Tony Pastor in all of his splendor.   It was America’s most beloved—and most heavily romanticized—theatrical form for 50 years bringing inexpensive, wholesome(mostly) entertainment to the working and middle classes of big cities and burbs in the sticks alike.  It employed singers, dancers, musicians, comedians,magicians, acrobats, animal acts, rope spinners, and even celebrities fallen on hard times with nothing to exhibit but their presence by the tens of thousands transforming a handful of disreputable saloon theatersand traveling troops into the might industry called Show Business.  Vaudeville, as it came to be called, became an unquenchable font of talent ...

Alfred North Whitehead said in his essay on the Aims of Education,  " In training a child to activity of thought, above all things we must beware of what I will call “inert ideas”—that is to say, ideas that are merely received into the mind without being utilized, or tested, or thrown into fresh combinations."  That's where the hands come into play, for as Charles H. Hamm had noted, the mind seeks the truth but the hands discover it. Utilizing, testing, and throwing into new combinations is what the hands do best. Whitehead had described a learning in depth process starting with romance of the idea, then the development of precision in the application of that idea, culminating in what he called "generalization" or the ability to ...

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A Texas church has announced it will pay damages for performing an unauthorized and modified version of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway play, "Hamilton," that included several evangelical segments, one of which demonized homosexuality. Continue reading Texas church will pay damages for its “Hamilton” performance at The Wild Hunt.

I spent an academic year interning for UUSC and I learned some invaluable lessons.

By Alan Levinovitz | As long as national parks have existed, people conceived of them in religious terms. In his book “Discovery of the Yosemite,” the nineteenth-century explorer Lafayette Bunnell described the valley as hallowed ground. Yosemite wasn’t just beautiful, it was holy, “the very innermost sanctuary of all that is Divine in material creation,” a place where visitors could “commune with Nature’s God.” When his companions failed to behave respectfully, Bunnell reacted as one would in church.

Daily Compass returns after a prolonged period necessary for healing. It is a stretch, a reach, a challenge to move forward into the future while staying connected to our daily meditation tradition. Tell us about a time you’ve returned to something after an absence. How did it feel? What was difficult about it?

Where the sprawl of concreteEndsReplaced with boundless treesThe true north as the surveyorWould tell youCities to towns to villagesTo a gas station sellingExpired hard candy and PepsiThe dead-straight 5 gains itsSlalom features through the mountainsWeaving between the timber trucksTowards a state line signifyingNothingHeading towards the landOf the Willamette and the ColumbiaGridlocked bridges and trolley bellsThe … Continue reading "Forgotten north"

We finally got two solid rain storms this past week after a long drought. What a relief! And now four very tiny frogs have appeared in the pond. (I don’t know what happened to the one we had before that was a little bigger.) A few days ago, this new water lily flower started blooming, […]

A half-decade after the Burmese military viciously expelled the Rohingya Muslim ethnic minority, justice is in short supply.

In a previous post I outlined some reasons why I don’t want to wear a preaching gown. In this post, I’ll do my best to give some of the many good reasons why Unitarian Universalist ministers should Geneva gowns, or other types of preaching gowns. First, women ministers are held to impossible standards of dress, … Continue reading "Preaching gowns, part two"

  Although no illustrations accompanied the  New York Sun  stories of a civilization on the Moon, artists and publishers were quick to produce prints depicting the alleged flying humanoid residents and other wonders. Almost a hundred years before Orson Welles soiled the knickers of radio listeners across the country with his broadcast of A War of the Worlds , a New York newspaper had many of its readersconvinced that the world’s most famous astronomerhad observed a civilization on the Moon through a powerful telescope. On August 25, 1835 the New York Sun published the first of six articles which claimed that noted Britishastronomer Sir John Herschel made the observations through a powerful new telescope “of a new design.”   The...

