Please join us on Saturday (11 September 2021) from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM for our monthly building and grounds work day.

There are tasks indoors and out for all ages and abilities — come for the whole time or for whatever part of the day you can make it.

Vaccinated or not vaccinated — please wear your mask when you are working near others.  Hope to see you there.

Please join us on Saturday (11 September 2021) 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 via email or phone using (318) 272-0014.

By Joan Murray

Photo credit: Manfred Richter

Last week, I got a call from a stranger. She was an elder at a church planning a remembrance ceremony for the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and asked if I’d read a poem. It was a poem I wrote on an Amtrak train four days after the attacks, and when I read it on NPR four days later, it became something of an anthem. Thousands of people from all over the world wanted copies: A factory owner in the Midwest wanted to read it to his workers; a Maryland police sergeant wanted to read it to her officers before they went on duty; a Canadian physician wanted to read it at a conference. People said they needed the poem.

The poem shot out of me after I ran into a group of young men in the train’s café car. They were wearing shorts and jeans but were standing in a way that made it seem they were on a mission. When I asked them, they said they were firemen on their way to New York “to dig at the Pile.” I said, “I hope you find some survivors,” and went back to my seat, and out came “Survivors—Found.” I believe its power lay in its empathy and compassion, the way it paid tribute to the goodness of everyday people, the way it shone a light on our better natures and gave us something to weigh against the horrors of that day. Those horrors were unspeakable, but, as people said, the poem spoke to their souls. It didn’t mention burning buildings. It mentioned window washers, waitresses, and firemen.

My grandfather was a New York fireman, yet it was the firemen on the train who reminded me of my parents’ generation, the so-called “greatest generation,” who did difficult and selfless things, often because they had to. My own generation was the movement-politics generation that questioned authority and created positive social change. With our casual anti-American posture and intellectual-class privilege, we dominated the media. But in the four days following the attacks, there were other people on our screens: Latina women ladling soup to rescue workers; iron workers cutting tangled beams; people in small cities donating blood. Everyday Americans. And we found ourselves among them.

That vision was widely embraced. I was invited to read the poem at the official New York State 9/11 Memorial Observance, at a stadium unveiling of the 9/11 stamp, and at a Fallen Brothers Foundation fundraiser. NECN TV in Boston used my reading as the voiceover for a 9/11 video, and three publishers asked me to put together an anthology in response to the attacks.

I agreed to do an anthology with Beacon since they’d published me before and I knew they’d do something meaningful and respectful. (No burning buildings on the cover!) I called the book Poems to Live By in Uncertain Times, and, for its contents, I chose poems from my home library that I’d turned to before in difficult times: poems about loss by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Jane Kenyon, Daniel Berrigan, and others; poems of wisdom by Lucille Clifton, Seamus Heaney, and Primo Levi, and more; poems that spoke directly to the soul about fear, courage, war, and the elusive need to pray. And, at my editor’s insistence, I included “Survivors—Found.”

For two months, I worked day and night, as did everyone at Beacon, to ensure we’d have Poems to Live by in Uncertain Times in hand on November 11 (two months after the attacks) when I read at the firefighters’ fundraiser. The book quickly became a Beacon Bestseller, and five years later, in response to the unconscionable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, I put together another anthology, Poems to Live By in Troubling Times. The books remain popular because they’re not about 9/11 or the post-9/11 wars, but about the struggles in the human heart and conscience. As a stranger said by phone, “My wife died a year ago, and the only thing that’s helped me is your book.”

So how do I feel about “Survivors—Found” now? I’m proud and grateful to have written it, and I’m enormously gratified that it helped so many who were wounded or traumatized by 9/11, or who needed words to express their grief and sympathy. But after all the horrifying deaths of the past twenty years—the COVID deaths of more than 640,000 people in the US alone; the opioid deaths of 500,000; the deaths of 7,000 US troops and untold Middle Easterners in the post-9/11 wars; as well as the numerous people killed by fires or floods or at the hands of civilian racists or police—is it still appropriate to remember those lost on 9/11?

I don’t believe tragedies vie for exclusivity or for a high notch on a sliding scale of grief. If I grieve for the mass-shooting victims at Sandy Hook Elementary, Pulse Nightclub, the El Paso Walmart, or Mother Emanuel Church, can’t I also grieve for those murdered on 9/11? If I mourn for Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Ahmaud Arbery, Stephon Clark, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Daunte Wright, and Elijah McClain, can’t I also mourn for Father Mycah Judge, the openly gay NYC firefighter chaplain; and Bernard Brown, the eleven-year-old Black boy on the plane that hit the Pentagon; and Walter Hynes, the brother-in-law of one of my oldest friends, who was one of the 343 firefighters among the nearly three thousand people murdered that day?

The 9/11 attacks came before all those other tragedies. I believe it hit us so hard because it was so unimaginable, because it was so instantaneous and enormous, because its images were so searing, and because we felt so innocent. But I also believe that the acute sense of loss we felt on 9/11 opened our hearts, and I hope that on this significant anniversary, our hearts will open even wider.

***

“Survivors—Found”

and the heroes standing ready—
not glamorous enough—
on days without a tragedy,
we clicked—and turned them off.

We only say the cynics—
The dropouts, show-offs, snobs—
The right- and left-wing critics:
We thought that they were us.

But with the wounds of Tuesday
When the smoke began to clear,
We rubbed away our stony gaze—
And watched them reappear:

the waitress in the tower,
the broker reading mail,
the pair of window washers,
filling up a final pail,

the husband’s last “I love you”
from the last seat of a plane,
the tourist taking in a view
no one would see again,

the fireman, his eyes ablaze
as he climbed the swaying stairs—
he knew someone might still be saved.
We wondered who it was.

We glimpsed them through the rubble:
the ones who lost their lives,
the heroes’ double burials,
the ones now “left behind,”

the ones who rolled a sleeve up,
the ones in scrubs and masks,
the ones who lifted buckets
filled with stone and grief and ash:

some spoke a different language—
still no one missed a phrase;
the soot had softened every face
of every shade and age—

“the greatest generation”?—
we wondered where they’d gone—
they hadn’t left directions
how to find our nation-home:

for thirty years we saw few signs,
but now in swirls of dust,
they were alive—they had survived—
we saw that they were us.

About the Author 

Joan Murray is a National Poetry Series winner, a two-time National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship winner, and winner of Poetry Society of America’s Gordon Barber Award. Her five full-length collections include Swimming for the Ark: New & Selected Poems 1990-2015, Dancing on the Edge, Queen of the Mist, Looking for the Parade, and The Same Water. She is editor of The Pushcart Book of Poetry and the Poems to Live By anthologies from Beacon Press.

Whether we are online or in-person, one of the best gifts we can give is presence-being fully present with one’s self, one another, and open to the sacred, the mystery of life, the Holy. This month, we’ll explore various ways we can live our Unitarian Universalist faith more fully, while deepening our practices of presence.

The post September Theme – Deepening Presence appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, is often celebrated with apples and honey, for a “sweet new year.” It is seen as a blessing to be able to partake in sweetness, and it evokes gratitude.

How can you bring sweetness into your life today?

The Daily Compass offers words and images to inspire spiritual reflection and encourage the creation of a more loving, inclusive and just world. Produced by The Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation with no geographical boundary. Please support the publishing of The Daily Compass by making a $10 or $25 contribution (more if you can, less if you can't)! Thank you for your support!

On Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, the shofar, a horn made from a ram’s horn, is blown in synagogues around the world. It calls people to attention and wakes them up to the spiritual work that needs to be done to greet the new year.

What is the spiritual work you have to do? How can you wake yourself up to it?

The Daily Compass offers words and images to inspire spiritual reflection and encourage the creation of a more loving, inclusive and just world. Produced by The Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation with no geographical boundary. Please support the publishing of The Daily Compass by making a $10 or $25 contribution (more if you can, less if you can't)! Thank you for your support!

We invite all who worship remotely to join us the second Saturday of the month. We will enjoy the fellowship of All Souls while we break virtual bread, renew old acquaintances, and make new friends.

The post Join & Enjoy the All Souls Virtual Supper Club appeared first on BeyondBelief.

“Now, anything that exists in history must have form. And the creation of a form requires power … not only the power of thought, but the power of organization and the organization of power.” Thus liberal religion rejects “the immaculate conception of virtue and affirms the necessity of social incarnation.” These words of James Luther Adams, the great 20th century Unitarian Universalist ethicist, describe one of his “five smooth stones” – basic principles of liberal religion that stand in place of elaborate theological doctrine. Labor Day weekend is the perfect time to celebrate in story and song the achievements of the U.S. Labor Movement – a powerful example of “social incarnation.”

The Rev. Dr. Suzanne Redfern-Campbell retired from active ministry in July 2018, having served Unitarian Universalist congregations since 1985. Her most recent full-time ministry was at the UU Church of Las Cruces, where she served five years as Developmental Minister. This past year, she did a two-month sabbatical ministry for the UU Fellowship of Fairbanks, Alaska. Sue came to ministry from the practice of law, and has served congregations in six states and one Canadian province. During her ministries, Sue discovered a passion for helping congregations in transition and is an Accredited Interim Minister. She landed in New Mexico after marrying her late husband, Chuck Campbell, on New Year’s Day 2012, and now lives in Albuquerque with a hyperactive rescue cat named Phoenix.

SERVICE NOTES

WELCOME!

New to our church community?  Sign our guestbook and let us know if you’d like to get more connected.

If you would like to submit a joy or sorrow to be read during next week’s service, we invite you to write it in our  Virtual Prayer Book.

For more information on our church community, visit us on the web at  http://www.uulosalamos.org or call at 505-662-2346. 

Connect with us on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/uulosalamos

Have questions?  While our minister, the Rev. John Cullinan, is on sabbatical, contact our office administrator at:  office@uulosalamos.org.

MUSIC CREDITS

• “Let Us Break Bread Together,” trad. spiritual, arr. John Carter.  (Nylea Butler-Moore, piano). Permission to stream the arrangement in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.
• “De Colores,” trad. Mexican folk song. (Susan Gisler, vocals & acoustic guitar). Song Public Domain, video used by permission.  
• “One More Step” by Joyce Poley, harm. by Grace Lewis-McLaren. (Susan Gisler, vocals & acoustic guitar). Used by permission of the UUA (Unitarian Universalist Association). 
• “Step by Step, the Longest March,” Irish folk song, words from the preface to American Miners’ Association Constitution (1861). Recorded for the Unitarian Universalist Society of Iowa City for its October 11, 2020 service. (Dave Rowe, vocals, acoustic guitar, & penny whistle and Stacey Guth, vocals). Used by permission of the UUA.
• “Nine to Five” by Dolly Parton. (Nylea Butler-Moore, vocals & piano). Permission to stream BMI song # 1068031 in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.
• “We Will Not Stop Singing” by The Chapin Sisters (Lily & Abigail). Song copyright The Chapin Sisters, published by sad pony music and foggy mountain music (ASCAP). Arranged by Adam Podd, featuring the First Unitarian Brooklyn Choir (with Dennis Wees, Kiena Williams, Brandon Hornsby-Selvin, and Candice Helfand-Rogers). Audio and video editing and production by Adam Podd.  Used by permission of the UUA.
• “The Way,” text: unknown author, music: Nylea L. Butler-Moore. (UU Virtual Singers with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.) Used by permission. 

Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.
Permission to stream music in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770

 OTHER NOTES

* “Opening Words for Labor Day,” by the Rev. Megan Visser (used with permission)

* Meditation: “We Need One Another,” by George E. Odell (used with permission)

Photograph of Frances Perkins used with permission of the Frances Perkins Center.

* “Be a Pain” music and lyrics by Alastair Moock. Produced by Anand Nayak Recorded & Mixed by Andrew Oedel. From the album, “Be a Pain: An Album for Young (and Old) Leaders.” Video produced and directed by Wishbone Zoe, based on album artwork by Tom Pappalardo.  Song Credits: Alastair Moock: lead vocals, acoustic guitar; Anand Nayak: electric guitar, background vocals; Paul Kochanski: electric bass; Scott Kessel: drums; Eric Royer: banjo; Jamie Walker: electric guitar; Sean Staples: background vocals; Kris Delmhorst: background vocals; Rani Arbo: background vocals; Mark Erelli: background vocals; Boston City Singers: background vocals.  

Reading: “Guiding Principles for a Free Faith: The Five Smooth Stones of Liberalism,” from On Being Human Religiously, by James Luther Adams (Beacon Press, 1976) (fair use)

* Benediction: “Commitment,” by Dorothy Day (used with permission)

*permission granted through the UUA (Unitarian Universalist Association)

 OFFERTORY

Our Share the Plate partner for September is Lutheran Family Services.

100% of all offered this month will be given to our partner.

We are now using Givelify.com to process the weekly offering: https://giv.li/5jtcps

SERVICE PARTICIPANTS

• Rev. Sue Redfern-Campbell, Guest Speaker
• Anne Marsh, Worship Associate
• Nylea Butler-Moore, Director of Music
• Susan Gisler, vocals & acoustic guitar
• UU Virtual Singers: Kelly Shea, Nylea Butler-Moore, Rebecca Howard, Anne Marsh, Kathy Gursky, Mike Begnaud, & Skip Dunn  
• Rick Bolton, Mike Begnaud, and Renae Mitchell, AV techs

Attached media: https://web.archive.org/web/20211111040750/https://www.uulosalamos.org/ucla/pulpit/2021/20210905-The_Power_of_Organization.mp3

Melissa Lewis will be at the church parking lot this Sunday afternoon (5 September 2021) from 2:00 to 4:00 PM to collect food and other items for the Noel United Methodist Church Food Pantry.

