"Winter is the Perfect Time to Think About Summer - in Minneapolis!"
Guilty as charged. I stole this piece from the Prairie Star district newsletter -- without permission. The Prairie Star district will be hosting General Assembly in June. It should be a great GA.
"February is an excellent time to start making plans to attend General Assembly, June 23-27, 2010, in Minneapolis. Although registration for GA will not open until March 1st, this is an ideal time to look at air fares and to budget for your expenses for this not-to-be-missed five-day meeting.
"There are also many housing options at GA this year and at a variety of price points. The GA Planning Committee offers some scholarships, and there may be other financial aid available if you start planning now. Air fare deals abound at this time of the year as well.
"But the biggest draw is General Assembly itself - the largest assemblage of Unitarian Universalists (thousands of them) from congregations large and small. Below is just a sample of special events and programs planned.
•Opening Celebration and Banner Parade on Wednesday night will feature the talented, singer, songwriter, and UU Peter Mayer. Check out his sound at www.petermayer.net/music. You may be familiar with some of his songs: "Holy Now" and "Blue Boat Home."
•The Ware Lecturer this year is Minnesotan Winona LaDuke, an internationally renowned Native American (Anishinabe) activist working on issues of sustainable development, renewable energy, and food systems.
•GA in Minneapolis coincides with the Twin Cities' Pride Festival & Parade; our Public Witness event this year will be part of that event.
Read all about GA 2010 at www.uua.org/ga"
See you in Minneapolis !
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
By-Laws, again
OK, which 19th century Boston lawyer wrote the UUA By-Law Article XV? That paragraph has more “wherefores,” “whereases”, and “not-with-standings” than any legal document I’ve read in a very long time. If there are any 19th century Boston lawyers reading this, please accept my apologies – um – Oh yeah, never mind.
At GA in Salt Lake city, during the debate on proposed changes to Article II (Principles, Purposes and Sources) it became VERY apparent that Article XV (the section that prescribes how we change the By-Laws) was in serious need of a rewrite. So, that’s what a small committee of the Board is doing. We’ve been redrafting Article XV in language that is much easier to understand – actually language that belongs in this century.
Watch for a report at GA in Minneapolis that will include an opportunity for you to provide input and will layout the timeline for adoption of the changes to Article XV and ultimately to Article II. That’s the major objective. In Salt Lake City, we debated changes to Article II, “Principles and Purposes” and rejected the proposed amendment. A subsequent responsive resolution directed the Board to continue the work on Article II.
The immediate problem is to fix the process – that’s Article XV. When that is completed, the Board will address amendment to Article II under the new Article XV process. A new Article XV will pave the way for another look at Article II.
Full report at GA in Minneapolis. By the way, it’s not too early to plan to join us in Minneapolis. The preliminary agenda will be available on line soon. In March, you will have the opportunity to volunteer to help make this a great GA.
See you in Minneapolis!
Lew
At GA in Salt Lake city, during the debate on proposed changes to Article II (Principles, Purposes and Sources) it became VERY apparent that Article XV (the section that prescribes how we change the By-Laws) was in serious need of a rewrite. So, that’s what a small committee of the Board is doing. We’ve been redrafting Article XV in language that is much easier to understand – actually language that belongs in this century.
Watch for a report at GA in Minneapolis that will include an opportunity for you to provide input and will layout the timeline for adoption of the changes to Article XV and ultimately to Article II. That’s the major objective. In Salt Lake City, we debated changes to Article II, “Principles and Purposes” and rejected the proposed amendment. A subsequent responsive resolution directed the Board to continue the work on Article II.
The immediate problem is to fix the process – that’s Article XV. When that is completed, the Board will address amendment to Article II under the new Article XV process. A new Article XV will pave the way for another look at Article II.
Full report at GA in Minneapolis. By the way, it’s not too early to plan to join us in Minneapolis. The preliminary agenda will be available on line soon. In March, you will have the opportunity to volunteer to help make this a great GA.
See you in Minneapolis!
Lew
Friday, January 22, 2010
January Meeting, in San Antonio
So, what’s the UUA Board been up to now? Maybe a short vacation in sunny South Texas? Yeah, right! It rained most of the time we were there. Other than the fact that I didn’t get my usual morning walk, the rain didn’t slow us down a bit.