I was trying to explain to someone why I don’t wear a preaching gown, or any other clerical vestments. It’s kind of a long explanation, so I thought I’d turn it into a blog post. Unitarian Universalists ministers who wear gowns to preach typically wear one of two types of gown. If they have a … Continue reading "Preaching gowns"

I've gotten my quality award base to the point of gluing it up. Sanding will come next, then finish, then shipping to the supplier who will attach an acrylic block containing the essential information of the award.  Cutting the miters and assembling the base reminded me of a question asked by a member of the Central Indiana Wood Workers. He asked about the need to stand miters before assembly.  There are three good reasons to leave a well cut joint alone. First, in sanding, however much one tries to be perfect, the perfect joint will be made less perfect. Secondly, sanding dust will fill the pores of the wood, making glue less effective in securing the joint. Third, sanding adds an unnecessary step in which mistakes can be made. How ma...

The case: At each meal, Master Jinniu himself would bring the rice bucket to the front of the Zen hall, dance there and laugh loudly, saying, “Dear Bodhisattvas, come and eat rice!” (Xuedou said, “Although he behaved that way, he was not [simply] kind.”) A monk asked Changqing, “An ancient worthy said, 'Dear Bodhisattvas, come and eat rice!' What does it mean?” Changqing said, “That is exactly like praising and giving thanks at the midday meal.” ( Blue Cliff Record , #74)I want to talk to you today about that koan that Tracy read – look at some of the lessons it offers. It’s about how we become genuine, authentic – become who we are – and that the way to do that is compassion. But first, what are koans? In the 12t...

No archeologisthas the power of Solsummer soul unrelentingcourt of last appealrefuses a reprieve the currents ceasethe ripples endthe inhabitants flee if they have the powerunearthed the hunger stonesour ancestors telling uswhat we already know the famine agebegunbeyondthe bed riven withfissures in a kilncrafted in greed a mountain of goldcannot buy a single dropof the Loireabundant … Continue reading "Eden to eternity"

TWH explores the use of cover crops in the fight against climate change. Continue reading Cover crops and sustainability at The Wild Hunt.

Mobilizing UUs in solidarity with Indigenous front-line communities is a critical part of our climate justice work. Communities where Black, Indigenous, and People of Color live are hit first and worst by the impacts of climate change and the pollution that causes it. Our climate advocacy must center the lived experiences and knowledge of these frontline communities. UUs Beth Ogilvie with Starr King Unitarian Universalist Church and Colleen Cabot with First Unitarian Church of San Jose reached out to Side With Love to share an important call to action put forward by the Protect Juristac Advocacy Partners Coalition. Please read their update, take the actions they share, and consider what climate justice looks like in your community? Wh...

Who’s your favorite people’s historian, and why is it Howard Zinn? He’s ours, too, and today, August 24, he would have turned one hundred. He wore many hats: social activist, professor, author, and playwright. He meant so much to us here at Beacon Press. Going through the books we published of his, including his memoir, “You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train,” we get a little misty eyed. To celebrate his hundredth birthday, we pulled some beloved quotes that showcase his life’s worth of wisdom and insights on hope, the politics of writing history, the power of social movements, nonviolence, class, race, education, and much more.

A few years ago my wife, daughter and I visited Jim Thorpe, PA, a small tourist town in the Poconos.  It is a delightful small town that got the idea that they could capitalize on the fame of the World's Greatest Athlete with whom the town had no prior connection. There's a new biography of Jim Thorpe reviewed in the New York Times, "PATH LIT BY LIGHTNING: The Life of Jim Thorpe," by David Maraniss.     In the meantime, I'm working on an Arkansas Governor's Award base for the Arkansas Quality Awards commission and planning for a veteran's class next week. Make, fix and create...

Remember eternityWhere the forest growsDies, rots, burnsFrom ashes to canopyTowering shadows,Coolness even on aJuly day blazing Footfalls silentBouncing gently on the mossPast lichen-drenched logsIn the cycle towards oblivionMystery aboundsSpiritual and sacredAt dusk the fairies danceLeaving their circles toThe other sideCuriosity comes, chided by senseThat their realm is not ours Remember eternityWhere the forest grows

                                    Rev. Theodore Parker in 1855. Theodore Parker was born on August 24, 1810 inLexington, Massachusetts.  His large family had deep roots in New England.  His grandfather was the Captain Parker who commandedthe militia on Lexington Greenin the opening skirmish of the American Revolution. He was scholarly and devout but lost both parents and his seven of his nine siblings by the time he was 27, mostly to that scourge of the era consumption (tuberculosis.)  The losses confirmed his rejection of Calvinist orthodoxy. As a youth he was unable to afford tuition at Harvard, so he read the entire curriculum on his own.  He dallied as a school masterand toyed with the idea of becoming a la...

