tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76908300578356692052024-03-14T01:55:17.041-04:00RevCynDoodling and Writing for Hope, Love, and JusticeCynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.comBlogger324125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-72373310378140862692022-05-16T13:00:00.000-04:002022-05-16T13:00:17.459-04:00Reviving an old post -- A "Relentlessly Useful" UUA<i>I was recently in a conversation with colleagues about how great it would be if the UUA would help with some of our church processes we struggle with, specifically payroll. It reminded me of this article I wrote for the no longer available blog "The Lively Tradition" run by Tom Shade. Much of this article is dated, but the final point remains.</i>
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<br><b>"A Relentlessly Useful UUA"
Published August 16, 2004</b><br>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E8V_u18wJvw/U-6xa2O_yCI/AAAAAAAADd8/LzaqmFx0HTE/s1600/CynthiaLandrum1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>It was <a href="http://tipsheet.blogs.uua.org/uua-announcements/announcing-the-end-of-interconnections/?utm_source=f">just announced</a> that the UUA newsletter "<a href="http://www.uua.org/interconnections/search/index.php">Interconnections</a>" is ending. In June, the UUA announced a <a href="http://www.uuworld.org/news/articles/296022.shtml">budget shortfall</a> of 1.3 million, and this is one result of that deficit. Donald Skinner, who edited Interconnections for 15 years, says Tom Sites, former UU World Editor, wanted the newsletter to be “relentlessly useful."<br />
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As a minister, I know that the job of ministry is multi-faceted, and it's the rare -- or nonexistent -- minister who does everything excellently. So when choosing a minister, it's worthwhile for a congregation to think about what strengths are important to that congregation. Ideally, I think the work of the congregation is to not berate the minister for not having universal excellence, but let the minister play to those strengths, and use the strengths of the laity to round out the work of the church. But every church is still going to have areas of strength and weakness, too. Individual people, when they have the luxury of choice, often choose their church based on their interests and desires. Is it more important to you to have a church actively engaged in social justice, or with a stellar RE program, or with dynamic music? A church with limited resources can choose to hire a part-time RE staff person, an amateur musician, and have a lay-led social justice program, but might choose to put more resources into one area to have a really strong program in that area.<br />
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It's worth asking what we want the UUA to be for us, too. While a larger institution has more ability to have excellence in more areas, the UUA is not really that large an institution. Do we want it to be more focused on social witness? Do we want it to be seeker-oriented? <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6HVPLVTGEGs/Uv0jUQ1YbnI/AAAAAAAAC3s/_dlwrkKyZRw/s1600/NewLogo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6HVPLVTGEGs/Uv0jUQ1YbnI/AAAAAAAAC3s/_dlwrkKyZRw/s1600/NewLogo.png" /></a>In the last year it has seemed that a large amount of energy and focus of the UUA has gone into <a href="http://www.uua.org/vision/branding/">branding</a>, on messaging, and on "<a href="http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/article/2014/05/27/unitarian-universalism-selling-god/">Selling God</a>" -- spreading the word of what Unitarian Universalism is to the "nones" and to the younger generations seems to have taken center stage. I think that's appropriate work for the UUA, but not where I would put the emphasis. Instead, I would look for the UUA to be "relentlessly useful" to congregations. <br />
being a growth-driven, seeker-oriented institution. The focus on Branding may become useful to congregations in time. The UUA is working on a new curriculum about it that's being test-piloted this fall. But right now, it's not in that useful category. Congregations can <a href="http://www.uua.org/communications/art/uuachalice/index.shtml">use the new logo</a> and stripe and background pattern, but changing the logo on your webpage isn't going to bring the nones barreling to your church door.<br />
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As a minister, I've been trained in theology, preaching, education, small-group ministry, and social justice. And I think those are the things we need to free our congregations up to focus in -- creating dynamic worship, creating engaging programs, and engaging in public witness. But we have nobody in the small pastoral-sized churches on staff who are trained in finance, webdesign, and marketing. We turn to whatever lay expertise we have in our congregations and tap it relentlessly -- so our one member with web design expertise gets a perpetual unpaid job to do in their off-time, and the same with finance, and marketing.<br />
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It may be Interconnections time to end. As Donald Skinner says, "Now there are <a href="http://www.uua.org/lists/index.shtml">email lists</a>, <a href="http://www.uua.org/interconnections/interconnections/185898.shtml">Facebook laboratories</a>, and <a href="http://tipsheet.blogs.uua.org/resources/archived-webinars-new-source-of-information-for-leaders/">webinars</a>." But the UUA needs to remain <i>relentlessly useful</i>. Create branding, yes, but create the websites, the newsletters, the pamphlets, the print ads, the Facebook photos for us to use it on. Help our churches by doing payroll for us and free us up from the back-office work, much like you help us with our endowments with the Common Endowment Fund. Free up our congregations to do what they do best.<br />
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Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-876554413804211042020-04-01T15:51:00.001-04:002020-04-01T15:51:49.839-04:00Online Annual MeetingsMany UU congregations are beginning to think about how to do an online annual meeting. The UUA has created a helpful page for this at <a href="https://www.uua.org/leadership/library/voting-online">https://www.uua.org/leadership/library/voting-online</a>. However, as someone who ran the online voting for the offsite participants at the UU Ministers Association's annual meetings for several years, I have some additional advice.<br />
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<b>Voting Methods</b><br />
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<b>Zoom Polling: </b>Those who are using Zoom as a platform for meetings and worship services will have noticed that Zoom has a "polling" feature. The advantage of this is it's integrated with Zoom, Zoom will save your results, and the results can be shared easily in the meeting. There are some disadvantages to using Zoom polling, however, as well. One disadvantage is that if two members in a household are sharing a screen, they will only get one vote. With the prevalence of smart phones, this may be minimal, and you could ask for a roll call of vote. Another disadvantage is that Zoom only allows 25 motions per meeting. For most congregations, I suspect that is enough. However, if you have something that people may want to make amendments upon amendments on and call the question about and so on, you may need to have plans for a secondary method in place. Another thing to note is that you'll have to sign into the meeting early to set up your polls. The host (or maybe the co-host) has to be the one running the polls, as well. And, of course, people on phone will be unable to vote. <br />
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<b>Other Polling Platforms or Forms: </b>There are a lot of companies that provide online polling options, each for a price. What we used at the UUMA was <a href="https://www.polleverywhere.com/" target="_blank">Poll Everywhere</a>. Poll Everywhere unfortunately is a yearly and not monthly subscription, so for your average congregation the price is going to be higher than you wish. (Although they are offering a 90-day COVID-19 free subscription for educators. If you consider yourself an educational institution, or you have an educator who wants to create an account, then you're all set.) This will still require everyone in your Zoom meeting to be voting from a separate device. Advantages over Zoom Polling are that you can vote from a device that has internet but not Zoom capability, and you're better able to divide the Zoom hosting functions from the poll-creating functions, in terms of volunteers managing the meeting. <br />
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Since I know Poll Everywhere the best, I'll describe how it works, and assume that other online polling platforms work similarly. What happens in Poll Everywhere is that you create your vote with its multiple choice options (yes/no/abstain), and then you get a link for that vote. You open the poll for responses, and then the link can be pasted into the chat box of Zoom or livestream, or Youtube or Facebook (although you'll want to make sure only your members have access to the vote). The results can be displayed through a "share screen" as they're coming in. <br />
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<b>Zoom Raising Hands: </b>Using the "raise hand" feature in Zoom is actually a pretty appealing method. Raised hands jump to the top of the participants list, and can be easily counted. However, this has the same disadvantage as Zoom polling, in that folks on shared screens can only be counted once, especially if they have a divided vote. You could, however, designate certain other symbols in Zoom to indicate two votes from a household on a particular measure. The disadvantage is that people on some devices may have difficulty finding the "raise hand" feature. But it does allow folks on the phone to vote with a *9. <br />
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<b>Raising Hands: </b>Raising your hands the old-fashioned way with your acutal hand is surprisingly a very doable method in Zoom for congregations whose annual meeting might number under 150 or so. Simply ask folks to raise their hands, and scroll through the screens and count your votes. It can work. It takes a little time, but less than you would think. A roll call vote also allows you to take the time to invite the folks calling in by phone to vote, calling them out one phone number at a time. It's time-consuming but very doable. People need to know to keep those hands raised until you say to lower them. Mute everyone while you do this, so people's boxes on Zoom won't change their order on you while you're counting!<br />
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<b>Roll Call: </b>Hey, if it still works in Congress to have a roll call vote, it can work for your congregation! This is time-consuming, but the easiest, particularly for a small quorum number in your meeting. People can give a yea/nay vote pretty quickly. <br />
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<b>Advice for Your Meeting</b><br />
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<b>Motions: </b>If you're using an electronic polling method, <b>s</b>ince you want to have the polls lined up in advance with the wording already spelled out, it helps if someone has the exact wording for the motions and is pre-arranged to make your motions. This limits the on-the-fly editing your poll creator will have to do. Encourage people to make their motions in writing, by typing them into the chat box. This slows things down in a helpful way, and helps eliminate confusion. <br />
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<b>Slow It Down</b>: Some congregations have a history of people getting impatient in business meetings, and people being quick to call the question. The congregation needs to be educated that a meeting online must necessarily be different. Votes will take a little while, and we need to be patient. Allowing for people's technology problems and the lag time that may happen between screens means we can't jump to call the question. It also means motions upon motions upon motions will be even more confusing than in in-person meetings. Talk to your congregation first about the fact that you'll simply not be using the "call the question" procedure, perhaps. Build in wait times after every vote to allow people to figure it out and the votes to be properly counted. <br />
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<b>Line Up Volunteers: </b>You need several additional volunteers to run an on-line business meeting. If you're using a polling system, you need someone opening and closing the votes and displaying them, as well as typing up new motions. If you're doing a hand-count method of some sort, you need one or two people at least assigned to do the counting and report the results. These folks will also be needed to determine your quorum. <br />
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<b>Who Speaks: </b> Using the "raise hand" feature in Zoom to have people be called on to speak for or against a motion limits the confusion of everyone trying to chime in at once. People pop to the top of the participant list in the order that they raised their hand, so this keeps it orderly.<br />
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<b>Limit Chatting: </b>The chat box needs to be used for motions, for voting, and for other business. Discourage folks using it to chat about their opinions or have side conversations. <br />
<br />Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-37648207548965793992018-06-12T17:38:00.005-04:002018-06-12T17:38:52.660-04:00Love Letter to East Liberty and Blessing<b>"Love Letter to East Liberty," delivered at the 06-03-2018 worship service:</b><br />
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This is not actually a sermon. It is a love letter.<br />
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Dear Universalist Unitarian Church of East Liberty,
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I know it is hard right now to keep spirits up. I know some of you are mad at me for leaving, or worried about what will happen. I know it’s disheartening to not know yet who your next minister will be, and to learn that you’ll be having a part-time minister so that will leave even more work on the shoulder of volunteers.<br />
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But I have so much faith in you, because I know you and have loved you for so long. Here’s what I know.
