On being a Birthright Friend.

I got an interesting comment on my last post. Well actually I got several interesting comments, but the one that tickled the old grey cells most was this one;

interested to hear more about what’s different about
your views as a ‘birthright’ Friend, I didn’t realise that such a concept existed
anymore! {)}

Well you’re right of course! The concept is utterly irrelevant these days, and this is a Good Thing.

From quaker.org.uk (For those of you who think I’m making up words
here);

In the past children of Quaker parents automatically became
members of the Society and were known as “birthright Friends” but
nowadays this form of membership no longer exists.

The form of membership doesn’t exist but the phrase still remains. It’s not a ‘fossil’ because the original meaning and new meaning are still within common memory and usage respectively, but it’s verging on it. These days it’s only used as shorthand for ‘person who happened to be born into a Quaker family/meeting’ which is, I hope you’ll agree, arduous and clanky.

Not A Cult no. 30729.

I’m still working on a much longer post, but in the meantime this disproportionately amused me today! I downloaded Woodbrooke’s podcast series and imported them into Itunes, which ascribed its own genres to them as usual. One’s been left blank, one described as AvantGuarde, one easy listening, then we have blues, oldies and soul, but the second one is apparently ‘Cult’.

Bring on the goat!

Can anyone recommend any other good Quaker podcasts? Itunes bias optional but always good for a giggle!

“What canst thou say?” – A new blog.

The first post on a new blog is always tricky to write. How to convey a sense of purpose, set the tone of the blog, imply depth of feeling, intelligence or wittiness? In fact I’ve just spent a good hour staring at the screen failing dismally to write a thing.
So I give in. I’ll just tell you a bit about me and why I’m writing in this blog.

I’m April, otherwise known as Purpleduck. I’m in my mid (ish) twenties and I live in Scotland with my husband, Mr. Purpleduck, whose rather groovy blog is linked in the sidebar. I’m a librarian with a particular interest in Children’s librarianship and I read a great deal, not surprisingly! I’m also a Quaker, which admission is usually met with a joke about oats, surprise that we’re not all dead, confusion about whether this means I belong to a cult, or mixing quakers up with the Amish, JWs, Plymouth Brethren, Mormons, or the Shakers.

So why a new blog of shininess? I’m not sure! It seemed like the right thing to do! I wanted somewhere to write my quakerly ramblings in a more public place than I had been, and this seemed a good place to do it! Whether it IS a good idea or not remains to be seen of course!

I am a birthright Friend, which while it means little enough these days has left me with a slightly different view than Friends who were convinced later on. Of course no two of us have the same views, beliefs or spirituality anyway, but I think I just like the idea of publishing my thoughts as I travel my own spiritual path. Recording one small voice of a particular aspect of British quakerism in the twenty first century.

It should be fun. You’re very welcome to join me.