Although I had a session plan in place, including time to work on the projects they started two days ago, the group got very interested in something else early on. So I threw out the session plan, and we followed that interest. The narrative account and the session plan for today are integrated below.
(If you haven’t been following this series, you can begin with Day One, and follow it forward.)
Today, I felt that the group really gelled. It was one of those days where everything just went smoothly, and we all (including me) deepened our understanding. This was in spite of the fact that I had to totally re-arrange my carefully planned session for the day, to make more time for the project we started yesterday.
I don’t have time to write a good narrative account right now, but I’m going to post the session plan anyway, just to get it up…. Continue reading
Our EcoAdventure group took some time to assemble, because several parents had to drop of their children at children’s programs. We had one new participant as well. So while we were waiting for everyone to assemble, we played another round of the Ecosystem Game, to help our newcomer learn other people’s names. (By now, I find myself calling people by their ecosystem name, e.g., OK, Katherine Kelp, are you willing to write all this down on the flip chart?)
Next, we put together very simple journals with paper and file folders and binder clips.
When everyone was present, we headed out to the same spot in a pine grove where we were yesterday. We did two sensory awareness activities. For the second activity, “Prickly Tickly,” the participants find two things, one that will be prickly and one that will be tickly, and then participants pair up to share their prickly thing and tickly thing with another participant. After everyone was done, I asked: Anyone want to show their prickly and tickly things? “This piece of bark was prickly on the outside, but it’s kind of smooth on the inside.” “I found this chunk of moss that was tickly. And it’s in the shape of a teardrop, which is kind of cool.” Any other insights? “They had pine needles as prickly things, but I had pine needles as tickly things.” “It depends on how you touched them to your hand.” “In our pair, we both had pine needles, but one of us said it was a tickly thing and the other said it was a prickly thing.”
Next it was time to choose favorite places, places where we will have time each day to sit in quiet and write or draw in journals (or just sit!). After about ten minutes, I called everyone back: How was it sitting alone? “I found that my mind wandered, I kept thinking about things I’m supposed to be doing.” It sounds like you think that’s bad? “I tried to not let my mind wander, and just focus on the outdoors.” Just so everyone knows, I don’t have an agenda for your alone time — it’s yours to do with what you will. But (turning back to the person who spoke), it sound like you have discovered your priority for alone time. Anyone else? “It was good!” “I realized how long it’s been since I had time alone.”
Anyone want to share something from their journal? “I drew a picture of some pine needles.” “I designed a dress for Emory, and drew a picture of it.” (Emory is the preschool-aged daughter of one of the participants.) One participant read a poem about being on the beach with a younger sister. Another participant read a haiku about learning how to drive.
Then it was time to start the big project (see below for a full description of the project). Because the group is so big, we split the group in two: one group was assigned to document and write about possible exclusivity in the Ferry Beach area (who gets to come here? what human groups are kept out?); another group was assigned to document and photo/video possible environmental disaster(s) in the Ferry Beach area. The two groups headed out to talk with people and look at the neighborhood, in pursuit of their two assignments.
We gathered back at our home base for a closing. It was clear that everyone needed more time to work on their respective projects, so we will continue the projects tomorrow morning.
For full session plan, see below… Continue reading
Ferry Beach Conference Center, Saco, Maine
Religious Education Conference
Once again, I’m at the annual religious education conference at Ferry Beach, the Universalist conference center in Saco, Maine. This year, I’m leading a 15-hour workshop called “EcoAdventures.” Group participants range in age from seniors in high school up to age forty or so. The workshop is on ecojustice.
Today was the first session. We spent the first half hour or so introducing ourselves and getting to know each other’s names. We played a variation of a well-known name game (sometimes called “The Grocery Store Game”), with a twist that ties it in to the local ecosystem (complete session plan is after the “Read more” link below). We also lined up by age, but we did it without speaking. I introduced my vision of the workshop, ending by saying: “If I had to sum all this up, I’d say this:– I think it’s time to really shake up Unitarian Universalism. Too many of our churches act as if it’s still the 1950’s. Too many of our churches are filled with white upper middle class Baby Boomers. It’s time for our churches to welcome all ages, and enter into the 21st century.”
Participants then had a chance to say their hopes and expectations, which ranged from “Have fun” to “I want to do something in ecojustice as a career and am looking for ideas.” Other hopes were to deepen knowledge of Unitarian Universalist faith, and to find activities and curriculum to bring back to a local congregation.