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I know that many churches out there in historic buildings have buildings that are crumbling. They are struggling to keep their building workable, and they can’t even imagine how to make their buildings accessible. And I know you, here, are keeping your building from becoming a historical museum, just an homage to the past, but moving it ever forward to what you need for your present and future. You’ve made it largely accessible, and even paved the parking lot in an effort to be easier for people with physical accessibility issues were kept away by the gravel situation.<br />
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In this way, maybe a small size has been a blessing. It has kept you nimble, able to act quickly and decisively on some of the biggest issues before you.<br />
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I know that many churches are inward-focused exclusively. They make themselves a haven for themselves, and then they don’t care if anybody else finds them. And I know that you’re a church that keeps trying to find ways to get yourselves known in the community, doing the forums for over ten years for that reason, among others. Despite the few numbers you have, you did work that built a place in the community for dialogue and learning that continues today.<br />
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Speaking of which, there’s the social justice work to do in the world that many churches find it easier to ignore, and yet you continue to engage in it, this year taking things even deeper with adding the idea of a social justice theme for the year, and planning activities and writing articles and doing teaching and preaching on the issue. You’ve engaged in the work of justice in this community, and that’s had a dramatic effect on making this community a better place. You were the first openly welcoming church in our entire county, and have been a welcoming home for LGBT people for just about 14 years officially, although you welcomed individuals before that. And you helped make Jackson a more welcoming place. Without this church, it might not have happened for even more years.<br />
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And you’re a church that cares for your members. People come to me to find ways for our church to reach out to members who are struggling financially. You bring casseroles to people who are struggling physically. You put loving arms around people who are struggling emotionally. Your small size means you know everyone, and you know when someone needs help, and you reach out.<br />
So I know in my heart that this church is too vital, too caring, too engaged, and too forward-looking to not be successful in your future. You’ve been a blessing to me, and to so many people who have walked through these doors. And your next minister, which you will find and I think it will be soon, will see how caring and wonderful you are, and will love you too.<br />
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This church has been a blessing to me in more ways than I can count. You excel at taking ministers who are new, or who are hurting, and building them up and supporting them and growing them into the ministers they are capable of being. When I came here, I was starting a whole new phase of my life as a mother, and I was a new minister with only three years of ministry in churches that had been very difficult years. And you gave me a chance, and you helped me to shine. I say often to our board, that you understand that ministers can’t be everything to all people, that nobody is excellent in every single way, and that the work of the church has to be in part to let the minister shine in their areas of excellence and rather than critiquing the weak spots, to become the solution, to shore up those areas. Because we all minister together. And you have, here, allowed me to shine. And while I may not be the perfect pastor, you’ve supported the pastoral care through lay ministry. And you do this in so many areas, so that that we can shine together as a welcoming beacon of liberal religion in this area.<br />
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But if you were only a church that new how to support new or hurting ministers, that wouldn’t have been enough to keep me here for 14 years. But you’re more than that. This loving community, and leadership of amazing lay leaders has been a joy to be in. Our board has fun together. You’re a healthy church, and a happy one, and interested in new ideas and structures. When I suggested the social hour teams, you ran with that and made it work. When I asked for worship associates, you did that for several years to support the worship. When I talked about, this year, trying to hold another worship service in a second location, in Jackson, the board was willing to green-light that project. It’ll be a project for a future minister someday, I hope. When I talked with one of you about hosting individual adult religious education projects, that idea was embraced and run with and worked well for a year-long series. When I said to the board and finance crew that our paving project had to include ramping the schoolhouse, you saw that that was done. I’ve not only been listened to, and allowed to become a leader in this community, you’ve valued my input and given me your own. We did all these things together. And you’ll do even more with whoever comes next.<br />
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And this church gave me the freedom to spread my wings. The leadership of the church understood me and heard me when I said that ministry, to me, had to be more than within the four walls, it had to include being in the community, and it had to include service to our larger denomination, the larger faith. And so you allowed me to give back to our faith, and to be vital in our community, and understood it to be part of your ministry to the world.<br />
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And you allowed me to spread my wings in other ways, whether through teaching, or through art, or through participation in organizations like Girl Scouts or my study group, or whatever it was needed to both keep me afloat financially, and to keep me energized personally. You learned about sabbaticals for the first time in your history, and while they were controversial, you lived up to your commitments and promises that you had made with me when I began.<br />
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I’ve been blessed to be the minister here. And I hope you’ve been blessed by this amazing church, and that it has worked blessings in your life either by being there when you needed support, or by giving you a mission, a vision, when you had energy to spend it in the world, or by deepening your spirituality and connecting you deeper to this living tradition of Unitarian Universalism, or by growing new ideas, or helping your children grow into caring and spirit-filled people.<br />
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I’ve been blessed, and I hope you’ve been blessed, but I know for certain that this world, this community around us, has been blessed by this little church in the wildwood. And I know it will continue to be blessed by your presence, your ministry, to this community, to this world, and to each other, long after I have gone.<br />
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I believe that the world needs Unitarian Unversalism. Our history of a faith that not only has fought for justice from abolition and suffrage to LGBT equality and Black Lives Matter, but our faith that has proclaimed radical and vital theological messages, as well. This faith that says that God is Love, that all are Loved, that God loves all unconditionally, and that you are welcome here. This faith is a blessing to the world. This faith that says questions are holy, your bodies are holy, and wholly loved. <br />
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This faith is a blessing to the world. This faith that says that radical hope means you keep striving, keep bending the arc toward justice, this faith is a blessing to the world. This faith that says this earth and we are interdependent, and all the people are part of one living breathing organism, that says science is completely compatible with our theology, and that we are stardust, this faith is a blessing to the world. This faith that says peace will prevail, this faith is a blessing to the world. This faith that says religious authority comes not just from scriptures, and not just from the ordained, but from the transforming sense of awe and wonder that you experience in your own lives, this faith is a blessing to the world. This faith that says there is no original sin, and that you are holy and good, this faith is a blessing to the world.<br />
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And you are this faith, this living tradition. Unitarian Universalism does not exist without its people, two more more gathered in its name. You are this living tradition in these walls, and in this community. You are the Unitarian Universalists here in East Liberty, which as we know is a state of mind, but you are the Unitarian Universalists bringing this living tradition to this entire county. And it needs you here, as much as you need this church here, this aching hurting world needs you here. The people who haven’t found you yet, including that minister who hasn’t found you yet, they need this beloved community, and you will be a blessing to them, as you were to me, as you are to each other, as you are to this world. Thank you for blessing me, for blessing each other, for blessing this community and world.<br />
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Love,<br />
Cindy
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pQwnRXxpAnM/WyA5ut6LgnI/AAAAAAAAJ44/adwKmoSh6LkkUZrasr9EQk6v4n9aQwOKwCLcBGAs/s1600/Door%2Btangle.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="969" data-original-width="741" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pQwnRXxpAnM/WyA5ut6LgnI/AAAAAAAAJ44/adwKmoSh6LkkUZrasr9EQk6v4n9aQwOKwCLcBGAs/s320/Door%2Btangle.png" width="244" /></a></div>
<b>"Blessing for the Congregation," delivered at the 06-10-2018 worship service:</b><br />
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For sharing your times of sadness and joy, work and play, rest and excitement, I offer you my thanks.<br />
May your lives be blessed more peace and joy, and may you minister to each other through all sorrows.<br />
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For creating a welcoming home for stranger and friend, child and adult, I offer you my thanks.<br />
May you ever open your doors ever more widely and welcome each stranger or friend.<br />
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For sharing the strength of your heritage and your present selves, I offer you my thanks.<br />
May you continue to go boldly into the future, living a vision of a bold and dynamic faith.<br />
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For doing the work of justice, and your commitment to humanity and the earth, I offer you my thanks.<br />
And may you ever bend the arc toward justice and live our religion.<br />
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For all that you have been in my life and to each other, I offer you my thanks.<br />
May your future be bright with hope and faith, with justice, and, most of all, love.Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-34670532297634291052018-04-06T11:38:00.001-04:002018-04-06T11:38:04.141-04:00Heartbreak and Loons<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is a doodle I made based on a sermon about heartbreak and gun violence and the healing power of community. The sermon quoted Mary Oliver's poem "<a href="https://www.neopoet.com/kailashana/blog/840-am-2-jun-2011">Lead</a>."</div>
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Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-9104826943217740302018-02-22T13:02:00.000-05:002018-02-22T13:14:48.918-05:00Triggers<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lAwbhfymipI/Wo8H9ST_yTI/AAAAAAAAJoc/_OlXKJU5gS8XHqrGc2H970rbCWo_qE6rACLcBGAs/s1600/quentin-kemmel-445082-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lAwbhfymipI/Wo8H9ST_yTI/AAAAAAAAJoc/_OlXKJU5gS8XHqrGc2H970rbCWo_qE6rACLcBGAs/s320/quentin-kemmel-445082-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/EixLebsrOkU?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="background: whitesmoke; box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out, opacity 0.2s ease-in-out; white-space: nowrap;">Quentin Kemmel</a><span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #111111; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: nowrap;"> on </span><a href="https://unsplash.com/search/photos/gun?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="background: whitesmoke; box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out, opacity 0.2s ease-in-out; white-space: nowrap;">Unsplash</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'm realizing that although I have at least two degrees of separation from any mass shooting, these school shootings and other mass shootings are still something of a trigger for me. It's at least in part related to the 2013 shooting deaths of <a href="http://www.wilx.com/home/headlines/Family-Friend-Shocked-But-Not-Surprised-by-Murder-Suicide-234817061.html">Chris Keith and Isaac Miller</a>. Chris Keith was a former member of my church. She and her son Isaac were killed in an act of domestic violence, by her estranged husband.<p/>
Like the killer in the recent school shooting, Chris's killer was a known threat. These are the things I know about her killer: He had been abusive of Chris for some time. Chris minimized the abuse when talking to me, saying it was the first time, when it wasn't, but she wasn't ready to leave. What I didn't know, but found out after her death was that authorities had been called all the way back in 2003, before I met her. In the news it was revealed that Chris had taken out a personal protection order against him at one time. Chris had said, "Threats of shooting me to death with one of his hunting rifles were par for the course," in her personal protection order (<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2519884/Ex-Husband-shoots-dead-partner-wrote-popular-housewife-blog-killing-14-year-old-son--leaving-children-orphaned.html">source</a>). She also said he was diagnosed with depression, and in 2011 he "stayed in bed for nearly the entire year, only rarely getting up other than to use the bathroom... At least once a week, he told me if I ever left him he would kill me." And eventually Chris withdrew the personal protection order. And I also know that her killer had been previously reported to CPS for what I consider to be violence against a child, because my religious education coordinator and I reported it -- and Chris told me that CPS had followed up on it, but it was an incident that had been previously investigated by that point. <p/>
These are the things I heard second-hand, from friends of Chris: Her killer had numerous run-ins with the police around domestic violence, including a recent incident. In response, he checked himself voluntarily in to a psychiatric unit, and the police took his guns. Even though these were known things about him, he hadn't been convicted of domestic violence, and he hadn't been convicted of child abuse, and he hadn't been involuntarily committed for mental illness. So his guns were returned, because there were no laws that could keep them from him. So he took his biological children to visit his parents for the night, for an early Christmas celebration, and then he killed his wife and step-son -- and himself. <p/>
It's taken a while for people to fully understand this, but we now know that many of these mass shooting killers are also men <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/11/07/562387350/in-texas-and-beyond-mass-shootings-have-roots-in-domestic-violence">who have committed domestic violence</a>. There is a link there between these larger events and the domestic violence events that happen every day. <a href="https://everytownresearch.org/reports/mass-shootings-analysis/">Everytown for Gun Safety</a> says that 54% of the mass shooters between 2009 and 2016 were known to have committed domestic violence in their past. That's the domestic violence we know about, which means the real rates may be higher.<p/>
Domestic violence is mass murder, too, although we don't really understand it that way. Nearly three people per day are killed in acts of domestic violence. <br />
<p/>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The keys to solving mass shootings are the same keys to solving domestic violence, both in the need for gun control, and in the need for greater background checks and the work of mental wellness. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But we're not solving domestic violence murders with background checks, because too often the domestic violence is unreported, or, like in Chris's case, the victim pulls a protective order or doesn't follow through on prosecution. We know this is the case, again and again, in domestic violence. So banning gun ownership of people who are convicted of domestic violence, while a good step, is not going to catch most of these people. It's only after the deaths that we hear the stories of repeated abuse. Chris's friends and family (and clergy) had some idea what she endured, and wanted to help her to get out, and she did separate from her abuser, but it wasn't enough to stop him from killing her.
</span><p/>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The same is true for focusing on mental illness -- too many people are undiagnosed, and most people who are diagnosed will never commit a violent crime -- so it won't do the job of stopping these killers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But if we stop domestic violence entirely -- look at and understand the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-firestone/domestic-violence-awareness_b_2000652.html">roots of domestic violence</a>, treat people at the root causes -- we might address a lot of these mass shooting incidents as well. This includes looking at how masculinity is constructed in our culture, and recognizing the ways that this construct of gender can turn toxic and violent. It includes a better understanding of mental illness and mental wellness. It includes working with children, so that we can break the cycle of abuse over generations. It includes teaching things like self-control, understanding triggers, empathy, and resilience. In short, we need to teach love, and not the fantasy love that leads to domestic violence, but a real agape love and an ethic of care. </span><p/>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And none of that may ever be enough. Violence happens in liberal religious communities, it happens in rich families and educated families and liberal families. And it will evade our attempts to address it over and over again. It lives and grows in secrecy and shadows. So this is not meant to be a substitute for gun reform. The ability to purchase weapons designed to kill and do so quickly increases the deaths in these situations. Our society should be able to stop access to these weapons like the AR-15, which are unnecessary for either sport or personal protection. And we need to make it so that a man like Chris Keith's killer won't be able to get those guns back, when we know as much as we know about him, and so that the recent killer, who was a clearly known threat, won't be able to walk into a store and legally purchase a gun, either. And when we do so, the body count in our mass killings will go down.</span><p/>Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-71540440809779214172018-02-15T17:53:00.002-05:002018-02-15T21:44:59.958-05:00The New First RespondersWhen I was a child, we had fire drills and tornado drills. That was it. No longer did we have the drills of what to do during bomb raids or, worse, nuclear attack, knowing that hiding under our desks would be ineffective. During my daughter's entire childhood, active shooter drills have been a regular part of the school routine. The world she has grown up in is different than the one I did.<br />
<br />
When I did my internship, training for the ministry, the congregation I was interning at did their very first fire drill in their 150-year history (on my first Sunday in the pulpit). An active shooter drill or an active shooter policy was something we would never have thought of. But they <a href="http://uumilwaukee.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/RE-Protocol-for-Intruder-with-Weapon.pdf">have one now</a>.<br />
<br />
Today I got a different sort of e-mail from the superintendent of my daughter's school system than I've ever gotten before after a school shooting or other incident. In this e-mail, the superintendent issued the usual sorts of calming statements about how they are thoughtful about safety and doing what they can. But then the superintendent said:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
[The school district] continues to plan for safety and security improvements in this changing landscape but we need your help. The best safeguards start with vigilance. We know that social media is a place where warning signs and chatter can take place. It takes all of us to monitor the many channels of social media (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram etc.). Together we have thousands of eyes and ears. Everyone, including our students, should be reminded that if you see something or hear something, please tell a principal, teacher, counselor, myself or another adult. </blockquote>
I paused for a moment. We are asked to all be the system that prevents school shootings.<br />
<br />
Not long after reading that e-mail, I read <a href="https://dianeravitch.net/2018/02/14/david-berliner-calls-for-a-national-teachers-strike-on-may-day-to-demand-sensible-gun-laws/">this blog post</a> by Diane Ravitch calling for a teacher strike for gun reform which said, "Teachers are now first responders, trained to protect their students if a shooter gets in the building. Some have given their lives for their students. Parents should join teachers. Enough is enough." Our teachers are giving their very lives. Our educational leadership is calling on every citizen to help stop the violence. In the churches, we are first responders now, too. It is commonplace now for churches to have active shooter policies, with training for what the roles are for ushers and Sunday School teachers and nursery care workers and ministers.<br />
<br />
The truth is, nothing that our teachers and students and ushers and Sunday school leaders and ministers are doing is making the difference to decrease the number of school and church shootings. And there's a limit to what we can feasibly do in many situations. All we can do is respond to the best of our ability once they start, based on the best guesses of experts about what kind of training we should use. Sometimes that means laying down our lives to protect others.<br />
<br />
