As a Philly native the so-called Toynbee Tiles crept up so slowly in the built space that they blended in with the natural city streetscape and I missed Resurrect Dead, the 2011 documentary of the mystery. It’s in my watching queue. In the meantime I’m going to start photographing any I see. Here’s the figure the Internet has dubbed Stickman in the intersection of 13th and Arch in Philadelphia. 
Quaker Ranter
A Weekly Newsletter and Blog from Martin Kelley
Tag Archives ⇒ space
Up Into The Cherry Tree
July 24, 2015
My mother died a few days ago. While I’m overwhelmed with the messages of prayers and condolences, at least at some level it feels like cheating to accept them too fully. This isn’t a new condition. This is just the final moment of a slow-motion death.
A little over five years ago my mother was formally diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. It was quite brave of her to get the testing done when she did. This had always been her most-feared scenario for aging. Growing up, we had befriended an active elderly neighbor who had gently died in her sleep after a minor slip on some ice. My mom thought that was the best exit ever. She swore Mrs. Goldsmith had come to her in a dream the next night to congratulate herself, saying “See, I told you I was lucky!” For years afterwards, my mother convinced herself that she would go in a similarly elegant way.
My mom, Liz, must have sensed that Alzheimer’s was a possibility when she scheduled that doctor’s visit. The news didn’t come as much of a surprise to us family. I had been joking for years that my mom seemed to have only twenty stories that she kept on rotation. After she read a study that crossword puzzles keep your brain sharp as we age, she became an obsessive crossword puzzler; when the Sudoku craze hit, she was right on top of it. She had bravely bought her first house in her late 60s. How proud she was. At the time she let us all know, repeatedly, that she would be leaving it “in a box.” Caulking trim, replacing windows, and troubleshooting a mud room leak that defied a dozen contractors became her occupation, along with volunteering and watching grandkids. But by 2010, she must have known she wasn’t going to have Mrs. Goldsmith’s luck. It was time to adjust.
When she called to tell me the diagnosis, she couldn’t even use the A‑word. She told me her “brain was dying” and that the doctor was putting her on Aricept. A quick Google search confirmed this was an Alzheimer’s drug and a call with the doctor later that afternoon helped map out the road ahead.
Alzheimer’s is a slow-motion death. She’s been disappearing from us for a long while. Regular outings became less frequent till we couldn’t even take her out to a nearby restaurant for her birthday. As words disappeared and speech began faltering, I’d show her recent kid photos on my phone and tell stories to fill the emptying space. Eventually she stopped showing interest even in this. On my last regular visit with her, I brought the kids and we had lots of fun taking pictures. Mom kept pointing out at the phone’s display as if it were a mirror. But conversation was too disjointed and after a few minutes, my kids started wandering in ever widening circles looking for interesting buttons and alarms to touch and pull and I had to round them up to leave.
In the past few weeks her forgetfulness has extended to eating and swallowing. Intervention would only buy a little more time until she forgot how to breathe. Alzheimer’s is a one way trip.
On my last few visits she was mostly sleeping. She’s was calm, preternaturally calm. Lying on her back, pale and peaceful, she looked as if she might already be a body resting in a casket. Only the slight rise of sheets as she breathed gave away the news that she was still with us, if barely. I felt awkward just sitting there. Some people are good in these kinds of situations, but I self-consciously struggle. With little chance of interaction, I struck on the idea of reading from a favorite book of poems that she had read to me on countless nights as a child. “Up into the cherry tree, who should climb but little me?” I don’t know if she heard me or pictured the cherry tree in her haze, but it was a way for us to be together.
The slow-motion nature of Alzheimer’s means she slept a lot until she didn’t. For reasons that go deep into biography, she was a wonderfully friendly person who didn’t have a lot of close friends anymore. It seems peculiar that one can walk upon the earth for so many decades and only have a dozen or so people notice your departure. But then maybe that’s the norm for those who live deep into their eighties. Most of us will leave life with the same kind of quiet ripples with which we entered.
