Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice

Sunday, October 17 6:00 hor d’oeuvres 6:30-6:45 seating for dinner
La Panetteria 4921 Cordell Ave. Bethesda, MD
Cost $75 $48.60 is tax deductible
This is a fundraiser for the UUSJ Collaborative Fund

UUSJ Collaborative Social Justice Program Award – Montgomery Health Care ACTION, River Road UU Congregation

UUSJ Minister’s Award – Rev Scott Sammler-Michael, Accotink

UUSJ Journey Toward Wholeness Award – DARTT, Diversity Anti-racism Transformation Team, Paint Branch

UUSJ Environmental Justice Award – Carel Hedlund, Towson

UUSJ Lay Leader Award – Michele and Jeff Kuhn, Washington Ethical Society

UUSJ Innovative Social Justice Program Award – Rainbow Youth Alliance, Rockville

UU Affordable Housing Award and UUSJ Honor Award- Linda Collyer, Cedar Lane

The 4 course dinner includes the following main courses:
PETTI DI POLLO MARSALA
Tender breast of chicken sautéed in a marsala wine and mushroom sauce.
Served w/ pasta and vegetables.
RAVIOLI CON PORTABELLO
Pasta stuffed with Portobello mushrooms cooked with green peas in
Tomato or cream sauce.
CAPESANTEE PROVINCIALE
Sea scallops sautéed in aromatic tomato sauce over linguini
RISSOTTO con DELL’AGNELLO
Grilled leg of lamb over Italian asparagus risotto.
TROTA ALLA AMALFITANA
Fresh rainbow trout sautéed with garlic, capers, and parsley in
a light white wine sauce. Served with pasta and vegetables.

Thursday, September 30, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres

Remarks from Caitlin Ryan, PhD, Director, The Family Acceptance Project

Screening of “Always My Son,” a short film by The Family Acceptance Project documenting one family’s inspiring personal journey from struggle to acceptance of their gay son

We invite you to consider making a tax-deductible gift at the reception. Donations will be matched by a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Location

The home of Alison Gardner and Dan Massey

1700 Kalorama Road NW, #502, Washington D.C.

Parking

Free 2-hour parking on side streets, Ontario Road and 17th Street, and on 16th Street.

Metered 2-hour parking on Kalorama Road.

Garages on 18th Street, entrance between Kalorama and Columbia Road, with a walkway exit to Champlain; and at Champlain and Florida.

RSVP by September 15 to Ruth Herring: ruthemilyh(at)earthlink.net

About The Family Acceptance Project

The Family Acceptance Project (FAP) has conducted the first comprehensive research study on family acceptance and rejection of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adolescents. Their research shows that increasing family acceptance is critical to ensuring a healthier future for LGBT youth. FAP is now developing the first research-based family model of wellness, prevention and care to change the future for LGBT young people and their families. Please see attached overview for more information.

First Friday of the Month

Mount Vernon Unitarian Church

1909 Windmill Lane Alexandria, VA

Starting in October 2010, we move the movie series to the first Friday of the month, 7 pm, in the chapel.  In October, we have two movies because the North Korea LINK nomads are in town on tour, and we had this good opportunity to revisit the North Korea crisis.

Friday October 1^st, 7 pm, 9500 Liberty: Prince William County, Virginia becomes ground zero in America’s explosive battle over immigration policy when elected officials adopt a law requiring police officers to question anyone they have “probable cause” to suspect is an undocumented immigrant. The devastating social and economic impact of the “Immigration Resolution” is felt in the lives of real people in homes and in local businesses. But the ferocious fight to adopt and then reverse this policy unfolds inside government chambers, on the streets, and on the Internet. 9500 Liberty provides a front row seat to all three battlegrounds. Elena Schlossberg, featured in the movie will be in attendance.

Friday October 15, 7 pm, Hiding: Exposing the Life of North Korean Refugees Hiding in China. While the world focuses on North Korea’s security issue, hundreds of thousands of North Koreans continue to be enslaved in prison camps today. Up to 300,000 have escaped to China – seeking food, medicine, work, or freedom from political and religious oppression. Among the 300,000, 70 to 90 percent of North Korean women are trafficked and sold into the sex trade, and more and more refugees are fleeing to Southeast Asia to escape imprisonment upon repatriation by China. Through LiNK’s networks, these refugees can be helped and given new lives. “Hiding” is a film about a group of North Korean refugees hiding in China today, and exposes their struggles to survive.

 Friday November 5^th, 7 pm, Lemon Tree: Salma Zidane, the Palestinian woman at the center of “Lemon Tree” has the misfortune of living in the wrong place at the wrong time. She earns a meager living from a lemon grove on the Green Line separating Israel from the occupied territories of the West Bank. Her solitary life is disrupted when the Israeli defense minister moves into a fancy new house that abuts the grove. Overnight a watchtower is constructed, and security guards and soldiers begin patrolling the property. Salma is informed that the grove poses a security threat from terrorists hiding among the trees; as a military necessity they must be uprooted. Come to see what happens next.

Friday December 3rd, 7 pm, What Makes Me White? Produced by independent film-maker Aimee Sands, this is a startling new film about the role of race in the daily lives of white people. Designed as a gentle tool for the classroom, boardroom, and church basement, the film avoids blame, guilt, or “political correctnesss.” Instead, it inspires white people to honest reflection about the invisible influence of whiteness on their personalities and their life choices.

