Jana Remy
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Jana Remy

  • Writing
    • Disability
    • Making History
    • Digital Humanities
      • dayofDH
    • Canoeing
    • Creative Nonfiction & Essays
    • Feminism
    • Bibliographies
      • Pacific Worlds Bibliography
    • Social Media
      • Mentions/Links
  • Scholarship
    • Awards/Fellowships
    • Conferences & Invited Talks
    • Collaboration
    • Workshops
    • Conference Planning
    • Technical Skills
  • Teaching
    • Blogposts About Teaching
Daily Archives

June 8, 2008

Quaker

Social and Civic Responsibility

Friends, these are the Queries from my Friends Meeting for this month. I wanted to share them with you, thinking that you might find them thought-provoking…

Advice and Queries, June
Social and Civic Responsibility

In the words of William Penn, “True godliness doesn’t draw men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it.” Elsewhere he commented: “It is a reproach to religion and government to suffer so much poverty and excess.”

Poverty within a wealthy society is unjust, cruel, and often linked to skin color, gender, and language. We must examine our own privilege and role in the economic order that deepens this disparity. Friends should be alert to oppression and injustice, and persistent in working against them.

We value our part in shaping the laws of our country. Our task is to see that laws serve God’s purposes and build a just social order. Our first allegiance should be to God, and if this conflicts with any compulsion of the state, we serve our country best by remaining true to our higher loyalty.

If, by divine leading, our attention is focused on a law that is contrary to God’s law, we must proceed with care. Before acting, Friends should pray for further guidance and speak with the Meeting, family members, and all those who might be affected by the decision. If a decision involves disobedience to the law, we should make the grounds of our action clear to all concerned and be prepared to suffer any penalties without evasion. As a community, we must care for those who suffer for conscience’s sake.

Advice and Queries for all individuals

What am I doing to carry my share of responsibility for the government of our community, nation, and the world?

Am I persistent in my efforts to promote constructive change?

Advice and Queries for the meeting

How do we attend to the suffering of others in our local community, in our state and nation, and in the world community?

Do we try to understand the causes of suffering, and do we address them as a Meeting?

How do we, individually and as a Meeting, support the organizations that work to bring the testimonies of Friends into reality in our society?

Advice and Queries especially for children

Social and civic responsibility means we should not be content to live in an unjust world.

What does it mean to be a good citizen?

What can I do if I see things that are unfair?

Do I know how my Meeting is helping people and do I participate in these activities?

Do I try to understand why people are poor or unhappy, not only here but throughout the world?

June 8, 2008
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amputeedeep thoughts

harrowing adventures

First, it must be said: There’s no place like home. I’ve smothered all the peoples here with hugs and kisses. And the kitties, too.

To the harrow:
~Within 48 hours of my arrival in Colorado, my leg infection returned (but, hey, before it got out of control I at least got to hang out at the Hot Springs with my hot sistas, so I feel I can’t complain too too much). I got acquainted with the fine healthcare system at Swedish Medical Center and can say that if one is in need of urgent care in Denver, that is surely the place to head. Yes, I’m doing better now–started yet another round of antibiotics and spent some time with my friend vicodin.

~Coming home I had my most traumatic experience with airport security yet. I politely explained to the guard before I walked thru the metal detector that I didn’t need to remove my shoes because of my disability and I would have to be hand-searched because of my prosthetic leg. However he decided that I was being a “belligerent passenger” and called out the red alert. I ended up removing my shoes while being surrounded by several security personnel and then penned in a plexiglass enclosure.

Moments later, as the head of security was profusely apologizing me for all that had happened–I still in my socks and walking on a slick linoleum floor, slipped and fell in front of a huge crowd of onlookers. I was just mortified–at the horror of being corralled by security, at being held and treated like a criminal simply for trying to explain my needs to one over-reactive employee, and then slipping. And just feeling so vulnerable everytime a TSA employee takes advantage of me (it’s not the first time).

And, why, oh why do I not feel one whit safer in the skies with these numbnuts policing our airlines?

June 8, 2008
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About Me

About Me

Hi there friend, and welcome to my blog. I started writing on the internet two decades ago. Since then I've started and finished a PhD program, left the Mormon church and became a Quaker, got divorced, remarried, found full-time work in academia, took up rock climbing and outrigger canoeing, and traveled across the globe (China! Belgium! Italy! Chicago! Montana! Portland! Gettysburg! and oh-so-many points in-between). This blog is eclectic and random--it has poetry and cooking and books. And cats. And flowers. And the ocean (my ocean). But in that sense it's a good reflection of me and my wide-ranging, far-reaching, magpie curiosity.

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