Items requested this month are Jiffy cornbread mix, canned fruit (any kind), and cereal (both large boxes and single-serving assortments are welcome).

Please join us next Wednesday (8 September 2021) 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.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services.

This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats.

For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook or have a Facebook account to view this video.

You can find the 29 August 2021 worship video here.

In recent weeks, millions of people around the world have been displaced from their homes because of storms, floods, fires, and wars. We hold them in our hearts and together work for their survival.

What is displacing you from solid spiritual ground today? How can you find a stable place to recover?

The Daily Compass offers words and images to inspire spiritual reflection and encourage the creation of a more loving, inclusive and just world. Produced by The Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation with no geographical boundary. Please support the publishing of The Daily Compass by making a $10 or $25 contribution (more if you can, less if you can't)! Thank you for your support!

Please join us on Saturday (4 September 2021) 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 via email or phone using (318) 272-0014.

“Home” means many different things to different people. For some, it is a place of safety. For others, is is a place of pain and trauma. For some, it is a reliable place to turn, and for others it is a place that exists in longing, unattainable in the present.

What does “home” mean to you? How has this meaning influenced your spiritual path?

The Daily Compass offers words and images to inspire spiritual reflection and encourage the creation of a more loving, inclusive and just world. Produced by The Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation with no geographical boundary. Please support the publishing of The Daily Compass by making a $10 or $25 contribution (more if you can, less if you can't)! Thank you for your support!

Image credit: Gerd Altmann

Ch-ch-ch-changes are happening to the US population, and time is changing us. The results from the Census Bureau’s 2020 head count are in: the country is growing more urban and more racially and ethnically diverse! And more citizens are identifying as mixed race. Put another way, the population is growing less white. White Americans are on track to make up the minority by 2042. What does this mean for a country founded on enslavement, settler colonialism, and systemic disenfranchisement? Let’s take several steps back to get perspective. These books from our catalog will be enlightening for our increasingly diverse future.

Did That Just Happen?!: Beyond “Diversity”—Creating Sustainable and Inclusive Organizations
Dr. Stephanie Pinder-Amaker and Lauren Wadsworth

The more diverse the workplace becomes, the more we’ll need to improve cultural awareness of a variety of communities and identities to sustain inclusivity at the office. It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. Drs. Stephanie Pinder-Amaker and Lauren Wadsworth offer real-life accounts that illustrate common workplace occurrences around inclusivity and answers to questions like “How do I identify and handle diversity landmines at work?” and “What can I do when I’ve made a mistake?”

Nice Racism: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm
Robin DiAngelo

Old habits die harder than a block of cement. Racism is one of them, whether it’s explicit or dressed up in niceness by White progressives. Don’t be surprised to see White families flocking to strictly white enclaves, especially for “better” schools and school districts. One of the moves of “nice racism” that Robin DiAngelo identifies in White progressives is pretending their preference for segregation is accidental. “It’s just a fluke,” they’ll say, or “This school is a better fit for my child.” They’re rewarded for living in White neighborhoods and, consequently, perpetuating segregation.

One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race
Yaba Blay

The US Census has a pitiful track record, and you need to know its history. It reveals a lot about how the country thinks about race. Since the period of colonial enslavement, Blacks have been defined by the one-drop rule. Through historiographic overview and sixty individual stories with photographs, Yaba Blay proves how the rule has everything to do with preserving the country club of whiteness and its privileges and nothing to do with Blackness as an identity and lived reality.

Proud Boys and the White Ethnostate: How the Alt-Right Is Warping the American Imagination
Alexandra Minna Stern

It will be inevitable. White nationalists will freak out and shout claims of white genocide because of the growth in our communities of color. Alexandra Minna Stern takes a deep dive down the rabbit hole to uncover the source of this ideology and teaches us how to recognize it in our cultural, political, and digital landscapes when it rears its ugly head. Because it will. White supremacy is quite the Hydra.

Same Family, Different Colors: Confronting Colorism in America’s Diverse Families
Lori L. Tharps

As more individuals and families identify has mixed race, they’ll find themselves navigating colorism, color bias, and skin-color politics. Weaving together personal stories and interviews, history, and cultural analysis, Lori L. Tharps illuminates the complex and multifaceted ways that colorism affects our self-esteem and shapes our lives and relationships. She also includes a brief history of the Census Bureau and how we got the term “Hispanic” in the census in the first place.

Some of My Friends Are . . . : The Daunting Challenges and Untapped Benefits of Cross-Racial Friendships
Deborah L. Plummer

In spite of the demographic ch-ch-ch-changes, people will still find ways of staying segregated within their social circles. Most US citizens tend to gravitate toward friendships within their own race. Plummer gives an insightful look at how cross-racial friendships work and fail. She also encourages all of us to examine our friendship patterns and to deepen and strengthen our current cross-racial friendships.

Superior: The Return of Race Science
Angela Saini

Continuing with the theme from Stern’s Proud Boys, mainstream scientists can hold fast to the idea that race is a biological reality, no matter how educated they are. The hope of finding simple genetic differences between “races”—to explain differing rates of disease, to explain poverty or test scores, or to justify cultural assumptions—stubbornly persists. Saini examines of the insidious and destructive nature of race science—and reminds us that, biologically, we are all far more alike than different.

Success Through Diversity: Why Inclusive Companies Will Win
Carol Fulp

Increasing demographics in our diverse society means our workforce will grow more racially and ethnically diverse. Companies that proactively embrace diversity in all areas of their operations will be best poised to thrive. Renowned business leader and visionary Carol Fulp explores staffing trends in the US and provides a blueprint for what businesses must do to maintain their competitiveness and customer base.

When One Religion Isn’t Enough: The Lives of Spiritually Fluid People
Duane R. Bidwell

With more people identifying as mixed race, there’s a good chance that they’ll come from two or more religious traditions. They’re part of the spiritually fluid community. No, they’re not confused or unable to commit. Duane R. Bidwell explores how they celebrate complex religious bonds, and in the process, blur social categories, evoke prejudice, and complicate religious communities. Religious and spiritual identity are not pure, static, and singular as we may assume.

White Space, Black Hood: Opportunity Hoarding and Segregation in the Age of Inequality
Sheryll Cashin

In spite of the growing diversity of our population, opportunity hoarding and segregation will still be a thing, because white supremacy lies at the root of the US caste system. Sheryll Cashin contends that geography is central to US caste and traces the history of anti-Black residential caste to unpack its current legacy so we can begin the work to dismantle the structures and policies that undermine Black lives.

The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Aug. 31, 2021 appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

• we need some assistance to figure out how to boost the internet bandwidth to be able to reach the back yard
• the A/V folks and Zoom monitors who are going to help the day of, come to a rehearsal the day before, to practice

Current guidance from the Unitarian Universalist Association: https://www.uua.org/leadership/library/delta-guidance

The post Volunteer Opportunities for Fall Worship with UUSS appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Last week, Haiti experienced first an earthquake, and then heavy rains from Tropical Storm Grace. The devastation has been immense and heartbreaking. We can help UUSC get much needed financial resources to grassroots groups by making a gift to the Emergency Response Fund. For more info, go to https://www.uusc.org/disaster-response-faq/.

The post Help the UU Service Committee Respond to Devastation in Haiti appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

EBWA Calendar 2021-2022

Evening Branch of the Women’s Alliance

Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady

1221 Wendell Avenue, Schenectady, NY

All Who Identify as Women are Welcome!

Sept. 23 “Police Reform in Schenectady” with Jamaica Miles, co-founder of “All of Us,” a grassroots organization fighting to end all forms of racism; newly-elected member of the Schenectady City School Board.

Oct. 28 “The Effects of Covid/Distance Learning on Schenectady Students” with Ebony Belmar, social worker, Schenectady City Schools; board member of the Working Group on Girls of Schenectady, Inc.

Nov. 18 “Communication for Unshakeable Relationships” with BJ Rosenfeld, author and expert in family relationships.

Dec. 16 “Why Are We Scared of Anti-Racist Theatre?” with Karen Christina Jones, Artistic Director, Callaloo Theater Company.

Jan. 27 “Community Development Efforts in Schenectady—Past and Present” with Jennica Huff, CEO Better Community Neighborhoods, Inc.

Feb. 17 “Conserving the Lands and Waters on Which All Life Depends” with Jessica Ottney Mahar, New York Policy and Strategy Director for The Nature Conservancy.

Mar. 31 “Risk and Resilience: Overcoming the Odds” with Teresa Gil, Ph.D., psychotherapist, professor, author.

Apr. 28 “Finding A Woman’s Place: The Story of a 1970’s Feminist Collective in the Adirondacks” with Lorraine Duvall, award-winning Adirondack author, political/ environmental podcaster.

May 26 “Women in the FBI: Then and Now” with Joanne Sills, retired FBI Special Agent.

June 16 “Schenectady’s Leading Ladies” —walking tour of the Stockade with Mary Zawicki, Executive Director, Schenectady County Historical Society.  

Traditionally EBWA meetings have been in-person and have begun with a light dinner.  However, due to Covid, we expect to continue using ZOOM for our meetings for the indeterminate future.  Like last year, the meetings will begin promptly at 7pm with the speaker at the beginning, followed by a Q&A period and networking.  We will end no later than 9pm. We will be sending out monthly announcements with details about each program by e-mail and in Circuits.

Again, as we did last year, we are funding the honorariums we pay our speakers through subscriptions by supporters, and we will not be charging women for each program; your check will cover a series of meetings.  If you wish to support our efforts, you may send a check made out to EBWA for $25 to Carol Furman (contact her at cfurm13@gmail.com for the mailing address).  Subscribers will be automatically added to the ZOOM list.  (We need at least 27 subscriptions to cover our costs for the year.)  You do not need to contact Gabrielle for each meeting if you are on the permanent ZOOM list. 

Judy Clough will e-mail the ZOOM link the day before each meeting (mimaclough@yahoo.com).

Those women who prefer to attend meetings occasionally may sign up each month by emailing Gabrielle at ellegr3@gmail.com by the Monday evening before each meeting. You will receive the ZOOM link for that meeting only. 

If you are not yet familiar with ZOOM, see this tutorial: TCUUC Zoom Tutorial for Mobile Devices – YouTube.

The post EBWA Calendar for the 2021-2022 program year appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Sometimes, something originally intended for one use finds purpose and possibility as something else.

How can you repurpose something today?

The Daily Compass offers words and images to inspire spiritual reflection and encourage the creation of a more loving, inclusive and just world. Produced by The Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation with no geographical boundary. Please support the publishing of The Daily Compass by making a $10 or $25 contribution (more if you can, less if you can't)! Thank you for your support!

Pop music is how I process and perceive God. I owe my ministry as much to George Harrison as I do to Theodore Parker. To me, hearing Nina Simone or Radiohead in a worship service is just as powerful and spiritual and transcendent as hearing My Life Flows On In Endless Song or For The Seasons of the Earth.

The post Meet Cory Lovell! appeared first on BeyondBelief.

Smooth, rough, soft, prickly. The delicate fuzz of a ripe peach, the rough surface of a concrete sidewalk, the comforting softness of your favorite t-shirt. What are the textures you feel today?

Notice texture throughout your day today.

The Daily Compass offers words and images to inspire spiritual reflection and encourage the creation of a more loving, inclusive and just world. Produced by The Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation with no geographical boundary. Please support the publishing of The Daily Compass by making a $10 or $25 contribution (more if you can, less if you can't)! Thank you for your support!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04JhzkbPjHE]

Presented by Guest Speaker, Rev. Sonya Sukalski

Many Unitarian Universalists exude a powerful love that moves us into the fullness of our spirits and integrity as Berkeley Process Theologian Bernie Loomer wrote about. In times of social stress and upheaval it is powerful and necessary to employ that love to marry the inevitable grief and loss that change brings with learning, growth, and the intangible gifts we usually uncover in challenging times. Rev. Sonya Sukalski who found Unitarian Universalism in the Los Alamos congregation has been working with a colleague to bring creative resilience to small groups in online retreats and trainings using this idea. The seeds for it may well have been planted by the Unitarian Church of Los Alamos during her time there around the turn of the millenium, and she will reflect on how those seeds took root and grew.

Rev. Sonya Sukalski grew up in Los Alamos, went away to Sweden and Rice University after high school, and returned with her mate, Mitch, to raise their twins, Sierra and Cheyenne until she left for seminary in 2003. Sonya served several congregations as sabbatical minister in Northern California and started the Spiritual Activists Leadership Training (SALT – now Spiritual Activists Leading Together) with the help of young adults across California from 2009-2013. She served the UU Fellowship of Tuolumne County most recently and greatly enjoyed being the closest congregation to Yosemite as she explored the Sierra Nevada over the past decade. During the pandemic she served as sabbatical minister for the UUs in Chico last Fall, and now is taking her own sabbatical.

SERVICE NOTES

    WELCOME!

New to our church community?  Sign our guestbook and let us know if you’d like to get more connected.

If you would like to submit a joy or sorrow to be read during next week’s service, we invite you to write it in our  Virtual Prayer Book.

For more information on our church community, visit us on the web at  http://www.uulosalamos.org or call at 505-662-2346. 

Connect with us on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/uulosalamos

Have questions?  While our minister, the Rev. John Cullinan, is on sabbatical, contact our office administrator at:  office@uulosalamos.org.

