Volunteers and Staff
Administration
Gabriel Ehri
Executive Director
Contact Gabriel Ehri at ED@friendsjournal.org
Marianne De Lange
Administrative Coordinator
Contact Marianne De Lange at info@friendsjournal.org
Editorial
Martin Kelley
Editor
Martin Kelley returned to Friends Journal in 2011 to serve as its editor. In collaboration with the executive director, he has responsibility for planning, editing, and producing the magazine. Martin started off in print publishing in the early 1990s and is re-adapting to a print world where bluelines are no longer blue and light tables are just another horizontal surface to stack printouts. He has been an online publisher since 1995, most recently with the Convergent Friends site QuakerQuaker.org. He has collaborated on projects with many Friends organizations over the years and served on the staffs of Friends General Conference and Friends Journal.
Martin gives workshops on "Quakerism 101" and Quaker renewal, and frequently sits on panels focusing on Friends' use of technology. He lives in Hammonton, N.J., with his wife and three sons.
Contact Martin Kelley at martink@friendsjournal.org
Becca Howe
Associate Editor
Becca Howe is associate editor. She participates in the production of the magazine by choosing the back page feature material in coordination with the other editors, and also handles the regular Books, News, Milestones, and Bulletin Board columns. Along with copyediting and proofreading of the entire book, she also facilitates communication with many of the production volunteers and helps to coordinate the work of the interns. Becca resides in West Philadelphia and can often be found biking throughout the city, whether to Temple University where she studies journalism or to the local farmers’ market. Becca balances her JOURNAL responsibilities with gardening, cooking, camping, and long distance bike rides.
Contact Becca Howe at departments@friendsjournal.org
Production
Barbara Benton
Art Director
Contact Barbara Benton at artdirector@friendsjournal.org
Alla Podolsky
Associate Art Director
Contact Alla Podolsky at production@friendsjournal.org
Matt Slaybaugh
Web Manager
Contact Matt Slaybaugh at webmanager@friendsjournal.org
Advertising
Brianna Taylor
Advertising Manager
Brianna Taylor joined the staff in the summer of 2009 as the Advertising Manager. Working closely with the Associate Publisher and Production team she researches prospective clients, sells advertising, and proofreads ads prior to printing. She also handles online ad sales for the Quaker Ad Network. Raised a Quaker in Pittsburgh, Brianna graduated from Haverford College, where she majored in Political Science.
Contact Brianna Taylor at adsales@friendsjournal.org
Development, Marketing, and Circulation
Jane Heil
Development Associate
Contact Jane Heil at database@friendsjournal.org
Nicole Hackel
Circulation Assistant
Contact Nicole Hackel at circulation@friendsjournal.org
Volunteers
Judith Brown
Poetry Editor
Patty Quinn
Editorial volunteer
Patty Quinn (editorial) is a lifelong resident of the Philadelphia area and an attender at Central Philadelphia Meeting. She took the long, part-time path through college and earned her B.A. in English in Creative Non-fiction Writing. She's traveled when she could, to France, England, and Greece. She tries to keep proficient in Spanish. She speaks fluent Cat and Dog and pet-sits. She's still active at her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, where she serves on the Planning Committee at Kelly Writer's House. She's a bookworm, a lover of the sea, and a member of a big, loud, racially and ethnically diverse family.
George Rubin
News Editor
George Rubin (news editor) lives at Medford Leas in New Jersey. He is a member of New York Yearly Meeting (NYYM), attending and worshiping at Medford Monthly Meeting (PYM). A retired podiatrist with a love for writing, he was a news reporter for the Roosevelt Island newspaper, The Wire, for the ten years that he and his wife lived in New York City. His wife, Margery, was the paper photographer; she is a professional photographer. George is on the editorial staff of The Medford Leas Life, a monthly publication. And he is active with both American Friends Service Committee and Friends World Committee for Consultation, Section of the Americas, and clerk of the Personnel Committee of NYYM.
