183: Black Lives of UU
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Lena K. Gardner and Leslie Mac join The VUU to talk about the 2017 UUA General Assembly and the needs for Unitarian Universalists of color around safety/security, worship, and community.
Show notes:
- Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU) organizing collective
- 2017 UUA General Assembly, June 21-25 in New Orleans
- BLUU’s programs at General Assembly:
- “Black Power Challenges Liberal Religion: Fifty Years Later” on Thurs., June 22 from 5:00-6:15 pm — A retrospective conversation led by Dr. Mtangulizi Sanyika (aka Hayward Henry Jr.), founding chair of the Black Unitarian Universalist Caucus (BUUC) and Black Affairs Council (BAC), 1967-1973, highlighting the challenges and outcomes of the Black empowerment movement of the 1960s and its relevance to the movement for Black Lives today.
- “BLUU Organizing Collective: An Introduction to Anti-Blackness” on Fri., June 23 from 3:15-4:30 pm — Anti-blackness is a global phenomenon that affects people in every cultural and ethnic group. Within larger systems of structural oppression, it translates to higher rates of social ills, including poverty, unemployment, poor health outcomes, and substandard housing. We will also discuss the impact of anti-blackness in our congregations and beyond.
- The Wilderness Journey: first-hand accounts of the historical struggle for black empowerment and racial justice within the UUA in the late 1960s
- Bystander intervention training by Jess Banks
The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley (currently on sabbatical), Michael Tino, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, and Alicia Forde, with production support provided by Terri Burnor. 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.
Hull House
Jane Addams was raised in a comfortably well-off family in a farming community. So when, as a child, she first saw that some people in the 
city lived in horrible conditions she was shocked. But instead of wanting to run away, she decided that she wanted to live among those poor people.
She grew up to do more than that. In 1889 Jane Addams and her partner Ellen Starr found a big house in an area of Chicago where many recent immigrants lived, often in dirty, crowded conditions of extreme poverty. That house became Hull House, which not only provided a place for 25 women (including Addams and Starr) to live, it also served as a location for people to join clubs, discussions, and activities, as well as take English and citizenship classes, and theater, music, and art classes.
Hull House provided a kindergarten and day care for the children of working mothers, an employment bureau, an art gallery, a museum, and 
libraries. Those lectures and discussions and classes were places for poor immigrants and wealthier Chicago residents to come together and learn from one another, because Addams strongly believed that people of different social classes had a great deal to teach one another, and that we all are better off when people come together.
Learn more by visiting The Jane Addams Hull-House Museum online.
182: Integrating Faith and Queerness with Michael Crumpler
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The VUU welcomes Michael Crumpler, LGBTQ and Intercultural Programs Manager at the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). We talk about how queer people of color are hurt by undiagnosed white supremacy and current limitations in progressive spaces in pastoring around race. Michael also shares his personal story about how his queer experience is informed by his blackness.
Show notes:
- UUA LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) Justice
- Videos from the Spring 2017 Minns Lecture Series: Historical and Future Trajectories of Black Lives Matter and Unitarian Universalism with the Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt and the Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed
The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley (currently on sabbatical), Michael Tino, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, and Alicia Forde, with production support provided by Terri Burnor. 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.
181: Power, Religious Educators and Ministers with Meagan Henry
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This episode of The VUU explores power dynamics between ministers and religious educators and how LREDA Good Officers are specifically trained to counsel and mediate these relationships. We also get into a spirited discussion about the possibilities of shared ministry and collaboration along with the risks for speaking out and the culture of secrecy that can build up. Our guest is Meagan Henry, LREDA Board member with the Professional Support and Good Offices portfolio.
Show notes:
- LREDA (the Liberal Religious Educators Association)
- “If Our Secrets Define Us” by the Rev. Gail Seavey – 2016 Berry Street Essay
The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley (currently on sabbatical), Michael Tino, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, and Alicia Forde, with production support provided by Terri Burnor. 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.
Be The Light
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Read more →Help us be the always hopeful gardeners of the spirit who know that without darkness nothing comes to birth, as without light nothing flowers. —May Sarton
Did You Know?
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…that you can give graduating seniors a gift of Quest Monthly, so that UUism can go with them to college? Click here to learn more. Read more →
The People of the Earth Go Down
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The people of the earth go down,
Each with his wealth of dream Read more →
Money
May 2017
“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” —Henry David Thoreau
Articles
Money, Money, Money
At age 10 or 11 I was just beginning to understand more about how the world works, about morals and ethics and my own agency. I was waking up to my ability to make choices about all kinds of things. Read more »
The Values of Money
I grew up poor, although I didn’t think we were. We always had food. My dad drove a car. Read more »
Five Dollars is Five Dollars
I want to tell you a story about a little boy who got up from the table where his older brother and mom sat, to go back to his room. Read more »
Your Money and Your Life
Money is often a source of shame for both those without it and those who have it. Read more »
Be The Light
Help us be the always hopeful gardeners of the spirit who know that without darkness nothing comes to birth, as without light nothing flowers. Read more »
From Your Minister
The word economics comes from a Greek word meaning household management, something I’ve done a lot of in my life. So you’d think I’d have a knack for it. Read more »
REsources for Living
I was amused when my 18-year-old daughter, newly hired at an upscale mall shop during the Christmas rush, reported on how her work was going. “I can’t believe,” she said, “the amount of money that people are willing to spend on soap! Read more »
Did You Know?
…that you can give graduating seniors a gift of Quest Monthly, so that UUism can go with them to college? Click here to learn more. Read more »
The People of the Earth Go Down
The people of the earth go down, Each with his wealth of dream… Read more »
Money
“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” —Henry David Thoreau Read more »
180: Stories of UUs of Color
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Co-editors, Yuri Yamamoto and Chandra Snell, along with contributor Mike Jenkins, join The VUU to talk about a new anthology of 15 authentic stories written by Unitarian Universalists of color. The book is called Unitarian Universalists of Color: Stories of Struggle, Courage, Love and Faith and is available in either a softcover or electronic edition through Lulu.
Show notes:
- Learn more and purchase the book at https://uuofcolorstoryproject.com
- Mike Jenkins, using the name Tr1umph@nt!, explores UU principles using Conscious Hip-Hop music; his debut album is called album “Oilskin Duster”
The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley (currently on sabbatical), Michael Tino, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, and Alicia Forde, with production support provided by Terri Burnor. The VUU streams live on Thursdays at 11 am ET.
Note: This audio has been slightly edited for a better listening experience, although Yuri’s sound quality is poor due to popping noises during the first 20 minutes of the episode that couldn’t be removed. View the live original recording on YouTube.