    MUSIC CREDITS

No. 1 from “Improvisations on Two Norwegian Folk Songs,” Op. 29 by Edvard Grieg. (Yelena Mealy, piano). Music Public Domain, video used by permission.

“Woyaya” by Loughty Amoa, Solomon Amarfino, Robert M. Bailey, Roy Bedeau, Francis T. Osei, Whendell K. Richardson, and Mac Tonoh.  Video produced and recorded for Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse (UUCP) in Moscow, ID.  (Paul Thomspon: bass, vocals, programming, editing; Susan Thompson: vocals; Sam Welsh: keyboards.) Song and video used by permission.

“The Gift of Love,” (also known as “Though I May Speak with Bravest Fire”), words: Hal H. Hopson, music: trad. English melody, adapt. by Hal Hopson. (Yelena Mealy, piano). Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.

“Spirit of Life” by Carolyn McDade, harm. Grace Lewis-McLaren, choral arrangement by Nylea L. Butler-Moore. (UU Virtual Singers; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.) Used by permission.

“Gabriel’s Oboe” by Ennio Morricone. (David Watkins, cello & Yelena Mealy, piano). Permission to stream ASCAP Song #888271016 in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.

“An Maigdean Ceannsa (The Gentle Maiden),” trad. Irish tune. (Linus Plohr, violin). Tune Public Domain, video used by permission.

“The Way,” text: unknown author, music: Nylea L. Butler-Moore. (UU Virtual Singers with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.) Used by permission. 

Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.

Permission to stream music in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770

    OTHER NOTES

“Spilling the Light” from Spilling The Light: Meditations on Hope and Resilience by Theresa I. Soto.    Permission granted by the UUA.

The Party from Kindness:  A Treasury of Buddhist Wisdom for Children and Parents.   Permission granted by the author, Sarah Conover.

“A Blessing for Risk-Takers and Failures” by Robin Tanner.  Permission granted by UUA (UUA Worship Web).

Sermon Resources:

        My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem
        Headspace App for meditation, sleep and movement
        Center For Engaged Compassion, 
                http://www.centerforengagedcompassion.com/
        out of the Claremont School of Theology. 
        Frank Roger’s book, Practicing Compassion
        Dynamic Neural Retraining System,  Instructional Online Course

    OFFERTORY

Our Share the Plate partner for August is the Los Alamos Family Council.
100% of all offered this month will be given to our partner.

We are now using Givelify.com to process the weekly offering: https://giv.li/5jtcps

   SERVICE PARTICIPANTS

Rev. Sonya Sukalski, Guest Speaker
Rebecca Howard, Worship Associate
Nylea Butler-Moore, Director of Music
Yelena Mealy, piano
David Watkins, cello
Linus Plohr, violin
UU Virtual Singers: Janice Muir, Kelly Shea, Mary Billen, Nylea Butler-Moore, Rebecca Howard, Anne Marsh, Jenni Gaffney, Kathy Gursky, Mike Begnaud, & Skip Dunn  
Rick Bolton, Mike Begnaud, and Renae Mitchell, AV techs

By Jon Hale

Photo credit: Dave Blanchard

Last week, the State Board of Education in Florida allowed parents to apply for vouchers and enroll in a different school if their children were subject to “COVID-19 harassment.” The policy enforces Governor Ron DeSantis’ anti-masking directive. His order protects parents’ “freedom to choose” whether to mask or not, despite an alarming rise in COVID cases in the state. The order also threatened to withhold funding if school boards did not comply with the law.

Gov. DeSantis’ “freedom to choose” and the use of vouchers to protect that freedom has a troubled history in Florida—as it does across the country.

A school voucher is publicly funded credit used to cover the cost of private schools. School vouchers fund or compensate a family directly as opposed to funding a public school. It is part of the conservative and libertarian mantra of “funding students, instead of systems” that is a cornerstone of the modern school choice movement.

The storied history behind vouchers and school choice in Florida and across the nation, however, is much more insidious than simply funding students.

In Florida and across the South, vouchers were initially designed to circumvent desegregation after the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision. They were an integral part of “school choice” policies.

Southern legislators amended state constitutions to support private school costs by compensating the cost of tuition through grants. They provided state tax credit for contributions to private segregated schools. In addition to vouchers, policymakers repealed compulsory education laws, authorizing school closures if ordered to desegregate by the government or courts. Legislators also expanded the decision-making authority of local school boards to implement pupil-placement laws.

Florida and other states also passed “freedom of choice” plans to avoid desegregation. On paper, anyone regardless of race could apply to any school in the area. But the plans placed the onus of desegregation on Black families. Withholding transportation for white schools while harassing Black transfer students, white parents and representatives ensured that such plans were largely ineffective, leading only to token desegregation.

These policies coincided with other forms of massive resistance to desegregation in the 1950s and 1960s that targeted Black schools and teachers. Legislators shuttered historically black schools and fired Black teachers with impunity.

Passed in the wake of the Brown decision, it was clear that vouchers and “school choice” were weapons in the larger fight to preserve segregation. Vouchers—and school choice in general—were used to maintain segregation and preserve control of the schools.

Though courts struck vouchers down as part of the “freedom of choice” plans in the 1960s, the idea of vouchers remained. Ronald Reagan, for instance, touted vouchers and privatization in his administration. His plans were soundly defeated, but the idea persisted and even garnered judicial support.

By the 1990s, courts retreated from enforcing desegregation goals and schools largely remained segregated—and many districts re-segregated. This paved the way for vouchers, which, on paper, promised to reform a broken public system. Once the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of vouchers in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002) and more recently in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue (2020) decision, vouchers advocates renewed their commitment.

Betsy DeVos, the controversial Secretary of Education under Donald Trump, provided unabashed support for vouchers. She advocated for millions for vouchers and other choice options such as charter schools. Though largely rebuffed by Congress, like Reagan, DeVos ignited demand and support for vouchers, positioning them as a valid option in the larger school choice debate.

Vouchers remained an enticing option for DeSantis and other southern governors like Henry McMaster of South Carolina, who proposed spending COVID relief funding on vouchers for private schools.

Today, vouchers are used in Florida in the same way as they were in the past. Gov. DeSantis passed the anti-masking mandate to “protect the freedoms and rights of students and parents.” Much like the 1950s and 1960s in the attempt to avoid desegregation and federal oversight, “freedom” is used to protect the right of parents to avoid governmental intervention.

Then and now, the use of “freedom” in this way is detrimental to the public good. In the 1950s and 1960s, the freedom to choose schools protected the right of white parents to support private “segregation academies.” The sole purpose was to preserve all-white schools. This allowed racist policy, segregation, and diversion of public funds to fester.

Also like the past, linking vouchers to freedom—in this case freedom from masks—is not only suspect, but immediately precarious. In the current context of the pandemic, vouchers effect a parallel danger to society and the larger public good. DeSantis illuminates the harm perpetuated by vouchers and legislating the “right to choose” schools. After the schools reopened this fall, COVID cases have been soaring in Florida. In one district, over 10,000 students, staff, and teachers were isolated or quarantined after the first week of school. Other districts that reported hundreds of cases have defied the governor’s orders and mandated masks.

Public schools in Florida—and other states with voucher policies—are under dual threats. They face a continual risk of losing funds over implementing recommended CDC guidelines while also losing public funds to private schools through vouchers.

The historical record documents the danger of vouchers to a shared public good. The recent use of vouchers in Florida merely affirms the clear and present danger it continues to pose.

About the Author 

Jon Hale is a professor of educational history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an advocate for quality public education. Hale’s research in education has been published in The Atlantic, CNN.com, Education Week, the American Scholar, and the African American Intellectual History Series. His books include The Freedom Schools, To Write in the Light of Freedom, and The Choice We Face. Follow him on Twitter at @ed_organizer.

The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Aug 24th, 2021 appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

We are looking for a volunteer to come to UUSS to clean the filters, fountain heads, add chlorine and skim debris out of the pools until mid-October. September 2nd is the last day they will be maintained by the current person. Please contact Susan Marino, Church Administrator at admin@uuschenenectady.org for information or to volunteer!

The post Volunteer Needed to Maintain the UUSS Pools/Fountains appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Heather Beasley Doyle

Photo credit: Jamey Boelhower

Back-to-School season is tinged with precariousness this year. While Delta variant cases surge, many schools are reopening and resuming in-person classes. Even though the Biden administration announced plans to offer COVID booster shots in September, the fact remains that conditions at institutions of learning aren’t safe or fully resourced. We asked some of our authors what they would like folks to be aware of on the education front as students and educators return to the classroom. And given our pandemic reality, we also asked them how they think schools could take this opportunity to re-envision themselves for a better, post-COVID future.

***

Billions of dollars in federal COVID relief funds are heading to local public-school districts, but administrators in these districts have few good ideas of where to put the money. There was already a teacher shortage; more teachers are not available to hire. Tech companies selling often useless online “solutions” will likely rake in huge profits. But a proven, crucial use for some significant part of these funds is at hand, though rarely discussed. Put the money directly into the pockets of high school students by employing them to share knowledge and skills with their peers and younger children. They can be paid to teach or use anything they know: solving an equation, making a video, putting on a play, running a sports league, doing a dance, speaking another language (including ASL), reading Braille, collecting oral histories from elders in the neighborhood, fixing a bike, and on and on. The “proven” part is that meaningful employment in high school leads to many great outcomes: high school and college completion, higher lifetime earnings, more stable marriages, better health, and more. And of course, the young people being taught reap all kinds of benefits as well. The key to rethinking American education is to understand that the students already in high school are the culturally informed experts we currently think we lack. Pay them, and they’ll start teaching right away.
—Jay Gillen, The Power in the Room: Radical Education Through Youth Organizing and Employment

I am scared as hell for my nieces and nephews and for all the wonderful teachers I know who are returning to schools. At the same time, this is an opportunity to reimagine education, and make it more equitable for the most marginalized. Now is the time for radical change in how we approach schooling for our young people.
—Kyle T. Mays, An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States

The United States has experienced the Global Pandemic as a horrific tragedy. But for the nation’s fatal embrace of “profits over people,” we could have avoided hundreds of thousands of agonizing deaths. What should have been a clarion call for re-examining the nation’s flawed institutions instead became a debate about “science vs. anti-science,” as if our problems were a matter of semantics instead of the crushing racial and class oppressions that magnify the devastating impact of COVID-19 on working class African American, Latinx, Asian, and immigrant communities.

As educators and students by the millions return to unsafe and under-resourced classrooms, we must carry forward the lessons of the global Black Lives Matter movement and fight harder than ever to end systemic racism, homophobia, and economic injustice. As teachers, we must practice compassion, patience, and antiracism in our classrooms. We should embrace lifelong learning and remember that our students, no matter how ‘disadvantaged,’ bring new forms of wisdom and dissident knowledge into our classrooms. These forms of knowledge “from below” are superior in intellectual content and liberatory potential than the ideologies of the corrupt status quo in this society. ¡La lucha continúa!
—Paul Ortiz, An African American and Latinx History of the United States

The back-to-school pictures this year on social media carried an unmistakable tone of worry that tempered the excitement of back-to-school routines. Children’s infection rates are skyrocketing with Delta variant of COVID-19, many schools have shifted from in-person to quarantine or back to online after positive cases surfaced quickly. What explains this seemingly haphazard collection of steps and missteps? In keeping with the deeply regional control over education policies that are still consistently imbued with nationalist narratives of boot-strap grit and individualism, schools are reopening as petri dishes in which those narratives are overriding the ability to say “We reopened too quickly” or “There is still so much we don’t know about this virus” or perhaps the most important statement “We are not going to run real-time experiments on people, including children.” Universities have been making strong plans to fully reopen face-to-face instruction, with a mixture of requiring vaccinated status and masks. Those hallowed halls, much like K-12 districts, are announcing changes to teach remotely days before course start; meanwhile, students are arriving on campus. 

The much decried ‘learning loss’ pales in comparison to the literal loss of life. A sad but reasonable observation is that it may take the chaos of schools reopening and full beds in pediatric units of hospitals to sober a ‘COVID fatigued’ society to revisit what it claims to be its core values and actually enact them. We have, still, the opportunity and responsibility to learn the foundational lesson of this pandemic: everything we do affects others.
—Leigh Patel, No Study Without Struggle: Confronting Settler Colonialism in Higher Education

Amid a global pandemic, our community loves one another and continues to support our church. So, the Centennial Weekend celebration marches on and here’s how YOU can celebrate with us!

The post Centennial Weekend is Almost Here! appeared first on BeyondBelief.

Presented by Rev. Joel Miller, Guest Speaker

“There are some moments when I get lost in resentment toward others — I can tell because I feel like I’m covered in fish guts. I’m grateful that I have a way to get past those moments and reconnect with my life, with others, and with the world.”

The Rev. Joel Miller is currently the Interim Minister at All Souls Unitarian Church in Indianapolis. Since his graduation from Starr King School for the Ministry in 1991, Joel’s ministry has included opening and serving the Columbine UU church in Littleton, CO, for 7 years, serving as senior minister in Buffalo, NY, for 11 years, and serving as interim minister for 5 different UU congregations since 2011. He is an Accredited UUA Interim Minister and is also accredited as a Professional Transition Specialist by the Interim Ministry Network.

SERVICE NOTES

    WELCOME!

New to our church community?  Sign our guestbook and let us know if you’d like to get more connected.