It's appalling that teachers and church-goers are asked to be our first responders, and need to be trained to deal with active shooters. Let's just stop right there for a moment, and say that the world where we have to train teachers and church-goers for this is not right. It's not what we are there for, not what we're called to, and it's not the way things should be.<br />
<br />
We are taking these actions -- training teachers to throw down their lives to save their students, training ushers to bar the doors, asking all our citizens to monitor the Facebook and Instagram posts of everyone they know for signs of violence -- for one reason: our government has failed to act.<br />
<br />
The idea that there's no law that would prevent this, and that the government is doing everything they can do is false. It's a [expletive deleted] lie. And things are going the wrong way; our legislators are doubling down on the politics of death. In Michigan this fall, the house and senate passed a bill to allow concealed carry in churches and schools, among other places.<br />
<br />
This must end. We must, as a society, make it clear that the second amendment does not extend to the right of every citizen to own a weapon designed to kill at rapid pace. It is possible to turn this country around, and it is past time to do so.Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-79036221142030072662018-02-06T14:28:00.001-05:002018-02-06T14:28:01.838-05:00Resistance, Renewal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I'm working on getting back into my doodling practice, and also back into my blogging practice. Hopefully you'll see more posts soon. Meanwhile, this doodle is a year old -- but the need for resistance continues.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sVHiG-x3jQM/WnoA82y0tKI/AAAAAAAAJlk/oI11vPntMM8OO4HasaeHYAa9En_629hEgCLcBGAs/s1600/Resistance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1187" data-original-width="1600" height="296" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sVHiG-x3jQM/WnoA82y0tKI/AAAAAAAAJlk/oI11vPntMM8OO4HasaeHYAa9En_629hEgCLcBGAs/s400/Resistance.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<i>You have permission to use this art, with attribution, for any liberal/progressive resistance-related or Unitarian Universalist-related purpose.</i></div>
<br />Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-31877298425029414572017-02-16T19:13:00.000-05:002017-02-17T13:32:14.885-05:00The Painful Steps to JusticeWhen I came to Jackson, MI in 2004, it took me a while to realize how unsupported the LGBTQ community felt here. During my seminary years, all my LGBTQ friends and colleagues were entirely out of the closet, and as someone with cis-gender and heterosexual privilege, I had basically forgotten that the closet could still exist. But here in Jackson, I found, the closet was still deep and wide. People I knew through church or PFLAG or social justice work might be out in one context and still in with family, work, or other friends. So I learned this again, and said it many times to people in one context or another that Jackson was not as progressive with LGBTQ rights as many other locations. I said it, and I knew it, but I hadn't felt it.<br />
<br />
In Michigan we have no state-wide protections for LGBTQ people. In fact, when our state's civil rights legislation, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott-Larsen_Civil_Rights_Act">Elliott-Larsen Act</a> was passed in 1976, LGBTQ protection was specifically left out because of fear that adding LGBTQ protections would cause the whole act to fail to pass. Since then, there have been efforts to amend Elliott-Larsen, but all have failed. What's happened in its place is that individual cities -- <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_and_counties_in_the_United_States_offering_an_LGBT_non-discrimination_ordinance#Michigan">over 40 of them in Michigan</a> -- have passed city-wide protections, one at a time.<br />
<br />
People had been trying to get a Non-Discrimination Ordinance (NDO) passed in Jackson long before I came here. The local paper <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2017/02/jacksons_19-year_history_pushi.html">recently wrote about the history of this fight</a>, and traced it back to 1999 when it was first brought to the City Council. It was brought to a first reading, but then never went to a second reading for lack of votes. I got mildly involved -- enough to write and speak about it -- when it was being brought back in front of the council in 2009, where it failed again. A grass-roots organization was formed, which we titled "Jackson Together," and I got more deeply involved. We worked to bring it in front of the City Council <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2012/08/gay_rights_group_asks_jackson.html">again in 2012</a>. My part was to collect a list of some clergy who were supportive of the NDO, and I created the Facebook page for the group, and was one of those who spoke up at the City Council meeting. The City Council sent it to committee for review. It never came out of committee. Later, the committee was disbanded. The Jackson Together group fizzled out. And then in 2014, a high school student started asking around about why the NDO didn't exist in Jackson, and he became determined to see it pass. I suggested we resurrect the old Jackson Together group, and so he and I and another local clergy member took the helm, and we started meeting again. We created lists of local businesses in support of the NDO, updated the clergy list, and brought it back before the council. This time, the state-wide LGBTQ advocacy group, Equality Michigan, <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2014/10/gay_rights_group_reluctantly_s.html">asked us to table the issue</a>. They thought they had enough Republican support to amend the state-wide Elliott-Larsen Act. They were wrong. But meanwhile, our City Council never would get the NDO back off the table to a vote. As so our group fizzled out again. <br />
<br />
This time, the LGBTQ community started organizing again for another push before the City Council, and asked me to join them. I resurrected Jackson Together to be a Facebook presence for disseminating information. Various groups convened and worked on it under different banners -- Jackson Together, PFLAG, the newly created Jackson Pride Center, a working group of our Vice Mayor -- and we started just going to the City Council meetings repeatedly asking for it to be passed. Finally a couple of council members got it on the agenda in January. We organized people to meet before the Council Meeting and go over to the Council Meeting together. When we got there, our organized support group was less than a fourth of the crowd, as over 400 people tried to pack into the City Council chambers. The line was outside the building to get into City Hall. The Council had never seen anything like it. They hastily met and worked out a plan to adjourn and reconvene at the local Michigan Theater around the block at 8:30. 400-500 people packed into the Michigan Theater, where citizen comments were shortened to two minutes. Over two hours of testimony ensued, with 76 people speaking for the ordinance and 4 against. Finally, around midnight, the City Council passed the ordinance through its first of two readings, <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2017/01/lgbt_non-discrimination_ordina_1.html">with a vote of 4-3</a>. Voting against us was the mayor, a council member who had voted to table the ordinance back in 1999, and a third council member. In favor was one member who said that she didn't promise to vote for it in second reading. We knew we had work to do in the next two weeks.<br />
<br />
Over the next two weeks, we had phone banks, door-to-door canvassing, letters to the editor, letters to council members, press conferences, editorials, and daily pushes on social media. I created daily graphics with action items for social media, and gathered clergy together to write a press release and to sit together for the final vote. As one of the identified leaders, I also <a href="http://www.wilx.com/content/news/Jackson-city-council-nondescrimination-ordinance-vote-next-week-412591793.html">spoke to the press</a> on several occasions leading up to the vote, and worked with the press to help identify others to talk to. <br />
<br />
For the final vote, over 600 people packed the Michigan Theater, and we had five hours of citizen comments. Those of us who worked hard organizing were pleased that the supporters still outnumbered the opposition, who had also worked hard to turn out their people. 88 people spoke in favor, and 66 against. Around eleven, the press had to step out to make their "live at eleven" reports, and then come back in. One gave me his number to text him if they should suddenly finish and go to the vote, but they didn't. It was after midnight again when <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2017/02/it_passed_jackson_city_council.html">they finally voted</a>. The opposition had been trying to force one of our supporters on the Council to recuse himself because he worked for a large company, Consumers Energy, that had made public statements in favor of the NDO. The first name they called for the vote was our Council Member who was on the fence. We held our breaths. And she voted in favor. Some folks started cheering, but I didn't yet. The second council member was one we knew we could count on. But then the third person was called, and it was the Council Member who had pushed to table the issue in 1999, and who had never supported it. And he voted yes! Even if the Consumers Energy employee was forced to recuse (which he wasn't), we now had won. In the end, our vote was 5-2 in favor of the ordinance, with only the mayor and one other council member voting against. <br />
<br />
I've always known that the arc of the universe bends toward justice. And I've preached many times about how we don't always get to see it happen, how Susan B. Anthony died before women got the vote, and how the arc can look flat from where we're at. But this time, after nearly two decades of activism, we were victorious at last. There was great rejoicing -- cheering, hugging, thanking each other for our work and our support. <br />
<br />
It wasn't until a couple of days later, when the euphoria subsided, that some of the harder parts of the night came to the forefront for me. We had listened to sixty-six people get up to the microphone and talk about how they didn't think this NDO was necessary. Some were polite. Some cited reasons that really would've been cleared up if they truly understood the ordinance -- fear that an accusation alone would cost them the fine, or that even if they didn't know someone was gay they could be fined for not hiring them, etc. But as the night wore on, things got nastier and nastier. And at the same time as they got nastier, person after person would say something like, "Everybody for this NDO keeps talking about hate. I don't hear any of <i>us</i> talking about hate. I don't hate gay people. But..." And then they would talk about how their religion and their God tells them that homosexuality is a sin, and so they can't possibly be expected to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding, or do photography for a same-sex wedding. A Catholic priest spoke about how this would (and, of course, it won't) force him to perform same-sex weddings. Over and over again, people talked about bathrooms at schools. (The NDO has nothing to do with schools, and explicitly states that it doesn't require changes to bathrooms.) A <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2017/02/22_stand-out_comments_from_tue.html">sample comment reported</a> in the paper was, "I don’t want some confused guy in the bathroom with my daughter.” But the nastier ones used language of "perversion" and "Sodomite." Living and working among progressives as I do, and being given the privilege not afforded to my LGBTQ friends and congregation members, I hadn't heard language like that in years. Another pastor got up and told the Council that if they passed the NDO, God would damn Jackson like he did Sodom. Our row of clergy in the front was stared down in particular by several people as they got up to tell what they thought their God and their Bible had to say about how we treat people in this community. We had certainly proven to the City Council that the NDO was needed, as person after person spoke about how they shouldn't be forced to hire, rent to, or serve LGBTQ people in this community. <br />
<br />
And in the face of all that hate, person after person, from high schoolers to senior citizens, got up and spoke about their fear, about the discrimination, about the hatred they had faced, about family and friends who turned their backs on them. Not knowing if they could be fired tomorrow or denied housing next week, some who had been out for ages and some who were only now coming out of the closet, they got in front of the City Council with cameras on them from all directions, and told their stories. <br />
<br />
As I reflected, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RevCyn/posts/1413725755338229">I posted this on Facebook</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Two days later, still up too late and unable to sleep. Euphoria having worn off a bit, I'm thinking about what our local LGBTQ community had to go through on Tuesday. Five and a half hours of deliberate misgendering and mockery, name calling like sodomites and perverts, insinuation that they would harm people in restrooms, being told that God would damn them. And then over and over again being told that this wasn't about hatred, but their identity goes against God. I know how awful it was for me to listen to that, and can't imagine how hard it was for our LGBTQ community who came up and talked about fear, about abandonment, about abuse, and about discrimination. I'm so proud of our LGBTQ youth, but so sad the world still holds these hatreds. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I'm proud of the work we did to win the vote, and happy we have the nondiscrimination ordinance at last, but I'll never forget how some of the people stared right at me as they said that their Christian faith demanded they act this way. For one evening my hetero privilege was stripped away, and it was shocking and scary. There were people trying to intimidate me at several points. As I left the theater, a man started yelling at me and accusing me of things I hadn't done, and I felt threatened and afraid. Fortunately the police were there and hurried him on his way, and also fortunately I had a ride to my car. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I'm so glad we had our row of clergy to counter that disgusting show of the worst of our community. God loves you, friends. And those people were outnumbered by the ones who know that you are loved for who you are."</blockquote>
My biggest regret was that we stacked our clergy people in the front of the deck, trying to set a tone about God's message, and then it was followed by hours of hurtful theology. I wanted a time at the end of the night for us to be able to get up then and say, "You are loved. You are loved by God for being just who you are. God made you queer, trans, bi, lesbian and gay, because that is wonderful."<br />
<br />
But my LGBTQ friends here tell me they had fewer regrets and fewer surprises. They had seen this hate before, and they knew it was here under the surface still. They were less surprised than me at the language thrown at them, and many were less intimidated than me by the preachers staring them down while yelling about Sodom. And at the end of the night, they had won. After twenty years of working, we had bent the arc toward justice. Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-64583538061625947342016-06-29T13:03:00.004-04:002016-06-29T14:05:22.460-04:00Standing, Rolling, Dancing, Singing, Praying, Preaching, Acting on the Side of LoveAt our the preceding Ministry Days preceding the UU General Assembly,
ableist language was used in worship to the extent that UUMA Board
Member Josh Pawelek issued this response:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
Clearly there is a problem with ableism in our public
presentation. Public statements, music, stories and metaphors that
perpetuate ableism have been hurtful to colleagues. As with any
oppression, this ableism likely runs deeper than our public
presentation. I remain grateful to all those who are willing to call it
to our attention, and I am deeply sorry that such calling is still
necessary. (<a href="http://www.uuma.org/news/295634/Response-to-Concerns-Raised-About-Ministry-Days.htm">The full response is here</a>.)</blockquote>
The most prominent example of ableist language in our movement, however, is our social justice arm: <a href="http://www.standingonthesideoflove.org/">Standing on the Side of Love</a>. And before you say, "It's just a metaphor," I invite you to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piWbB3jTsEk&feature=youtu.be">watch this</a> and <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/emergentvillage/2015/01/ableist-metaphors-in-worship-why-it-matters/">read this</a>
by UU minister Theresa Soto. The point here is not to convince you
that ableist metaphors are a problem. The point is that we often think,
<i>even if it is ableist</i>, "Standing on the Side of Love" is a done
deal and it would be too hard to change it. I'd like to offer a
different possibility. I think we need to change this, and it's possible to
change this. The important part of the "Standing on the Side of Love"
isn't the "Standing," it's that we're acting "on the Side of Love." <br />
<br />
Step
1: Start including our non-standing bodies in the message. Without
changing the name officially, widen the images and merchandise. Start
by offering "I Roll on the Side of Love" or "Rolling on the Side of
Love" or "Sitting on the Side of Love" t-shirts, bumper stickers, and
other items. Make it easy for people to get these items -- don't make
them make their own. Start making images that you share on your webpage
with these words more and more frequently. <br />
<br />
Step
2: Offer more and more words as options -- we can dance, pray, sing,
and act in lots of ways "on the Side of Love." Start using all sorts of
words more and more frequently until "standing" is just one word among
many, used no more frequently than the others. Do this on merchandise
and images in particular. Maybe ministers would like t-shirts that say
"Preaching on the Side of Love" or "Serving on the Side of Love." Maybe
DREs would like "Teaching on the Side of Love" or "Growing on the Side
of Love" or other ideas. <br />
<br />
Step
3: Drop "Standing" as the title of the organization in favor of "On the
Side of Love" or "The Side of Love." Start by using the shortened
version on images and merchandise where no one verb will do. Then as
people get used to the new name, change URLs and official name and usage
of the organization. <br />
<br />
I
think it's time for us to recognize that while it's been a great
campaign and done some really neat things, the title is ableist, and
that is problematic. Let's fix it, folks. We're better than just
throwing up our hands and saying, "Oh well." Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-46651166462102175202016-06-13T12:13:00.001-04:002016-06-13T12:42:44.571-04:00For Orlando and for ChangeThey died in the high schools, in the cafeterias and the libraries and the classrooms.<br />
And we cried, and we wondered.<br />
And we blamed gaming and outsiders.<br />
And nothing changed.<br />
<br />
They died in the universities and community colleges, in the classrooms and dorms.<br />
And we bawled, and we yelled.<br />
And we blamed reporting systems and foreigners.<br />
<i>And nothing changed.</i><br />
<br />
And they died on the street corners lobbying, on the pavement and sidewalk.<br />
And we keened, and we lobbied.<br />
And we blamed politics and mental illness.<br />
<i><b>And nothing changed.</b></i><br />
<br />
And they died in the movie theaters and restaurants and clinics, around tables and in cushioned seats.<br />
And we sobbed, and we argued.<br />
And we blamed gun culture and zealotry.<br />
<i><b>AND NOTHING CHANGED.</b></i><br />
<br />
They died in the elementary schools, in the arms of the teachers.<br />
And we wept, and we mourned.<br />
And we blamed autism and parenting.<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>AND NOTHING CHANGED.</b></i></span><br />
<br />
And they died in the churches, the mosques, and the temples, in worship and in song.<br />
And we howled, and we prayed.<br />
And we blamed white supremacy and religious bigotry.<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><b>AND NOTHING CHANGED.</b></i></span><br />
<br />
And they died in the nightclubs, on dance floors and at bars.<br />
And we wailed, and we raged.<br />
And we blamed religious extremism and homophobia.<br />
And will anything change?<br />
<br />Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-87976122094033874642016-06-09T17:18:00.002-04:002016-06-09T17:21:24.365-04:00A Response to "On Outrage and Douchebags"My dear colleague (and formerly my minister) Lynn Ungar has written a <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/uucollective/2016/06/on-outrage-and-douchebags/">thoughtful piece</a> about the Brock Tuner rape case on Patheos. I appreciate her deep thinking and opportunity to look at the situation differently, but I have to respectfully disagree with her conclusions.<br />
<br />
First, like Lynn Ungar, I want to see large changes in our prison industrial system. I believe too many nonviolent offenders are given long sentences and this is to the detriment of our society. I want to see people getting rehab, not jail time, for drug use. But there are a few groups of people I'm willing to see get long prison sentences. And one of those groups is rapists. There are cases where I feel bad for a criminal who will have the
rest of their life affected. Brock Turner isn't one of them. <br />
<br />
I'm not a survivor of rape, but I've lived with the aftermath. In 1995-6 as a graduate student at the University of Georgia, I lived with two other female students, one of whom I hadn't known before moving in together. That student had been raped not long before we moved in together. I didn't know intimately what my roommate was going through in the months that followed. I just knew how I didn't get to know her because she was curled inside a protective shell. I just knew how she would panic if I left a door or window unlocked. I just knew how difficult it was for her to sleep without fear.<br />
<br />
My roommate raped by John Alexander Scieszka, a serial rapist who had been
previously incarcerated, released, and raped again. He was the kind of
rapist who would go out drinking, and then follow a woman home, climb in her window after she had gone to bed, and rape them. <br />
<br />
In an <a href="http://onlineathens.com/stories/111900/new_1119000029.shtml#.V1nFeSGQkbw">article about the cases</a>, a former police sergeant who spent fifteen years investigating rapes said this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Ingram said some rapists started out as Peeping Toms, or fed their
clothes fetishes, stealing undergarments from clotheslines or homes
before targeting victims. Others were simply opportunists.
