Weekly Communicator

Weekly Communicator

June 29, 2023

Sunday Service

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

Join Worship Associates Jennifer Grant and Leslie Gatto for this Sunday's Worship Service. Jennifer will deliver a frightening summary of some of the legislation that became law as of July 1, 2023 and how we can respond. Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid - Be Hopeful, Be Very Hopeful

Minister's Musings

"We might think we are nurturing our garden, but of course it's our garden that is really nurturing us." Jenny Uglow

Happy July to everyone. I will be on vacation this month (and working hard to plan for next year). You can expect I will not be at regular meetings or corresponding on a regular basis, but please do not hesitate to reach out to me if there is something that you feel cannot wait. I am looking forward to serving you for another year and will see you in Fort Myers on August 13th. Have a great month.

revsue@uucfm.org

WhatsApp call or message: +506 8891 2847

Facebook Messenger: Sue Gabrielson

Skype: suegabes

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**

Office Hours

Office hours for June 22 and June 29 are 8am-1pm.

The office will be closed July 4th.

Community Sharing for July

The Southwest Florida Gay & Lesbian Chorus was formed in 1993, at the initiative of Doug Gathers and a small group of founders, despite the problems that would undeniably come with his "coming out" publicly. Since their founding in 1993, they have been a LGBTQ-friendly and all-inclusive 5013c non-profit organization. This group participates in local, regional, and national performances.

Their mission is to provide educational, cultural, and social enrichment for our audience and ourselves through excellence in the choral arts.

The group's name was changed in 2019 from Southwest Florida Gay & Lesbian Chorus to Southwest Florida Voices, to be more inclusive to the LGBTQ-Community and Allies.

If you cannot attend in person, you can still donate by mailing a check to the office with "community sharing" in the subject line, or by using the "donate" button on the website and marking it "community sharing".

Trees

We have be experiencing sewage problems for the last decade because of trees in the quadrangle. This has been costly for us. The two offending trees will be removed in the coming weeks. Thank you for your patience. The Operations Committee.

UU and You ~ Newcomers Invited

No matter where you are in life, you are welcome here.

Sunday, July 2 ~ 9:00-10:00 a.m. Room 2

The Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism & Sources

How to take our values out into the world!

Guided discussion with Marge Gonzalez, V.P. Membership, Board of Trustees

Refreshments served ~ Sign up appreciated

Life and Liberty for Whom?

Indigenous and Black poets of the 19th, 20th, and 21st Centuries

On the 4th of July this year, the Poetry Group is reading poetry by those who were not considered to have "unalienable rights" to "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness [which US courts have often defined as 'the pursuit of property']." Instead Black and Indigenous people were themselves often defined as property and had at best tenuous rights to life or liberty.

This poetry often addresses loss, grief, and anger, sometimes with powerful emotion, sometimes with sarcastic humor.

We will meet via Zoom on Tuesday, July 4, 2023, from 1-3pm. Contact Cat Pivetti for information, poetry, and Zoom link.

MONDAY BOOK CLUB

The Monday Book Club is reading Lucky Boy, a novel by Shanthi Sekaran, which deals with immigration, motherhood and adoption. We will discuss the first third of the book on July 10.

Please contact Judi Dettorre to get the Zoom link to join us at

1pm on July 10.

OPPORTUNITY FOR SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT

Did you know that our Worship Associates often select or write the readings, chalice-lightings, suggest themes for services and offer personal reflections? Participating with the Worship Associate team is a very spiritual endeavor and integral part of our shared ministry. Worship Associates are dedicated to UUCFM and Unitarian Universalism. Training and resources are provided.

If this sounds like something you might be interested in, please contact Rev Sue or Leslie Gatto, chair, for an application. You may also wish to discuss this possibility with any Worship Associate (Jennifer Grant, Lesley Peterson, Gary Robbins and Helen Leddy) or our Lay Minister, Mary Cline Golbitz.

Our Library celebrates Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion!

Not everyone “celebrates” the 4th of July or the signing of the

Declaration of Independence. For some it is a reminder of oppression, and for some it is a day of mourning. The Declaration lists 27 grievances against the King. The final grievance includes a complaint that he “has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages...”

We have a number of books by and about the people who lived on

and cultivated these “frontiers” before the colonists arrived to take them. Some of the books are for adults, some are picture books, and some are for older children. Some are banned in Florida.

The “unalienable rights,” “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,” were not for Indians or Black residents, and certainly not for Black or Indian people who were enslaved. One way that we honor them is by paying attention to their Stories. Check them out!

BANNED BOOK PROJECT

Here are more comments from congregants who donated books.

Almost Perfect - The target audience for this book is “from high school to infinity. It’s sweet, simple and non-explicit.”

Fly on the Wall: How One Girl Saw Everything - The reader suggests that this book may have been banned because “The censors may want to protect male supremacy... It’s a good representation of how hard it is to be a teenager.”

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - “It reminds me of Catcher in the Rye, but from the teenager’s environment of marginalization, poverty and alcoholism.”

Beloved - “This is a novel of breath-taking brilliance and undoubtedly will go down as one of the masterworks of American literature. It journeys the reader deep into the the soil of slavery and its aftermath on a level few authors can even aspire to. Down in the tangled roots we begin to feel the horror, the lasting damage, the shame of our country, the astounding complexity of our species. Read it, but take your time."

From Our Welcoming Renewal Committee

We are recommending the book Trans Allyship Workbook to our congregation. It's brief and accessible, and it is very helpful to those who want to become better allies to our Trans/Gender Non-conforming members and to Trans people in general.

Here's what Leslie Gatto had to say after reading it:

"Something that Helped Me Understand."

After reading the Transgender Allyship Wookbook, something that made me understand transgender more fully is that "TRANSGENDER (OR TRANS): Describes people whose gender identity differs from what is expected of them based on their sex assigned at birth." Period. A person need not undergo reassignment surgery, or even have the appearance of our society's understanding of male/female looks, clothing, mannerisms, etc. to be trans. And males who have breasts or females with facial hair (for example) may be cisgender.

Voter Registration Help

It’s more important than ever that we fight voter suppression. You can help by reading this link, then posting it to your social media and share however else you deem fit. Thank you!

Mary M. Studer

VP for Programming, Board of Trustees