Eye - 17 February 2023
From Putting pen to paper to On this day
A compelling cameo
Do you enjoy a spot of medical drama of an afternoon? Eagle-eyed Quaker viewers of BBC One’s Doctors on 6 February may have spied a familiar setting. The episode included a storyline about a woman trying to escape her abusive husband. The women’s refuge she is housed at was set in none other than Holland House, the self-contained flat on the estate of Woodbrooke, the Quaker study centre in Birmingham. Anyone keen to see the episode can find it at: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001hz94.
Putting pen to paper
Time for another departure from Eye’s norm Friends!
Each one of you is valued by the team here at the Friend. We are grateful for the support you offer to our shared endeavour, whether as a subscriber, writer, advertiser, or all three!
The team here love what we do, and we do it because we love the community we serve.
The Friend has, throughout its life, been something we create with you, it is yours, and we welcome your voice. But Eye knows that sometimes uncertainty gets in the way of putting pen to paper.
We want to hear from you Friends, so this week Eye will answer the most common questions about writing for the magazine.
What do you publish?
Thoughts for the week
Spiritual reflections
Reports
Features
Reviews
Poetry
What makes a good article?
If something moves or inspires you, it is likely to resonate with other Friends too. We publish articles on a wide range of topics and are keen to hear personal stories and reflections, especially of a spiritual nature and of faith in action.
Should I get in touch before starting?
Unsolicited articles are welcome, but it is helpful to hear from contributors before they commit ink to page. For example, if three Friends write on the same topic around the same time, it is unlikely that all three will be published.
Is there a word limit?
Yes, we advise:
one page: 600 words
two page: 1,200 words
poetry: please don’t submit poems longer than a page.
How can I send my article to you?
We prefer to accept articles via email to editorial@thefriend.org in a Word or Open Office document.
Do you reply to every message?
Eye will be honest, with the time pressures of a weekly publication on a very small team, it is not possible to reply to everyone. Please know that each message is valued, but time and resource constraints step between what is possible and our ideal.
What happens when an article is chosen?
Each article is edited for length and clarity. It is laid out on a page with an accompanying photo or illustration before going through our weekly process of:
fact-checking,
proofreading, and
sub-editing.
If edits are small, it is unlikely we will be able to get in touch prior to publication. However, if a significant change is needed the editor will contact you before the piece is published.
Writing isn’t my thing…
We still want to hear from you! If there is something you want to share with Friends, it could be written up by one of us for the news or Eye pages, or it could become the foundation for an interview in print or on our podcast!
For more information, please visit: https://thefriend.org/page/writing-guidelines.
On this day
In the 17 February 1922 edition of the Friend William Graveson shared his reflections on one of his favourite feathered visitors: ‘Chief amongst my garden acquaintances is the starling. He is now preparing his St. Valentine addresses, and I never tire of his musical croons from house-roof and treetop…
‘My attachment to the bird comes from his neighbourliness to man, for his humour, conscious and unconscious, and for his amusing ways. Unlike the proverbial sparrow on the housetops, which was a symbol of melancholy and desertion, the starling on the house-roof conduces to cheerfulness and good fellowship… But it is when the spring passion is upon him that he excels himself… How one wishes that some of this passionate sentiment could be rendered into human speech, so that we mortals could enjoy yet more the comedies of the bird world.’
As an aside, Eye can never resist the ‘Miscellaneous’ column in our classifieds section, and in this issue there were two adverts offering to buy old artificial teeth! The mind boggles, although perhaps dentures were a different animal in the 1920s: ‘Artificial teeth (old) bought: up to 7s. per tooth pinned on vulcanite, 12s. on silver, 15s. on gold, £2 on platinum.’
