2020-10-07

5th-7th Grade Religious Education: October 7, 2020

*|MC:SUBJECT|*
Religious Education & Faith Development
Community Unitarian Universalist Congregation at White Plains
October 6, 2020
2020-2021 Religious Education (RE) theme: JUSTICE & EQUITY
 
Supporting our young people in understanding justice issues, articulating their values, and engaging in faith in action with CUUC Social Justice teams. Fall 2020 Resources:

5th - 7th Grade Community

YoUUth the Vote

Last Call for Postcard Designs


Thanks to everyone who submitted an original postcard design. They are fantastic! We will add a note on each postcard about the class initiative and it would be wonderful to include quotes from youth. You can send quotes to Tracy at cuucwptracy@gmail.com or add them to the notes section under your slide. Complete this sentence: It is important to me that you vote because____________. 


YOUTH: submit your postcard designs HERE by Thursday evening.
Also, send your quotes. 

Friday, we send postcards off to be printed. 

Class Meets this Sunday

Sunday, October 11th, 11:45am-12:30/12:45pm  
Zoom 8428 Breakout Room | Zoom Mtg ID 817 388 428 + Passcode: 468468

 

While postcards are being printed and sent to you so you can send them out, youth will begin discussing their next project. Some exciting ideas are percolating! The other RE classes are not meeting this week, but the 5th-7th grade class will meet.

Click HERE for the fall schedule. 

Bystander Intervention Training
Thursday, October 15th

FREE! The Westchester Co. Human Rights Commission is hosting another online bystander intervention training. It’s excellent for youth. We encourage your whole family to attend together over dinner.

The training is led by Hollaback! and covers their 5Ds approach. Everyone gets to identify their anti-hate superpower! To register, click HERE. 
Adult RE & Groups

Support for Conversations about Justice & Equity
This Sunday Sunday, Oct 11, 1:30pm in Rm 7899
This is the second of three fall sessions to support parents, grandparents, RE leaders and any adults who are having conversations about justice & equity with children and youth. We will discuss our own learning and journeys, and share approaches for shaping conversations with young people. This Sunday, we will highlight one of our fall 2020 justice topics, Hunger/Food Insecurity & Homelessness. Leaders: Tracy Breneman (cuucwptracy@gmail.com) & Nicole Turygin.

Support Resources

Last Sunday, Rev. Meredith's introduced the RAIN technique for managing stress: Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture.
  • Recognize what is happening
  • Allow the experience to be there, just as it is
  • Investigate with interest and care
  • Nurture with self-compassion  
It's a wonderful mindfulness technique for our children and youth to learn. You can read Rev. Meredith's sermon HERE. Or, listen to his sermon HERE - part 1 begins at 18:36 and part 2 begins at 51:35. Tara Brach offers several related resources HERE.
 
Find all of the support resources we have been sharing HERE. 

Stay Connected

Read All RE Newsletters Online HERE
Sign Up for RE Newsletters HERE
Community Unitarian Universalist Congregation at White Plains  
468 Rosedale Ave · White Plains, NY 10605-5419






Music: Sun Oct 11

 

This morning’s musical selections represent both the enrichment of mainstream Western Art Music by indigenous resources as well as the appropriation of native art forms by colonizing forces.


In the 1880’s, when the U.S. was still a backwater in matters of arts education, the philanthropist-socialite Jeannette Thurber had the inspiration to found the National Conservatory of Music in NYC, in order to provide gifted native-born musicians with educational opportunities at home. However, the prevailing Eurocentrism of the day was an unavoidable factor in the institution’s management. Thurber sought out the celebrated Czech (then Bohemian) composer Antonín Dvorak to head up the school and teach American composers how to create a native school of symphonic composition…by utilizing indigenous musical resources. The fruits of Dvorak’s 3-year stint in the U.S. include his celebrated Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” and his so-called “American” string quartet, works which defined a popular American idiom as much they borrowed from it.  His famous Humoresque---played as Musical Interlude II this morning---actually quotes a theme by an African-American composer enrolled at the National Conservatory of Music, Maurice Arnold Strothotte.


Elsewhere, the Catalan composer Xavier Montsalvatge’s fascination with colonial music from the West Indies is on display during Interlude I, and the New York City-born Edward MacDowell’s indebtedness to the “Indianist” movement can be heard in the Opening Music. Finally, Unitarian composer Béla Bartók’s exhaustive research into the orally disseminated rural music of Eastern Europe worked its way into his piano works featured in the Meditation and Music for Parting. Read on for programming details.

