Peterson Toscano
@petersontoscano.bsky.social
A Quirky Queer Quaker. Hosting Citizens Climate Radio, Quakers Today, Bubble&Squeak. Producer of The Seed & Climate Changed podcasts. Ask me about gender non-conforming Bible characters. www.petersontoscano.com
Reposted by Peterson Toscano
Why, yes, we publish on holidays, and have something very cool to share with you today. R.S. Nelson is back, with her essay on living in fear, fighting for change and America as an abused spouse, “My Mother’s America,” at unlikelystories.org/content/my-m... #Thanksgiving #America #smallpress #litmag
My Mother's America
When my mother first came to America, I was twelve. She was part of the over 260,000 Ecuadorians who left the country during the nineties to escape the political and economic crises and fled to the Un...
unlikelystories.org
November 27, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Why, yes, we publish on holidays, and have something very cool to share with you today. R.S. Nelson is back, with her essay on living in fear, fighting for change and America as an abused spouse, “My Mother’s America,” at unlikelystories.org/content/my-m... #Thanksgiving #America #smallpress #litmag
Reposted by Peterson Toscano
Throughout history, people have tried to frighten the masses into believing the world will end, plunging us all into eternal torment. In Christian circles, this is often associated with "the Rapture."
Quakers (usually) don't get caught up in these panics—why not?
quaker.org/2025/11/24/y...
Quakers (usually) don't get caught up in these panics—why not?
quaker.org/2025/11/24/y...
November 26, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Throughout history, people have tried to frighten the masses into believing the world will end, plunging us all into eternal torment. In Christian circles, this is often associated with "the Rapture."
Quakers (usually) don't get caught up in these panics—why not?
quaker.org/2025/11/24/y...
Quakers (usually) don't get caught up in these panics—why not?
quaker.org/2025/11/24/y...
"M and L are products of the Age of Anxiety, and commensurately insufferable because of it. They are the type of liberals that conservatives love to mock, because their contradictions outweigh their certainties by a factor of hilariousness. But as annoying as they may be, they are relatable."
Since its debut in 2011, Lungs has lost none of its climate-themed urgency, and yet it is not a play about climate change. It’s a work that stares straight into the eye of the eternal question: How and who are we meant to be? There never has been, and may never be, an easy answer.
‘Lungs’ — spotlight falls on 21st-century liberal dilemmas in this masterful production | Daily Maverick
www.dailymaverick.co.za
November 26, 2025 at 11:01 PM
"M and L are products of the Age of Anxiety, and commensurately insufferable because of it. They are the type of liberals that conservatives love to mock, because their contradictions outweigh their certainties by a factor of hilariousness. But as annoying as they may be, they are relatable."
The conference marked an unprecedented moment in the history of international organisations — the US, as a nation central to an organisation’s creation, had declined to participate in its deliberations.
Imagine how the recent G20 meeting, now generally deemed a success that was largely attributable to Cyril Ramaphosa’s skills as a savvy negotiator, would have proceeded if Donald Trump, JD Vance, or Marco Rubio had been in attendance.
Sorry we missed you, President Trump, but maybe it was for the best | Daily Maverick
www.dailymaverick.co.za
November 26, 2025 at 12:40 PM
The conference marked an unprecedented moment in the history of international organisations — the US, as a nation central to an organisation’s creation, had declined to participate in its deliberations.
After a wrongful detention, 33 days behind bars, a judge’s fateful intervention and a community-wide campaign to secure his release, Ruperto was free.
“This is just an indication that Americans don’t want a democracy where rights are being ignored and people can ‘be disappeared,’” AFSC's Kerri Kennedy on the recent detention of Ruperto Vicens-Marquez in Newark, NJ. via @huffpost.com
A Community Refused To Back Down After ICE Wrongfully Detained A Beloved Neighbor — And Won A Major Victory
“Trump's dark America is not going to penetrate Atlantic Highlands,” Mayor Lori Hohenleitner said.
www.huffpost.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:52 PM
After a wrongful detention, 33 days behind bars, a judge’s fateful intervention and a community-wide campaign to secure his release, Ruperto was free.
He was shot in the head and body with pepper balls as he was praying outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Broadview, Illinois, in September, according to a video captured that day.
Near the end of David Black’s time on the stand in a federal courtroom in Chicago this month, the judge asked the Presbyterian Church (USA) minister how his faith was holding up.
