Quaker Poems: The Heart Opened by Searl Jr., Stanford J. Book Signed About the author: "Stanford J. Searl Jr. is a prolific writer and longtime follower of the Quaker faith. A member of the Santa Monica Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, he currently lives in Culver City, California, with his wife, Rebecca, a birthright Quaker. Searl holds a PhD in English from Syracuse University and previously worked as a core faculty member, mentor, and advisor at Union Institute University, where, for nearly twenty-five years, he urged students to find and connect with their passion for learning and life. Deciding to practice what he preached, Searl went on to pursue his own passions and completed qualitative research on Quaker silent worship, which led to his publication of two books on the topic, Voices from the Silence and The Meanings of Silence in Quaker Worship. His first book of poems was completed in 2013 and his second, Quaker Poems: The Heart Opened, shortly thereafter."