    Blood, that wears treason in his face, Villain complete in parson’s gown, How much he is at court in grace For stealing Ormond and the crown! Since loyalty does no man good, Let’s steal the King, and outdo Blood! John Wilmot, History of Insipids Thomas Blood died on this day, the 24th of […]

In pain we are onethat which cannot healfull and completecracked not brokenpottery beautiful when the piecescome together throughsweat and toil the raw heart hurtswhen touchedbeating remindingeach of us we are still alivein pain we are one risesoarknow that each timewe take flightthe ground will never be the sameupon our returnlet us love our cracks“that whatever … Continue reading "Raw heart"

Research suggests that drought may have been an instigator in the shift to Islam as a religious practice within the Arabian peninsula. Continue reading Extreme Drought may have created conditions for Islam to emerge at The Wild Hunt.

Our Co-ministers Rev. Wendy Bartel and Rev. Lynn Gardner are on study leave this week focused on faith development, spiritual deepening, continuing education, worship research and writing, and many, many administrative tasks in preparation for the coming church year. The post Co-Ministers Colloquy – August 23rd appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

RE classes will resume Sunday, 9/25! To register your child(ren), click HERE : Below is a list of this year’s awesome RE offerings. Please note that this is a tentative schedule while we’re inviting folks to teach, facilitate, and advise. A final schedule will ... read more . The post Religious Education News – August 23rd appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

I suspect we could all make a long list of the major problems facing us today—from threats to democracy at home, to global climate change, and so much more. As the author and activist Grace Lee Boggs used to say, “Another world is necessary.” But she didn’t stop there. She would add, “Another world is […]

  Bartolomeo Vanzetti (left) and Nicola Sacco being escorted to their trial. Left wing organizations —what was left of them—were forced to go on the defensivein the wake of the mass suppression and repression of the Red Scare following World War I.   For much of the following decade a lot of their organizational effort went into raising money and consciousness for the legal defense of scores of martyrs and for the support of the families of jailed militants.   The same pattern happened after the McCarthyite suppression of the 1950’s and in the backlash against student radicals, the anti-war movement, and militant Blacks and other minority movements in the early ’70’s.   But no case in any of these three eras attracted as mu...

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, author Rachel Pollack hospitalized, megalithic stones on the Iberian peninsula, zodiac drinks and food, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of August 22, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

Mobilizing UUs in solidarity with Indigenous front-line communities is a critical part of our climate justice work. Communities where Black, Indigenous, and People of Color live are hit first and worst by the impacts of climate change and the pollution that causes it. Our climate advocacy must center the lived experiences and knowledge of these frontline communities. UUs Beth Ogilvie with Starr King Unitarian Universalist Church and Colleen Cabot with First Unitarian Church of San Jose reached out to Side With Love to share an important call to action put forward by the Protect Juristac Advocacy Partners Coalition. Please read their update, take the actions they share, and consider what climate justice looks like in your community? Wh...

During the peak of the pandemic I fell woefully behind on both posting the texts of my sermons and keeping my sermon index up to date. One of my sabbatical projects is to work to rectify that situation. This morning, I finished updating my sermon index. It now is complete from 2006 to the present […]

    “Make of yourself a light”said the Buddha,before he died.I think of this every morningas the east beginsto tear off its many cloudsof darkness, to send up the first signal-a white fanstreaked with pink and violet,even green.An old man, he lay downbetween two sala trees,and he might have said anything,knowing it was his final […]

A fanciful European version of the Pueblo uprising. On August 21, 1680 the embattled Spanish at Santa Fe , Nuevo México broke a week-long siege by members of several Pueblos and fled south to El Paso del Norteabandoning the northern province of New Spain to the native residents.  Despite repeated efforts the Spanish were not able to retake control of the district for twelve years.  It was the first successful expulsion of Europeans by a native peoplein North America and only one of a handful of instances it was ever accomplishedeven briefly. Spanish settlement of New Mexico dated to 1598 when several hundred Europeans established the settlement of San Gabriel across the Rio Grande from San Juan Pueblo. About 1608, they moved their cap...

