24 hours in Nebraska

Filed Under events, uu culture, uuism, workshops | 2 Comments

I flew into Omaha yesterday to co-lead three anti-racism workshops at Prairie Star District’s Annual Meeting. People here have been extraordinarily nice. Sherry Warren, the district’s Youth and Young Adult Specialist, was a wonderful hostess. After picking us up from the airport, she took me and my Groundwork co-trainer, Braeden, to a steakhouse, where we all ate delicious Omaha Ribeyes with Wisconsin (?) cheddar mashed potatoes. Oh, gosh, that was so good. I hadn’t eaten a bona fide steak in a while. Sherry was excited that we were meat-eaters. Braeden ate every bite of his steak. They were big.

Okay, enough food chatter. Approximately 55-60 people went through our workshops, and the best word I can use to describe our reception is gracious. I’ve heard that Southerners are known for the hospitality, but I’ve found Midwesterners to be tops, so far. Just so earnest, and friendly. The people in our workshops thanked us profusely for being there, and were so engaged and - gasp - they filled out their evaluation forms! Amazing.

Last year, the Prairie Star District commissioned a team (now called GRACE: Growing Racial And Cultural Equity) to look at implementing specifically anti-racist policies and practices within the district. GRACE is the group that sponsored the workshops I co-led. I met Cheryll Wallace and Nathan Woodruff, who are on the GRACE team. I really enjoyed meeting and talking with them. Cheryll’s son and daughter-in-law attended one of the workshops along with her, and were active participants. The Saturday morning speaker, Rev. Meg Riley, weaved issues of race and racial history into her sermon/lecture about faith, family, and knowledge of self. What a great environment to come into!

After four plus years of doing Groundwork programming, this is my favorite yet. Even though it’s cold, dreary, and snowing here, my impression of Omaha, Nebraska, and the Midwest is very bright.

Popularity: 60% [?]

Jan

6

PETA Honors a UU Minister

Filed Under friends, people, spiritual practice, uu culture | 4 Comments

The Rev. Susan Manker-Seale - mother of my friend Kat - was just named by PETA as “Most Progressive Religious Leader” in their 5th Annual Proggy Awards. I’m not a vegan (by any means), but I thought this was cool. Press release and link to a local (Tucson) article below:

Progressive Pastor Gives Meat-Eating ‘Environmentalists’ Food for Thought

For Immediate Release:
January 4, 2008

Contact:
Melissa Karpel 757-622-7382

Tucson, Ariz. - For her inspired guidance of her church’s Green Sanctuary Action Plan, which includes a focus on Earth-friendly vegan foods, Rev. Susan Manker-Seale of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Northwest Tucson has won the Most Progressive Religious Leader category in PETA’s 5th Annual Proggy Awards. Rev. Manker-Seale will receive a framed certificate and will be featured on PETA’s award-winning Web site PETA.org. PETA’s Proggy Awards (”Proggy” is for “progress”) recognize animal-friendly achievements in commerce and culture.

Under Rev. Manker-Seale’s leadership, the church’s Green Sanctuary Action Plan has promoted sustainable living through everything from recycling and water conservation to vegan cooking classes and protecting nearby Ironwood Forest. There is an emphasis on vegetarian eating at all congregation events–and with good reason. According to a 2006 U.N. report, raising animals for food emits 40 percent more global-warming gases than all the cars, trucks, SUVs, planes, and ships in the world combined. The report goes on to say that meat is “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.” And researchers at the University of Chicago have determined that going vegan is 50 percent more effective at fighting global warming than switching from a standard car to a hybrid.

“Rev. Manker-Seale’s devotion to her church, her community, and all beings is an inspiration to her congregation and everyone else who cares about our planet,” says PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich. “Going vegan is not only the best thing you can do for animals and your health, it’s also the single most important action you can take to reduce your ‘footprint’ on the environment.”

This year, there were 20 Proggy winners, including wildlife-friendly innovators, a restaurant, and producers and marketers of vegan foods, shoes, and cruelty-free personal-care products.

For more information and to read about the other Proggy winners, please visit PETA.org.
Note from Kat: Also see: http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/relatedstories/219236.php for a Tucson article about it that has quotes from my mom too..

Popularity: 25% [?]

Nov

7

Betty Butterfield on Unitarians

Filed Under humor, uu culture, uuism | 3 Comments

Who is Betty Butterfield, and why is ze talking about Unitarians? I don’t know, but an accidental click on the Internet Archive Vlog link in my Bookmark Bar serendipitously led me to outright laughter. The featured video of the day was this three minute piece on how confused Betty was by the Unitarian church ze visited (and the Quaker one, too).

Betty Butterfield and Unitarians

p.s. The one on Methodists is pretty funny, too.

Popularity: 27% [?]

Nov

6

Ms. Kitty on “UU Protein”

Filed Under being creative, blogging itself, inspiration, uu culture | Leave a Comment

This latest entry by Ms. Kitty about the content of Sunday sermons at UU churches is just what I needed to read. In February I’ll be delivering a sermon at the Rainier Valley UU Congregation, and was starting to get cold feet about it. I’m preaching the Sunday following Valentine’s Day so I figured I’d do something on Love - a huge, wide open sea of possibilities.

But Ms. Kitty’s post helped; sometimes I need a smaller field of vision. Still not sure what exactly I’ll write about, but with all that’s happened recently, it won’t be long for something to materialize.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Oct

25

Experimentalists - not UUs?

Filed Under uu culture, uuism | Leave a Comment

It’s almost 3am in NY and I should be in bed asleep, but for over a week the same question persists in bugging me: why don’t we see more experimentation and “play” with UUism? Why such radical and freewheeling fundamental concepts, and then traditional, non experiential practice? Here and there, yes, perhaps. But where are the radical fellowships and the encouragement to go forth and try new things - to do things in small groups? To make mistakes?

Half formed questions … going to sleep.

Popularity: 18% [?]