Using VMWare Fusion to run Windows on a Mac
May 3, 2008
I just purchased a MacBook and have the joy of learning a new set of routines and programs, all while reconfiguring my services again. I’ve used Macs in various work settings but the bulk of my development time has been on Windows, most recently XP.
I will recommend VMWare’s Fusion for other Windows users making the switch. Fusion is an $80 program that lets you run Windows through Mac (you have to pay for a fresh version of Windows, a copy of XP put me back $200 at Staples). Apple has an alternative called Boot Camp which lets you install Windows so you can start up in it when you start your computer. This presumably runs faster (there’s no Mac OS overhead while in Windows) but Fusion is much more practical since I’m using simultaneously with my Mac programs. The speed is fine, even with lots of Mac programs running. Fusion is also more flexible about disk space allocations.
I’m quite amazed about what it can do. Netflix’s Watch Now service is unavailable for Macs but runs fine through my Fusion-powered Windows XP. The Rhapsody music client also works and I’m listening to music as I’m running my Mac programs. In an amazing feat, I was able to use Rhapsody to sync songs on my Palm T/X via USB cable. This is Windows XP running atop Mac OS X syncing digital rights managed-protected data with Palm OS over USB. Really amazing that it all worked!
I’m sticking with Windows XP because of all the nightmare stories I’ve heard about Vista, but also because it uses less memory and so will run faster. Also, I know XP very well and don’t really relish the thought of learning a whole new system in addition to Mac OS. I’m presuming that over time I’ll use Windows less and less and will just have it for browser cross-checking purposes and to run the occasional Windows-only software like Rhapsody and Netflix.
Another Quaker bookstore bites the dust
November 28, 2007
Not really news, but Friends United Meeting recently dedicated their new Welcome Center in what was once the FUM bookstore:
On September 15, 2007, FUM dedicated the space once used as the Quaker Hill Bookstore as the new FUM Welcome Center. The Welcome Center contains Quaker books and resources for F/friends to stop by and make use of during business hours. Tables and chairs to comfortably accommodate 50 people make this a great space to rent for reunions, church groups, meetings, anniversary/birthday parties, etc. Reduced prices are available for churches.
Most Quaker publishers and booksellers have closed or been greatly reduced over the last ten years. Great changes have occurred in the Philadelphia-area Pendle Hill bookstore and publishing operation, the AFSC Bookstore in Southern California, Barclay Press in Oregon. The veritable Friends Bookshop in London farmed out its mail order business a few years ago and has seen part of its space taken over by a coffeebar: popular and cool I’m sure, but does London really needs another place to buy coffee? Rumor has it that Britain’s publications committee has been laid down. The official spin is usually that the work continues in a different form but only Barclay Press has been reborn as something really cool. One of the few remaining booksellers is my old pals at FGC’s QuakerBooks: still selling good books but I’m worried that so much of Quaker publishing is now in one basket and I’d be more confident if their website showed more signs of activity.
The boards making these decisions to scale back or close are probably unaware that they’re part of a larger trend. They probably think they’re responding to unique situations (the peer group Quakers Uniting in Publications sends internal emails around but hasn’t done much to publicize this story outside of its membership). It’s sad to see that so many Quaker decision-making bodies have independently decided that publishing is not an essential part of their mission.
Working with Pipes #2: A DIY personalized community with Del.icio.us, Flickr and Google Blog Search
March 17, 2007
It’s
not necessary to develop your own Web 2.0 software infrastructure to
create an independent Web 2.0‑powered community online. It’s far
simpler to set a standard for your community to use on exisiting
networks and then to use Yahoo Pipes to pull it together.
I decided on about a dozen categories to use with my DIY blog aggregator (QuakerQuaker).
I only want to pull in posts that are being generated for my site by
community members so we use a community identifier, a unique prefix
that isn’t likely to be used by others.