Deborah Castellano’s new book Magic For Troubled Times is the closest thing you can get to apprenticing under an experienced witch without actually going to the witch’s cottage and stirring her cauldron while she explains the spells you’re helping her cast.

With great anticipation, we invite you to UU Wellspring! UU Wellspring is a year-long Unitarian Universalist program of spiritual deepening and connection. The post UU Wellspring appeared first on BeyondBelief.

LREDA and UUMA Colleagues may use this video for worship, etc. free of charge. Please be sure to use my correct pronouns – they/them – when giving attribution. Click here to support my work. “This I Know” – A Blessing for the Ministries of the Rev. Misha Dawn Sanders and Northwest Unitarian Universalist CongregationWritten by HP […]

Netflix's The Sandman hits on magical themes and considered the degrees to which all beings - even deities- can transcend their origins. Continue reading The Sandman: where nightmares and fantasies strive for agency at The Wild Hunt.

Sundays – June 5, July 17, August 21 @ 1-2:30 pm Join us in making Seed Balls! We will be distributing the seed balls to communities that have been affected by the NM fires. Event is for kids and adults of all ages! Everyone welcome! LA Seed Library Project & The Unitarian Church of Los …<p> Seed Ball Sundays Read More »

    The Dark Soil of GodA Zen Meditation on the Psalms James Ishmael Ford The earth belongs to the Divineand everything on it.For the Divine wove it out of the emptiness of space and breathed life into every corner,bringing forth all life,and all of it precious. Who is fit to care for thisand worthy to act […]

A faith journey is never a smooth road - the landscape changes, as well as our vantage point; sometimes our wanderlust gets the better of us; sometimes the place we've settled no longer fits. How do we navigate the path? What's the destination? Or is the journey the whole point?

Even when you have hiked a particular trail many times, there can still be surprises. We saw both a gopher snake and a bobcat this week, rare sightings on familiar trails. Of course, they live here and were likely right there behind the bushes and in the grass all the other times we trundled by […]

We only saw two Fringe shows our last two days in Edinburgh. Tuesday we went to “Are We All in a Cult?” by an obscure comedian whose stage name is Mowten and about whom I can find precious little information on the internet. And Wednesday we went to Dana Alexander’s “Don’t Start Me on White […]

 Devastation after the Rochester, Minnesota super tornado of 1883. It was a hot, muggy day in southeast Minnesota on August 31, 1883.   Joseph Lenard an eyewitness to events that day would later recall in the History of Olmsted County, Minnesota: At Rochester the day had been hot with a strong southeast wind, the air was smoky and oppressive, the heavens were overcast with clouds of a dull leaden line, and there were, apparently, three strata, all moving in different directions. In other words, conditions were ripe for violent weather. At 3:30 in the afternoon a tornado estimated as an F3 in the modern rating system touched down near Pleasant Grove, about 16 miles southwest of Rochester.   Two people were killed and hurt.   It was th...

Please join us this Sunday (21 August  2022) at 11:00 AM for “No, We Are Not a Christian Nation:  The Rise of Christian Nationalism and What the Founders Had to Say About it” with Susan Caldwell and Barbara Deger. We will be meeting in the sanctuary for this worship service.  Please join us in person … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (21 August 2022)"

Join us next Sunday (28 August 2022) at 11:00 AM for our annual water communion worship service. We will have more details on this service next week as we mark the end of summer in our church community.

On Sunday (28 August 2022), join us from 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM for our annual end of summer swim party and potluck. Bring a dish to pass and join us at the home of Kathy Osuch and Mike Roberts (their address will be available on the All Souls Caring Connection Facebook  Group, on the … Continue reading "End of Summer Swim Party (28 August 2022)"

Join us on Sunday (11 September 2022) at 11:00 AM for the annual presentation of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award. The Emerson Award is given annually by our congregation to the individual or organization in the wider community whose life and work best exemplify the values and principles of liberal religion. In 2022, we are … Continue reading "2022 Emerson Award Honoree"

There will be no adult religious education class this Sunday (21 August 2022). Join us next Sunday (28 August 2022) at 9:00 AM as we begin a two-part exploration of the movement for LGBTQ+ rights within the Unitarian Universalist Association.  We will be meeting via Zoom.

