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Live Oak
Unitarian Universalist Church
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"White Folks, We Don't Need You At the Juneteenth Cookout"
Michael Van Slyke
Celebrating a holidays with marginalized communities is a nice gesture. Effective allyship requires more than just a nice gesture once in a while. What kinds of things might help? Michael Van Slyke will explore some possibilities.
Michael Van Slyke has been a member of Live Oak UU since 2014. In that time he's sung with the choir, delivered a sermon, and gratefully received help and support from this loving and beloved church community. He is an artist, craftsman, and advocate for the de-stigmatization of mental illness and neurodivergence. Michael and his wife, Harmoni Anderson look forward to many years of fellowship and companionship with the Live Oak community.
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Share the Plate
Kind Clinic offers free care to all
Live Oak will share the plate in July with Kind Clinic, a nonprofit that provides sexual health services in Austin. It offers gender affirming care and STI/HIV testing and treatment. There are no fees for patients.
Kind Clinic locations in Austin are 101 West Koenig Lane and 2800 S. I-35 Frontage Road. You can learn more at www.kindclinic.org.
Go to the Donate link on the Live Oak website’s home page. Use the drop down menu to designate your donation for “Share the Plate”.
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A Few Words from the Minister
Rev. Joanna will be on sabbatical through August 31. During this time, we will be sharing some of her writings.
You noted my clerical collar and rainbow pin and had some questions. I told you I'm a Unitarian Universalist minister, and you wanted to know more. I screwed up, I think, with you. Because I began giving you information, little explanations that you could have just as easily found on Wikipedia. I got busy explaining "what" instead of "why."
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Voting Rights Team Completes 40 Letters
Join us next time!
On July 17, the Live Oak Voting Rights Team completed 40 VoteForward letters, and we're inspired to write more. Join us at our next gathering. If you prepare your own letters at home through VoteForward.org, we will work with you to fold, seal, stamp, and address them. Anyone can help with these final steps. All of the letters will be mailed on the national mail-in date, October 29.
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LOUU Voting Pledge Card Now Available
Let's be a 100% voting congregation!
The Live Oak voter pledge card is now in circulation. Look for the cards and the return box in the lobby each Sunday. We want to document how many registered voters, VDRs (Volunteer Deputy Registrars) and pollworkers we have at Live Oak. Those under 18 can sign too on the "I will vote when I'm eligible" line.
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Voting Pledge NewsFlash!
As of July 17, we have documented that we are a 7% voting congregation. We have 3 VDRs and 1 poll worker in our midst! The voting pledge cards are available every week in the Narthex.
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Community Outreach
Two teams come together for outreach
Fresh food Friday and voting rights combined for community outreach last Friday, July 15th. Voting Rights Team member Judy Reynolds who is a League of Women Voters member set up shop to register voters. As you can see young people can help, too. Wayne Gregory's granddaughter handed out "future voter" stickers to kids as Judy talked to their parents.
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Board Meeting Summary
Here's a summary of the most recent Board meeting and a link to the draft of our minutes (not yet finalized).
There were a few voting items: outstanding minutes (unanimous approval); transferring money from Capital One bank accounts to Austin Telco bank accounts (unanimous approval). A local Boy Scouts group has asked LOUU to sponsor them. There was a lot of discussion about the inclusion and protection of trans and nonbinary youth and whether or not the gender separation that's inherent in the program could be more flexible and welcoming. Rob Sartin will pass these questions along to the group leaders so the Board can get more context before voting to sponsor. The Board also went over many learning/exploratory items, including the church budget and the Capital Fund. As a followup from the previous Board meeting, the Endowment grants were approved and are being funded.
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Take Live Oak’s annual engagement survey!
Please take 3 minutes before July 31st to take Live Oak's annual engagement survey to measure how connected we are with each other over time and update directory information.
Please note that this survey also includes an opportunity to give feedback about programs funded by the church’s Endowment Fund.
