Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

News

Yoko Koike Barnes on Fair Trade and Our Clothing

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On June 24, the Runway to Annual Sessions hosted a workshop, Uncovering What Covers Us: Our Clothing facilitated by Yoko Koike Barnes. The workshop explored alternatives to the demand-driven, low-cost, low-wage, mega-corporate fashion production cycle. During the workshop, Yoko screened the documentary film, The True Cost which uncovered the questionable practices within the clothing industry and featured the people who actually sew the clothes.

Yoko is a member of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. Since 2011, she has been an active advocate of Fair Trade. She is the founder of Fair Trade Philadelphia and worked on forming the CPMM Fair Trade initiative. She is working to engage and unify the Quaker community across the yearly meeting to advocate for fair trade products by offering informative workshops on fair trade ministry. Below Yoko reflects on the Fair Trade issue and explains what she hopes people will take away from her recent workshop highlighting the compelling documentary, The True Cost.

[Read more…] about Yoko Koike Barnes on Fair Trade and Our Clothing

Anna T. Jeanes Cremation Fund and FEMA COVID-19 Funeral Assistance Available

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Featured Photo: The Philadelphia Inquirer – October 1, 1907

Anna T. Jeanes Cremation Fund

Friends are reminded that the Anna T. Jeanes Cremation Fund is available to reimburse cremation costs of members of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting monthly meetings.

Application may be made by monthly meeting pastoral care committees, family members, administrators or executors for a deceased member of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Applications may be submitted up to one one year after the member’s death, after cremation costs are paid, and once required documents are available. Reimbursement maximum is $800. Contact PYM grants staff at grants@pym.org for help applying. [Read more…] about Anna T. Jeanes Cremation Fund and FEMA COVID-19 Funeral Assistance Available

Quakers in Education: Jane Fernandes, Former President and Professor of English at Guilford College

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This interview with Jane Fernandes is a part of our Quakers in Education series. It follows our earlier conversations with Terry Nance I & II, Sa’ed Atshan, Maurice Eldridge, and Sarah Willie-LeBreton.

Jane Fernandes served as the president of Guilford College for seven years and is the newly appointed President of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She is the first deaf woman to lead an American college or university. She continues her role as a professor of English at Guilford.

Before joining Guilford College, Jane was a part of the University of North Carolina at Asheville, where she had been provost and vice-chancellor of academic affairs for six years. In addition, she served as vice president and later provost of Gallaudet University for a total of eleven years. Gallaudet University is a Washington, D.C., school that educates people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

[Read more…] about Quakers in Education: Jane Fernandes, Former President and Professor of English at Guilford College

Interview: Annual Sessions Keynote Speaker Mai Spann-Wilson

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Mai Spann-Wilson is giving an Annual Sessions Keynote talk and offering a series of workshops during Annual Sessions. His keynote address on Friday, July 30 from 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm will engage All-Ages work on Anti-Racism. An experienced, licensed social worker, Mai has worked with people of many different backgrounds. Learn more about his calling and his vision for his workshops in this interview.

[Read more…] about Interview: Annual Sessions Keynote Speaker Mai Spann-Wilson

Happiness Is a Meetinghouse Re-Opened – Here’s How Meetings Are Getting There

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June was a big month for the Friends community as it emerged from pandemic conditions. A number of meetings have been “open” in one way or another for a time, others have met only via Zoom. Those that have been meeting in person for some time (including Centre, Quakertown, Little Egg Harbor, Plumstead, Horsham, and Third Haven) found that as (mostly) smaller communities they could find ways to safely meet. Some set up outside worship, developing and sharing safety protocols that were appropriate to meeting under the wide open sky. Numbers of communities–large and small–accessed indoor in-person worship once local restrictions eased by keeping windows open, or functioned safely by having plenty of space between people and requiring masks.

[Read more…] about Happiness Is a Meetinghouse Re-Opened – Here’s How Meetings Are Getting There

PYM Guidance on Re-Opening

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Philadelphia Yearly Meeting shares this resource to guide others in their process of re-opening. As is our Quaker practice, we have produced a series of queries to consider. After each set of queries, a few resources are included for further exploration. No matter what, follow CDC, state, and local guidelines. [Read more…] about PYM Guidance on Re-Opening

Climate Change Sprint and Eco-Justice Collaborative News

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On March 27, 2021, during Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s Continuing Sessions, Friends united to come under the weight of climate change and eco-justice as a Yearly Meeting Witness. They recognized that while approving such a Witness was an important step forward, a specific plan of action is required. The Climate Change Sprint is drafting a plan to be presented to PYM Annual Sessions 2021 this summer.

The Climate Change Sprint members are Robert Greene, Bill Cozzens, Ruth Darlington, Pat Finley, .O, Kathryn Metzker, Christy Tavernelli, and Shelly Xia (Liyiran). The action plan created by the members recommends focus on education, activism, carbon footprint, finances, and mourning loss, and instilling hope.

[Read more…] about Climate Change Sprint and Eco-Justice Collaborative News

Youth Programs at Sessions Reimagined!

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We’ve scrambled our plans for Annual Sessions and made something new! Register here for all programs described below!

Recognizing that young people are both “Zoomed out” and families are out and about more this summer, Youth Programs staff have rethought and remixed our approach to Annual Sessions this year. We’re very excited to partner with Historic Fair Hill to offer an in-person event on Sunday morning, July 25, for children and youth of all ages and their families! During the week of Sessions, we scaled back online programming to focus on special guests and programs that explore identity, inclusion, and belonging. With these programs, we’re kicking off our Youth Programs theme for this year: “Building the Quaker Community We Want to Be.”

[Read more…] about Youth Programs at Sessions Reimagined!

Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique by Sa’ed Atshan

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Last Spring PYM interviewed Sa’ed Atshan, Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Swarthmore College. Sa’ed is a member of CPMM (Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting) and a member of the Middle East Collaborative. This June PYM is sharing a 2149 word excerpt from the preface of his new book, Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique.

As so often happens, books tear us away from our own reality and open doors to other people’s lived experiences. This book–which called out to me from its featured spot in an Andersonville, Chicago bookstore window this past May–names some of what a person goes through as they realize they see, feel, and embrace Queer consciousness.

[Read more…] about Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique by Sa’ed Atshan

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