Summer religious education is more art and activity-based. All children and youth are with us in the 11:00 AM service for the first 20 minutes or so and then are dismissed to their activities. On Sunday (21 August 2022), Maggie Molisee will be back to work on the mural with the group.

Please join us next Tuesday (23 August 2022) at 12 noon for our weekly Zoom lunch. Bring your lunch and meet up with your All Souls friends, have lunch, and just catch up.

As a gay man who has enjoyed a rich and varied sex life, I can tell you that this was certainly not the first time that someone has tried to slut-shame me, but it was the first to do so in a book review. (So, give them points for creativity, I suppose.) Continue reading Opinion: Sex Magic and Collective Shame at The Wild Hunt.

Rabbi Yonatan Neril, founder of the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development and co-author of the Eco-Bible, adds another reason why electric cars won’t solve the ecological crisis: “The ecological crisis is a spiritual crisis. It’s not just about nature and bees and the birds and the trees and the toads. It’s also about human beings … Continue reading "More on electric cars"

  Fort Laramie a few years before the Grattan Massacre painted by Alfred Jacob Miller. Note —Yesterday we saw how badly foolish grandstanding resulted in the disastrous last battle of the American Revolution at Blue Licks.   Today we see the same fatal arrogance produce comparable results sparking the First Sioux War and decades of warfare and tragedy culminating if the Massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890. John Lawrence Grattan was less than two months out of West Point and was rumoredto have made the acquaintance of a razoron one or two occasions .   He had newly arrived at Fort Laramie on the Oregon and Mormon Trails to join the small detachment of the 6th Infantry Regiment which had been posted there to protect the emigrant wagon tr...

      Fortune favors the bold. Great line, that. Comes from the Latin, where it was a sturdy proverb. Possibly distilled from a line from the Pre-Socratic philosopher Democritus. It has a couple of variations, but with the same meaning. The line appears in Virgil’s Aeneid and Terence’s Phormio. Ovid gives it a twist […]

Please join us on Saturday (20 August 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 (20 August 2022)"

Science fiction author and Scottish nationalist Charles Stross opines: “I’m going to suggest that American automobile culture is fundamentally toxic and aggressively hegemonizing and evangelical towards other cultures, and needs to be heavily regulated and rolled back.” Not to belabor the point, but while electric cars may help us address climate change, they still emit … Continue reading "Electric cars are not the solution to the world’s problems"

Looking back, although as a child I loved the stories of the Greek gods, although my mother told me about the Egyptian myths, although in my adolescence I leaned towards the Celts, I found my place among La Llorona, El Silbón, Los Momoyes, Juan Hilario, El Hachador Perdido, María Lionza, La Sayona, and many more. Continue reading Column: Four Years Looking Back at The Wild Hunt.

Viendo hacia atrás, aunque de niño me encantaban las historias de los dioses griegos, aunque mi madre me contaba sobre los mitos egipcios, aunque en mi adolescencia me incliné por los celtas, encontré mi lugar entre la Llorona, el Silbón, los Momoyes, Juan Hilario, el Hachador Perdido, María Lionza, La Sayona, y muchos más. Continue reading Columna: “Los años no pasan en vano” – Cuatro años mirando hacia atrás at The Wild Hunt.

The UUA Board of Trustees will soon be appointing members to a five to seven person Bylaws Renewal Team. This team will lead the work in reimagining and rewriting the UUA Bylaws. Continue reading "UUA Board Calls for Volunteers for Bylaws Renewal Team"

Sunday, August 21, 10:30 a.m. sUUmmer Sunday Spirit Circle   “I am resilient I trust the movement I negate the chaos Uplift the negative I’ll show up at the table Again and again and again I’ll close my mouth and learn to listen “These times are poignant The winds have shifted It’s all we can do To   [ … ] The post Sunday, August 21 ~ Spirit Circle ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

The Battle of Blue Lick as depicted in a display by the Kentucky National Guard, the descendant of the routed Militia. School children in those quaint days when they were supposed to memorize important events and dates in history, could tell you with certainty that the American Revolution was won on October 19, 1781 when Lord Charles Cornwallis surrendered his army to George Washington ’s Continentals and a large French force.   Certainly, with the main British Army in the bag as prisoners of war , it effectively put an end to most fighting in the settled eastern coastal regions.   General Washington took the Continental Army into camp at Newport .   By tacit gentlemen’s agreement garrisons leftisolated were allowed to remain un-m...

