Dinner and a Movie: UNCOUNTED
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
6:30 - 8:30 PM
First Universalist Church, Social Hall,
3400 Dupont Ave S, Minneapolis
 
Enjoy dinner together with a screening of "UNCOUNTED" (80-minutes),  followed by a discussion. This riveting new documentary exposes how Americans were impacted by vulnerable voting systems during the 2004 and 2006 elections and why we're at risk for 2008.  The film includes compelling reports from computer programmers, statisticians, journalists, and experienced elections officials - along with eyewitness accounts from whistleblowers.  Learn what you can do to help address this threat to the very core of our democracy.
Event is free - contributions for meal welcome. 
 
Sponsored by MUUSJA and AUW - all are welcome.  FFI: Jenny Thomas jjthomas@skypoint.com, 612-920-4246.  Contact Carol Johnson for child care by May 28 at 612-825-3322.
 
 Repro Rights/Sacred Choices Year End Party
Wednesday, June 18
6:00 - 8:00 PM
Sea Salt Restaurant
Minnehaha Falls Park Building
Minneapolis
 
Cap off a busy year for the Reproductive Rights/Sacred Choices team at the delightful Sea Salt Restaurant. Get ready for C.H.O.I.C.E.S. 2008-2009:
C/Continue relationship with RCRC and MUUSJA.
H/Host events.
O/Outreach.
I/Inform about activism.
C/Coalition building with other faith based communities [C/Cake!]
E/Esprit de Coeur/Encourage and nurture.
S/SEAT!! (Sexuality Education Advocacy Training)
 
RSVP and details to Sara: mckru@comcast.net
 

 EcoMinds Summer PotLuck and Planning
WED June 18
6:30 - 8:30 PM
Bob Friedman's home
Minneapolis (RSVP for directions!)
 
Social time, sharing of food, and getting ready for a productive and engaging 2008-2009 program year.  Bob will offer a grill for veggie grillables (Tofu kabobs? Fresh ear corn?...a delicious way to lower your carbon footprint is a vegetarian diet!).  Or bring a salad, hot dish or desert to pass.
If you volunteered to be an EcoMinds "Buddy" to another congregation this year, please have your surveys done in time for June 18th. Thanks!
RSVP or for more info: ralph@muusja.org 612-998-6624
  
 General Assembly: Great Training Opportunity!
 
This year's UUSC sponsored pre-conference training will focus on organizing to respond to the Iraq war as we head into a major election season.  Skills learned here are highly transferrable to organizing around other social change issues!
 
Details:  Activist Training to End the War in Iraq
When:   Wed, June 25, 2008, 9am - 4pm
Where:  Hyatt Regency Pier 66, Fort Lauderdale Florida
What:    It's a great time to step up our organizing and advocacy against the unjust and immoral war in Iraq. Learn how UUs can raise our voices and carry a message for peace into the 2008 elections and beyond. Join UUSC and the UUA for a day-long activist training before General Assembly. Participants will get updated policy information and practical tools and skills for taking effective action.
The UUSC is hosting the training free of charge, but space is limited. For more information, and to register please contact Michelle Rudy at gacountdown2008@uusc.org.

Town Hall Forum:U.S. Foreign Policy with Iran
Wednesday, May 28
6:00 - 8:00 pm
First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis
Lower Assembly Hall
900 Mount Curve Avenue, Minneapolis
 
Congressman Keith Ellison hosts a Town Hall Forum on U.S. Foreign Policy with Iran, featuring Dr. Trita Parsi, author of "Treacherous Alliance--The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel, and the United States," and William Orman Beeman, chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota. "Should the U.S. engage in direct dialogue with Iran? Should the U.S. insist on certain conditions in order to engage in dialogue? What can citizens and residents of the U.S. do to promote peace and avert conflict in Iran?" Come share your thoughts.
 
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Edina GSA Film & discussion: For the Bible Tells Me So
Thursday, May 29
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Landmark Edina 4 Theater
50th & France (3911 West 50th), Edina
 
The Edina High School G.S.A. (Gay Straight Alliance) invites everyone to this special screening of "For the Bible Tells Me So", a documentary by Daniel Karslake about 5 families of faith and how they handle the realization of having a gay child.  >>>Let's turn out to support youth initiative!<<<
Co-sponsored by OutFront Minnesota.
Free admission (donations to defray costs gladly accepted). 
 
