Day two at the Woolworth's Luncheonette in Greensboro, North Carolina James A. McNiel and Franklin McCain from the first day action were joined by fellow students William Smith and Clarence Henderson.  What were the thoughts of the young black man behind the counter?  About the same age as the students he may have needed the job to support his family.  Were the students jeopardizing that?  Did he view them as privileged and spoiled students?  Did he yearn to join them? There was no charismatic leader that day, no eloquent preacher, no carefully planned campaign.  Just four young guys, freshmen no less, from an obscure public college for Negros, the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina.  One afternoon, February 1, ...

An article about the Wisdom of the Hands program at the Clear Spring School is in the Winter 2022 issue of "Independent Schools Magazine" that's published by the National Association of Independent Schools.  The article tells that we are celebrating our twentieth year of a program designed to bring the hands to greater focus and attention in schools. Over the years we've had a number of articles about the program in various woodworking magazines, and mention in the New York Times and Boston Globe. This is the second article about our Wisdom of the Hands program in "Independent Schools Magazine." Yesterday in class we whittled  writing pens to allow me to take a few photos for a magazine article. The kids enjoyed it and tested their wor...

      Brigid was born in 451 in County Louth. Traditions say her mother, Brocca was a Christian Pict slave. Baptized, tradition says, by Patrick himself. Brigid was said to exhibit signs of holiness from early on, including giving away her father’s money and goods to the poor. She became a nun, and with […]

I couldn’t resist drawing the cone on this one. It was so beautiful in the midst of its bouquet of leaves. The Audobon field guide says this pine was given its common name because when tepee-building Native Americans needed center poles for their houses, they often used its slim, straight trunk.

In the Chinese calendar, the Year of the Tiger starts on February 1. In the New Year’s customs of China, it is considered an invitation to bad luck to begin the year by arguing or fighting with others. What is one argument you can put aside (even if just for the day) today?

It is hard to write about depression on social media. First of all, you are depressed, and that is not a state that is famously good for creative output. Beyond that, there is an unwritten rule of social media that thou shalt be positive. No one wants to hear you whine. I did a quick […]

Violence in Burma has increased by more than 600% since the military coup began on February 1, 2021.

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, Poetic Edda blocks bullet, announcements, and Happy Lunar New Year! Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of January 31, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

Sun, 17:26: We barbecue in solidarity with our New England relatives. 12� but we are out under the heater. 12�F? You mean Fahrenheit? Never mind. #northeasternuniversity @ Ozdachs Consulting https://t.co/zMkZFCpdZ4

      Thomas Merton was born Prades, France, on this day, the 31st of January, in 1915. His artist father Owen was a New Zelander, his artist mother, an American. They’d met studying art in Paris. Thomas was baptized into the Church of England. representing his father’s Anglican faith. With the onset of the […]

Marianne Schnall We humans have lost the wisdom of genuinely resting. We worry too much. We don't allow our bodies to heal, and we don't allow our minds and hearts to heal. Meditation can help us.

        I’m currently working on a book describing the spiritual journey. What follows I just cut from that manuscript. But it still felt like it might be useful in another context.    As we enter the way we can feel we’re crossing deserts moving toward an oasis with life-giving waters. Sometimes only […]

Scotch Tape in 1950s packaging.  It became a household and office staple. Indulge me.  Close your eyes and try to remember a time when you really did need string to tie up thosebrown paper packages.  When yards of satin ribbon and six thumbs were needed to keep the colored tissue paper prettily surrounding a gift box.  When the ripped pages of your favorite book were doomed to be forever sundered.  When that torn $5 bill could not be mended and spent.  When there was nothing to hold your eye lid and nose in peculiar positionsto frighten your baby siblings. Yes, those were dark, dark timesbefore the invention that rescued us all.  In keeping with this blog’s occasional mission of reminding us of the inventions that really and tru...

Also called scrub pine. “Whitebark pine is considered the most primitive native pine because its cones do not open until they decay.”