The Response flyer ver3

Saturday, October 9, 2010, 7:00 p.m.
Unitarian Universalist Church of Rockville
100 Welsh Park Drive, Rockville, MD

http://uucr.org/directions.php

This free event is co-sponsored by Amnesty International Group 82
The Response is a new film based on the actual transcripts of the Guantanamo Military Tribunals. Panel participants: Sig Libowitz, writer/producer; Dave Dickman, retired JAG Corps officer; Gordon Woodward, pro bono advocate for the detainees.  For more information, visit www.uucr.org or call 301-762-7666

Wednesday, Sep. 1, 6-8 PM

As President Barack Obama, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gather for a White House dinner on the eve of the resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, please join the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation for a silent vigil in support of a just peace between Palestinians and Israelis based on human rights, international law, and UN resolutions.

Meet on the north side of the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, across the street from Lafayette Park from 6-8 PM signs will be available.

During the silent vigil, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation will present a petition to the White House with thousands of signatures.  The petition reads:

“Dear President Obama,

As your Administration reconvenes direct Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations on September 2, I urge you to make sure that they are based on human rights, international law, and UN resolutions–the only viable basis for a just and lasting peace.”

To sign the petition, please click here.

 DigitalGlobe

Since the world learned of the floods now devastating Pakistan, conditions have worsened dramatically. As of August 23, the Pakistani government estimates that 17.2 million people are affected by the floods — more than the Haiti earthquake, the 2005 South Asia earthquake, and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami combined. The growing enormity of this humanitarian disaster has compelled UUSC and the Unitarian Universalist Association to launch our UUSC-UUA Joint Pakistan Flood Relief Fund.

Most recently, rivers flowing from the flooded areas in the northwest have swelled with water and are deluging the Sindh and Punjab provinces in the south. This is sure to have serious long-term implications for all of Pakistan. The fertile Punjab is the breadbasket for a country where a third of its population of 170 million people live below the poverty line.

Donations to the UUSC-UUA Joint Pakistan Flood Relief Fund will be put to immediate use, since UUSC already has partner organizations in the region. Bedari, which worked with UUSC in the 2005 South Asia earthquake, is working to protect women and children displaced by the floods. Barakat, a UUSC partner in Afghanistan that also works in Pakistan, is helping refugee families who have fled to the district of Attock.

The Green Sanctuary Program of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA) and the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth (UUMFE) invite you and your congregation, as you come back together for the church-year, to dedicate a few moments, a worship service, a month, or a year to reflect on the recent disasters in the Gulf of Mexico.  Many congregations have an annual tradition of a water ceremony/communion at the beginning of each year.  Consider connecting the themes of water with the Gulf of Mexico and our connections to the disasters and hope that can be found there.   Sample sermons, vigils, chalice lightings, music, and more are available for your use.  Read more and link to the resources on the UU Ministry for Earth (UUMFE) website.

CarbonNYC

 

 

Sunday, September 19, 3–5 p.m.
The Brown Center’s Falvey Hall, at MICA
1301 W. Mount Royal Ave., Baltimore, MD

ACLU of Maryland is thrilled to partner with the Maryland Institute College of Art for another timely installment of our annual Constitution Day symposium. Moderated by WYPR 88.1 FM’s “The Signal” producer Aaron Henkin, our exciting panel of speakers includes columnist Dan Savage (on the left), writer of an internationally syndicated weekly sex and relationship advice column, “Savage Love,” and author of his latest book about modern-day marriage, “The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage and My Family”; Baltimore-born and nationally acclaimed performance artist Sharon Hayes, whose work focuses on the intersection of history, politics and speech, with a particular focus on the language of 20th-century protest groups; and Dr. Kendall Thomas, a law professor at Columbia University who writes and lectures on constitutional law, civil rights, race and sexuality.

Reserve your seat! Tickets are FREE, but go quickly. RSVP to curtis(at)aclu-md.org or 410.889.8555

Thursday, Septemeber 2 12:15-12:35pm
Addison Road Metro station

Prince George’s County—On Thursday, Sep. 2, 2010,–come join PRISCM leaders to support new jobs for the unemployed in the county. Join with leaders in Transportation Equity Network in 13 U.S. cities to call for increased transit funding as a path to job creation and economic growth.
–? Numbers of jobs each metro area could create by shifting 50% of current highway spending to transit: The Washington DC metro area would result in 19,000 new jobs generated over a five year period.
–? Numbers of jobs each metro area could create by with the passage of a transit-friendly national Transportation Authorization Act: Meeting a transit-friendly goal would generate 54,000 new jobs over a five year period in Washington metro region.
Questions—call Laura Ehle or Renee Brereton at 202 641 6143

Saturday, October 16 9:30am-4:30pm

Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County

Media, PA

 Keynote Speaker: Rev. Leslie Takahashi-Morris
Coordinator Patricia Most

This conference will help us focus on personal work to help us become more authentically receptive and wholly present in our congregational relationships and in our community social action.  Believing that only bad people have prejudices deters us from examining the effects of internalized feelings of racial superiority and racial oppression.  To move Unitarian Universalism into a multiracial, multicultural future, we need to transform our congregations.  But first, we must transform ourselves.  Come join other UUs as we continue our personal journeys toward wholeness and encourage each other in our spiritual paths.

A flier is attached.

GO GREEN! DC area congregations are encouraged to use bus transport to and from the parking lot of Paint Branch Unitarian Universalist Church at 3215 Powder Mill Road, Adelphi, MD 20783. Please email Carol Carter Walker at dartt(at)pbuuc.org  (We hope to have 35 – 40 riders and anticipate a cost of $50.00 or less depending on how many riders share the expense.)