After the introductory bits, we went outdoors and found a tree. We lay at the base of a tree and looked up in the branches. What creatures might live up there? “Birds.” “Spiders.” “Squirrels.” “A mouse might run up the tree.” Do you see any creatures up there right now? “I see a spider’s web.” “I hear birds.” Then we turned over on our stomachs to look at the base of the tree. What creatures might live there? “I see a slug.” “There’s a hole here!” “Beetles.” “Ants.” “A weasel could live here.” Now imagine that you can see through the ground, and see all the roots of the tree. The roots go down almost as far as the branches go up. What creatures might live in among the roots? “Worms.” “Moles.” “Ants.”
We went back inside and drew a six-foot high picture of our tree. Abby drew a line half-way up the paper for the ground, and someone drew a blue line to show where the sky was. We drew the tree, and started drawing in all the creatures we had seen and imagined living on the tree. It was hard to get all 18 of us around the table, so we had to cycle in and out from drawing.
When the drawing was pretty well filled in, we hung it up, and all looked at it. We talked about how all the creatures associated with the tree are interconnected. We’ve drawn lots of creatures in this, but where are the human creatures? Lots of good conversation about this, and the final conclusion was that humans communities are interconnected with Nature, and with other human communities — in fact, it’s impossible to separate human creatures from Nature; there is no separation. “It’s arrogant to think that we humans are somehow separate from Nature.”
I summed up by saying that ecojustice is a concept, a tool, to build connections between human communities, and to help human creatures become aware with their connections with all living things.
Session plan follows. Continue reading
Note: video host blip.tv is defunct, so this video no longer exists.
The final elevator speech that I videoblogged at the General Assembly workshop on “Spreading UUism Using New Media.” I greatly appreciate the four people who agreed to talk in front of a camera — it’s much harder to give your elevator speech to a camera as opposed to a real person. I really liked each of the four elevator speeches.
Now it’s your turn. Videotape your “elevator speech,” summarizing your religious faith in a brief statement that lasts about as long as a ride in an elevator. Post your video online at YouTube, or Blip.tv. And please put a link to your video in the comments below, so we can all watch the various elevator speeches.
A bunch of us are here in the Webworkers’ room at General Assembly, trying to get get stories and video posted to the UUA Web site. Everything is supposed to be done by tomorrow morning. I think the deadline pressure is, um, affecting us….
Note: video host blip.tv is defunct, so this video no longer exists.
John Hurley, the Director of Communications at the UUA, came bursting in to the Webworkers’ room this morning and said, Look at this!” He was holding a copy of the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel open to an article about General Assembly. The headline read: “3,000 clergy gather for national assembly.”
Oops. Actually, we have 3,000 total people here, probably less than a quarter of whom are ordained clergy; there are probably a thousand Unitarian Universalist clergy all told. And, as John gleefully pointed out, the first person interviewed in the article was a 17 year old, whom one would think would appear unlikely to be an ordained minister. This article provided some much-needed entertainment for a bunch of weary Webworkers.
The headline got corrected in the online edition, but the 17 year old is still called “clergy”:
Fort Lauderdale – As a Unitarian Universalist, Nick Allen embraces racial diversity and social justice — both in society and within his religion.
“We believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person, so clearly that calls on us to address issues of racism,” said Allen, 17, a high school senior from St. Paul, Minn. Allen helped run an anti-racism seminar for teenagers at a gathering of the predominantly white Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly on Saturday. “One of the goals is to ask ‘why are we so white? And why aren’t we more diverse?'”
Allen was among 3,000 clergy this week who mulled these and other weighty religious, social and cultural issues at the Broward Convention Center. Some attended worship services, while others participated in workshops on topics ranging from protecting civil liberties to forming grass roots organizations. The event began Wednesday and runs through today.
Aside from that error, it’s a pretty good article, and you can read it here.
Thanks, Rod!
Note: video host blip.tv is defunct, so this video no longer exists.
Generally speaking, Mr. Crankypants hates General Assembly:– too many Unitarian Universalists in too small a space; too much denominational politics; too much lousy food.
But this General Assembly is made worse by the fact that the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center is just sad. Forget the fact that the Broward County sheriffs check your I.D. when you walk in, which is demeaning and stupid and outraging, but it is not sad. No, Mr. Crankypants will tell you what is sad about this convention center. It is sad that most of the meeting rooms smell of mold. It is sad that they charge three dollars for a smallish cup of bad iced tea. It is sad that the projection screens in the meeting rooms are those old-fashioned pull-down screens on those little fold-up tripods, and they all look like they were purchased second-hand about thirty years ago.
Mr. Crankypants wants to slip gently out of the convention center and skip the rest of General Assembly and go lie on Fort Lauderdale’s beautiful beaches. Unfortunately, Mr. Crankypants is so white that even with SPF 153 sunscreen, he would burn to a crisp under the South Florida sun in about ten seconds.
Sigh.