For David Black, protesting ICE is part of an old Christian tradition | Anabaptist World
Near the end of David Black’s time on the stand in a federal courtroom in Chicago this month, the judge asked the Presbyterian Church (USA) minister how his faith was holding up. Black was there to te...
anabaptistworld.org
November 25, 2025 at 6:36 PM
He was shot in the head and body with pepper balls as he was praying outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Broadview, Illinois, in September, according to a video captured that day.
Reposted by Peterson Toscano
Lili Wood
Pres de La Chapelle, 2022
Gouache on paper
20 x 26 cm
Pres de La Chapelle, 2022
Gouache on paper
20 x 26 cm
November 25, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Lili Wood
Pres de La Chapelle, 2022
Gouache on paper
20 x 26 cm
Pres de La Chapelle, 2022
Gouache on paper
20 x 26 cm
Have you sat in silent worship and had your mind spin out of control? I can totally relate. Centering is not always peaceful; sticking with it has enriched me. Listen to Quakers Today podcast as we demystify the internal experience of "waiting worship."
www.quakerstoday.org
@friendsjournal.org
www.quakerstoday.org
@friendsjournal.org
November 25, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Have you sat in silent worship and had your mind spin out of control? I can totally relate. Centering is not always peaceful; sticking with it has enriched me. Listen to Quakers Today podcast as we demystify the internal experience of "waiting worship."
www.quakerstoday.org
@friendsjournal.org
www.quakerstoday.org
@friendsjournal.org
What do you believe now that you didn't believe before encountering Quakerism?
(our latest Quakers Today monthly question!)
Share a comment or leave a voicemail: 317-QUAKERS (317-782-5377)
www.quakerstoday.org
(our latest Quakers Today monthly question!)
Share a comment or leave a voicemail: 317-QUAKERS (317-782-5377)
www.quakerstoday.org
a cartoon drawing of a phone with a cassette tape on it that says b voicemail
ALT: a cartoon drawing of a phone with a cassette tape on it that says b voicemail
media.tenor.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:16 PM
What do you believe now that you didn't believe before encountering Quakerism?
(our latest Quakers Today monthly question!)
Share a comment or leave a voicemail: 317-QUAKERS (317-782-5377)
www.quakerstoday.org
(our latest Quakers Today monthly question!)
Share a comment or leave a voicemail: 317-QUAKERS (317-782-5377)
www.quakerstoday.org
Surendra Tamang was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease while doing construction in Qatar. He spent 6 years toiling in temps as high as 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Today, he spends 12 hours a week in the clinic for his dialysis treatment. “I would like to work,” he said, “but it’s not possible.”
November 25, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Surendra Tamang was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease while doing construction in Qatar. He spent 6 years toiling in temps as high as 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Today, he spends 12 hours a week in the clinic for his dialysis treatment. “I would like to work,” he said, “but it’s not possible.”
Reposted by Peterson Toscano
Longtime Unlikely contributor John Grey is back, with two poems on speckled ducks, falling angels, and Laos in 1986 at unlikelystories.org/content/ange... #poetry #litmag #smallpress
"Angel Death" and "Laos, 1986"
Angel Death Power applauds when angels fall –slow and polite,like a king on its throne,as the wings, once white,are now just muddy roadkill feathersclinging to bones that barely rememberwhat it meant ...
unlikelystories.org
November 25, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Longtime Unlikely contributor John Grey is back, with two poems on speckled ducks, falling angels, and Laos in 1986 at unlikelystories.org/content/ange... #poetry #litmag #smallpress
Writing is essential to helping me think clearly.
Hear the entire conversation youtu.be/qpUE0lK033g?...
youtube.com/shorts/vURHc...
@friendsjournal.org
Hear the entire conversation youtu.be/qpUE0lK033g?...
youtube.com/shorts/vURHc...
@friendsjournal.org
Writing as Contemplation
YouTube video by Friends Journal Quakers
youtube.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Writing is essential to helping me think clearly.
Hear the entire conversation youtu.be/qpUE0lK033g?...
youtube.com/shorts/vURHc...
@friendsjournal.org
Hear the entire conversation youtu.be/qpUE0lK033g?...
youtube.com/shorts/vURHc...
@friendsjournal.org
We cover a lot of ground on this episode and help demystify the Quaker worship experience
Whether you’re a long-time Friend or someone who has never stepped into a mostly silent meeting, the latest Quakers Today podcast is pulling back the curtain to explore what happens in our hearts, minds, and bodies when we sit together in worship.
