Fantasy Landscapes

Back home again from GA (and happy for the cool weather!), I was able to get the kids out for our weekly nature hike this morning.  These walks are for nature study, but the kids view the landscapes we explore through at least two lenses: the real natural world in front of us and the fantasy world of their imagination.

A small stream is both a place to look for newts and tadpoles, while around the next corner a tree forming a natural arch over the path means "we are crossing into the underworld".  We'll be wondering what bird is singing, and then they'll spot a "fairy door" in a tree.  Today this tree pictured above caused oohing and aahing, and inspired the notion that "it's roots go all the way to the center - it's the magic tree".

Although these walks are hard to put in a box or categorize as far as educational goal, I am convinced that this is an important part of our family lifestyle and the kids' educations.

Witnessing at Tent City Jail

This is the end of GA for me, as I'm headed home on a ridiculously early flight this morning.  My flight is so early that I considered skipping the witnessing event that we were bussed out to the Tent City Detention Center last night for - I considered go to bed early so that I would get more than 3 hours of sleep.



But I didn't skip it, and I'm very glad I attended.  It was the first such protest that I've ever been to, and I was deeply moved by the overall experience.  Standing in a huge crowd of yellow T shirts, singing and cheering and waving our (electric) candles, I was deeply humbled.  This issue has not grabbed my heart until yesterday, but now I get it.  I finally get it.

Stories for the Struggle

On Day 3 of General Assembly (today) I chose a workshop for the morning called "Stories for the Struggle".  In each of these timeslots, there are at least three things I want to go do, so this has been an ongoing process of having to make choices, and then experience workshop-remorse (like buyer's remorse, you know) if the one I attended didn't blow my socks off.

Well, I have no workshop-remorse about this workshop.  Reverend Aaron McEmrys is a moving storyteller, and he presented this workshop along with the Director of Religious Education that he works with, modeling a collaborative approach that was inspiring.  They handed out a sample of how they would build a curriculum around a story, and it looks good.  I'm completely inspired by it, actually.

So inspired that I had to run back up to the UUA bookstore booth in the exhibition hall and buy the book of stories McEmrys wrote, called After Aesop: Stories for All Ages, and get him to sign it.


There is a lot going on here at GA this year, and I'll be processing these new ideas for awhile to come.  Good stuff.

From book to reality ... or author anyway

I just happened to pack this book (out of the pile that I'm reading right now):

I hadn't connected it with the speaker for the LREDA professional day or the Fahs lecture, but guess what ... Louise Derman-Sparks was the speaker.



How often do you get to hear the author speak about the book you are reading right then?  Pretty cool, actually.

The Doctrine of Discovery

Here is some of what we're learning about and talking about at the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly right now:



The day today was moving and powerful, and exhausting.  It is all so BIG, and there is SO MUCH work to do.  But, as one speaker said today, when Hate shows itself, Love has to show up too.

Off on my own

Today is a traveling day, spent in airports and on airplanes, in taxi cabs and hotel rooms.  I do not do particularly well with days like this, and find that the lack of firm placement in the world makes me anxious and jumpy.  It's a bit better when I drive somewhere, because then the car becomes the "place", or a sort of home away from home.

But I could not have driven to Phoenix for the UUA's "Justice" GA, and I also could not skip it just because I am a poor traveller.  So here I am, in an extremely small and funky historic hotel room (built in 1927, this hotel has historic interest, but back then they really didn't have to give people windows or wide doors or bathtubs or anything).

And now what do I do?  Professional Day for the DRE's is tomorrow, and then the main GA stuff starts on Thursday, and here I am on Tuesday afternoon, sitting in my dinky little hotel room and realizing I am accountable to no one and could go do whatever I like.  This is always a bizarre feeling, whenever I actually get to experience it.  Trips are the big chance to feel this way, but I sometimes get this feeling in my hometown, on the days I have childcare arranged and nothing ends up getting scheduled for work, so I drop the kids off and then  ... what?

Is the inability to think of what you would want to do all by yourself a feature of parenthood or is it just me?  And do non-parents also experience this, that without others to relate to, or a schedule to keep, you just aren't sure what to do with yourself?

Happy Father's Day

Not much time today, but I did want to wish all the great Dad's out there a Happy Father's Day!

Two things for Dad's Day:



I got my JC Penney Father's Day catalog in the mail and I think the whole thing is beautiful.  They have pictures of real Dads with their kids (beautiful idea all by itself and all the pictures are sweet), but then there is this special picture of a gay couple with their kids - and that makes the whole thing especially beautiful.

I've drifted away from getting my clothes from JC Penney, but I'm going to go buy something there just because I love this catalog.

"The Happiest Mom" wrote a great post telling moms to Get out of the way and let him be a great dad