Opening Music: Adam Kent, piano
Indian Idyl, Op, 62, No. 6

                                                Edward MacDowell

 

Interlude I:
Habanera, from “Three Divertimentos on Themes by Forgotten Composers”
                                    Xavier Montsalvatge

 

Interlude II:
Humoresque in Gb Major, Op. 101, No. 7

                                    Antonín Dvorak

 

Meditation:
Evening in Transylvania

                                                Béla Bartók

 

Music for Parting:
Bear Dance           

                                     Bartók

2020-10-02

8th-12th Grade Religious Education: October 2, 2020

*|MC:SUBJECT|*
Religious Education & Faith Development
Community Unitarian Universalist Congregation at White Plains
October 2, 2020
2020-2021 Religious Education (RE) theme: JUSTICE & EQUITY
 
Supporting our young people in understanding justice issues, articulating their values, and engaging in faith in action with CUUC Social Justice teams. Fall 2020 Resources:
ADORE: A Dialogue on Race & Ethnicity
Alternatives to Policing

Oct 6th, 7:00pm

Alternatives to policing is one of the racial justice approaches our 8th-12th grade class is talking about and CUUC members have been active in Westchester County efforts. In June, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) voted to adopt a call to action "to engage in the larger movement to end anti-Blackness and defund the police" (see the text of the AIW).

What does "defund the police" mean? Last month, we held a conversation to examine the racist role of police through US history, particularly in modern times (watch the video).

We  have seen too many examples of policing that ends up destroying life or bodies. What alternatives do people have? On Tuesday, October 6th, we will discuss alternatives to calling the police and over-policing communities with UUs India Harris and Rev. Jason Lydon. 

Register HERE. 
There is a $10 fee to pay the speakers but no one will be turned away.

Bystander Intervention Training
Thursday, October 15th

FREE! The Westchester Co. Human Rights Commission is hosting another online bystander intervention training. It’s excellent for youth. We encourage your whole family to attend together.

The training is led by Hollaback! and covers their 5Ds approach. Everyone gets to identify their anti-hate superpower! To register, click HERE. 

Support Resources

Last Sunday, Rev. Meredith's introduced the RAIN technique for managing stress: Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture.
  • Recognize what is happening
  • Allow the experience to be there, just as it is
  • Investigate with interest and care
  • Nurture with self-compassion  
It's a wonderful mindfulness technique for our children and youth to learn. You can read Rev. Meredith's sermon HERE. Or, listen to his sermon HERE - part 1 begins at 18:36 and part 2 begins at 51:35. Tara Brach offers several related resources HERE.

Find all of the support resources we have been sharing HERE. 
Center Lane/My Sisters' Place Workshops for Youth
Oct 6 - Beyond Emojis 
Oct 13 - Healthy Relationships & U
Oct 20 - Gender Roles or Gender Reality?
Oct. 27 - Consent: Yes, No, Umm Maybe . . .
Nov. 3 - How to Help a Friend in an Abusive Relationship
Attend one or all six! All start at 6:30 pm on Zoom!
Flyer HERE. Register HERE. 

8th - 12th Grade Community

RE Class this Sunday
October 4, 12:00-1:00pm

Class meets for the second time this Sunday. Jeff Tomlinson will talk about how the work of racial justice and equity intersect with our UU values, activities the Racial Justice/In the Spirit of Truth and CUUC congregation have been leading and supporting in our local community, and the experience of UUs of color in our congregation. Youth will begin exploring ideas for an action they will participate in this fall. If you missed the first class that introduced justice, and equity v. equality, you can see the discussion points in in THIS document. You can also use this resource for conversations at home.

Also, we'd love to have a youth representative on the Board of Trustees! Come discuss a process for selecting a rep. It's great leadership experience!


Class Meets in a Zoom 8428 Breakout Room: 
*One-click login, click HERE 
*Two-step login: https://zoom.us/j/817388428 + Passcode: 468468

Click HERE for the fall schedule. 

Find our Anti-Racism/Racial Justice resources online HERE. 

Youth Communication

The 8th-12th grade RE class and Youth Group uses the GroupMe app to share information and reminders. It's important that ALL YOUTH join the GroupMe to connect with the group.  
1) Download the GroupMe app on your phone.
2) Use the QR code on the left to find and join the group, "CUUC/UUCR Youth Group."
3) Identify yourself so we know who is connected to each number - unidentified numbers will be removed from the group.

Adult Community


Adult RE & Groups

Support for Conversations about Justice & Equity
Sunday, Oct 11, 1:30pm in Rm 7899
This is the second of three fall sessions to support parents, grandparents, RE leaders and any adults who are having conversations about justice & equity with children and youth. We will discuss our own learning and journeys, and share approaches for shaping conversations with young people. This Sunday, we will highlight one of our fall 2020 justice topics, Hunger/Food Insecurity & Homelessness. Leaders: Tracy Breneman (cuucwptracy@gmail.com) & Nicole Turygin.

The CUUC Journey Groups are a way to deepen our understanding of life and strengthen our connections to one another by exploring monthly themes together. The Family Journey Group, led by Alex Sehdeva and Irene Cox, meets monthly on 2nd Fridays. Click HERE to see all groups and select the one that works best for you. For the September issue of On the Journey: "Journeying & Wandering," click HERE.

Stay Connected

Read All RE Newsletters Online HERE
Sign Up for RE Newsletters HERE
Community Unitarian Universalist Congregation at White Plains  
468 Rosedale Ave · White Plains, NY 10605-5419