Friends · of · Alferian

This week I went to a Drop-in Covenant Group. Covenant Groups are something you normally have to register for- it's a group of around 8 people or so, that meet regularly and discuss a particular topic or series of topics. But since this is a "drop-in" one. The structure is of lighting the chalice, having a "check-in", a reading on a topic and then a question is posed about it by the leader, and people go around in a circle taking turns reflecting on it. This series of meetings (the 3rd of 4) is focused on race. The reading was a poem written by an African-American woman waiting for her husband to return at night from work, and fearing for his safety, because of how young Black men are perceived as a threat by society. The question was what are you fears about Unity becoming more multicultural?

To explain, Unity is a mostly white congregation, as is the denomination as a whole. Unity has been having programs and discussions about race, and trying to become more welcoming to different kinds of people. Some of the fears we discussed were, simply not knowing how to be more multi-cultural, feeling uncomfortable with people different from ourselves. Everyone in the group was white except for the leader, Jacqueline, a ministerial intern who is African-American. She is a really cool lady, I'm going to miss her when she ends her internship, and I haven't even known her that long. There is a lot more I could say but it's getting late.

We had a really powerful discussion. I was almost crying at the end, not from sadness, just from the power and energy of it. Race is one of those topics people just try to avoid, and yet it is ever-present. It just felt liberating to get our feelings out there. I think we should definitely continue these discussions in the summer or fall. I'm planning on going to the group again next week.

And don't forget: Mother's Day is this Sunday. Be a dear and check out the v-gifts shop. Send something that'll make her smile.

L to R: Emerging Sun, #1 Mom, Gift Basket, Chocolates, A Dozen Red Roses

L to R: Shiny, River at Night, Live and Learn, Vector Drips.

( Winners of the HP 'What Do You Have to Say?' Theme Design Contest )

If you're interested in keeping up with the nominations, watch lj_election_en. We'll post the results and announce the winner by the end of the day on May 30th. The new user-representatives will be seated on June 1st. Further details can also be found in lj_2008.

The church council is looking for another minister, but it's not going to be the same, since we won't know him/her as well. Perhaps Jay will recommend someone else. One of the ministers at Unity is another possibility, I just started going there, so it seems kind of soon for that. Having the actual wedding at Unity would be harder, because it is a much larger and younger congregation so scheduling is tighter.  Not sure how some of Dan's family members would take the idea of it being at a UU church either (easier for them to deal with than a Pagan ceremony, but not by much!)

*(I don't know if I mentioned this before, but we are thinking of having a church wedding and a smaller Pagan one. The other option being "sneaking" Pagan elements into a church wedding, since Bethany is quite liberal that might be possible though I'm not sure how...
It might be truer to the integrity of each faith to keep them separate. But that's another kettle of fish.)

This morning we are opening the nomination process for the user-representative positions on the LiveJournal Advisory Board. A full description of the process can be found here.

To get you started, here are the basic things you should know:

- You may only nominate yourself
- Each nominee will need 100 motions of support in order to be eligible to be a candidate
- We ask that you keep your comments on the nomination posts to "I support this nomination" or something to that effect; be kind to those who will need to count the "supports", please.
- Although the nominations and election poll will take place in lj_election_en, you do not need to watch the community in order to keep up with the election; we'll announce everything here as well.

Everyone here at LiveJournal is looking forward to this first-ever User-Representative election! We'd like to thank everyone who is participating. Some words from our current Advisory Board members:

danah boyd: “LiveJournal is filled with very passionate users. These users have helped shaped LJ's various communities over the last decade and it gives me great joy that LJ is recognizing and incorporating users' voices into the decision-making processes. Having user representatives from different parts of LJ on the Advisory Board will help make sure that the company is meeting the needs of its diverse constituents.”

Esther Dyson: "I'm sure we'll learn a lot from the process, and later on from the two users selected as well. Especially, I hope that the discussions before the voting will be more meaningful and more focused on policy than those in some offline campaigns."

Brad Fitzpatrick: "It's cool that SUP is getting users involved with the LiveJournal decision-making process. I look forward to seeing who the community elects and the results of our efforts working together."

Professor Lawrence Lessig: “The user elections will provide a critical check on LJ's process of maintaining a valuable and trustworthy environment for the LJ community. The mandate of the elections will give the user representatives pride of place among the members of the Advisory Board. Each of us will look to them to guide us in our judgment about how best to make LJ the community we all aspire that it will be. I look forward to welcoming the user representatives, and learning a great deal from them.”

chasethestars has also made some banners for you to use, if you'd like to show your support for the candidate of your choice!

( Banners + code for you to use! )

Current Mood:

chipper