Author: lizwoedl

November 13-19 this year has been Trans Awareness Week.  This week honors and celebrates the achievements and resiliency of transgender individuals and communities.  In March of 2021, President Joe Biden signed an historic proclamation on Transgender Day of Visibility, recognizing the struggle, activism, and courage of trans*, transgender and gender non-binary people in the United States and around the world to live openly and authentically.  

Trans Awareness Week culminates today, November 20, with a Trans Day of Remembrance vigil at 6:00 at the outdoor seal at Miami University.  The annual TDOR honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost this year to acts of anti-transgender violence.  All LGBTQIA+ community and affirming allies are welcome to attend.

Sadly, 2022 has already seen at least 32 transgender people fatally shot or killed by other violent means.  The Human Rights Campaign says “at least” because too often these stories go unreported—or misreported.  In previous years, the majority of these people were Black and Latinx transgender women.  In 2021, the Campaign tracked a record number of violent fatal incidents against transgender and gender non-conforming people—with 50 fatalities tracked.  These victims, like all people, are loving partners, parents, family members, friends and community members.  They worked, went to school and attended houses of worship.  They were real people—people who did not deserve to have their lives taken from them.  

 

The Social Justice committee is sponsoring will be a Second Sunday Collection on Sunday, November 13 to benefit Talawanda Oxford Pantry & Social Services and will match contributions up to the first $100 of the donations. TOPSS serve their clients’ food needs by honoring shoppers’ dignity, allowing them to choose their food items according to their household size and preference. Please make checks out to “HUUC’ and put “TOPSS” in the memo line. 

Member and Friends of HUUC are invited to participate in “Transgender Inclusion in Congregations” an online course by the Transforming Hearts Collective, https://tinyurl.com/3yauyu4e and facilitated by the Social Justice Committee, HUUC and the Hopedale Adult Religious Education as part of renewing our Welcoming Congregation Status. The course has two remaining sessions and will be taught in person at the HUUC building at 3870 Millville Oxford Rd, Oxford, Ohio with remote access for those who wish to attend virtually. The remaining dates are Nov. 13, 2022 and Jan. 29, 2023, 1pm-3pm.

Voting Information:
• Vote! The polls are open on Election Day from 6:30AM to 7:30PM.
• The Butler County Board of Elections at https://elections.bcohio.gov/, Check your registration!
• The League of Women Voters of Oxford website is a great place to check on elections, issues, and voter education. We have the League of Women Voters’ election guides at Hopedale in the entry area. https://my.lwv.org/ohio/oxford/voting-elections-info.

Read the Action of Immediate Witness Statements chosen for at the June 2022 UUA General Assembly. These links are HOT:

• We Do Not Consent: Taking Action to Ensure Access to Abortion  
• Stop the Privatization of Medicare 
• Anti-Racism and Reparations Via Restorative Justice

Calendar Dates:
• Thu, Nov 10, HUUC Social Justice Zoom mtg. 7 pm
• Sat, Nov 12, UU Council of Greater Cincinnati, Zoom mtg, 9:30-11:30 am
• Sun, Nov 13, Second Sunday Collection
• Sun, Nov 13, Adult RE/Trans Inclusion, 1-3 pm

 Open Secrets lists candidates and their donors.  There is a lot of ways to search the site because it is extensive!  https://www.opensecrets.org/
League of Conservation Voters Scorecard looks at voting records on conservation-related legislation for national office holders by state.  https://scorecard.lcv.org/
Ohio Environmental Council Scorecard posts environmental voting records of state-level elected officials and uses this and other information to make candidate endorsements. http://www.theoecactionfund.org/

The recent drainage work at Hopedale’s property has pointed out the need to revamp the flower garden by the entrance. That is one of the targets of the regular outdoor workdays.  As plants are moved and subdivided extra plants are available, especially irises and black-eyed susans. Fall is a great time to add plants to your garden at home. Black-eyed susans are native plants that support native insects and birds. Help is greatly appreciated!
 
There are lots of herbs in our garden that can be picked and used fresh or dried for winter use. Help yourself to Basil, Parsley, Sage, Oregano and Rosemary. The cherry and grape tomatoes are still producing, and there are three kinds of hot peppers – ancho (serrano), jalapeno, and sugar rush peach. The latter make great “jalapeno poppers,” i.e., stuffed pepper appetizers. Removing seeds and membranes reduces the heat. Just be sure to wear gloves and a mask when working with hot peppers! The aerosols can be irritating.