Quaker Podcast - Podcast Exploring Quaker Life & Religious Beliefs
Quakers Today, hosted by Peterson Toscano, features writers, musicians, and thinkers who are seeking wisdom and understanding in a rapidly changing world.
www.friendsjournal.org
November 25, 2025 at 5:50 PM
We cover a lot of ground on this episode and help demystify the Quaker worship experience
"Thank you, Butterball Turkey,
for the word, butterball, which I repeat all day butterball,
butterball, butterball because it helps me swallow the bones
of genocide. Thank you, dark meat, for being so juicy
(no offense, dry and fragile white meat, you matter too). "
youtu.be/UNu4KTmKKts?...
for the word, butterball, which I repeat all day butterball,
butterball, butterball because it helps me swallow the bones
of genocide. Thank you, dark meat, for being so juicy
(no offense, dry and fragile white meat, you matter too). "
youtu.be/UNu4KTmKKts?...
November 24, 2025 at 10:02 PM
"Thank you, Butterball Turkey,
for the word, butterball, which I repeat all day butterball,
butterball, butterball because it helps me swallow the bones
of genocide. Thank you, dark meat, for being so juicy
(no offense, dry and fragile white meat, you matter too). "
youtu.be/UNu4KTmKKts?...
for the word, butterball, which I repeat all day butterball,
butterball, butterball because it helps me swallow the bones
of genocide. Thank you, dark meat, for being so juicy
(no offense, dry and fragile white meat, you matter too). "
youtu.be/UNu4KTmKKts?...
Thanksgiving in the Plantationocene by Craig Santos Perez
A Reading by the Author
youtu.be/UNu4KTmKKts?...
A Reading by the Author
youtu.be/UNu4KTmKKts?...
November 24, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Thanksgiving in the Plantationocene by Craig Santos Perez
A Reading by the Author
youtu.be/UNu4KTmKKts?...
A Reading by the Author
youtu.be/UNu4KTmKKts?...
How do you say the hard things with love? What can elders bring to our lives, and how do we recover from a childhood without them? This conversation is rich, honest, and full of wisdom.
open.spotify.com/episode/6tnw...
open.spotify.com/episode/6tnw...
November 24, 2025 at 5:16 PM
How do you say the hard things with love? What can elders bring to our lives, and how do we recover from a childhood without them? This conversation is rich, honest, and full of wisdom.
open.spotify.com/episode/6tnw...
open.spotify.com/episode/6tnw...
"For as long as she can remember, Ruth has felt like ‘an imposter among human beings’. Part of her longs to make herself smaller, humbler, more obedient; another part rolls her eyes at the hypocrisies of religious life."
‘Kate Riley is concerned less with religious feeling than with scripture’s social afterlife: the way a community attempts to enact its values, and the question of whether belonging to such an insular world represents a life well lived.’
Josie Mitchell on Riley’s debut.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Josie Mitchell on Riley’s debut.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Josie Mitchell · Abridged Cow Skeleton: Kate Riley’s ‘Ruth’
In Ruth, Kate Riley layers two views of the church: on the one hand, a hidden but unquestionable authority, ‘like some...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 2:35 PM
"For as long as she can remember, Ruth has felt like ‘an imposter among human beings’. Part of her longs to make herself smaller, humbler, more obedient; another part rolls her eyes at the hypocrisies of religious life."
8 Quaker Orgs release Statement Saying Genocide Is Occurring in Gaza
They call for a permanent ceasefire & for Palestinians to have full access to humanitarian aid. They advocate for a complete weapons embargo & freezing the assets of settler militias.
www.friendsjournal.org/eight-quaker...
They call for a permanent ceasefire & for Palestinians to have full access to humanitarian aid. They advocate for a complete weapons embargo & freezing the assets of settler militias.
www.friendsjournal.org/eight-quaker...
Eight Quaker Organizations Draft and Sign Statement Saying Genocide Is Occurring in Gaza
The statement calls for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
www.friendsjournal.org
November 24, 2025 at 2:33 PM
8 Quaker Orgs release Statement Saying Genocide Is Occurring in Gaza
They call for a permanent ceasefire & for Palestinians to have full access to humanitarian aid. They advocate for a complete weapons embargo & freezing the assets of settler militias.
www.friendsjournal.org/eight-quaker...
They call for a permanent ceasefire & for Palestinians to have full access to humanitarian aid. They advocate for a complete weapons embargo & freezing the assets of settler militias.
www.friendsjournal.org/eight-quaker...
