Category: Recent News

The monthly e-newsletter selects about 5 news posts with this category. Priorities are news relevant to a wide number of people and especially of interest to visitors or new folk.

Forest Bathing in Pacific Spirit Park

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Several of us in the Westside Unitarian Neighbourhood Group are embarking on “forest bathing” in Pacific Spirit Park. If you’d like to know when we’re going for a walk (probably 1-2 hours), let Mary know and she’ll send you a note when we have a time set (usually weekdays during the day, late morning or early afternoon.) We meet at 16th and Discovery and go from there. We sometimes go for a coffee or lunch together. Some of us bring walking poles.

Here’s an excerpt from a post from David Suzuki: https://davidsuzuki.org/story/nature-calms-the-brain-and-heals-the-body/

In Japan, scientists found people spending time in nature — shinrin-yoku or “forest bathing” — inhale “beneficial bacteria, plant-derived essential oils and negatively-charged ions” which interact with gut bacteria to strengthen the body’s immune system and improve both mental and physical health.

More information about the park. 

 

From Colonization to Reconciliation (?) – Resources and Future Plans

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Ryan McMahon, the Anishinaabe activist, challenged us to read and engage with our foundational laws, treaties, Acts, and official Commission reports and recommendations. “Let’s use pre-existing documents, studies, inquests, etc. that have done ALL the heavy lifting for us,” he said. “It’s not too late to look back at where we’ve been, determine what went and is wrong, and fix things on a go forward basis.”

Our reading and discussion group met on Wednesday evenings in February and March. About 20 people participated in our lively discussions.

Steven will announce plans for further discussions in the coming months.

Truth and Reconciliation Resources

Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report Executive Summary

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action

Beyond 94 – Truth and Reconciliation in Canada

The Indian Act

The White Paper

Highlights from the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples

Citizens Plus/Red Paper 1970 response to the White Paper

Kelowna Accord

UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Directory of small groups, committees, and teams

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updated 2019-04-24 … this post now looks like the legacy post it is: here for the record and to direct you to the post about small group posts, a post updated with each new edition of the directory

The featured image shows the cover of the March [2019] edition of the directory, announced in March [2019]. The latest edition is available in hard copy at the welcome table. Click here if for some reason you want to read the March directory online instead of the latest edition. For more on the latest edition, see below.

This is a small groups post. Be sure to read the post about small groups posts – it is kept up to date: unlike this one it always links to a copy of the latest edition of the directory and features an image of its cover.

updated 2019-04-24 … this post now looks like the legacy post it is: here for the record and to direct you to the post about small group posts, a post updated with each new edition of the directory

Did you know that our office assistant is a busy graphic designer?

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UCV’S very own office assistant, Marcus Hynes, will be exhibiting a selection of his illustration and graphic design works alongside 30 other visual artists, musicians, makeup artists, fashion designers, etc. as part of an upcoming interdisciplinary art show, Raw Artists: Impact, on Sunday, April 14, from 5 pm onward at Celebrities on Davie Street.

http://heymarcus.ca/?portfolio=you-are-the-universe

Each participating artist is tasked with selling 20 tickets, which can be purchased online or from Marcus directly. (He’s in the office Monday – Thursday 9:30 to 2:30 pm).
Tickets are $20 each. Prints and posters will be available at the show. Your support would be very sincerely appreciated!

For more information at Marcus’ work, please visit http://www.heymarcus.ca.

Marcus recently designed covers for The Growler magazine.

Don’t miss Marcus’ workshop at UCV on Saturday, May 25 1 – 4 pm on creating posters, flyers and brochures.

We’ll use the free software program Open Office Writer. If you want to use your own word processing or publishing program, that’s OK too, but the demonstrations and prepared templates will be provided in OpenOffice.

This workshop is open to UCV members who are on committees who sponsor events.

Must preregister. Click the workshop link above or send email to Mary.

