Download a pdf file of the May 2016 Spark

Contents

Articles

Conversations on Racism

• Conversations on Racism, Editor's Introduction
• Reflections on the White Privilege Conference, by Mary Pugh Clark
• Cracking the Shell, by Emily Boardman
• Talking About Race, by Linda Clarke
• Movies Aren't Really (Just) for Entertainment, by Susan Wolf
• Standing Against Racism in Detroit, by Marjorie van Hoy

Other Articles

• Changing FUM, by Carol Holmes

NYYM Forum: you can comment on these articles in the Comment box at the end of each article. Start a conversation!

Around Our Yearly Meeting

• Meeting News
• News & Announcements
• Passages

Around Our Yearly Meeting

Meeting News

Rockland Meeting sponsored a speaker for its First Day School on March 20 from Me to We, an organization that “empowers people to change the world through their everyday consumer choices.”

On April 23, Wilton Meeting hosted a screening of a NRCAT (National Religious Campaign Against Torture) documentary Breaking Down the Box, which exposes the torture of solitary confinement and calls faith communities to action. A panel discussion followed the screening and a replica solitary prison cell was on display (see the item in Notes & Announcements below on how to bring this cell to your meeting).

Perry City Preparative Meeting holds a bicentennial celebration of the meeting’s founding on Sunday, August 7, 2016.

Poplar Ridge Meeting now holds a monthly Quaker meeting for worship in Spanish for Spanish-speaking farm workers and those from their meeting who speak some Spanish.

NYYM Fall Sessions: November 11–13, 2016, Ethical Culture Society, White Plains, NY. Fifteenth Street Meeting hosted a teen sleep-over on April 16–17.

Flushing Meeting hosted an interfaith prayer breakfast on May 1, inviting prayers, concerns, poetry, and songs.

Scarsdale Meeting hosted a Black Lives Matter special presentation on June 5, “Working for Justice in Westchester: Success, Challenges, Next Steps . . .”, featuring WVOX radio talk show host Darrell Davis. Darrel Davis is a long-time political, social, and anti-racists activist founder of the Committee for Justice, and author of Ghost of Robeson.

News & Announcements

Replica Solitary Confinement Cell
    New York Yearly Meeting now has a replica solitary confinement cell available for events and exhibitions.
    For 23 hours a day, for months, years, even decades, more than 80,000 adults and youth are held in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons, jails, and detention centers. We can take action as communities of faith to expose this torture.
    Friends are encouraged to bring the replica solitary confinement cell to your monthly meeting, quarterly or regional meeting, and combine the experience of witnessing the 9’ x 6’ space with a screening of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture Documentary (NRCAT) documentary Breaking Down the Box (see nrcat.org for viewing options). Speakers who have been directly affected by solitary confinement are available for panel discussions. You can create a powerful event to build awareness and mobilize Friends and others to take action.
    The cell is constructed out of ten 7’ x 3’ Plexiglas and wooden panels. It is lightweight and easy to construct. It is stored at Wilton Meeting and is ready to go on tour! Contact your NYYM NRCAT Representative Judy Meikle to discuss your requirements: [email protected].

Traveling Ministry Corps
    Friends World Committee for Consultation–Section of the Americas (FWCC) is organizing a small volunteer corps of Friends to send as traveling ministers throughout the Section. For more information and application forms, visit fwccamericas.org/about_us/programs. Deadline for the first round of applications: June 30, 2016.

Care for Our Common Home—A Call for Earthcare Art from Young Friends
    NYYM’s Earthcare Working Group invites young Friends to submit works of art about their: care and appreciation of the Earth. The art will be on view at Summer Sessions from Monday, July 25, 2016. All artwork will be returned. Who: Young Friends—children, teens, young adults.
 What: Artwork about the Earth—paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs of all sizes up to 24” x 36”.

    Deadline: Sunday, June 19.
    Queries to consider:

• What does nature give you?
• How do you feel about what’s happening to Nature in your community?
• How do you feel about what’s happening to the Earth at large?
• What is your vision for the Earth?
• How will you make your vision a reality?

How to submit: Please affix to the back of your work: your name, address, phone number, email, the title of your piece, art materials you used, and any other details you want to include. Ship or drop off art by June 19th to NYYM, 15 Rutherford Place, New York, NY 10003.

    We also invite a statement about how your piece reflects your feelings for the Earth; email to Janet Soderberg ([email protected]).

Passages

New Members

Susan Lee Carmody — Morningside
Cole Carmody Harmaty – Morningside
M.L. Healey – Easton
John Brooke Kenny – Jericho
Lorraine Kreahling – Fifteenth Street
David Lawrence Lundy – Buffalo
Sarah Mongeau – Rochester
Jay Nober – Catskill
Janet Poole – Albany
Dale Sims – Fifteenth Street
Robert James Stevens – Morningside

Births/Adoptions

Dario Joshua Gulizia, on March 15, 2016, to Adria Gulizia, member of Chatham-Summit, and Stefano Gulizia

Transfers

Stuart Bartram, from Alfred to Genesee Valley
Taylor Eskew, from Montclair to New Paltz
Elizabeth Gordon, from Binghamton to Albany
Risa Pomerselig, from New Paltz to Bulls Head-Oswego

Deaths

Ellen Denooyer, member of Purchase, on November 26, 2015
Emma Fleck, May 22 2016, member of Quaker Street
    Memorial meeting July 3, Quaker Street Meetinghouse
John Black Lee, member of Wilton, on April 13, 2016
Robert Richardson, member of Poplar Ridge, on February 11, 2016
Paul Rivet, member of Rockland, on April 22, 2016
Edward Wickersham, member of Purchase, on September 27, 2015