“The moment of prayer is an invitation to be calm in the midst of the tumult of the world and our over-busy lives, to bring together thought and feeling, mind and spirit, and to find some center — some still point — of perspective and peace.” -Earl K. Holt Find a moment to pray today–invite … Continue reading Prayer

Replacing a statue of the Confederate general Robert E. Lee, Simone Leigh's new sculpture, Sentinel (Mami Wata), whose aspects are found in many African Diasporic Religions. Continue reading Mami Wata statue unveiled in New Orleans at The Wild Hunt.

This week, Rev. John is joined by UU Santa Fe minister, the Rev. Gail Marriner, as we dive into some of the intentions behind our joint efforts in providing aid and assistance to Afghan refugees.

After moving here in the 1970s, as a lifelong Unitarian, Emily Wood began working at Northside elementary school with Mrs. Dorothy DeWitty. She complained to Rev. Dr. John B. Wolf, senior minister of All Souls at that time, about complete segregation. As a result, Church of the Restoration—UU was founded. Emily attended and worshipped at Restoration before returning to All Souls. “I am delighted with the inclusiveness of today, of our church,” Emily said. She was highly involved as President of the United Nations Association which she regarded as an integral partner of All Souls. My work as a Founding […] The post Centennial Award: Emily Wood appeared first on BeyondBelief.

This morning I opened my social media and nearly immediately was gifted with a solitary poem from the Zen priest and hermit Ryōkan Taigu posted by Kuya Minogue. Kuya simply said “Ryokan describes my life,” and offered this verse from Ryokan’s Chinese poems Looking back I see more than seventy years have already passed. I am […]

I have said more times than I can remember, in sermons and in conversations, that if you really need to get somewhere, it doesn’t matter how you go. Run, walk, roll, and if necessary, crawl. I was mainly speaking metaphorically about engaging in the work for justice, but this week, I actually lived the words. […]

Paul McCartney had left the Fab Four and started Wings in early 1972, but everyone still thought of him as that Nice Beatle. Affable Paul McCartney was always the niceBeatle, the one with the boyish smile and easy disposition.  Not much into politics or causes.  That was John’s thing.  One of the most gifted and prolific song writers of all time, he specialized in catchy melodies and memorable hooks.  His lyrics were simple and straightforward.  The deep stuff, well, that was mostly John, too.  As he would put it in the song for his new band Wings, “Some people wanna fill the world with silly love songs.  And what’s wrong with that?” But on January 30, 1972 Paul got mad.  Really mad.  Mad enough to write a song. That mor...

This is the 2000th post on Under the Ancient Oaks. Sometimes I’m a reporter, sometimes I’m a columnist, and sometimes I’m a teacher. Here are nine posts from 2008 through 2020 that are more important than perhaps any of us realized at the time.

“Around us, light is returning. It rekindles the spirit of life in the skeletons of trees. It brings forth new shoots from the soil. It wakes us from our winter slumber, and invites us to see what lies beyond.” -Kate McPhee Notice the light around you today–whether it is returning or, in the Southern Hemisphere, … Continue reading Light

Even though it’s only 9 p.m., I had to fight to stay awake and force myself to draw, fast, so that I could go to bed. I didn’t get enough sleep last night, and tomorrow will be a busy day. So I quickly looked up photos of limber pine–so called, a direct translation of its […]

Rolf and Possum want to donate to their congregation’s pledge drive. Problem is, they don’t have any money. Then Rolf comes up with an idea…. As usual, full text below the fold. Possum: Hey Rolf, did you hear about the pledge drive for our congregation? Rolf: No, what’s that? Possum: That’s the way we raise … Continue reading "Possum and Rolf and the pledge drive"

"The earth rotates around an axis drawn from the south pole, through the planet, out the north pole, and up to the pole star. With a bit of imagination, diagrams of this world axis show a trunk with roots in the earth and the pole star at the top of the leader. Old Icelandic poetry tells us of the mighty measuring tree. The growth and life of this tree parallel the growth and life of this world, and none know where to find the beginning point of its roots." Continue reading Column: The World Tree, Heimdall, and All of Us at The Wild Hunt.