Welcoming Congregation
As part of renewing Hopedale’s Welcoming Congregation status, the Social Justice Committee and Adult RE are sponsoring a course, “Transgender Inclusion in Congregations,” by the Transforming Hearts Collective https://tinyurl.com/3yauyu4e. This course will be taught in person at the HUUC building at 3870 Millville Oxford Rd, Oxford, Ohio, and will offer remote access for those who wish to attend virtually. The first session was held September 25; two more sessions are planned for November 13 and January 29 (Sundays) from 1:00 – 3:00 pm. Registration information was emailed in mid-September.  Contact Libby Earle if you are interested at mearle1945@gmail.com.  

October 16^th, 10:30am at Hopedale UU Community – “Journeying toward Spiritual Wholeness in Beloved Community:  Renewing Welcoming Congregation Status”  Hopedale member Ann Fuehrer will outline this year’s process of renewing Hopedale’s Welcoming Congregation status.  She will frame welcoming practices within the context of the core of the UUA’s 8^th Principle, journeying toward spiritual wholeness in Beloved Community.  Service leader: Kathleen Carels. Children’s RE:  Activity in lower level during the service.

The Butler County Board of Elections at https://elections.bcohio.gov/ lists voting tools, a calendar of meeting & election dates, poll worker information, candidate tools, ballot issues, data, and resources.

The League of Women Voters of Oxford website is a great place to check on elections, issues, and voter education. Go to https://my.lwv.org/ohio/oxford/voting-elections-info.

The Social Justice Committee, HUUC will be part of the UU Council of Greater Cincinnati’s (UUCGC) participation in the Walk to Defeat ALS 2022 on Sept 25 at Winton Woods. The UUCGC participation will honor Leslie Edwards, a member of The Gathering at Northern Hills, who prior to his death in 2019 was the oldest living Tuskegee airman in the Greater Cincinnati area. Mr. Edwards was also a grandson of Rev. W.H.G. Carter, was pastor of the Church of the Unitarian Brotherhood in the West End of Cincinnati during the 1920s and 1930s, and Rev. Carter’s wife was Beulah Carter. Mr. Edwards suffered from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a disease that especially affects veterans. Funds raised by the walk will have a direct effect on the quality of life of those living with ALS today by making local care and services available.
 
The Social Justice Committee, HUUC will match contributions made during the Rainbow Basket Second Sunday Collection on September 11. Those who will not be at the service may send a check donation (write ALS in the memo) to HUUC by way of the Hopedale Treasurer,  P.O. Box 625, Oxford, OH 45056.

If you would like to know more about participating in the two-mile walk, visit the Walk to Defeat ALS Cincinnati web site (bit.ly/2022WalkToDefeatALS ). You can register by joining the Leslie Edwards Unitarian Universalist Team. The UU Council of Greater Cincinnati will match the first $250 raised by the Leslie Edwards UU Team. Daniel Schneider (UUCGC President) is listed as the team captain.

For interested homeowners, businesses, churches, or non profits, there is an opportunity to join residents in the Village of Silverton for bulk purchasing for solar panels. People need to contact the website prolightingsolar.com and send in their Duke energy bill for a free estimate. We are hoping to get all the sign ups by the beginning of March. Solar panels that are part of this bulk-purchase opportunity are made in America by unionized workers.

This effort to go solar is also being studied for our local government operations. Oxford City Council approved a feasibility study to evaluate all city owned buildings and properties for the ability to include solar panels/arrays. – Carla Blackmar Rice

Our committee participants were not able to attend all online sessions for the Harvest the Power Justice Convergence & Teach-in on November 22.  Libby attended three discussions and viewed several films.  One consistent theme was that the entire history of colonizing this country has been the effort to erase Native Americans.  Whether through confiscated and dishonestly “purchased” lands, destruction of communities, disease, enforced poverty, broken treaties, forced assimilation such as Indian Schools, Constitutional denial of both citizenship and Native sovereignty, or the concept of “blood,” the European white  population has tried to make the First People non-people.  Our task is to learn this history and identify how the practice continues today through cultural and political processes.  I think we will learn that our own well being on this shared planet is tied to the well being of Native Peoples.

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We Still Live Here: Âs Nutayuneân Documentary Screening & Discussion with Jessie Little Doe Baird is a beautiful documentary dealing with the restoration of the language of the Wampanoag  people of Nantucket and the connection to their land.  Highly recommended! Consider making a contribution to  Wôpanâak (Wampanoag) Language Reclamation Project.

Here is the link to watch the film:
https://vimeo.com/84780111
Password: wslh9uumfe9

The recording, the chat history and the closed captioning transcript for the discussion today with Jessie Little Doe Baird and Anne Makepeace are all viewable here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1em1mB6rr0KBWlfuzWchhQ7rbKWspx_gL?usp=sharing

This discussion was also live streamed to Facebook, here: https://fb.watch/1VEu3HA-rW/

And uploaded to YouTube, here: https://youtu.be/9zBepP7ywkE

Submitted by Libby Earle