USH-Enews March 22, 2007 Print Only Edition

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USH-Enews For March 22, 2007

Words can scarcely capture this! L-R Back; Roy Cook, David Newton, Hugh Schweitzer, John Bengtson and Stu Spence - Front: Bill Willett, Carol Sexton, Fred Louis (a late electrician recruit from COSJ) Anne Bailey and Peter Magistri more

The USH-Enews is a weekly email newsletter produced for members and friends of the Unitarian Society of Hartford. The USH web address is: http://www.ushartford.com/ Check at the end of this USH-Enews for information on submissions, subscriptions and escape from the mailing list. And, to read the monthly Meetinghouse Messenger (newsletter) on line, or past issues of the weekly USH-Enews click here.

Office hours: M-F 9-3 (excluding W 10 -11); Rev. Jamestone: Phone: 860 233-9897; Email: RevBJ@USHartford.com - Rev. BJ office hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday by appointment.

Sunday - 25 March – The Darfur Experience - Chris Allen-Doucette of the Catholic Worker House on Clark Street in Hartford will be our guest speaker. He and his son spent several weeks in Darfur last year helping aid groups distribute food and other supplies. Chris is well known to justice activists in the Hartford area for the Catholic Worker House's humanitarian and justice work. Principles of Unitarian Universalism call upon us to speak out when confronted with genocide in Darfur. (more)

Music: - The "Meeting House Quartet" will be singing in the Choir's absence: Teresa Pelham, Kim McClain, Dave Klotz and Ken Bartschi are the devoted choir members doing extra duty. They'll sing two beautiful anthems, one by the master of Renaissance composers, Palestrina, and the other by King John IV of Portugal. In the Renaissance, unlike more recent eras, royalty were expected to master all important skills, including literacy, diplomacy, and music.

Hear Our Little'uns Sing! Spirit Play Parents, your children will love our Chalice Choir, which runs each Sunday at 10:30 AM in Emerson located upstairs. Aubrie Nelson's created a fun-filled 15 minute music program specifically designed for children Pre-K through second grade. The choir will share its music with the congregation several times this spring. Just drop in this Sunday and visit! Questions, call Aubrie at 675-4727.

RE: Time for another RE Talk back ! Parents and others interested in our Religious Education program are invited to attend a talk back with members of the Religious Education Sub-Council on April 1st at 12:30 pm in the Chapel. Topics will include plans for a new Grade 2/3 class this coming fall 2007, as well as the hiring process for our DRE position and the status of teacher volunteers. Please come and share your thoughts and ideas. Call Laurie Kelliher if you have any questions.

From the Editor: If you ever wondered what the Unitarian Society of Hartford does, this is your opportunity to read and understand. It is all right here in this issue.

I have had a love/hate relationship with food for my entire life. I love to eat it, and I hate the effect that it has on my girlish figure. If we were chatting at coffee hour and the subject came up, I would tell you that I believe that I was born without an appestat – that thing that everyone else has that tells them when they are full.

After preparing and then shopping for this week yesterday, I realize how blessed I am. My family and I have never known hunger – real hunger – that could not be curbed by a quick stop at a convenience store or a visit to our kitchen with a fridge and pantry full of healthy (and a few not so healthy) foods and snacks.

This week the pantry is not so full. The snacks are missing. The healthy is missing as well. $112 per week for a family of four does not buy many fresh fruits and vegetables. I am lucky this week that Stop and Shop has their frozen vegetables on sale for a dollar a bag and that my neighbor keeps chickens and had donated eggs to our family. That has made our week a little healthier. I would not have been able to do this without contributions of staples from my virtual food panty (although authorized, I could not bring myself to actually take food from a community food panty), and the “free” lunches that my kids will get at school.

Thank you all for giving generously to the Horace Bushnell Food Pantry every week. Your contributions really do matter. Thank you. - Liz Garmise

I thought that I was obsessed with food before this project – but now I realize that I was just a novice. Before I obsessed with what I was craving – now I am obsessing about my children going to sleep hungry.

