The Daily Bulletin from each day of Annual Session will appear here, as well as be emailed to each attendee. Please consider sharing something in the Bulletin by filling out the submission form at the bottom of the page.
========== TUESDAY, JULY 11th, 2023 ==========
CONTACT INFO
Ministry & Counsel
MariRuth Petzing (503) 423-7824 magpie_queen@yahoo.com
Linda Ellsworth (360) 610-1612 lindaellsworth51@gmail.com
Elinor Jordan (360) 350-3607 elinorejordan@yahoo.com
Nominating Committee
John Etter (541) 554-4515 johnetter4449@gmail.com
Epistle Committee
Angie Alexander (253) 905-6390 alexander.angelia0618@gmail.com
OPPORTUNITIES
The nominating committee has posted current position holders and nominees in the Woodcock foyer. There are quite a few open positions where you can pencil in your name as a candidate, or contact John Etter (clerk of nominating committee) about your interest in a position. Join the fun/adventure of supporting a beloved community.
TUESDAY NEEDS
If you are not in a rush to leave after lunch please consider:
- help to pack up the bookstore, or
- assist with general cleanup, so we leave no trace of NPYM at WOU.
FREE!
Check out the Free Books Table in the Heritage Hall Foyer. There might be a gem there that is just what the doctor ordered. But, if you don't take a look you might always be haunted, wondering what you missed.
EXIT SURVEY
Check your Inbox later this week for a link to this year's evaluation. Your responses will help the Annual Session Planning Committee learn what went well and what we can do better next year in Missoula (and online!).
CHECKOUT PROCESS
Checking Out from Annual Session. Please make sure to check your room carefully for all belongings and close all windows. Nametags, lanyards and registration envelopes can be returned to the labeled box near the NPYM Office so we can reuse them in future years. There are two options for returning your room key(s): 1) give them to an NPYM staff member if the NPYM office is open; or 2) return them to the Residential Services Center ("RSC") directly under the north side of Valsetz Dining Hall, near Landers Hall. Have a safe trip home!
========== MONDAY, JULY 10th, 2023 ==========
PLASTIC
Friends, distressed about the amount of plastic being trashed after meals? Take your flatware after meals and carry it in your bag or pocket. Reduce consumption, RE-USE forks & spoons, recycle when you get home! Mother Earth thanks you.
CARE COMMITTEE
If any concerns arise regarding the Care Committee 's process at Annual Session, please send email to Jonathan Betz-Zall at jbetzzall@gmail.com. He will transmit them to the appropriate committee for consideration.
EPISTLE COMMITTEE
The NPYM Epistle Committee writes the Epistle for the current year's Annual Session. It is also the committee's responsibility to bring other yearly meetings' epistles to NPYM Friends. Thus, you will find excerpts from Epistles in our Daily Bulletin. You will also find epistle excerpts posted on a bulletin board in the first floor lobby of Heritage Hall. Also, many epistles are posted on the window outside our plenary room in Woodcock.
DINNER WITH MIGUEL
Dinner with Miguel Costop Monday. Look for a round table near the entrance to the dining room. Friends Guatemala Scholarship Program and more.
IN CASE OF EMERGENCY
In case of a health or safety, missing person, need for a welfare check in a residence hall room, please call Western Oregon University Campus Public Safety at 503-838-9000. Then please notify the NPYM office at 360-771-9679 (Lyn Gordon) or 215-260-2019 (Dorothy Day).
COMMUNITY NIGHT
Community Night is Nigh! Monday evening from 7:45 until 9:00, we'll gather in the Plenary Room at the Woodcock Center (Room 101) for our traditional time of Quaker humor, pratfalls, insufferable puns, skits, poetry, stand-up, improv, whatever the creative minds of our gathered community -- including our Friends online -- can come up with. Please sign up on the bright yellow sheet on the bulletin board outside the NPYM office. Questions? Contact Lyn Gordon at 360-771-9679 or as_event_planner@npym.org .
SINGING WORDLIST
I will share the file for the singing wordlist with anyone who asks (typos and all!). Contact me at (fergler@comcast.net). Chris Cradler, BCFM
ALASKA NATIVES STORIES
The video of plenaries where Alaska Natives shared their stories at Sierra Cascades Yearly Meeting are anticipated to be ready for viewing on the SCYMF website (scymfriends.org) and newsletter in about a week.
CITY OF MONMOUTH LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT STATEMENT
Monmouth, Oregon is located within the traditional homeland of the Luckiamute Band of Kalapuya.
Following the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855, Kalapuya people were forcibly removed to the reservations in Western Oregon. Today, living descendants of these people are part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians.
FROM PACIFIC YEARLY MEETING EPISTLE OF 2022
Our theme, Beloved Community; What does it mean to belong to ourselves, to each other, to the earth? spoke to our yearning to be together again after pandemic isolation. Despite the fact that annual session coincided with record high Covid-19 numbers, a covid safety team worked diligently to make tough decisions juggling safety and inclusion. Participants cooperated to a remarkable degree with safety measures. As we celebrate Pacific Yearly Meeting’s 75th anniversary, jubilee themes of healing and renewal infused our expectant, waiting worship, plenary sessions, affinity groups, and interest groups. In an act of jubilee debt forgiveness, a financial surplus accumulated during the pandemic years allowed organizers to offer annual session free-of-charge for all children and pay-as-led for adults. Bible Study continued this theme by reading Isaiah 40, which includes the passage, “Oh Lord, revive us again.”