      Intimations of Grief A dharma talk by Jan Seymour-Ford Delivered at theEmpty Moon ZenSaturday Zazenkai 29 January, 2022   Zen means participating in loss. – we are present and don’t turn away from our loss and pain Zen doesn’t save us from our lives. I’m … anxious … angry, etc. The “I” […]

Mad Brit Richard Lawrence's pistol misfired when he took point blank aim at Andrew Jackson on the steps of the Capitol.  You have to feel a little sorry for Richard Lawrence.   He was in the right place at the right time, skulking around the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building on January 30, 1835.   A funeral service for a member of Congress was breaking up.   All the dignitaries of the government including the Chief Executivehimself were in attendance and would have to pass within feet of him.   He carried in each side pocket of his coatone cocked and loaded single shot derringer flintlock pistol.   He had a plan.   What could possibly go wrong? Lawrence was a 35 year old Englishman who had been hearing voices in his head for a ve...

A short  “ thought for the day” offered to the Cambridge Unitarian Church as part of the Sunday Service of Mindful   Meditation  (Click on this link to hear a recorded version of the following piece) —o0o— In the Gospel of Luke (17:5-7) we are told that the disciples (actually called “apostles” in this passage) once asked Jesus to increase their faith, a question to which Jesus replied,  “If you have as much faith as a grain of mustard, you might have said to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would have obeyed you.” Of course, the disciples’ question begs another, namely, increase their faith in what? Jesus, God, themselves, nature? Jesus (or rather, Luke) doesn’t even vaguel...

Decidedly not a native, but it was introduced thoroughout this continent and has become naturalized in some parts of the United States. In California, it is cultivated for various purposes,  including Christmas  trees.

                                                    Harvey Cohen designed this  psychedelic poster for the Mantra-Rock Dance in San Francisco. There were a lot of threads to the youth culture being woven on the streets of San Francisco—the older, now established Beats finding new followers for their expressions of alienation , spiritual quest , and rebellion through art and poetry; a ramped-up music scene revolving around a bunch of local bands inventing a new Americanrock & roll sound; a quasi-anarchic radicalism spreading from the Anti-Vietnam War movement and near-by college campuses; the introduction of cheap, free, and then legal LSD and other hallucinogens plus wide spread availability of Mexican ma...

Invitation for me is the sacred duty and role of folks to extend love in the form of hospitality which is a holy virtue in so many theologies. A large part of this is to offer food and drink to all guests (that which feeds all parts of us), and an oft forgotten part of … Continue reading Sacred

Please join us on Sunday (30 January 2022) at 11:00 AM for “Railing Against the Mud” by Rev. Barbara Jarrell. Our service will be livestreamed on Facebook Live here. Our virtual coffee hour after worship is back. Sol in Minneapolis will be hosting the virtual coffee hour using the Jitsi open-source videoconferencing platform.  You can … Continue reading "Online All-Ages Worship (30 January 2022)"

Please join us on Sunday (30 January 2022) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom. We are discussing episodes of the podcast Learning How to See with Rev. Brian McLaren, Father Richard Rohr, and Rev. Jacqui Lewis. They are discussing the 13 kinds of bias that Rev. Barbara mentioned recently in … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 30 January 2022"

We will continue to watch the local COVID numbers.  We feel encouraged by the dropping Omicron COVID case rates. We are not resuming regular classes for children and youth at this time because our classrooms are too small to be safe for unvaccinated children, and because we want some time to be together and nurture … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education Updates"

Please join us next Tuesday (1 February 2022) at 12 noon for our weekly Zoom lunch (please note the new day of the week for Zoom lunch). Bring your lunch and meet up with your All Souls friends, have lunch, and just catch up.

