Simple Monument for Friends Ambulance Unit and the Friends Relief Service in UK - Quakers

A simple beautiful memorial to Friends work in War and Peace.

http://www.qsmt.org.uk/

Description of Memorial:

A memorial to commemorate the work of the Friends Ambulance Unit and the Friends Relief Service is under construction at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire.

 It will present  the Religious Society of Friends and what Quakers stand for to millions of people in the UK and abroad, and provide a space for reflection and silent worship.

 Its simple structure in stone brings to mind a meeting for worship. The circular seating will serve as a setting for contemplation and express our vision of reconciliation in times of conflict. Wording carved on the seats will illustrate Friends’ commitment and witness to peace.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/apr/16/rare-memorial-inspires-quakers-work

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In Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s Bed – a History of “Friends”, Rock, Roy and the FBI at the Infamous Historic (B&B) Pink Bishop’s Palace NYC

The original "Rock"

http://www.johnrechy.com/so_rock.htm

 Those protective subterfuges were occurring during the "red witch-hunts" led by Senator Joseph McCarthy through the House Un-American Activities Committee, a campaign that spread from exposing "commies" to exposing "queers" in government, a dangerous time Hofler vividly evokes.

     Even the FBI became involved in an investigation of Hudson's sex activities, despite the fact that insiders knew that FBI head J. Edgar Hoover was gay and, it was steadfastly rumored, had appeared at a New Year's eve party in drag with his friend Cardinal Spellman. The bully at McCarthy's right hand was Roy Cohn, who eventually died of AIDS, and who, during the hearings to expose "commies and queers," was accompanied by his lover, David Schine.

     Exposure was not the only reason for hiding. A sex act in private between consenting adults was punishable with years in prison. Men dancing with men in clubs might be arrested for "lewd conduct." A vice raid on an innocuous pajama party netted Arthur Gelien, who five years later became Tab Hunter.

     Wily maneuvers witnessed by this reviewer were needed to overcome such arrests. In a club in Topanga Canyon, lights flashing off and on warned same-sex couples on the dance floor to shift partners. Gay men would dance with lesbians, a legal coupling.

Thwarting a raid by provoking embarrassment, the pianist in a Hollywood gay bar would burst into the strains of the bridal march when a cop and a member of the shore patrol were identified walking down the stairs together like a couple.

Madison Avenue B & B in the 1950s and 60s

My other dress is a dress (with sequins).

"There is no Cosa Nostra"

http://blog.marshotelonline.com/2007/10/22/monday-artday-glamorous/

Roy - "I'll just watch."

"Oh Lindsey" - "Oh Mitchelle" - "What a beautiful dress."

http://republicansindrag.blogspot.com/2013/01/celebrate.html

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Timothy Dolan - the friendship song

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Goodbye to the Y2Kays Decade

Remember all of the hype and B.S. about how the world was going to end in the year 2000 – Y2K ?

Our computers all over the planet were going to shut down over the supposed glitch that dumb computers would be too stupid to recognize the first two digits 20 of the year 2000 – as opposed to computers built in the twentieth century with the two digit prefix of 19—as in 1999 etc.

I think one nuclear power plant in Japan shut itself down. Other than that, air traffic control, street lights and electricity kept running. What a sorry disappointment that PR fear campaign was.

We had made a journey back east to New York from Arizona in 1999 only to come up against - in your face – too close - to 911 and its very nasty effects and collateral damage.

The world did not come to an end in the 2000’s or Y2Kays or the Naughties.

It was a hard decade to slog through for some of us but we made it. If we are still here in one piece, I guess we can indeed brag about it.

The world never seems to truly end. Does it? No matter what any so-called current in vogue prophecy says. It ends when it ends and not before.

Something perhaps in the universal program of randomness and the drive to carry on and to evolve.

Ran into this on a blog and it brought me close to tears. Even I can’t say everything. This says a lot to me. I hope it says things to you as well.

…
To my friends the Americans
in which this decade has hollowed your land
raped your soul
and left your spirit bruised and battered
may you find solace,
may you find peace,
may you find your light again…

“The Dude” – a blogger

Best wishes for the new calendar year to you all.

Quaker Cross - a Symbol for Compassion?

I ran into this modern symbol of the Society of Friends or Quakers. It is called a Quaker cross. It was first used by relief workers, as a symbol on their arms, by British Quakers in the Franco Prussian war in 1870-1871. It was also used as an armband for British conscientious objectors in WWI who did non-armed battlefield services.

The symbol above was adopted as the official symbol of the American Friends Service Committee in 1917. The variaton shown above is from the Australian Friends relief agency.

I like the circle around it. It really took me by surprise in that I grew up in Philly, a traditional center of Quaker culture, and never saw it before today. The Friends or the Quakers have been quietly doing charitable work for centuries without a visible or bloated bureaucratic religious leadership always handing out PR statements.

The Quakers as a Christian religion has a centuries old tradition of care for the mentally ill, anti-slavery campaigning and advocacy of equal rights for women. They also continue to condemn violence, the death penalty and war.

As such, as soon as I saw this symbol and understood its origin, I thought of the possible need of a visual for the Campaign for Compassion and or course the Tibetan Buddhist concept of Compassion, both of which are not unlike Jesus’ command to love your neighbor.

Of course you cannot steal a symbol but perhaps the design in two other colors could represent compassion.

Any suggestions on two good colors to go with a symbol design already associated with love and peace?