<br />
''They were looking for open windows, unlocked doors, people
moving around alone,'' he said. ''They were just looking for the
opportunity to prey on someone.''</blockquote>
<br />
When I see the pictures of Brock Turner on social media, I see similarities between him and John Alexander Scieszka. Where they are similar is that they both raped a woman, in both cases they went after an unconscious woman, and in both cases it was a woman they didn't previously know. Brock Turner's rape is sometimes talked about as a "campus rape" which makes it sound like something similar to "date rape," but he didn't know the woman he raped, and he wasn't dating her.<br />
<br />
And there are differences -- perhaps -- between Brock Turner and the serial rapist. This may have been Brock Turner's first rape. Quite possibly it was not. And I believe Brock Turner didn't necessarily set out with rape on his mind, unlike John Alexander Scieszka. Brock Turner is the kind of rapist, probably, who is a opportunity rapist. He didn't set out to rape, but he saw the opportunity to rape, and he chose to rape. But there's absolutely no reason to believe that if he was going to follow one girl out of a party, wait until she fell unconscious, and then rape her behind a dumpster, that he wouldn't do this again and again. He was simply an opportunist, and he found "the opportunity to prey on someone."<br />
<br />
There are occasions when consent might be murky. When the woman is unconscious isn't one of them. Brock Turner's rape wasn't a date rape, and it wasn't a case of a woman "changing her mind" and it wasn't a case of "he said/she said." Let's remember that he was caught in the act of raping an unconscious woman. There's no implied consent, no revoked consent, no question of consent when a woman is unconscious. There's no sense of "she seemed to want it" or "she was asking for it" -- she was unable to want, unable to ask, unable to consent. And Brock Tuner chose to violate her. <br />
<br />
Yes, our justice system needs reform. And some people definitely get sentences they don't deserve, and that's the bigger part of the reform needed. But surely part of what shows us that it needs reform is when a white affluent college athlete gets a lenient sentence for a heinous crime. How long a sentence should a rapist get? I think I'm willing to jail a rapist for at as long as it takes a woman who is raped to fall asleep with the light off, and for at least as long as it takes for her to go to bed without triple-checking the door locks.<br />
<br />
Secondly, Lynn Ungar invites us to put ourselves in every part of the situation -- "What if I am also the perpetrator, the one who is willing to take what I want even if it causes suffering to others? What if I am the father, willing to make excuses for the causes as well
as the people I love, wanting to protect what I care about even at the
expense of those who are outside my circle?"<br />
<br />
But not every person is willing to harm people, especially to the point of rape, to get something they want, particularly something as fleeting as sexual satisfaction. (And not every parent is ready to excuse the heinous acts of a child out of the deep parental love they feel. Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza's father <a href="http://www.today.com/news/adam-lanzas-father-i-wish-he-had-never-been-born-2D79346468">said to the New Yorker</a>, "I wish he had never been born.")<br />
<br />
Something that's important to remember, particularly as Brock Turner continues to deny that he is a rapist and blames alcohol and sexual promiscuity for his situation, is that not all people -- not all men, either -- are rapists. Most people who get drunk don't rape unconscious women. Most of us, when we find an unconscious woman, even if we were drunk would at best get her help and at worst ignore her.<br />
<br />
In fact, while one in four women will be raped in her lifetime, it's not nearly one in four men doing the raping. The <a href="http://www.davidlisak.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/RepeatRapeinUndetectedRapists.pdf">2002 study by Lisak and Miller</a> found six percent of men admitted to rape, and almost two thirds of them were repeat offenders. The odds are that Brock Turner would be one of them if he hadn't been caught.<br />
<br />
I appreciate the thought of trying to put myself in Brock Turner's shoes, but the fact is I am not likely to wear those shoes, nor are the numerous men around me who are standing up for women and fighting the rape culture. I'd rather hold up the idea that most men don't rape and fight the rape culture than the concept that we all have a little rapist inside.<br />
<br />
Lastly, I too am sick and tired of the outrage, and also sick and tired of the outrageous. And there are so many pieces of this story that are outrageous, but one of them is surely the lack of responsibility taken by Brock Turner himself, from the denial of his actions to the concept that what he should do to help society as recompense is talk to groups about "sexual promiscuity." Yes, I believe in Brock Turner's inherent worth and dignity as a person. I believe he is a child of God, if there is a God. And I also believe he has to take some responsibility. <br />
<br />
Brock Turner is more than a "douchebag." He is a rapist. Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-58511445966647401042015-10-29T15:50:00.002-04:002015-10-29T15:50:11.455-04:00Review: UUA Wordpress Theme -- A Further Look, Part 3 (UUA Services Plugin, Ideas for the Future, Content)The really neat thing about the new UUA Wordpress Theme is the UUA Services Plugin. This solves the problem I didn't even really know I had, and does it very elegantly.<br />
<br />
<b>Sunday Services Plugin</b><br />
<br />
The problem: how to we advertise our Sunday service topics on the website? And how do we do it such that we don't have to update weekly? Previously, I had looked at three options. One was what I ended up with: create posts monthly that list the month's services. This only has to be updated once per month, and that's the advantage. The disadvantage is that it doesn't list them individually. There are other disadvantages, too. Another option would be to put posts up weekly. The big disadvantage there is the weekly nature of this for a church with no full-time staff except myself. Another option would be to create them as "events" with the Events plugin. This carries with it extraneous information like location as a mandatory part of the posts. <br />
<br />
The UUA Services plugin gives you a new post type of services. And it has the fields that are relevant for you (title, description, date, speaker), and not the ones that aren't (like location, or price). Then it gives you two pages to display this on -- Upcoming Services and Past Services -- as well as the box on the Home page, and ability to put this list in any of your widget areas (footer, sidebar, Home page). It displays nicely, and you can update them monthly, yearly, weekly, whatever, and it will store your services in date order, with this week's at the top, and then move it over to the past services after it's done. Then you can go back in and add the podcast or the full text of the sermon, or whatever.<br />
<br />
The other solutions to the services problem were all like putting square pegs into round holes. This is the round peg, and it's nicely crafted. <br />
<br />
<b>Ideas for the Future</b><br />
<br />
Now that this solved the problem I barely knew I had, it makes me want more! Wouldn't it be nice to have a Religious Education plugin where we could add weekly information about what's going on in religious education that would function similarly? Well, maybe for the next version... For right now, you could add it in with the Sunday services. <br />
<br />
Another thing that came up in my messages with Christopher Wulff, designer of the UUA Theme is how to handle emergency notifications. He noticed that my church website has a page for announcing emergency closures. With a rural location in the snowy North, this is something that happens once a year or so. He said he was thinking about creating a banner that could be turned on for the Home page that would be something we could use for things like this, and asked if we would use such a thing. The answer for us is yes! And if people don't want to use it, it's an extra they can ignore.<br />
<br />
<b>Content</b><br />
<br />
The content suggestions are wonderful, and something I'm slowly working my way through. I'd love to have the content information as a Word file, not just as something I have to be careful about uploading because it may erase my existing content. However, I'm overjoyed at its existence. The information provided with the theme gives not only best practices, but also sample copy, and tells you things like "Our tree tests show that a significant minority of users will look for
information about the choir and about religious education programs under
Connection. Make sure your page includes links to the Choir and
Learning pages." This is extremely useful information that will help congregations a lot. I'm incorporating all of this slowly into my page, but it's really good to know that the information is here to help me. <br />
<br />
This is where I think the UUA really went above and beyond with this theme. I was looking for a theme like any other them, but geared toward congregational use. This theme and its materials gave me SO much more that it's like Christmas for my webpage. Thank you!!<br />
<br />Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-28578517809757930932015-10-29T15:26:00.000-04:002015-10-29T15:50:28.462-04:00Review: UUA Wordpress Theme -- A Further Look, Part 2 (Header and Footer)Continuing my thoughts about the new UUA Wordpress Theme...<br />
<br />
<b>Header</b><br />
<br />
I've already talked about my preferences with the logo, but there's more to the header than that. The theme lets you have the logo and title, social media icons, your Sunday service time (or other text), and a small header menu. The organization of the header area is aesthetically pleasing, and it's well-sized so that it doesn't take up too much of the screen. Overall: bravo!<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>Footer</b><br />
<br />
The footer has four areas. In one area, the UUA logo will appear, and if you set it to, you can also have the Welcoming Congregation logo and the Green Sanctuary logo. These balance nicely to form a block if you have all three. We're not a certified Green Sanctuary church, so my footer has a bit of a hole there. It'd be nice to include things like the AIM logo, but you have three other areas that can go in. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.uua.org/sites/live-new.uua.org/files/styles/scaled_480_wide/public/uua_aim_logo.jpg?itok=Qt85vOtp&timestamp=1433386425" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.uua.org/sites/live-new.uua.org/files/styles/scaled_480_wide/public/uua_aim_logo.jpg?itok=Qt85vOtp&timestamp=1433386425" height="136" width="320" /></a></div>
<b> </b>Some other choices that congregations might wish to include are a Standing on the Side of Love logo or a Black Lives Matters logo, particularly as more congregations have formal votes to support Black Lives Matters. But, again, there are three other areas in the footer you could put these things in yourself, it's just that if you have a hole in the one block, it might be nice to fit them together.<br />
<br />
So in the other three areas, I had some questions as to what to put. Obviously one needed to be the address, as in the demo site, because it's not anywhere else prominent on the Home page. The second, the demo site has a little description of the minister. I didn't want that. And the third has a little newsletter sign-up form. I don't have a way to do that yet. So I opted for links for the newsletter (this will change monthly, the way I have it set up) and some other information that wasn't elsewhere -- that we are wheelchair-accessible, have listening devices available, and support breastfeeding.<br />
<br />
So, overall review of header and footer: lots of nice options, everything you need. Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-15526828389182956092015-10-29T14:48:00.003-04:002015-10-29T15:51:00.908-04:00Review: UUA Wordpress Theme -- A Further Look, Part 1 (Aesthetics and Home Page)Well, it's been two days since the UUA's Wordpress Theme debuted, and in that time I've learned a LOT about it. It took me one day of frustration, wherein I finally reached out to Christopher Wulff, who created the UUA Theme, about my problems downloading and installing, and he quickly figured out that my PHP version on my website was too old and that my upload size specified by my php.ini file was too small. I was able to call my hosting provider who quickly fixed those things, and minutes later the UUA theme was installed and operational on my webpage.<br />
<br />
It took me about half a day yesterday to get the theme to the point where it all looks nice and proper on my site and many of the new items are functioning nicely. You can take a look at <a href="http://www.liberyuu.org/">http://www.liberyuu.org</a>. What I have NOT done yet is taken all the content they offer and add and change my existing pages. I've done this on a small handful of key pages, particularly in the "About" section, but overall I've left my existing content in place, intending to change it over time, but this will take time. And it's wonderful that the UUA Theme has so much to offer than I can do this. It's not a downside at all that I could take weeks looking at and understanding it all. There's so much material here to go deep with, and what I've done is implement the showy face-value stuff at this point.<br />
<br />
<b>Look and Aesthetics: </b><br />
<br />
If you'll remember from my last post, I had a few things I was looking for in a theme's look:<br />
<ol>
<li> A theme that let me use my own custom logo along with a title to
the site. </li>
<li>A theme that did not need a large picture in the header. </li>
<li>A theme that allows for some sort of slider on the first page. </li>
<li>A theme that includes links for social media like Facebook and Twitter in its header. </li>
<li>A theme with a top menu bar. </li>
<li>A top menu bar that was aesthetically pleasing to me -- a thin
stripe with links on it, and not something that looked like tabs. </li>
<li>A theme with a presentation page for the home page that's different from other pages. </li>
<li>A theme that was accessible on multiple different platforms and responded nicely on mobile devices. </li>
<li>A theme that gave me some choice about color scheme. </li>
</ol>
So how did the UUA Theme do on my checklist? The only disappointment thus far is #1. The site allows me to put in a custom logo, but when I do this my title for my church disappears. This is something I've noticed on a lot of themes. The answer Christopher Wulff gives to this question is, "We encourage congregations to use a logo/wordmark that includes their name." That would not be my preference, but I can understand why they went with it, because for many churches that might be the preference, because their logo includes their name. For example, <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/ddb230_612375b46b9949b391c212e5a55fd598.jpg_srz_p_317_224_75_22_0.50_1.20_0.00_jpg_srz" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/ddb230_612375b46b9949b391c212e5a55fd598.jpg_srz_p_317_224_75_22_0.50_1.20_0.00_jpg_srz" /></a></div>
Since my logo is just a little icon, I'd prefer to just put it in the box and let my header play out as usual, especially as I don't have Helvetica on my computer, nor on the webpage that I use to design images, and I'd like to use the same font as the rest of the site. But you can't please everybody. If that's my biggest gripe, I'd say that it's pretty good. For now, I'm using the UUA logo.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
#2, #3, #5, #7, #8 are all unequivocal yeses. The UUA Theme does nicely on all of those. For #4, there are a few social media links that are easy to add to the header: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, GooglePlus, and Instagram. That pretty much covers the basics, so is an acceptable array of choices. For #9, the Theme gives you three color schemes to choose from, but then also lets you choose a custom background color and/or background image, so you don't have to stick with the UUA Brand wallpaper. Beyond that, you have to get it CSS stuff, which I don't do. I'll add a note here about fonts, which is that the fonts on the UUA Theme are chosen for accessibility and for my church I had switched to the UUA's font choices already.<br />
<br />
Overall, I'll say I'm not a big fan of the UUA branding color scheme, but on the "dark blue" option of the UUA Theme, I don't mind it. I like the yellow contrasting color you get on the homepage with the dark blue, and the overall color scheme in this version of the webpage is relatively pleasant. The Grey Red choice the theme offers is also pretty nice. I'm not a fan of the Aqua Green choice, but maybe somebody else is. <br />
<br />
The overall look of the webpage, though, that is something I am a big fan of when it comes to this theme. I really love it -- it feels modern and clean.<br />
<br />
<b>Home Page</b><br />
<br />