Mary Julia Street
Milestones Editor
Mary Julia Street (milestones editor) lives in Lower Gwynedd, Pa., and is a member of Gwynedd Meeting. She grew up in the Deep South, attended the University of North Carolina, and taught English for several years in Alabama, North Carolina, and Virginia before becoming a software engineer. Now a project manager at a software company, in her spare time Mary Julia sings Sacred Harp music and enjoys contra-dancing, movies, travel, conversation, and visiting with her son, daughter, and five grandchildren. She is an organic gardener, an avid reader, and a messy but ardent cook.
Marjorie Schier
Copy Editor
Marjorie Schier (copyeditor) was born in Montana, brought up in Minnesota, and currently lives in Levittown, Pa. Now retired, she was a journalist with the Washington Post and other papers before teaching high school English for many years. She is a member of Falls Meeting in Fallsington, Pa. ("William Penn's meeting," she points out). She serves as her meeting's representative to FCNL and AFSC, and she is Philadelphia Yearly Meeting's representative on the board of the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund. She is a war tax resister and is very concerned about the killing of children in the ongoing conflict with Iraq. She sponsored ten children in El Salvador and recently went there to visit them. She enjoys photographing children and cats, especially her own orange tabby, Pork Chop. She also serves as editor, cheerleader, and typist for the illustrated family books that her 80-member family publishes every five years. She believes every family should have its own family books!
Lisa Rand
Proofreader
Ruth Peterson
Circulation Assistant
Ruth Peterson (circulation) serves as co-clerk of Worship and Ministry at Abington (Pa.) Meeting. She served on Central Committee and Religious Education Committee of FGC and FWCC and values her travels among Friends in the U.S. and England. Moving to a retirement community has released time and energy for an interest in painting in watercolor. She and Charley Peterson square dance several hours weekly, and have celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary. They spend a few winter months in Arizona each year. In the summer, they gather several couples "who have been married under the care of the meeting" to discuss marriage and coping with challenges.
Kay Bacon
Circulation Assistant
Kay Bacon (circulation) grew up as a member of the Race Street Meeting in Philadelphia (now Central Philadelphia Meeting) and has returned to the Philadelphia area after many years of living in New York state, both in New Paltz and Old Chatham. She and her late husband, Bob, were very active members of Old Chatham (N.Y.) Meeting and New York Yearly Meeting. For many years Kay was deeply involved with Powell House, the retreat and conference center of New York Yearly Meeting, where she was one of Powell House's most dependable volunteers. She is presently a member of Gwynedd (Pa.) Meeting.
Karie Firoozmand
Tom Smith
Tom Smith grew up in a family that was a Friends minister and missionary in the FUM tradition. After being a public school teacher and administrator he became campus minister and physics instructor at William Penn College. Subsequently, Tom became the Chester Reagan Chair in Faith and Practice at Moorestown Friends School, and spent another 20 years as a teacher and administrator in Friends and other independent schools. During his adult years he has been a member or active attender in 13 yearly meetings in 4 different branches of Friends.
Eileen Redden
Assistant Book Review Editor
Eileen Redden (assistant book review editor) is particularly interested in children's literature. She retired in 2007, after 34 years as a school counselor and teacher at Lake Forest High School in Felton, Delaware. Eileen has been a member of Camden (Del.) Friends Meeting for over 30 years and has served as treasurer and spent 25 years on the Religious Education Committee. Now she is part of a worship group at Cadbury in Lewes, Del.
She and her husband Allan have two grown children, Mark and Elizabeth. In 2005-2006, they shared their home with a German exchange student, Sven Haag, who seems to have become the most recent member of the Redden family. Eileen loves to read and travel. And she loves the beach and her many pets.
Judith Inskeep
Volunteer
Judith Inskeep grew up as a member of Friends Meeting of Washington. After graduation from Swarthmore College she spent a year in Mexico with an American Friends Service Committee project, then served in the Peace Corps in Peru, where she met her husband. They have two children and two grandchildren. She worked in the Spanish-speaking unit of the Department of Public Aid in Chicago, then in the office of Grace Episcopal Church in White Plains (N.Y.), then at the Quaker United Nations Office as administrative assistant. Judy was a member of Purchase (N.Y.) Meeting for many years and active in New York Yearly Meeting. She is now a member of Gwynedd (Pa.) Meeting and lives at Foulkeways. She has had long-term involvement with Friends World Committee for Consultation, a community chorus, and Amnesty International.
