7/23/02

After worshipful silence, clerks Darcy Stanley and Stephen Myers opened by welcoming all Friends present to the first Young Friends Meeting for Worship on the Occasion of Business of PYM 2002. Young Friends' (YF) Meetings have been scheduled in the same time slots as the greater Meeting's Plenary Sessions. Today, however, we intended to have a short meeting in order to attend part of Plenary II, which will address the topic, “On Being Led to Witness.” Carl Magruder has posed the question, “What kind of voice do we (Friends) want to have?”

PYM Peace and Social Order Committee is organizing a vigil at the US-Mexico border to be held on Friday from 1-2 p.m. Friends interested in attending and/or making signs should contact Sarah Rose House.

Tonight we are sponsoring a trip to Ocean Beach. We have invited JYM, but they will organize their own transportation and have their own supervisors. Marcella Leath is coordinating our transportation; rides will be shared in YF personal cars. Anne Bleile-Kratzer will buy and bring firewood and snacks, and will be reimbursed afterwards. We will meet to leave at 7:15 p.m. at the YF meeting room.

Paul Boling has arranged for us to participate in a service project on Thursday morning. Jim Summers (La Jolla) put us in contact with AFSC, which suggested that we clean up Chicano Park in a Mexican-American neighborhood of San Diego.

2002-3 We approved the Nominating Committee: Seth Newlin, Stephen Myers (convener), Arthur Carpenter.

We heard that a Friend had complained to some Young Friends at breakfast about excessive noise in the dorms late at night. We were reminded to be respectful of quiet time.

One Friend expressed concern about how the noise complaint was handled, specifically that it was brought to a group of us at breakfast rather than to the offending people. Another Friend reminded us that M&O is responsible for handling difficulties in our community. After passionate expression by many Friends, we agreed on the following response to the question, “How do we address Friends' concerns?”

2002-4 If it is a group concern, Friends are encouraged to bring it to M&O. If it is an individual concern, Friends are encouraged to express it directly to that person. M&O is charged with supporting this process, especially if one feels uncomfortable. We also note that we should make our M&O more visible at PYM so that Friends know whom to contact.

Paul Boling reported on tomorrow's service project, clean-up of Chicano Park. Friends are encouraged to participate in this opportunity for tangible witness, especially after the moving personal stories we heard in yesterday's Plenary. We will meet outside the YF room at 9:15 a.m. to leave by 9:30 and will return in time for Meeting for Memorials. Paul has arranged for us to take bag lunches. We will use the same transportation groups as we did for the beach trip; Eric Amen will meet with Marcella Leath to confirm transportation plans. Since we need to bring garbage bags for trash clean up, Adrienne Pasta has agreed to ask USD staff for bags; otherwise we will buy some on the way.

Lisa Vura-Weis is organizing a YF vs. JYM game of Capture the Flag on the intramural field for tonight after All Ages Fun.

A Friend brought a concern to us, asking “How can we nurture our Young Friends community outside of the PYM gathering?”

When Clerk Darcy Stanley asked if we were willing to continue our meeting past the scheduled closing time to address this concern in a more discussion-like manner, we agreed.

Friends expressed appreciation for the YF activities we already do have, including the Fall Spirit and Light Gathering, New Year's Gathering, regional potlucks, Quarterly Meetings, and our listserve ([email protected]). However, some of these are not officially sponsored by Young Friends of PYM, and therefore depend on the whim of Friends moved to organize events themselves. The Spirit and Light Gathering, specifically, fell through last year due to lack of organization and sufficient participation in planning.

Friends expressed desire for more contact with and support from Friends throughout the year, and a more organized system of Ministry and Eldering—of witness and support. Some suggestions included service projects, lobbying, and contact with Young Friends in other Yearly Meetings.

To explore this topic further, we are considering having an interest group/threshing session. Some Friends suggested that we host one this afternoon. Another Friend reminded us that if this is truly a leading of the Spirit, then the urgency will not subside by Friday.

2002-5 We asked Nominating Committee to appoint “Spirit and Light” coordinators to plan a Fall gathering. [Note: modified by 2002-8.]

