USH-Enews August 16, 2007

USH-Enews For August 16, 2007
Jump to: Calendar; What's happening; A matter of opinion; External events; Further down the road; Did You Know?

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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.

Worshipping Together Since 1830 - Services Held During the Summer at 10 AM

Sunday - 19 August - Lessons from the Lounge Chair (10 AM Service) - We welcome new members who have come to us this summer, and welcome Rev. BJ to the pulpit for a ‘special guest slot’ – she does not formally return from vacation until September 9. Come hear what happened at General Assembly in Portland, and some pastoral prognostication about our upcoming church year as we explore the theme of "family."

Music - We welcome the return of our Celebration Choir. This quickly growing group will be embodying the spirit of the service. Please don't allow our choir to be the only ones singing; join in on the music-making! Through our combined efforts to create wonderful music, we step closer and closer to being one together. Our Celebration Choir will be the tool that allows us to harness music for that purpose.

Following the benediction, please feel free to exit, or to sit and enjoy the postlude.

REflections - This week we will be Mask Making. "Put on a mask and anything is possible. Suddenly you can move, act, and think differently. The mask embodies the potential for transformation of all kinds - emotional, spiritual, physical, and symbolic." from: Behind the Mask

Next week, August 26th, we will be celebrating Cat in the Hat day!

Note the special Congregational Conversation (Talkback) after the service in the Chapel - More

What Else is Happening & Announcements

From the Adult Programs Sub-Council - Mark your calendars for the Fall Programs Fair! On Sunday, September 16, at 10 AM and Noon, you will have a chance to pick up the new Fall Programs Catalog and register for spiritual, intellectual, fun and community building programs.

Good Books Available -The Official USH Used Book Sale will be starting up again September 9 when our double services begin. We have a huge selection of all new titles and a few old favorites. Remember that every Sunday has a different selection of titles. If you see a book you want to read, don’t hesitate – buy it. It won’t be there next week. Really.

Once again, our dedicated book mavens will be assisting each Sunday with the display and sale of our books. A big round of appreciation, please, for Virginia De Lima, Sue Smolski, Randi Wuertz, and Milly Geetter. It will be the start of their third year raising money wrangling books for USH.

There is room in our program for another book person. This is perfect for anyone who loves books, comes to either the 9 AM or 11 AM service, and has just one Sunday every six weeks to be the set-up person. It’s an easy way to volunteer to help raise money for our Meeting House. Call or email me for more information.

We raised almost $600 last fiscal year without spending a dime. And it’s all done with your books and your love of reading. Thank you! And let’s have another good year! - Carol Davidson - Boss Book Lady (if you were to see all the books stored in my cellar, you’d let me be Boss Book Lady…) cjkdavid(at symbol)snet.net 233-8012

SUNDAY RIDES - We need drivers: More

Audio Group of B&G Seeks Help - More

Caring Network - If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. ~Dalai Lama - You are the ears of the Caring Network. Diana Heymann is the Chair of the Caring Network. Please tell Diana (heydiana(at symbol)comcast.net) 860.461.0908, or call the office when you learn of any 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.

ON THE CALENDAR:

Thursday, August 16
6:00 pm Performing Arts Sub-council, Servetus
7:00 pm Small Group Ministry, David
7:00 pm Council Chairs, Minister’s Study

Saturday, August 18
9:00 am Pathways to Membership, Library
9:00 am Classroom Renovations, Lower Level
9:00 am Rental, Murray

Sunday, August 19
8:30 am Council on Social Justice, Library
9:00 am Music Rehearsal, Chapel
10:00 am WORSHIP SERVICE, SANCTUARY - including welcoming of New Members
11:00 am Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
11:15 am Two Services Conversation, Chapel
3:00 pm Rental, Chapel

Monday, August 20
6:30 pm Survivors of Incest Anonymous, Murray

Tuesday, August 21
12:00 pm ICEJ Clergy, Library
8:00 pm AA, Fellowship Hall

Thursday, August 23
7:00 pm Small Group Ministry, David

Saturday, August 25
10:30 am Rental, Chapel

Sunday, August 26
9:00 am Music Rehearsal, Chapel
10:00 am WORSHIP SERVICE, SANCTUARY
11:00 am Coffee Hour, Fellowship Hall
3:00 pm Rental, Chapel

Italicized entries are non-USH events. - Please notify Brian Mullen (233.9897) of all additions or changes to the calendar. More general calendar information covering several months may be found here.

Further Down The Road (About 30 Days Max)

A Meeting With Bo Lozoff - Thursday, August 30, 7:00 p.m. - More

Fool for Christ - A One-Woman Play Portraying the Life of Dorothy Day - September 27 More

From the Editor:

This Week’s Feature Articles

Getting to Know You - Mattie Banzhaf - Our own Mattie Banzhaf will be celebrating her 20 year anniversary as the USH Music Director this year! Read on to learn how our unique building called her to join us -

“I moved to the Hartford area in 1977 when Wally started teaching at Ward College, University of Hartford. I had a 1-year-old, no friends, no job, no contacts. I started singing with choirs at the University, so I drove past the Meeting House more and more frequently. Though I never entered, somehow I was drawn to the place and hoped that one day I’d be there.

