tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287726954267934412024-03-05T17:59:40.305-07:00what a cup of tea<p><b><i>Blog by Lelanda Lee</i></b></p>LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.comBlogger274125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-56267408163085379512018-02-26T15:12:00.000-07:002018-02-26T15:12:00.274-07:00Becoming Beloved Community - Sermon<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>This is a summary of my sermon at St. James Episcopal Church in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, on February 18, 2018. St. James is embarked on a Lenten study of Becoming Beloved Community, a response to race, racism, and racial justice and reconciliation during the season of Lent, under the guidance of the Rev. Rebecca Jones. I followed up on the subject in more detail during the Adult Forum following the worship service. </i></b></div>
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The Gospel appointed for today, February 18, 2018, is Mark
1:9-15, in which the Spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism and a voice
from heaven said, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” </div>
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The Episcopal Church’s gospel teaching in the current and
the next triennium is centered on “Becoming Beloved Community,” a curriculum
and theological outline of the Church’s thinking on racial justice and
reconciliation. The Church is clear that this work on the subject of racism is
part of our Christian Formation work. It is part of our call to live into our
Baptismal Covenant.</div>
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What does “Beloved” mean? To be called “Beloved” is to be
told that you are loved beyond measure. But “Becoming Beloved Community” is not
just about us and our church community being the beloved ones. It is also about
how we extend belovedness to our neighbors in church, in our community, in our
state, in our nation, and to the entire global community of humankind. </div>
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We are called “Beloved Children of God.” We are created in
God’s image, imbued with characteristics of God shaped in us like kindness,
compassion, friendliness, helpfulness, and generosity. God calls us to live
into our belovedness for the sake of others—not just people we know, but also
people we have yet to meet and know. </div>
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Our Baptismal Covenant asks us five questions, found on page
293 of the Book of Common Prayer. To each question, we respond, “I will, with
God’s help.”</div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></i><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Will
you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of
bread, and in the prayers? </i>The work of anti-racism, which means to
interrupt racism wherever we encounter it, is an important part of our work of
Christian Formation for ourselves and for our Church community. This is the
work of study, prayer, and amendment of life.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></i><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Will
you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and
return to the Lord?</i> It is important to tell the truth about our human
failings, our sinfulness, with regard to racism, in order to repent and return
to the Lord. Repentance is not a once-and-done thing. We must acknowledge anew
each time our words and actions intentionally or unintentionally treat other
people as less than us because of the color of their skin or their culture,
family background, or country of origin. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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</span></span></span></i><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Will
you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ? </i>Proclamation
is both words and actions. Say “No” to micro-aggressions like jokes that rely
on stereotypes of certain people based on superficial characteristics. Say “No”
to harmful language and name-calling when talking to or referring to people
based on what they look like. We are all more than our skin color or any
physical attributes.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></i><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Will
you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?</i>
This fourth question is about the Golden Rule—loving our neighbors as
ourselves. A higher standard is to strive to love others as Jesus loves us. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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</span></span></span></i><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Will
you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of
every human being? </i>Our baptisms call us into being a good neighbor to
people who are different from us in our churches, in our communities, in our
states, and in our country, and finally, in the global human community. We are
called to interrupt and eliminate racism and every other kind of “ism” or
unfair way that we treat people.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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This past week has been full of examples of the Beloved.
February 14th was Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. We
celebrated our romantic Beloveds, and we began a season of quiet, reflection,
and prayer, looking toward Easter, because we are Easter people, resurrection
people. But February 14th was also the day of a horrific school shooting, and Beloveds
were students, teachers, staff, and family of the Parkland, Florida, school and
all of us who prayed for them. </div>
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I want to mention anger and sadness, which are certainly the
emotions that arise when a school shooting occurs. I have learned through a
couple of years of meditating on anger and sadness that it’s important for our
spiritual health and our ability to move forward to move out of anger into
sadness. Instead of staying stuck in anger, reflect on the parts of the
incident that make you sad, because sadness can lead you into compassion for
the afflicted and into action to do something that makes things different. </div>
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February 16th was Asian Lunar New Year, in which a different
branch of the Beloved Community celebrates their new year, marked by cultural
practices such as the collective celebration of everyone’s birthday advancing a
year each lunar new year. The national conversation around immigrants and
migrants is another example of Beloveds. We know from science the importance of
diversity in biology: rotated crops are stronger crops, and cross-bred dogs
produce stronger, healthier dogs. We also know of many important discoveries
and inventions made by immigrants that have improved our lives. </div>
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Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working on a
writing project for the church, reading scripture, taking notes, and writing
reflections on ideas for each of the Sundays in Pentecost. Two things jumped
out at me from that study: </div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->God’s love is steadfast. It is unwavering and
unchanging. God loves us, God’s creation, no matter what. We are beloved of
God.</div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Jesus has utmost patience for us. Jesus loves us
in all of our sinfulness and sticks with us as we struggle with sin and figure
things out.</div>
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What two great things to aspire to—to emulate God’s
steadfast love for humanity and to try to have utmost patience for others who
disappoint or hurt us. These two things are essential to Becoming Beloved
Community.</div>
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Remember, we are Beloved Children of God and a Member of the
Body of Christ. This is our core identity. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-42831916654508883162017-04-29T18:57:00.001-06:002017-04-29T18:57:51.975-06:00Courageous Connection: The Role of Courage in Being My Sister's Keeper<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">Keynote Presentation by Lelanda
Lee</span></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">Province V ECW Annual
Conference, April 28-30, 2017, Lansing, MI<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Good
evening. Let us begin with a simple prayer this evening:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Here’s
to Good Women. May we raise them. May we know them. May we be them. <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Amen</span>.</i>”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
am delighted to be with all of you this weekend to share conversations that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">explore
the meaning of being my sister’s keeper, through prayer, storytelling,
reflection, and conversational exercises</i></b>. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sharing</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">conversations</i>
mean that we <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all</i></b> will be participating throughout the conference, even
though I have the privilege and the responsibility of providing some ideas and
direction in how we approach our conversations. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<u><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">Courage and Siblings<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’ve
chosen to focus on <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the role of courage in being my sister’s keeper</i></b>, because my own
reflections over the past couple of years have led me to a keener understanding
of courage and its deeper meanings. Over a year ago, as 2015 ended and 2016
began, I decided, after a great deal of thought and emotion, to step off the
merry-go-round of all the wonderful volunteer activities that I had been
blessed to undertake for a year of sabbatical. I didn’t know <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">how</b> then, and I still don’t know <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">how</b> now, to do anything in
half-measures. I did recognize the “need to be present in actuality and not
just in theory.” I did recognize the “need to practice presence versus merely
to embrace the ethos of presence.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
am the eldest child and sister of two brothers. I do not have any biological
sisters. Yet, I believe in sisterhood, and I believe that sisterhood is
powerful. In my life, girls and women have been present to befriend me, to
teach me, to nurture me, to support me, to comfort me, to strengthen me, and to
love me. I cannot imagine being successful, and I cannot imagine being happy,
without sisterhood. I believe that sisterhood is lifesaving for women, that it
is important that women have other women in their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
my life, I am still connected with women I met through women’s liberation
groups. My longest-term friendships with women date back to 1970 in
Plattsburgh, New York, as a young newlywed mother; to 1971 in Berkeley, after
driving cross-country with a girlfriend and my toddler son and her two young
children; and to 1975 in Honolulu, where I started over after a divorce. Those
women are still the women I turn to for important conversations and mutual
support through our many sisters’ marriages, children, divorces, and new loves,
and through the achievement of graduate degrees, job promotions, and business
start-ups and shut-downs. In Hawaii, I learned a valuable term that describes
the non-blood relatives that we meet and choose as part of our families of
choice. These women are my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hanai </i>sisters,
the sisters that I met and chose along the way, who have joined my ever-growing
and ever mutually supportive <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hanai </i>family.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
the Bible, our earliest story of siblings is of brotherhood, of Cain and Abel.
In Genesis 4, we learn that Cain had slain his brother Abel, and the Lord said
to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" and Cain replied, "I do
not know; am I my brother's keeper?" Cain’s question, “Am I my brother’s
keeper?” is a defiant answer to the Lord’s straightforward question. It is a
self-justifying and selfish answer. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Me?
Why are you asking me? How do I know where he i</i>s?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
Luke’s Gospel, chapter 10, we meet the Bible’s most famous sisters, Martha and
Mary. Mary has chosen to sit at Jesus’ feet to listen to him teach, while
Martha demands to know from Jesus why he doesn’t admonish Mary to get up and
help with the hospitality chores. </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: Arial;">“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all
the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.”</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;">Martha is frustrated. Her words to Jesus are whiny and
accusatory towards both Mary and Jesus and reflect self-centeredness and
self-pity. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Why <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">me</b>, Lord? What about her?”</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Both
these stories of brothers and sisters speak to the difficulties in our
relationships with our brothers and sisters. Our sibling relationships are
filled with issues of equity—fairness in the division of work and its rewards,
fairness in inheritance and the measure of filial duty. Our sibling
relationships reflect how our human characteristic of self-centeredness
pervades our perception of events and how we speak about those events. We want
it both ways –<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> “Why <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">me</b>?” and “Why <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">not</b> me?” </i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our
relationship with Jesus also has the dimension of siblinghood, although we tend
to think of our relationship with Jesus most frequently along the lines of the
words recited in our creeds: Jesus as “Lord, Son of God, Savior, and Judge” and
humankind as “subject, follower, and sinner.” Yet, if we <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">are</i></b> the Children of God
and Jesus <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i></b> the Son of God, then surely, we <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">are also</i></b> sisters and
brothers to Jesus and Jesus <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i></b> also our brother.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<u><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">Identity<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Let
us focus in on the idea of “Identity.” Sisterhood necessarily requires us to
look at and to answer questions about our identities. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Who
am I? I am not what I did as my career. I have relationships that make me a
wife and a mother; yet, I am not my role as mother or wife. I believe that all
people have inherent dignity and equal rights to life and liberty, but I am not
my beliefs, although my beliefs describe parts of me and how I choose to live
my life. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
fact is that we all have multiple identities, depending on the contexts in
which we describe them and think about them. Each time we say, “I am . . . ,”
and complete that thought, we are naming an aspect of who we are, based on the
context in which we make that statement. Over time and with additional
experience and introspection, how we complete the thought, “I am . . . ,”
changes, because we change. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Intersectionality
is a concept used to discuss critical theories of race, sex, and class, and
institutionalized systems that center oppressively on minority groups of people
based on race, sex, and class. The idea behind intersectionality is that it’s
really not possible to talk about, for example, sexism, without also talking
about<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> how</b> classism and racism
interact with sexism. You can’t isolate the effects of different kinds of
oppression. For example: a foreign-born, single mother with a good resume can’t
get a full-time job in a major city. Is it because she is foreign born and
maybe speaks with an accent, or because she is a woman? Or is it because she is
dressed in thrift-shop clothing, or all of the above, that she can’t get an
interview?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Identity
politics is a term we hear widely these days, primarily as a critical comment
in the current political environment of our country. Identity politics refers
to how some people have the appearance of coming from a particular place that
is centered on their identification with a certain group of people representing
a race, or gender, or class, or, in other words, a particular “identity.” Even
people who claim that they aren’t part of identity politics actually <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">are</i></b>
part of identity politics. It’s just that we attribute the term, “identity
politics,” as a pejorative only to those whose identities fall into the
minority or marginalized groups, while those whose identities fall into the
majority or dominant groups are considered the norm and therefore, not part of
“identity politics.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
point I want to make is that we must look critically at how we think about who
our sisters are, and how we came to our particular way of thinking about
sisterhood. Chances are, as Christians, you have spent time thinking about who
your neighbor is, and you probably have a familiar and straightforward way to
state that to anyone who asks, “Who is your neighbor?” You’ve probably been
taught to associate the parable of “The Good Samaritan” with your notions of
being a good neighbor. Good neighbors help their neighbors, even if their
neighbors are strangers and different from how they identify themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
like the insight of 30-year old Alynda Lee Segarra, the frontwoman of the
modern folk band, Hurray for Riff Raff, who says, “We are all living in the
middle of a lot of identities.” It is important that we also look critically at
how we think about our own identities, and how we came to name them and own
them. I’d like at this time to share a story of finding my then new identity at
age 60, almost ten years ago, and then I would like to invite you to consider
your own stories of recognizing and claiming new understandings of identity for
yourselves, as we proceed through this weekend together, in this community of
ECW sisters.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bishop Nedi Rivera said to me in 2008 as we traveled on a bus to Sunday
Mass in the high country of Taiwan, “Lelanda, you’re an elder.” Those words
have stuck with me, and I’ve pondered them often. Those words resonate with the
transition I had been experiencing for the previous nine years that my mother
had lived with us and since my first grandchild was born. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
the prior decade I had transitioned to being the matriarch of my generation,
the one who is acknowledged as the keeper of the family’s metaphorical gates.
The defining moment occurred a decade earlier when I learned that my mother and
the women of her generation were categorizing my widowed sister-in-law as not
an equal member of the Lee family. Her husband, my youngest brother, had died
some years earlier.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
triggering event was a traditional Chinese one-year birthday party that my
husband and I hosted in California for the entire family to meet and celebrate
our grandson. While the live-in paramours of my cousins were welcomed by my
mother’s generation, the same courtesy was not extended to my sister-in-law,
because she was a daughter-in-law and not a daughter. In a traditional Chinese
family, those distinctions matter in word and in deed. There are words to name
each of the in-law relationships including distinguishing “on the mother’s side
or the father’s side” and “married to the child of such-and-such birth order.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
was the first time I spoke with the authority of a newly minted matriarch,
standing up for justice and equal treatment for the mother of my mother’s
youngest grandson and of my only nephew, for my sister-in-law who was and is
also my sister in the sisterhood of all women. There was push-back from the
grandmothers, who objected vociferously with rationales that didn’t make any
sense to me or to my remaining brother, Jon, to whom I turned for advice and
support. I finally said to the grandmothers that I would be very sad if they
chose not to attend the one-year birthday party, because my sister-in-law and
her partner would be attending. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
confirmation of my new matriarch role came when everyone in the family showed
up for the party. The passing of the baton from one generation to the next
happens not with trumpets blaring and tympanis clashing, but with the quiet
acquiescence of old ladies who murmur approval upon tasting the family’s
favorite dish cooked by a daughter from her own new recipe. I had both grown
into and asserted my claim to the new identity of generational matriarch.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">[ <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Insert exercise:</b> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Please
reflect quietly for a couple of minutes on an awareness of a new identity that
you recognized and claimed for yourself. Then group yourself with two other
people, and describe your reflection to your partners.</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>]</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">Imago Dei<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></i></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
our Christian tradition, we talk about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Imago
Dei</i>, of how we as humans are created in our Maker’s image, in God’s image.