If you would like to submit a joy or sorrow to be read during next week’s service, we invite you to write it in our  Virtual Prayer Book.

For more information on our church community, visit us on the web at  http://www.uulosalamos.org or call at 505-662-2346. 

Connect with us on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/uulosalamos

Have questions?  While our minister, the Rev. John Cullinan, is on sabbatical, contact our office administrator at:  office@uulosalamos.org.

    MUSIC CREDITS

“North Cape” by Jon Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson. (Kathy Gursky, viola & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano). Permission to stream BMI song #29148068 in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.

“Come, Come, Whoever You Are,” words: adapt. from Rumi, music: Lynn Adair Ungar. (Vocalists Jess Huetteman, Chelsea Sardoni, and Morayo Akande). Used by permission.

“The Lone, Wild Bird,” words: H.R. MacFayden, tune: from William Walker’s Southern Harmony, based on harm. by Thomas Somerville, adapt, arr. & new material by Nylea L. Butler-Moore. (UCLA Virtual choir; Wade Wheelock, violin; Nylea Butler-Moore, Director & piano; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.) Used by permission.

“For All That Is Our Life,” words: Bruce Findlow, music: Patrick L. Rickey. (Jess Huetteman, vocals and piano). Song and video used by permission.

“Epiphany” by Do Hyung Kwon, Si-Hyuk Bang, and Soo Hyun Park, arr. by Jon Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson. (Kathy Gursky, viola & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano). Permission to stream ASCAP song #895506768 in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.

“Romanza in C Major” by Ferdinand Praeger. (Kathy Gursky, viola & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano). Music Public Domain, video used by permission.

“The Way,” text: unknown author, music: Nylea L. Butler-Moore. (UU Virtual Singers with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.) Used by permission. 

Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.
Permission to stream music in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770

    OTHER NOTES

*Opening words by Lyn Cox
*Spoken and Silent Meditation by Wayne Arnason
Time for All Ages: The Story of Jonah (public domain)
Reading: “Against Dying” (poem), from Calling a Wolf a Wolf by Kaveh Akbar, Alice James Books, 2017. (Used with permission)
Chalice Lighting and Benediction by Joel Miller

*permission granted through the UUA

    OFFERTORY

Our Share the Plate partner for August is the Los Alamos Family Council.

100% of all offered this month will be given to our partner.

We are now using Givelify.com to process the weekly offering.

    SERVICE PARTICIPANTS

Rev. Joel Miller, Guest Speaker
Anne Marsh, Worship Associate
Nylea Butler-Moore, Director of Music
Kathy Gursky, viola
UU Virtual Singers: Kelly Shea, Nylea Butler-Moore, Rebecca Howard, Anne Marsh, Kathy Gursky, Mike Begnaud, & Skip Dunn  
Rick Bolton, Mike Begnaud, and Renae Mitchell, AV techs

Attached media: https://web.archive.org/web/20211111040019/https://www.uulosalamos.org/ucla/pulpit/2021/20210822-Some_Steps_Ive_Been_Glad_to_Take.mp3

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIUcxY_S6Kk]

Presented by Rev. Joel Miller, Guest Speaker

“There are some moments when I get lost in resentment toward others — I can tell because I feel like I’m covered in fish guts. I’m grateful that I have a way to get past those moments and reconnect with my life, with others, and with the world.”

The Rev. Joel Miller is currently the Interim Minister at All Souls Unitarian Church in Indianapolis. Since his graduation from Starr King School for the Ministry in 1991, Joel’s ministry has included opening and serving the Columbine UU church in Littleton, CO, for 7 years, serving as senior minister in Buffalo, NY, for 11 years, and serving as interim minister for 5 different UU congregations since 2011. He is an Accredited UUA Interim Minister and is also accredited as a Professional Transition Specialist by the Interim Ministry Network.

SERVICE NOTES

    WELCOME!

New to our church community?  Sign our guestbook and let us know if you’d like to get more connected.

If you would like to submit a joy or sorrow to be read during next week’s service, we invite you to write it in our  Virtual Prayer Book.

For more information on our church community, visit us on the web at  http://www.uulosalamos.org or call at 505-662-2346. 

Connect with us on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/uulosalamos

Have questions?  While our minister, the Rev. John Cullinan, is on sabbatical, contact our office administrator at:  office@uulosalamos.org.

    MUSIC CREDITS

“North Cape” by Jon Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson. (Kathy Gursky, viola & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano). Permission to stream BMI song #29148068 in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.

“Come, Come, Whoever You Are,” words: adapt. from Rumi, music: Lynn Adair Ungar. (Vocalists Jess Huetteman, Chelsea Sardoni, and Morayo Akande). Used by permission.

“The Lone, Wild Bird,” words: H.R. MacFayden, tune: from William Walker’s Southern Harmony, based on harm. by Thomas Somerville, adapt, arr. & new material by Nylea L. Butler-Moore. (UCLA Virtual choir; Wade Wheelock, violin; Nylea Butler-Moore, Director & piano; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.) Used by permission.

“For All That Is Our Life,” words: Bruce Findlow, music: Patrick L. Rickey. (Jess Huetteman, vocals and piano). Song and video used by permission.

“Epiphany” by Do Hyung Kwon, Si-Hyuk Bang, and Soo Hyun Park, arr. by Jon Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson. (Kathy Gursky, viola & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano). Permission to stream ASCAP song #895506768 in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.

“Romanza in C Major” by Ferdinand Praeger. (Kathy Gursky, viola & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano). Music Public Domain, video used by permission.

“The Way,” text: unknown author, music: Nylea L. Butler-Moore. (UU Virtual Singers with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.) Used by permission. 

Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.
Permission to stream music in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770

    OTHER NOTES

*Opening words by Lyn Cox
*Spoken and Silent Meditation by Wayne Arnason
Time for All Ages: The Story of Jonah (public domain)
Reading: “Against Dying” (poem), from Calling a Wolf a Wolf by Kaveh Akbar, Alice James Books, 2017. (Used with permission)
Chalice Lighting and Benediction by Joel Miller

*permission granted through the UUA

    OFFERTORY

Our Share the Plate partner for August is the Los Alamos Family Council.

100% of all offered this month will be given to our partner.

We are now using Givelify.com to process the weekly offering.

    SERVICE PARTICIPANTS

Rev. Joel Miller, Guest Speaker
Anne Marsh, Worship Associate
Nylea Butler-Moore, Director of Music
Kathy Gursky, viola
UU Virtual Singers: Kelly Shea, Nylea Butler-Moore, Rebecca Howard, Anne Marsh, Kathy Gursky, Mike Begnaud, & Skip Dunn  
Rick Bolton, Mike Begnaud, and Renae Mitchell, AV techs

By Peter Jan Honigsberg

Guantánamo Bay protest in front of the White House on the seventeenth anniversary of Guantánamo Bay, January 11, 2019. Photo credit: Victoria Pickering

Daniel A. Medina’s excellent article on Mohammed al-Qahtani, the would-be twentieth al-Qaeda terrorist hijacker, identifies an important long-term problem that all presidents have faced since al-Qaeda terrorists crashed planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001. Does due process apply to Guantánamo? As Medina points out in discussing al-Qahtani’s case, the Biden administration has not taken a stance on this question.

Under a due process and rule of law system, the men in Guantánamo would not have been held for years and, for some, even a decade or more without charges. They would have had access to attorneys from the time they were first incarcerated to challenge their detentions and assure them of other due process rights. They would have been guaranteed full and fair trials in federal court to defend any charges brought against them. They would not have been systematically physically and psychologically tortured in the prison. (Psychological torture includes periods of isolation, sleep deprivation, and sensory deprivation such as wearing hoods.)

Al-Qahtani was physically and psychologically tortured in Guantánamo. He nearly died during one episode of unrelenting abuse. His heart rate dropped precipitously in an interrogation session, and he was rushed to the hospital. In 2008, senior Pentagon official Susan Crawford refused to allow the military to prosecute al-Qahtani. “We tortured Qahtani,” she admitted. 

As Median notes in his article, the Biden administration has until September 8 to decide whether to: 1.) challenge a federal judge’s order to permit a due process right to an independent medical evaluation for al-Qahtani to determine his eligibility for repatriation to Saudi Arabia for psychiatric care; 2.) agree to the medical evaluation for al-Qahtani; or 3.) repatriate him to Saudi Arabia and dodge the issue.

Key to the administration decision is whether Guantánamo detainees are entitled to due process. Previous administrations have argued that such rights do not apply to the detainees.

Due process and the rule of law are the cornerstones of our democracy. We cannot accept that administrations deny these rights to people we have detained. President Biden must take a stand if he is going to lead the US back to the respect it once commanded around the world. He must acknowledge that due process and the rule of law apply at Guantánamo. Denying these rights impacts not only the detainees but has long-term implications for the future of our nation.

“Guantánamo Bay, I think, is going to be seen as the significant start of the fall of American democracy.” In 2012, Australian attorney Stephen Kenny spoke these words to our Witness to Guantánamo project. 

For nearly a decade, Witness to Guantánamo filmed interviews with 158 people who lived or worked in Guantánamo across twenty nations. Fifty-two of the people interviewed were former detainees. Others included prison guards, interrogators, interpreters, chaplains, attorneys, medical personnel, reporters, high ranking military and government officials, and family members of the detainees.

Stephen Kenny was referring to how the United States government broke the rule of law by imprisoning 780 alleged Muslim terrorists from more than forty countries at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The US government denied the men the due process rights that all people detained by the US government are entitled to under the Constitution. Rather than charge them with crimes and hold fair trials, the Bush administration incarcerated the men and threw away the key. 

We will never know how many of the 780 prisoners were international terrorists because nearly all were never charged, tried, or convicted of a crime. In fact, many of the men held in Guantánamo were not captured by US soldiers but were purchased by the US military for ransom or bounty from Pakistani and Afghan soldiers.

Of the thirty-nine prisoners currently at the base, eleven have been charged. Ten other people have been thoroughly vetted by six national security agencies and cleared for release. Although they have been recommended for transfer, they continue to remain housed at the prison until the government can repatriate them or find other countries that are willing to accept them. The Biden administration repatriated one person to Morocco last month.  

Al-Qahtani, along with seventeen other people who were never charged, are essentially “forever” prisoners. The Biden administration should apply the rule of law and due process to Guantánamo and release al-Qahtani, the other seventeen other forever prisoners, and the ten men who have been cleared for release. What kind of message are we sending to the world on the rule of law when we hold people for nearly two decades without charges? 

President Biden must apply our cherished Constitution to the men in Guantánamo. We must be mindful of due process and the rule of law in all our actions. Stephen Kenny’s words should not haunt us in the future.

About the Author 

Peter Jan Honigsberg is professor of law at University of San Francisco, founder, and director of Witness to Guantánamo, and author of A Place Outside the Law, Forgotten Voices from Guantánamo, published by Beacon Press.

As our children settle into a new normal of regular schoolwork, I hope you will join us in a weekly respite of Sunday School.

The post Virtual Sunday School! appeared first on BeyondBelief.

In a dominant culture that fetishizes crime and punishment while remaining apathetic to the failures of the penal system, our Unitarian Universalist theologies remind us that we can rely on deeper truths of goodness and mercy that still hold each of us accountable in and to the interdependent web of life.

Rev. Allison Farnum is the Minister and Director at the Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of Illinois, a statewide ministry that focuses on equipping UU’s to in Illinois to transform institutions and support people harmed by the prison industrial complex. An affiliated community minister with 2U, Rev. Allison lives in Evanston, IL and is loving partner to Andy and mother of their two children Joey (4) and Charlotte (7). For more information about UUPMI, please visit www.uupmi.org

SERVICE NOTES

WELCOME!

New to our church community?  Sign our guestbook and let us know if you’d like to get more connected.

If you would like to submit a joy or sorrow to be read during next week’s service, we invite you to write it in our Virtual Prayer Book.

For more information on our church community, visit us on the web at http://www.uulosalamos.org or call at 505-662-2346. 

Connect with us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/uulosalamos

Have questions?  While our minister, the Rev. John Cullinan, is on sabbatical, contact our office administrator at: office@uulosalamos.org.

MUSIC CREDITS

• Courante from Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007 by J.S. Bach. (Ursula Coe, cello). Music Public Domain, video used by permission.
• “I Wish I Knew How” by Billy Taylor and Dick Dallas, arr. by Mary Allen Walden. (Nylea Butler-Moore, piano). Used by permission of UUA.
• “Comfort Me” by Mimi Bornstein-Doble. (Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano). Used by permission of UUA.
• “Psalm 23,” official hand drawn lyric video by Tamara Lebak from The Psalms Project, vol. 1.  (Tamara Lebak, vocals and acoustic guitar & Bonnie Lebak, cajon). Used by permission of Tamara Lebak.
• “Tango Para Ilaria” from Two Tangos for Solo Cello by Carter Brey. (Ursula Coe, cello). Permission to stream BMI song #16315445 in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.
• “The Way,” text: unknown author, music: Nylea L. Butler-Moore. (UU Virtual Singers with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.) Used by permission. 

Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.
Permission to stream music in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.

 OTHER NOTES

• Chalice Lighting by Rev. Bill Neely and Patrick Webb.  Used by permission.
• Prayer and Meditation by Rev. Allison Farnum. Used by permission.
• “Hey, Ain’t That Good News” by John Corrado. Used by permission of UUA WorshipWeb. https://www.uua.org/worship/words/reading/183438.shtml 
• Excerpt from No Time Like the Present: Finding Freedom, Love, and Joy Right Where You Are by Jack Kornfield,  Atria Books, ISBN13: 9781451693706. Fair Use.