Prayer for Teachers Beloved, grant courage and heart to all who teach this season, to enter classrooms, to meet new and returning students, to imagine and develop lessons, and to invite others to greater learning, knowledge, and wisdom. Bless those who are educators, drawing out the skills and strengths of...

A recent case regarding an improperly handled burial on private property in Wales highlights the laws governing such burials and procedures required. Continue reading Pagan-style burial causes legal problems in Wales at The Wild Hunt.

By Ricky Tucker | On July 29, 2022, our lordt and save-her, Beyoncé, released “Renaissance,” her long-awaited seventh studio album that, coming off its lead single, “Break My Soul,” promised to be redemptive to all of us who, in the past few years, have felt cast aside, if not full-on antagonized, by the powers that be, including that relentless microscopic militia known as covid. That jerk . . . Anyhow, Beyoncé delivered. Us.

 I have recently discovered that since I changed my email address, all the comments you've made over the past many months, even years, have not been forwarded on to me for moderation.  I have now changed my settings and you should be able to send a comment on any of the recent posts, so that I can approve them and post them on the blog. Thanks to those of you who have read the blog faithfully and have even tried to leave a comment---if I have time soon, I will attempt to tackle the backlog and approve the pending comments. Sincerely, Ms. Kitty

I'm in Indianapolis this week with the Central Indiana Woodworkers https://ciww.org We had great attendance last night for my presentation. It is an amazing group, very dedicated to education and service to the communities and kids in the Indianapolis area.  Among their various activities is making thousands of toys for holiday distribution to kids. At the Indianapolis State Fair this week, they've sold thousands of dollars worth of toys and had hundreds of kids making and decorating tops. Today and tomorrow I'll be teaching box making techniques. Make, fix and create...

Yesterday morning, I was sitting next to the pond, writing in my journal. After I’d been there, and quiet for a long time, this chipmunk approached the other side of the pond, climbed down the rocks and took long drinks of water. After a couple minutes, it quickly climbed back up the rocks and ran […]

  This popular and widely circulated 19th Century print purports to depict the christening of Virginia Dare.  Wrong on several counts.  She may have been christened, but there was no clergyman or deacon among the colonists.  And no structure in the struggling colony was was grand and spacious as this timbered Tudor home.  Colonists were living in huts and hovels.  On August 18, 1587 Virginia Dare was born on Roanoke Island , one of the Outer Bank Islands off the coastof what is now North Carolina in a fledglingcolony underwritten by adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh.  Her mother Eleanor was one of 17 women who had made the hazardous Atlantic crossing and was the daughter of the man assigned by Raleigh to establish the colony, John Whi...

I don’t take advice. I listen and I evaluate, and if something makes sense to me and for me, I’ll try it. If it doesn’t I ignore it – and I ignore a lot. This is the worst advice I’ve received over the course of my life.

Sharon Dittmar Any time someone enters online or in-person congregational space, there are several opportunities for multiple connection points from which a long-term relationship can continue and grow. Continue reading "Make “A Warm Welcome” Part of your “New Normal”"

The issues of plagiarism continue to impact authors and publishers alike and are compounded by so many books being available in digital format. Continue reading “Stealing from others:” The continuing plagiarism of Pagan books at The Wild Hunt.

The last time I went to Israel, the world was evidently ending. It was near to the end of 1999, and people were feeling frantic about the arrival of Y2K and start of the second millennium in the common era. … Continue reading →

Summer convening brings together Pacific Island partners to discuss climate change.

                                               Mae West as we remember her best--blonde and brazen. She was a tiny lady, barely five foot tall.  It was more than her trademark Gay 90’s plumed hats that made her seem much bigger.  It was a bold, brassy, and irreverent persona that challenged everything puritanical America valued in submissive, virtuous, sexless, and dependent womanhood.  It took decades, but by the time she died the culture had caught up with her .  Yet the feminists of those later days were hardly grateful.  They could only see a woman who marketed herself as a sex object.  Those feminists had more in common with the Puritans than they would ever like to admit. Mary Jane West was born ...