Sometimes we express that as there being a divine spark within us. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Namaste </i>from the Hindu tradition is a
greeting that means “the divine spark within me greets the divine spark within
you.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
would like to suggest that we all need to go beyond <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Namaste</i>, beyond merely an initial recognition of the divine spark
within each other, beyond merely greeting each other in a friendly manner. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Empathy</b> is a form of connection in
which we try to understand and share what another person is feeling. The roots
of the word “empathy” are in the Greek <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">en</i></b>, which means “in,” and the Greek <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pathos</i></b>,
which means “suffering.” When we practice empathy, we essentially allow
ourselves to fall <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in</i></b>to the suffering of another person. That doesn’t sound very
safe, does it? To voluntarily allow our selves to fall <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in</i></b>to the suffering of
someone else?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yet,
most of us would voluntarily fall <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in</i></b>to the suffering of our own family
members, and even of our <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hanai </i>family
members. We would pray with, and sit with, and bring meals to, and visit a
family member who is hospitalized or who is declining physically and mentally
from a disease like cancer or kidney failure or Alzheimer’s or dementia. We
would probably also voluntarily fall <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in</i></b>to the suffering of folks we know
or even don’t know well from our workplaces and from our churches, because we
acknowledge our identification with those communities. Our workplaces and our
churches form part of our larger identities of who we are and how we want
others to see us. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now,
let me ask, how would we behave differently if we practiced connection with our
sisters who are not so well known to us personally and who are not part of the
communities with which we share an identity—if we practiced connection by
showing the kind of empathy that means sharing in our not-so-close sisters’
suffering? How would the world be different if the focus for being
interconnected were based on the empathy of sharing in each other’s suffering,
as compared to sharing in each other’s resources—in each other’s material goods
and in each other’s connections to other people? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
suspect that we all regularly participate in charitable giving of money and
material things and that we all also give our time in service to helping
others. That is, indeed, a sharing of resources. I once heard a story of a
seminarian who said that he and his family were motivated to change the way
that they eat in order to free up more of his family’s income to give to a
stewardship campaign. That is sacrificial giving. That goes beyond giving from
that which we can “afford” to give—that which we can spare to give.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
am wondering: could it be that the sharing of resources would naturally follow
as a consequence of sharing in each other’s suffering, of showing a profound
level of empathy to our sisters? Perhaps it is our fallenness—our sinfulness—that
interferes with the sharing of resources as the natural consequence of our
empathetical sharing of our sister’s and our neighbor’s suffering.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Perhaps
we are too passive, taking too much for granted and waiting for invitations and
waiting to be solicited to participate in another’s suffering. Think about the
way that we talk about the cross—a central image to our Christian identity. We
tend to talk about sitting at the foot of the cross, looking up at Christ upon
the cross and weeping for our brother’s suffering and also weeping tears of
thanksgiving for his bearing of our sins. Speaking for myself, I prefer a more
active theology of the cross that calls for us to be pulled into the center,
that causes us to fall into the intersection of the cross, that brings us into
contact with Jesus’ suffering and with the suffering of our sisters and
brothers everywhere.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Part
of the divine spark, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Imago Dei</i>,
within us is a generous spirit, which is a reflection of God’s Grace and the
fruit of Jesus’ suffering on the cross. That generous spirit gets triggered in
two ways: (1) when we feel grateful—when we respond to the joys given to us in
our lives, and (2) when we feel empathy—when we feel the suffering of others. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We
are practiced at noticing the gifts in our lives. We call it counting our
blessings. Admittedly, we often have to be reminded to count our blessings, and
we sometimes have to be shown how to see the gifts in the midst of
disappointment and loss. But we are less accomplished at noticing the suffering
of others, other than as a fleeting superficial or intellectual awareness—like
when we pass by a homeless person or when we read a news story about war or
natural disaster or when we look at the faces of today’s Syrian refugees. That
makes sense, because we don’t like to feel badly. It doesn’t feel good. It
hurts. We don’t like pain. And in some cases, we suffer from compassion
fatigue, feeling overwhelmed by all the suffering in the world, in our world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">My contention—my central thesis for the weekend—is that
courage—<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">personal courage</i></b>—is required to engage in the practice of
empathy that shares in the suffering of others. Empathy triggers the generous
spirit, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Imago Dei</i>, that leans in
the direction of a generous sharing of all kinds of resources. That is the
essence of being my sister’s keeper. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Courage
is the actualization of Love</b>, and it follows then, as is often said,
“Justice is the public face of Love.”</span> We will explore this in our
workshops tomorrow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">Fear is the mindkiller<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></i></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A
major barrier to our capacity to actualize our Love is fear. We can be frozen
by fear that takes many forms, from the fear of not having enough leftover for
ourselves that makes us hold back on our giving, to the fear of being
physically harmed if we intervened in helping someone being assaulted, to the
fear of loss of our reputations if we helped someone that others view as
unworthy of being helped.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fear
is the mindkiller</i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">,</i>” is the
phrase from the 1965 science fiction book <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Dune</u></b>
by Frank Herbert. In that story, freedom-fighting desert dwellers use the
phrase “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fear is the mindkiller</i></b>” to remind themselves to reach for their
personal courage in the face of huge odds against their oppressors from the
federation of planets. “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fear is the mindkiller</i></b>” are the
words that my millennial daughter has tattooed across her belly to remind her
that she has personal courage as a young woman who identifies as biracial and
bisexual and that she has personal courage when fear is the enemy within that
she must overcome to engage the world to achieve her goals.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
noun “courage” derives from the French word “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">coeur</i>,” which means heart. A way to think about courage is that
courage requires confidence to overcome fear in order to act, and that
encouragement strengthens a person’s courage. Courage is different from being
brave. “Brave” is an adjective, derived from the Italian “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bravo</i>,” and is about the split second decision that makes a person
do something wild or bold in the face of real danger. Bravery does not happen
in safe places. Courage is a deeper, more sustained attitude or posture, that
emanates from a person’s heart, from the divine spark within, that is connected
to our Maker and that seeks to connect to the divine spark within others. Encouragement
is the gift that we as sisters can give to our sisters, when they need extra
confidence to overcome fear in order to act. Encouragement is one of the ways
in which we participate in our sisters’ courage.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">[ <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Insert exercise:</b> “Adding to the silence when you speak.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Take a minute or two to reflect on how you
have experienced encouragement as either a giver of encouragement or a
recipient of encouragement. Please group yourself again with a couple of
others, and share that experience with them and what that felt like to you and
what you learned from it.</i> ]</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Let
me repeat: Encouragement is the gift that we as sisters give to our sisters,
when they need extra confidence to overcome fear in order to act. Encouragement
is one of the ways in which we participate in our sisters’ courage.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Another
way to look at, or to talk about, personal courage is to talk about God’s Grace
and Grace’s presence in our relationships and in our lives. I’ve already
pointed out that I think of the generous spirit component of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Imago Dei</i> as a reflection of God’s
Grace. I would also argue that personal courage could be described as an
expression of our awareness—of our being in touch with—God’s Grace present in
our lives. Personal courage is an expression of how we are strengthened by
God’s Grace present in our lives and how we are compelled by our baptismal call
to share that Grace with others, to share it forward.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
my poem titled “Courage is,” I end with “Courage is the secret self reaching
for its family.” Brené Brown wrote in her book </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-size: 7.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><u>Daring
Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love,
Parent, and Lead</u></span>:</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: Arial;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage,
empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and
authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more
meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.</i>” </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My
perspective is that courage is an orientation of the spirit that points towards
hope, that points towards a possible future for humanity, for community, for
family, for sisterhood. “Courageous Connection,” that is, courage in connection
with community, with sisterhood, is the courage to name a thing, to dispute a
thing, and to speak truth not just to power, but truth to well-meaning people
who don’t see the world through the lenses of the “other”—of our sisters.
Courageous Connection is the secret self living into its authenticity to speak
from an open, vulnerable place and risk being rejected. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><u><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;">“Courage is”</span></u><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
the 1950s, when I was a child younger than five years old, speaking only
Cantonese in a Chinatown tenement in Detroit, I asked my mother about what
happened when the Communists took over in mainland China. My mother married at
age 19 to my father, who had been raised in Chinatown New York and taken to
China with his older brother by my grandmother to find brides. After my parents
married and came to New York and then Detroit, the Communists took over in
China and confiscated my mother’s family's property and sources of livelihood,
the farms and shops that supported a family clan the size of a small village.
The Communists forced the men to flee the country first, beat her no. 2 sister to
death, and imprisoned her mother with an infant son in arms. My mother's
comment to me was, "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">At least now,
everyone is eating.</i>" In the face of an enemy’s takeover of her native
country and the refugee status forced on her family, my mother had responded, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">At least now, everyone is eating.</i>” That
is my emotional motto and touchstone. That is my earliest acquaintance with
personal courage—<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the secret self, that spark of divinity within each of us, reaching for
its family</i></b>—even as the swirling human family of my mother’s parents and
siblings and her uncles and aunts and cousins were angry and hurt, suffering
and broken, from their forced refugee status. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My
mother is a very courageous woman. She lived through decades when a letter from
her family back in Hong Kong would cause her to weep and when no letters
arriving would cause her to weep. Brené Brown says in her book, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What we know matters but who we <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">are</b> matters more.</i>” My mother has
always known that she is the eldest daughter of an eldest daughter and the
mother of an eldest daughter and that she is connected in ways that hearken to
a soul-deep sisterhood as a beloved daughter of a Creator who is the definition
of Love and of Courageous Connection.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My
dear siblings, we are called to dig deep to find our store of personal courage,
to let our secret selves that hold the divine spark within us be brave and
reach out to our human family, for Jesus taught, ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who
are members of my family, you did it to me.</i>’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’d
like to close with the poem I wrote earlier this year, titled “Courage is.” It
is available as a handout at the close of this evening.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">Courage is<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">Courage is an invisible
thread<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">that twists through<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">my hidden soul<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">my secret self<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mostly<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">courage lies buried<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">in daily life’s debris<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">where acquiescence<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">smoothes the way<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">The daily decisions<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">choosing<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">this bread<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">or that apple<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">in the end<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">make no difference<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">in my life<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">to my dreams<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yet<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">Earth’s destiny<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">asserts<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">its disagreement<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">uninvited<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">unacknowledged<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">Who am I<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">to argue with Nature<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">I am a member<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">of a tribe<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">too large to contain<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">too diverse to control<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">too selfish to share<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">I pray hope<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">when<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">all else fails<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">Courage is a bitter brew<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">more frightening<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">than addictive<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">I am a member<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">of a tribe<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">that judges the price<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">too large<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">when I am the one<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">chosen to pay<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">This tribe<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">has devised<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">veils<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">creating heroes<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">everywhere<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">everyday<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">to mask<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">the flight of courage<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">from the everyday<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">everywhere<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">If it’s posted<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">printed<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">published<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">If it’s spoken<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">sung<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">and shared<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">Surely that is<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">proof<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">positive<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">and true<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">that courage<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">still lives on<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">Courage is<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">communion<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">most sacred<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">When open<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">to all<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">naked of<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">rubrics<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">most powerful<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">Courage is<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">the communion<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">that lifts<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">the hidden thread<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">in the body politic<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">to be warp<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">and woof<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">of a people<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">of a community<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">of a nation<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">of the world<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">Courage is<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">the secret self<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">reaching for</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">its family</span></div>
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</style>LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-36949815930418771052017-02-24T19:58:00.000-07:002017-02-24T19:58:00.842-07:00In Orange Country<div class="MsoNormal">
In Orange Country</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am free </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to read what I like</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to ignore my dislikes</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
believing</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am a truth-seeker</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Orange Country</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
if it is published</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
shouted from a podium</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
broadcast live</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
or cast as a meme</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
with graphics and rhymes</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
glorified</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
then surely it is truth</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The pundits are gods</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Orange Country</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am too weary </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to resist </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the distraction</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
of entertainment as news</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I feel right </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and wronged</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
sitting on my couch</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I feel justified</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Orange Country</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
my parents rejoiced</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
when I was born</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
never guessing</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
my destiny </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
as consumer</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I borrowed</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to buy </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am blessed</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Orange Country</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All things</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
packageable</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
were invented for me</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Convenience is a boon</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Orange Country</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My heart’s desires</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
have atrophied</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Choice is a habit</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have failed</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Orange Country</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I must rise</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to the remembrance</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
of the person</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was meant to be</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
discard the binding</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
of social conformity</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
recover the promises</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
of Creation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
hear the whisper of worms</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the judgment of the future</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I can become again</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Failure is a habit</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to be defeated</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I believe</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am not alone</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am not alone</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am not alone</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Lelanda Lee 2-24-17</div>
LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-44637359600763134952017-02-24T16:43:00.000-07:002017-02-24T16:43:45.474-07:00Inquiry: How does a heart freeze?<div style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Inquiry: How does a heart freeze?</div>
<div style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Fact: A bubble<br />surrounded by cold air<br />freezes<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />One moment fragile enough<br />to burst<br />at the exhalation<br />of my breath<br />pushing<br />thoughts into words<br />to dissipate into nothingness<br />hiding in the atmosphere<br />rejoining the air around it<br />around me</span></div>
<div class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px;">
Declaration: I am here<br />I affirm<br />It is the cold that makes it so<br />frozen into solidity<br />now fragile in a different form<br />which I can see<br />regret as it breaks<br />into recognizable pieces<br />that just lay there<br />until the sun warms<br />the pieces<br />transforming them into<br />water<br />subliming<br />bit by bit </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Conclusion: After all<br />the end is the same<br />nothing lost<br />or gained<br />For a fleeting moment<br />I observe<br />There is too much nature<br />to grasp<br />too much equilibrium<br />to own<br />Will I solidify<br />frozen into opacity<br />in icy solitude<br />will Love<br />feed me<br />transform me<br />into water<br />and<br />a suitable meal for worms<br />Will I fly off<br />into ethereal spirit<br />separated<br />from this brief<br />called Life</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Exegetical Query: For whom will it matter?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Lelanda Lee 2-23-17</div>
</div>
LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-47595109272568298352017-01-27T21:08:00.001-07:002017-02-24T22:19:00.409-07:00Staying Sane These Days<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">A Facebook Friend whom I respect greatly asked this question: "</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">How are you all staying sane in our era of insanity?" This blog post is not about debating whether or not we are in an era of insanity, although I happen to agree that it's as apt a characterization as anything else. After all, we are living in an environment where #AlternativeFacts = #DeliberateFalsehoods, as we have witnessed repeatedly when denials are countered by recorded, televised proof, including contradictory statements by the speakers themselves at different time periods.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">My response to "How are you all staying sane in our era of insanity?" is shown below:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">By working at staying "unhooked" by the news stories and by parsing what is said and done and what the commentators are saying. I'm a pragmatist, and I'm staying focused on the issues but not ignoring the players. Emotional response is a luxury for me when so much is at stake.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">I believe in the power of righteous indignation. I also know that fear as a response to what is happening in the current administration is real and has a basis in fact. However, indignation and fear can be paralyzing and also time consumers. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /><br />As a Person of Color and a person from a refugee-immigrant heritage (mother and both sets of grandparents), hate acts, profiling, restrictions on civil rights, etc. are not new news. They are part of my lived experience. They are not part of the lived experience of people who have various kinds of privilege, chief among them, White Privilege. Class Privilege is right up there next to White Privilege.<br /><br />It is an act of resistance to be disciplined enough to recognize that acting out of being upset and angry (and I feel a lot of anger) is unproductive and wastes time. I also recognize my position as an elder and someone who has done anti-racism work for decades. That means remaining focused on the work of helping others to engage their fears and behavior, which is both goal and commitment to action.<br /><br />My advice to everyone is to do the homework of learning what is actually going on. Engage in conversations that help you deepen your understanding and that challenge what you know or think you know. Be gentle with yourself, and also be relentless with yourself as you seek to become a better neighbor to all whom you encounter.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">I want to make clear that I believe we each have a claim as well as a responsibility to be part of the work that will be needed to become better neighbors to one another. For me, that also means that while your part might be to take action such as marching or protesting, actions such as making phone calls or writing letters are also important and equally valid. It takes all of us to move justice and peace forward, doing what we can, when we can, as well as we can. </span></span>LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-84434931842107285952017-01-25T16:19:00.000-07:002017-01-25T16:19:56.180-07:00Courage is<div class="MsoNormal">
Courage is an invisible thread</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
that twists through</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
my hidden soul</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
my secret self</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mostly </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
courage lies buried</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
in daily life’s debris</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
where acquiescence</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
smoothes the way</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The daily decisions</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
choosing</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
this bread</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
or that apple</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
in the end</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
make no difference</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
in my life</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to my dreams</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Earth’s destiny</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
asserts</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
its disagreement</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
uninvited</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
unacknowledged</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Who am I</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to argue with Nature</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am a member </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
of a tribe </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
too large to contain</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
too diverse to control</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
too selfish to share</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I pray hope</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
when </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
all else fails </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Courage is a bitter brew</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
more frightening</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
than addictive</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am a member</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
of a tribe</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
that judges the price</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
too large</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
when I am the one</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
chosen to pay </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This tribe</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
has devised</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
veils</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
creating heroes</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
everywhere</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
everyday</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to mask</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the flight of courage</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
from the everyday</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
everywhere</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If it’s posted</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
printed</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
published</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If it’s spoken</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
sung</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and shared</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Surely that is </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
proof</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
positive</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and true</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
that courage </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
still lives on</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Courage is</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
communion</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
most sacred</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When open</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to all</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
naked of</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
rubrics</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
most powerful</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Courage is</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the communion</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
that lifts</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the hidden thread</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
in the body politic</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to be warp</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and woof </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
of a people</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
of a community</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
of a nation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
of the world</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Courage is </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the secret self</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
reaching for </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
its family</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lelanda Lee, 1-25-17</div>
LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-14875956484585614002017-01-25T14:35:00.000-07:002017-01-25T14:35:27.310-07:00I have a few questions<div style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
* I have a few questions . . . *</div>
<div style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
When did our body politic<br />become so fragile<br />that any statement of disagreement<br />is received<br />as a personal attack<br />on our identities?</div>
<div style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
When did we learn<br />to focus all our thinking<br />on formulating defensive responses<br />so that our moral positions<br />feel protected<br />and our egos feel affirmed,<br />if not lauded?</div>
<div style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Is a 30-second elevator speech<br />laced with adjectives<br />advertising me<br />a worthy paean<br />to this heart that falters<br />this mind that questions<br />this body that cannot<br />fit into a mold<br />with the non-conforming parts<br />excised?</div>
<div style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Dishonesty is not so far<br />from honesty<br />They share expanding edges<br />that we no longer recognize<br />nor can contain<br />It is the things<br />we tell ourselves<br />that pacify us<br />When all colors<br />soak into neighboring colors<br />no matter the forces<br />that roil them<br />the result is mud.</div>
<div style="color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 6px;">
Lelanda Lee, 1-24-17</div>
LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-8629403145601177082016-07-07T18:45:00.000-06:002016-07-07T18:45:17.378-06:00"Black Lives Matter"<div style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.888888359069824px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
A good friend asked me to talk about why "All Lives Matter" is problematic in this day and age. </div>
<div style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.888888359069824px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
First, let me say that, of course, all lives matter. And, of course, the lives that matter most to each of us are the lives of those closest and nearest and dearest to each of us. Those are facts, which we all know.</div>
<div style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.888888359069824px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
However, when we use the meme "Black Lives Matter," it is a way of pointing out and highlighting that in this day and age, Black and Brown people are targeted unfairly and unjustly in numerous ways that are caused by systemic racism that is institutionalized in how we think, feel, and act. Those systemic racist ways include both explicit racism and implicit racism. Systemic means that we have raised those racist ways to the level of having them embedded in how we organize and live our lives altogether as a society and as communities.</div>
<div style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.888888359069824px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Explicit racism occurs when we intentionally behave in ways that unfairly treat and target Black and Brown people. Implicit racism occurs when we are unaware that we hold prejudices against Black and Brown people that cause us to recoil from them and/or respond to them in unfair and profiling or targeting ways. An example of explicit racism is someone who believes that "those People of Color are lazy or intellectually inferior" and then passes over qualified People of Color for jobs or promotions on purpose merely on the basis of their skin color. An example of implicit racism is someone who doesn't CONSCIOUSLY hold a belief that "those People of Color are lazy or intellectually infereior," but who somehow never manages to choose a qualified Person of Color for a job or a promotion because they somehow always manage to find another reason for why that qualified Person of Color is not employable or promotable, such as "she doesn't seem like she would be a good fit," or "he doesn't seem like he would be fulfilled in that promotion; maybe he'll be happier in the next promotion that comes up," or "I'm not comfortable with having him in that position or working with her."</div>
<div style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.888888359069824px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Implicit racism is particularly pernicious, because it flies under the radar most of the time. Implicit racism exists in the nicest people, people who are our friends and our neighbors and our teachers and our priests. And nice White people are loathe to admit that they have any racist thoughts or feelings or attitudes within themselves, because it means having to face something that we're not proud of and that we can't justify. It may even mean having to repent, to turn away from the sinfulness of implicit racism and to try to behave more fairly and more justly and yes, more honestly. Becoming less racist is hard work, and it requires humility and sometimes a thick skin; there are personal sacrifices involved in giving up privilege of any kind.</div>
<div style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.888888359069824px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
"Black Lives Matter" is an important meme, because it DRAWS OUR ATTENTION to the irrefutable fact that Black (and Brown) People ARE presently being disadvantaged, sometimes to the point of false arrests and being killed, merely because of the color of their skin. We often see excuses offered for why these bad things happen -- from "that man or woman shouldn't have resisted arrest and they wouldn't have been shot" to "they shouldn't have been there in the first place" -- which are all excuses based on blaming the victim. As a society, we are still learning how to avoid blaming victims, as is evident in the way that we are learning to address rape culture by not blaming rape victims for the way that they are dressed or their prior sexual experiences as being the causes of them being raped. </div>
<div style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.888888359069824px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
"Black Lives Matter" is an important meme, because it DRAWS OUR ATTENTION to the fact that it is human nature to want to smooth things over and to think well of people we want to trust whom we have, as a society, placed into positions of authority over all of us. "Black Lives Matter" as a meme forces us to look where we may not feel comfortable looking, forces us to have conversations we are not comfortable having, forces us to admit things about ourselves and our society that we don't feel comfortable admitting, forces us to begin the honest, hairy, uncomfortable, and painful process of admitting our complicity in, our participation in the benefits of, a racist system that unfairly disadvantages, to the extreme of death, people who happen to have been born with dark colored skin. </div>
<div style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.888888359069824px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
When White people choose to substitute "All Lives Matter" over saying "Black Lives Matter," they are, in effect, choosing to gloss over the fact that it IS Black and Brown lives that have been so grossly and unfairly treated, harmed, and killed, because it makes them as White people feel more comfortable with themselves and they can comfort themselves with the fantasy that "All Lives" includes "Black Lives." It should, but it doesn't in this day and age, in this society, here and now. It is our goal, but we are not there yet. </div>
<div style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.888888359069824px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Another way to say this point is to ask why White people who have White Privilege feel the necessity to also grab a piece of the pie that those who have been victimized finally have access to. It's kind of like the unfairness of a teacher on a playground recognizing that Susie hasn't had a turn playing with the ball, but then telling Susie she now has to share her five minutes with the ball with the other children who had it for all the other minutes already. How does that affirm Susie that she has the same rights to play with that ball as the other children? How does it teach the other children that sharing means that Susie deserves to get her turn, too, just like they already had their turns? </div>
<div style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.888888359069824px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Needless to say, our hope is that as we acknowledge that "Black Lives Matter," we will also recognize that there are so many other ways in which we as a society demean the dignity of so many of our sisters and brothers of any color (such as the homeless, especially those with mental illness) and that through such recognition, we will live into an ethos that says, "All Lives Matter," and mean it.</div>
LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-42541604965517985802016-02-10T07:54:00.002-07:002016-02-10T07:54:57.438-07:00In Praise of Generosity of Spirit<div class="MsoNormal">
I write this post in gratitude and admiration for my
children, Corin, age 46, and Cecelia, age 30. They both have a tremendous
generosity of spirit that I can’t take credit for. Corin lived through his father’s
and my difficult separation and divorce at a very young age and had a tough
childhood in which I often say that he raised himself. Cecelia grew up during a
time when both Herb and I, as older parents (compared to her childhood
contemporaries), were focused on building our careers and stressed from
traveling constantly in our jobs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet, somehow, throughout the trials of their childhoods, our
children each managed in their own way to grow up into extraordinarily
generous-hearted adults who are good partners to their beloveds, friends their
friends can count on, and caring colleagues. (We call them <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">our</i> children, and they call all the various sets of parents <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">their parents</i>.) How does this happen?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I suspect part of the answer is that both Corin and Cecelia
are inherently good people who value life and have compassion for other
people’s difficulties. To say that we all have been blessed is a huge
understatement. We also can claim sizable extended biological families on all
sides who maintain family ties, emphasizing that all the cousins of our
children’s generation get to know and love each other. Mutual respect is
paramount in establishing good family relations when divorce and remarriage
occur.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All of us parents and significant adults (while we were
still dating) who passed through Corin’s and Cecelia’s lives subscribed to some
basic tenets of good behavior and respect for others. There was no hitting,
verbal abuse, or cheating allowed. Sacrificing for education and employment
were priorities that we spoke about explicitly. We talked with our children
like they were fully people and not merely youngsters who were not yet people. We
told them the truth, even when it was complicated and disappointing. We
included our children in everything we did as much as possible, so that they
met our friends and came to our events. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I must comment that we were greatly helped by living in
Hawaii at the time, immersed in a Polynesian/Asian cultural environment where
children are included without question. None of our group, including us, used
hired babysitters; our children were cared for by our friends and extended
biological families when we had to be somewhere or were traveling without
children. The culture supported us to nurture relationships that value children
and place them fully and centrally in those communities’ midst. That kind of
community focus matters, and it helps to create healthy children who become
healthy adults.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Both Corin and Cecelia share a great love for animals and
humor. Corin and his family care for three dogs, and Cecelia and her partner
live with two cats. Along the way, both have also fostered additional cats,
dogs, and the occasional sugar glider flying squirrel and rat. Corin and
Cecelia also share a love for stand-up comedy and puns, which I envy. (The fact
that Cantonese is my first language inhibits my English-language comedy appreciation,
to Herb’s and my great regret.) I think compassion and a sense of humor are spiritual
dimensions that transcend barriers to good relationships.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I admire the fact that Corin never says an unkind word about
anyone. That is a lesson I am still trying to learn, and he is one of my
teachers. Corin has worked successfully in a sales field for a couple of
decades. I’m convinced his success derives from his belief in the unexplored
goodwill hidden in people, who respond positively to his expectation that they
will bring their best selves to the table.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cecelia has surprised and pleased her father and me with her
generosity dating back to her pre-teen years. She has also affirmed Herb, me,
and her grandmother frequently, expressing her thanks for our presence in her
life. She often gave from her own treasures to teenage friends who needed to
know love, and she has helped other young adults at a financial cost to herself
when she did not have many resources to call her own. Cecelia now also works in a customer service field, and her empathy for others is reflected in the collegial relationships she has built.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
As Herb and I get closer to the end of our earthly lives, we
feel truly fulfilled and grateful for our good fortune that our children have
graced and blessed our lives and the lives of others. Our prayer is that other parents experience some
of these blessings in their lives, too.</div>
LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-14337823905084316912016-01-09T00:00:00.000-07:002016-01-09T10:55:27.318-07:00“Speak the language of love like you know what it means.”<div class="MsoNormal">
Nicole Chung, managing editor of “The Toast,” posted an
article at “Race” on her Website on January 5th titled “<a href="http://the-toast.net/2016/01/05/what-goes-through-your-mind-casual-racism/">What
Goes Through Your Mind: On Nice Parties and Casual Racism</a>.” It’s powerful
story and truth telling about microaggressions and the thoughts and
feelings that People of Color experience in a culture that makes the White
experience normative.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I felt a cascade of emotions when I read Chung’s article, starting with dismay, but not surprise, that a racist comment was made at a
family holiday meal. Next came disappointment, also not unexpected, at the writer's
choice not to address the comment head on, and finally I landed on empathy and compassion for the
author's analysis of the situation and her predicament and situationally forced decision not to rock the boat. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Been there, done that, and reflected on the
subject of microaggressions for many moons. Will not be buying any teeshirt.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I remember Arthur Fletcher's comment in an ethnic Chambers
of Commerce keynote talk 25 years ago. Fletcher at the time was chair of the
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and known as the "father of Affirmative
Action." Fletcher was also the president and CEO of the United Negro College
Fund who coined the phrase, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” On that
night in Denver, Fletcher was 67 and had undergone bypass surgery. He declared
that there is no benefit in keeping silent about the dismal state of civil
rights in USAmerica and that he would speak out again and again. I'm approaching
67, and I've felt the same way since I first encountered the civil rights and
women’s movements. Speaking out is something anointed and professed leaders are called to do. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Human interactions become racialized when someone says or
does something that makes race an issue. “Do people ever tell you that
you look just like everyone on that show?” asked the woman at the dinner
table of Chung, referencing Chung's interview with Constance Wu of the television series <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fresh Off the Boat</i>, featuring an Asian family. Chung is an Asian woman in an apparently dominant culture family (White,
I’m guessing) and has biracial children, just like me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chung wrote that several possible responses flitted through
her mind, including, "Why on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">earth</i>
would you say something like that?" and "For one wild second I allow myself to imagine
speaking freely, with no attempt at self-deprecation or
careful diplomacy.” She characterized her unspoken question as being “brutally
direct.” Wow! Just wow!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We People of Color have been carefully taught through the school of hard knocks to be circumspect in our speech so as not to cause any conflagrations and be accused of making a mountain out of a molehill when we could have "just let it go." A White woman from the dominant culture could speak freely and say any thought that popped into her head, including “Do people ever tell you that you look just like everyone on that show?” -- something I am positive no one ever says to a White person. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just imagine me saying to a White person, "Do people ever tell you that you look just like everyone in most Fortune 500 board rooms?" It's offensive and demeaning to talk to people that way, and it also can rob the person at whom the remark is directed of her power and self-esteem as she attempts to overlook the question for the sake of a semblance of family peace.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I agree with the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">direct</i>
characterization of "brutally direct" that Chung ascribed to her possible response of "Why on <i>earth </i>would you say something like that?" However, I don’t find the question <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">brutal</i> at all. I find the question honest. I'd really like to know what is going through someone's mind when they say things like that.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We teach our children to question why things are said and
done, so that they learn how to discern the motivation behind the things that
people say and do. I believe that we also need to model that kind of
questioning so that we don’t become too domesticated and trained into model
minority behaviors of self-deprecation and careful diplomacy as matters of
habit, practicing “going along to get along.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am a person who bears those characteristics of
self-deprecation and careful diplomacy. When appropriate, I am self-deprecating.
However, I find self-deprecation to be overrated as a false show of humility
and a characteristic that is unfairly encouraged in females as a means of
keeping women down. Remember the biblical verse admonishing us not to hide our
light under a bushel basket? [Matthew 5:15] I am also diplomatic, scanning the waters of
relationships with diligent alertness to show care and concern for others by how I speak and behave so as to avoid breakdowns in communication and
relationship.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Relationships become racialized, but they don’t have to
become strained, provided everyone exercises openness and honesty about what
they know and don’t know about race and racism. Tina Turner performs a song
titled “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UsFjXF0GJg">Simply The Best</a>,” which has a wonderfully relevant lyric on this subject: “Speak
the language of love like you know what it means. . . . It can't be wrong.”</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Conversations
need to be direct, using words that convey what we actually mean.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Questions
need to be precise, asking what we actually want to learn and understand.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Feelings
of offense need to be owned, disclosed, and respected.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">And
no, you don’t get to say that your feelings are now hurt as your defensive
response to having said or done something that was offensive to another,
especially to a Person of Color.</span> </li>
</ul>
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">In other words, “Speak the truth with love.” No
embellishments to dress up the truth. No diminutions to soften the impact of
the truth. No lies to cover up the truth. Let your openness – your
vulnerability – be the shalom that you offer.</span>LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-15463635743473961212016-01-08T01:05:00.000-07:002016-01-08T01:05:11.671-07:00Being Brave – aka Being the First-Born Son<div class="Body">
A friend wondered if my years of participating in church and
community leadership – teaching, writing, and speaking – have been fueled by a
need for acceptance and approval. My response is that it’s more complicated
than that.</div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
I have often remarked that my cultural experience of being a
first-born female in the Chinese culture, which values first-born sons as the
correct way to form a family, is the defining experience of my identity. My paternal grandmother, who was an iconic matriarch, made it
known in words meant to punish my mother for producing an eldest daughter and
not an eldest son and thus, being an unworthy daughter-in-law. I was a
precocious child, who soaked up these lessons and sought to protect my
blossoming heart by trying harder to speak, sing, and dance in ways that might
attract the praise of elders. But a child’s version of speaking, singing, and
dancing could not elicit the countervailing opinions sufficient to withstand my
grandmother’s power to shape a girl-child into a whole person.</div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
The opposing, sheltering winds came from the unlikely community
of a German-language Lutheran church that taught me scripture and instilled in
me a salvific belief in something beyond the authority of my family and
culture. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life</i>.” [John 3:16 KJV] I also learned to sing,
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jesus loves me! This I know, For the
Bible tells me so; Little ones to Him belong; They are weak, but He is strong</i>.”