I used to look at the sales at the stores on Pasta and spaghetti sauce and purchase those items to donate to the food bank. Now I realize that while that is important, those are exactly the items that can be purchased by someone on food stamps. Perhaps I will begin to donate those more expensive things – coffee, parmesan cheese or Olive oil (have you priced olive oil lately?). When asked to donate cake mixes and frosting to the local food pantry, I wondered what nutritional value there was in cake - - and now I realize that kids on food stamps have birthdays too. And if I only had $4.00 per day, would I choose a cake mix or a can of tuna?

As I shopped I realized that my carefully saved coupons were just a comfort for me – as I couldn’t afford the brand names even with a coupon – I had to buy the cheapest brand, period. But by doing so my money is going further. I thought I would get my kids some Kool Aid – it is only .89 per packet – but then you have to add the sugar. Hmmm. I didn’t budget for sugar this week. So, we went with generic lemonade mix. I am still not sure if that was the cheaper way to go – but it was the best that my brain could do in the store at the moment. The sugar was in another aisle and I had forgotten my calculator.

It took me a lot longer to shop as I compared all the prices and didn’t just grab the brand that my family was used to. It is taking me a lot longer to cook – I actually have to work at preparing a meal now. As a working mother our weekday meals are usually quick and on the run so that we can make it to basketball and boy scouts and what ever else we have scheduled in the evening. I usually buy boneless chicken breasts. It turned out that the bone in thighs were the same price as a whole chicken so I opted for those (I hate cutting up raw chicken). I guess if I had to do this for more than a week I would have to get over myself and start cutting up and boning raw chicken (ewww).

Nutrition is a challenge. Carbohydrates are easy and cheap and they fill you up. I am diabetic – so I need to limit my carbohydrate intake. I need to eat lots of vegetables and protein. That is where the expense comes in. Not that we eat fillet mignon every night of the week, but I can really only have spaghetti once per week. So far, my glucose numbers have been Ok and I think that I will be able to manage both, but I realize that if I had to stick to this for longer, it would be very hard to keep my numbers within range and provide my family with a balanced diet. I did not choose not to spend my vegetable budget on bagged salad, which is normally a staple of our diet. There is not a lot of nutrition in lettuce and then you are faced with buying salad dressing. I will stick to frozen green beans and “real carrots”. Dave is fascinated with the carrot peeler. The ‘real ones’ are a lot less expensive than the pre peeled baby carrots.

It also has occurred to me that while I have the luxury of shopping in a warehouse store once per month, if I were on food stamps I probably wouldn’t be able to stock up like that – as I wouldn’t have the luxury of spending more than a weeks worth of money at a time. I also might not be able to get to the warehouse store as I might not have a car and gas readily available to me – and if all of those things came together, and I had the money and I could get there and get the stuff home, I might not have room to store those mammoth sizes. I realize that I take so many things for granted.

We had some money left over from the first trip to the store, so we went again last night. The kids requested yogurt and something sweet. We purchased pudding mix (fat free/sugar free so mom can have some) and more milk along with the day old bagels that I discovered that were a great deal (6 for $1.50). I am pretty sure that no one in my family has gone to bed hungry. I think that we have longed for things that we normally have in the house that are not in this plan - chips, cookies, juice boxes, soda and fresh fruit. I have a few dollars left and will probably spring for some fresh fruits and vegetables on my next trip.

Living on $4 A Day? The Hartford Hunger Project:. More Information

Bringing in a Lot of Green - Before last Saturday night, you could not have convinced me there could ever be such a thing as TOO MUCH CHOCOLATE! An incredible array of tables loaded with

all manner of chocolate goodies (and then there were those cream puffs), plus wine, songs, skits, fun, friendship and some really serious stuff were all in evidence at the Meeting House on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, during a most successful Bringing in the Green party.

During the service the next day, Rev. BJ, who played an important role in the party, said that what gave her the greatest pleasure during the evening was “watching you spend several hours enjoying each other and getting to know each other.” (Above, you can see she is having a good time with Skip Berrien).