The Home page with the UUA Theme works differently than I've encountered elsewhere. You create an empty page called "Home" and place it at the top of your menu, and then the content on it is all driven by widgets that come with the plugins that come with the them and that the theme recommends. Previously, I've seen the homepage created on a separate tab within the "appearances" section, so this took a little getting used to, and I had to play around with it a bit to get it working right. At first, despite a Home page at the top of my menu, the page was still pointing to another page that I had previously set up, and I had to find this setting and change it. That was particular to the way I had done things on my site in the past, so it took relearning what I had done before to undo it. Once I did that, however, setting up the widgets to appear on my Home page was easy, except the Carousel. I put a static picture into that spot while I worked out how to use the Carousel, which was very non-intuitive for me. I just couldn't figure out where you put the images in the Carousel, actually. It turns out that if I scroll down on the right, there's the "Feature Image" box, and that's where it goes. I wasn't sure if that image was what generated the image, or the image link box further down, so it took a while to get that straightened out. I also had problems in that the text the information page about the theme told me to put in a box in the widget wasn't working. A quick message to Christopher Wulff got this straightened out -- the text he says to put in the box is "[image-carousel category=”Homepage”]" but this only works if you've put your Carousel images into categories (useful if you want carousels in more than one location). I had not, so I needed to type "[image-carousel]" instead. The rest of the Home page was very easy to set up. I like the three picture and link boxes that appear on the second row. They're easy to change and implement, too. On the third row, I had a little more figuring out what to put. I don't have enough users generating content for me to really keep a "News" section going yet, and our Newsletter provided for a pretty short column. So I opted for two columns that will generate new content -- an Events list and a blurb about our monthly Forum -- and one that'll remain pretty static, into which I put the Common Read book.<br />
<br />
The best feature of the Home Page, however, is the second widget in the top row, generated by the Services Plugin. This takes your Sunday service for the week and automatically puts it up front each week. The Services Plugin is the really outstanding part of the theme, and I'll talk about it more in my next post. Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-20668123195655439522015-10-27T12:24:00.000-04:002015-10-27T12:24:22.585-04:00Review: UUA Wordpress Theme -- A First LookToday the UUA launches its <a href="http://uuatheme.org/">new Wordpress theme</a>. The official title seems to be "UUA Wordpress Theme for Congregations," but I'm referring to it here as "UUA Theme." This is something I've been waiting for, and<a href="http://revcyn.blogspot.com/2014/02/an-open-letter-to-uua.html"> vocally advocating for and blogging about</a> , for some time, so I was anxiously awaiting the debut. So here are some first impressions based on the <a href="http://demo.uuatheme.org/">demo site</a> and what I've read in the materials, as I wait for the launch to happen. <b>Overall, I think it's really a fantastic job, and just exactly what I was hoping for. </b><br />
<br />
<b>Look and Aesthetics:</b><br />
<br />
When I was looking for a Wordpress theme for my site when I converted to Wordpress a year or two ago, I was looking for several things in my theme:<br />
<ul>
<li> A theme that let me use my own custom logo along with a title to the site. This is surprisingly rare -- lots of pages allow only for one or the other, or you have to hack the code, which I don't do.<b> </b>The UUA theme clearly lets you use the UUA logo along with a church title, and I'm betting allows churches to put their own chalice logo in. </li>
<li>A theme that did not need a large picture in the header. The UUA Theme does not.</li>
<li>A theme that allows for some sort of slider on the first page. The UUA Theme does.</li>
<li>A theme that includes links for social media like Facebook and Twitter in its header. The UUA Theme does.</li>
<li>A theme with a top menu bar. The UUA Theme has top navigation. </li>
<li>A top menu bar that was aesthetically pleasing to me -- a thin stripe with links on it, and not something that looked like tabs. The UUA Theme has this as well. </li>
<li>A theme with a presentation page for the home page that's different from other pages. The UUA Theme has this.</li>
<li>A theme that was accessible on multiple different platforms and responded nicely on mobile devices. The UUA Theme is. </li>
<li>A theme that gave me some choice about color scheme. The UUA Theme does. From the materials and demo site, I can't tell how much flexibility is here, but I can tell that there is some.</li>
</ul>
In other words, the UUA theme hit every single point that I was looking for. When I created my church's website, I demoed dozens of different themes, trying to find one that did all this, and couldn't. I eventually settled for one that met most of theses points but not all. <br />
<br />
<b>UUA Services Plugin:</b><br />
<br />
One thing I've never adequately solved to my satisfaction was how to manage Sunday services on a webpage. Ideally, you want every Sunday's service information to be posted separately, to be the top one people see, but to be able to see other upcoming services easily as well. And you want to do this without having to update your webpage every single week, because volunteers aren't always available every single week to do the update. If you create posts, they'll post in the order you create them, unless you use some sort of plugin application to withhold publication, but I didn't really know how to easily do this, amateur as I am. Well, the <a href="http://uuatheme.org/getting-started/plugins/services-in-the-uua-theme/">UUA Services Plugin</a> solved my problem entirely. The good folks who created the Theme recognized that this is the one area pretty essential to congregations that no other plugin did very nicely, and so was one that was important for them to create themselves. And it works very nicely, even taking each service from "Upcoming Services" to "Past Services" automatically each week. Bravo! A great recognition on the UUA's part that this is exactly the plugin we needed, where nothing else did the job easily.<br />
<br />
<b>Other Bonuses:</b><br />
<br />
In configuring my menus to match the UUA Theme's suggestions, I learned how to make a null link at the top level of menu items. That was something I didn't know before, and had really wondered about when I converted to Wordpress. It was obvious to me that there was some confusion within myself about whether the top of the menu should be a page itself, or just pull down the menu, but I didn't know how to do that. The UUA Theme materials explained the best practice, and how to accomplish it. Problem solved.<br />
<br />
<b>Content: </b><br />
<br />
Something I wasn't expected, and am overjoyed about, is the <a href="http://uuatheme.org/building-your-website-content/adding-content-from-the-theme-demo-site/">demo content</a>. I haven't gotten a chance to look at it yet, but it's so wonderful to have sample content provided -- not all of us are great writers, and even if we are may not understand the best way to write for webpages. The demo content, as well as the list of suggested images, are exactly what our congregations need.<br />
<br />
Well, my ancient computer may have downloaded the theme by now, so that's all for my "First Look." I'll be back with more after I've tried it out. Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-10003718158513701692015-08-30T00:29:00.001-04:002015-08-30T17:04:33.356-04:00Walking Alongside: Remembering a FriendMy friend the Rev. Laurie Thomas passed away this month. As I've been thinking about her and our times together, one memory that sticks out for a number of reasons is the time we traveled to Boston together for a weekend. I asked Laurie's permission, which she granted, to write up the experience as a blog post, but for some unknown reason I never did.<br />
<br />
We encountered in the course of a weekend so many little, and big, accessibility issues and issues of injustice or prejudice, that my head was spinning. I was angry--furious--at the encounters. Laurie just shook her head at me. This was everyday life for her, and not out of the ordinary at all. Besides, she explained, she didn't have the luxury of being angry. If you're angry, people won't want to help you, and in some of these situations she might require help of people who don't know her. "Nobody likes the angry gimp," she said to me. <br />
<br />
The first instance we encountered was before we even left Detroit. We were at the airport and decided to get some lunch before the flight left. We went over to the nearest restaurant to our gate, and the hostess looked at us and said -- to me -- "She can't bring that in here." I looked at the hostess incredulously. "What do you mean she can't bring it in here? That's ridiculous. She doesn't get out of that. It's like a wheelchair. You have to let her in here with it." Laurie just looked at me in amusement. The hostess backed down as I pointed out a table by the door that we could easily get to and from. <br />
<br />
There were other small issues as we boarded and exited the plane. When we got off the plane, they had managed to switch some switch such that her scooter wouldn't work. They wanted to transfer her to a wheelchair, but Laurie wasn't having that. Eventually we got the scooter, and went out get our transportation to the hotel.<br />
<br />
We were headed to stay at Eliot & Pickett House, the B&B that was then owned by the UUA. It was right off the subway line, but the subway stop there is not accessible, so that wasn't an option. The bus system will send buses that can accommodate wheelchairs and scooters, but apparently you have to have a special card with them, which as a non-resident, Laurie did not. The UUA had phoned around for us, and determined that a cab was the best way to go. They were assured that there were cabs that could handle the scooter, and that all we needed to do was go to the cab stand and tell them we needed an accessible cab. <br />
So off we went, and they promptly ordered us an accessible cab. Well, accessible it was not. The back was too small to fit the scooter in. No problem, they said, we'll order a larger one. The next one came. This could handle the scooter, but not with Laurie on it. The scooter would need to be forced into the back. And it was a van, so a higher seat to get up into, which Laurie couldn't easily transfer into. In fact, she couldn't get into it at all. So they sent it off. And while we were waiting for a third cab to come, the cab stand manager got a good idea. He suggested we call two cabs -- one that the scooter would fit into, and one that Laurie would be able to transfer into. I would then ride with the scooter, to make sure it got there okay. We agreed that if the third cab didn't accommodate her, that this is what we would need to do. And so it was. We departed with me with the scooter, and Laurie in a second cab. The only problem then was that the second cab got lost trying to find Eliot & Pickett House. I sat outside on Laurie's scooter while the minutes ticked away, worrying about her. At last she arrived. The cab driver, having driven in circles, charged her outrageously. So we were there at last, having only spent triple what a cab ride should have been. <br />
<br />
Eliot & Pickett House has a ramp that looks like an after-thought and takes you in a side door around the capitol side of the building. But the ramp was no obstacle, and the staff was prompt and friendly with help. I can't say enough nice things about the staff at Eliot & Pickett, in fact. The best thing about the trip was that Eliot & Pickett House was completely accessible for everywhere Laurie needed to go to. I could barely fit into the amazingly small elevator to get to my room, but the room Laurie stayed in was well-appointed for one on wheels. "It's the legacy of Helen Bishop," Laurie told me. Helen Bishop was the former District Executive of the Central MidWest District, and, indeed, responsible for many a church's accessibility improvements, as they struggled with making themselves a building their own DE could enter. As for Eliot & Picket House, its only problem was a lift that was required to get to one part of the building that the staff had forgotten how to work, or had to find the key for. But Segree Bowen quickly solved it, and showed us, and so we could move around the building freely. <br />
<br />
Once we were settled in, it was time to find dinner. There are a number of restaurants within walking distance of the UUA, and obviously we didn't want to go anywhere that would require transportation, so we set off down the street. Some of the crosswalks in the area of Beacon Hill aren't ramped, surprisingly. Many of the buildings in the area had small steps at the threshold, making it difficult for the scooter, but the third restaurant we came to finally had a flat entrance, and so we ate there. It was a bit pricey, but perhaps everything was around there. At least the food was good. We ate there again the next day, grateful for a place we could enter and exit easily.<br />
<br />
The next day, we went to visit the UUA. This visit is why I didn't shed a tear when the UUA moved to a new building. Because after this experience, it was clear to me that they needed a better building. It's a short flight of stairs to get into 25 Beacon from the front door. Wheelchairs have to go in through a narrow alley around the corner of the block. I went in the front door while Laurie went in the alley. This way I could alert the receptionist that someone was coming in that way. And so I did. I went in and told the woman at the front desk that I had a friend who would be coming in that way, and asked her to please help make sure that she got in successfully. I sat down and waited. And waited. Finally, I asked the receptionist, "Do you see her? Is she there yet?" The receptionist said, "Oh yes, she's been there. It looks like she's having trouble with the gate." And then didn't move. "Um, is there something we can do?" The receptionist said, "Oh yes, you can go let her in." "Um... I have no idea how to get there?" Finally, the receptionist got up, showed me through the building to a not-very-obvious side exit, which I think was through a side room to my memory, where there, indeed, Laurie was waiting on the opposite side of a closed gate. The gate had no call button or push button to open it or alert someone -- the call button was on the other side of the gate when you got to the building. Had I not been advocating for her, it felt like the receptionist might have been happy to watch her sit there all day. It was not a warm welcome to our religious headquarters.<br />
<br />
And so we came into the UUA's barely-accessible building. We looked around the bookshop, which had barely enough space to maneuver. Parts of the building are inaccessible, so we didn't stray far inside, just meeting with the people we had come to see. And then we left by the narrow alley, off to lunch at the accessible restaurant. <br />
<br />
Returning to the airport, we knew, would be a challenge. So we carved out much of our day for the return trip, anxious not to miss our flights. We decided to call a cab to get us about four hours before the flight would take off. We figured one hour to get to the airport, one hour to get to our gate, and two hours for hassle. The UUA helped again by calling ahead and finding a cab company that assured us they could handle a cab with the dimensions Laurie specified to them. The cab came. It was too small. We had that cab driver radio back to his headquarters, and they sent out a second cab. It arrived. It was too small. I think we did that again, and then it was the third cab driver that we then said to him that we would do what we did before, with taking two cabs. He wasn't happy about waiting around for us for a fourth cab to come, but by now time was ticking. Eventually he hailed down another cab from another cab company that was passing by on the small little street Eliot & Pickett is on. And off we went with our two cabs to the airport. I tipped him extra for the hassle, because he helped out a great deal, and lifting the scooter in and out of the cab alone is a struggle. And unlike last time, this cab driver was good about sticking with the other guy so that Laurie could get right on her scooter when we got to the airport. And we got to our flight barely on time. Two hours of hassle, indeed.<br />
<br />
These are just some of the struggles I watched Laurie face while we were traveling together. There seemed to be a million little hassles and problems we encountered at every turn. It took a team of support between me and the UUA to make the trip possible. And throughout it, Laurie met the obstacles cheerfully, with good humor. It was me getting angrier, more frustrated, and irritable with every encounter. But this wasn't uncommon for her. She lived with these injustices and obstacles all the time. I only had to handle them for a weekend.Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-16691796262157025362015-08-28T18:28:00.002-04:002015-08-29T14:00:37.530-04:00Blessing the Backpacks -- Backpack Charm Craft InstructionsFrom my wonderful colleagues I got the idea of doing a "blessing of the backpacks" as the children of the congregation go off to school. It's not a new idea -- Christian churches have been doing it for years, and apparently some UUs, too -- but I had never heard of it before. Churches often apparently put some sort of zipper pull tag on the backpacks. Here's an example found on Pinterest:<br />
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A couple of colleagues shared their ideas, and some images, in a closed Facebook group, which started me thinking. I'm fairly crafty with things like this, so I knew I could come up with something. I was inspired by <a href="http://awakeandwitness.net/2015/08/27/blessing-of-the-backpacks-a-mini-primer/">Karen G. Johnston</a>'s example created by her DRE and a member, but couldn't figure out their fancy knots:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://irrevspeckay.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/img_20150825_1604221.jpg?w=228&h=235" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://irrevspeckay.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/img_20150825_1604221.jpg?w=228&h=235" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">http://awakeandwitness.net/2015/08/27/blessing-of-the-backpacks-a-mini-primer/</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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But, on the other hand, I do have some tricks up my own sleeve. <br />