Please join us on Saturday (29 January 2022) at 10:30 AM for our weekly meditation group with Larry Androes. This is a sitting Buddhist meditation including a brief introduction to mindfulness meditation, 20 minutes of sitting, and followed by a weekly teaching. The group is free and open to all. For more information, contact Larry … Continue reading "Meditation with Larry Androes (29 January 2022)"

I learned this morning that my interview on the Ozark Public Television's program "Ozarks Watch" will be broadcast on next Thursday February 3 at 9:00 PM and again on Sunday February 6 at 1:30 PM. If you receive Ozark Public Television on your cable channel or set, put these dates on your calendar and watch. The program will be offered online at a later date and I'll share that link when it becomes available. Make, fix and create...

Sheri Barker continues her exploration of the classical elements in this column about the power of fire. Continue reading Column: Elemental Fire at The Wild Hunt.

For many of us, it is hard to imagine a world without police, prisons, and punishment as “justice.” Fear-mongering about a lawless society in which we all have to fend for ourselves has become a talking point in the culture wars reacting to abolitionist calls to defund and dismantle the violence of our current policing and punishment system. Even for those of us who have confronted the ways our current system evolved from structures designed to control and enslave Black bodies and continues to enforce the death-grip of white supremacy on our society, we are so shaped by what exists now that many of us have a hard time conceiving of a different way. And yet, our theological forebears (especially our Universalist ancestors) articulated...

Faithful readers of this little blog often ask how I pick the topics for my historical entries, many of which seem to be obscure or exotic.   The process is simple, if haphazard. I consult a number of on-line history calendars, many of them specialized—labor, women, Black, music, baseball, etc. But almost every day I start at Wikipedia’s On This Day feature because it is exhaustive and amazingly diverse. Glancing down today’s entries, a number caught my eye, some of which I have already used.   And some ignited my inner smart ass. Take for instance, this one:   1393—King Charles VI of France was nearly killedwhen several dancers’ costumes caught fire during a masquerade ball.   Not enough information for a blog post, but I ...

        William Buttler Yeats died in Menton, France, on this day, the 28th of January in 1939. His body was interred in France and lay there for nearly a decade before his remains were removed to Ireland. In his lifetime Yeats was a poet, dramatist, prose writer, generally considered one of the […]

“I believe that we’re all entitled to our pain—that there’s no hierarchy of grief or fear, in which someone else’s pain invalidates our own. If anything, giving voice to our pain metabolizes it; we come to hold it instead of it holding us. Better yet, sorrow is an invitation to recalibrate our hearts so that … Continue reading Sorrow

We've had a challenging week as a number of students and one staff member were out with illness and possible exposure to covid-19. But it was a good week with students building interesting things with blocks and making bird feeders with the outdoors study group.  My assistant Dustin suggested the use of glue sticks for gluing blocks of wood together and we found that even though glue sticks are often  almost worthless on paper, they do work with blocks of wood. They are far less messy than wet glue and far safer than hot glueguns. Adding glue sticks to assembly kits we hope to develop will make them a more complete kits, less reliant on other things being provided from a household supply. I've been working on an op ed piece I hope will...

A new documentary that will explore the history and evolution of the Temple of Witchcraft is due to be released late-Spring, early summer. Continue reading Temple of Witchcraft documentary soon to be released at The Wild Hunt.

Jeff Milchen While many corporations offer feel-good commercials promoting multiculturalism and equality, their political arms (like the Chamber of Commerce) and political investments perpetuate the dominance of wealth over our elections and the public interest.

        Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was born at the All Saints’ vicarage in Cheshire, England, today, the 27th of January, in 1832. His family produced military men and clerics. His great grandfather a bishop in the Church of England, his father a country priest, later Archdeacon of Richmond. The family were Anglo-Catholics. Charles’ […]

  The grim reality is that 77 years after the world got confirmation of the breadth of the Holocaust anti-Semitism is on the rise in the United States and in Europe.   As the last survivors of the death camps and the Allied soldiers who liberated them dwindle the collective memory has dimmed.   Pollsconstantly show that younger people are at best foggy on the reality—many can’t place World War II within 50 years on a timeline, are unsure who the combatants were and on who was responsible for barely understood atrocities.   Holocaust denial is on the rise spread mainly by those who try to mask their own intentionsto “complete the job.”   Right wing nationalism is making a comeback in Europe making substantial gains in several...