The climax of the party saw pledge cards for the USH’s 2007-2008 year pouring into Nina Elgo’s large kettle. According to Stewardship Chair, Joe Rubin, in his report to the congregation during services the next day, a total of $242,984 was pledged during the party, which is about 75% of this year’s $325,000 goal. Overall, the total pledges represented a 26% increase. This is no time to stop as everyone else must do their part to make the goal.

Joe told both the party-goers and the congregation exactly what the money is needed for: hiring a part-time Religious Education Director, paying the church’s utility bills, giving the staff a fair cost of living increase, and upping the minister’s salary.

There was lots of light-hearted entertainment to get the partygoers into the right (giving) mood. It all began with a solemn procession of oddly-garbed members of the Building and Grounds Sub-Council (see above) as they chanted their woes in a mournful dirge (leaking roof, sinking floor, boiler about to blow), carried tools of their trade (pipes, wrenches) as they made their way to the boiler room where, with appropriate seriousness, they blessed the USH’s three new boilers and pronounced their names: Snap, Crackle and Pop. Said names won out over hundreds of other entries in the, Name the Boilers Contest.

Then, those fortunate enough to be at the party, were given a tantalizing glimpse of some forces in the early life of Barbara Jane Jamestone which led her, eventually, to become minister of the Unitarian Society of Hartford. Narrated and sung by Rev. BJ, with an all-star cast of UUs, we learned about a frozen-but-resurrected cat, two dead Easter chicks and one who made it, multiple degrees (USH player, Nancy Mandly as BJ) that got heavier and heavier, and the summer she loaned her front porch to a somewhat-disreputable barber in order to make some extra money.

John Stowe gave up his disreputable barber role to lead us through an incredibly complicated formula one could use to devise one’s fair share pledge. In John’s fast-paced scenario, a member was charged for just about everything at the Meeting House —

including her unruly children, time, space and tissues. But she gained by her volunteering. And after balancing pluses and minuses, the total came out to a neat two percent of her income, which just happens to be the amount the Stewardship Committee is recommending as a floor contribution.

Some musical spoofs which enlivened the party included Rev. BJ’s rendition of, “I’m Dreaming of a Warm Christmas,” and the ensemble’s witty, “There Was a House in Hartford.” It was great having Sid Garvais back at the piano where he belongs. He came to the Meeting House after finishing a performance at Seabury.

Finding Words for our Installation Commitment - You’re invited to a congregational conversation on Tuesday evening, 3/27, at 7 PM at the MH, facilitated by chair of Spiritual Life, Marye Gail Harrison. We will be crafting a covenantal statement, which the congregation and Rev. BJ will read aloud at her installation service on May 20. If you are unable to attend but would like to contribute language for the promises we intend to make and keep to fulfill our congregational role in relationship with our minister, please leave your ideas in BJ's mail box or email them to Maryegailh(at symbol)comcast.net.

Our Great Covenant - In her words to the children during each Sunday’s, A Time For All Ages, Rev. BJ often tells, in simple language, what her sermon will be about. Last Sunday, when she took apart and discussed the words in the “Great Covenant” we repeat each week, she told the children that these words are a “super promise we make to each other.” We don’t always keep this super promise, she admitted, but we can always start again.

Rev. BJ used the closing words from one of the hymns we sang, “What we choose is what we are,” to maintain that we do have choices. Our covenant, written more than one hundred years ago by a UU minister, evokes many reactions, she said. Some disagree with some of the words in it—such as “church” and “law.” Others find it a soothing mantra. Still others hear in it a “clarion call to courageous action.”

The covenant “creates a field of wonder,” she maintained, in which we can speak the truth and help one another. We can create a will to begin again and can reach toward the fulfillment of promises. “Something wonderful is going to happen,” Rev. BJ suggested. What’s in our lives is like the front of a quilt, she said, but “why” we do the “whats” is more like the heavy batting behind the quilt. This is a field thick with possibilities, and we should take the routine words of the Covenant to heart and should promise to honor our promises.