 OFFERTORY

Our Share the Plate partner for August is the Los Alamos Family Council.

100% of all offered this month will be given to our partner.

We are now using Givelify.com to process the weekly offering: https://giv.li/5jtcps

SERVICE PARTICIPANTS

• Rev. Allison Farnum, Guest Speaker
• Patrick Webb, Worship Associate
• Nylea Butler-Moore, Director of Music
• Ursula Coe, cello
• Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar
• UU Virtual Singers: Janice Muir, Kelly Shea, Mary Billen, Nylea Butler-Moore, Rebecca Howard, Anne Marsh, Jenni Gaffney, Kathy Gursky, Mike Begnaud, & Skip Dunn  
• Mike Begnaud, Rick Bolton, and Renae Mitchell, AV techs

Attached media: https://web.archive.org/web/20211111035853/https://www.uulosalamos.org/ucla/pulpit/2021/20210815-Goodness_and_Mercy.mp3

By Robert P. Moses and Charles E. Cobb, Jr.

Bob Moses left us with a legacy to honor and live up to in the spirit of the civil rights movement today. His work to organize Black voters in Mississippi in the early 1960s famously transformed the political power of communities. Nearly forty years later, he organized again, this time as founder of the national math literacy program called the Algebra Project. The following passages are highlights from Radical Equations, which he wrote with Charles E. Cobb, Jr., that delve into what the Algebra Project was all about and the importance of its foundation in civil rights movement building.

***

The Algebra Project is first and foremost an organizing project—a community organizing project—rather than a traditional program of school reform. It draws its inspiration and its methods from the organizing tradition of the civil rights movement. Like the civil rights movement, the Algebra Project is a process, not an event.

Two key aspects of the Mississippi organizing tradition underlie the Algebra Project: the centrality of families to the work of organizing, and organizing in the context of the community in which one lives and works. As civil rights workers in Mississippi, we were absorbed into families as we moved from place to place with scarcely a dollar in our pockets, and this credential—being one of the community’s children—negated the white power structure’s efforts to label us “outside agitators.” In this way we were able to sink deep roots into the community, enlarging and strengthening connections in and among different communities, absorbing into our consciousness the community’s memories of “where we have been,” forcing us to our own understanding of our collective experience.

We are struggling to frame some important questions: Is there a way to talk with young people today as Amzie Moore and Ella Baker did with us in the 1960s? Is there a consensus for young Blacks, Latinos, and poor whites to tap into that will drive such a literacy effort? What price must they pay to wage such a struggle?

Like Ella Baker, we believe in these young people, that they have the energy, the courage, the hope to devise means to change their condition. Although much concern about the education of African-American young people is voiced today, I am frequently asked why I have turned to teaching school and developing curriculum—teaching middle school and high school no less. There is a hint of criticism in the question, the suggestion that I am wasting my time, have abandoned efforts at attempting real, meaningful social change. After all, in the end, such work “merely” leads to youngsters finding a comfortable place in the system with a good job. Nothing “radical” about that, I am told. This is a failure to understand what actually is “radical,” so it might be useful to repeat what Ella Baker posits as necessary to the struggle of poor and oppressed people: “It means facing a system that does not lend itself to your needs and devising means by which you change that system.”

~~~

So, to understand the Algebra Project you must begin with the idea of our targeted young people finding their voice as sharecroppers and day laborers, maids, farmers, and workers of all sorts found theirs in the 1960s. Of course, there are differences between the 1960s and what the AP is doing now. For one, the time span between the start of the sit-in movement and the challenge by the MFDP in Atlantic City was incredibly brief, sandwiched between two presidential elections (Kennedy-Nixon and Johnson-Goldwater). When I look back it feels like twenty years folded into four; I still can hardly believe how short a time period that was. Math literacy, however, will require a longer time frame. There is a steep learning curve and what we’re looking at with the AP is something evolving over generations as math literacy workers/organizers acquire the skills and training through study and practice and begin tackling the system. Young people, however, may speed this up as youth clearly did in the civil rights movement. And, whereas the right to vote campaign took place in the Deep South, the math literacy problem is throughout the entire nation.

Yet to understand the Algebra Project, you need to understand the spirit and the crucial lessons of the organizing tradition of the civil rights movement. In Mississippi, the voiceless found their voice, and once raised, it could not be ignored. Organizers learned to locate the vast resources in communities that seemed impoverished and paralyzed at first glance. The lessons of the movement in Mississippi are exactly the lessons we need to learn and put into practice in order to transform the education of our children and their prospects for the future. As with voting rights four decades ago, we have to flesh out a consensus on math literacy. Without it, moving the country into systemic change around math education becomes almost impossible. You cannot move this country unless you have consensus. That’s part of what we learned in Mississippi. We learned it on the ground, running.

~~~

The Algebra Project is founded on the idea that the ongoing struggle for citizenship and equality for minority people is now linked to an issue of math and science literacy. This idea determines strategies and choices made about the organization, dissemination, and content of the curriculum. It’s important to make it clear that even the development of some sterling new curriculum—a real breakthrough—would not make us happy if it did not deeply and seriously address the issue of access to literacy for everyone. That is what is driving the project. The Algebra Project is not about simply transferring a body of knowledge to children. It is about using their knowledge as a tool to a much larger end.

~~~

Organizing around algebra has the potential to open a doorway that’s been locked. Math literacy and economic access are the Algebra Project’s foci for giving hope to the young generation. That’s a new problem for educators. It’s a new problem for the country. The traditional role of science and math education has been to train an elite, create a priesthood, find a few bright students and bring them into university research. It hasn’t been a literacy effort. We are putting literacy, math literacy, on the table. Instead of weeding all but the best students out of advanced math, schools must commit to everyone gaining this literacy as they have committed to everyone having a reading-writing literacy.

This is a cultural struggle, the creation of a culture of mathematical literacy that’s going to operate within the Black community as church culture does. And that means that math won’t be just school-based, but available as reading and writing are. Kids now routinely assume that someone will be able to explain some word to them, or teach them how to read a sentence if they don’t understand it. They also take it as a matter of course that no one can help them with their “higher” math studies. Projecting several generations down the road we can see a youngster who has grown up in a Black neighborhood being able to get his or her questions about mathematics as easily answered in the neighborhood.

~~~

Many people will see our vision as impossible. There’s a sense in which most people are not going to believe or accept any of this agenda until they are confronted with the products of such an effort: students who come out of classrooms armed with a new understanding of mathematics and with a new understanding of themselves as leaders, participants, and learners. As I said before, in the sixties everyone said sharecroppers were apathetic until we got them demanding to vote. That finally got attention. Here, where kids are falling wholesale through the cracks—or chasms—dropping out of sight, becoming fodder for jails, people say they do not want to learn. The only ones who can dispel that notion are the kids themselves. They, like Mrs. Hamer, Mrs. Devine, E. W. Steptoe, and others who changed the political face of Mississippi in the 1960s, have to demand what everyone says they don’t want.

About the Authors 

Robert P. Moses (1935-2021) was the founder of the Algebra Project and was the winner of many awards, including a MacArthur fellowship and a Heinz Award in the Human Condition. He was the coauthor of Radical Equations: Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project.

A journalist for major magazines for thirty years, Charles E. Cobb, Jr. is senior writer at allAfrica.com. He is the coauthor of Radical Equations: Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project.

Molten glass is briefly able to be blown and shaped before it cools into a fragile solid. The glassblower applies heat and air to change and move the glass in the ways they want it.

How might you make yourself more able to change and move today?

The Daily Compass offers words and images to inspire spiritual reflection and encourage the creation of a more loving, inclusive and just world. Produced by The Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation with no geographical boundary. Please support the publishing of The Daily Compass by making a $10 or $25 contribution (more if you can, less if you can't)! Thank you for your support!

Flour, water, yeast, a pinch of salt, time and heat. Perhaps a pinch of sugar or a tiny bit of oil. Maybe some seeds or grains or something fancy. The dough holds possibilities, and the bread it makes can nourish us.

What can you make out of simple things to feed your spirit today?

The Daily Compass offers words and images to inspire spiritual reflection and encourage the creation of a more loving, inclusive and just world. Produced by The Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation with no geographical boundary. Please support the publishing of The Daily Compass by making a $10 or $25 contribution (more if you can, less if you can't)! Thank you for your support!

Staff Writer

Sunday, August 15 is Back to School Sunday. We will have a special blessing in the 10:00 AM service for students, teachers and volunteers as we embark on another school year.

The post Back to School appeared first on BeyondBelief.

Have you ever looked up into the sky and seen not clouds but a whale, or a rabbit, or a boat sailing by? Our imagination, when combined with the miracle and beauty of clouds, can be a wondrous thing.

What shapes do you see in the clouds today? How can they spark your imagination and creative process?

The Daily Compass offers words and images to inspire spiritual reflection and encourage the creation of a more loving, inclusive and just world. Produced by The Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation with no geographical boundary. Please support the publishing of The Daily Compass by making a $10 or $25 contribution (more if you can, less if you can't)! Thank you for your support!

As humans, we crave togetherness with others. But the key to the happiest relationships (as well as peace within oneself) is learning how to hold healthy boundaries and differentiate between what is our responsibility and what is the responsibility of others. Come hear what Dr. Murray Bowen and Johnny Castle from Dirty Dancing can teach us about this liberating skill.  

The Rev. Joanna Fontaine Crawford is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist and a student and teacher of Bowen Family Systems Theory. She has served Live Oak UU Church in Austin, TX since 2014, following ministry at the First UU Church of Houston, and the Church of the Larger Fellowship. Her parents lived in Edgewood, NM, for many years, and she dearly misses visits there to load up on roasted green chiles and biscochitos, and to answer “Christmas!” when ordering dinner.

SERVICE NOTES

    WELCOME!

New to our church community? Sign our guestbook and let us know if you’d like to get more connected.

For more information on our church community, visit us on the web at http://www.uulosalamos.org or call at 505-662-2346. 

Connect with us on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/uulosalamos

If you would like to submit a joy or sorrow to be read during next week’s service, we invite you to write it in our Virtual Prayer Book:  Virtual Prayer Book

Have questions? While our minister, the Rev. John Cullinan, is on sabbatical, contact our office administrator at office@uulosalamos.org.

    MUSIC CREDITS

“Danses” by J. Guy Ropartz. (Anna Batista, oboe & Yelena Mealy, piano). Music Public Domain, video used by permission.

“This Little Light of Mine,” African American spiritual. (Tina DeYoe, vocals & Nylea Butler-Moore, vocals and piano). Used by permission. 

“To See a World,” words: William Blake; music: Norwegian tune, arr. Edvard Grieg. (UU Virtual Singers with Yelena Mealy, piano; Anne Marsh, reciter; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.)  NASA photographs Public Domain.  Video used by permission.

“Romanzen,” Op. 94, #1. Nicht schnell by Robert Schumann. (Kathy Gursky, viola & Yelena Mealy, piano). Music Public Domain, video used by permission. 

“From All the Fret and Fever of the Day,” words: Monroe Beardsley, music: Cyril V. Taylor. (Nylea Butler-Moore, piano).  Permission to stream the music of song #101164 in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.

“Pastorale” by J. Guy Ropartz. (Anna Batista, oboe & Yelena Mealy, piano). Music Public Domain, video used by permission.

“The Way,” text: unknown author, music: Nylea L. Butler-Moore. (UU Virtual Singers with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.) Used by permission. 

Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.

Permission to stream music in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.

    OTHER NOTES

*permission granted through the UUA

    OFFERTORY

Our Share the Plate partner for August is the Los Alamos Family Council.

100% of all offered this month will be given to our partner.

We are now using Givelify.com to process the weekly offering: https://giv.li/5jtcps

    SERVICE PARTICIPANTS

Rev. Joan Fontaine Crawford, Guest Speaker 
Anne Marsh, Worship Associate
Nylea Butler-Moore, Director of Music
Yelena Mealy, piano
Anna Batista, oboe
Tina DeYoe, vocals
Kathy Gursky, viola
UU Virtual Singers: Alissa Grissom, Kelly Shea, Nylea Butler-Moore, Rebecca Howard, Anne Marsh, Kathy Gursky, Mike Begnaud, & Skip Dunn  
Mike Begnaud, Rick Bolton, and Renae Mitchell AV techs

Attached media: https://web.archive.org/web/20211111035551/https://www.uulosalamos.org/ucla/pulpit/2021/20210808-Self-Differentiation.mp3

The potter learns to center their clay on the wheel. It is an exacting task, and unlike in life, there is little grace–if a piece becomes too off-centered, clay might fly around the studio. And yet, it is a basic and necessary task for wheel-thrown pottery.

How can you notice the things in your life pulling you out of center? How can you center yourself today?

The Daily Compass offers words and images to inspire spiritual reflection and encourage the creation of a more loving, inclusive and just world. Produced by The Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation with no geographical boundary. Please support the publishing of The Daily Compass by making a $10 or $25 contribution (more if you can, less if you can't)! Thank you for your support!

Please join us on Sunday (8 August 2021) at 11:00 AM for “And On That Note” by Rev. Barbara Jarrell.

Our service will be livestreamed on Facebook Live here.

Watch for our weekly email announcements for info on the next in-person worship service and other opportunities to gather in smaller groups in person.  You can sign up for these announcements using this link.