"If forest fires were coming, the team at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (lacma) would probably go straight for their version of Monet’s “Water Lilies”, or works by Cézanne and Picasso."
Billions of dollars’ worth of art is imperilled by climate change. Curators will have to make sacrifices
The grab list: how museums decide what to save in a disaster
Billions of dollars’ worth of art is imperilled by climate change. Curators will have to make sacrifices
econ.st
November 21, 2025 at 11:03 AM
"If forest fires were coming, the team at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (lacma) would probably go straight for their version of Monet’s “Water Lilies”, or works by Cézanne and Picasso."
"Using a working definition of love that tells us it is the action we take on behalf of our own or another's spiritual growth provides us with a beginning blueprint for working on the issue of self-love."
--bell hooks
--bell hooks
November 21, 2025 at 11:00 AM
"Using a working definition of love that tells us it is the action we take on behalf of our own or another's spiritual growth provides us with a beginning blueprint for working on the issue of self-love."
--bell hooks
--bell hooks
Reposted by Peterson Toscano
"There's no such thing as a born writer. It's a skill you've got to learn, just like learning how to be a bricklayer or a carpenter." ~ Larry Brown
November 20, 2025 at 11:30 AM
"There's no such thing as a born writer. It's a skill you've got to learn, just like learning how to be a bricklayer or a carpenter." ~ Larry Brown
HUGE congratulations to Rabih Alameddine for his well-deserved win of this year's National Book Award for fiction!! 😍
He thanked his psychiatrist, drug dealers, and "all gastrointestinal doctors."
"...I wouldn't have been able to write a single word in the last 10 years without their help..."
He thanked his psychiatrist, drug dealers, and "all gastrointestinal doctors."
"...I wouldn't have been able to write a single word in the last 10 years without their help..."
Rabih Alameddine wins National Book Award for fiction with darkly comic epic spanning six decades
Rabih Alameddine wins National Book Award for fiction with darkly comic epic spanning six decades
True to his irreverent style, Alameddine thanked his psychiatrist, his gastrointestinal doctors, and his drug dealers
Rabih Alameddine has won the National Book award for fiction for The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother), a darkly comic saga spanning six decades in the life of a Lebanese family.
The novel, which traverses a sprawling history of Lebanon including its civil war and recent economic collapse, is told through the eyes of its titular protagonist: a gay 63-year-old philosophy teacher confronting his past and his relationship with his mother and his homeland. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:27 PM
HUGE congratulations to Rabih Alameddine for his well-deserved win of this year's National Book Award for fiction!! 😍
He thanked his psychiatrist, drug dealers, and "all gastrointestinal doctors."
"...I wouldn't have been able to write a single word in the last 10 years without their help..."
He thanked his psychiatrist, drug dealers, and "all gastrointestinal doctors."
"...I wouldn't have been able to write a single word in the last 10 years without their help..."
"Blessed with godlike intelligence, he brings destruction upon his world. He and his men cause climate change (through a bag full of winds); harm native species (like the Cyclops); and rashly adopt bleeding-edge technology like the Trojan horse (which causes a lot of bleeding)."
#bitofastretch 😜
#bitofastretch 😜
“The Odyssey” offers lessons for those navigating the ups and downs of 2026. As in the modern age, his greatest problems stem from his own cleverness
Homer’s “Odyssey” offers lessons for navigating 2026
Christopher Nolan’s version of Homer’s “The Odyssey” opens in July. The story offers advice to those navigating the ups and downs of 2026
econ.st
November 19, 2025 at 2:54 PM
"Blessed with godlike intelligence, he brings destruction upon his world. He and his men cause climate change (through a bag full of winds); harm native species (like the Cyclops); and rashly adopt bleeding-edge technology like the Trojan horse (which causes a lot of bleeding)."
#bitofastretch 😜
#bitofastretch 😜
Gumby as a Quaker icon? Hear us out.
Curiosity + kindness + imaginative compassion = a surprisingly perfect combo.
Catch this short clip from “Quakers and the Mystery of Worship.”
www.friendsjournal.org/podcast/quak... @friendsjournal.org
November 19, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Gumby as a Quaker icon? Hear us out.
Curiosity + kindness + imaginative compassion = a surprisingly perfect combo.
Catch this short clip from “Quakers and the Mystery of Worship.”
www.friendsjournal.org/podcast/quak... @friendsjournal.org