During the service, the Begging Bowl was offered to Liz Garmise, whose family of four will be living on $112 this coming week, as part of the UHS’ participation in Center City Church’s “Food Stamp Project.” (Rev. BJ has called this month’s project “our communal discipline of restraint and awareness.”) “My family and I have never known hunger,” Liz Garmise told the congregation. Her food shopping expedition left no room or money for fresh fruits and vegetables or snacks. Fortunately, she admitted, she has a neighbor with chickens, so she can get free eggs.

Betty Arnold, who became a “regular” member of the USH in 1935, was introduced by Rev. BJ as “perhaps the single best advertisement we have for the Unitarian Society of Hartford.” Betty gave a fascinating sketch of her years under six or seven “excellent ministers. This included 18 years of teaching in religious education, serving on the Council, the Board of Trustees, the Women’s Alliance, the Membership Committee and the Search Committee that called Rev. Nat Lauriat. Betty’s Testimonial was honored by unusual applause. - Kayla Costenoble

Been Away Recently? We are having a stewardship campaign. That is our annual collective task of committing our contributions to USH for the next fiscal year. We need your support! To this end, we answer your questions and explain what you missed through the web. Admittedly, this is not as good as being present especially if you like to eat chocolate goodies, but we do understand some life events make attendance on any given Sunday difficult.

So, here you go. This link will explain why support is desirable, USH, that is us, are more than just another charity. If you wish to know what others derive from USH, here is your all new guide. You can examine the budget, there are no hidden items and no wasted money. If you get a pledge card in the mail, please complete it immediately and send it back. If you need one, just ask 233.9897. Feel free to direct questions to the stewardship folks or the editor. - DCN

Drumbeat for Darfur - The UU Service Committee (UUSC) campaign calls for constant action to raise the decibel level of voices urging the Bush Administration and Congress to make ending the genocide one of their highest priorities. The UU Advocacy and Witness Office in DC works tirelessly on this issue.

Write or call your Congressman; write the President via www.UUSC.org. This Sunday (3-25-07) take your checkbook to send support to UUSC, or join UUSC. See the UUSC display in Fellowship Hall, manned by our district rep, Harry Mangle. Hear, on this, our Justice Sunday, Chris Allen-Doucot talk about the people he interacted with on his trips to Darfur . - Joan Kemble

Adult Programs Offering: An Amazing Journey - The Universe and Me! Six Thursdays, starting Thursday March 22, 7:00 - 9:00 PM. For adults and young adults, the discussions will be based on readings about the evolution of the universe using the writings of Brian Swimme, Thomas Berry and Michael Dowd. An excellent follow-up to An Inconvenient Truth and for those who want to bring change by improving our environment and living in harmony with our planet. Facilitated by Marye Gail Harrison.

Easter Plants - Would you like to remember a loved one by donating an Easter plant for the Chancel on Easter Sunday, April 8? (More information)

The Unitarian Performing Arts Committee (UPA) Invites you to - The Seventh Annual Women Composers Concert to be held on Sunday, March 25, 2007, at 7:30 PM (not at 6:00 as originally printed in the Order of Service) at the Meeting House of the Unitarian Society of Hartford, 50 Bloomfield Avenue, Hartford.

Rarely-performed historical works will include those by Barbara Strozzi, Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, and Cecile Chaminade. Contemporary pieces will include choral compositions by Walker, Diers, and Barnwell, instrumental and vocal works by local composers Sylvia Goldstein, Meeting House favorite Laurie MacAlpine, Jessica Rudman, and Heather Seaton, and will feature the Connecticut premiere of a piece by international guest composer Sebastiana Ierna. This free concert is sponsored by the Unitarian Performing Arts committee. Donations to defray the costs to the musicians will be accepted.

Join us for a new event on the USH musical calendar -- you'll see a lot of familiar faces from the choir and on the chancel playing. Please come and support this "labor of love" which features composers who have historically been overshadowed by their male counterparts.

Lay Worship Associates Training - You can do this but you need to sign up. (More information)

My Sister's Place Volunteers Needed for Upcoming Shelter Move - We will be moving our shelter to our Pliny Street address, so we will need packers, cleaners, and painters. If you are available any day through March 26, please contact Celia Tvrdik at 860 549-1634, Extension 30.

