by Lucy Duncan
This post is an excerpt from the 2012 Weed Lecture I presented at the Beacon Hill Friends House on May 20th. The lecture is an annual event honoring Ernest and Esther Weed, who were longtime directors of the house in its formative years. You can learn more about the lecture at the Beacon Hill Friends House website or purchase the...
by Lucy Duncan
My family and I live in a multicultural neighborhood just west of Philadelphia. My neighbors include many new immigrants from India, Bangladesh, Korea, Vietnam, Greece, and other countries, as well as many African-Americans.
We are part of a neighborhood association that has focused in the last few years on beautifying the park along Cobbs Creek, which is at the edge of the neighborhood. There have been many work days clearing weeds and debris, planting flowers, and turning the park again into a welcoming space for the community to play and gather....
This a guest blog post by Gabriela Flora, AFSC Regional Project Voice Organizer - Lucy
Often the first step to becoming an ally is hearing and really listening to another person’s story. I went to Intermountain Yearly Meeting (IMYM) at Ghost Ranch in the mountains of New Mexico this year for the first time since I’ve been on staff and told and heard moving stories there.
I co-led an interest group with Lucy Duncan titled “Friends and AFSC: Partners in Spirit-Led Activism.” We had a small, powerful group where the participants shared and listened...
Wars wouldn't exist without the creation of a hateful "other," drawing on racial, ethnic and religious prejudices to manufacture fear, demonizing the "enemy" to justify killing people. Unfortunately our own country is no stranger to this tactic. The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, the Red Scare during the McCarthy era, and most recently, identifying people of Arab descent as 'terrorists'--these are all part of the history of the dehumanization and isolation of some groups of people in order to justify militarism and war.
These fear-inducing labels...
Does your meeting want to work on social justice issues with other Quaker congregations across the country? Join our new Meeting/Church Liaison Program. Learn more and find resources for engagement here.
Or subscribe to our RSS feed
Listen to audio descriptions of the Meeting/Church Liaison program and check out episodies of the podcast series, "Calling forth the goodness."
Subscribe to the podcast
Lucy Duncan is AFSC’s Friends Liaison. She has been a storyteller for almost 20 years and in n the past five years has begun working with Quaker meetings to help Friends to tell stories of spiritual experience. Lucy is a member of Goshen Friends Meeting of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. She lives at Friends Southwestern Burial Ground in the caretaker's house with her husband, the caretaker, and her 10-year-old son.
Madeline Schaefer is the Friends Relations Fellow at AFSC. She grew up in Philadelphia, surrounded by Quakers of all shapes and sizes. After searching for stories and adventure in distant, cooler climes, she returned home only to find the richest ones right in her backyard. Madeline lives with five lovely people in West Philadelphia, and is involved with Quakers throughout the Philadelphia region.
