Featured Blog Posts – February 2012 Archive (10)

I'm now understanding the "New Orleans" connection for last spring's funeral for the DADT law. While odd, after all, how often does one throw a funeral for a law, it was very effective. UUCA, in conjunction with Standing on the Side of Love, held this funeral to celebrate the repeal of DADT, but also to remind us that even though it had been repealed by Congress, until it was signed by the President, Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, it was still…

I'm learning a lesson about going green. This one is personally expensive.

My water heater broke on Sunday.  I came home after Chalice Theater to find a puddle in the utility closet, so I drained the tank.  For three hours. The cut off valve no longer works.  I didn't suspect that until, at the end of the third hour, I asked the Internets how long it should take to drain a 50-gallon…

Last Fall, Victor Lopez, a Guatemalan immigrant from Toj Chan and now living in nearby Buckingham, along with PAG supporters Barbara Johnson and Maggie Needham decided to raise money for Toj Chan’s elementary school.  (Five years ago, many Toj Chan immigrants living in Buckingham sent money home to build this school; and, in November 2010, 12 UUCA’ers visited it).  …

I am a newcomer to membership at UUCA.  Literally...I signed the book a few weeks ago!  Ever since I began attending UUCA, investigating the new issues I have been exposed to, and trying to live by the principles of Unitarian Universalism, I have been inspired.  My beliefs have always been strong, but I just could never seem to get motivated to get out DO anything about them.

Recently, I injured my spine so severely that I have been unable to walk or even sit up straight since…

Three anti-immigrant bills recently passed the Virginia House of Delegates and will be considered in the Senate Courts of Justice Committee beginning Feb 22 at 1:30pm and in the full Senate as early as Friday, Feb 24. If you did not already write a letter or email as part of Sunday’s Write Here! Write Now! Activity, please do so right away.

HB 1060 and HB 958 would require law enforcement officers to make citizenship inquiries of everyone arrested for any offense. They would also…

Some 20 folks met on February 12 to donate money for scholarships for Mayan students in Guatemala.  UUA President Peter Morales's home church in Colorado started the project in 2007 and UUCA was…

Local Mayan Dancers Featured in El Tiempo Latino

AWAL, local Mayan dancers who have frequently collaborated with UUCA’s Partners for Arlington and Guatemala (PAG) and the Sacred Dance Troupe were featured in the February 3^rd issue of El Tiempo Latino.

The free weekly newspaper that serves the Hispanic community in this area cited the dancers for identifying themselves as indigenous Native Americans…

By request, I am humbly reposting as a blog, a response I wrote a week ago to the Atheism 2.0 TED discussion by Alain de Botton.  In the interest of tuning it in more to current congregational themes, I have given it a name. It isn't an autonomous essay, so if you haven't checked out the Botton video, it would help. It's at the bottom of this…

We have now moved to Goodwin House West (retirement community), along with a couple of dozen or so more church folks. Because of this, after a decade of leading international discussion groups at UUCA. "Great Decisions" is a wonderful program for learning more about the world, and this year's 8 units are all nicely packaged on 25-minute DVD's. Q & A and discussion sessions can follow - These are fun, but not essential.

Leading this program is not difficult and does not…