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Metro CERTS Info Session

Thursday, May 29
7:00 - 8:30 PM
Common Roots Café
2558 Lyndale Ave. S, Minneapolis
 
Come engage with fellow neighbors from the Twin Cities, and learn what the Metro Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) Network is all about!
Have you heard about community energy projects like the Lindin Hills Power & Light? or the solar installation in the Southeast Como neighborhood? Is your neighborhood thinking about how to act and be part of the solution?  Attend this presentation on newly-forming CERTS!
FFI: Diana McKeown, Metro CERTs Coordinator
612-278-7125, dmckeown@greeninstitute.org
 
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Congressman Ellison at Foreclosure Forum
Friday, May 30
6:00 - 8:00 pm
Sabathani Community Center
310 East 38th Street, Second Floor Banquet Hall, Room 218
 
Congressman Keith Ellison will talk about the foreclosure crisis and what is being done federally and how homeowners, tenants, and neighbors concerned about foreclosed and vacant properties can access resources, information and policy and advocacy information. Foreclosure counselors, tenant rights advocates, and community-based organizations will be available to south Minneapolis residents to offer free advice and answer questions confidentially. Lenders and foreclosure counselors will also be setting appointments.
 
The forum will be held from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Sabathani Community Center located at 310 East 38th Street in the Second Floor Banquet Hall, Room 218. Food will be provided.
 
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Chalchiutlicue Honor the Water Community Celebration
SAT May 31
11:00 AM - Community March
1530 Franklin Ave, Minneapolis; March down Bloomington Ave.
Noon - 4:00 PM - Celebration @ Powderhorn Park
 
Part of a three day program of education, action and celebration of the Waters of the World.  www.chalchiutlicue.org for more info including a Friday Environmental Justice conference at the Wellstone Center in St. Paul, a Saturday community dinner, and a Sunday hike/swim/picnic.

About the organization:  Founded in 2004 to respond to the urgent need to care for the environment, the Chalchiutlicue Environmental Project's goal is that members of the Latino community will engage as active participants in addressing issues around protecting the environment.
 
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Roundtable: Racial and Environmental Justice
WED June 11
Noon - 1:30 PM
Alliance For Metro Stability
2525 E Franklin Avenue, Suite 200
Minneapolis, MN
 
Racial justice is a key issue that must be dealt with more prominently in the future of the environmental movement. Learn from leaders in the environmental justice field about what the current work is and how you can increase your knowledge and ability to integrate these practices into your work. Our panel of includes:
 
Karen Monahan, Environmental Justice Organizer for Environmental Justice Advocates of Minnesota; Dr. Cecilia Martinez, Senior Policy Fellow and Faculty at the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy; and Cesia Kearns, Conservation Organizer for the Northstar Chapter of the Sierra Club

MUUSJA 

By Kelli Clement

Here's a math problem:  nationally 1 in 4 teenage girls will contract a sexually transmitted disease.  Though teen pregnancies statewide are down among white teens, girls of color in Minnesota have one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the nation.   

 

Gov. Pawlenty said he was opposed to the Responsible Family Life and Education provision because it would mandate what school districts must teach about sex-ed, and that the system we have is good enough.

 

The Governor is wrong on both counts.  Our current system is certainly not good enough for all the youth in our state. And there is significant room in the provision for individual school districts to shape the curriculum and include parental input.  But because he is unwilling to take a stand against the vocal minority who continue to promote the dangerous policies of abstinence only education, our daughters and sons are being sacrificed to his base.

 

In a University of Minnesota survey, published in March 2008 by the Department of Adolescent Health and Medicine, an overwhelming majority of Minnesota parents want their children to receive age appropriate, comprehensive sexuality education that includes information on abstinence and prevention of pregnancy and disease. 

 

These positive responses come from all over the state, in extraordinary numbers from Evangelical, Protestant, Roman Catholic, and all other religious groups.  Minnesota parents know what a majority of clergy and educators know: that it is morally wrong to refuse to give our children and youth the tools that will help them be healthy and safe.  We all know it is ethically wrong to take an oath to represent the citizens of this state, then thwart the will of the majority by defeating provisions in a bill one does not like nor correctly understand. 

 

Let those of us who believe in the health of our children rise up, and insist that Minnesota's young people receive the education they deserve, on a topic that is relevant to every one of their lives.  Let us be as vocal with the Governor and our legislators as that small minority who are willing to jeopardize the future of our children and youth.  Therein lies a solution to math and morality.

Clement is a UU and is co-chair of Seminarians for Choice at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities