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The exact time of the solstice in 2017 was 11:28am on December 21st. And The VUU was broadcasting live as it happened! Join us as we celebrate the darkness and welcome the light with our guests Erica Baron, Staṡa Morgan-Appel, and Rina Jurceka.
Show notes:
Check out the book co-written by our guest Staṡa Morgan-Appel, A Winter Solstice Singing Ritual: https://ladyslipper.org/rel/v2_viewupc.php?storenr=53&upc=eep3cdsb000
Erica Baron read us one of her stories about the magic of the solstice darkness: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/naturespath/2016/12/yule-story/
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The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley, Michael Tino, and Aisha Hauser, with production support provided by Jessica Star Rockers. The VUU streams live on Thursdays at 11 am ET.
Note: This audio has been slightly edited for a better listening experience. View the live original recording on YouTube.
I got into a fight with Siri yesterday. I don’t mean our typical exchange, where I ask Siri what seems like a simple question like, how many teaspoons in a cup, and Siri responds with information about weather in Topeka, or the phase of the moon, and then I repeat my request slower and with more precise enunciation and Siri tells me something even more irrelevant, and then I throw some swear words at Siri and call up my search engine and look up what I need myself on the internet.
No, it wasn’t this usual fight. I mean, I started bickering with Siri like Siri was my sibling and we were playing one of those long summer Monopoly games. I mean bickering where I was snarling and not letting go and expecting some kind of resolution.
It started the usual way; I wanted to pick up bagels for a meeting and I knew there was a Bruegger’s nearby so I said, “Address of Brueggers on Nicollet Avenue.” Siri told me to turn off my privacy settings. And I said, “Look. On. The. Internet. Brueggers Address. Nicollet Avenue.” And Siri told me, again to turn off my privacy settings. And I said (looking back, this is where I began to go off the rails): Look, I don’t need to turn off my privacy settings. I don’t need directions. Just GIVE ME THE ADDRESS OF BRUEGGERS ON NICOLLET AVENUE. And, I don’t have to tell you what Siri said back. (Hint: It was about my privacy settings.)
So then I just got furious. SIRI, I said really loudly into my phone’s mic. THEY TALK ABOUT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE BUT YOU ARE REALLY STUPID!!! Siri responded, blandly, “I don’t talk like that.” And I was chastised. By Siri. Because actually, I don’t talk like that either. I work really really hard not to talk like that. It’s part of being a minister. I don’t get to talk like that. (OK, my nearest and dearest could tell you tales, but everyone loses it from time to time…and I really don’t call people names like stupid, even when I’ve lost touch with myself altogether and am saying other ridiculous things…) And then, predictably, Siri called up websites about artificial intelligence.
This whole exchange made me realize how very very angry I am. About this tax bill. About a trillion dollars being given to billionaires and corporations and then repaid with the lives of vulnerable people. If I weren’t a minister I would throw in ten F bombs right here. A %*&((* trillion dollars! If you stack 100 dollar bills, a million dollars will be about 3 ½ feet high. A trillion dollars will be #@* 32,000 MILES high. That is the size of the hole that greedy %**(%$*#s are digging and planning to fill with the bodies of poor and working people, elderly and sick people, disposable people in their eyes and precious in mine.
I’m angry. And it’s holy anger. As feminist ethicist Beverly Harrison wrote, “Anger is not the opposite of love. It is better understood as a feeling-signal that all is not well in our relations to other persons or groups or to the world around us. Anger is a mode of connectedness to others and it is always a vivid form of caring.”
A fight with Siri let me see that this vivid form of caring needs to be respected enough to pay attention to how and when I express it. All over social media I am watching other angry people fight with one another about petty things. I get it, I really do. I want to jump in with some snark myself. And some of the things aren’t petty; it’s just that the points of disagreement do not indicate a need to fight but could, in better times, yield helpful and clarifying conversation.
Harrison goes on, “Where anger rises, there the energy to act is present.” And I see that this is why my anger is spewing out at Siri. I feel powerless to stop the &$##(* Congress and Administration from the evil they are concocting day after day. I have gone to a neighboring Republican’s district (all of my elected folks are good) and told the smarmy aide about how this tax bill will hurt real people. This young white man smiled at me and said smugly, “I sleep like a baby!” I’m watching videos of people having die-ins at the US Capitol and I am proud and happy to see them, but I’m not there. I have this energy but I’m not acting with it in enough ways to keep me steady.
I say this as a cautionary tale, in case you are angry too. Siri can handle it; I’m not worried about Siri. But other relationships, with people with flesh and bones, are much more fragile. I need to use the energy of my anger to act, and not to stay in the same conversations with the same people, picking on each other about tiny differences. I need to share this vivid form of caring with the people who are actually hurting me and attacking the people I love. I need to stay connected to as many people as possible so that our power is greatest when we use our anger to act.
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In this episode we honor the legacy of our dear Denny Davidoff – former Moderator of the UUA, Senior Associate for Development and Alumni/Alumnae Affairs at Meadville Lombard Theological School and a champion for Unitarian Universalism – with stories and remembrances from those who knew her well.
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The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley, Michael Tino, and Aisha Hauser, with production support provided by Jessica Star Rockers. The VUU streams live on Thursdays at 11 am ET.
Note: This audio has been slightly edited for a better listening experience. View the live original recording on YouTube.
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This week our hosts chat with Ian Lekus, Amnesty International LGBT Specialist and host of RadioFreeQTopia, about international LGBT human rights.
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Personal stories are important to social change. You can hear Ian Lekus interview folks about LGBT human rights around the globe at http://www.radiofreeqtopia.com.
Ian Lekus interviewed Russian intersex activist Irene in a @RadioFreeQtopia episode you don’t want to miss. https://www.radiofreeqtopia.com/episo…
If you want to help LGBTQ refugees out of Chechnya you can support the Rainbow Railroad into Canada. http://www.rainbowrailroad.ca
The BBC article about seven who were arrested in Egypt after raising rainbow flag at concert. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-…
Human Rights Watch article on prosecutions in at least 8 countries that use forced anal examinations as proof of criminalized homosexuality. https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/07/12…
Ian Lekus shouts out to PFLAG as an organization doing good work for LGBT rights, nationally and internationally. http://pflag.org
Article from UU World about Ugandan UUs opposing anti-homosexuality bill that makes homosexuality a capital crime. https://www.uuworld.org/articles/ugan…
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The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley, Michael Tino, and Aisha Hauser, with production support provided by Jessica Star Rockers. The VUU streams live on Thursdays at 11 am ET.
Note: This audio has been slightly edited for a better listening experience. View the live original recording on YouTube.
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I know the master plan of the universe. Really, I do! I did not figure it out all by myself. Read more →
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In this season of giving and receiving, we hope that you feel that you have received something substantial from the CLF. Read more →
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I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been visiting with someone, sitting down with them in their home or at their bedside, and after a while they say to me: I didn’t want to admit that I needed help. Read more →
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In Thailand, children’s first exposure to Buddhism—after they’ve learned the gesture of respect—is in giving. Read more →
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When I was in third grade, I found the perfect present for Mrs. Graham, my favorite elementary school teacher. Read more →
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Christmas is the time of giving, of generosity and welcome. And Santa Claus embodies all of our hopes and expectations around receiving and abundance. Or does he? Read more →
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Quest for Meaning is a program of the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF).
As a Unitarian Universalist congregation with no geographical boundary, the CLF creates global spiritual community, rooted in profound love, which cultivates wonder, imagination, and the courage to act.