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SOCIAL JUSTICE MINISTRY NEWS
Now's the time
HELLO FRIENDS! On Monday 7/11, thanks to Lyndy Dower (thanks Lyndy!), several Social Justice committee members attended a zoom roundtable with Rep. Lloyd Doggett, Texas House Rep Donna Howard, and Austin City Council member Vanessa Fuentes. The goal: to strategize abortion access in Texas after it’s been shut off with the overturn of Roe. Each politician presented bills they are introducing to “chip away” at restrictions. But most interesting were the creative suggestions. Fuentes is collaborating with multiple cities to pass decriminalization zones for their municipalities. Denton already has and Austin and San Antonio are in the works. Also, Fuentes is in talks with airlines about potential shuttles to out-of-state care.
Doggett urged that we DEMAND KYRSTEN SINEMA (AZ) AND SUSAN COLLINS (ME) prove their pro-choice beliefs and join Dem Senators to employ the FILIBUSTER EXEMPTION for a vote on a national reproductive rights bill. Doggett is pushing Biden 1. to make an Emergency Public Health Declaration, which would help reduce restrictions on individuals and providers in anti-choice states. 2. direct federal agencies to place abortion access as the top priority for their department (ex, using interstates as safe zones to transport Texans out of state), and 3. instruct DOJ to sue states restricting medical abortion medicine, as this is a federal issue (FDA and national post office), not a state issue. Temple law professor Rachel Rebouche recommended Biden push the FDA to make medical abortion more accessible and to put abortion clinics on federal land in non-choice states.
All emphasized that working HARD to get pro-choice candidates elected this fall was PLAN ONE. NY Times’s poll (7/13) found only 29% of Americans agreed with the overturn of Roe. We have the numbers; we must GET OUT THE VOTE! Doggett: “The one thing that ultimately will make a difference in a democratic process is days of action. We have to make changes in the elected officials that do not share our views on reproductive justice and healthcare.” In other words, throw the bums out! November 8th will be our most important day of action. Let’s make Live Oak a 100% voting congregation!!
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Annual Fall Campout in November!
The campout will be the weekend of Nov 11-13 at Cedar Breaks Park on Lake Georgetown. Make your reservations here. We usually camp in sites along the lake, in the teens and 20s. Some of us camp longer, arriving a day or 2 ahead of time and staying a day or 2 longer afterwards. Join the Live Oak UU Camping Group on Facebook for Q&A and camping discussion!
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DON'T READ THESE BOOKS!
This summer we will be spending some faith development time exploring banned books, thanks entirely to the Leander ISD school board!
These banned book discussions will be happening the third Sunday of each month. August 21st is the next session.
In August they will read “This Day in June,” “And Tango Makes Three” and “Worm Loves Worm.” No pre-reading is required but parents are encouraged to read these books ahead of time if you wish to know what they are about.
The 6-12th graders are not expected to do any pre-reading but it is certainly encouraged. In August the selections are “Better Nate Than Ever” (middle school) and “Red at the Bone” (high school). The high school selections all include content warnings for adult language, violence and in some cases sex so you may wish to pre-read these with your child. Both books will be summarized and the reasons they have been banned will be discussed at the lesson but will be age-appropriate for ages 11 and up.
Adults, please pre-read the following books and come ready to discuss the reasons you think they have been banned in Leander ISD and other schools. The August selection is “Red at the Bone.” While each of these books are young adult selections, there are content warning of adult topics.
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UBarU Annual Star Party
August 27-30, 2022
The 2022 UBarU Star Party (USP) is being held over three nights in late August since it offers a phase of the Moon that is better-suited for deep-sky viewing than over Labor Day weekend 2022. This is our sixth comprehensive star-party event (which includes, in addition to the star parties: astronomy-related lectures, meals, lodging, and more) offered at our IDA-certified Dark-Sky Park in Mountain Home, Texas. Please register via https://www.ubaru.org/ubaru-star-party
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LiveOakUU.org Pages to Visit:
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The deadline for the weekly e-newsletter and the Sunday announcements is midnight on Tuesday. The submission form can be found here
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Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Church
(737) 240-3455 | 3315 El Salido Pkwy, Cedar Park, TX 78613
www.liveoakuu.org
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