This post will show you how to pull in tagged feeds from three sources: the Del.icio.us social bookmarking system, the Flickr photo sharing site and Google Blog Search.
Step 1: Pick a community designator
I’ve been using the community name followed by a dot. The prefix
goes in front of category description to make a set of unique tags for
the aggregator. When someone wants to add something for the site they
tag it with this “community.category” tag. In my example, when someone
wants to list a new Quaker blog they use “quaker.blog”, “quaker” being
the community name, “blog” being the category name for the “New Blogs”
page.
Step 2: Collect the community prefix and category name in Pipes
You begin by going into Pipes and pulling over two text inputs: one for
the community prefix, the other for the specific category.
Step 3: Construct these into tags
Now use the “String Concatenation” module to turn this into the
“community.category” model. The community input goes into the top slot,
a dot is the second slot and the category input goes into the last slot.
Now, when you have a tag in Flickr with a dot in it, Flickr automatically removes it in the resultant RSS feed.
So with Flickr you want your tag to be “communitycategory” without a
dot. Simple enough: just pull another “String Concatenation” module
onto your Pipes work space. It should look the same except that it
won’t have the middle slot with the dot.
Step 4: Turn these tags into RSS URLs
Pull three “URLBuilder” modules into Pipes, one for each of the
services we’re going to query. For the Base, use the non-tag specific
part of the URL that each service uses for its RSS feeds. Here they are:
| Del.icio.us | http://del.icio.us/rss/tag |
| Flickr | http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds |
| Google Blog Search | http://blogsearch.google.com |
Under path elements, put the correct tag: for Del.icio.us and Google it should be the community.category tag, for Flickr the dot-less communitycategory tag.
Step 5: Fetch and Dedupe
Fetch is the Pipes module that pulls in URLs and outputs RSS feeds. It can also combine them. Send each URLBuilder output into the same Fetch routine.
Since it’s possible that you’ll might have duplicate posts, use the “Unique” module to deduplicate entries by URL.
Through a little trial and error I’ve determined that in cases of
duplicates, feeds lower in the Fetch list trump those higher. In the
actual Pipe powering my aggregator I pull a second Del.icio.us feed: my
own. I have that as the last entry in the Fetch list so that I can
personally override every other input.
Step 6: Sort by Date
With experimentation it seems like Pipes orders the output entries by
descending date, which is probably what you want. But I want to show
how Pipes can work with “dc” data, the “Dublin Core” model that allows
you to extend standard RSS feeds (see yesterday’s post for more on this).
Google Blog Search and Del.icio.us feeds use the “dc:date” field to
record the time when the post was made. Flickr uses “dc:date.Taken” to
pass on the photograph’s metadata about when it was taken. Pipes’
“Rename” module lets you copy both fields into one you create (I’ve
simply used “date”), which you can then run through its “Sort” module.
Again, it’s a moot point since Pipes seems to do this automatically.
But it’s good to know how to manipulate and rename “dc” data if only
because many PHP parsers have trouble laying it out on a webpage.
Update: it’s all moot: according to a ZDNet blog, “Pipes now automatically appends a pubDate tag to any RSS feed that has any of the other allowable date tags.” This is nice: no need to hack the date every time you want to make a Pipe!
Step 7: Output
The final step for any Pipe is the “Pipe Output” module.
In action
You can see this published Pipe here, and copy and play with it yourself. The result lets you build an RSS feed based on the two inputs.
Strangers to the Covenant
July 1, 2005
A workshop led by Zachary Moon and Martin Kelley at the 2005 FGC Gathering of Friends.
