We’ve been sharing our most-read articles of 2013 on Facebook and Twitter. Here they are along with highlights from the issues in which they originally appeared.
Our interview with musician Jon Watts. Our May 2013 issue focused on the arts, including pieces on conceptual art (Simplicity Quantified by Christen Higgins Clougherty), performance art (The Power of Playback by Sara Waxman), storytelling (Meeting for Worship with Attention to Stories by Lucy Duncan) and the visual arts (The Spiritual Awakening of a Late-to-Bloom Artist by David Foster). See also our accompanying video interview with Jon Watts, who joined Friends Journal staff in December as videographer for the QuakerSpeak interview series.
Eric Moon shared the story of the formation of the most-listed Quaker testimonies and his concerns about relying on such a defined list in our special June/July 2013 issue on the testimonies. Other articles included Reclaiming Our Divine Birthright by Patricia Barber, Africa, Appalachia , and Arrest by Eileen Flanagan, and Working for Peace for 96 Years by Shan Cretin of American Friends Service Committee.
A thought-provoking piece by Anthony Manousos in our un-themed February 2013 issue. Other stand-out articles in that issue included A Clerk’s Lesson from Occupy by Robert W. Hernblad, Necessary, Not Evil, an article on the difficult choice of abortion by Benjamin P. Brown, and a farewell to Friends Journal’s longtime art director Barbara Benton.
An heartfelt look at the joys of growing up Quaker and the struggles to remain in the Religious Society of Friends by Betsy Blake. The December 2013 issue looks “Outside the Quaker Bubble” at the spiritual-but-not-religious (Sharing Our Faith with the Nones by Thomas H. Jeavons), a profile of the the popular progressive Christian Wild Goose Festival by Viv Hawkins, and a look at our internalized cultural norms by Lynn Fitz-Hugh.
Su Penn’s gentle, humorous and poignant story of realizing her child was transgender was our break-away most-read article of all time, shared hundreds of times on pretty much ever social media that exists. August’s issue on parenting also included Kathleen Karhnak-Glasby’s Bringing Children to Worship, a profile of the New Meetings Project and a resurrection of sorts for a boat at the center of an important 1950s anti-nuclear protest witness. It was also Friends Journal’s first color issue!.
If you want to read last year’s round-up, here’s the most-read articles of 2012:
- #5: The Safety of Silence by Lindsey Mead Russell.
- #4: Eight Questions on Convergent Friends, an interview with Robin Mohr.
- #3: Quakers Are Way Cooler Than You Think by Emma Churchman.
- #2: Homosexuality: A Plea to Read the Bible Together by Douglas C Bennett.
- #1: When Quaker Process Fails by John M. Coleman.
I’m surprised that “Blue Collar Welcome” from February wasn’t included.