Eye - 24 July 2020
From an intercepted letter to cool tools
An intercepted letter
A Friend from a long line of Quakers made an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live programme on 11 July.
Speaking with Viv Groskop forty-three minutes into the show, Antony Barlow was responding to a call for stories ‘about the things we hide from our parents’ and spoke about a letter that was intercepted by his father.
He tells the emotional and extraordinary journey that followed the revelation that he had a boyfriend, at a time when homosexuality was illegal. Visit https://bit.ly/ABbbc4 to hear the story in his own words.
Quakerly blooms
The plain dress and modest hues of Quietist Friends appear to have inspired a botanist.
Juliet Morton, of Kingsbridge Meeting, who found moths bearing Quaker names (10 July), has come across flora to accompany Friendly fauna in the pages of The Guardian.
In an article about Mexican fleabane, a ‘delicate, daisy-like flower’, columnist Alys Fowler writes: ‘Less common is the lovely [Erigeron] speciosus “Quakeress” which is a taller, floppier thing that grows to 60-70cm high and has delightful pale blue-grey flowers (said to be the grey of Quaker women’s clothing).’
Friendly entertainment
A recent interview with actor Bradley Whitford shone a light on how growing up in a Quaker family affects his career choices.
He is probably best known for his role as Josh Lyman in The West Wing, but has appeared in a wide variety of other series and movies, such as The Handmaid’s Tale and Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
On 9 June the Los Angeles Times published an interview with the actor in which he was asked how being a Friend affected his choice of roles: ‘I have complicated feelings about violence without consequences in movies, and I think that has something to do with being Quaker… Violence is a distillation of conflict, and I have mixed feelings about the normalisation of violence.’
When asked if he had turned down parts due to this, Bradley replied: ‘There are parts that are irony-deficient, full of gratuitous violence. I’m not interested in those… You take the best parts available. One blessing now is I am able to do the most interesting stuff.’
A discerning ode
There once was an elderly Friend
Who wondered when lockdown would end.
Will Meetings return?
Let the elders discern –
Can virtual and real Meetings blend?
Bridget Oliver
Meeting house cleaning tune
As Meetings start to reopen their doors, the importance of cleaning has been brought to the forefront of many minds. But, as Mary Poppins would attest, a song can help the work along and Jacinta White, of Horsham Meeting, has composed alternative lyrics to the melody of ‘Stand by me’ by Ben E King for Friends rolling up their sleeves.
Now the time has come.
When our Friends have gone.
We pick up, our new cloths, put on gloves.
No I won’t be afraid, no I won’t be afraid.
For as long, as you clean, beside me.
And Darling Friend just, clean that seat.
Oh, make it neat.
Scrubbing here, wiping there, everywhere.
When the circle, that we looked upon,
had to Zoom online and our Meeting,
locked its doors, lost its shine.
I won’t lie, I did cry, yes I did shed a tear.
All along, spirit strong, stood by me.
And Darling Friend just clean with me
it sets us free
from our grief, disbelief, anxiety.
My Darling Friend, roll up our sleeve.
Let us believe
in making safe, feeling brave, clean with me.
And Darling Friend, just clean with me.
Oh, let us see
that Love and Light, are still here, for you and me.
(Indefinitely!)
Cool tools
For one Friend, online meetings are cool
But only for work, as a tool.
For another, the ether
Is for anaesthesia.
He prefers not to sleep, as a rule.
Jackie Fowler
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