Join us from the comfort of your own home for our virtual lecture series. Whittier Birthplace Virtual Lectures will take place over Zoom. Prior registration is required.
Suggest donation: $10/household
Speaker: author, Jnana Hodson
Topic: Quaking Dover: How a counterculture took root and flourished in colonial New Hampshire
From Jnana: “My newest book springs from three decades as an active member of one of the seven oldest Quaker congregations in North America, not that anyone quite knew its deep roots before my research. Taking what one reader has called the voice of a gently laughing curmudgeon narrator, I investigate the faith community and its legacy in a way that offers an alternative understanding to early New England itself. I came to this by a zigzag route. A native of Ohio and a graduate of a Big Ten university, I took up Asian spiritual practices while living in Upstate New York and then moved to a yoga ashram in the Poconos, where I received the name Jnana in early 1972. It's usually pronounced JAHN-nah and is the root for "gnosis" in Greek and "knowing" in English. That, in turn, led me to the Society of Friends, or Quakers, not knowing it had been the faith of my Hodson/Hodgson/Hodgin ancestors. Working as a daily newspaper journalist in communities outside of the usual spotlight, I’ve recorded much from otherwise overlooked environments. How many other writers have had their homes covered in ash from a volcanic eruption or been nurtured by Plain Quakers and Mennonites? I also worked as the in-house editor for future Nobel economics prize laureate Elinor Ostrom and as a field rep with the Chicago Tribune’s newspaper syndicate. As a Quaker, I’ve led workshops and presentations at local, regional, and national levels and served in various roles, including five years as the clerk, or presiding officer, of Dover Friends Meeting. My genealogy skills in early Quaker records and similar resources proved valuable in researching my latest book. In addition, I’m the author of eight published novels, my poetry has appeared in literary journals around the globe, and my Jnana's Red Barn blog has more than 5,000 followers. I’ve recently downsized to a remote fishing village with a lively arts scene in Way Downeast Maine.”