"As the daughter of an artist in an iconoclastic family, the architecture spoke to me, and I knew immediately the meaning of the separate concrete vanes bringing different paths together. I’ve been very happy amid the diversity and free-thinking nature of the Unitarian Society. I appreciate those who support the music I value, and those who are learning, exploring, challenging. The dialogue is healthy and invigorating.”

A graduate of Vassar College, Queens College, City University of New York and the Hartt School of Music, Mattie began her educational journey at the Bronx High School of Science. What the field of science and technology lost is our gain!

Mattie has taught music at every level from Farmington Elementary to Dartmouth College, and prior to USH was the choir director of West Avon Congregational Church. She was also the founding director of the Rutland Bach Festival and a founding member of the Coarse Arts Quartet, a performing vocal ensemble.

Her hobbies are vast and range from singing madrigals to Calligraphy, both Italic and Japanese. She collects recipes, but as yet has not begun cooking, and played the recorder and read sonnet #128 at a recent Shakespeare read-in. Mattie and her husband Wally are also avid travelers. Japan, Iceland, Scotland are the most recent adventures, but the world is beckoning.

The Banzhaf family members are all quite gifted in science and music, beginning with Wally who was an electrical engineer, an electrician, and then full professor of electrical engineering at the University of Hartford (Ward College). He’s now an emeritus professor as well as a volunteer firefighter in Simsbury.

Her son Jeremy is a computer network engineer, cellist, Go player, rock climber, photographer and informal tour guide in Tokyo where he’s lived for 4 years. Mattie’s daughter Amy is a mechanical engineer, teaching and studying for her PhD at MIT, and is married to a symphonic trumpeter who also teaches at MIT where they met. Most importantly, her first brilliant grandchild is scheduled to arrive in late November!

Mattie’s plans for the future of our music program promise to be as glorious as it’s past: “It’s been my joy to observe and assist great changes at USH over 20 years. The Choir is fantastic, always eager to take on new musical challenges and work hard to convey musical messages in services. As a teacher I love mentoring new generations of section leaders and organist/pianists, and encouraging our children’s choirs. Now that I’ve retired from my day job, I’m hoping to be able to be more deliberately proactive about developing our music program.” - Gail Syring

Andrew Millard update - Many of you worked with Andrew Millard before he went off to divinity school. You can catch up on his activities here. And, let us all leave him a message wishing him success in his studies!

Getting to Know You: Past profiles:
Bill Young - President
Heather Ferguson-Hull - President Elect
Nina Elgo - Board Secretary
Margaret Leicach - Treasurer
Karla Principe, Board Member - Council on Community Within Elected At-Large

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)

Women to Women Project - As a delivery person for the Food for Children Program, I have had the opportunity to talk with representatives at Liberty Church when I distribute canned goods. Whenever my contact is with a woman, she invariably, in lowered tones, asks if there is any chance of getting contributions of women's sanitary products. Mothers don't want to take money out of their already too skimpy food budgets for these items yet, they have little choice.

All of you women reading this have biologically "been there." Probably though, you did not have to chose between your personal needs and your children's need for food.

Will you be willing to join me in a project to help women in a way that is so basic?

If so, please consider sending small amounts of money or giving donations of sanitary products on Sunday mornings. I will deliver the items I receive or am able to purchase on a monthly basis. - Laurie Rollins

Editor's note: This project has been approved by Bill LaPorte-Bryan, Chair of COSJ. Monetary contributions should be marked, "For Sanitary Products," and sent through Brian Mullen in the office.

Donated household appliances & furniture needed. - I live at Soromundi Commons (formerly the YWCA). Our building is a “supportive housing” program for low-income people. I am the Acting President of the Soromundi Commons Resident Council. For our gatherings, we need two donated appliances: a LARGE-SCREEN TV, and a full-sized REFRIGERATOR/FREEZER [15 cubic feet or less; space is 28.5 inches wide by 64 inches high; left-hand-opening door preferred].

I have DVT (deep vein thrombosis) in my left leg, which is causing it to swell. My doctor has asked me to keep the leg above my heart as much as possible. For this, I need a RECLINER.

If you would like to donate one of these items, please contact me at 524-0141, or alani.willett(at symbol)sbcglobal.net. - Aloha pumehana (warm aloha), Alani

Do you have a piano in good condition that you would like to donate? The Retreat would love to give it a new home. Call John McMahon at the Retreat 560-7780

External Events and Educational Notes

Wes Christensen Memorial Golf Classic 9/1/07 More information)

Did You Know? - Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. - James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

Nuts and Bolts: The member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association covenant to affirm and promote: the inherent worth and dignity of every person; justice, equity, and compassion in human relations; acceptance of one another and encouragement of spiritual growth in our congregations; a free and responsible search for truth and meaning; the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process, within our congregations and in society at large; the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all; respect for the interdependent web of all existence, of which we are a part.

Generally, USH-Enews will be posted on Thursday. Send email related to the USH-Enews to dcnewton at ushartford.com If you have announcements or articles you wish to be published, send them along with the subject line USH-Enews by 4:30 PM Wednesday evening. Comments are always welcome. If you wish to have your name removed from the distribution list or have learned of the electronic publication and wish to have your email address added, just ask. © Unitarian Society of Hartford

Let us know of any comments, errors and corrections - thanks (revised 08/17/07 3:00 AM)