WINTER 2003Phil Anthony
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eptember 11 was a Thursday this year. As usual on Thursdays, I was in my office in the gallery at the Woodstown meetinghouse. When I stepped outside for a moment, there was a figure seated in the grass, in front of the peace pole.
It was Gail Scuderi, the artist who had thought of having tiles made—by Woodstown’s children and the residents of Friends Home—to set in a concrete block at the base of the peace pole. The tiles had already been set, and now Gail was filling in the grouting around them. I went over to her, and we talked for a while. “I felt I needed to be here today,” she said.
Three days later, the morning before Quarterly Meeting at Greenwich, the peace pole and peace banner were dedicated. Our front cover, courtesy of Frank Lenik, clerk of the Salem Quarter Steering Committee, shows the members of Woodstown gathered around the banner during the dedication ceremony.
I want to give my personal thanks to Gail. Many others were involved; most notably Donna Gibson, who shepherded the process of bringing the peace pole and banner to Woodstown. But that day Gail ministered to me in a special way.
Donna’s also the one who has been instrumental in bringing the 10,000 Villages craft show to Woodstown MM each year for the past three or four—see the Quarter Calendar for details of this year’s offering. But our other meetings have been busy as well: Woodbury MM with its Thanksgiving dinner and interfaith worship; breakfast with Santa at Mickleton MM; the November meeting of the Quarter Steering Committee at Mullica Hill MM, and its continuing Third-day evening worship; the Quarter’s “Painting in the Light” workshop with Dana Gayner at Salem MM; the lasagna dinner and bulb sale at Greenwich MM; Christmas breakfast and Christmas eve worship, along regular with Fourth-day evening worship, at Seaville MM. When I hear of inactivity and lack of interest in other quarters, I’m particularly pleased at Salem Quarter’s strength.
DECEMBER QUARTERLY MEETING
Salem Monthly Meeting
Sunday, 14 December 20039:00 am Gather 9:30 am Program: South Africa—the observations and experience of Margaret Wood, Towanda MM 10:30 am Worship 11:45 am Brown-bag lunch: beverage and dessert provided by Salem MM 1:00 pm Meeting for worship for business Child care provided The Quarter’s strength will also be apparent, I expect, when Salem MM hosts Quarterly Meeting on Sunday, 14 December. The schedule appears at right, but there are a couple of things I’d like to add about our morning program.
The presenter this December is Margaret Wood, former clerk of Towanda MM, up near the Pennsylvania–New York border. She, husband Larry, and their children spent a year in the Republic of South Africa, mostly at their own expense. Larry devoted his time to making it possible for impoverished schools to connect to the Internet—details, for those who are interested, may be found at http://www.wizzy.org. Margaret worked with local craftspeople to arrange export of their goods to the United States at fair prices. Important as both their efforts are, something else they did was even more significant to me.
During their stay, Margaret sent some 60 pages of e-mails back to friends in the States—keen, and sometimes highly opinionated, observations of RSA and the world. Having grown up in Kenya until she was eleven, and then in the United Kingdom, Margaret brings a perspective that we don’t often hear in the United States.
You’ll find brief excerpts from some of Margaret’s earlier e-mails in this issue. I gave up in despair at trying to present any real sense of the range of her thinking and feeling in two pages. (There’s talk of editing the entire correspondence for publication.) But maybe what I condensed will give you an idea of who she is and the kinds of things she may tell us during her presentation.
So come join us at Salem MM for Quarterly Meeting. I’m looking forward myself to being there with old and new friends, and to finding what new insights I’ll glean from Margaret’s talk. I’d love to see you there as well.
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