Our August 2021 give-away-the-plate recipient is YWCA’s Dialogue on Race.

We will have a  virtual coffee hour after the service on Zoom.

While we are remaining physically distant, we want to know how you are doing, what you need, and what you are interested in.  You can let us know using these online surveys.

And you can contribute to All Souls using this online resource.

The heat, the hammer, the anvil, the steam, the sweat, the glow. Metal is forged into useful and beautiful objects by careful application of force and intense heat.

How has your life been made more beautiful in times of intensity?

The Daily Compass offers words and images to inspire spiritual reflection and encourage the creation of a more loving, inclusive and just world. Produced by The Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation with no geographical boundary. Please support the publishing of The Daily Compass by making a $10 or $25 contribution (more if you can, less if you can't)! Thank you for your support!

By Perpetua Charles

One of those fancy-shmancy houses in the West End neighborhood of Portland, ME. Photo credit: Alexius Horatius

Two years ago, my partner and I took a small getaway to Portland, Maine. To feel confident on this trip, I was going to need my best early spring outfits and my trusty travel makeup bag. At the time, my natural curls were cropped close to my head and, to be honest, the stylist had done the cut a little lopsided. Unbeknownst to me, I’d also been struggling with the effects of an undiagnosed GI issue. But it didn’t take long into our first afternoon there to discover that my makeup bag didn’t make the trip with me. Dread and panic set in. My partner, a white, straight, cisgender male, had trouble understanding why I was briefly spiraling over this realization. In the moment, I couldn’t find the words to explain what I innately knew. In a city like Portland, I was going to stick out. Without makeup, I was going to stick out even more.

In All Made Up: The Power and Pitfalls of Beauty Culture, from Cleopatra to Kim Kardashian, Rae Nudson explains that white people have historically used beauty standards they set up as a way to keep Black and Brown people from the social and economic capital that could come from being viewed as stylish or beautiful. This dates as far back as the mid- to late-nineteenth century, where formerly enslaved people were still considered and treated as last-class citizens. Nudson writes that skin color and other physical traits associated with Black people were visible ways to make distinctions between people, reinforce social and economic hierarchies, and maintain power structures that kept Black people out.

The next day, my partner and I visited the center of town. I had fun but felt insecure. I regretted leaving my hair creams and gels at home. If I’d brought them, maybe they’d have given me a fighting chance of looking “put-together” in a strange city, I thought. Without my makeup or hair products, I walked the line between enjoying myself and trying to will myself invisible.

Black women frequently struggle with two societal extremes: being scrutinized as though under a microscope or being ignored and looked past as though we were air itself. The more access a Black woman has to beauty products that match her skin tone and conform to beauty standards of the day, the easier she can move through society, hopefully lessening the number of microaggressions she experiences daily. As Nudson explains, Black women stand out, not because of our phenotype, but because the white supremacist structure we live in uses our visible traits to discriminate against us. I couldn’t fully enjoy my lobby-pop (it’s a lobster lollipop; you really had to be there) because of a nagging feeling that I wasn’t blending in.

Perpetua and the lobby-pop

Later that evening, my partner and I went out for dinner. I was a little self-conscious about my look, but after a day out and about with no incidents, I told myself it was okay to settle into the evening. Then we were seated in the back corner. We had to wait a very long time between visits from our server. We never heard the specials. Our food was lackluster. The tables around us were dutifully attended to but we had to eavesdrop to hear what the night’s specials were. When my partner offered feedback about our experience, our server was passively apologetic. We left the restaurant in search of more (better) food and a place where we could hopefully relax after that tense dinner. We found a bar with a live band. After choosing a spot near the back, I ordered a bite to eat while my partner went to the restroom. As he returned, I watched one white woman’s eyes take him in lasciviously, only for her nose to wrinkle in disdain when he sat next to me.

Now I was ready for the evening to end, and I was ready to get out of Portland.

Nudson writes that the “wrong” makeup can cause funny looks or lead to harassment, while the “right” makeup can be completely unnoticed and unremarked upon. In my case, I felt that the “wrong” makeup was no makeup at all. While my partner raged at the injustice on our way back to our Airbnb, I replayed the events of the evening in my head. Would we have had better service if I’d worn some eyeliner and blush? If my curls had been more defined? Did the contempt of the woman from the bar stem from seeing a Black woman with a white man? Would she have been less contemptuous if she could see a hint of gloss on my lips?

Probably not. And yet, I felt some level of responsibility for how the evening had gone.

There is something to be said for the confidence we’re all called to develop and practice so that we can feel secure in ourselves no matter where we are. Black women are especially encouraged to cultivate this confidence because we often can’t count on non-Black environments to affirm us. But again, when even beauty culture is rooted in white supremacy, we can still feel self-conscious, regardless of how many mantras of self-love we whisper to ourselves every day before leaving the house.

All the Fenty in the world may not have protected me from the microaggressions of that night in Portland. What it might have done was make it easier to wave away the ignorance of others. But as writer Jia Tolentino said in The New Yorker, “What did it mean…that I have spent so much of my life attempting to perform well in circumstances where an unaltered female face is aberrant?” That trip to Portland was an invitation for me to think about how I can use my bare face to resist the demands of white-dominant beauty culture. Could I challenge myself to wear makeup only when I wanted to, and to leave it behind when my face needed a break? Could I accept that others might think I’m tired or ill without my makeup and still feel free to live my life?

Nudson’s book came to me at the right time. The last eighteen months have been an ongoing examination of my relationship with makeup. If I wear a beautiful red lip stain and then step outside wearing a mask, do I even exist? As the Delta variant spreads widely and quickly, me and my fashion favorites may have to shut ourselves away after enjoying a few months of relative freedom. Thanks to Nudson’s engaging histories that illustrate the relevance and importance of makeup when planning to smash the patriarchy, I’ve gained a new perspective on what beauty culture is, why it matters to me, and what I want my relationship with it to be like going forward.

About the Author 

Perpetua Charles joined Beacon Press in 2015. She is a graduate of Florida Southern College and earned her MA in Publishing and Writing from Emerson College. Perpetua has extensive publicity experience in the areas of race and culture, memoir, education, and history. Some of her favorite things include the Lord, TV, Disney princesses, books, 90s-00s teen pop, and the color pink. Connect with Perpetua on Instagram at @princessperpetuaa.

Our Sunday afternoon Zoom religious education class for children will take a break on 8 August 2021.

As the COVID-19 Delta variant continues to spread in our community and seems to affect children more seriously, we are trying to be mindful in our planning of outdoor activities (taking into account the Louisiana summertime heat as well).

Watch our website and the All Souls Religious Education Facebook Group for updates on our 15 August 2021 outdoor religious education event involving water.

There will be no adult religious education class on Sunday (8 August 2021).

Please join us on following Sunday (15 August 2021) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom.

More details will be posted on our web site as we get closer to that date.

Please join us on Saturday (7 August 2021) 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 via email or phone using (318) 272-0014.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, we have begun to broadcast a livestream video of our Sunday morning worship services.

This worship video will be available live and in recorded formats.

For our livestream video of our worship services, we are using Facebook Live.  One does not have to log into Facebook or have a Facebook account to view this video.

You can find the 1 August 2021 worship video here.

The COVID Task Force was appointed by the Board of Trustees to help guide the church through the pandemic. The COVID Task Force (CTF) members provide All Souls with a variety of professional experience and knowledge. For updates about COVID, the Task Force, and our church, visit allsoulschurch.org/covid-updates.

The post COVID Task Force appeared first on BeyondBelief.

The post Plans for Religious Education appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Bob Moses. Photo credit: Miller Center

The Civil Rights Movement has lost another great one. Radical educator, global-minded activist, MacArthur genius fellow. On July 25 at age 86, Bob Moses joined the ancestors. While we’re heartbroken about his passing, we remain honored to have published Radical Equations, which he wrote with Charles E. Cobb to tell his story of founding the Algebra Project. He provided a model for anyone looking for a community-based solution to the problems of our disadvantaged schools and improving education for poor children of color.

He meant so much to us at Beacon and our authors. Here’s what they have to say about him.

It was a great privilege for Beacon Press to work with the legendary civil rights activist Bob Moses and his colleague and coauthor Charles E. Cobb on his revolutionary book, Radical Equations. Bob did something completely fresh, building on his experience organizing in Mississippi to create a model for using math literacy as a new frontier in civil rights. He didn’t just teach math; he used it to build bridges and community. He was audacious even as he was entirely modest and self-effacing. His voice was ever so soft, but his witness and his work were both huge and very audible. I feel lucky to have known him and very proud to see his legacy continue to grow.
—Helene Atwan, director

In every classroom or meeting space, Bob Moses listened better than anyone. The speaker might be five years old, or a sharecropper studying for the voter’s literacy test in Mississippi, or an Algebra Project student in Chicago, or the student’s grandmother, or the Attorney General of the United States. Bob wanted their words to become a part of his life, to figure in the enormous tapestry of experience that he lived in and that he built all around him. He listened to you and then he invited you to do something more than just speak: to consider something; to look from a different angle; to try to apply what you said; to go somewhere; to meet someone; to tell someone else; to make something happen. He put tens of thousands of us in motion with this simple technique: listen, and then invite someone to move as if they meant what they said. Teacher and organizer. Listener, questioner, doer.
—Jay Gillen, The Power in the Room: Radical Education Through Youth Organizing and Employment 

A reminiscence about the late Bob Moses, one of the most courageous and creative activists of our time. I organized a panel for the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians, which was held at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis on April 4, 2003, the thirty-fifth anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Our topic was “Remembering SNCC and SDS.” Two of the speakers were Bob Moses and Staughton Lynd, who had worked together in SNCC. The meeting included historians, but it was primarily a community event. The large room, packed to overflowing, included reporters and cameramen from local news stations. Jesse Jackson, who had been with Dr. King when he died, showed up and asked to join the panel. The moment Bob Moses walked into the room, unintroduced, the audience rose in a thunderous standing ovation. Staughton told a story about Bob, who in 1964 was speaking to a small gathering in front the charred remains of a Black church that had recently been burned down in Philadelphia, Mississippi. In that moment, Bob chose to speak about a bill that had just been passed by the US Congress called the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which signaled a vast expansion of US involvement in the Vietnam war. Bob said everyone needed to pay close attention because the war overseas and the Civil Rights movement at home would be closely linked. His vision of struggle was international—and prescient.
—Marcus Rediker, The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist

Some of our authors took to Twitter to share their outpouring of love for him.

Deeply saddened to learn about the passing of Bob Moses. He was a brilliant organizer and civil rights activist who provided a model of effective leadership. He worked closely with Fannie Lou Hamer who admired and respected him. May his memory be a blessing to us all. ♥️ https://t.co/0GwEZPdAUu

— Dr. Keisha N. Blain (@KeishaBlain) July 25, 2021

Rest In Peace, brother Bob Moses. May we honor the memory of all you taught us by fighting like heaven for voting rights.

— Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II (@RevDrBarber) July 26, 2021

Bob Moses is my model for organizing. Principled, intellectual, humble, deliberate, willing to work with all who come, never berating but consistently challenging. Fun loving, kind, reflective, tender.

— Imani Perry (@imaniperry) July 25, 2021

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My dearest brother Bob Moses – spiritual genius, intellectual giant and moral titan – has left us! Words fall short! He was larger than life and one of the great exemplars of our humanity! Let us never forget him!

— Cornel West (@CornelWest) July 25, 2021

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Rest in power, Bob Moses.

The post John Edgar Wideman’s “You Made Me Love You” is next BIPOC author selection appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Susan Frederick-Gray

Balancing work and rest today often looks like squeezing in some down-time whenever work allows for that. Ancient ones had different ideas though, and their wisdom and discipline can help us find balance and joy today. Why is rest as important as work for our relationships, our happiness, and our spirits?

Our guest speaker, the Rev. Bill Neely, is in his 11th year of ministry with the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton, having previously served congregations in Detroit and near Memphis. He attended seminary at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago. He currently lives in Hamilton, NJ, with his wife, three kids, and cat, where he enjoys running, reading, spending time at the beach, and watching most sports.

SERVICE NOTES

WELCOME!

New to our church community? Sign our guestbook and let us know if you’d like to get more connected.

For more information on our church community, visit us on the web at http://www.uulosalamos.org or call at 505-662-2346. 

Connect with us on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/uulosalamos

If you would like to submit a joy or sorrow to be read during next week’s service, we invite you to write it in our  Virtual Prayer Book

Have questions? While our minister, the Rev. John Cullinan, is on sabbatical, contact our office administrator at office@uulosalamos.org.

MUSIC CREDITS

• “Chimes of Freedom” by Bob Dylan. (Aaron Anderson, piano). Permission to stream SESAC song #515725 in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.
• “When the Summer Sun Is Shining,” words: Sydney Henry Knight, music from The Southern Harmony, 1855.  (Wade Wheelock, violin). Song Public Domain, video used by permission.
• “Find a Stillness,” words: Carl G. Seaburg, music: Transylvanian hymn tune, harmony: Larry Philips.  (Nylea Butler-Moore, piano). Used by permission.
• “Come, O Sabbath Day,” words: after Gustav Gottheil, music: A.W. Binder. (Kathy Gursky, viola & Yelena Mealy, piano). Used by permission.
• “Von fremden Ländern und Menschen (Of Foreign Lands and Peoples),” Op. 15, Nr. 1 by Robert Schumann. (Aaron Anderson piano). Music Public Domain, video used by permission.
• “Loch Lomond,” trad. Scottish tune, arr. Aaron Anderson. (Alanna Anderson, cello & Aaron Anderson, piano.) Used by permission.
• “The Way,” text: unknown author, music: Nylea L. Butler-Moore. (UU Virtual Singers with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.) Used by permission. 

Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.

Permission to stream music in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.

OTHER NOTES

*permission granted through the UUA

OFFERTORY

Our Share the Plate partner for August is the Los Alamos Family Council. 

100% of all offered this month will be given to our partner.

We are now using Givelify.com to process the weekly offering:  https://giv.li/5jtcps

SERVICE PARTICIPANTS

• Rev. Bill Neely, Guest Speaker
• Patrick Webb, Worship Associate
• Nylea Butler-Moore, Director of Music
• Aaron Anderson, piano
• Alanna Anderson, cello
• Kathy Gursky, viola
• Yelena Mealy, piano
• UU Virtual Singers: Kelly Shea, Nylea Butler-Moore, Rebecca Howard, Anne Marsh, Kathy Gursky, Mike Begnaud, & Skip Dunn  
• Rick Bolton, Mike Begnaud, and Renae Mitchell AV techs

Attached media: https://web.archive.org/web/20211111035413/https://www.uulosalamos.org/ucla/pulpit/2021/20210801-Chop_Carry_Rest.mp3

Please join us on Sunday (1 August 2021) at 11:00 AM for “Transform the Pain” by Rev. Barbara Jarrell.

Our service will be livestreamed on Facebook Live here.

Watch for our weekly email announcements for info on the next in-person worship service and other opportunities to gather in smaller groups in person.  You can sign up for these announcements using this link.

Our August 2021 give-away-the-plate recipient is YWCA’s Dialogue on Race.

We will have a  virtual coffee hour after the service on Zoom.

While we are remaining physically distant, we want to know how you are doing, what you need, and what you are interested in.  You can let us know using these online surveys.

And you can contribute to All Souls using this online resource.

Please join us on Sunday (1 August 2021) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom.

We have completed our White Fragility book study group using the book by Robin DiAngelo.

Continuing our focus on living into the Eighth Principle, we will view and discuss two videos from Emmanuel Acho’s video podcast “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man.”

His book by the same name grew out of this podcast series.

We will be viewing “Uncomfortable Conversations with the NFL” — Emmanuel Acho’s conversation with Roger Goodell (Commissioner of the National Football League – NFL).

They’ll be talking about the movement among players in the NFL and other sports leagues to engage in peaceful protest during the National Anthem.

The conversation is in two parts.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljgkEcc4B1k?feature=oembed&w=840&h=473]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zH53upUQQE?feature=oembed&w=840&h=473]

We will all watch and discuss both videos together on Sunday.

Feel free to watch ahead and make notes on the points that most interest you that you want to discuss in the group.

Our August 2021 Give-Away-the-Plate recipient Shreveport YWCA’s  Dialogue on Race program in memory of Thomas Ratcliff.

Dialogue on Race is a program of structured weekly conversations in small groups of 10-15 people under the guidance of two trained facilitators who endeavor to create a safe environment for open and honest dialogue on specific questions around the issue of race.

Many of our members have been through the program and several are facilitators.

We dedicate our gift to the memory of Thomas Ratcliff who grew up in our church and was tragically killed in an apartment fire on 25 June 2021.

John Ratcliff (father of Thomas Ratcliff) is a Dialogue on Race facilitator.

John and his wife Joy have designated Dialogue on Race as one of the causes that would best honor Thomas’s memory.

Two ways to donate:

Online — Go to our donation site using this link.  If you are paying your pledge, select “2021 Pledges” and enter that amount for your pledge contribution.  Then select “Collection Plate” to give the amount you would like to give to Dialogue on Race.  All online collection plate contributions for the month of August 2021 will go to Dialogue on Race.

Offline — Please send your give away the plate contribution checks to All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106.  Please put “Dialogue on Race” on the memo line of the check if  you want to have 100% of this check go to Dialogue on Race.  If you want less than 100% of the check to go to Dialogue on Race, please put the amount you want going to Dialogue on Race on the memo line.

Our Sunday afternoon Zoom religious education class for children will take a break on 1 August 2021.

As the COVID-19 Delta variant continues to spread in our community and seems to affect children more seriously, we are trying to be mindful in our planning of outdoor activities (taking into account the Louisiana summertime heat as well).

Watch our website and the All Souls Religious Education Facebook Group for updates on opportunities for our children to get together.

Melissa Lewis will be at the church parking lot this Sunday afternoon from 2:00 to 4:00 PM to collect food and other items for the Noel United Methodist Church Food Pantry.

For this month, they are requesting travel size toiletries (shampoo, body wash, toothpaste, deodorant, and toothbrushes) – no mouthwash please.

They are also requesting breakfast cereal (any size).

By Ben Mattlin

Disability Pride Flag, designed by Ann Magill

On July 25, 2021, a day before the thirty-first anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), the New York Times Magazine published a story about the proliferation of ADA litigation. “The Price of Access” was the headline of the print edition; the online version, which had appeared a few days earlier, was titled “The Man Who Filed More Than 180 Disability Lawsuits.”

The titles say it all: the piece was sarcastic, hard-hitting, and largely disparaging of disability rights campaigns. As a lifelong wheelchair user, I was offended.

Understanding the ADA

The ADA is often referred to as a landmark civil rights bill. It outlawed discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, government programs and buildings, public accommodations such as stores and restaurants, and telecommunications. In its recognition of widespread past discrimination, it elevated the disability population—currently estimated to represent roughly a fourth of the US population—to a legally protected minority status.

As sweeping as the law is, however, it has one primary flaw: The government doesn’t go around actively enforcing it. You can’t get a ticket for access violations. Instead, the regulations must be implemented through lawsuits filed by those who feel they’ve been unfairly discriminated against. Disabled people themselves are deputized to become a sort of unpaid labor force of ADA cops.

The Times article acknowledged this. “In response to right-wing resistance to expanded governmental reach, those who fought for the ADA’s passage decided against setting up a federal office to monitor or enforce it, the way the Drug Enforcement Administration enforces narcotics laws and Immigration and Customs Enforcement pursues immigration violations. Instead, lawmakers concluded that ADA enforcement should happen through the courts—essentially transferring the role of enforcement from the government to individual disabled people and the judges who heard their cases.”

So, the fate of accessibility fell to the slow-moving courts. No one wants to be sued for an ADA violation, of course, but that doesn’t stop many companies and cities from taking their chances.

Complicated Standards

Granted, the specific access codes can be complicated. Ramps can only be so steep. Doorways must have a certain width. Menus and signs must be in Braille. No doubt, some violations are accidental or inadvertent. And no doubt, there are lawyers who recruit disabled people to pursue litigation, as the Times article implied. “In 2012, plaintiffs filed 2,495 Title III cases in federal court,” said the article, referring to charges against stores and other public accommodations. “By 2017, that had more than tripled to 7,663 cases.”

That may sound alarming, yet this spate of litigiousness doesn’t mean the ADA is a bad thing. Moreover, litigation is only part of the story. Judging the ADA by the court cases it’s engendered completely misses the point of one of the most important events in recent history.

Repercussions of Equal Rights 

I’ve been researching a book about what the disability community and the disability movement have been up to since the ADA became law. One key theme I kept finding was how the civil rights protections laid out in the ADA helped change perceptions as well as legal statutes. Not only does the average American now have an inkling about disability rights that never existed before, but disabled people themselves gained an unprecedented sense of entitlement, of belonging. The ADA enabled them to imagine a fairer, more just world. It made it seem actually possible, almost within reach.

Today, the changes brought by the ADA can be seen everywhere—wheelchair ramps, of course, but also Braille signs in elevators and elsewhere, public transit lifts, emotional-support animals, sign language interpreters at many political rallies and during the National Anthem at big sporting events, electronic listening devices in movie theaters, “reasonable accommodations” by employers such as flextime and telecommuting, and myriad other modifications.

Moreover, you see disabled people out and about, interacting with society in ordinary ways, which wasn’t always true before.

But perhaps chief among the ADA’s successes is the simple fact that so many people now accept the idea of equality for disabled people. This very notion “approaches disability in a new, unfamiliar way,” wrote Doris Zames Fleischer and Frieda Zames in the Disability Studies Quarterly. The old approach, they explained, was the “impairment model,” which essentially presumed you couldn’t expect equality if you couldn’t do certain things to function effectively in the world. After the ADA, though, disability was redefined in terms of a struggle for fairness and social parity.

The ADA as a Spark 

This proved an essential spark. Almost immediately after its passage, pro-disability celebrations began happening in Boston and New York. At “disability independence” marches, people quickly started talking about disability pride. It may not have been a brand-new concept, but it soon spread and gained traction. In time, every anniversary of the ADA’s passage became known as Disability Pride Day. Recently, the entire month of July was dubbed Disability Pride Month.

At the same time, disability studies curricula began cropping up. These gave a generation of students a unique perspective on the disability experience and the trajectory of the disability movement. As a result, perhaps, more young people are identifying as disabled (though some of that is because of improved diagnosing of learning disabilities and other neurodivergencies).

Soon, previously unrecognized pockets of the disability community began to speak out and gain attention. People of color, with all types of disabilities and chronic health conditions, of all gender identities, stressed that the disability community is not all about White men in wheelchairs, as the media had been portraying it. Disability, after all, knows no racial, ethnic, geographic, socioeconomic, or gender bounds.

This, in turn, led to greater awareness of intersectionality—the interplay of what’s come to be known as ableism with racism, sexism, homophobia, trans-phobia, and all other forms of oppression.

The Crusade Continues 

Though it had once seemed the ultimate goal, the ADA proved to be a starting point for the ever-broadening disability community. It provided a legal framework, a schematic for the future, but the disability community has taken the cause—the crusade—much farther.

Lawsuits are only one part of that. There would be fewer lawsuits, of course, if there were fewer violations. But as long as people and institutions continue to thwart the notion of fair and equal access, disabled people will keep fighting by whatever means necessary.

Beyond fighting for our rights, though, the disability community asserts itself by simply coming out of the shadows—coming to embrace our identity and connectedness to one another. That’s a key part of what disability pride signifies. We’ve moved beyond self-acceptance to redefine what it means to be disabled.

The ADA may have been society’s way of recognizing us as a group deserving of equal rights. But the legacy of the ADA is what we make of it and do with it every day.

About the Author 

Ben Mattlin is the author of Miracle Boy Grows Up and In Sickness and In Health: Love, Disability, and a Quest to Understand the Perils and Pleasures of Interabled Romance, and a frequent contributor to Financial Advisor magazine. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, and Vox, and on NPR. He lives in Los Angeles, California. Follow him on Twitter at @benmattlin and visit his website.

On Tuesday, July 13, at In Her Honor’s An Evening with Joy Harjo, Cheryl Cohenour read this Land Acknowledgement: I ask you to join me in acknowledging the Native American communities gathered here today, their elders both past and present, as well as future generations. Oklahoma (formerly known as Indian Territory) is home to 39 federally recognized Native American tribes. The City of Tulsa is within the tribal boundaries of three of these federally recognized tribes: the Cherokee Nation, the Muscogee Creek Nation, and the Osage Nation. All Souls Unitarian Church, where we are meeting tonight, is on the the […]

The post Land Acknowledgement appeared first on BeyondBelief.

Throughout this pandemic, the lesson that keeps showing up in my life and maybe yours too, is to pause. There is wisdom in pausing during a traumatic pandemic year. There is wisdom in pausing and lessons in patience throughout the healing process. There is wisdom in pausing when it comes to determining what is best for your personal learning, growth, and moving forward. There is also wisdom in the pause when we look at collective healing. Let’s explore how a simple pause makes a difference in our personal lives and how these same pauses can be applied to our collective and communal lives.

SERVICE NOTES

WELCOME!

New to our church community? Sign our guestbook and let us know if you’d like to get more connected.
For more information on our church community, visit us on the web at http://www.uulosalamos.org or call at 505-662-2346. 
Connect with us on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/uulosalamos
If you would like to submit a joy or sorrow to be read during next week’s service, we invite you to write it in our Virtual Prayer Book.
Have questions? While our minister, the Rev. John Cullinan, is on sabbatical, contact our office administrator at office@uulosalamos.org.

MUSIC CREDITS

• “Here I Am to Listen” by Frances Matthews. (Jenni Gaffney, vocals & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano). Used by permission.
• “Spirit of Life” by Carolyn McDade, harmony by Grace Lewis-McLaren. (Kathy Gursky, viola & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano).  Used by permission.
• “Comfort Me” by Mimi Bornstein-Doble. (Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano).  Used by permission.
• “Song of the Valley,” music by Christine Smellow, video of Olympic National Park’s Hurricane Ridge by John McKenzie. (Christine Smellow, piano). Used by permission.
• “The Climb” by Jessica Alexander and Jon Mabe. (Tina DeYoe, vocals & Nylea Butler-Moore, vocals and piano).  Permission to stream BMI song #10438166 in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.  
• “Pause” by Mike and Mix’alh Adams. (Synth trumpet, guitar, programming, and mixing by Mix’alh Adams; Mike Adams, electric bass). Used by permission.
• “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” by Stephen Lee Cropper and Otis Redding. (Mix’alh Adams, electric guitar & Mike Adams, electric bass.)  Permission to stream BMI song #898382273 in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770. Video slideshow created by Tina DeYoe.  Used by permission.
• “The Way,” text: unknown author, music: Nylea L. Butler-Moore. (UU Virtual Singers with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.) Used by permission. 

Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.
Permission to stream music in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.

OTHER NOTES

“Respect the Light” by Charles A. Forest.  Used by permission.

*permission granted through the UUA

OFFERTORY

Our Share the Plate partner for July is Tewa Women United. 

100% of all offered this month will be given to our partner.

We are now using Givelify.com to process the weekly offering: https://giv.li/5jtcps

SERVICE PARTICIPANTS

• Tina DeYoe, Guest Speaker and Director of Lifespan Religious Education
• Jamie Cullhost, Worship Associate
• Erin Green, Guest Speaker
• Chuck Forest, Chalice Lighting Words
• Nylea Butler-Moore, Director of Music
• Jenni Gaffney, vocals 
• Kathy Gursky, viola
• Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar
• Mix’alh Adams, electric guitar & Mike Adams, electric bass
• UU Virtual Singers: Kelly Shea, Nylea Butler-Moore, Rebecca Howard, Anne Marsh, Kathy Gursky, Mike Begnaud, & Skip Dunn 
• Mike Begnaud, Rick Bolton, and Renae Mitchell AV techs

Attached media: https://web.archive.org/web/20211111035214/https://www.uulosalamos.org/ucla/pulpit/2021/20210725-The_Wisdom_of_the_Pause-Paws.mp3

A Q&A with Leigh Patel

Cover art: Louis Roe

An inconvenient truth lies beneath the promises of opportunity and prestige that higher education degrees offer. US academic institutions are built upon legacies of stolen labor on stolen land. Through history, this settler-colonial foundation has trapped us in history and perpetuated race, class, and gender inequalities on campus. Social protests, often led by youth, have fought for equitable access to education and continue to do so. But as Dr. Leigh Patel argues in No Study Without Struggle: Confronting Settler Colonialism in Higher Education, it’s high time for these institutions to reckon with their legacy. Beacon Broadside editor Christian Coleman caught up with Patel to chat with her about her book and how we see these structural inequalities take place today.

Christian Coleman: Tell us about what inspired you to write No Study Without Struggle.

Leigh Patel: As someone who has a deep love of learning and teaching, places of formal education have often brought me some amount of heartbreak. We have absolutely stunning teachers because they are also learners, and students who teach as they continue to learn. However, much of education, and glaringly so in higher education, has been shaped by mythologies of who is smart, intelligent, deserving, and more recently in higher education, what to do to bring in money. I often say to my students that they have been told lies about society in their K-12 education and that they’ve come to love those lies. In this book, I hope that readers will join me in tracing how often those lies and those mythologies have been challenged through the closely intertwined and historical struggle to study.

CC: You write that naming the problem of racism in higher education is necessary but insufficient. Why is settler colonialism a more comprehensive framework for explaining how marginalized communities experience harms and barriers to higher education?

LP: With all the inequities in society, a key question is: How do I look at or frame this inequity? What does this approach allow, even obligate, me to know? What does it leave out? Racism is undeniably the bedrock to this nation’s formation. However, racism is not often discussed in relation to the ongoing attempt to erase Indigeneity. We lose track of this vital component that continues to manifest itself. In higher education, where property rights are central as an asset and as an arm of the government, the framework of settler colonialism allows and obligates us to do better. It might be a good and important move to take down the statue memorializing an eighteenth-century enslaving man, but what do we learn about the relationships to land and Indigeneity where that statue stood? For the white students in universities who are not taught about the stolen land that required stolen labor in this nation’s creation, higher education is doing them a disservice and prolonging the harm that is done to Indigenous, Black, disabled, and poor people.

CC: You also write that settler colonialism is continuous as a process and a structure, not just a distant historical event that can be glossed over with the narrative of education as the great equalizer. Why was it important to make this point?

LP: Most people are in touch, emotionally and psychically, with the idea of education as the great equalizer as well as a constant reflection of their worth. Who hasn’t received a low grade or a rejected paper and felt that it was a reflection of their intelligence? This individualism is a largely shared belief system that says if you work hard, play by the rules, and are a good person, this country will open opportunities to you. It’s the myth of meritocracy that blurs population-level inequities and places all the responsibility in one person’s lap. It also alleviates the ongoing practices of the ongoing enclosure of Black and brown people’s bodies and spirits, denying them the ability to thrive, as Bettina Love writes about so eloquently. Settler colonialism has the potential to remind us that education often comes out of a political economy that is deeply interested in wealth accumulation for a few rather than well-being for all, including land as a life form. The ongoing structure of settler colonialism offers us, again and again, the opportunity to be in right relation with historical accuracy and to act. Reading land acknowledgements is a start but has not moved many institutions to, for example, fly the flags of the Indigenous peoples whose land the college occupies.

CC: There’s a part where you identify the gift economy as part of the settler colonial structure. It’s devised to make students and faculty of color feel indebted to universities, to make them feel they owe gaining entrance to colleges to some great benefactor. Would you say this invokes the white savior complex in university gatekeepers to absolve them of reckoning with the inequalities they uphold on campus?

LP: This is a fantastic question. There are lots of labels that have been uttered, more frequently in the past years and months following the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, including white ally, white co-conspirator, and white savior. All of higher education has engaged in gatekeeping. Even the legislation that created the first historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) included gatekeeping of separatism and financial stability. What HBCUs have done with the lesser gift is shape transformative leaders, including Thurgood Marshall, Zora Neale Hurston, Julian Bond, and Toni Morrison. So, when we understand that universities, still overwhelmingly led by white administrators and faculty who don’t share many lived realities as their first-generation students of color, use gift-like awards and scholarships, it can also blur the fact that universities often exploit labor. Students are made to feel like they are indebted to the university or that one professor who gave them an override into a full course, when all the time our role as university educators is to serve students and their learning to transform society.

CC: As someone who spent years mired in student loan hell, I felt vindicated seeing how you address and indict student loan debt as part of the settler colonial structure. What tipped you off to include it in your argument?

LP: I wish I could topple over the horrible and intricate reality of student loan debt! Addressing the rapidly rising rates of student loan debt has always been central to me. Because I love learning, it feels odd to me, if not offensive, to charge people to learn. To be even more plain about it, universities are often charging people for a credential, an opportunity to build social networks, and sometimes they learn important histories or ways of knowing in the process. Looking at student loan debt through race, class, gender, and parents’ or caregivers’ education gives us a better understanding that, as with all institutions in the United States, there are tremendous differences in not only how much loan is carried by Black and Latinx students but also how likely they are to secure employment in a society that questions their intelligence at every corner.

CC: How do you see this book in conversation with your previous books, Decolonizing Education Research and Youth Held at the Border?

LP: I very much see this book in relation to both of those books. Across all three books, I dig deeply into the national narratives that we are told and how different those narratives are from the intertwined realities of colonialism, racial capitalism, and wealth and wellness for a few. Across the ways that migrant youth encounter national, racial, gender, sexuality, and cultural borders, the ways that graduate students are taught research that has often been extractive to their home communities, to the study groups that have demanded better from higher education, I am consistently tracing the logics of oppression and the important struggles from students for higher education and the nation to do better.

The fantastic news for colleges who are confronting settler colonialism in their policies and practices is that there are innumerable examples of collectives coming into formation to study in order to act. Learning is much bigger than school, college, or university. Reckoning with settler colonialism is an invitation to destabilize who is an expert and who is need of an expert. Reckoning helps us to tell the truth and realize that there are openings and invitations for us to work, to study, and to struggle together for a society where schools are not warehouses or fickle distribution bureaucracies of credentials.

CC: And lastly, do you consider Cornel West’s resignation from Harvard as exemplary of the issues you unpack in No Study Without Struggle?

LP: This is a great example of what else we can see if we widen our lens from racism to settler colonialism. The public coverage of Nikole Hannah-Jones’s and Cornel West’s treatment by two of the most heralded universities in this land animate settler colonialism.

In Hannah-Jones’s case, it was the impact of wealthy alumni calling a member of the University of North Carolina’s board of trustees and taking issue, purportedly with Hannah-Jones’s approach to journalism. Settler colonialism claims knowledge as property, as well as land and some people. UNC lost one of our most impactful journalists to an HBCU because UNC deferred to wealth and what money told them was valid.

In Cornel West’s case, he is one of five faculty who are Black and/or scholars of color who have spoken and written about US imperialism. All were denied tenure. A settler colony does not like being reminded that it is actively occupying land and materially sustaining that practice in other places in the world, including Israel and Palestine. Were these racist practices? Yes. Without an analysis of setter colonialism, though, we might collapse it into a problem of racism in hiring and processes. It’s much deeper and wider than that.

About Leigh Patel 

Dr. Leigh Patel is an interdisciplinary researcher, an educator, a writer, and a professor at the University of Pittsburgh. She works extensively with societally marginalized youth and teacher activists. Patel is a recipient of the June Jordan Award for scholarly leadership and poetic bravery in social critique and is a national board member of Education for Liberation, a long-standing organization dedicated to transformative education for and by youth of color. She is the author of Youth Held at the Border and Decolonizing Educational Research. Connect with her on Twitter at @lipatel.

We enjoyed a wonderful soft re-opening of the church on Sunday, July 4, 2021.

“[T]ales of natural emergence [are] far more magical than traditional miracles. Emergence is inherent in everything that is alive, allowing our yearning for supernatural miracles to be subsumed by our joy in the countless miracles that surround us.”—Ursula Goodenough, scientist and religious naturalist The words “witness butterfly metamorphosis at home” leapt off the educational catalog into my imagination in April. We had begun homeschooling, and I impulsively decided we should get a butterfly garden. It was the end of a long winter; our house felt small as three of us occupied the space twenty-four hours a day. My partner was […]

The post Emergence appeared first on BeyondBelief.

When we are young we think we have to figure out what we want to become, but becoming is something we do from the moment we are born until our last day on earth. We can’t control the future, but we can control our intentionality around what we become.

Jenny McCready returns as our visiting worship leader from Lakewood, Colorado. She is in the last stages of pursuing fellowship with the UUA and hopes to be an ordained UU minister by the end of the year.

SERVICE NOTES

WELCOME!

New to our church community? Sign our guestbook and let us know if you’d like to get more connected.
For more information on our church community, visit us on the web at http://www.uulosalamos.org or call at 505-662-2346. 
Connect with us on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/uulosalamos
If you would like to submit a joy or sorrow to be read during next week’s service, we invite you to write it in our Virtual Prayer Book.
Have questions? While our minister, the Rev. John Cullinan, is on sabbatical, contact our office administrator at office@uulosalamos.org.

MUSIC CREDITS

• “You That Have Spent the Silent Night,” words: George Gascoigne, music: Nikolaus Herman, harmony: J.S. Bach. (UU Virtual Singers with Yelena Mealy, piano; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.) Used by permission.
• “Just as Long as I Have Breath,” music: Johann G. Ebeling, harmony rev. John Edwin Giles. (Yelena Mealy, piano). Used by permission.
• “For the Earth Forever Turning” (aka “Blue Green Hills of Earth”) by Kim Oler, arr. by Nick Page. (Nylea Butler-Moore, piano). Permission to stream song #27231 in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.
• “I Know This Rose Will Open” by Mary E. Grigolia. (Nylea Butler-Moore, piano).  Used by permission.
• Three traditional Irish reels: “Drowsy Maggie,” “The Cabin Hunter,” and “The Wind Shakes the Barley.” (Patrick Webb, fiddle) Music Public Domain, video used by permission.
• “The Buzzard,” trad. fiddle tune. (Patrick Webb, fiddle). Music Public Domain, video used by permission. 
• “The Way,” text: unknown author, music: Nylea L. Butler-Moore. (UU Virtual Singers with Larry Rybarcyk, acoustic guitar & Nylea Butler-Moore, piano; Nylea Butler-Moore, Music Director; Rick Bolton, AV Engineer.) Used by permission. 

Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730948. All rights reserved.
Permission to stream music in this service obtained from CHRISTIAN COPYRIGHT SOLUTIONS with license #10770.

OTHER NOTES

• Prayer/Meditation: “Be The Blessing You Already Are” by Rev’s John Gibb Millspaugh and Sarah Gibb Millspaugh*
• Time for All Ages:  There by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick, read on Bookishlicious Chamber website; published by Roaring Book Press.  Used with permission from Macmillan Press for read aloud purposes.
• Reading: excerpt from Women Out of Order by Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner (Fair Use)
• “Becoming Ourselves” by Rev. Amanda Poppei from Braver/Wiser*

*permission granted through the UUA

OFFERTORY

Our Share the Plate partner for July is Tewa Women United. 
100% of all offered this month will be given to our partner.
We are now using Givelify.com to process the weekly offering: https://giv.li/5jtcps

SERVICE PARTICIPANTS

• Jenny McCready, Guest Speaker 
• Sue Watts, Worship Associate
• Nylea Butler-Moore, Director of Music
• Yelena Mealy, piano
• Patrick Webb, fiddle
• UU Virtual Singers: Nina Lanza, Kelly Shea, Nylea Butler-Moore, Rebecca Howard, Anne Marsh, Kathy Gursky, Mike Begnaud, & Skip Dunn  
• Rick Bolton, Mike Begnaud, and Renae Mitchell AV techs

Attached media: https://web.archive.org/web/20211111034959/https://www.uulosalamos.org/ucla/pulpit/2021/20210718-Never_Finished.mp3