As Way Opens
For the last several days, I have taken walks outside again. I have loved to breathe in the fresh air, see the daffodils and tulips popping up through the soggy ground, and enjoy the beauty of the Creator. It is also good to hear the chatter of the children in our neighborhood out on their bicycles and playing at the park. After the long winter and a full year in a pandemic, we are finally coming out of our “hibernation” in multiple ways.
We have just been through what most of the world is hoping to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The pandemic has taken its toll on each of us in different ways. Some have lost loved ones, others have lost jobs, but everyone has been impacted in some way.
Even though we are seeing some improvement with lower daily numbers of new cases and deaths here in Indiana, and many are receiving their vaccines, the reality is that the crisis is still far from over. Don’t get me wrong, I think we are starting to get a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel.
As children we heard stories of bears coming out of hibernation after the long winter, but most people don’t know that for bears, coming out of hibernation is not as simple as flipping a switch. Scientists describe the stage the bear enters after emerging from their den as a “walking hibernation.” A bear is lethargic for weeks, and wanders around trying to relate again to its surroundings and slowly over time they return to their former activity levels. In this time, they seek stable environments where they are able to develop their children and grow as a family, again.
As we enter our own “walking hibernation,” remember that we may be a bit lethargic on our re-entry. We may be finding new ways to relate and reorient to our surroundings. It may not be that easy and at times we may feel a bit discouraged or uncomfortable. Take your time, and only re-engage when you are ready – when your environment feels stable and safe. Just as when we entered this pandemic, we are going to need to slowly allow ourselves to adjust back to our new “normal.” And remember, we ALL are going through this “walking hibernation” time, so be kind to one another and walk with a sensitivity for your neighbor.
Grace and peace,
Bob
Quaker-Affiliated Organizations
Coming Soon to Your Couch: Indiana Citizens Redistricting Commission Public Meetings
We hear people say all the time, “I’m not interested in politics.” To which it can be replied, “Well, that’s really too bad, because politics are interested in you!”
In Indiana, we have a system in which elected politicians draw the legislative district maps used for state and congressional elections. Every ten years, they get together and literally place you into the groupings--districts--where they figure they are most likely to win based on voters’ Census data and voting records. By drawing made-to-order maps, your representatives are choosing you long before election day, when you are supposed to be choosing them. In this way the process called redistricting is the ultimate conflict of interest. If you sometimes doubt that your vote makes any difference, or wonder why in some elections you don’t even have a choice of candidates to vote for, our redistricting system is a big reason why.
This year is a redistricting year. It happens only once a decade. Would you like a voice in the process this time? The Indiana Citizens Redistricting Commission (ICRC) has been formed to demonstrate that redistricting done in a transparent way that encourages public participation will result in congressional and state legislative districts that are better for voters than districts drawn by incumbent representatives behind closed doors.
The ICRC is holding virtual public meetings to hear from Hoosier voters what they want in their new districts. Should districts emphasize compactness? What about competition--should maps be drawn to maximize competitive elections? Should current politicians have districts drawn around their residences, or should they be drawn “incumbent blind”? Also, what are the important communities of interest in Indiana, and should they be kept intact, or divided, in the new districts?
You are invited to this conversation. What do you think should drive redistricting where you live? There will be an ICRC public meeting for each congressional district. It is important that the ICRC hear from a broad range of Hoosiers, because the testimony from these meetings will be consolidated into a report the ICRC will give to state legislators before they begin redistricting this spring, so they will know what voters say they want their maps to look like.
Redistricting will impact federal and state elections for the next decade. It really matters that Hoosiers from all over the state are a part of this conversation. Including you.
Here is the schedule for the public meetings. Again, all virtual—you can participate from your own couch! Register in advance, either at www.allinfordemocracy.org, or by using the link following the meeting for your congressional district listed below. And feel free to share this; the invitation is open to all. Note that the meeting for the district including Indianapolis (district 7) is first, and the meeting for many Indy suburbs (district 5) is second.
Now is the time to make your voice heard! Please contact Phil Goodchild with any questions (goodch713@aol.com). Thank you.
February 24 – Congressional District 7, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. EST
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jOCUnFlrSqqrITaeeTAKlg
March 3 – Congressional District 5, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. EST
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bN5cRbOjRqmjk64-LT4_Qg
March 6 – Congressional District 1, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. CST
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_tfTusC9tQCe72z1DDzuCxQ
March 10 – Congressional District 9, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. EST
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wnyJd97cRUuZuF_DQkzUxA
March 13 – Congressional District 3, 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. EST
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Ujw84BSPStaPvW19xJc7hg
March 16 – Congressional District 6, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. EST
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sz1D_NtNRleutD2o-ieeqQ
March 18 – Congressional District 8, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. CST
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_euCRCwNkR8Kb2V_vmXxkEQ
March 23 – Congressional District 4, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. EST
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1_Tn9F59Rj2zT5TBPXEu0Q
March 30 – Congressional District 2, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. EDT
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5VQihioMQw2Mysl3HyK6kg
Announcements, Reports, & Opportunities
Coronavirus Vaccine Age Limit Now 50! The Indiana State Department of Health has now lowered the age threshold for Covid vaccines to 55 and up. If you’d like to sign up, please visit https://vaccine.coronavirus.in.gov/.