Here's my prototype:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KFwHwZvZEP0/VeDW5-T8AVI/AAAAAAAAEyc/dJ-Yke13HcE/s1600/zenchalice%2Bbackpack%2Bpulls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KFwHwZvZEP0/VeDW5-T8AVI/AAAAAAAAEyc/dJ-Yke13HcE/s320/zenchalice%2Bbackpack%2Bpulls.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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My prototypes cost me over a dollar each to make, but to make in bulk they'll cost less than 30 cents apiece, not counting tools or jump rings. You start with 1-inch bottle caps, the kind that are designed for jewelry and crafts. You can get them in silver, black, mutli-colored, patterned -- really any way you want. The ones that I used are also described as flattened bottle caps, but you can get ones that are more bottle-cap like. My price of $0.30 each is based on using these: <br />
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=univunitchuro-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B004W8RJOQ&asins=B004W8RJOQ&linkId=KMBBWY6EJOUGEIS3&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;">
</iframe><br />
Print out your pictures, sizing your pictures to one-inch. Your church logo or the UUA logo would work nicely in these. As you can see, I used one of my Zentangle chalices, on a star-shaped background. Please do check with me before using my artwork. I liked the symbolism of the star for kids who are all stars. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5WSn1jLb894/VeDZt9wUGeI/AAAAAAAAEyo/I9iOAngruZY/s1600/Star%2BIsland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="319" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5WSn1jLb894/VeDZt9wUGeI/AAAAAAAAEyo/I9iOAngruZY/s320/Star%2BIsland.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I can get about 45 onto one page. And here's the big secret: I print these out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000093L1J/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000093L1J&linkCode=as2&tag=univunitchuro-20&linkId=I2KRVIXVSZHAMO3R">full sheets of label paper</a>. That makes my chalice self-adhesive, which simplifies what could be the messiest, gunkiest, error-prone stage of the process. Label paper seems pricey, but when you price it out per item if you're making a ton of these, it's less than one cent per chalice.<br />
<br />
You'll need to acquire a one-inch circular punch. I like Martha Stewart's punches for my scrapbooking, so I got hers. <br />
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=univunitchuro-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B002BTSEM4&asins=B002BTSEM4&linkId=OWGOM32JI5EPFPWT&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;">
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<br />
Punch out your circles on the label paper. And the next step is that BEFORE you remove the backing, stick a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AFRWIRQ/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00AFRWIRQ&linkCode=as2&tag=univunitchuro-20&linkId=JIKOFJSKXZ3YHRAJ">one-inch clear circular epoxy sticker</a> on top of that circle. This makes the backing much easier to get off, really. And you're going to stick the epoxy sticker on anyway. So do it in this order and trust me. Then just remove the label backing and pop that circle into your bottle cap. The bottle caps I got came pre-punched with holes and jump rings in them, so it was important to line up the top of the sticker with the top of the bottle cap. Bottle caps are cheaper if you don't buy them punched, though, so you'll need a bottle cap punch, and then jump rings or split rings if the hole it makes is too small for your ball chain. Probably any metal punch of the right size would do, but they sell ones specifically for this.<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=univunitchuro-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B007QNE8IY&asins=B007QNE8IY&linkId=2UML2MBCVQ2KNLOS&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;">
</iframe><br />
Jump rings are not priced into my 30 cents each, but they're less than a penny each, if you buy bulk. This is where you have a difficult choice to make, because jump rings open up very easy if a kid is pulling on this backpack charm, but <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nickel-Plated-Split-Chain-Findings/dp/B000RB77N0/ref=sr_1_1?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1440870909&sr=1-1&keywords=split+rings">split rings </a>are a pain to put on. My more expensive bottle caps came with split rings already on them. I think there's probably a tool to make those jump rings easier (I do see things called "Split ring pliers, but they just look like needle-nosed pliers with a sort of hook on the end). If someone knows if these are helpful, please inform us in the comments. I mostly just juggle around and pry with my needle-nose pliers until I get them opened. They're like little mini key chains, and you know what a pain it can be to get keys on and off a regular key chain!<br />
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So that's the chalice bottle cap part of the charm done. Next I got some bright peace sign beads to add on. I'd add UU beads, except that I don't have any alphabet beads where the hole is big enough for the ball chain to go through. But that would be a nice option. Turns out you can get packs of all Us. <br />
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=univunitchuro-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00LLMPUCE&asins=B00LLMPUCE&linkId=B4F7E4VWICRN7A4Q&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"> <br></iframe><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=univunitchuro-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00DNQ5GXE&asins=B00DNQ5GXE&linkId=ZE2N5J5NYH5CKJ25&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;">
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And then lastly add a ball chain key chain of about four inches. You can get these in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G51TJ3C/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00G51TJ3C&linkCode=as2&tag=univunitchuro-20&linkId=Y6WQR65LRZ2ZAGHF">packs pre-cut</a>.<br />
<br />
And there you have it! Cute backpack charms for the blessing of the backpacks! Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-34677407598038204632015-06-21T19:27:00.000-04:002015-06-21T19:27:21.853-04:00South Carolina: It's Time to Take It DownDear South Carolina Governor & Legislators,<br />
<br />
I was born in Charleston. I'm a daughter of the South. There's a city in Spartanburg County -- Landrum, SC -- that was named for some distant relatives of mine. And my direct ancestor fought in the Civil War for the Confederacy. My family owns land in the South that was passed down for generations, land that once we enslaved other people on. <br />
<br />
I understand heritage. I understand heritage is complicated. I understand we have to remember the bad of who we were, and the hard times, along with the good of who we are, and the good times. I understand that lives were lost and lives were changed, and the Confederacy and the Civil War continue to shape us. I understand that we can't forget the past, nor do I want to.<br />
<br />
I understand heritage. I struggle with mine, celebrate mine, mourn about mine, live with mine. Heritage is complicated.<br />
<br />
But flying the Confederate flag doesn't represent my heritage, which goes back generations before and continues generations after the Confederacy. It could only represent a thin slice of heritage at best. But this symbol doesn't do even that. It doesn't even truly represent that slice of time -- it's not the flag that flew in South Carolina during the Confederacy, it's the battle flag of another state. It's not something that's been there, flying over or in front of government buildings, untouched, since that time. It's a symbol that was brought back into our public spaces by the resistance to the Civil Rights movement, a symbol that was brought back for reasons of hatred and racism. It's a symbol that's been used and abused by the KKK. It's a symbol that might seem to say "heritage" for some small percentage, but says "hatred" and "oppression" for so many others. And it has no business on our public lands and flying over our government buildings. <br />
<br />
It's time to acknowledge that this symbol was put up for the wrong reasons, it's the wrong symbol, and it's time for it to come down. It doesn't truly represent heritage. It represents a hate that has no place in our government any more. It represents a time when we acted wrongly, fighting against voter registration and glorifying a time of slavery. <br />
<br />
To truly respect our heritage, to truly honor it, we have to also be willing to honor the truth -- the complicated truth that there were things our ancestors were wrong about, and there were things they chose that we can't applaud. My ancestors had honor and love and a number of good virtues, I'm sure. But my ancestors drove Native Americans off their land, and then on that land my ancestors enslaved African Americans. That's not something I want to wave a flag proudly for. It's not something I want to forget, either. But honoring and respecting heritage means understanding this complexity, that not all was good, not all was admirable, and not all was what we want to carry forward. I might have German ancestors, but flying the Nazi flag wouldn't honor heritage, it would honor hate. Flying the Confederate flag doesn't honor the complexity of heritage -- it shouts a message of oppression.<br />
<br />
And one thing that clearly we need to not carry forward at this time in our country is a symbol that speaks of hatred, of oppression, and of slavery. We need to not have symbols that glorify racism and oppression as part of our government and its buildings and sites. The symbol needs to be placed in its proper context, and that is purely historical.<br />
<br />
It's time to take down the Confederate flag.<br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
Rev. Dr. Cynthia L. Landrum<br />
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<br />Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-1294116694934413152015-06-18T12:27:00.000-04:002015-06-18T12:27:34.568-04:00"They died... discussing the eternal meaning of love."In the Civil Rights era, there were churches that were centers for civil rights organizing. And they were attacked -- bombed, set on fire. We know best the story of the 16th Street Baptist church where four young girls died. In his eulogy for them, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would say, "They died between the sacred walls of the church of God, and they were discussing the eternal meaning of love."<br />
<br />
In that same eulogy for the victims of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. also said:
<br />
<blockquote>
"<b>They have something to say to every minister of the gospel who has remained silent behind the safe security of stained-glass windows</b>. They have something to say to every politician who has fed his constituents with the stale bread of hatred and the spoiled meat of racism. They have something to say to a federal government that has compromised with the undemocratic practices of southern Dixiecrats and the blatant hypocrisy of right-wing northern Republicans. They have something to say to every Negro who has passively accepted the evil system of segregation and who has stood on the sidelines in a mighty struggle for justice. They say to each of us, black and white alike, that we must substitute courage for caution. They say to us that we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers. <b>Their death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the American dream.</b>"</blockquote>
They are words he would share again in his eulogy for the Unitarian Universalist minister James Reeb.<br />
<br />
After the shooting in the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church
in Knoxville, a shooting motivated by hatred of the values we stand
for, the UUA launched our social justice movement "Standing on the Side
of Love." <br />
<br />
This shooting in Charleston, South Carolina at the Emanuel AME Church says something to us in our religious faith, too. This shooting doesn't call for us to launch a movement, but to join a movement. This shooting calls for us to be partners, work in solidarity, join coalitions, build bridges. <br />
<br />
These deaths say to us that <i>we must work passionately and unrelentingly</i> for Love. Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-42615026398766321592015-06-13T13:12:00.001-04:002015-06-13T13:12:17.975-04:00The Trouble with Truancy - Part 2As my letter in Part 1 of this series illustrated, it's fairly easy to have a truant child. Missing two weeks due to illness is quite easy to have happen, and the requirement that many districts have that a doctor's note is the only way to excuse the absence means a classist system of who can and will have absences excused and who will end up with a truant child. All other things being equal, two children out for two weeks with the same two colds can end up with very different fates, not because of the nature of the child, or the diligence of the parent, but simply for economic reasons.<br />
<br />
That income levels and truancy are related is no surprise. A <a href="http://www.mlive.com/education/index.ssf/2013/10/michigans_91000_truant_student.html">recent MLive article</a> reported: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Some districts, including many affluent suburban ones, reported little
or no truancy. The Forest Hills schools outside Grand Rapids reported
five truant students among 10,147 enrolled, and Bloomfield Hills in
suburban Detroit just 32 out of 12,306. But Kentwood, another
metropolitan Grand Rapids district, had 590 truant cases, representing
6.8 percent of its students, according to the data."</blockquote>
<br />
So what? What does it matter if a child is labeled truant? Well, it turns out it matters a great deal. In Michigan, a truant child can mean a fine to a parent, and even <a href="http://www.upnorthlive.com/news/story.aspx?id=576118#.VXu-EFKQkbw">jail time</a>. <br />
<br />
Well, apparently that wasn't enough for our Michigan Republicans who control our legislature. This week, Governor Snyder <a href="http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2015/06/snyder_signs_michigan_parental.html">signed a new bill into law</a> that cuts welfare to families if a child is truant. <br />
<br />
So imagine, if you will, a low-income family with three children. The youngest child gets sick for a week, and the parent keeps her home. It's a mild cold, so there's no need to see a doctor, but the child misses a week of school. Now they have 5 of the 10 days towards being considered truant. The child gets sick again. The family can't afford to see a doctor, but keeps the child home again. Now the child is truant. The parents are then fined for having a truant child. And, now, our government takes food away from the whole family. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2015/06/snyder_signs_michigan_parental.html">Governor Snyder said</a>, "Much like the Pathways to Potential program, this legislation brings
together parents, schools and the state to determine obstacles that keep
students from being in school and how to overcome them." When my child was sick a couple of years ago with a mild cold and I wrote the letter to my school board in frustration, it did bring parents and school together. My child's principal had told me there was no way she could excuse the absence without a doctor's note. The school board seemed to hear the situation, and agree that the policy was flawed. Two years later, the policy is still (or back) in place. Children are still being considered truant because of illness and income. Now Governor Snyder thinks this will bring together parents, schools, and state? Yes, it will -- unnecessarily. It's completely unnecessary to bring the state into this level of involvement between schools and parents. The fact that it's penalizing lower income people who are already struggling with the truancy laws is unconscionable. Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-1106380976982417352015-06-13T01:27:00.002-04:002015-06-13T01:27:59.287-04:00The Trouble with Truancy - Part 1<i>Two years ago, I wrote our school district about the truancy policy. At that time, I was told that I had presented a good case, and they were going to change their policy. I don't know if it actually did change and then changed back, but looking at the policy on my school district's webpage, the policy is the same as the one I complained about. In this post, I'll share that letter. In my next post, I'll talk about why it matters, and what the Michigan government has just done that makes this even worse.</i><br />
<br />
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<![endif]-->Dear JPS School Board,
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m writing to you because I’ve been disturbed about the JPS
elementary school attendance policy for some time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Specifically, I find it disturbing that the
only way an absence can be “excused” is with a doctor’s note.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My chief issue with this policy is that I
think it is, in a word, classist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
addition, I think that it represents a misuse of the medical system and it
fails to respect a parent’s reasonable judgment.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The policy as it now stands requires a doctor’s note to
excuse an absence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am fortunate to
have insurance and have a family doctor I can turn to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even so, it may require a $20 co-pay for a
visit before a doctor will be willing to write a letter, which may mean a $20
fee for a note to excuse an absence for what I know is a cold with a mild
fever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since I’m following our school’s
procedures of keeping a child home when sick, I’ll need to do this if I think
she might be sick for even five days total per year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is doable for me, if I’m worried about
the situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, for a family in