When you can’t find ordinary explanations it’s time to start looking for magical explanations – and sometimes we do. But if you feel like you’re being hexed, there’s an ordinary explanation you may be overlooking.

What a liberating example Janet set with her year of butterflies! When she was very tired or didn’t get to her drawing until very late in the day, she would draw one freehand. Here’s my equivalent, done with Paint 3D (not sure what’s 3D about it, as I did not get that adventurous). It was […]

“If there is one thing that I appreciate about our Unitarian Universalist Association’s invitation to siding with love in these current times, it is that the invitation invites love as an active force in our lives. So much of our understanding of love can be passive—we talk of ‘falling’ in love, or of being ‘helplessly’ … Continue reading Love

Spain moves forward with a proposed resolution that would offer reparations and restitution for those accused of witchcraft in the country's history. Continue reading Catalonia seeks reparation for Witchcraft victims and awards prize to Judith Butler at The Wild Hunt.

  Wordle, Wishes, and Boundaries In the beginning was the Wordle.  Some people liked it, and some people didn’t. And then more people liked it, and they began posting about it on social media, especially Facebook. And so then more people found out about it. Some people liked it, some people didn’t.  So, what can we learn about systems theory from the current zeitgeist of Wordle?  First things to understand:  There will not be an objective truth that is universally agreed upon. Is Wordle good, is it bad, should people share or not share … this is all immaterial. The issue is: What are your wishes? What are your boundaries?  A wish is something you’d like, but in healthy relationships, it is not an expectation. It is not a bo...

    “For the past six months, more than 61 million children in roughly 36 million families across the U.S. have received a monthly payment of $250 or $300 per child… [But] tax credits that would have landed in families’ bank accounts beginning Friday, January 14 won’t happen because the Senate could not agree to extend them.” — Coalition on Human Needs     The Child Tax Credit (CTC) ended December 30, 2021. It lifted 9.9 million U.S. children out read more... The post Action Alert: Urge Your Legislators to Renew the Child Tax Credit (CTC) appeared first on Promise the Children.

By Amy Caldwell | As we entered our second year of the pandemic, early in the spring of 2021, I was reviewing the changes and additions the monastics of the Plum Village Center for Engaged Buddhism had made for our revised and expanded edition of Thich Nhat Hanh’s classic collection of meditations, “The Blooming of a Lotus.” Upon hearing of Thay’s death last Friday, my mind returned to my reading and that time.

        DREAMING THE JESUS PRAYER James Ishmael Ford I find Jesus and the Jesus Prayer on my heart a fair amount of late. And only a little less, Mary, for me as the great Western manifestation of Guanyin. Which in the joining in my heart I guess speaks volumes of me and […]

Atena Danner If I want well-being to be my truth, I must reclaim and protect it. Continue reading "The Rest That Will Heal Us"

Last week, a philosopher called Thomas Nail (whose work on Lucretius I particularly admire) published a helpful introductory paper called What is the Philosophy of Movement?  A few minutes ago I printed a copy up for an interested member of the congregation and, as I did this, it occurred to me that there may be others of you who read this blog who might be interested in having sight of it as well.  I share it because I am fully persuaded that any coherent (enough) modern liberal religion/philosophy must have at its heart just such a philosophy of movement. As teachers everywhere love to say: Discuss! https://www.academia.edu/68573598/What_Is_the_Philosophy_of_Movement

Former Vice President and New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and  27-year-old Megan Marshak seen on the wintery streets of New York swathed in fur--not quite the usual attire of political aid and personal assistant. I can’t help myself.  In retrospectit seems like such a quaint little scandal.  Charmingreally—the short naked final tumble of the recent Vice President of the United States and one of the wealthiest men in the country.  It seems almost like a May-December romcom with a dark twist ending.   Compare that with the multiple scandalsand affairs of the last Resident of the United States—think Stormy Danniels, teen age beauty queens, and boastful pussy grabbing. When Gerald Ford became President after Richard Nixon's ...