Jaimie Mudd’s Sermon is Online Now! Friends, the sermon that Jaimie Mudd recently gave in our online Meeting for Worship is now available in printed form online at Friends Journal. Find the piece here: https://www.friendsjournal.org/knowing-that-we-belong/. Thanks again to Jaimie Mudd for being our guest pastor that day!
MSPC Silent Auction ~ You’re invited to Maple Seeds Preschool Co-op’s annual Silent Auction. This auction is the school's largest fundraising event of the year. Money raised goes towards updating classrooms and playground and providing scholarships for families. Please consider helping MSPC reach their $5,000 goal! There are over 80 amazing prize packages to bid on, including local and national restaurants and shops, tickets to various museums and amusement parks, family fun activities, golf, wine tastings, autographed sports memorabilia, original art, and of course play dates with our wonderful teachers. This year's auction will be held virtually, beginning at noon on Friday, March 5th and ending at 10:00pm Saturday the 6th. You can view the auction here: https://www.32auctions.com/MSPC21Auction. Feel free to pass the auction link to other friends and family members who may be interested in bidding. We are also accepting donations via Venmo (@Sarah-MSPC) or PayPal (money@mapleseeds.org). As always, thank you for supporting our school!
Three notable books in our library are: The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, White Fragility by Robyn DiAngelo, and How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi.
Alexander writes in The New Jim Crow: We have not ended racial caste in America, we have merely redesigned it.” She goes on write of mass incarceration as social control, policing, denial of voting right, redlining and other systemic lack of equality.
White Fragility is about understanding white people’s role in racism, how race shapes the lives of white people, and its impact on education.
In How to Be an Antiracist Kendi takes the reader through a widening circle of antiracist ideas—from the most basic concepts to visionary possibilities—that will help readers see all forms of racism, understand their consequences and work to oppose them in our systems and in ourselves. ~ Linda L
FWCC, Friends World Committee for Consultation, Section of the Americas (from Canada to South America) will hold a Section Meeting virtually from March 12th through March 21st. FWCC’s purpose is to bring Friends together from all styles of worship and diverse theological perspectives. Two session will be open to all, not just yearly meeting representatives. Saturday, March 13 starting at 6pm there is an open program led by the FWCC Traveling Ministry Corps and on Sunday, March 21 at noon there will be a worship service. The links are not yet available but you can go to FWCCamericas.org to find out more about FWCC and the 2021 Section Meeting.
Oak Leaf: Meeting for Reading would like you to join us from virtually anywhere in the world as we discuss My Family and Other Animals (The Corfu Trilogy Book One) by Gerald Durrell ~ When the unconventional Durrell family can no longer endure the damp, gray English climate, they do what any sensible family would do: sell their house and relocate to the sunny Greek isle of Corfu. My Family and Other Animals was intended to embrace the natural history of the island but ended up as a delightful account of Durrell’s family’s experiences, from the many eccentric hangers-on to the ceaseless procession of puppies, toads, scorpions, geckoes, ladybugs, glowworms, octopuses, bats, and butterflies into their home.
We will gather via Zoom starting at 7 pm EST on Tuesday, March 30, 2021 led by Nancy S. Contact the office for the Zoom link.
Why I Do $tamping for Dollar$ for RSWR ~ A long, long time ago, when I lived overseas as a boy and letters were basically the only way our family had to communicate with friends and relatives back in the States, I collected postage stamps. I was fascinated by the reflections of history, culture and national pride in each country’s stamps, advertisements by governments to their people and to the world of what matters to them. And stamps were beautiful works of art in miniature.
Fast forward to the 21st century, stamps and snail mail are practically anachronisms. As a board member of Right Sharing of World Resources, I was vaguely aware of the tiny-but-mighty efforts of a few to raise money for RSWR by soliciting stamp donations, then selling them to collectors. The devotion of the “Stampers” didn’t really register with me until First Friends became the hub of these efforts. I began hearing more about the camaraderie of Amy Perry’s merry band of Stampers, the sheer volume of stamp donations they methodically transform into funds for RSWR, and the fun they have doing it.
But it took the pandemic to really draw me in to this caring circle. Undaunted by disease, they figured out safe and responsible ways to carry on their mission, and volunteering with them, especially this past winter, has been a life-affirming gift of fellowship and service for me in a dispiriting time. I’m admittedly the least efficient, most occasional member of the Stampers crew. But I know that RSWR is grateful for the Stampers’ constancy and support of RSWR and its women partners in India, Kenya and Sierra Leone. And I’m still captivated by the power of tiny bits of multi-colored paper, vestiges of innumerable individual human intentions, to help someone else’s tomorrow.
~Phil G
Notes from the Woods ~ One of our senior trees in the Woods is the Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides) that typically grows 50-80' (less frequently to 120') tall with a broad, open-rounded shaped habit. Nuthatches, brown creepers and kinglets are known to find tasty morsels on cottonwoods!