a harder economic situation, that $20 co-pay can be onerous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that’s assuming a family has a regular doctor
and has insurance beyond catastrophic coverage only.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m certain that not all families in our
school district do, with more than half of the children in our county living in
poverty (<a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2012/01/report_more_jackson_county_chi.html">http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2012/01/report_more_jackson_county_chi.html</a>).
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As you well know, most of our elementary
schools qualified for the federal program supplying free school lunches for our
children based on the poverty rates of our area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What we are creating, therefore, is a system wherein
wealthier students when they get sick are less likely to be considered truant
and poorer children are more likely to be considered truant, based not on their
real truancy rates, but based on their access to affordable medical care.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The schools need to be helping address income
inequality between our students, not creating further income inequality.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Beyond issues of class, however, this system represents a misuse
of the medical system and a lack of respect for the judgment of parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To return to my own child’s situation, we’re
told we’re supposed to keep children home if they have any fever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, when I keep my child home with a
sniffle and a temperature that’s up one or two degrees, as I have done today, I
therefore also need to call my child’s doctor and get a note from her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the past, the doctor has told us with
cold-like symptoms and a very mild fever there’s no need for the child to see a
doctor unless the condition persists beyond a couple of days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I therefore know that there’s no need, other
than the JPS policy, to seek a medical professional’s advice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today we called the doctor, anyway, to try to
meet the policy demands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, we haven’t
received a call back yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes
they’ve been willing to provide a note for school without seeing her and,
really, what does that prove, except that we have a good relationship with our
doctor?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If they won’t write a note for
today without seeing her, I’ll need for her to see the doctor, in order to
prove she was sick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My daughter may be
well tomorrow, but I would need to pull her out of school tomorrow in order to
get the note to excuse the first day’s absence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(The note would probably then say that my child’s absence wasn’t
excused, because she was fine by the second day.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So now my child would have been out for one
and a half days when one day would have sufficed, wasting the doctor’s time, my
time, and my child’s time, just because of a poor policy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Frankly, I’m unwilling to pull my child out
of school for an unnecessary doctor’s appointment, because school is more
important to me than your attendance policy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So if this happens for eight days per year, my child will probably be
referred to a truant officer for early truancy intervention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My hope is that if this happens, “early
truancy intervention” is something which focuses on telling other parents to
keep their children home when they’re sick so that my child can catch fewer
colds and miss fewer days, or helps set up free clinics for parents without
insurance!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, you can see that
we’re caught it a Catch-22.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To not accept my word that my child has a mild fever and a
sniffle is to disrespect my judgment as a parent, one who does care about my
child’s medical status and knows that a doctor visit is not necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To have to pursue it with a reluctant
physician, as well, is a misuse of the medical establishment, and disrespectful
to our physician, as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you all think back to the days when you were a child, and
were home sick with a mild cold, you’ll remember that your parent probably
called the school and told them you were sick, and that was the end of the
matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There should be a way to
continue to do this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be creative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the occasional problem of a parent
keeping a child out of school more for other reasons may exist, there are ways
to address this without creating a burdensome system with a difficult financial
cost to the parents to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thank you for considering my argument.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope I have managed to convey my issue
respectfully, although this policy frustrates me every time my child has been
home sick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I understand not excusing a
family vacation, or even a trip to the dentist, but if you want parents to keep
sick children home, as I know you do, I hope you will consider making it easier
for us to do so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sincerely,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cynthia L. Landrum</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Parent</div>
Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-85634034821490797632015-06-12T13:59:00.003-04:002015-06-12T13:59:38.188-04:00New Legal Religious Discrimination in MichiganMichigan's Governor Snyder signed a new set of discrimination laws yesterday. "Senate Substitute for House Bill No. 4188" <a href="http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2015-2016/billconcurred/House/pdf/2015-HCB-4188.pdf">states</a>:<br />
<br />
"Private child placing agencies, including faith-based child placing agencies, have the right to free exercise of religion under both the state and federal constitutions. Under well-settled principles of constitutional law, this right includes the freedom to abstain from conduct that conflicts with an agency's sincerely held religious beliefs." <br />
<br />
Both faith-based and non-faith-based agencies receive government money. Given the separation of church and state, it should be the case that agencies receiving federal or state money are not allowed to religiously discriminate in who they serve. However, this separation has been eroded over the years in a multitude of ways, from President Bush's Faith-Based Initiative to the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision. <br />
<br />
Even so, this is a new level of affront to freedom of religion. Hobby Lobby isn't receiving government money to do its work. It's a for-profit organization. Adoption is a different sort of business. Half of adoption agencies are faith-based in Michigan -- Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, and the evangelical Bethany Christian Services. How much money are they receiving from the state? <a href="http://michiganradio.org/post/how-adoption-agencies-discriminate-against-hopeful-lgbt-parents#stream/0">Michigan Radio</a> reports that it is "up to $10 thousand dollars a child." <br />
<br />
This is most notably an attack on same-sex couples. The Catholics and Methodists both do not recognize same-sex marriage, and the president of Bethany Christian Services, William Blacquiere, <a href="http://michiganradio.org/post/how-adoption-agencies-discriminate-against-hopeful-lgbt-parents#stream/0">has said</a>, "At Bethany, we would never deny a family for their secular status, or
single-parent, or anything of that nature. However, if the family would
be in conflict with our religious beliefs, we would assist them to go to
another agency."<br />
<br />
Actually right now <a href="http://michiganradio.org/post/how-judges-were-stopped-granting-two-parent-adoptions-gay-and-lesbian-parents">judges are stopped from granting two-parent same-sex adoptions</a> already. Same-sex parents who adopt usually end up with only one of them as the adoptive parent. This is what started the court case that led to Michigan's challenge to the same-sex marriage ban. And with a Supreme Court decision potentially changing the marriage equation, this might change, but right now this is the case. So the religious right is getting ducks in a row to make sure that if you can get married in Michigan you can still be banned from adopting, denied housing, barred from public accommodations, and fired from your job the day after your wedding. Seriously. I do not exaggerate. This is currently the case that all these forms of discrimination are legal, but our legislators are writing laws that ensure that they're not just legal by the default of having no legal protections from discrimination, but explicitly and purposefully legal.<br />
<br />
However, it is not just same-sex couples who might be denied adoption. So who else might conflict with the religious beliefs of these Christian organizations?<br />
<ul>
<li>Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and any people of non-Christian faiths</li>
<li>Atheists, agnostics, and the unchurched</li>
<li>Single parents and unwed couples</li>
</ul>
It wasn't that long ago that people had religious objections to interracial marriage and interracial adoption. Even that most abhorrent form of discrimination could be seen as legal with this new legislation. Our legislature has been hard at work lately making sure that their rights to discriminate are protected at every turn. What they're worried about, it seems, is their freedom to hate, and what the corporations want. <br />
<br />
What's missing in all of this, of course, is what's best for the children. Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-91874633483037596942015-01-12T23:41:00.000-05:002015-01-13T18:51:14.408-05:00Regarding Starr King: A Heartfelt Call<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--><i>I began this blog article in late November, and worked it through several drafts and researched it as thoroughly as I was able, and then had it reviewed by several trusted people, and then, after all that, decided not to publish it. Instead, I wanted to reach out first directly to the Starr King Board, and so on December 15th, 2014, I sent a letter to the Starr King Board and SKSM President Rosemary Bray McNatt. Since my December drafts, however, a lot has happened. Two more faculty have resigned from Starr King. <a href="http://www.danielharper.org/yauu/2015/01/kurt-kuhwalds-thoughts-on-starr-king/">Rev. Kurt Kuhwald's resignation letter</a> and other documents can be read on Dan Harper's blog. It's also worth noting that Rev. Kurt Kuhwald also asks the UUA Board to conduct an inquiry -- something I don't address in my statement, but worth considering further. The UU Society for Community Ministries has put out a <a href="http://uuscm.org/Statement-of-Concern-%28Re-Starr-King-School-for-the-Ministry%29">Statement of Concern</a>, calling on Starr King to reverse the refusal of diplomas and to focus energy on restoring trust. And a list has been published of colleagues <a href="http://sksm112.weebly.com/">pledging support for Starr King</a>, including financial donations. In staying silent, I was hoping for Starr King to come to resolution quickly. That has not happened, and events have continued to escalate. And so I feel it's time to publish the statement I worked so hard on in December, updating it only slightly to reflect recent events. </i><br />
<br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m a graduate of Meadville Lombard, and believe firmly that
we need Unitarian Universalist seminaries, and we need to support Unitarian
Universalist seminaries institutionally and personally and financially.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our UU seminaries have an important role in
our movement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While it is true that UU
seminaries only train a fraction of our ministers in the UUA, all of our
ministry and congregations benefit from them – from the scholarship that comes
from them, from the fact that they keep documents and artifacts important to
our movement in their libraries and buildings, and from the institutional
opportunities for knowledge that they offer not just to their own seminarians
but to all seminarians and ministers in our movement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m not just a graduate of Meadville Lombard, I’m also
married to a graduate of Starr King.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
one year, we created an exchange program between the two schools where I
studied at Starr King for the fall semester, and my husband (then fiancé)
studied in Chicago for the winter and spring quarters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got to see first hand why so many Starr
King graduates see Starr King as a magical and special place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rebecca Parker’s leadership while I was there was at once
theologically rigorous and softly pastoral and uniquely visionary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The faculty were demanding and yet the
institution was caring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe Starr
King is a wonderful and unique institution, and I support it strongly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In addition, I joyfully embrace the calling of Rosemary Bray
McNatt as the new president of Starr King School for the ministry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her leadership is the right leadership for
this time, and it should have the opportunity to thrive.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">And
so I urge those Unitarian Universalists who are able, to join those pledging support for <a href="http://www.sksm.edu/about-starr-king-school/support/">Starr King
School for the Ministry</a> at this time. </b>This theological school is a treasure to us as a movement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is an important resource for Unitarian
Universalism, and needs our support to continue its important job of training
Unitarian Universalists for the ministry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I will continue to give to Starr King when I am able, and I continue to believe in its overall mission and purpose.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I was at Meadville Lombard we had a lot of fear and anxiety among the students, so I understand how that climate can happen. There was <a href="http://revcyn.blogspot.com/2011/04/major-meadville-moments.html">enormous
transition</a> going on during my time there – an almost complete president, faculty, and staff turnover, a transition in our relationship to the
University of Chicago, and re-accreditation
by the association of theological schools, just to name some factors. I’ve watched events unfolding at Starr King<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7690830057835669205#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="EndnoteCharacters"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="EndnoteCharacters"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: AR-SA;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a> with concern and love for my friends on the faculty and board and ad hoc committee. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Starr
King had the need to investigate. But there is clearly internal division about their
response, with the faculty originally voting to confer the degrees; three faculty members speaking up about
disagreements with this process; two
board members, three faculty members, and one staff member resigning, all in some part related to this situation; and at least two students reported withdrawing, perhaps more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This tells the larger community that people
of good will and conscience in the system, who care deeply about the school,
are not united behind the current approach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s time for the board to reconsider.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Personally, if I were in this situation, I would not hand over my email account and laptop --
if I had the strength and courage that
Brock and Spangenberg have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> T</span>heir clarity in understanding that doing so would violate the
confidentiality expected of them as UU ministers should be
applauded, not held against them. I find it troubling that Brock and Spangenberg’s ethical stance is being considered as evidence <i>against</i> their fitness for
ministry, rather than for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(“Garcia believes that
students’ refusal to turn over their personal communications to the school is
relevant to their fitness to be ministers,” writes the <a href="http://www.uuworld.org/news/articles/299231.shtml">UU World</a>; please
note that SKSM disagrees with the word “believes,” essentially saying it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> relevant.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
I believe Starr King has the right to withhold degrees – but it needs to be for a clear cause.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this case, <a href="http://www.sksm.edu/2014/06/03/special-messages-from-the-chair-of-the-board/">from
the beginning</a> Starr King’s approach has been a guilty-until-proven-innocent
approach -- “To be clear, the conditional conferral does not suggest that the
board has concluded that those students have engaged in improper conduct.