This is for Young Friends who want to break into the power of Quakerism: it’s the stuff you didn’t get in First Day School. Connecting with historical Quakers whose powerful ministry came in their teens and twenties, we’ll look at how Friends wove God, covenants and gospel order together to build a movement that rocked the world. We’ll mine Quaker history to reclaim the power of our tradition, to explore the living testimonies and our witness in the world. (P/T)
Percentage of time: Worship 20 / Lecture 30 / Discussion 50
Extended Description
We hope to encourage Friends to imagine themselves as ministers and elders and to be bold enough to challenge the institutions of Quakerism as needed. We want to build a community, a cohort, of Friends who aren’t afraid to bust us out of our own limited expectations and give them space to grow into the awareness that their longing for deeper spiritual connection with shared widely among others their age. Our task as workshop conveners is to model as both bold and humble seekers after truth, who can stay real to the spirit without taking ourselves either too seriously or too lightly.
Martin and Zachary have discovered a Quaker tradition more defined, more coherent and far richer than the Quakerism we were offered in First Day School. In integrity to that discovery, we intend to create a space for fellowship that would further open these glimpses of what’s out there and what possibilities exist to step out boldly in this Light.
Sunday: Introductions
The most important task for today is modeling the grounded worship and spirit-led ministry that will be our true curriculum this week. In a worship sharing format we will consider these questions:
- What brought me to this workshop?
- What did they fail to teach me in First Day School that I still want to know?
Monday: What is this Quakerism?
Today will be about entering this grounded space together as Friends, beginning to ask some questions that reveal and open. How do I articulate what Quakerism is all about? What ideas, language, and words (e.g. “God”, “Jesus” “Light”) do use to describe this tradition? Today we start that dialogue. At the end of session we will ask participants to seek out an older Friend and ask them for their answers on these queries and bring back that experience to our next gathering.
- Worship. Reading of selected texts from journal and Bible
- Present question: When someone asks me “what is Quakerism?” how do I respond.
- Martin and Zachary will share some thoughts on this question from other Friends
- Journaling on Query
- Discussion of ideas and language.
Tuesday: The Mystical Tradition and Gospel Order
We enter into the language and fabric of our Tradition at its mystical roots. Asking the questions: What does God feel like? Introduce early Quaker’s talk about God. What does it feel like to be with God? What is Gospel Order?
- Worship. Reading of selected texts from journals and Bible
- Follow-up on previous day’s discussion/homework what new came into the Light overnight?
- Journaling on Query: When have I felt the presence of God? Describe it in five senses?
- Initial discussion and sharing of thoughts and ideas.
- Introduce some ideas from early Friends and others on this Query. How have others (Jesus, Isaiah, Merton, Fox, Day) spoken of this experience?
- Introduce themes of Spiritual Practice: If Quakerism is about asking the right questions, how do we get into the place to hear those questions and respond faithfully? We have already been incorporating devotional reading into our time together each morning but we will introduce into the Light of Discipline as such here. Naming of other practices, previously acknowledged and otherwise, within the group.
- Introduce ‘Spiritual Discernment’ themes for the following day’s session.
Wednesday: The Roots of Friends’ Discernment Tradition and the Testimonies
We delve into the archives, the dusty stuff, the stuff First Day School didn’t get to: the preaching from the trees, the prison time, the age George Fox was when he was first incarcerated for his beliefs, what the testimonies are really about and where they came from. Today is about taking the skeletons out of the closet and cleaning house.
- Worship. Reading of selected texts from journals and Bible
- ‘Let’s talk history’: Early Friends, the Making of The Society, and the Discernment Tradition. [Martin and Zachary may cover this, or we may arrange to have another Friend come and share some thoughts and infuse a new voice into our dialogue]
- There are lots of testimonies: what are ours? Name some. How to they facilitate our relationship with God?
- What’s up with “Obedience”, “Plainness”, and “Discipline”? How do we practice them?
Thursday: Friends in a Covenanted Relationship
We grow into our roles as leaders in this community by considering the opportunities and the hurdles in deepening our covenant relationship. We begin with considering spiritual gifts, and then consider questions around ministry, its origin and its discernment. We will take up the task of considering what our work, what piece of this responsibility is ours to carry.
- Worship. Reading of selected texts from journals and Bible
- Journaling on the Queries: What is alive inside of me? How are my spiritual gifts named and nurtured?
