Our Winchester Unitarian Society proudly flies three flags to underscore our shared UU values. Perhaps you have seen the Pan-African flag with its broad horizontal bars of red, black, and green, giving a voice to the Black diaspora spread across the world far too often against their will, including right here in our United States. … Continue reading Building Beloved Community Flag by Flag 2/22/24
“How Resistance Works” A number of people asked for the resources I referenced in my Second Reflection: Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, and Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny. If at least 4 people let me know that they are interested in reading and discussing On Tyranny by March 3rd, I will organize and facilitate a … Continue reading Follow Up from February 18th Service
Two separate but important thoughts to share this week. We are a little more than halfway through the church’s program year. Our leaders have already begun to look toward next year. The Nominations, Leadership and Development Committee has been working to fill our committees for the next term as people complete their terms. The Treasurer … Continue reading A Message from the Chair Gordy McIntosh 2/22/24
Resource By Resource If you like your information in manageable amounts, try subscribing to the Anti-Racism Daily (www.the-ard.com) newsletter. Black History Month is a great time to expand your understanding of racism in all its forms. A recent article discussed discrimination in housing appraisals and another explained why we capitalize B in Black when referring … Continue reading Building Beloved Community 2/15/24
Learning By Learning More than a century after the 13th Amendment abolished slavey, President Gerald Ford recognized February as BLACK HISTORY MONTH in 1976. This declaration was long coming, with many earlier manifestations such as the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) in 1926 sponsoring Negro History Week on the second week … Continue reading Building Beloved Community 2/8/24
A reminder for Black History Month of our continued commitment to Racial Justice:
In our recent Connecting Conversations we explored, together, microaggressions and their grievous harm. A possible counter strategy to their cumulative burden is small, affirming declarations. In a 2023 Harvard Business Review article, authors Roberts, Grayson, and Rosser presented several microvalidations to incorporate into interactions. Each can begin subtly to move a marginalized “outsider” into a sense of inclusion as an “insider.” Here, … Continue reading Building Beloved Community with Microvalidations
You are a generous people. You donated almost $700 towards supplies for Boston’s unhoused residents. You baked more than 20 dozen cookies for the care kits. You assembled 100 care kits for distribution, each including sanitizer, winter wear, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb and cookies. Some kits even included a handmade card. Special thanks to the Cookie … Continue reading Thank You for Putting Our Love in Action!
WUSYG: We had a great WUSYG meeting this past weekend reconnecting after the long holiday break. This week we will be having our first WUSYG sleepover of the year! WUSYGers are invited to join us at WUS this Friday at 7pm through noon on Saturday for games, baking, and fun! We will also have our … Continue reading Religious Education/Owl/WUSYG/JUSYG update 1/26
“In order to empathize with someone’s experience, you must be willing to believe them as they see it, not how you imagine the experience to be.” Brene Brown Join us on Zoom Sunday afternoon at 4 pm for a second opportunity to talk about micro-aggressions. Please email Patty Shepard to request a link. If you joined us … Continue reading Building Beloved Community Quote By Quote 1/18/24