FAMILY CRUISE NIGHT March 24th more information

Save the Date! This year's Unitarian Passover Seder

Saturday, March 31 at 5:00 PM in Fellowship Hall. Time is Running Out to Sign Up for our Own Unitarian Passover Seder! Celebrate Freedom with Matzoh Balls and Dinner!

This year's family-friendly, all are welcome, Seder is a festive celebration of freedom from slavery mixed with the joy of spring. Come see what it's all about! $4.00 per adult (over 18), $2.00 for children, plus a
food contribution. Feel free to bring your
own wine. Please contact Ira Greenbaum, 870-4409, igreenbaum(at symbol)sbcglobal.net, or Joe Rubin, 233-8766, joerubin(atsymbol)snet.net, with questions or to sign up on the sheet under the stairs on the way into Fellowship Hall. Signup deadline is this Tuesday, March 27. And yes, there will be real matzoh ball soup!

Eat, Drink & Be Married! - Champagne Brunch on April 1st and we’re not kidding! (more)

Adult Programs Offering: April Dinner and Movie = Family-Friendly
"Sort of like Rocky for the middle school nerd set, . . . a warm, family-friendly underdog story" says the Rotten Tomatoes movie site about "Akeela and the Bee", the next feature of the USH Dinner and Movie series on Friday, April 13. Reservations can be made at the registration table during Sunday coffee hours or by calling the USH office, by Monday, April 9. Ticket prices are $18 for adults, $5 for ages under 19.

The entrée will be chicken pot pie, so please indicate when reserving if you prefer a vegetarian meal. The MPAA Rating is PG for language. We start the evening with socializing and popcorn about 5:30, followed by dinner; the movie will begin at 7 and be over about 9 PM, with optional discussion afterwards.

Caring Network: Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light. ~ Norman B. Rice - You are the ears of the Caring Network. Tell Janice Newton 677-1121 when you learn of our members enduring the stresses of life so we can reach out to those in need. - Offer your services. A wide range of community services are available to help you. Call InfoLine at 211.

Don't miss the last Supper & Game Night of the season on April 20, 6 to 8:30 PM. You may sign up on Sundays at coffee hour or call the office, 233-9897 to let us know you're coming. You get to bring your favorite main dish for you and your family and some extra to share, then it's just $2 for beverage and yummy dessert. We have a variety of games, but if you have a favorite, please bring it. No need to find a babysitter - this event is kid-friendly! Show up at 6 PM and let the fun begin!"

Word from Rev. BJ: Making Melody in Our Hearts - On April 22 at 12:15 PM all friends of Sunday music at USH are invited to gather in the chapel! We will speak our appreciation for our musicians, and we will be begin visioning Sunday service music for the coming church year.

In planning our church year program calendar for 2007-2008, I have asked all sub councils to answer these questions about their area of influence:

What would you miss, if we stopped doing it? What would you add to our repertoire, as reflecting and enhancing our diverse faith? Though it may be good, what would you omit in order to free resources for something else?

On April 22 at 12:15 PM, we will be answering these same questions about our Sunday music. If you cannot attend, do feel free to write and give me your answers to these questions, as we would like to have a clear articulation of what our congregational joys and yearnings are regarding Sunday music. It’s especially important that you attend or send feedback, if you are someone who, regularly or occasionally, makes a presentation offering of music during worship service. - BJ

ON THE CALENDAR:

Thursday, March 22
7:00 pm An Amazing Journey, Library
7:00 pm CUREJ, Servetus

Saturday, March 24
10:00 am Paper Collage Workshop (Artist’s Way), Servetus
5:30 pm Potluck and Family Cruise, Fellowship Hall

Sunday, March 25
8:00 am Music Rehearsal, Chapel
9:00 am WORSHIP SERVICE, CHAPEL
10:00 am Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
10:00 am Great Decisions, Library
10:15 am Music Rehearsal, Sanctuary
10:30 am Chalice Choir, Emerson
11:00 am WORSHIP SERVICE, SANCTUARY
12:00 pm Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
7:30 pm Women Composers Concert, Sanctuary