[Anna B. Warner, 1860]</div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
My maternal great-grandfather was evangelized in Guangdong
Province and rode a bicycle around his village, and was known widely as the
“Jesus Man.” It was his Christianity that tempered his Chinese character,
leading to schooling for his girl-children and no beatings for the servants and
indentured labor. My mother would adopt her grandfather’s modern Western views
and nurture me as the eldest daughter of herself, an eldest daughter, who was
also mothered by an eldest daughter, my grandmother. </div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
I went to public school in Detroit, Michigan, in a time (1954-1966,
1st through 12th grades, skipping 2nd and 5th grades) when citizenship and
civics were still taught. I gravitated to the concepts of equality and liberty
and justice as the lifelines that they promised to be. I was saved
intellectually by lofty concepts that overshadowed the demeaning and
mean-spirited cultural memes that made me, a girl, less than a real person. It was only later, in my maturation from teenager to adult that I
learned the hypocrisy of the USAmerican dream – that it didn’t apply to girls
of color and girls from refugee-immigrant families. I’ll tell that story
another time.</div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
It was only within the last two decades that I came to name the
cultural meme that denigrates first-born girls as a form of child abuse. Naming
is a powerful liberating force, and it is never too late to say the true names
of things for all to be freed from the tyranny of cultural memes taken for
granted as false truths. </div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
Being the precocious eldest child led to the duties of taking
care of the English interactions that make a household function when the father
works the 12-hour swing shift laboring in Chinese restaurants and the mother
speaks only Cantonese. That early responsibility actually restored an identity
where one had been ripped away as the first-born girl. My aplomb at carrying
out the adult duties gave me gravitas as an eight-year-old and helped me to
develop bravado. What was the worst that anyone could do to me? Hit me? I had
already been the recipient of verbal blows from an early age. I was already
accustomed to racist epithets from the White kids on the way to school and the
Black kids on the way home. I already knew how not to cower at the verbal
criticism that the adults didn’t know I had heard and absorbed.</div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
I learned at a very young age the power inherent in being openly
vulnerable. It is the same power that lives in the story of Jesus Christ who
was strong in his human vulnerability, his seeming weakness. Enduring suffering
does more than build character. It is like the stone that sharpens the sword,
especially if you know that you are shaped by the One Creator who declares that
His Creation is very good. </div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
I know several highly talented, articulate, fabulous women who
have important thoughts and experiences to share with the world, but for myriad
reasons they are blocked from speaking out and do not allow themselves to be
seen as their true selves in the public eye. These women have journeyed from
different posts in the USAmerican culture. They receive praise of their gifts
with grace and are truly grateful for the recognition. As much time as they
have each spent achieving distinction in careers and volunteer service,
nonetheless they are mostly hidden from view and not necessarily by their
choosing. It is as if their psyches have chosen for them, without their bidding
or permission.</div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
I have stumbled and fallen in public, both figuratively and on
the steps up to a podium, more times than I can recount. I have made big,
painful, public mistakes and paid the painfully exquisite consequences, and I
have sometimes repeated those biggies until I finally figured things out or had
things pointed out to me. I have hurt my family, especially my children, and
caused them to pay for my errors. And yet, I continue to embrace open
vulnerability, because I believe in its power to lift up, affirm, and reaffirm
the authentic woman I’ve become, grown up from that first-born girl, who early
in my 30s claimed the position of first-born son with all its attributes and
privileges. I really, really like Star Trek, where all command officers are
addressed as “Mister.”</div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
I am sad that these women friends cannot find the release button
to present their authentic selves in public, to reveal the hidden parts that their
fears control. I recently read a People Magazine article as I sat in the
waiting area of a doctor’s office about Spanx. In case you don’t know, Spanx is
the life-changing underwear that oft-photographed celebrities wear to bind
their bodies so that they can fit into body-hugging clothing that doesn’t allow
for eating, drinking, or peeing. I think Spanx is the metaphor for people who
cannot be openly vulnerable in public.</div>
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<div class="Body">
Just as I talk about empowerment as something that one claims
rather than waits to be given it, so, too, I think of being brave as claiming
the role that carries the power and the privileges and owning it. Be it, and
strut it, boss!</div>
LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-87420800289125658502016-01-07T15:30:00.000-07:002016-01-07T15:30:19.915-07:00Decluttering as Spiritual Discipline<div class="MsoNormal">
Stepping all the way off the merry-go-round involves walking
away into the uncommitted future and welcoming a wide-open future. As one nearing 67,
the idea of a wide-open future with the possibility of newness, learning, and
adventure is very exciting.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Walking away means limiting the amount of news and
information coming at me from my usual sources, which is manifested in
unsubscribing from groups and causes and their attendant voluminous emails and
newsletters. It also means not compulsively reading every post made by my
Facebook friends, even though I remain curious about what they’re doing and
thinking.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This process of stepping off involves a fundamental change
in self-definition and not merely a change in choice of activities. I’ve always valued being a well-informed person and reveled
in that self-perception. Others have valued that about me, too, seeking me as a
source of information in their searches for connection. I admit that my sense
of self-worth has been built in significant measure on such a self-image. When others have commented that I am courageous to be choosing radical sabbatical, I suspect they have recognized how much of myself I must relinquish in order to be able to step all the way off the merry-go-round.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am letting go of the constant stream of data and
invitations to events from religious and social justice arenas that I still
care passionately about . . . I continue to hold the people in these
ministries in my prayers and meditations . . . I am entering a future where I will not have an identity defined by the outside work that I do or the titles and roles that I bear. All this reminds me of my profession as a teenager that I wanted my epitaph to read merely, "She was," because nothing more needs to be said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What I know is this: I can’t allow myself to get consumed by
the influx of information, requests, and events in this time of radical sabbatical.
I am focused on getting down to the roots of my existence and why and for whom
I am here.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wrote recently to a Facebook friend that I had come to
view the institutional church as a greedy companion. The church beckons with
invitations full of delightful ministry and promises for deep personal growth.
The church, which includes all its peripheral communities, never stops beckoning
. . . until my own desire to participate begins to reflect more obligation and
overwhelm than blessing and nurture. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wonder how much my own personality traits contribute to
my experience of the institutional church. I admit that I have a
proclivity towards compulsive activity. So, to be clear, I’m not placing blame
on anyone or anything else. Yet, I wonder if this isn’t part of the experience
of the emerging church and those who say they are spiritual but not religious.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tidying my desk has filled bags of recyclable
paper . . . numerous sets of minutes and financial reports, notes, newsletters,
and brochures . . . as well as the evidence of my compulsion to file statements
from all the accounts that financially established adults accumulate.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the first time in many years, I actually found the time
to write a new year’s letter to send to family and friends. It was written and
sent in an effort to rekindle relationships, especially with the thoughtful
ones who have shared their Christmas letters with us. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The good news is that we can turn over new leaves. We can
teach ourselves new tricks or rediscover old tricks we’ve forgotten. I’m giving it a try in a substantive way in 2016. My mother and my husband will be glad to know that next I'm finally going through and tossing the "trash, not treasure" from the boxes used as holding bins in the house and garage! </div>
LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-28018848089829502732016-01-05T16:55:00.002-07:002016-01-05T16:55:05.109-07:00Caregiving, Loneliness, and Sacrifice<div class="MsoNormal">
I read with alarm <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/home-health-aide-charged-with-assaulting-architect-im-pei_5685e8e3e4b014efe0da805d">the
story of 98-year old architect I.M. Pei</a> who was victimized by a hired home
health aide on December 13, 2015. The health aide, a woman with a Georgian
surname, apparently twisted Pei’s forearm, causing bruising and bleeding. She
was arrested after a two-week investigation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I.M. Pei is a Chinese elder, and as a Chinese daughter, this
story hits home. It is frightening to imagine that this could happen to our
elders or ourselves if we hired in-home caretakers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We also have Georgian family, whom we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">adopted as “hanai” family</i> fifteen years ago when we helped them
normalize their immigration status. They have since become U.S. citizens. The
wife, who was a cardiologist in Georgia, is now a Family Nurse Practitioner
(FNP) working in an urgent care center, after painstakingly learning English,
taking courses while working fulltime and raising two small boys, and becoming
certified. [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Hanai” is Hawaiian
describing a chosen family of one’s own making.</i>]</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In many Asian cultures, the norm is to care for elders in
our homes, with multiple generations of family members pitching in to provide
care and companionship. As we out-marry into other cultures, our familial
practices evolve to incorporate the tolerances of those other cultures. Still,
many Asians of my generation have elder in-laws living in their ethnically
blended homes and wouldn’t consider outsourcing elder care.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My husband Herb and I met and married in Hawaii, where Asian
and Pacific Islander cultural influences are strong. We used daycare when our
daughter was young and we both worked fulltime, but we didn’t use babysitters
for the non-work times. Like my parents’ generation, our daughter was with us all
the other times. Family is precious. Our children and elders, the most
vulnerable among us, are the most precious, and we hold them close.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My retired, widowed mother joined our household in 2000,
when it became clear that loneliness was her daily companion. It was a gift for
our daughter, finishing her final years of high school, to have the advocacy
and pampering of her last living grandparent to guide her teenage years. For my mother it was
an affirmation of all that she had invested and sacrificed to become who she is and to feel needed and useful in the household of her daughter,
son-in-law, and granddaughter, with a married grandson and great-grandsons
nearby. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the great poverties of the single family detached
residences that is the USAmerican dream is that families are detached,
geographically distant, and unfortunately, often emotionally distant, too.
Loneliness becomes one’s daily cup of tea, and the phone calls and photographs
that serve as talismans against loneliness simply aren’t sufficient to overcome
boredom and undiagnosed depression. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Living with one’s aging mother is challenging, especially
for me, less so for my husband. My mother and I have engaged a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kabuki</i> dance as to who controls the
kitchen and who is the grandmother to my grandsons, while my husband has
enjoyed the favored cultural position of revered son-in-law who is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kowtowed</i> to by the mother-in-law. For me
it has been a welcome respite from the challenges on the home front to engage
the challenges on the work and volunteer fronts. Yet, duty remains and trumps
all challenges, borne out of love and gratitude for prior sacrifices. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am keenly aware of the ravages of loneliness. I have seen
it in the faces and voices of elders who live alone, especially those who live
in cities far from their children and are moved into managed care facilities
when they are unable to live alone safely. I also see it in the lives of young
people who have been discarded like an unwanted leftover by parents who
disapprove of their sexuality or life choices. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Loneliness is so simple to truncate with the gift of our
presence, but we have to choose to make that gift. Giving our presence involves
sacrificing some immediate pleasures and sometimes making permanent sacrifices
we’d prefer not to give up. Giving our presence involves choosing to sacrifice
portions of our own lives to enhance portions of someone else’s life. Most
healthy people have it within themselves to make those kinds of sacrifices for
their progeny, but find it difficult to make those sacrifices for anyone else.
True sacrifices are those that come with no payback and no recovery of any
losses, real or perceived.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Caretaking does not stand in isolation to the whole of how
we maintain our relationships. Loving, giving, and sacrificing are woven into
the lives we create. Whether we choose to sacrifice or not, and how we
weave sacrifice into our life stories – these are the fibers of our humanity
that strengthen or weaken the connections that continue a community
or end it prematurely. </div>
LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-1706560506165605142016-01-04T11:46:00.001-07:002016-01-04T11:46:34.902-07:00Choosing Appreciation, Not Avoidance<div class="MsoNormal">
"Fixing my brokenness" is not the reason for changing course in my life in 2016.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, I am broken in some serious places, like in my body’s
ability to function fully. I have hypertension and out-of-sight glucose
readings. My joints ache from being fat. Like a scientific observer I am intrigued by my crooked arthritic toes
and fingers. My body today is vastly different from that of my 20s
and 30s. Physical changes may be gradual, but self-awareness of them arrives
like a light switch being flipped.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Instead, I am focused on possibilities and not impairments.
Even at an age nearer 70 than 60, I am convinced there are benefits
in life worth moving towards. My hopes are aspirational rather than centered on
avoidance. I see the understated charm of seniors' love stories. I understand yearning for
the ordinariness of human touch that diminishes as yesterday’s sexuality seeks
new expression. We continue to be given chances to change and renew until our last breath.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Forgiveness tends to be twinned with repentance and delivers
promises of self-liberation for the forgiver. Waking up as a senior doesn’t
have to be paired with regrets and can simply be acknowledgement of actual
lived experiences with no judgment attached. <i>Yeah, I really did live that way.
I really did those things. Oh, silly me!</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m grateful for the Internet and search engines that allow
me to find inspirational stories of senior athletes and innovators who are off
on their next career or adventure. I continue to be inspired by saints who make
life better for others. And I also want to be a better me for the rest of my own
life. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I once wrote a blog titled “<a href="http://whatacupoftea.blogspot.com/2012/06/mending-our-brokenness.html">Mending
Our Brokenness</a>” about the Japanese use of 24 karat gold to restore a
pottery item to new versions of themselves, beautiful and functional. The process is called <i><b>kintsugi</b>. </i>In 3-1/2 years, it has garnered over 10,000 views, suggesting that humans have a deep interest in mending our brokenness.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
I now find myself seeking the 24 karat gold that will create a new version of myself, beautiful and functional. It’s not
about fixing any brokenness. It is about finding and
embracing the new glue – whether it’s contemplation, nature’s beauty, humor, or
kitchen tasks – that will restore my ebullience in encountering every new
moment.</div>
LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-55477106879894972072016-01-03T15:02:00.000-07:002016-01-03T15:02:12.805-07:00Small Pleasures and Daily Treasures<div class="MsoNormal">
Enjoying the small pleasures of daily life is something I am
teaching myself once more. It’s as if the overwhelming busyness of the last ten
years wiped out my sense of perspective to enjoy the treasures of daily life. While
I know it's true that one never stops learning, I hadn’t expected to
have to relearn lessons I thought I already knew.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Discovery is an important part of finding pleasure in what
we experience. Novelty is as much about new attitudes as it is about new
experiences. While we all can’t have new experiences, we can all nurture new
attitudes. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It turns out that I like washing dishes and cleaning the
kitchen. I feel satisfaction when the dishes and pots are all cleaned and the
kitchen surfaces wiped down. My hands get dry and my fingers stiff, and I enjoy
the sensation of rubbing lotion into my hands when I’ve set the dishcloth aside.
I’ve let go of my perfectionism to appreciate when my brother Jon takes over
doing the kitchen clean-up for an evening.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On a recent grocery excursion by myself I visited two
grocery stores – a natural foods one and a national chain store – checking
things off a list and getting reacquainted with the placement of products,
noting items I hadn’t seen before. When I got home, I unloaded the groceries,
making numerous trips from the car to the kitchen. It was 8 degrees F, and I
relished the cold air that slowed my joints and careful steps from car to
house. It was like storing treasures to put away the bright green peppers,
skinny zucchini, and large navel oranges. It made me feel wealthy and
appreciated, knowing that I had brought food home to feed my family.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As our household figures out how to help Mom become
active again after her hospitalization with heart problems, thoughts pop up
that I remember thinking when we were raising our daughter, who is now 30. When
do I help, and when do I support opportunities for Mom to do things for
herself? What is a safe activity, and what requires insistence on using a cane
or letting me carry the hot cup of coffee? Even though my patience has grown through
helping Mom, I still need to remind myself to practice patience when an
activity takes longer than anticipated or needs to be repeated.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One discovers authentic truths that make life worth living
like . . . Humility in the rhythm of repeating tasks that support how a household cares for its needs . . .