Rather, we have concluded that we do not yet have sufficient information to be
able to grant the degrees unconditionally.” Starr King’s <a href="http://www.sksm.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Response-to-Factual-Inaccuracies-and-Mischaracterizations.docx">statements</a>
make it clear that there is no proof of any improper behavior, nor
evidence that either Brock and Spangenberg are the original leaker, nor
that they are not the Strapped Student, who according to <a href="http://www.sksm.edu/2014/08/21/difficult-news-message-from-sksm-president-rosemary-bray-mcnatt">Rosemary Bray McNatt's statements</a> has withdrawn from the school.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">I’ve had members of my congregation and others who
usually pays no attention to denominational politics talking to me in dismay about Starr King’s actions, particularly the
demanding to see confidential personal e-mails.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>We’ve reached a tipping point where the response is doing more harm to the institution than the original leak did, and where Starr King
stands to lose considerable respect and trust from our lay members and
ministers if the situation continues much longer beyond the over half a year that it's been already. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">It's time for Starr King to bring this situation to a close. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I
urge Starr King to resolve the matter of Brock's and Spangenberg's degrees quickly;</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> to consider these students innocent until proven guilty, rather than the opposite; and remove the request to see Suzi Spangenberg’s and Julie
Brock’s personal email accounts and computers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Julie Brock and Suzi Spangenberg were leaders in the SKSM
community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We know that they were there
at an April 4 student body meeting where the leaked documents were
discussed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We know that the school says
they were early recipients of the leak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Beyond that, there has been no proof of their involvement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this delay has come with increasing
financial cost and increasing damage to their reputations, as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> We do have an organization that functions as a gatekeeper that's equipped to evaluate this information. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Ministerial Fellowship Committee, if Starr King does not
resolve the matter and leaves the degrees in limbo, could consider taking the unusual step of
allowing Brock and Spangenberg to forego the M.Div. and consider their work
done <a href="http://www.uua.org/careers/ministers/becoming/16219.shtml">“an
equivalent determined by the MFC.”</a> I respectfully ask of the MFC that they consider taking this action. Of course, Brock and Spangenberg</b><b> should still be held to the same
rigorous standards as any candidate for our ministry, and complete any other unfinished
steps, such as internships.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The students are the ones with the least power and access to
resources in this situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Regardless
of their guilt or innocence in the leaking of documents, they are also taking a
principled stand and enduring financial hardship to do so. Funds not used by
Brock and Spangenberg for their legal help will, with the donors’ permission,
go to a fund to help seminarians in crisis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s a worthy thing to support, as well.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">So
I also invite Unitarian Universalists to join in supporting Brock
and Spangenberg’s legal defense fund.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><i>(Note: Control of the fund has being transferred to the <a href="http://uuscm.org/">UUSCM</a>, and you can donate here: </i></span><i><a href="http://www.uuscm.org/SKSM-Student-Legal-Defense-Fund" target="_blank">http://www.uuscm.org/SKSM-<wbr></wbr>Student-Legal-Defense-Fund</a>).</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: .5in;">
<br />
I don’t have any more right to
decide what should be done than any other Unitarian Universalist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> And yes, there are things about the situation that I don't know, but other things, such as the request for e-mails and the assumption of guilt before proof, are clear from what we do know. This has been one of the hardest things I've ever written, because I know it's controversial, it's murky, and I have conflicting loyalties. It pains me to think that speaking up for what I think is right may cost me friendships and be professionally or personally damaging. That's why I've stayed silent as long as I have, and I'm sure that's true for others as well. But my worship theme for this month is "integrity." I have tried to act with integrity in speaking first to the SKSM Board and President, and now by speaking up for what I think is right. This has gone on too long, and is creating more damage as it goes on to everyone involved. It's time to change course, to deescalate, and if that doesn't happen, for UUs to speak up.</span><b> </b>We have a right,
collectively, to influence our movement, our religion, our ministry, and our
theological schools. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b></div>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
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<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7690830057835669205#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="EndnoteCharacters"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="EndnoteCharacters"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: AR-SA;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Here are links
to documents about the situation, in addition to the newer information linked to in my introduction:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">April, May and June 2014 Statements from the SKSM
Board of Trustees: </span><a href="http://www.sksm.edu/2014/06/03/special-messages-from-the-chair-of-the-board/"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">http://www.sksm.edu/2014/06/03/special-messages-from-the-chair-of-the-board/</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Spring 2014 statement from Brock and Spangenberg:
</span><a href="http://beachledermanlaw.com/practice-areas/current-cases/information-on-the-spangenberg-brock-matter/"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">http://beachledermanlaw.com/practice-areas/current-cases/information-on-the-spangenberg-brock-matter/</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">June 2014 UU World article: </span><a href="http://www.uuworld.org/news/articles/295665.shtml"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">http://www.uuworld.org/news/articles/295665.shtml</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">September 2014 Progress Report from SKSM
President Rosemary Bray McNatt: </span><a href="http://www.sksm.edu/2014/09/29/a-progress-report/"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">http://www.sksm.edu/2014/09/29/a-progress-report/</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">SKSM Ad Hoc Committee announcement: </span><a href="http://www.sksm.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Fred-Garcia-Announcement-of-Ad-Hoc-Committee-2014-09-29.pdf"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">http://www.sksm.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Fred-Garcia-Announcement-of-Ad-Hoc-Committee-2014-09-29.pdf</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">August 2014 Update from SKSM president, Rosemary
Bray McNatt: </span><a href="http://www.sksm.edu/2014/08/21/difficult-news-message-from-sksm-president-rosemary-bray-mcnatt/"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">http://www.sksm.edu/2014/08/21/difficult-news-message-from-sksm-president-rosemary-bray-mcnatt/</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">November 2014 UU World article: </span><a href="http://www.uuworld.org/news/articles/299231.shtml"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">http://www.uuworld.org/news/articles/299231.shtml</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">November 2014 New York Times article: </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/22/us/inquiry-focuses-on-leaked-documents-at-starr-king-school-for-the-ministry.html"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/22/us/inquiry-focuses-on-leaked-documents-at-starr-king-school-for-the-ministry.html</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">November 2014 letter from SKSM president,
Rosemary Bray McNatt: </span><a href="http://www.sksm.edu/2014/11/22/a-mix-of-disappointment-and-hope/"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">http://www.sksm.edu/2014/11/22/a-mix-of-disappointment-and-hope/</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">November 2014 statement from Brock and Spangenberg:
</span><a href="http://beachledermanlaw.com/suzi-and-julies-nov-6-2014-statement/"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">http://beachledermanlaw.com/suzi-and-julies-nov-6-2014-statement/</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">The seminarians’ legal defense fund: </span><a href="http://www.gofundme.com/semlegal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">http://www.gofundme.com/semlegal</span></a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-64146406253782252932014-12-16T17:33:00.001-05:002014-12-16T18:13:16.830-05:00Tonight's Statement to the Jackson City Council <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Earlier this year, Jackson Together, with the
support of the HRC, Jackson Area Civil Rights Awareness Association, PFLAG, and
more, asked once again for this City Council to take up the issue of a
Non-Discrimination ordinance to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was tabled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were asked to support this tabling of the
motion by our mayor and vice mayor and Equality Michigan, the reason being that
they thought that the state legislature, at the behest of the governor, would
amend Elliott-Larsen to include LGBT people, and that would provide some of the
same protections as our NDO at the state level. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That change did not occur, as you know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Mayor and Vice Mayor pledged to us that
this issue would be brought back up in December if Elliott-Larsen was not
amended. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m here to hold you to that
promise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people of Jackson have waited too long for equality.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">We’ve heard some nonsense about how this is
not doable, and we’ve heard some nonsense that it’s bad for business. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I call this nonsense because sixteen cities
larger than ours in this state have passed just this sort of ordinance,
including Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Ann Arbor, Flint, Kalamazoo, and Battle
Creek. They have all proven that this is possible to do, and that it’s not bad for
business. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, many companies are
looking for places where their employees will be protected, and have already
passed nondiscrimination policies for their corporations.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Perhaps you think we’re too small to tackle
this. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet twenty-one smaller cities have
also proven this possible, including Adrian</span>, <span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Fenton</span>, <span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Grand Ledge</span>, <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Mt. Pleasant</span>, <span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Pleasant Ridge (which has
a total area of half of a square mile -- I grew up there), and Traverse City</span>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
A recent Rolling Stone article
named Michigan
as the fifth worst state in the nation for LGBT people. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They wrote:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
Dave Garca, the executive director of Affirmations LGBT
center, told CBS.... "It is still legal to fire people in Michigan for being gay,
we can not marry, cannot adopt, and the governor signed away domestic partner
benefits for LGBT public employees," Garcia said… it has "created an
anti-gay environment across the entire state."</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Garcia has a point: The <i>Guardian</i>'s
2012 survey showed that Michigan has almost no
protections for LGBT people at any level, putting it on par with Mississippi.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7690830057835669205#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: JA;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a> </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: black;">It’s time
for Jackson, Michigan to rise above the level of Jackson, Mississippi. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s time for the City Council to act.</span></div>
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<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
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<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7690830057835669205#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: JA;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a> <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-5-worst-states-for-lgbt-people-20141124#ixzz3M6NXQq26"><span style="color: windowtext;">http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-5-worst-states-for-lgbt-people-20141124#ixzz3M6NXQq26</span></a>
</div>
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Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7690830057835669205.post-17088644924551690722014-11-24T23:45:00.002-05:002014-11-24T23:45:10.456-05:00Ferguson<i>I would normally post this on the Lively Tradition, where I've been doing most of my blogging as of late, but posts there get reviewed first by Tom Shade. Tom was down in Missouri this week, but was headed home today. He stopped in the middle of Illinois and turned back South again as the Grand Jury results were announced. </i><br />
<br />
I have no eloquent words to share tonight. Just a cry of "no more."<br />
<br />
My heart is heavy tonight as I hear the Grand Jury's decision. It's not a surprise, any more than it was a surprise that George Zimmerman was acquitted of Trayvon Martin's death. And it may be that this decision is what is legally right, but it means no justice for Michael Brown, just as there has been no justice for so many young black men and boys who have been killed by law enforcement, including Tamir Rice, age 12, who died yesterday in Cleveland, shot for playing with a toy gun. <br />
<br />
If Darren Wilson didn't break the law, what we need in this country, I'm feeling, are new laws. We need new laws limiting the use of deadly force. We need new laws that prescribe other methods of stopping people whenever possible. We need police to enter a situation and not escalate it, but deescalate it. <br />
<br />
If it's legal to shoot an unarmed man six times, we need to change that law. And changing that law isn't on the Grand Jury, it's on us, the American people. <br />
<br />
We need to have a national conversation about the use of lethal force by our police, and how this is being so commonly used against unarmed black men in this country, and how we're letting that happen.Cynthia L. Landrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02858232066200226342noreply@blogger.com2