Peterson Toscano's A Musing

I f you like podcasts, you are in luck. Quaker podcasts and video channels have grown over the past few years. Here are links to some of them. Quakers Today podcast, a monthly short podcast that reveals what today's Quakers are thinking, feeling, and doing. It is a project of Friends Journal The show includes listeners' responses to monthly questions. Thee Quaker , A Weekly Quaker Podcast for Seekers, Quakers, and Everyone in Between The Seed Conversations for Radical Hope is a bi-monthly podcast out of Pendle Hill retreat center. This seasons theme is about Love and Power. Quake it Up is a YouTube channel out of England. Ollie explores contemporary and historical Quaker themes and regularly has guests who are Quaker scholars, public figures, and thought leaders. QuakerSpeak Videos a bi-weekly Quaker video project by Friends Journal.

Many of the ugly pages of American History have been obscured and forgotten. The society is always eager to cover misdeeds with a cloak of forgetfulness, but no society can fully repress an ugly past when the ravages persist into the present. America owes a debt of justice, which it has only begun to pay. If it loses the will to finish or slackens in its determination, history will recall its crimes in the country that would be great, will lack the most indispensable element of greatness--Justice. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community The Season of Pendle Hill's podcast, The Seed Conversations for Radical Hope, is taking a deep dive into this book and the theme of love and justice.

 In my journey from the Evangelical world to the Quaker tradition, I’ve often found myself reflecting on the bridges—and the gaps—between these two ways of seeking God. Recently, I had the chance to sit down with Jasson Arevalo, an Evangelical Quaker from El Salvador, to dive into exactly that. Bridging Two Worlds As someone who grew up Evangelical and is now a Friend in the U.S., I’m used to a specific "flavor" of Quakerism that often leans toward silence and liberal theology. However, Jasson’s perspective reminds me that our tradition is a global tapestry. We explored the distinct ways Evangelical Quakers in Central America approach the Bible and the sacraments, often holding onto a fervor that feels both familiar and refreshingly different from the more programmed or unprogrammed meetings here in the States. My Personal Reflections The Power of Narrative: It was fascinating to see how the same Quaker roots can grow into such different expressions depending on the culture....

Every once in a while, the universe gives you a tug. Not a gentle tap on the shoulder—a full-on gravitational yank that pulls you out of whatever orbit you thought you were in. That’s what happened with the newest episode of Bubble & Squeak . I started out thinking I was doing a simple story about menstrual cups. You know, the kind of lighthearted “Peterson learns about a very normal thing embarrassingly late in life” tale. But once you follow a thread like that, it drags you into bigger questions: Who gets access to the products they need? How many girls are missing school because they can’t afford pads? Why is period poverty still a global crisis in 2025? So I followed the thread. It pulled me through Connecticut food pantries, a refugee camp in Kakuma, and across conversations with women who are out there doing the real work: Christine Garde Denning , Mary Maker , Fran Stoffer , and my cousin Mona—each in her own way shaping the world for women and girls in need. A...

What happens when we live in a state of fear? How do the media and political leaders exploit our reactions to fear to manipulate us, influence our decisions, and affect the way we act towards others?  According to research out of UCLA , fear and anxiety quickly alter our bodies, stirring up a host of reactions, including jittery and shaking feelings. Fear floods the body with adrenaline and sugar for energy, speeding the heart and narrowing the mind.  The fearful person plunges into the emergency state of fight, flight, or freeze. This animal instinct gives us the burst of energy we need.  In that state, we can’t think clearly—just react to protect ourselves and our loved ones. That same chemistry plays out in our politics today. I live in the USA, a land where fear dominates our lives. I hear both my conservative and liberal friends speaking the language of fear with all the suspicious, dehumanizing power fear brings with it. I listen to friends talk of their terror of I...

Last night I performed Transfigurations-Transgressing Gender in the Bible at Imago Dei Metropolitan Community Church in Glen Mills, PA (about 15 miles outside of Philly). I had a diverse audience of about 45 people -- college students, Quakers, straight, bi, trans and lesbian, young and old. I took my time with the piece maintaining a gentle meditative pace. For the ending when I reveal the identity of the narrator, I had instructed the light tech to dim the lights. Then as the closing music swelled, I asked her to raise the lights to their brigthest intensity. With the music playing, I exited. Always (up until last night) at this point the audience applauds, I wait 5 seconds then come out to take a bow. Last night I exited and then nothing. No one clapped. They sat quietly as the music played. I stood back stage puzzled, baffled. Now what do I do? Wait? Go out anyway? And I wondered for a moment, Did they hate it? Did I confuse them? Offend them? Bore them into a coma? After what ...