A consciousness of meditative reflections as one contemplates the tasks while
doing them . . . The sense of gathering up and celebrating the small pleasures and
daily treasures, because one claims them as one’s own . . .</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We must soon replace our washer and dryer, which have been nursed
and nudged along for 15 years. I’m looking forward to the process of studying
our shopping choices, instead of begrudging another required task. I remember a
girlfriend remarking on how giddy she felt after installing new carpeting in her
house. A new washer and dryer should give me pleasure that I am getting such
treasures!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Scripture says, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">And
immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was
restored</i>.” [Acts 9:18a NRSV] I think that’s what happens when we begin to see the moments in our daily lives with
new attitudes. </div>
LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-40121708723951594942016-01-02T11:14:00.000-07:002016-01-02T11:14:00.185-07:00Build the Road as We Go<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the big projects that has consumed much of my
thought, time, and energy has been an Asset Based Community Development (ABCD)
project that we undertook at the 32nd Avenue Jubilee Center in North Denver,
beginning in late 2013. A tenet of ABCD is to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">build the road as we go</i></b>. We follow the energy and passion around us, and we set off with no
expectation that we will end up in a certain place. We take a leap of faith
and trust in the goodness of the Creator and the Creation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I blogged yesterday that I am getting <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all
the way</i></b><b><i> off</i></b> the merry-go-round of my life full of busy volunteer
activities to focus on taking care of my family and myself, I didn’t know how
the following days would unfold. I felt trepidation and equivocation, and yet,
I knew I had to take the first step. I knew I had to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">save</i></b> my life in a very
real sense, and that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">saving my life</i></b> is not an
exaggeration.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My Facebook friends have been supportive in their response,
and they are helping to lay the pavers for each new step that I walk. I am
grateful beyond measure for their affirmation of me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have written a lot about affirmation, and one of the most
important and most accessible ways in which we support one another is through
affirmations. Affirmations are so simple and cost nothing except a moment of
your time. You simply say, “I think you are doing the right thing,” or “I
appreciate how difficult that decision was,” or “I know that your family will
be blessed,” or “I am aware of the thoughtfulness of your choice,” or “I
appreciate YOU.” Even one such as me, who has made it my ministry to affirm
others, experiences affirmations as the blessings that they are.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
I am reminded that on the sixth day of Creation, “God saw
everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.” [Genesis 1:31a,
NRSV] That is how I feel about life in all its trials and tribulations. Despite
the challenges, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">life is very good</i></b>, down to each breath that we take . . . if we
are mindful. There is something to be said about the wisdom of mindfulness and
paying attention to our breaths. It is in those moments of the stripped away
simpleness of being still that we know the Creator <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i></b>.</div>
LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-89078832370690102512016-01-01T21:35:00.000-07:002016-01-01T21:35:19.320-07:00Happy Renewal of Life!<div class="MsoNormal">
Happy New Year! Happy Renewal of Life!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2016 brings with it many new resolutions for me, most of
them arrived at after deep thought and with some deeply felt regret about my lack
of responsibility for my health. Choices are good things, in and of themselves.
They offer opportunities to reflect on how things have been going and to decide
how to make changes for the better. I spend a great deal of time thinking with
and affirming others, especially 20 and 30-somethings, on their lives and their
choices. Caring for others is something at my core, and I’ve been devoted to
this caring my whole life. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The recent hospitalizations of my husband, Herb (77 on
January 13th), and my mother, Frances (90 this past October 15th), and our dear
friend Keith (near my age, which will be 67 in March) have served as major
wake-up calls. I can no longer ignore the admonitions of my primary care
physician to pay attention to the unacceptable measurements of my high blood
pressure readings and high finger prick blood tests. I can no longer ignore my
weight, my mobility issues, or
aches and pains that come and stay. I can no longer ignore the predictive
nature of these facts. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am already not ignoring my duties as primary caretaker of
a household of seniors with health issues. I already have undertaken the
primary cooking, grocery shopping, laundry, driving, and housekeeping. I just
haven’t been paying attention to my own health. And I recognize that I can’t be
here as everyone’s caretaker if I’m not taking care of myself. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, for me, unlike for others, I just have to get <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all
the way</i></b> off the merry-go-round, because I don’t know how, and never
have known how, to do things in half-measures. I simply have to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">STOP</b> all the extracurricular activities
and spend my attention on the people in my household. I need to remember to
take my medications daily and at the scheduled intervals instead of my
haphazard habit of missing days at a time. I need to prepare meals suitable for
people with cardiac and diabetes issues. I need to declutter our house that
I’ve ignored for the past eight years of intensive volunteer service. I need to
nurture my relationships with my children and grandchildren and adopted family
members. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I need to be present in actuality and not just in theory. I
need to practice presence versus merely embrace the ethos of presence. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, for 2016, which I dub my year of sabbatical, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I am resigning from all the wonderful
volunteer activities that I have been blessed to undertake</b>. I am deeply
grateful and humbled by the trust and faith that others have placed in me. I
apologize that my decision may feel like I am letting you down. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am planning to stay close to home, except when traveling
to visit family and friends or to vacation with Herb. I am planning to spend
time with our aged cat, Tink, and nurture some houseplants as external
indicators of my mental and spiritual health. I am planning to walk daily, use
the exercise equipment in our house, and join a gym. I am planning to read for
pleasure. I am planning to write regularly and try my hand at drawing using
computer programs.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
If it can’t be done from home, I won’t choose to do it,
because home is where I’m needed right now. It’s taken me months of agonizing
thought and prayer to arrive at this decision, and I have no doubts that I will
agonize about it some more when I feeling wistful about what might be, but
isn’t anymore. I realize that I love the gift of life for all the creatures of
God’s Creation not to choose otherwise. </div>
LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-59421374400573662242015-06-14T17:31:00.000-06:002015-06-14T17:31:25.179-06:00Talking About God and Religion with a 7-Year-Old<div class="MsoNormal">
Dear Jack,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Your
mom tells me you have some questions about God and religion. She says you and
your grandfather have been talking about God. Your mom asked if anyone who has
had little boys like you has any good ideas on how to talk to someone who’s
7-years old about God and religion. I said I’d like to try. I’m a grandma and
have had my own little boy and little girl who are all grown up just like your
mom.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Even
though you’re only 7-years old, you are already beginning to learn how to think
about things for yourself. You are learning how to read and to listen to
teachers show you new ideas and introduce you to new things that you can learn
more about. As you keep growing up, you will also learn how to figure out if
what people tell you is true and makes sense or not. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sometimes
you will not be able to figure things out right away. That is when it’s helpful
to talk with the adults in your life and ask lots of questions. The helpful
adults in your life will try their best to explain things to you, and they will
tell you when they don’t know the answers. Then, maybe, you and those adults
could do some study together and learn what the answers might be.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One
of the things about this great country that we live in, the United States of
America, is that we have freedom of religion. That means we U.S. Americans
think that everyone should be free to make their own choices about whether or
not to believe in God and to participate in a religion. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Religion
is the way that people worship the God they believe in and the way that they
get together in groups with other people who believe in God as they do. Christianity
is one kind of religion, and there are many other kinds of religions. We can’t
really say that one religion is better than another, although people sometimes
talk that way. Each religion is important to the people who participate in it,
and we are acting in a bossy way when we put down someone else’s religion.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
first questions people ask about God are usually “Is God real?” and “Does God
exist?” There are many good people in the world who truly believe that God is
real and that God is active in their lives. There are also many other good
people who do not believe in God and think God does not exist. People who
believe in God and people who don’t believe in God sometimes argue with each
other and even say and do unkind things to each other based on their beliefs or
unbeliefs. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
is too bad that people treat each other badly based on their beliefs or
unbeliefs, because what is most important of all is that we treat each other as
we want to be treated. The Golden Rule, which is part of every religion, says,
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That means be as nice to
others as you are nice to yourself and as you want others to be nice to you. In
other words, don’t be mean to someone else, because you wouldn’t want them to
be mean to you.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
may have noticed in talking with the adults in your life that some of them feel
very strongly about their ideas about God and maybe even try to get you to
believe what they believe. It is confusing, isn’t it? One of the important
things you are doing as you work on growing up and learning lots of things in
school and at home talking with your adults is that you are learning to think
for yourself. You are learning ideas that make sense to you and ideas that you
have to spend more time learning and thinking about before they make sense to
you. Your mom’s goal for you, and every mom’s goal for their little boys and
little girls, is that our children learn how to learn new ideas and to think
for themselves.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For
many people God is real and an important all powerful, all knowing, influence in
their lives. They believe that God, through important books written about God,
teaches them how to live their lives as good people and how to treat other
people in a kind way. They go to a church or a temple to hear religious
teachers tell them about God and what God hopes for their lives. And when they
are in church or in temple, these people who believe in God also spend time
praising God for the things that they think God is doing in the world for human
beings. That kind of praise, when done together with other believers in God, is
called worship. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
people who believe in God “talk” to God, either silently or aloud, that is
called prayer. An example of prayer is someone who believes in God having what
they think of as a personal conversation with God, telling God things and
listening for God to tell them things in ways that make them feel like God is
talking to them. Some people feel that God is talking to them by changing the
way that they feel about things, or they believe that their nighttime dreams
and daydreams are ways in which God talks to them. This is how some people
believe in God, and it is not our job to say that they are right or wrong.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For
other people who don’t believe in God, they learn about how to become good people
through the adults and teachers in their lives. A person can grow up to become
a very good person without believing in God and without going to church or
temple. It is a personal choice that a person makes after hearing different
ideas about whether or not God exists. Each person gets to choose for himself
or herself, and believing in God or not believing in God does not by itself make
you a good or not-so-good person. Here, also, it is not our job to say that
these people who do not believe in God are right or wrong.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One
thing that is important for good people to do is to treat in a kind way the
right of other people to have their beliefs as long as those beliefs don’t
interfere with the way that the other people live their lives. So, if I believe
in God, it is important for me as a good person to treat people who don’t
believe in God just as I want to be treated. Likewise, if I do not believe in
God, I should not belittle or make fun of people who do believe in God, because
I would not want anyone to make fun of me or make me feel small.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thanks,
Jack, for letting me talk to you about God and religion. Perhaps we can talk
again soon about other things like the different kinds of religions that people
participate in.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Your mom’s friend and your friend,</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Lelanda</div>
LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-76841042721825445782015-06-08T15:08:00.001-06:002015-06-08T15:08:49.157-06:00Who is Your Family?<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">I was in St. Paul, Minnesota, over the weekend to conduct an anti-racism/anti-discrimination workshop for members of the shared ministry teams at Holy Apostles Episcopal Church, which is a bicultural, bilingual mission with a large contingent of Hmong immigrant congregants. For the workshop, we focused on the Episcopal Church's teachings on race, racism, and racial justice as well as an in-depth exploration of culture--what it is and how it impacts people, discrimination and stereotypes, and ways in which we can all improve the ways in which we show our love and respect for our fellow human beings. I was invited to preach on Sunday, and below is my sermon. The Gospel for Sunday was Mark 3:20-35:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">T</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">he crowd came
together again, so that Jesus and his disciples could not even eat. When his
family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying,
"He has gone out of his mind." And the scribes who came down from
Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts
out demons." And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables,
"How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself,
that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house
will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is
divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong
man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man;
then indeed the house can be plundered.</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a;">"Truly I tell you, people will
be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever
blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of
an eternal sin" -- for they had said, "He has an unclean
spirit."</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside,
they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said
to him, "Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for
you." And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And
looking at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my
brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and
mother."</span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i>* * * * * * * * * *</i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Good
morning. In Cantonese—“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jo sun</i>.” In
Hawaiian—“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Aloha</i>.” And in French—“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bon matin</i>.” I am very pleased to be with
you this morning to share the word of God with you and what it has to say to us
today. Thank you to the Beloved Community at Holy Apostles for inviting me to
be here this weekend to conduct the Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression workshop on
Friday night and Saturday and to be your preacher this morning.</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
have learned from my Native American sisters and brothers to take the time to
introduce myself and where I come from—my family—when I first stand up to speak
to a group. It is a lovely way of being present with a new group of people—to
honor your own family by sharing stories about them and to honor the people you
are with by opening yourself to them, letting them see into your heart, so that
they know you trust them and that they can trust you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My
Chinese name is Lee Cheuck Guin, and my American name is Lelanda Lee. I am the
eldest child of a Chinese father who was born in the United States of parents
from China and a Chinese mother who was born and raised in China and married my
father in an arranged marriage when my father, his older brother, and their
mother, my grandmother, went back to China to find wives for the two brothers.
My American name is Lelanda, because being Chinese, my family was planning on a
first born son, who would be named Leland after my father’s father who was
named Lee Lund in Chinese. When I, a first born daughter, came along, my clever
father added an “a” to the end of Leland and named me Lelanda. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
will tell you the story of my family, as I share with you some thoughts about
the nature of being family from the words of this Sunday’s Gospel lesson, which
said: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.5pt;">Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing
outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and
they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside,
asking for you." And he replied, "Who are my mother and my
brothers?" And looking at those who sat around him, he said, "Here
are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and
sister and mother."<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
this Gospel passage, Jesus gave us a new definition of family. He said that
those people—women and men—who sat around him to listen to him teach, were his
brother and sister and mother. They were doing the will of God, listening to
Jesus, the rabbi, the spiritual teacher, and Jesus affirmed—Jesus said, “Yes,
this is my family”—that whoever does the will of God is his brother and sister
and mother—his family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
will recall the story of the two sisters, Mary and Martha. When Martha invited
Jesus into their home, it was Mary who sat at Jesus’ feet to listen to him
teach. Martha became upset that Mary was not helping her with the work of
providing hospitality and asked Jesus why he didn’t care that Mary was not
helping her. And in the Gospel of Luke, it was recorded: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But the Lord answered her, “Martha,
Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only
one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from
her.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
story of Mary and Martha is another instance in which Jesus emphasizes the
importance of listening to the teachings of God—to the will of God—and then,
following through by<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> doing</i></b> the will of God. Jesus said very clearly that Mary had
chosen the better part by sitting at Jesus’ feet to listen to what he had to
say.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now,
do you remember what Jesus said about Mary, his own mother, and the nature of
family when he was dying upon the cross? In John’s Gospel, it is recorded:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When Jesus saw his mother and the
disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here
is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from
that hour the disciple took her into his own home.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Jesus
named the family relationship for his mother and the disciple whom he loved by
saying, “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">here is your son</i></b>,” and “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">here is your mother</i></b>.” It was not a
family relationship based on blood, but a family relationship based on love.