- What are the tasks of ministry?
- What are the tasks of eldering?
- What are the structures and practices in our monthly, quarterly and yearly meetings that we can use to test out and support leadings? How do these structures work and not work. Clearness committees? Traveling Friends? Spiritual nurture/affinity groups?
- What is holding us back from living this deepened relationship? What is our responsibility to this covenant and this covenant community?
Friday: The Future of Quakerism
We begin the work that will occupy the rest of our lives. The participants of this workshop will be around for the next fifty or more years, so let’s start talking about systematic, long-term change. We have something to contribute to this consideration right now.
- Worship. Reading of selected texts from journals and Bible
- Where do we go from here? Martin will present on emergent church. Zachary will present some thoughts on ‘Beloved Community’.
Many have talked about deep communion with God and about covenant community. Many have spoken our hearts and given voice to the passion we experience; now it’s on us what are we going to do about it? Where is it happening? - Discussion (maybe as a fishbowl) Where do we envision Quakerism 50 years from now? 100 years from now?
External Website: Quaker Ranter, Martin’s site.
Youth Ministry, Yearly Meeting Style
March 18, 2005
One has to applaud the sheer honesty of the group of leading Quakers who have recently proposed turning the grounds of Philadelphia’s historic Arch Street Meetinghouse into a retirement home. It makes perfect sense. Arch Street is the host for our annual sessions, where the average age is surely over 70. Why not institutionalize the yearly meeting reality?
The Arch Street Meetinghouse grounds are also a cemetery. In about ten years time we can raze the meetinghouse for more headstones and in about twenty years time we can have a big party where we cash out the yearly meeting funds and just burn them in a big bonfire (there’s a fire station across the street), formally laying down Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. The fifteen of us who are left can go attach ourselves to some other yearly meeting.
This year’s annual sessions continue their tradition of self-parody: the featured speakers are the umpteenth gray-hair professional Quaker talking about the peace testimony and a psychologist who appears on NPR. It’s safe to assume neither will stray beyond the mildest communities of faith talk to mention God, gospel order or naming of gifts, and that neither will ask why there’s almost no one under forty involved in the yearly meeting. The last time I went to a nominating committee workshop at annual sessions, members openly explained to me why Friends under forty couldn’t serve on committees. Later during that session we learned the average new attender was in their thirties yet the yearly meeting clerk didn’t think it was appropriate than any Friend under fifty comment on that (about 40 older Friends were recognized to share their thoughts, natch).
The generational freefall is coming to the yearly meeting. Arch Street Meeting is smack in the middle of one of the premier hip young neighborhoods of Philadelphia yet they’ve been resistant to doing any serious outreach or adult religious ed (I could tell stories: don’t get me started). This weekend I learned that the other downtown meeting, Central Philadelphia, continues its practice – almost policy – of not supporting emerging ministry in long-time young attenders (I could really tell stories). I wouldn’t be surprised if Philadelphia has the lowest per-capita yearly meeting attendance.
So why not just admit that the yearly meeting is irrelevant to younger Friends? Why not turn our meetinghouses into retirement homes?
PS: How I wish I weren’t so cynical about the yearly meeting. I don’t want to feel like it’s a state of all-out generational warfare. I’ve tried, really I have. I’m even willing to try again. But no where have I found a space to have these discussions, at yearly meeting or anywhere else. Other Phila. YM Friends concerned with these issues are welcome to email me – maybe we can figure out some forum for this either inside or outside of the official structures.
PPS: There are a lot of wonderful Friends involved with the yearly meeting. They have good ideas and sincerely try to make it a more welcoming place. The best part of the yearly meeting sessions I’ve attended have been the unexpected conversations. It’s the institution I am frustrated with: the sense that it’s bigger and dumber than all of us.
PPPS: What if I took my own words to heart and considered a PhYM renewal as part of the fifty-year plan? If I just stopped complaining and just attended patiently and faithfully year after year for those “teachable moments” that might inch it forward?