Monday, March 26
6:30 pm Survivors of Incest Anonymous, Murray

Tuesday, March 27
6:30 pm Hunger Reflections, Minister’s Study
7:00 pm Covenant Creation Conversation, Library
7:30 pm Less Than 10 (IASC), Chapel
8:00 pm AA, Fellowship Hall

Wednesday, March 28
10:00 – 11:00 am Staff Meeting, Minister’s Study (OFFICE CLOSED)
6:30 pm Tai Chi, Fellowship Hall
7:30 pm Choir, Sanctuary

Thursday, March 29
7:00 pm An Amazing Journey, Library

Friday, March 30
7:00 pm Movie viewing (Growth & Renewal), Fellowship Hall

Saturday, March 31
5:00 pm Family Passover Seder, Fellowship Hall

Sunday, April 1
8:00 am Music Rehearsal, Chapel
9:00 am WORSHIP SERVICE, CHAPEL
10:00 am Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
10:00 am Children’s Choir, Chapel
10:00 am Youth Group Soup Making, Kitchen
10:15 am Music Rehearsal, Sanctuary
10:30 am Chalice Choir, Emerson
11:00 am WORSHIP SERVICE, SANCTUARY
12:00 noon Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
12:15 pm "C3" Cubed, Minister's Study
12:30 pm Religious Education Talkback, Chapel
1:00 pm Love Makes a Family event, Fellowship Hall
4:00 pm Worship Associates, Minister’s Study

A Matter of Opinion: (space for comment on USH issues from members and friends) - Editor retains the right to make minor changes – letters should be issue oriented)

Edith and Ed Savage's granddaughter, Leila Baziri will be one of two members doing the 50 and 100 meter backstroke on the US swim team at the World competition in March. The only event bigger than this is the Olympics. - Carol Sexton

Sigma Alpha Iota's Benefit for Life - Saturday, March 24, 2007 - 7:30 PM Lincoln Theatre, University of Hartford featuring the sisters of the ETA MU Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota with special performances by Rebecca Correia and Latanya Farrell - Presented in support of the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) - Donations Accepted. - Our own Rachel Johnson will be one of the singers.

Please join allies of the Inter religious Eco-Justice Network at our First Annual Stakeholders Meeting March 26, 2007 (More information)

To Whom It May Concern: My name is Jen Wylegala, and I am the Annual Fund & Member Relations Manager at The Connecticut Forum, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to encourage the free and active exchange of ideas through Forums which inform, challenge, entertain, inspire and build bridges among all people and organizations in the Greater Hartford community. The Forum is interested in distributing information and discount ticket offers to the members of the Unitarian Society of Hartford for the last program of our 2006-2007 Season and for our upcoming 2007-2008 Season. Below is more detailed information on our Friday, April 27th Forum,

A Funny Thing Happened… An Evening with Funny Folks
Friday, April 27, 2007
8 p.m. Live at The Bushnell

Panelists – Bob Saget - Clean-Cut TV Personality…Hilarious & Risqué Stand-Up Comic
Mo Rocca - Off- beat mischief maker and “imp”
Nancy Giles - Writer, Performer, Laugh-Out-Loud Social Observer, As Seen on CBS

Moderated By Peter Sagal – Host of NPR’s Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me!

join The Forum and some of America’s wittiest comics for a night of no-holds-barred comedy on topics that we can only speculate on. More information about the evening and its panelists and moderator is available on our web site: www.ctforum.org .

We would like to offer your members a special discount of $5.00 off per ticket. These discounted tickets may be purchased by calling me directly at (860) 509-0909 x.12. Discount ticket prices are: Orchestra/Front Mezzanine - $50; Mezzanine - $40; and Balcony - $20. There is a $5.00 handling and Bushnell restoration fee per ticket. The Forum also offers group sales with significant discounts on 10 or more tickets purchased. Please let me know if you distribute outside information and offers to your members, or if you would like additional information.

Buy appliances that have an Energy Star label, signifying it's an energy-efficient brand. The difference between these and less-efficient ones is enormous. If you buy one of today's most efficient refrigerators, it will use less than half the energy of a model that is 12 years old, or older. Same with other appliances.