Recently Marcus worked with Steven to take Steven’s research from interviewing the UU Ministers of Canada and put into a 16-page booklet. You can download here.

What-We-Wish-People-Knew-About-Unitarian-Universalism

 

Grow community as well as a garden

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Nina Rashleigh, grandmother to Owen, mother and mother-in-law to former DREs Jen and Morgan, has a message for anyone at UCV who would love to grow vegetables and flowers but doesn’t have access to a garden. She writes:

I have a good size garden in Kerrisdale which I would love to share. You get 2 or 3 plots of land for your use ( 2 plots are 7 x 5 feet each, one of which is in shade in the morning, 1 plot is 2.5 x 9 feet). In return I hope to have help with watering my garden in the summer.

Please email Nina or phone her at (604) 263-9997 if you’d like to know more.

note: the featured image is from a post by Mary Bennett about smaller plots on the north side of Hewett Centre

Nametags help us make connections and build community

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When you volunteer at the literature stall (the lit stall) after Sunday service, people come up to you with questions. Not all the questions are about copies of sermons.

“Can you help me with the name of that person, the one over there with their back to us?”

“Sorry, I can’t. Are they wearing a nametag?”

“No, that’s the problem. I spoke with them last Sunday. Now I can’t remember their name. And I don’t like to ask them.”

“Maybe they’re like Wendy Bryan (pictured, right) when she is at a no-nametag gathering.”

“How do you mean?”

“Wendy always says, ‘Thank you for asking. It’s Wendy Bryan. And feel free to ask me again the next time we meet. I won’t have remembered you asked me.’”

Nice. But hey.

That person you spoke with last Sunday and who seems to be avoiding you now may simply be too embarrassed to admit to you they can’t remember your name.

When you volunteer at the lit stall after Sunday service, people come up to you with questions. Not all of these people are wearing nametags. Asking for a friend: If you have a nametag, could you please wear it? And earn a silent thank-you from that friend.

Wearing your nametag helps us all. Nametags help us make connections and build community.

Karen Bartlett and Nancy Strider are wearing yellow nametags at the welcome table (picture, above left) by the entrance to Hewett Centre. If you’re a visitor, ask whoever is at the welcome table wearing a yellow nametag to direct you to the lit stall and to the sermon discussion table.

 

The above is a lit stall post. In the bulleted list below are the three latest posts with that tag.

If you haven’t read it already, please see the post about lit stall posts for more information.

Talking About Trans and the UU World Article

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You may have come across through email or facebook the responses to an article included in the most recent issue of UU World called “After L, G and B”.

Posted here are various statements in pdf form that you can download and read. We’ve also made some hard copies that will be available on Sunday morning on the bulletin board.

The UCV Genders & Sexualities Alliance (GSA) will be discussing further educational and awareness gatherings we might sponsor, such as the Transforming Hearts Collective six-session program called Transgender Inclusion in Congregations.

In the meantime, do consider how we as a congregation might mark March 31, the Transgender Day of Visibility, and save the date of May 3 for the film screening of “She’s A Boy I Knew” at UCV. 

Resources

UU World Article: After L, G and B

Tips for Talking About the Article

UU World Apology from Editor

CUC Statement on behalf of CUC, UU Ministers of Canada and Religious Educators: In Solidarity with Trans and Nonbinary UUs