“What, exactly, are we doing when we invite love into our lives? Surely we know that it’s much tidier without it, when things stay at a distance. And yet: I’m sucked in every time, seduced by the possibility of an expanded heart. I hope that never changes.” -Amanda Poppei Invite love into your life today, … Continue reading Messy

  presented in a Zoom session of the Unitarian Church of Quincy, Illinois January 23, 2022 First Reading In his 1915 novel Of Human Bondage , William Somerset Maugham wrote:   A Unitarian very earnestly disbelieves in almost everything that anybody else believes. And he has a very lively sustaining faith in he doesn’t quite know what. Second Reading In 2012,  April Fools Day fell on a Sunday. So Rev. Erika Hewitt preached a sermon on UU jokes. She started out by telling a few: Each religion has its own Holy Book: Judaism has the Torah, Islam has the Koran, Christianity has the Bible, and Unitarian Universalism has Roberts' Rules of Order. But eventually she raises the same issue Maugham had poked at almost a century before: Our tole...

The discovery of a large longhouse in Norway could provide more insight for Pagans of Norse traditions; and climate change a possible factor in the Norse abandoning Greenland around the end of the 15th century. Continue reading New developments in understanding Medieval Norse Culture at The Wild Hunt.

Hello, hello~ We hope this finds you well, whether you are reading this from a place that is beautifully snowy, or from someplace a bit warmer. And if you are not well, that you will reach out to us, to a family member, friend, or loved ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Jan. 25th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Upcoming RE Classes: K-6 EXPERIENCES WITH THE WEB OF LIFE: These nature lovers will meet again Sunday morning, 2/6, from 9:30-10:15. Our 2/6 topic will be squirrels. Ask your children to watch for squirrels and keep a list of the places squirrels are seen. Also be sure to check out ... read more . The post RE This Week – Jan. 25th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

How would you express your connections to UUSS? To the Earth? To the Holy/Mystery/More? Using the theme “Connected in Love, We Nurture the Flame” as a spark of inspiration, you are invited to write a poem, chalice lighting, chalice flame releasing, prayer, meditation, a short ... read more . The post Calling you who find a spiritual home with UUSS appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

As a member congregation of SCM, we share this request from their staff: “Many of our guests have requested personal care items such as toothpaste and deodorant for all genders. These items can be expensive and are often the most requested by our food pantry guests when ... read more . The post Urgent Request from Schenectady Community Ministries appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

    The other day I attended a zoom based meeting of a clergy group I’ve long belonged to. Its origins are as a Universalist clergy Lenten retreat, but wildly evolved since. Mostly its a small group of people invited into an annual gathering with an implied commitment to that annual gathering for as close […]

Next week on February 4 the XXIV Olympic Winter Games will kick off with an elaborate, self-congratulatory Opening Ceremony at the Bird’s nest a/k/a the Beijing National Stadium.  The games will be held amid even more controversy and drama then have become customary for modern Olympiads.  In protest to rampant human rights violations in China, especially the repression of the Muslim Uyghurs—some charge genocide—in the country’s far northwest, suppression of Hong Kong protests in 2019 and ’20, and a general harsh suppression of speech, art, and even the mildest protests, the United States and many of its Western friends and allies announce diplomatic boycotts of the games meaning that no government dignitaries or officials wil...

Everything doesn’t have to have a deep meaning or purpose. There’s a place for mindless entertainment and for guilty pleasures for which we should feel absolutely no guilt. You like what you like and you don’t need anybody’s permission to enjoy it.

“Under the right circumstances, playing with fire is a delight—imagine being gathered round a firepit as the crackling flames invite us to sing, dance, and roast a marshmallow or two.” -Melanie Davis Light a candle and delight in the dance of the flame.