Epistles from the 76th Annual Session, 2022
Epístolas de la 76ª Sesión Anual, 2022
Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
Junta Annual del Pacífico de la Sociedad Religiosa de Amigos
EPISTLE FROM THE BELGIUM & LUXEMBURG YEARLY MEETING 2023
We have once again considered the tensions and conflicts in our meeting. We shifted our agenda to respond to the issues and held a worship sharing session. Both longstanding Friends and newcomers spoke about conflict and community building. The earlier attempts to find solutions have not borne fruit and have left us with pain and damaged relationshipEPs. Perhaps we must accept that being in community always implies a degree of tension and conflict. We have been reminded that it is best not to focus on the problem as we move forward, but rather to aim for the space of opportunity on either side. When skiing in the forest in wintertime, it’s better to focus on the spaces between the trees rather than the trees themselves. We have been given another image of what might be our goal: a tree that, as it has grown over the years, has partially enveloped the iron fencing on both its sides so that finally they form one body.
Epistle from the Belgium and Luxemburg Yearly Meeting 2023
annual gathering held at Chant d’Oiseau, Brussels, Belgium 09-11 June 2023
Searching for unity in turbulent times – from our testimonies to corporate Faith in Action
========== SUNDAY, JULY 9th, 2023 ==========
QUILTING PROJECT
The quilting project making "quiet Quaker quilts" will be up and running on the Woodcock patio during dinners Sunday and Monday, also from 11:00-noon on Monday. (Contrary to the notes on the printed schedule, the project will be with the Children's Program during worship group times.)
There are many ways to help with the project, and absolutely no experience or special skill is required. If you can draw a doodle, write a couple of words, or tie a square knot, you can contribute to the quilts. If your meeting or worship group would like to have a "quiet Quaker quilt" of its own, please sign up and give your contact info at the project table. I hope to see you on the Woodcock patio! If you have questions, text Debbie Townsend at 206-502-5453.
FREE BOOK TABLE
A free book table is located in the Heritage first floor lobby. If you feel led to make a donation, it will go to NPYM.
QIGONG IN WOODCOCK
Interest Group IG-02V, Qigong, led remotely by Marian Dixon, will meet in Woodcock 206 so it can be viewed on a larger screen.New Paragraph
FROM LAKE ERIE YEARLY MEETING EPISTLE
The drop off in the number of small children among us, as well as the increased age of many stalwart and beloved Friends, prompted us to consider our future. “Where is spirit leading us?” we asked together. “Where are we being called?” Though we do not yet have the answer, we faithfully await clarity and new direction. We find that, despite the diminishment of age that affects many of us, our faith and fellowship remain powerful.
Lake Erie Yearly Meeting of Friends Together in Ashland, Ohio, June 15-18, 2023
FROM IRELAND YEARLY MEETING EPISTLE
Too often today, Friends present themselves as a respectable and peaceful people who pose no threat. Modern Quakers may lack some of the prophetic zeal of those Early Friends, but we heard about Quakers who continue to push for change and to address uncomfortable issues.
. . . .
One Quaker representative on inter-church and inter-faith bodies advised us that in order to foster community across difference we need to do three things - Be there, Be generous and Be critical.
Ireland Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
Quaker House, Dublin, Ireland
NO PERMIT REQUIRED
Except for loading and unloading, please park in Parking Lot J. No parking permit is required to park there, contrary to instructions in the Annual Session booklet.
MORE FREE STUFF
Free stuff leftover from the Friends General Conference Gathering is available for perusal in the Heritage Hall lobby. Help reduce the pile by recycling and reusing!
NOTE FROM MARY HANSEN
I wanted to say a little more about the interest group, " Reclaiming The Dance of Attachment." The issue of early brain development is core to the survival of our species and life on the planet. I want to emphasize that I am quite passionate about the role of Attachment in the fundament survival of our species and its role in promote and preserving the life of our planet. Put starkly the ability to love comes from those first experiences, interactions with our primary caregivers. People ask, "Where do people like that come from?!" referring to mass killers, or other perpetrators
horrendous acts. And where do cold unfeeling dictators come from? More important right now what is the condition that drives their followers. Resilience is awesome and something Friends can share through deeper understanding with love.
VALSETZ ?
The Valsetz Dining Hall here at WOU was built in 1970 and rededicated in 1991 in tribute to the former community of Valsetz, Oregon, east of Monmouth. Between 1926 and 1931, WOU, then known as the Oregon Normal School, sent 16 to 20 student teachers for six-week sessions in the Valsetz elementary school.
The William W. Mitchell Company started the town of Valsetz in 1919 and named it as a portmanteau of Valley and Siletz Railroad, whose terminus was at that location. Company town researcher Linda Carlson says the town was founded by the Cobb & Mitchell company of Cadillac, Michigan.
In 1947, Cobbs & Mitchell sold the town to its sales agent, Herbert Templeton. He operated it as the Valsetz Lumber Company until 1959, when its sawmill and timber stands were sold to the Boise Cascade Corporation.
After the depletion of the old growth timber in the area in the 1970s, the railroad was torn up. In 1983, Boise Cascade announced that all operations at Valsetz would end early the next year. At that time, the town's population was about 300. In 1984, the town and most of its structures were removed, as everything in the community, property and streets included, was owned by the corporation. The post office closed the same year. The site became part of the Valsetz Tree Farm.
The place was nationally known for its record rainfalls and for its newspaper, the Valsetz Star, which was started in the 1930s by 9-year-old Dorothy Anne Hobson. At one time the population of Valsetz was over one thousand, and served by its own elementary and high school, which fielded championship basketball teams.
Near the site of the former community is the "Valley of the Giants", 51 acres (210,000 m2) of BLM-protected old growth douglas fir and western hemlock forest on the North Fork of the Siletz river. The valley was set aside for protection in 1976.
Former residents of Valsetz gather for an annual reunion in Falls City, which is the site of a Valsetz memorial.
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