Weekly Communicator November 2, 2023

Weekly Communicator

November 2, 2023

Sunday Service

Join us this Sunday at 10:30am in the Sanctuary or via Zoom

https://zoom.us/j/5264858673

Minister's Musings

"The thinnest yellow light of November is more warming and exhilarating than any wine they tell of. The mite which November contributes becomes equal in value to the bounty of July."

Henry David Thoreau

Please join Leslie Gatto and Jennifer Grant for an important service this Sunday examining facsism in today's world. Also, please read each newsletter, there is a lot going on!! I will be back in Florida on November 11th, looking forward to seeing you all, soon. Sue

Upcoming Themes for Sunday Services:

November 5: Turning Back Time - Leslie Gatto and Jennifer Grant

November 12: Talking Trash - Rev. Sue

November 19: With Gratitude - Rev. Sue

November 26: Reluctant Ministers and Messiahs - Rev. Sue

revsue@uucfm.org

WhatsApp call or message: +506 8891 2847

US phone number: 603-395-7559

Facebook Messenger: Sue Gabrielson

Skype: suegabes

A Note from UUCFM Tech Team:

If you are an attendee by Zoom on Sundays and would like the discussions to continue after service, especially on the Sundays when we have lay leaders or guest speakers in person only, please consider being a Zoom host for this time. Allie Carville, Zoom moderator, will make you the Zoom host after the Postlude ends. You do not have to do anything technologically complicated - just click the red End Meeting button after the discussion closes.

If you have any questions or interest, please email techteam@uucfm.org or alisoncarville@gmail.com .

Thank you for your consideration.

Community Sharing for November

Our Community Sharing partner in November is Alliance for Fair Food. The Alliance for Fair Food (AFF) is the vibrant, diverse ally network of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), the internationally-acclaimed farmworker organization transforming human rights in the U.S. agricultural industry. The principal focus of the Alliance for Fair Food is the Campaign for Fair Food, a farmworker-led, community-powered movement that successfully holds major food retailers accountable to the highest human rights standards in their produce supply chains.

UUCFM Pastoral Care Team

We want your help

The UUCFM Pastoral Care Team is looking for volunteers who are willing to help with the following tasks on an "as needed" basis--no long term commitment needed. If you feel you have time to help with some of the following tasks (or can help with something we haven't listed) please contact Rev. Sue. at revsue@uucfm.org or Mary Cline Golbitz at mary@uucfm.org.

Thank you so much for considering offering these needed services for our Congregation.

1. Shopping for food or necessities and delivering

2. Spending time with those who need companionship or

minimal assistance

3. Writing Cards

4. Providing rides to appointments

5. Making Comfort Shawls

6. Other Services you can help with

7. Providing rides to Church

Thank you again!

Please send all newsletter articles by

12pm Wednesday for publication in Thursday's newsletter.

Send articles to newsletter@uucfm.org

Newsletter articles should be limited to 250 words. Send artwork or photos in jpg format. If multiple posting dates are desired, please include that in your request.

**Please do not send requests to the office manager email**

Ariel Twist

Marsha P Johnson

Welcoming Congregation

November 20

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Context: Native American Heritage Month

Two women: one living, one moved on but not forgotten. Both powerful voices.

Trans women are Native, Black, White, Latina, Polynesian, and more. Marsh P Johnson was honored by Trans community during her life and is honored now so many years after her death. We remember.

Ariel Twist is a Cree poet who writes about death, grief, love, and being a Trans Indigenous woman.

What does this have to do with UUCFM as a Welcoming Congregation?

Welcoming Congregations acknowledge the Transgender Day of Remembrance and the murders of Trans people. Most of those killed this year in the United States, as in most years, are Trans People of Color, many of them Indigenous. This month, November, is also Native American Heritage Month. Being Native American is an intersectional identity that multiplies the oppression of Trans people. Being Trans also multiplies the oppression of Native Americans. Far too often this intersection is fatal.

Welcoming Congregations seek education on the experience of Trans and Queer people, and they seek education on the experience of Trans and Queer people who may simultaneously be oppressed because of race or disability or other oppressions. Intersectional oppressions tend to be exponentially worse; they are greater than the sum of their parts.

The Welcoming/Equal Rights Committee plans to meet on November 17, at 6:30 pm on Zoom. It would be great if you could join us! You don't need to be Queer or Trans yourself to be a great ally!

Contact Cat (equalrightscommittee@uucfm.org) for information.

Greetings from Holley Rauen and the SWFL RESET Center!

If any of you want to volunteer please email Holley at reset.holley@gmail.com

Reserve Your Tickets Now:

GET TICKETS HERE

Speaker Lineup:

"RAPID COMPOSTING TECHNIQUES"

with Alex Nikesh,

FGCU, Edulis Designs

Soil nutrition is key to successful gardens and Alex Nikesh has solutions. Catch his live demonstration of the Berkeley Method for sustainable waste management and soil enrichment at 10:15 a.m.

