As I wrote previously, RAGBRAI is the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, and a number of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) Quakers are participating in this year’s ride.
I didn’t mention that both Don and David Mott, in yesterday’s photo, were draft resisters. We talked about Don Laughlin, who was also a draft resister, and who had been collecting the stories of draft resisters. I was helping Don with this project, part of the reason being that I was draft resister myself. We are exploring ways to share those stories.
The summer prior to my Senior year at Scattergood was spent working with Don in his medical electronics lab at the University of Iowa. He taught me how to solder electronic components under a microscope, among other things. My job was to use an IBM computer program called the Circuit Analysis Program, to help design an electronics project we were working on. That involved carrying boxes of punched cards to the University’s computer center. We kept in contact with our shared interests in science and the environment in the years since. Unfortunately Don died last summer.
What I hadn’t realized yesterday was that the RAGBRAI bicycle route would go through two towns that have Quaker meetings in them, Paullina and Decorah.
Paullina Friends Meeting – Quakers
Paullina Friends Meeting, Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative)
Quakers, social justice and revolution 