There were lots of reasons for making the move to San Antonio, but I consider it of extreme symbolic significance that we met someplace other than Boston. The UUA is not focused on Boston or even New England. The main reason for moving out of Boston was to better connect with members of the congregations in South Texas. We hope to meet in other areas of the country during future meetings. Maybe the MDD could host the next meeting.
Why South Texas; why San Antonio? In my last post, I quoted Will Saunders. He explained it well. More important at this point is what we gained by meeting in San Antonio.
We met with clergy and members of several Texas congregations (including members of the El Paso congregation; an MDD congregation). We shared some serious meetings, great fellowship and Sunday morning worship. The meetings gave Board members the opportunity to test, yup, they were the guinea pigs, our new efforts at “Linkage.” The whole idea is for members of the Board to better connect with congregations. We can be, we need to be, in much closer conversation about what our Association should be doing, what we can do better, how the Board and staff can better support congregations. Congregations in all districts, all size categories, lay and professionally led, etc. were selected at random to participate in these continuing conversations. I’ll pass along an update as those conversations occur.
Rev Morales has promised that we will hear a lot more about immigration in the coming months. Based on immigration controversies in many states and in congress, that focus is most timely. We met with an organization headed by a group of Roman Catholics from one of the San Antonio churches. The group has a strong UU element from several San Antonio area congregations. We heard about the local and area organizing that they are doing to further comprehensive immigration reform. That part, I expected. Most of us knew the issues and what is needed to change the legal barriers. What had a much stronger impact were the stories, related by victims of unreasonable, unjust immigration law and policies. The impact is startling when you can put a face to the problem; when you can directly understand the affect that our immigration laws have on families and individuals who are in every sense except the credential, active, contributing members of our communities. We heard from both personal and legal perspectives about what is needed in immigration reform: we need a path to legitimacy. That might not mean citizenship, but it does mean a means for folks who have been in the country, in some cases for many years, to be able to get a driver’s license, to be able to work at jobs above the menial level, to be able to stop hiding from any official notice. The time has come for comprehensive immigration reform.
Enuf for now – stay tuned.
Lew
There were lots of reasons for making the move to San Antonio, but I consider it of extreme symbolic significance that we met someplace other than Boston. The UUA is not focused on Boston or even New England. The main reason for moving out of Boston was to better connect with members of the congregations in South Texas. We hope to meet in other areas of the country during future meetings. Maybe the MDD could host the next meeting.
Why South Texas; why San Antonio? In my last post, I quoted Will Saunders. He explained it well. More important at this point is what we gained by meeting in San Antonio.
We met with clergy and members of several Texas congregations (including members of the El Paso congregation; an MDD congregation). We shared some serious meetings, great fellowship and Sunday morning worship. The meetings gave Board members the opportunity to test, yup, they were the guinea pigs, our new efforts at “Linkage.” The whole idea is for members of the Board to better connect with congregations. We can be, we need to be, in much closer conversation about what our Association should be doing, what we can do better, how the Board and staff can better support congregations. Congregations in all districts, all size categories, lay and professionally led, etc. were selected at random to participate in these continuing conversations. I’ll pass along an update as those conversations occur.
Rev Morales has promised that we will hear a lot more about immigration in the coming months. Based on immigration controversies in many states and in congress, that focus is most timely. We met with an organization headed by a group of Roman Catholics from one of the San Antonio churches. The group has a strong UU element from several San Antonio area congregations. We heard about the local and area organizing that they are doing to further comprehensive immigration reform. That part, I expected. Most of us knew the issues and what is needed to change the legal barriers. What had a much stronger impact were the stories, related by victims of unreasonable, unjust immigration law and policies. The impact is startling when you can put a face to the problem; when you can directly understand the affect that our immigration laws have on families and individuals who are in every sense except the credential, active, contributing members of our communities. We heard from both personal and legal perspectives about what is needed in immigration reform: we need a path to legitimacy. That might not mean citizenship, but it does mean a means for folks who have been in the country, in some cases for many years, to be able to get a driver’s license, to be able to work at jobs above the menial level, to be able to stop hiding from any official notice. The time has come for comprehensive immigration reform.
Enuf for now – stay tuned.
Lew
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