The reviews from our second day at the Fringe.

I first came to Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) by way of Bob Dylan (1941-). Regarding Guthrie’s influence on him, Dylan said, “You could listen to his songs and actually learn how to live” (Seymour, 21).  The two singer-songwriters only met once. In 1961, when Dylan was 19 years old, he visited Guthrie in the hospital. Guthrie […]

Our Co-ministers, the Rev. Lynn Gardner and the Rev. Wendy Bartel are on study leave. As the UUA describes it, “In recognition that Ministers need extended time away from the stresses and demands of daily congregational life to deepen their calling and develop their skills, ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Aug. 16th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Religious Education classes will resume Sunday, 9/25! Please register your child(ren) by clicking HERE . Below is a list of this year’s awesome Religious Education (RE) offerings…</p> OWL!  (Our Whole Lives sexuality education): Sexuality education programs change lives. Honest, accurate information about sexuality changes lives. It ... read more . The post Religious Education News – Aug. 16th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

By Catherine Ceniza Choy | Since 2020, Asian Americans in the United States have experienced dual existential crises: anti-Asian violence and COVID-19. According to Stop AAPI Hate, nearly 11,500 hate incidents were reported to its organization between March 19, 2020 and March 31, 2022. While the uptick in this violence has been connected to present-day coronavirus-related racism and xenophobia, anti-Asian violence and the association of Asian bodies with disease are not new.

Research into Norse occupation and influence in Ireland highlights the creation of the major cities and how Irish medieval manuscripts reflected the shifts in culture. Continue reading Irish Medieval manuscripts and Viking settlements at The Wild Hunt.

Climate change is a complex problem. There are no easy answers and often more questions. Holding complexity is part of the work we must do to realize a healthy and resilient future where all can thrive. The Inflation Reduction Act puts forth the most ambitious climate action to ever pass US Congress. With significant investments in clean energy, transportation, and environmental justice, the IRA is projected to reduce emissions 40% by 2030. It’s historic. It’s exciting. It’s getting us closer to our climate goals. YES! This legislation will have wide scale and lasting impacts for generations to come. Sadly, those impacts are not all positive or just. The Inflation Reduction Act is an example of the ways advocates and legislators ne...

                                                         Chang and Eng as young men on exhibition in Asia. On August 16, 1829 two young immigrant brothers arrived in Boston.   Nothing much unusual in that, except that instead of being Europeans they were from the Kingdom of Siam.   And, by the way, they were co-joined twins, linked at the sternum by a sliver of cartilage and a bit of liver, although each man had a completeand fully functioning organ.   They came to America, like so many other immigrants, to seek their fortune.   They did better than most.   Their story says a lot about 19th Century America, class, and race. Chang and Eng were born to a village fisherman and his wife, both of Chinese...

I leave by air on Wednesday to spend 3 days with the Central Indiana Woodworkers teaching short classes. I begin with an evening session with their monthly meeting. Coffee and Cookies begin at 6:30 PM August 17 with presentation and club meeting to follow. The program is described as follows:  "Author and unique boxmaker Doug Stowe will be our guest presenter for the Wednesday, August 17, 2022 monthly meeting at the Carpenters Union 301 Hall, 3530 S Rural St., Indianapolis, IN, starting at 7:00 PM. The topic of hs presentation will be the Personal Satisfaction of Working with our Hands. Based on his most recent book, The Wisdom of our Hands, he will share his life-long journey of finding meaning and satisfaction in the woodworking craft...

A review of my first day at the Edinburgh Fringe.

      Thomas Edward Lawrence was born today, the 16th of August, in 1888, in Wales. The family situation was, well, complicate. He read, as they say, history at Jesus College, Oxford. Taking his degree he received a scholarship to travel to the Middle East. he quickly learned Arabic and worked as an archeologist […]

Gatekeeping the divine is not just a Christian problem. But you need no one’s permission to approach the Gods, or to approach any God. What happens after that is between you and Them and no one else.

In this week's Pagan Community Notes: Rushdie attacked, Woman allegedly starts fire using "Wiccan spell book", Nemi Italy celebrates Nemoralia, the supermoon, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of August 15, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.