You can view this large tree just east and south of the meditational circle. This tree is important for our bird and insect population by hosting 368 caterpillar species. Watch her to bloom in March and April. Later in the summer, look for Mourning Cloak, Red-spotted Purple, Viceroy and Tiger Swallowtail butterflies whose larvae have been hidden there.
Do you enjoy weeding and planting? Let Mary and Mindy know a day of the week that works for you to help make our Woods even more beautiful and inviting. Office@indyfriends.org
We also encourage you to join us for any of these woods workdays! (When it’s not raining!)
March 12: 10am- Planting seeds for understory
12pm- Applying holly tone to azaleas, weeding butterfly garden
March 25: 10am- Cutting back perennials
Also every Thursday in April, 10am-12pm. We hope you’ll join us!
Highlighting a local environmental non-profit:
Reconnecting our Waterways or ROW
ROW convenes community partners to enhance the quality of life through innovation, analysis, cultural advancement and investment along Indy waterways and in neighborhoods.
See their February newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/e884ac9be74d/current-news-from-row-nov-8105370
IFCL Creation Care updates:
We are halfway through the 2021 Indiana General Assembly session, which was supposed to focus primarily on the budget and COVID-19 relief. There are some interesting bills to consider. If you would like to be on the IFCL mailing list, let me know. Mary.blackburn4@gmail.com
Here is a bill (HB 1283) to support urban agriculture that has crossed over to the Senate. It’s great to have a bill that focuses on helping people grow their own food in the city by having urban agricultural zones. Here’s a digest of the bill.
http://184.175.130.101/legislative/2021/bills/house/1283#digest-heading
For an update from the Hoosier Environmental Council, please click here to see which bills they believe are important for Indiana.
For all you Purdue Fans, here’s a link to the latest report from the Purdue Climate Change Research Center. Among the report's key findings:
* Predicted changes in climate – warmer, wetter springs followed by hotter, drier summers – may increase habitat suitability for a growing assortment of tree species in Indiana.
* Warmer temperatures may increase the number of new invasive species, as plants such as kudzu and Chinese privet expand their ranges northward in response to an altered climate.
* The number of days with frozen soil is projected to drop by one-half to two-thirds by late century, dramatically shrinking the time window for harvesting trees without environmental disturbance and damage.
Here’s the link: https://mailchi.mp/0f8e01ad8a65/in-ccia-newsletter-may-2457745?_ga=2.120209032.1679945187.1614610276-225662745.1614610276
For a Friendly view of Creation Care, check out Quaker Earthcare Witness: https://www.quakerearthcare.org
Meditational Woods Bird of the Month for February
Blue Jay: Beacon or Bully?
It seems to be a human trait to categorize and label. In volunteer work at two charities, I am tasked with sorting. In one, different types of shoes, and in the other, various stamps; and in both after sorting I must label each pile for future reference. In nature, mankind wants to put a label on animals as well, calling some good and others bad, some cute and others ugly. In which of these would the reader put snakes, spiders, chipmunks, baby skunks, and turkey vultures? In truth, I find each of these interesting.
Blue Jays are noisy neighborhood dwellers who visit our woods year-round on a daily basis. They often travel in groups. Males and females are identical. The issue here is our perception of jay behavior. On one hand two or three blue jays can dominate a bird feeder, threatening all smaller birds, and therefore getting a “bully” reputation. On the other hand, they serve as a sentinel to warn all others (including those same smaller birds) of an enemy’s approach, whether that present danger be an owl, a hawk, or, as we saw on our recent bird walk, us! When our group was walking along Parker Street, two jays raised the alarm. Other birds, such as Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatches, and three species of woodpeckers all showed up to see what the trouble was. The relationship between Blue Jays and American Crows is also a mixed bag. If a hawk or owl is present, crows and jays are allies in driving the predator away. But if a crow comes near the nest of a blue jay, look out for the blue-feathered fury! I suggest not being quick to use the good/bad labels with birds; perhaps some careful study will reveal one of God’s nature secrets! ~Brad J
Reopening Task Force Report ~ The Reopening Task Force’s most recent statement as of February 18, is available here. Currently, the Meetinghouse is open to small groups, with requirements for face coverings and social distancing protocol. Participants assume responsibility for risk of COVID-19 exposure. To check on availability of small groups, including Zoom options, contact the office at office@indyfriends.org, 317-255-2485. Additionally, the Ministry and Counsel Committee is working on plans for outdoors Meeting for Worship to take place Easter Sunday, April 4.
Queries for the Week
(From virtual worship)
• Who are the people in my life that help carry my burdens, how have I connected with and thanked them lately?
• How well am I living out my call as a “burden bearer”? Is there someone in my life currently that I am neglecting being the incarnate Christ to in their daily struggle?
• Which of the S.P.I.C.E.S. challenge me the most and draw me to further exploration this week?
(From self-led guide)
• If casting my cares upon the Lord means casting and leaving them there. Why is it so common practice for me to pick them up again after my prayer's "amen"?