Trans Day of Visibility Guide from City of Vancouver

Trans Style Guide by Zr. Alex Kapitan

WUNGers, a Neighbourhood Discussion Group on the West Side

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by Sheila Resels.
On the fourth Tuesday of every month I head over to Jeannie Corsi’s welcoming home. I am pleased because I know that I’ll be spending a stimulating afternoon with interesting folks. So, who are we?  And, why do we gather in this manner?  And, what in the world is WUNG?
Well, WUNG is the acronym for Westside Unitarian Neighbourhood Group (coined by Keith Wilkinson). It’s a neighbourhood group that is open to Kits-ish people as well as those further south (Kerrisdale and Dunbar) and west (Point Grey, UBC). We’ve been meeting monthly for a year now, averaging 12 folks each session. Approximately 30 people have participated. As Eva Allan, a regular attendee said, “It is always interesting and a great way to get to know better our westside UCVers”.
The Neighbourhood Groups define themselves. At our first meeting at Melody Mason’s home, we decided to select discussion topics that we were interested in and with which there was some expertise within our group.  We’ve had informative, engaging presentations on Civil Liberties, Naturopathic Medicine, World Federalism, Philosophy,  Earth Spirituality/Paganism, Compassionate (Non-Violent) Communication and Proportional Representation, to name but a few. Joan Balmer, another regular WUNGer, enthusiastically summed it up when she exclaimed, “I’m so happy we are exploring these important issues”. Not only do we have animated talks on important issues, we also simply hang out occasionally. December’s Holiday Celebration was a fine time as we sipped on wine, nibbled on appies while enjoying our Unitarian community.
Yes, I do look forward to my fourth Tuesday of the month as I head off to Jeannie’s home. Based on how quickly registration fills up each month I think others do too.  Appreciatively, Sheila (Resels).
If you’d like more information about Neighbourhood Groups in the Metro Vancouver area, give me a shout at sresels@gmail.com.
There are several Neighbourhood groups in the Metro Vancouver area in New Westminster, Richmond (south of the Fraser), East Vancouver, and Fairview/False Creek.  Each group develops its own ideas about when, where, how and why to meet.  Some groups will decide to have a focus for discussion; and others might be purely social. And in true Unitarian style, likely many gatherings will be both.

UCV Art Exhibition & Book Launch at the Beaty Museum

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by Catherine Stewart

( 50% sales to UCV Refugee Fund )

For the months of March and April, I am pleased to be exhibiting two suites of inkjet prints inspired by the bird collection at UBC.  Courtship Colour Studies, on display in the Fireside Room, are abstracted compositions based on the combined colours of male and female songbird specimens.

The Venus Takes Flight prints, hanging in the Sanctuary, were made by layering scans of bird plumage with those of beautiful textiles and working with them in PhotoShop to create ‘hybrid’ compositions. Information about the ideas behind this work can be found in the artist’s statement in the southwest corner of the Sanctuary. Half of all sales from this exhibition will be donated to the UCV Refugee Fund. (The other half will help to offset framing expenses for the exhibition.) Respective prices for framed prints are $525 and $725 respectively. If interested, please speak to me or email me at stewartcm@shaw.ca .

I am also currently exhibiting at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum at UBC. The Skin & Bones exhibition explores our complicated relationship with the animal world through photography, natural science and the applied art of fashion design. More information about the exhibition can be found at: http://beatymuseum.ubc.ca/whats-on/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/skin-bones/

BOOK LAUNCH EVENT

Everyone is welcome to join me the evening of April 18 to celebrate the release of my two photo books, ‘Skin & Bones’ and ‘Invoking Venus: Feathers and Fashion’, both based on my Beaty Museum exhibitions. At the launch, I will be speaking at 7 pm about utilizing the museum’s collections in my artistic work. Visitors will be able to explore my latest exhibition and the collections that inspired it. Admission is free or by donation to the museum.

Catherine is a member of the Buildings and Grounds Committee, helps out with Arts Committee, is on the Sunday Coffee Service Team, and is currently learning about the work of the UCV Refugee Committee. More about the artist and her work can be found at: www.catherinestewart.net

Sarah Kendall (Sunday, March 17, 2019)

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Writer and poet Sarah Kendall spoke at the March 17 service on loving determination. After the service she kindly lent us her marked-up notes on the topic for distribution. Next Sunday, ask at the lit stall for your copy.

The above is a lit stall post. In the bulleted list below are the three latest posts with that tag.

If you haven’t read it already, please see the post about lit stall posts for more information.