How does one show this needlesl’s tiny white dots and squiggles using colored pencil on white paper? With difficulty, and eventually impatience and a quick end to the attempt. Sometimes I’m just too tired to put in the effort, but I’ll have many more opportunities.

        Mathew Sherling of Infinite Weird interviews Zen teacher James Ishmael Ford The illustration of James Ford is by Adrian Worsfold

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, Pagans remember Thich Nhat Hanh, Announcements, two positively Noteworthy stories. and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of January 24, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

The White House is asking for our views on separating migrant families—let’s tell them!

Many educational theorists complain about the toys made for kids.  They note that most of the creativity is put in by the designers and manufacturers leaving little to exercise the creative imaginations of kids.  So today we did a simple experiment with each student being given 8 blocks. The idea was for them to observe their own creativity. Each came up with something different to made from their 8 blocks. When done with one project the students asked for 8 more to build something else. Of course this experiment was derived from Froebel's Kindergarten. One of our objectives is to develop a set of project kits that the kids can sell in their study of small business. You can buy kits for children to assemble at Lowe's or Home Depot, and...

I have learned to appreciate other people's lives and to be grateful for my own good fortune. I am grateful for the ability to help women who experience difficult situations in their lives. The post Centennial Awards: Sue Ames appeared first on BeyondBelief.

Certainly, it’s good practice to treat your dog as person-like – as having beliefs and desires entitled to a certain degree of concern and respect. It may be the case that your dog's person-like-ness is another pretend belief -- that they don't really have the feelings we attribute to them. But keep in mind that you and I might also not REALLY have the feelings we attribute to each other and to ourselves. So it's still unclear how much of a distinction to draw between human and canine emotional lives. Psychology professor Lisa Feldman Barrett argues that emotions are mostly socially constructed. There are, she says, two biological continua that are "real." There's the pleasant to unpleasant continuum, and there's the the high arousal...

Although it had an official premier at the Hollywood Theatre back on November 27, 1942 to make it eligible for the 1943 Academy Awards, Casablanca went into general release 79 years ago today on January 24 .  That coincided with the last day of the Casablanca Conference with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill which mapped out the general strategy for the Western Front in Europe and was a little more than two months since the city was liberated by the British in Operation Torch. Both events made the title instantly significant to war-time movie goers. Although Casablanca misses the top ranks of most lists of the “greatest” films of all time, it never fails to score at or near the top of list...

Office Administrator Position Open as of 1/16/2022 The Unitarian Church of Los Alamos is hiring a part-time Office Administrator. The Office Administrator will support the life of the church by tending to day-to-day operations of the church office. Essential functions include bookkeeping, communications, and managing room rentals. Please visit this link for a complete job …<p> Now Hiring Read More »

“I invite you now to join me in that promise: to continue the struggle for life, liberation, and justice even when it’s hard, when it feels impossible, when it hurts so badly we’re sure that we’ll die. This invitation to eat and drink does not rest on any identity, does not rest on perfection, but … Continue reading Continuing

This month the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair, New Jersey’s focus is on the meaning of intention. This is part of the January Soul Matters’ theme of “Living with Intention.” Intention is essentially your goal, what you want to happen. When Pagans prepare spells, we put our intent into them. I try to explain this […] The post A clear concise intention is vital for spells and life appeared first on Nature's Sacred Journey.

Weekend Editor Eric O. Scott reviews the new film by Joel Coen, "The Tragedy of Macbeth," adapted from Shakespeare's play. Continue reading Review: “The Tragedy of Macbeth” at The Wild Hunt.

Going through the old boxes from Boston are taking a long time. The other day, I came upon a few folders from the part-time private practice I had in feminist therapy for women. Of course, most of my notes from that practice were previously shredded for confidentiality’s sake. But a few notes and cards from […]

Not much to say today, but there is something I think about just showing up as promised. I have committed to weekly postings, so here it is. L’Chaim! My average weight this week is up 1 pound for a total loss of 162.2.