Kate Carpenter from PYM Nominating Committee visited our Business Meeting to inform us about how Young Friends can become involved with PYM committees. Because of the separate YF and PYM schedules, and because a number of Young Friends do not regularly attend Monthly Meetings, many of us and our skills are unknown to the Committee. Therefore, Kate encouraged us to contact the Committee if we are interested in serving. She also reminded us to provide a list of YF committees for the PYM Nominating Committee report by Saturday.

Kate also asked if non-Young Friends are welcome at YF events. We answered with an emphatic, “Yes!” She suggested we make our activities more known to others.

Ministry and Oversight 2003: Anne Bleile-Kratzer (Clerk), Melina Larkin, Josh Vura-Weis, _________, _________

2002-6 We approved the Epistle Committee as read, and asked for a first draft by tonight's meeting.

We will have a Business Meeting tonight after the Talent Show but before YF Worship to hear the Epistle and the completed Nominating Committee slate. Darcy Stanley will arrange a meeting space.

We reviewed the remainder of the schedule. We must clean-up/check out by 9 a.m. Saturday. Friends joining the Border Vigil are to meet at 12:45 p.m. today in the parking lot behind the cafeteria. The vigil will probably take 3 œ hours and therefore participants will miss Worship Sharing.

2002-7 We approved holding an interest group/threshing session today during PYM interest group time to continue our discussion from yesterday about extending our Young Friends community beyond the PYM gathering and supporting Young Friends' leadings.

To invite other Friends to this unscheduled session, we drafted the following statement and delivered it to be read at Plenary:

“The Young Friends were led by the Spirit to hold an interest group this afternoon to explore the ways they can maintain their community throughout the year. Gatherings on the occasions of service and political activism support their leadings and will be discussed. The interest group will be held in Maher 176 (Young Friends meeting room) and Friends of all ages are encouraged to attend.”

Darcy Stanley will speak to the PYM Treasurer, Sherri Sisson, about reimbursement for beach expenses.

Stephen Myers will give a copy of YF contact info to the PYM Registrar today. (Later he asked us to just check the attendance list ourselves.)

We heard the second, revised reading of our Nominating Committee slate, which we will continue to season until tomorrow:

Ministry and Oversight 2003: Anne Bleile-Kratzer (Clerk), Melina Larkin, Josh Vura-Weis, Tesla Dubois, Adrienne Pasta

The Nominating Committee asked for our guidance about the ambiguous Spirit and Light Coordinators positions.

2002-8 Because of the threshing done in the interest group this afternoon, we realized that there is more work to be done than is appropriate for just one or two coordinators, as was minuted in 2002-5. We will instead form an ad hoc committee to address the many ideas raised and to plan a Fall gathering. We are reminded that we are all responsible for sustaining our community, whether committee members or not. Friends nominated themselves for the Ad Hoc Spirit and Light Committee and were approved: Martin Otero (Clerk), Alyssa Nelson, Paul Boling, Sarah Rose House, Arthur Carpenter, Melina Larkin, Darcy Stanley, Sarah Orr, Oneda Rae House, Aimee Sunshine-Hill, Thatcher Biddle, Kate Newlin.

We closed at 10:50 p.m. with brief worship and adjourned to hold our traditional Friday night Young Friends Worship, for which we discovered a serene outdoor pavilion by the gym.

We heard a second reading of the Epistle. We thanked the committee for their hard work, but because of events that occurred late last night, we found it necessary to add a section about our involvement with JYM and certain difficulties in their community.

“…we crave to play a more active role in the nurturing of JYM. We are concerned about the apparent lack of recognition of the completeness of the Light that shines in all Friends, young and old. We feel privileged to have observed the ability of the members of JYM to follow Friends' process in response to difficulties in their community.”

While many Friends spoke passionately about the situation and some suggested corporate action, we decided to leave it to be handled by JYM and PYM. We were reminded that because we have not made any corporate decisions regarding last nights' events or about our future involvement with JYM, Friends must only speak about this issue from personal opinion and experience, not in a way that attempts to represent Young Friends.

We closed this final meeting with worship and thanks for the guidance of the Spirit this week. We adjourned to join Plenary, where Aimee-Sunshine Hill read our Epistle to the Yearly Meeting.