"EDIBLE LANDSCAPING DESIGN"

with Tim Watkins,

EcoVision

Why have a regular lawn when your could be extraordinary? Ecovision Head Landscape Designer and Agriforester Tim Watkins maps out the steps for creating your own edible landscape at 10:40 a.m.

"GREEN ACTIONEERS FOR KIDS"

with Dave Finnegan, Green Actioners

Dave has such a fun way for kids and families who want to "go green" - and save money in the process. He'll share fun activities all families can engage in for a greener future in this lively presentation at 11:20 a.m.

"LANDSCAPING with NATIVE PLANTS"

with Tony Mauriello, FL Native Plant Society

The design and maintenance of landscapes in residential yards has a significant impact on water shortages and water quality in many counties in Florida. Tony Mauriello guides us through better choices at 12:00 p.m.

"PREVENTING BIRD /WINDOW COLLISIONS"

with Gerri Reaves,

Audubon SWFL

Audubon of Southwest Florida's mission is to protect plants, animals, and their habitats. This talk shares easy & practical ways each of us can help prevent the loss of birdlife in SWFL. Gerri is onstage at 12:40 p.m.

"PLANT PROPAGATION 101"

with Lauren Daniels-Judge ECHO Global Farms

This quick session on the basics of food propagation shows how anyone can grow their own food. Learn how to germinate seeds, take cuttings & care for both while they sprout + get a free cutting! ~ 1:20 p.m.

Volunteer of the Month

The Volunteer of the Month is Judy Burget, our chair of the Membership Committee, Her warmth and enthusiasm make us feel we have come back to where we belong every Sunday morning. Judy is a long time member and many visitors catch her loving devotion to our community. As Cary Grant never said, “Judy, Judy, Judy.”

Social Justice Book Group

Understanding Experience of Transgender People

Understanding Living with Disability

1st Principle: The inherent worth and dignity of every person;

2nd Principle: Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;

3rd Principle: Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;

These are the first three Principles that ground our love and work as UU's. That love, that work includes learning to understand all members of our congregation and working toward empathy for all those both in and outside our congregation who live with oppression. Many of us might be surprised to know, that rather feeling heard, understood, and valued, some Queer, Trans, BIPOC, and/or people with disabilities, experience the opposite of empathy and understanding in UU spaces throughout the domination.

Eli Clare writes with clarity, compassion, and knowledge about his own experience and that of others. His commitment to environmental protections is also clear. We hope you'll read Exile and Pride with us!

We'll meet this week, on Zoom, Wednesday afternoon, November 8. We'll read the rest of part i (losing home, clearcut: brutes and bumper stickers, clearcut: end of the line, casino: an epilogue).

There is a lot to talk about in this book! Contact Cat (equalrightscommittee@uucfm.org) for exact time of meeting and for Zoom link.

November 1-30

Native American Heritage Month

November 23: National Day of Mourning

November 20: Transgender Day of Remembrance

Our DEI Library

Our UUCFN DEI Library focuses on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This month that focus highlights two days that are intended to recognize the grief, oppression, and murders of Native Americans and of Transgender People.

This month we, who are Indigenous or Transgender or simultaneously both, honor our dead. We name those whose names we know and we name the disappearance of those whose names have been hidden. We acknowledge that not everyone is thankful that settler-colonists arrived on the shores of the already-populated continent of North America. We acknowledge the often unacknowledged murdered and missing Indigenous women. We acknowledge that the increase in anti-transgender legislation and rhetoric is leading to an increase in both murders of and suicides by transgender adults and youth.

We name our grief.

We have books to help broaden our understanding. We have books to help those who are not us understand why we grieve and how deeply we grieve. We have novels and poetry to help develop empathy. We have books for children. We have histories and books of theory to improve our knowledge of Indian slavery, boarding schools, and genocide and their effects on Native Americans and other Indigenous US citizens today. We have books about the ways in which transgender children and adults are bullied, denied medical care, and subjected to systemic abuse as well as books that are rich with hope.

Check them out!

For information, contact Cat Pivett (equalrightscommittee@uucfm.org)

Protecting The Environment By Protecting Democracy

Date: November 30, 2023

Time: 7 pm

Location: Virtual

Hosted by Floridians for Democracy

Learn about the connection between democracy and environmental protection with two passionate environmental leaders: Jaclyn M. Lopez, the former director and senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity and current professor at Stetson Law who has tackled topics such as red tide and the phosphate industry in Florida and Leslie K. Poole, Ph.D., a fourth-generation Floridian and award-winning author who teaches environmental studies at Rollins College. Learn more.

EPA Hosting Public Meeting

Health Risks from EtO

Date: November 1, 2023

Time: 6-8 pm

Location: Hilton Garden Inn Hotel, 12600 University Drive, Ft Myers

The American Contract Systems Facility on Metro in Fort Myers has been emitting ethylene oxide (EtO) for years. Pollution from the cancer-causing chemicals have been released to the surrounding neighborhoods, encompassing businesses, homes and schools. The US Environmental Protection Agency is holding a public meeting to discuss the pollution, what American Contract Services has done to stop the pollution, and the new EPA rule trying to prevent future exposures.