New! Join us on Thee Quaker Discord Server

Zack Jackson  

Hey, Jon, 

Jon Watts

Hey Zack, how are things going? How’s your holiday? 

Zack Jackson

Things are great over here, nice and quiet. Kids are all back in school. Schedules back to normal. It’s just the way I love it. How are you doing?

Jon Watts  

Yeah, it was a busy fall with the launch of Quaker Videos, but I got some time in December to unwind and unplug. That’s always so important when you’re doing big work, but it’s a weird time to unplug you. You never know what news you’re going to come back to.

Zack Jackson  

Yeah, I’ll say.

Jon Watts  

So, lots to say about that, but I think we’re doing a quick check in about the podcast before the launch of the second half of season three. You want to get us started.

Zack Jackson  

I would love to. I have been spending the last couple of weeks deep in planning mode, been doing interviews and research, and I’ve got some stories that I think are really important for the moment that we’re in

Jon Watts  

Yeah. So next week, we’ll be back in your feed with weekly episodes, starting with an episode about Quakers and pacifism. I know Zack, you’ve also been working on episodes about immigration and Quakers and AI, so I’m so excited to hear those. 

Zack Jackson  

I think it’s more important than ever that we’re not just making good content, but timely content, and also then engaging in faithful community and conversation after we’ve released the content. Which reminds me that something else is launching this week, a project that we’ve been working on behind the scenes for quite some time. Now you want to tell them?

Jon Watts  

Sure, yeah, I’ll tell him. So we’ve been thinking a lot about our listeners and how we can be more in conversation with this awesome, diverse, you know, global community of amazing listeners that this show has built. We love being able to engage in the comment section on all the various social media sites, but we’ve been missing a space where we can actually build community with you. 

Zack Jackson  

The problem is that the usual places for online communities, like Facebook and x are just problematic.

Jon Watts  

Yeah, we did a whole episode about that, you know, we don’t want to build an online community inside of a platform designed to serve the interests of multinational billionaires.

Zack Jackson  

Yeah, exactly. We wanted to get away from the ads, away from the data mining and the algorithms that thrive on your outrage. We wanted to try to cultivate a space that was somehow actually peaceful. So today we are opening the doors to the official Thee Quaker Project Discord server.

Jon Watts  

Yeah, well, Zack, when we first started talking about this, I have to admit that I kind of got stuck on the name. 

Zack Jackson  

And I feel like when I first brought this up, I had to sort of give a disclaimer there that we can’t change the name. It’s just It’s unfortunately, the name of the company, and we are fully aware that we’re inviting a group of Quakers to join an app called discord. But despite the unfortunate name, it’s actually the best tool that we’ve found for trying to do what we’re trying to do. We’re using it to build a sort of digital meetinghouse. It’s a private space. It’s away from the noise of the open internet, where we can discuss podcast episodes, the Quaker videos, the daily Quaker messages, and just talk to each other, right?

Jon Watts  

And for those of you who might be a little skeptical of new tech, you know, we hear you. We built this actually, specifically with you in mind. It isn’t social media in the way that you’re used to. It’s more like a series of chat rooms. It’s organized, it’s quiet, it’s safe, and hopefully it can be a spiritual place.

Zack Jackson  

Yeah, we’ve set up different channels for different topics, and it’s a place to ask questions, to share resources and to help us steer the conversation.

Jon Watts  

So if you want to help us build a better, more Quaker corner of the internet, go to theequaker.org/discord. We’ll also put that link in the show notes. You can join on your phone or on your computer.

Zack Jackson  

We are really excited about all the content that we’ve been working on, and we know that Quaker community is more important than ever. So we hope that you’ll join us there.

Jon Watts  

That’s theequaker.org/discord we’ll see you there, and we’ll be back in your podcast feed with weekly episodes starting next week.

Produced and edited by Zack Jackson 

Original music and sound design by Jon Watts (Listen to more of Jon’s music here.)

Supported by listeners like you (thank you!!)