The disciple loved Jesus, and when commanded by Jesus to take Jesus’ mother to
be his own mother, out of love for Jesus, he obeyed. In a way, you could think
of this story as Jesus commanding that an adoption take place—that the beloved
disciple should adopt Jesus’ mother, Mary, and treat her like his own mother.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
same can be said about the family relationships that Jesus described in today’s
Gospel. Those who sat around him, listening to him teach, were not blood
relations, but they were people who loved Jesus and who followed the will of
God and also loved each other. Those were the people whom Jesus <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">chose</b> to be his family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Think
about that for a moment: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">choosing who
will be your family</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
the most significant way, each of us in this church today has already done
that—chosen who will be our family—by choosing to be baptized into the Body of
Christ. As members of the Body of Christ, we are sisters and brothers to one
another. The more we love Jesus, the more we must love our brothers and sisters
and our neighbors as ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now,
my Chinese family in the U.S.A. was an immigrant family that spoke Cantonese at
home and in the Chinatown communities that we lived in, first in New York City
and then in Detroit, Michigan. My father worked in Chinese restaurants, first
as a waiter and later as a cook, and finally, as a manager, and my mother
worked in Chinese hand laundries and later in Chinese restaurants, also. As
teenagers, my brothers and I also worked in those same Chinese restaurants and
Chinese hand laundries. We had a large, extended family on both my father’s
side, where his parents had seven children who lived, and my mother’s side,
where her parents had eight children that survived. So, yes, my family had many
blood relations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
in the U.S.A., my parents and we children also had an even larger family that
was not based on blood, but based on relationships of mutual need and mutual
assistance. The Chinese immigrant communities in the Chinatowns and Chinese
restaurants and hand laundries that my parents worked in were places where we
needed to help each other figure out how to live in the United States, how to
make a living to take care of our families, how to sponsor other family members
still in Asia to come to the United States, and how to get things done where we
didn’t know the English language, and where in the middle of the 20th century
many White and even Black Americans looked at Asian immigrants as being
foreigners invading their land and taking away their opportunities through our
humble hard work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My
father was the Chinese-American man who spoke both Cantonese and English. Even
without ever using the word “volunteer,” my father was the person who would go
with non-English speaking Chinese immigrants to the hospital or to the
immigration office to translate for them. My father was the one who would fill
out immigration paperwork and income tax forms for those non-English speaking
Chinese people. My parents treated those other members of the Chinese immigrant
community like family, and they<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> became</b>
family to us. We children grew up knowing the Chinese adults in those Chinatown
communities as aunties and uncles and their children as brothers and sisters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Jesus
said that we must love our neighbors as he loves us, and that is exactly what
Chinese people like my parents did, including those Chinese people who had not
heard of Jesus and were not baptized Christians. Doing God’s will does not
require being a baptized Christian, because God’s great love and grace is given
to all human beings—even those who haven’t heard of Jesus and the stories of
God’s people. God’s power of love is mysterious and generous. God’s love
touches all people, if we let it, if we don’t get in the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And God’s love gets multiplied so that
more people know God’s love, if we, God’s people, the followers of Jesus,
follow Jesus’ example to love other people, especially people who are different
from us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now
skip down to my generation and how I have learned to think about family. I was
baptized at age five and confirmed at age 12 in a very conservative Lutheran
church—the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church. From the teachings of the church on
the ten commandments, the catechism, and the teachings of Jesus and his
parables, and the examples of my Chinese immigrant parents, I learned to
volunteer in the community at an early age. At age 12 I could get a work permit
to do volunteer work, where I started in the offices of Catholic Social
Services. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
was also a teenager in the 1960s during the civil rights movement and learned
about the justice of treating every person, regardless of her or his skin
color, as a fellow human being and a fellow member of the Body of Christ. For
me, family became much larger than just the people in my blood family. Family
also included all the people who had helped my family and who had been helped
by my parents.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My
husband and I lived in Honolulu, Hawaii, for 15 years from 1975 to 1990. In
Hawaii, there are many descendents of Native Hawaiians who lived and taught a
philosophy of loving our neighbors and expanding our families to include people
who are not blood relations. The Hawaiians call the extended family the “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ohana</i>,” and they call the family of
choice—the family of people who are not blood relations that we choose to love
as family—their “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hana’i</i>” family. That
philosophy of a “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hana’i</i>” family of
choice has stuck with me all of these years, because it reflects the family
that Jesus talked about in today’s Gospel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Jesus
said, </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.5pt;">"Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking
at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!
Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother." <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.5pt;">Sometimes it is easier to
figure out what doing the will of God means than we think. We humans often want
to make simple things complicated and difficult, because we think it will show
the world how smart we are, or because we think that surely our God who is so
all knowing and all powerful must be a God who teaches very complicated and
difficult lessons. Yet, the opposite is true. Jesus always taught in the most
direct words about some things that we humans find difficult to do, like giving
up whatever wealth we have, even if we don’t have very much, and sharing what
we do have with others who have even less; like changing our behavior so that
we honor not just our own mother and father, but that we also honor all mothers
and fathers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
the Gospel of John, Jesus said:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I give you a new commandment, that
you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one
another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love
for one another.’<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What a
beautiful lesson our Lord Jesus has taught us in today’s Gospel—that we look
around us, see the people who are following Jesus and doing God’s will, and
that we not only think of them as our family, but that we love them, honor
them, and treat them like they are truly our family in the Body of Christ. In
the mind of our Lord, family is all about love and loving each other even when
we are not related by blood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
so, my sisters and brothers in Christ, I share with you—look around you and see
who needs your love, who needs your kindness, who needs a family to love
them—and make the choice to be family to them. That is the will of God. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-82998935345340927722015-03-22T05:52:00.000-06:002015-03-22T05:52:28.446-06:00Early Morning Reflection<div class="MsoNormal">
I am looking at a photograph of a Siberian family. Everyone
is wearing the equivalent of big, puffy parkas with hoods. The mother has a
colorful floral printed scarf over her head. She is pouring steaming hot tea
for the children, who appear to be between the ages of 2 and 7 or 8. I am
struck by how in their circumstance, a cup of tea is more than just a hot
beverage. It may very well be a meal – butter tea, where the main ingredient is
butter, meant to supply the calories needed to survive in the cold that
surrounds them. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What a cup of tea, indeed!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I sit in the early dawn in my hotel room, bundled up in
nightgown and outside jacket, trying to stay warm. Maybe I should crawl back
into bed for another hour, before I have to get up and go to my last day of meetings.
Afterwards, when we adjourn around lunchtime, I will make my way to the airport
and fly home. I’ve been on the road for 21 days, which is unusual for me. The
conflation of meetings just worked out that way.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Believe me, I don’t mean to imply I’m any kind of important
or anything like that. I’m not important. I’m tired. And I miss my family and
my cat.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the ways in which my church, the Episcopal Church,
does its business and its ministry is that we gather together in groups for
meetings, trainings, and workshops to discuss, debate, imagine, plan, agree,
disagree, and decide. In the final analysis, it’s the relationship building and
nurturing that makes the gathering in person so vital and generative. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we see each other and hear the stories of what has
happened in our lives in the intervening months when we have been apart, we
feel connected again. It’s as if no time has passed. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we hear of the passages that some of our friends and
family have made, we are struck by the commonality of those experiences and we
are saddened by our friends’ losses. There really aren’t any adequate words to
say what we feel about another’s loss. Saying I’m sorry for your loss doesn’t
take away its sting or the hole inside you that won’t be filled again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the midst of the disagreements and judgments that we make
about each other’s motivation, intelligence, and integrity, we also reveal our
own motives, wits, and sincerity. I am reminded of the wisdom of the thought
that we each do the best we can with what gifts we have. And sometimes, we are
lucky enough to have things turn out well in spite of our mucking things up. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You can accuse me of walking in a dream or being a
Pollyanna, but I assert that I will always choose to believe the best of you
and hope that you will believe the best of me. The burden of believing the
worst of you is just too great to carry in my heart. My hope is that my belief
in your good intentions will lift you up and cause you to lift yourself up to
do more and to do better. That’s the version of parenting and that’s the
version of relationship that I aspire to.</div>
LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-13375697861252861652015-03-14T11:42:00.000-06:002015-03-14T20:09:01.062-06:00A View from Inside: Some thoughts on UNCSW59<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A View from Inside . . . What do I mean by that? There was a time some five decades ago when I was a teenage girl in inner city Detroit, Michigan, longing to do something that mattered, longing to be someone who mattered to more than just my immediate family and friends. </span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3cx9rzdVLaqEGg7RstVBeP7mzAOUSQy8bsFM-FMg3VwDj5V60Peo7NdcRdsGiurpHs5HNM7Qmglj9pMhaW6hnzIbAPCuT28lC5xRWtYI_cQ5OoigA0eIhRcYfFdOFZoCU21gOzX6wQP72/s1600/IMG_2684.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3cx9rzdVLaqEGg7RstVBeP7mzAOUSQy8bsFM-FMg3VwDj5V60Peo7NdcRdsGiurpHs5HNM7Qmglj9pMhaW6hnzIbAPCuT28lC5xRWtYI_cQ5OoigA0eIhRcYfFdOFZoCU21gOzX6wQP72/s1600/IMG_2684.JPG" height="216" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>March 13th - the Interngenerational Dialogue from 9:30-6:00 in the </b></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>ECOSOC Chamber. Some 700 people were able to attend the </b></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>conversation.</b></i></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Today, I sit in many places of privilege and "importance." The privilege I sit in is exemplified by invitations to give my opinions on camera and in print and to attend receptions where pretty, but not terribly nourishing, food is served and I get to shake hands with other people like me. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Importance" is a self-claimed misnomer. After all, according to God whom I worship and serve, we are all equally beloved in God's sight. Important is the meaning we assign to gatherings where we talk about our work and lift it up so others can be influenced to participate. Important is what we must feel if we are eagerly and willingly to continue to do the work that has no end in sight and gets beleaguered in the same way over and over. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">So, why do I do it? Why does anyone do it? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">For me, the answer is that I still believe in the possibility of change and transformation. I still believe that good will prevail over evil. I still believe that there is a core of goodness in humankind - the God Spirit, if you will - that propels us to make life better on earth for all humans. And I still believe that I, in my own small way, can influence that change and transformation to keep on coming towards us. I still believe that my witness to one woman or girl can spark an interest that will grow into a flame of passion that will spark still others. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Here are some insights from the first week of the United Nations' 59th annual Commission on the Status of Women's gathering in New York City.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">==========<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiydCXyCiJKXEHWiGhR39isUKrpuNyNikSRLZg35N8FN5krrQprrWLxWWGyLTws0nPz-rCpn1y6aA1OwF1vT8fcpO0iHy0l50hNsvexefOfW-sNEq7kFtsMhPzy29maNwKm41nFquVPMbWJ/s1600/Women+&+Slavery+display+at+UN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiydCXyCiJKXEHWiGhR39isUKrpuNyNikSRLZg35N8FN5krrQprrWLxWWGyLTws0nPz-rCpn1y6aA1OwF1vT8fcpO0iHy0l50hNsvexefOfW-sNEq7kFtsMhPzy29maNwKm41nFquVPMbWJ/s1600/Women+&+Slavery+display+at+UN.jpg" height="151" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">This photo exhibition was at the U.N. while</span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">UNCSW59 was taking place. So apropos.</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">Implementation has been weak.</u> What an understatement repeated by several of the leaders of UN Women about the status of the <a href="http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/">1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action</a>! Most of the signatory nations have enacted legislation to support the Platform for Action. But there is a wide gap between the optics of gender equality legislation and enforcement of those same laws. There is an even wider gap between the legislation and the culture of those nations that remain entrenched in patriarchal systems. Cultural change is the hardest change of all to effect. It tends to happen slowly, in terms of generational time rather than instants in time. <i><b>We need revolution, not evolution</b></i>, when it comes to cultural change. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>"<u>When people are busy, that does not mean they are making progress.</u>"</b> The truth is that so long as there is an economic and class benefit to men in power to protect the existing patriarchal systems, very little will change. Constant motion around clamoring for change will not necessarily make change happen. Women's hope lies in changing the hearts and minds of boys and girls as they are growing up to see a different choice than patriarchy and to make that choice in how they live as adults. Education beyond the primary level is imperative to lift up the lives of girls worldwide. Educated girls become empowered women. Educated girls develop self-agency that allows them to make choices as adults and to find their own ways towards post-secondary educations, self-supporting jobs, and delayed choices to marry and bear children. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">Stereotypes are our enemy.</u> When anyone has privilege, it is difficult for them to see stereotypes. Instead, they tend to see a status quo which is comforting and satisfying to them. The stereotypes of what a typical girl and a typical women should look and behave like, trap girls and women into roles that have been normalized at a sub-par level. We have normalized the 80%-20% stereotyped levels of girls and women as servers and caregivers versus the 50%-50% level of girls and women being equal, having equal opportunity and equal agency, in society with boys and men. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Unequal pay, that is, lesser pay for women doing the same jobs as men, means relegating women to remain poor and unable to rise above their poverty. Worst yet is that women do tremendous amounts of work required by many societies -- such as walking miles to carry water home to their families, working hard scrabble dirt farms, and bearing and raising children and caring for the elderly -- without any sort of recompense, much less recognition. The unpaid labor of women contributes to the functioning of all societies, but that same unpaid labor does not contribute to the women's own livelihoods when they are abandoned or widowed. A statistic offered by a UNCSW59 speaker from the <a href="http://www.weforum.org/news/2095-year-gender-equality-workplace-maybe">World Economic Forum</a> "<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><i><b>suggests we’ll have to wait 81 years for gender parity in the workplace.</b></i>" We'll all be dead by then. We can't wait that long.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9GhEmKymp2VFh4Y41sLEArnitHKO7MuxJYs4Oqyx-y35WO0H_hsOLrjNJw2PMHhyphenhyphen4vgGezuiv4vyrnV-HlROAVndIUCClP-lJrKlV1-bbwNByDzXJXZBe-hUl2Wz2KvpxC5qZxa-SRGRH/s1600/Soon-Young+Yoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9GhEmKymp2VFh4Y41sLEArnitHKO7MuxJYs4Oqyx-y35WO0H_hsOLrjNJw2PMHhyphenhyphen4vgGezuiv4vyrnV-HlROAVndIUCClP-lJrKlV1-bbwNByDzXJXZBe-hUl2Wz2KvpxC5qZxa-SRGRH/s1600/Soon-Young+Yoon.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><i>S</i></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>oon-Young Yoon, Chair of the International Alliance of Women.</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>We saw many of the speakers this way, on jumbo screens from a </i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>distance. It was noted that allowances were missing for women</i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>with disabilities, such as deafness (no sign language interpreters)</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>and mobility (many stairs with no ramps and spaces for wheelchairs).</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">Affirmative Action for Women.</u> We have lived in a world that has had Affirmative Action for men for millennia. It's now time for Affirmative Action for women. It is only by paying attention and spending our resources on women that we will level the world playground for women and girls. It is time to favor funding to equalize the gender equality gap. It is time to front-load resources to promote and encourage girls' education and women's economic opportunities in obtaining jobs and becoming entrepreneurs. The fact is, that women, who are used to being at the bottom of the ladder, have a greater tolerance for risk-taking and innovation, because we have historically had so little to lose. Fear of loss is the great inhibitor to innovation and entrepreneurial endeavors. Who better than women to take those risks and achieve the unexpected rewards? Women will bring their sisters along with them.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcDuK1Y8UUx7y_DJREwBNfs9-VTNiI771xumPAjUmNi7cGOhyphenhypheny5DMq4IIsSkgfzGYYjVPYHF30SONByVAlbr0u8ahTcheU4CiamnZy6qay_v-Dz4m00XQ_NA5GR34HN2yixr7-V-zAib8d/s1600/Sign+from+young+women.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcDuK1Y8UUx7y_DJREwBNfs9-VTNiI771xumPAjUmNi7cGOhyphenhypheny5DMq4IIsSkgfzGYYjVPYHF30SONByVAlbr0u8ahTcheU4CiamnZy6qay_v-Dz4m00XQ_NA5GR34HN2yixr7-V-zAib8d/s1600/Sign+from+young+women.jpg" height="165" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">One of many signs created by young women at UNCSW59.</span></b></i></td></tr>
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #545454; line-height: 18px;">Phumzile</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; line-height: 18px;"> Mlambo-Ngcuka, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, raises three foci that are critical to overcoming the thus-far, collective failure of the nations signatory to the Beijing Platform for Action:</span></span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b style="color: #545454; line-height: 18px;">Unrelenting Political Commitment.</b><span style="color: #545454; line-height: 18px;"> We must keep talking the talk and holding our statesmen and stateswomen accountable for keeping their attention focused.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b style="color: #545454; line-height: 18px;">Investment in Gender Equality. </b><span style="color: #545454; line-height: 18px;">We must lobby for and hold accountable our government and business leaders to expend resources specifically for the purposes of achieving </span><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">gender equality whether it is in providing more subsidized educational slots for girls, more business incubators directed towards women, or more industrial internships to attract girls and women. </span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #545454; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Strengthen Civil Society. </b>Civil society refers to the numerous non-governmental organizations in every country that aim to do social good and to develop stronger communities. For many NGOs, small amounts of grant monies make big differences, because these NGOs are creative and nimble. Not only do these NGOs need additional resources, but they also need additional outlets where their voices can be not just heard, but listened to; where their messages are not just shared, but adopted and acted upon.</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="color: #545454; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">More in blogs to follow! </span></span></div>
LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-84243005760501342792015-03-12T11:36:00.000-06:002015-03-12T11:36:58.701-06:00UNCSW59 -- Step it Up for Women's EqualityHello, Everyone! I've fallen behind in blogging all the wonderful things and people I've seen and heard while here at the United Nations 59th Annual Conference on the Status of Women. Being here is a lot like being at the Episcopal Church's triennial General Convention: many long days filled with uplifting worship, great speakers and panelists, meaningful Q&As and conversation, and meeting interesting people from around the world who have something to say for themselves and their communities and who want to influence the conversations here at the U.N. and back home. And like General Convention, there are caucuses for the various groups who have traveled together and evening debriefs to check in on everyone's day and plans for the next days.<br />
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For someone who has been a feminist since my teen years in the mid-60's, this conference feels like a great, big women's rally where sisterhood is palpable. In fact, check out some news coverage on the march and rally that were held in conjunction with UNCSW on Sunday, March 8, International Women's Day <a href="http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2015/03/08/hundreds-mark-international-womens-day-with-march-in-nyc/">here</a> and images from the events <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=international+day+women's+march+new+york&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=dMABVYqSOsOvggSP0oDIAQ&ved=0CD4QsAQ&biw=658&bih=316">here</a>. And we get to experience it in the glorious halls of the United Nations. As a teen, I visited the U.N. each time I came to New York and New Jersey to visit relatives. I would take the visitors' tour in English or in French and imagine myself walking these halls as someone who belonged here. Now, five decades later, here I am! I <i>belong</i> here, and so do all the other women and men who have come to UNCSW59.<br />
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The conference is both a review and an update of the CSW held in Beijing in 1995 when the <a href="http://www.unwomen.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/csw/pfa_e_final_web.pdf">Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action</a> was adopted. That Platform for Action is one of the major influencers for the <a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/">Millennium Development Goals</a> which expire this September. It is anticipated that a new set of Millennium <i>Sustainable</i> Goals will be promulgated in September.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj73XDDzOvK6ZD-jDj87HfrE5cf8X4KVrYfFYfB700VnxyEP4qV9uSs9r_7WpnyxsSaeWga1-FPvQEBT1bPAq7wQ9zrc-ShNkiUBL3HNX8fKIrzsAq4_Dx-az9WdmFfFAj1ExYoNHfmvpX8/s1600/CSW+NGO+Handbook.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj73XDDzOvK6ZD-jDj87HfrE5cf8X4KVrYfFYfB700VnxyEP4qV9uSs9r_7WpnyxsSaeWga1-FPvQEBT1bPAq7wQ9zrc-ShNkiUBL3HNX8fKIrzsAq4_Dx-az9WdmFfFAj1ExYoNHfmvpX8/s1600/CSW+NGO+Handbook.JPG" height="200" width="168" /></a></td></tr>
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This is the handbook for the over </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
450 parallel events put on by </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"Civil Society," which refers to </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
all the Non-Governmental </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Organizations supporting the</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
work of UN Women.</div>
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In terms of themes, the overarching themes are <b>gender equality for women and women's empowerment</b>. In specific, I have noticed a large emphasis on human trafficking and especially sex trafficking of women and girls and lifting up the voices, perspectives, and contributions of young women, including LGBTQI women. (Did you know that something upwards of 20 to 30 Million - yes, that's right, 20-30 Million - women, girls, and boys are sex trafficked? Sex trafficking operates in the Deep Web or Grey Web, the hidden part of the Internet that accounts for 90% of Web traffic where illegal, unsavory transactions are made and sex slaves are bought and sold. See <a href="http://www.equalitynow.org/node/1010">here</a> and <a href="https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-human-trafficking">here</a> for more information about sex trafficking.)<br />
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The speakers from various countries have been both self-congratulatory as to the advancements in gender equality that they claim and also confessional in lamenting the lack of progress in their countries. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the U.N. Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of U.N. Women, in a couple of opening remarks in different settings, noted that not a single U.N. member nation has achieved all of the items on Platform for Action to date. That does not mean that progress has not been made, but it is incremental and deadly slow.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQeV6_DWVvmtvEILTXnoJkwGwRmC2ixAnCPbskNYPWFAc3tcbAxHcv3XeGAFNxHz0-PGQE4yPOKmE0yg2DWYk6rjLQqMZwDEOQST5PNacgukdScxNJwpyfiJ4y5pXnAyeO-ZQ-BjIVlJqC/s1600/IMG_2629.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQeV6_DWVvmtvEILTXnoJkwGwRmC2ixAnCPbskNYPWFAc3tcbAxHcv3XeGAFNxHz0-PGQE4yPOKmE0yg2DWYk6rjLQqMZwDEOQST5PNacgukdScxNJwpyfiJ4y5pXnAyeO-ZQ-BjIVlJqC/s1600/IMG_2629.jpg" height="200" width="168" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phumzile Mlamba-Ngcuka<br /></td></tr>
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I chose the word "deadly" purposefully, because lack of gender equality can, in fact, be deadly for women in developing countries. It is a fact that women are the farmers, child bearers and raisers, caretakers of the farm animals (if any), and food and water gatherers. Doing all of this work without benefit of vehicles, whether self-propelled or gas-propelled, amidst harsh drought conditions and armed conflict is deadly for the women. Their bodies soon wear out even if their spirits remain rooted in the hope of a better future for their children.<br />
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Lack of gender equality for these women means that they don't qualify for the small grants that might be available to help a local farmer and don't get consideration for the few slots in the educational system to gain something beyond a primary education. Lack of gender equality also means that girls are often married off in their early teens, because their families make the choice to feed and raise the boys while gaining a dowry for marrying off their young daughters. One of the cultural paradigm shifts that must happen, especially in countries with rigid and enforced patriarchal systems, is to move to a culture that values girl children as gifts from the Creator who have the potential, with education and nurture, to make a valuable contribution to their societies.<br />
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Thus, U.N. Women has created a new nations' initiative. <a href="http://beijing20.unwomen.org/en/step-it-up/about">"Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality"</a> is a call for nations to commit to doing the things necessary to move towards gender equality by 2030. Presumably, signatory nations will be signing on not only for the prestige and optics of being a signatory, but also as being sincerely committed to changes in legislation, elections, governmental appointments, and tax and subsidy programs to give women the equality that we deserve by virtue of our humanity. As many of the speakers from the podiums have pointed out over the past few days, <i style="font-weight: bold;">women's rights are human rights.</i> Women just want to have the same human rights as men do.<br />
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I will be posting about what some of the speakers have addressed in a future blog in order to share with you memorable thoughts too good not to share. Stay tuned!LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-42112740838160571342015-03-12T06:47:00.000-06:002015-03-12T06:49:06.431-06:00Third Day at UNCSW59 - March 9, 2015I'm a little behind in posting to the blog about UNCSW59. Each day is packed, beginning with ecumenical worship at the U.N. Church Center, about 5 blocks from our hotel, and ending with a debrief from 6:00-8:00 PM in the Episcopal Church Center, sometimes just the Episcopal Church delegation and sometimes with the women from Anglican Women's Empowerment. During the day the delegation spreads out, attending hearings at the U.N. and parallel events in several other venues. There is a lot of walking and talking together. Everyone is friendly, and we easily greet women from other parts of the world with smiles, "Hi, How are you," and "Can I help take your picture for you?"<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5HJ9y4jAnOWVzrQKMyEi9qzPrgv5RmWn7l1m6VPXy0WTcWYlGXxS4lLnM64jevbKKHhkbvbD-BcO_Hzsb_jqkwNxcRePJy_hy4jBG_vl87iNXor3H2P0soW5GFiCF42Qzb9g9lsUWG5tb/s1600/Bp+Chilton+Knudsen+preaching.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5HJ9y4jAnOWVzrQKMyEi9qzPrgv5RmWn7l1m6VPXy0WTcWYlGXxS4lLnM64jevbKKHhkbvbD-BcO_Hzsb_jqkwNxcRePJy_hy4jBG_vl87iNXor3H2P0soW5GFiCF42Qzb9g9lsUWG5tb/s1600/Bp+Chilton+Knudsen+preaching.jpg" height="320" width="248" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bishop Chilton Knudsen preaching at the Opening Eucharist</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFRIjYAkZWKeFoMr1XoHiOirQ4cKcRSPuh5wJYuyz6KAbURuJKJne3BsUgNe0wIKSgrdq_zhBGUd2Aq3MfKOt9Rc2f5tNoduPLXRsE39lZdsc_XOpo804lLvsnwcc0FMjkg3ms5Yjb7M8z/s1600/After+Opening+Eucharist.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFRIjYAkZWKeFoMr1XoHiOirQ4cKcRSPuh5wJYuyz6KAbURuJKJne3BsUgNe0wIKSgrdq_zhBGUd2Aq3MfKOt9Rc2f5tNoduPLXRsE39lZdsc_XOpo804lLvsnwcc0FMjkg3ms5Yjb7M8z/s1600/After+Opening+Eucharist.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Episcopal Church's delegation with Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori after the opening Eucharist</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGxcaABaEnM-Je73WJPL2vk87dyyNVkzkaPgduiozXVvnpUYs220OmyscLnKMhl-5tH6poECM2FNk0yRHjveeOfFVRyTTOey8A41mhHlhNcXQYTUNm8l5zoVXSCC9SIgcY8glsRQ5lZ-QJ/s1600/Digna,+Coromoto,+Bp+Katharine,+Vaike,+Connie.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGxcaABaEnM-Je73WJPL2vk87dyyNVkzkaPgduiozXVvnpUYs220OmyscLnKMhl-5tH6poECM2FNk0yRHjveeOfFVRyTTOey8A41mhHlhNcXQYTUNm8l5zoVXSCC9SIgcY8glsRQ5lZ-QJ/s1600/Digna,+Coromoto,+Bp+Katharine,+Vaike,+Connie.JPG" height="320" width="308" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Digna de la Cruz (Dominican Republic), Coromoto Jimenez (Venezuela), Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Vaike Madisson (Honduras), and Connie Sanchez (Honduras)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6HFoW83RqrwcCvvOUzuMdlUkL7sCIIgIXNa7BYuDQM2L4WRwk32jZ_XJmmu-XzTS6DeZAhWSUihUM-444-A4s5KTdcjp3DJFSIYEq7wcRNqPj_VffixtmMqhp4fyajZi2EgxHhyphenhyphenV-FWLT/s1600/Helen,+Bp+Katharine,+Joan,+Lelanda.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6HFoW83RqrwcCvvOUzuMdlUkL7sCIIgIXNa7BYuDQM2L4WRwk32jZ_XJmmu-XzTS6DeZAhWSUihUM-444-A4s5KTdcjp3DJFSIYEq7wcRNqPj_VffixtmMqhp4fyajZi2EgxHhyphenhyphenV-FWLT/s1600/Helen,+Bp+Katharine,+Joan,+Lelanda.JPG" height="278" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Helen Abyei (Colorado), Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Joan Fraser (Provincial Representative from Long Island), and Lelanda Lee (Colorado)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9DfJerymngqY6mrerg8ifkjgSPbIu8kV66SyJfZBQE9n-62MlvEvgejrMjOmbdjuasFF1gvcnEEuOntwuO99Sk5XHAwF0rSZ9vsghcO9sIDH0UpVKCUFUd36t8xpRNEQgkgQpytDMYOdN/s1600/Christina+&+Inez+AWE.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9DfJerymngqY6mrerg8ifkjgSPbIu8kV66SyJfZBQE9n-62MlvEvgejrMjOmbdjuasFF1gvcnEEuOntwuO99Sk5XHAwF0rSZ9vsghcO9sIDH0UpVKCUFUd36t8xpRNEQgkgQpytDMYOdN/s1600/Christina+&+Inez+AWE.JPG" height="300" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Christina Hing and Inez Saley from the Diocese of New York, part of the Anglican Women's Empowerment host group, organizing snacks and meals during some of our ecumenical gatherings in the Episcopal Church Center's mezzanine gathering space. These women are long-time attendees at UNCSW over the years.