Telling our stories
In this week’s most hair-raising blog post, Jordinn Nelson Long recounts her experience as the first person to arrive at the scene of a motorcycle accident.
And now, at this moment, amid blood and broken pieces and things out of place, you will struggle to understand anything at all.
It will be surprisingly quiet.
There will not be a sign that flashes THIS IS WHAT AN EMERGENCY LOOKS LIKE. There will not be background music from ER or Law & Order. There will not be someone to give you instructions.
And so, you will wing it. (Raising Faith, May 26)
The Rev. Jake Morrill has begun a series of posts as he attends the Army’s three-month Chaplain Basic Officer Leadership Course; in the first post, he writes about a going out to dinner with another student chaplain.
He started to get the idea that he and I might not use the same hymnals, and by the end of the dinner, he was peppering me with reasons why God will send some people to hell. I did like my one cogent line—”I think God’s love is more powerful than even Hitler’s hate”—but mostly, I was shoving eggrolls into my mouth as he told me that people who have heard the gospel and still don’t accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior are denying their single chance for redemption. The friendship that had been formed by our shared housing grievance seemed to have greatly dimmed by the time we rounded on the buffet the third time. (Quest for Meaning, May 19)
The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Landrum challenges herself—and others—to “stand like a fat superhero.”
I’ve thought a lot over the years as I’ve become a fat person about the way that fat people are shamed by society, and how that makes us alter our stance. If it’s rare to see a woman in a power pose, it’s even more rare to see a fat person in one. We’re taught, I think, that we take up so much space already that we must put our body into “closed” positions to minimize the effect, rather than taking up even more space in an “open” position. What I hadn’t realized was that the way we alter our stance not only changes how people see us, it alters ourselves, as well. (Rev. Cyn, May 22)
Yes, All Women
In response to the murders committed by Elliot Rodger, the Rev. Dr. Victoria Weinstein speaks her truth about her experience of rape culture as a single, middle-aged woman.
This murder triggered me and millions of other women who live daily with same kind of violence-tinged sexual entitlement Elliot Rodger took to a horrific extreme by turning a gun on young women who represented all those who denied him their bodies. . . .
I am a strong feminist who loves men and cares deeply about boys. But I notice that my respect and trust in men in what we might call “the dating scene” has plummeted over the past five to ten years as I have been constantly subject to the simmering rage of male frustration in an age of unprecedented female independence and choice. (PeaceBang, May 26)
The Rev. Marti Keller hopes that Unitarian Universalists will make a formal statement of conscience against misogyny.
Elliot Rodger was a person with a long history of mental unbalance, just as many of the racists, homophobes and anti-Semites have been. But his mindset and his acts also arose out of a deep and longstanding culture of permission around cruelty towards women and girls.
May the twitter feeds and more important frank and urgent conversations continue within UU.
It is past time. (Leaping from Our Spheres, May 29)
For the Rev. Theresa Novak, the Rodger murders connect with a local story in Utah.
[Yesterday] a story broke here in Utah about how a local high school photoshopped some of the pictures of young women to cover up their shoulders and necklines. . . .
This is another aspect of rape culture. Women’s bodies are seen as merely sexual objects. They need to keep them covered in order not to incite men to rape them. Like men simply can’t help themselves if they see a bare shoulder. What a lie. What an outrage. (Sermons, Poetry, and other Musings, May 29)
Tina Porter remembers preparing her daughters for the world as it is, and hopes for a better world for them.
I remember when my daughters were too little to know about such things—or so I thought—and I taught them to scream “No” as loud as they could as I pushed them on the swings in our backyard. Was I indoctrinating them too early? I don’t know. But I was teaching them to use their voices because I knew not “if” but “when” they needed it, they needed it to be a part of their DNA. It needed to be an instinctive reaction. (Long Thoughts, May 28)
John Becket has something to say to women-hating men: “Dude, it’s you.”
There are some seriously screwed up men out there spreading some seriously screwed up ideas—ideas that have dangerous consequences for women, ideas that are unhelpful for men, and ideas that quite frankly piss me off.
If any of those ideas resonate with you in the least, or if you feel the slightest bit of kinship with this murderer, I have a few things to say to you. (Under the Ancient Oaks, May 26)
Kimberley Debus names the struggles women face in Unitarian Universalist ministry.
They face criticism over their clothing, their hair, their accents, their child-bearing responsibilities. They struggle with challenges to their ministerial authority. They bring the same truths that #YesAllWomen speaks to their pulpits, but if they talk about women’s issues more than three times in a year, they are condemned for being one-issue preachers. And frankly, as a woman going into ordained ministry, I fear that the shift of ministry into a “helping” profession will allow boards to reduce pay, lumping them into the same category as teachers and nurses, whose work is vital and whose pay is consistently too low. (Notes from the Far Fringe, May 26)
Making meaning
The Rev. Dr. David Breeden celebrates meaning-making through conversation.
I believe in community. A place where people talk with each other. In coffee houses. In bars. In streets and market squares—public spaces and the din of conversation—this is the meaning of meaning. . . .
Yes, the din of your conversation is as much meaning as we shall ever have—but it is enough.
Keep talking. Increase the din. Converse. Remake the human reality. (Quest for Meaning, May 29)
Christine Slocum’s search for meaning within Unitarian Universalism has hit a wall.
UUism is trying so hard to be inclusive, it misses potential meaning-making moments for fear of drawing boundaries around something and excluding others. Sometimes when I am seeking depth, I find only platitudes. I travel elsewhere again. . . I suspect that I will always consider myself a UU, but being part of a church does not facilitate my spiritual development more than reading wise words, or playing with my daughter, or staring at the sun setting over Lake Erie. Every moment is holy; what will Unitarian Universalism contribute beyond that? (Many Words, May 27)
Selling God?
Coverage in Boston magazine—an article called “Selling God“—sparked a new round of discussion about the UUA’s branding project; for the Rev. Dr. Cynthia Landrum, the article was another example of the UUA’s communication difficulties.
UUA, I love you and I think you’re doing the right thing—but when we’re asking for the roadmap, even scouring the UUA webpage, the UUA board meeting minutes, the UUA world, and the VUU and blogosphere looking for the signposts (yeah, I have), as well as asking in independent conversations, give it to the stakeholders before Boston Magazine sometimes? Mmkay? That’s all. No feelings hurt. Enough said. Love ya. (Rev. Cyn, May 29)
Preparing for General Assembly
If you’re planning to attend General Assembly for the first time this year—and even if you’re a GA veteran—Peter Bowden’s “Tips for Your First General Assembly” is full of helpful information. (UU Planet, May 25)
The Rev. Scott Wells suggests Amtrak as an affordable option for travel to General Assembly, and reminds us that ticket prices increase within 21 days of travel. (Boy in the Bands, May 29)