I’m interested in what we believe. In particular, I’m interested in those things that we believe but don’t really believe – the things we pretend to believe. And why we do that. Do you talk to your car? “Come on, start.” Or: “Please, please make it to the gas station.” St. Francis of Assisi talked to "Brother Sun," and "Sister Moon" -- to "Brother Wind," "Sister water," "Brother Fire," and "Sister Earth." He was liable to talk to any creature he encountered, calling it a sibling. If Francis had had a car, I imagine he would have talked to it, too. We don’t really believe our cars hear us, or understand, or in any way care about whatever we may be saying. A lot of us know our cars don't hear or care, yet we talk to our c...

Sometimes, even with our best intentions, we cause hurt and distress we might not mean. This week, we close out our exploration of intention with the need to understand how we impact the world around us.

      I’m touched by a small peculiarity within the announcement of the Vietnamese Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh’s death. He died on the 22nd of January in Vietnam. But the announcement was received here in North America on the other side of the international date line, on the 21st of January. There’s a saying […]

We enter week two of 30 Days of Love lamenting the immoral blocking of the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Acts. It is disheartening to witness our elected leaders sided with vote suppression and against democracy. As a faith community committed to showing up for justice and for our communities, this will not stop us.   Join us for Week Two of 30 Days of Love . From January 24-30 we are focusing on Democracy & Voting Rights. This week’s offerings include multigenerational resources, healing meditations, political education, and collective action to support our community in our democracy and electoral work.  Our live events this week include: Action: Phonebank for Voting Rights on January 30. Political Education: January 27: We...

If you’re called to help establish or re-establish the worship of a deity for whom there is little lore, you’ve got a lot of work in front of you. But it’s doable work. What an amazing opportunity to make a difference for the future.

Native from southwestern Oregon to Baja California. From the Audobon guide: “The whorls of many knobby, closed cones help identify this species. Since the cones may become imbedded within the wood of the expanding, trunk, this species has been called ‘The tree that swallows its cones.’ When fires kill the trees, cones as much as […]

Shoichi Yokoi in police custody after his 1972 capture on Guam. On January 24, 1972 Shoichi Yokoi, a sergeant of the Imperial Japanese Army, was discovered on Guam.   He had spent 28 years hiding in the jungle despite learning twenty years earlier in 1952 that World War II was over, and Japan was defeated . On the other hand, he missed being toasted by a flame thrower or being a POW and collected his back pay. Amazingly, he was not the last Japanese hold out.   Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda had to be relieved from duty by his former commanding officer on March 9, 1974 in the Philippines and Private Teruo Nakamura , a member of an indigenous Taiwanese tribe and a colonial draftee, was captured by the Indonesian Army on December 18,1974 ...

“May we, now or anytime, here or anywhere, alone or with any number of others, focus on affirming what we love, what we cherish, what inspires us no matter what; putting fear on notice that our hearts, minds, and spirits will not accept its invitation. For that is what faith is: focusing on what one … Continue reading Fear

Please join us on Sunday (23 January 2022) at 11:00 AM for “It Ain’t Easy Lookin’ Up” by Rev. Barbara Jarrell. Our service will be livestreamed on Facebook Live here. Our virtual coffee hour after worship is back. Sol in Minneapolis will be hosting the virtual coffee hour using the Jitsi open-source videoconferencing platform.  You … Continue reading "Online All-Ages Worship (23 January 2022)"

Please join us on Sunday (23 January 2022) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom. We are discussing episodes of the podcast Learning How to See with Rev. Brian McLaren, Father Richard Rohr, and Rev. Jacqui Lewis. They are discussing the 13 kinds of bias that Rev. Barbara mentioned recently in … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 23 January 2022"

We will continue to watch the local COVID numbers.  We feel encouraged by the cooling weather and the possibility of comfortable outdoor activities. We are not resuming regular classes for children and youth at this time because our classrooms are too small to be safe for unvaccinated children, and because we want some time to … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education Updates"