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9JVgQbkL7TclDF3XUPDEpwfxu2G5KKbnNxi2D637RZYBO-cnQnm1yojDB8MYI3tlZCvrTKIbjEyc24Ga2V8udiwvNH2TVcpNR43PMJjZD0BaTeIB8zhT5fqATTouC7XQZHO47YGCzxXsa/s1600/DSC00065.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9JVgQbkL7TclDF3XUPDEpwfxu2G5KKbnNxi2D637RZYBO-cnQnm1yojDB8MYI3tlZCvrTKIbjEyc24Ga2V8udiwvNH2TVcpNR43PMJjZD0BaTeIB8zhT5fqATTouC7XQZHO47YGCzxXsa/s1600/DSC00065.JPG" height="274" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ginny Doctor and Lelanda Lee. It was great to greet Canon Ginny, from the Mohawk tribe, who is the coordinator of Indigenous Ministries for the Anglican Church in Canada. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTnDMWbnjLmS7h7-0UjE9reaJ3HDRqiuxSc5jzsvDQNu8jRlJnDnt_91096CTXBDJVrFXNdx0EjiNkNGcdK9TxmC3JVsKdKo3eWsiGHS055GRKKsWghLPLKHZV6dre1LzyyHZ4y708WzQK/s1600/DSC00080.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTnDMWbnjLmS7h7-0UjE9reaJ3HDRqiuxSc5jzsvDQNu8jRlJnDnt_91096CTXBDJVrFXNdx0EjiNkNGcdK9TxmC3JVsKdKo3eWsiGHS055GRKKsWghLPLKHZV6dre1LzyyHZ4y708WzQK/s1600/DSC00080.JPG" height="320" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Stacy Walker-Frontjes, a fellow blogger and Tweeter on the Episcopal Church's delegation.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3olQkxb-pvQK52YdPKKPIM-RvB-_V6i8pBLtpsGkm-hpCZu4X0Sc5omAi11YcRnn2IePri9mf6iBJ-Olr6Vi5qNrYlgD_2jAU1YdJOFFUnTyeekHvRBAWSLdX_7WDX42Gey38ujkhmW_G/s1600/DSC00093.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3olQkxb-pvQK52YdPKKPIM-RvB-_V6i8pBLtpsGkm-hpCZu4X0Sc5omAi11YcRnn2IePri9mf6iBJ-Olr6Vi5qNrYlgD_2jAU1YdJOFFUnTyeekHvRBAWSLdX_7WDX42Gey38ujkhmW_G/s1600/DSC00093.JPG" height="247" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Shirley Greiman, National Vice President for Program of the Episcopal Church Women, and Barbara Schafter, member of the Episcopal Church delegation and President of the United Thank Offering. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu-c_AqRjVU4-BO7CZtZtMxx4aZbTUiTFfholNY2y16ewC2QyHZj_eE7Rh588iGpShEIWKjswgli33wCvIeeDP4AKywSMc25TxcyK3Ug4_u2jlT9my4o03BQJXyOORXUoMwwARtSKHP53r/s1600/Evening+Debrief.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu-c_AqRjVU4-BO7CZtZtMxx4aZbTUiTFfholNY2y16ewC2QyHZj_eE7Rh588iGpShEIWKjswgli33wCvIeeDP4AKywSMc25TxcyK3Ug4_u2jlT9my4o03BQJXyOORXUoMwwARtSKHP53r/s1600/Evening+Debrief.JPG" height="172" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Joan Grimm Fraser making some comments during a conversation in the Mezzanine space.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjya9Bhqy3RZq6R_rJ2yeUebc4mcE9NXgK5VOI_IJOBgIOmsE2S-EbtduLUrVbYWCGLUXIsmaze5tP9dpqwABmNmuy5dujS0A1JPJ-HtTBVGdIRP4Oje-Ip8jx0U9LeB_SSpoDQUTQIA2SC/s1600/Gawain+&+Stacy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjya9Bhqy3RZq6R_rJ2yeUebc4mcE9NXgK5VOI_IJOBgIOmsE2S-EbtduLUrVbYWCGLUXIsmaze5tP9dpqwABmNmuy5dujS0A1JPJ-HtTBVGdIRP4Oje-Ip8jx0U9LeB_SSpoDQUTQIA2SC/s1600/Gawain+&+Stacy.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Gawain de Leeuw (Diocese of New York) and our only male delegate with Stacy Walker-Frontjes. Gawain serves on the board of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and cares deeply about reproductive rights for women, which is a major issue in gender equality and empowerment of women and part of the Beijing Platform for Action. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj7Ehpp6swe6UESDJQLvXw4MEBzlyUSfFQijzjdwu67zcoVw4UNBo5hdS1l8d2t5xfZQ7ptZ_fL5hdYEOM2seaMOwi8l7GIzhAZYRQSz-Qk0IO-6TwS77WXE0n3RHZs6R1QMHHKpj_3X-U/s1600/Glenda.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj7Ehpp6swe6UESDJQLvXw4MEBzlyUSfFQijzjdwu67zcoVw4UNBo5hdS1l8d2t5xfZQ7ptZ_fL5hdYEOM2seaMOwi8l7GIzhAZYRQSz-Qk0IO-6TwS77WXE0n3RHZs6R1QMHHKpj_3X-U/s1600/Glenda.JPG" height="320" width="264" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Glenda McQueen, Episcopal Church Partnership Officer for Latin America and the Caribbean. Glenda teams with Lynnaia Main, Global Relations Officer and the church's primary United Nations link, to shepherd all of us, and most especially the Spanish speaking delegates.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKDHW5djUoeb5EvG9a-N2kXRGlPxMTd8dWx97ad8aF3ywJzWizx5qDP4RJ-YabQ2zMo3JIX7lAzLYyf5kDqTvesCkiJIhB2Erc4DjikoZn2QTLuwdn9sC0a7A23v5_JIYbaeWhyphenhyphenm5JMI8Y/s1600/Helen+leading+closing+prayer.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKDHW5djUoeb5EvG9a-N2kXRGlPxMTd8dWx97ad8aF3ywJzWizx5qDP4RJ-YabQ2zMo3JIX7lAzLYyf5kDqTvesCkiJIhB2Erc4DjikoZn2QTLuwdn9sC0a7A23v5_JIYbaeWhyphenhyphenm5JMI8Y/s1600/Helen+leading+closing+prayer.JPG" height="282" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Helen Achol Abyei (Colorado) leads us in prayer, using her smart phone. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggp9Z1iYdgUpqxXGQKfW8d-FLTn4Eb_4x9ECHGC0Ow2JmoyiYVFzoZNZBa9qJgM-EYwTHyc4QDvBX9jEysR4lX45Evcv9X3maphBdn_Z8VcuYTdxjSkuBSOKQwqBZrZkpqKQkV9-Lial1i/s1600/Jayce.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggp9Z1iYdgUpqxXGQKfW8d-FLTn4Eb_4x9ECHGC0Ow2JmoyiYVFzoZNZBa9qJgM-EYwTHyc4QDvBX9jEysR4lX45Evcv9X3maphBdn_Z8VcuYTdxjSkuBSOKQwqBZrZkpqKQkV9-Lial1i/s1600/Jayce.JPG" height="320" width="277" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jayce Hafner is the church's Domestic Policy Analyst out of our Washington DC Office of Government Relations. Joyce will be teaching us how to bring the advocacy messages of UNCSW59 home to our dioceses and communities. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsdJF-ToujCVn9XETyvWkS9_AW_ZtyS9vX_XHBkKYVSY14AyelNjkb8S5oAksl0SwQUSQfKS5Awk-VdgU4k0DeMCWgCbmFPTCXwC9MEmedzEVlUX-QfvN0ieuOpRlN-SqM0gJkKsqepqgy/s1600/Lelanda+&+Bp+Stacy+Selfie.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsdJF-ToujCVn9XETyvWkS9_AW_ZtyS9vX_XHBkKYVSY14AyelNjkb8S5oAksl0SwQUSQfKS5Awk-VdgU4k0DeMCWgCbmFPTCXwC9MEmedzEVlUX-QfvN0ieuOpRlN-SqM0gJkKsqepqgy/s1600/Lelanda+&+Bp+Stacy+Selfie.JPG" height="289" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lelanda Lee and Bishop Stacy Sauls, the church's Chief Operating Officer, in a selfie. Bishop Sauls welcomed the delegation to the Church Center in a session directly after the Opening Eucharist.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSYQ8p-WrmwmkDV9sog9b6l3CN9Ecg8-oCx_SIqrBZYmJq5rGUDq_3LIMhagAegGiKiy1Isg-P2lSO65J0JFvN-lCfVavFQCZ8pfihMpbGXXsCZ05VTXPG2A6mv_8YbQ3cfF18LQaFV-03/s1600/Joan+with+Helen.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSYQ8p-WrmwmkDV9sog9b6l3CN9Ecg8-oCx_SIqrBZYmJq5rGUDq_3LIMhagAegGiKiy1Isg-P2lSO65J0JFvN-lCfVavFQCZ8pfihMpbGXXsCZ05VTXPG2A6mv_8YbQ3cfF18LQaFV-03/s1600/Joan+with+Helen.JPG" height="279" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Helen Abyei and Joan Fraser.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7xdV-Du-ZqCcjKuYNUL4PCAmsu7bJBr2ooFoMbnBls2ybn9nbMrYCnq7gfoyDHC-FM7B5svaywYNOl6XoE3BHIRQGOpsd6f1UTbGNaArMgLKCj-xqRx6LgqsPUAn-vRt2mWlLty-YqR1B/s1600/Lynnaia+&+Barbara+-+Kitchen+Conversation.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7xdV-Du-ZqCcjKuYNUL4PCAmsu7bJBr2ooFoMbnBls2ybn9nbMrYCnq7gfoyDHC-FM7B5svaywYNOl6XoE3BHIRQGOpsd6f1UTbGNaArMgLKCj-xqRx6LgqsPUAn-vRt2mWlLty-YqR1B/s1600/Lynnaia+&+Barbara+-+Kitchen+Conversation.JPG" height="230" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lynnaia Main and Barbara Schafer in a casual moment in the kitchen of the Mezzanine gathering space. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeoA9n-pM9K8RUeH6SPccXAp4ag84k36VolCaRCiatGcVIZd7TLvZcJpI3zXc3gFjXDoD8LCKEQc1NSTe7fzRnBheME10Wa6JsSiAiQ-FoeceC2A-QMWCVE03q1qC0MgE9yZKdZnk2mCi0/s1600/Lynnaia+leading+debrief.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeoA9n-pM9K8RUeH6SPccXAp4ag84k36VolCaRCiatGcVIZd7TLvZcJpI3zXc3gFjXDoD8LCKEQc1NSTe7fzRnBheME10Wa6JsSiAiQ-FoeceC2A-QMWCVE03q1qC0MgE9yZKdZnk2mCi0/s1600/Lynnaia+leading+debrief.JPG" height="320" width="311" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lynnaia Main making remarks in our evening debrief. She is the guide, mentor, and leader par excellence of the Episcopal Church's UNCSW59 delegation. And she writes the most beautifully inspiring and informative emails that get posted sometime around 1:45 AM each evening. When does she sleep? Thank you for all that you do, Lynnaia! </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNCmRMoOOxGCGHTN10Vv17jT1c1nqj3ywkYc8KvwwihZccA9Pc4VKYebwQn_l5Gigi8DE3xxFAeUSQmL4bWLj2DkG6wOhx5K6lBq_Q16CNS36acHbLg_rXq1lBW4dJxVmpuk8py53UvEVy/s1600/Nellie.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNCmRMoOOxGCGHTN10Vv17jT1c1nqj3ywkYc8KvwwihZccA9Pc4VKYebwQn_l5Gigi8DE3xxFAeUSQmL4bWLj2DkG6wOhx5K6lBq_Q16CNS36acHbLg_rXq1lBW4dJxVmpuk8py53UvEVy/s1600/Nellie.JPG" height="320" width="304" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Our only "veteran" of UNCSW, Nellie Adkins (Virginia), representing the Native American cohort on our delegation. This is not her first experience with the women of the world interacting with the United Nations.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhepnC57auPqGzCNuOZeXXpdrOsdf-N9CYePPIjDwohAmtsIYguk7SN_1qA1MqgH4YyiaDCcuA1OAQgabiZOLNrYBTYLWmPZFMrf4yugZQ0BeqM8Lz1vAIItvtlWInhMZYOJiPD80nZMKTm/s1600/Reem+Fouad+El+Far.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhepnC57auPqGzCNuOZeXXpdrOsdf-N9CYePPIjDwohAmtsIYguk7SN_1qA1MqgH4YyiaDCcuA1OAQgabiZOLNrYBTYLWmPZFMrf4yugZQ0BeqM8Lz1vAIItvtlWInhMZYOJiPD80nZMKTm/s1600/Reem+Fouad+El+Far.jpg" height="320" width="184" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Reem Fouad El Far of Jordan gave a presentation in the afternoon on the Diocese of Jerusalem, where she serves on their Vestry Committee focused especially on the women of the diocese. She explained the cultural aspects of women's participation in their region in both society and church. She pointed out that the Christians in the region have been Christians for generations and are not converts from Islam as some people in and outside the region surmise.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">A view of the audience during a presentation in the Mezzanine.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">And another view . . .</span></td></tr>
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<br />LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528772695426793441.post-35779511351307273032015-03-10T11:16:00.001-06:002015-03-12T20:02:32.494-06:00Second Day at UNCSW59 - March 8, 2015<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a post devoted primarily to photos with commentary from our second day at the United Nations 59th annual Conference on the Status of Women. Day 2 is actually a pre-conference day, featuring a celebration known as "Consultation Day," hosted by the Ecumenical Women NGO at the historic <a href="https://www.apollotheater.org/">Apollo Theater</a> in Harlem. The theater is on West 125th Street, and we traveled from our hotel, the Fitzpatrick Grand Central, located on East 44th Street a block from Grand Central Station, one of the two train stations in New York City. Some of us traveled by subway in a group, and a couple of us arrived by taxi, thus avoiding the stairs down and up from the subway stations.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaa6hc4wDs8vjaR4wExEna483tXtdZPqqqwgH2LnP0zE9Mk-MPhiJDjhL7rSXvuC7gppKzCwyuTzxwmiWSV3HV5mBT9mQAv1-OmOagGGKCM-dV_yVZihgdF7sjPDxLeFJCJC2sXyK3muKg/s1600/World+Famous+Apollo+Theater.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaa6hc4wDs8vjaR4wExEna483tXtdZPqqqwgH2LnP0zE9Mk-MPhiJDjhL7rSXvuC7gppKzCwyuTzxwmiWSV3HV5mBT9mQAv1-OmOagGGKCM-dV_yVZihgdF7sjPDxLeFJCJC2sXyK3muKg/s1600/World+Famous+Apollo+Theater.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apollo Theater in Harlem at 8:00 AM!</span> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQF8CoVtKVksIliU58dGwf1OWql-ohK6FQuM36ksjnKdRFowlu7Lb5ixCD-LphMP7uQnI3YCMycWfw7OvSl7YsNAYgRo0A2TQJz7rBGQ_qVRKWLEGKDKCK205pSCcKpQH_JrToLLOXTT9G/s1600/Mariachi+Flor+de+Toloache+all+woman+ensemble+at+Apollo+Theater.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQF8CoVtKVksIliU58dGwf1OWql-ohK6FQuM36ksjnKdRFowlu7Lb5ixCD-LphMP7uQnI3YCMycWfw7OvSl7YsNAYgRo0A2TQJz7rBGQ_qVRKWLEGKDKCK205pSCcKpQH_JrToLLOXTT9G/s1600/Mariachi+Flor+de+Toloache+all+woman+ensemble+at+Apollo+Theater.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The celebratory spirit of Consultation Day began as we entered the lobby of the Apollo Theater. An all women mariachi band, Mariachi Flor de Toloache, greeted us with joyful music. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Those who arrived early by taxi got into the theater as it opened close to 9:00 AM. The theater personnel stamped our hands, just like they do for concerts. The audience was overwhelmingly women with a handful of men scattered around the theater. There were a lot of enthusiastic greetings, hugs, and photo-taking.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNgK0zKwa8mdyXrSCgKbcq2tBK0XNffouwEtmCISKwitTsvd58RzhdAgxCDnaK8IgLX_iSWfWXByrj35NO2DU40zeXqjygMEhh0pROY_ENW2iT9K4-68wExOPrzVKTVg_kqtO0peRGZzQD/s1600/Women+of+the+World+at+Apollo+Theater.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNgK0zKwa8mdyXrSCgKbcq2tBK0XNffouwEtmCISKwitTsvd58RzhdAgxCDnaK8IgLX_iSWfWXByrj35NO2DU40zeXqjygMEhh0pROY_ENW2iT9K4-68wExOPrzVKTVg_kqtO0peRGZzQD/s1600/Women+of+the+World+at+Apollo+Theater.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">First up on the program was the <a href="http://womenoftheworldmusic.com/who">Women of the World</a> ensemble, four women from different parts of the world - Italy, India, Japan, and USA/Haiti - who sing songs from various countries in the countries' native languages. Their short medley of songs roused us to our feet to clap and sway with their music.</span><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixWdxA5HvlQFn04QOw1BnPYFfP97UnQspzPYLUH7-KB9r154tYYCUtBAWCEQ8LGmS7WBoWhyphenhyphen61L7aNHjIYRXMZkotg0rebaTAi0In_ZtAdXrsOCE6ZEQBpM7j2lvyMO-rKRArmTUBqVmxL/s1600/Slide+announcing+Ecumenical+Women+celebration+at+Apollo+Theater.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixWdxA5HvlQFn04QOw1BnPYFfP97UnQspzPYLUH7-KB9r154tYYCUtBAWCEQ8LGmS7WBoWhyphenhyphen61L7aNHjIYRXMZkotg0rebaTAi0In_ZtAdXrsOCE6ZEQBpM7j2lvyMO-rKRArmTUBqVmxL/s1600/Slide+announcing+Ecumenical+Women+celebration+at+Apollo+Theater.JPG" height="255" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The program began with a historical perspective. There have been four <a href="http://www.unwomen.org/en/how-we-work/intergovernmental-support/world-conferences-on-women">World Conferences on Women organized by the U.N.</a>: 1975 in Mexico City; 1980 in Copenhagen; 1985 in Nairobi; and 1995 in Beijing. Since Beijing there have been five-year reviews, and 2015 brings us to <a href="http://beijing20.unwomen.org/en">Beijing+20</a>. To commemorate the four conferences, four women came on stage individually to give a brief reading from the documents of those conferences.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I admire the confidence, poise, and grace of the young women who have found their core values, developed their voices, and claimed their places among the leaders and decision-makers of the world to speak out on issues that matter to them and their sisters and brothers. It gives us who have become elders in our communities great pride and hope that the work of advocating for human rights for all people has been shared forward with our younger generations. It is only through the vision and persistence of all of us hand-in-hand through the generations that equality, justice, and peace will prevail over discrimination, oppression, and violence among humankind and Creation.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The above photo shows the various chapters of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women that have been instrumental in producing Consultation Day this year. There are chapters in a number of geographical areas throughout the world such as the Arab States, Geneva, and New York. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Keynote speaker <a href="http://www.ngocsw.org/wod/2015-recipient">Ruchira Gupta</a> is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, journalist, and activist from India, who founded the NGO Apne Aap. The Hindi phrase "Apne aap" is translated as "Self-empowerment." Gupta was named the Woman of Distinction by the NGO Committee on the Status of Women. <br /><br />Gupta spoke on how she came to make the film "The Selling of Innocents" about the sex trafficking of low-caste Indian women to brothels in Bihar and India. I've been involved in heightening awareness of human trafficking for a while and began the Facebook Page "<a href="http://www.ngocsw.org/wod/2015-recipient">Episcopalians Against Human Trafficking</a>" with several other activists, and Gupta's telling of the stories brought me to tears. <br /><br />Gupta shared an insightful concept: avoid "skimming the top of the bottom." In other words, we must go deeper than just superficial attention to changing the wrongs of society and intentionally focus attention to change the root causes of evils such as sexual human trafficking. We must practice consistent and persistent activism against violence directed at women and girls. Gupta pointed out that one kind of crime is connected to other kinds of crime, and that violence against a woman of low-caste normalizes violence against all. Gupta said, "We can only walk the last mile if we walk with the last girl."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 20.80000114440918px;">The Beijing+20 panel "Voices from the Regions" brought together women from eight regions of the world and a discussant (respondent) on a panel to bear witness to the progress or lack of progress and current issues and hopes regarding the 12 action foci of the </span><a href="http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20.80000114440918px;">Beijing Platform for Action</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 20.80000114440918px;">. These women raised issues such as how class plays</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 20.80000114440918px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> a major role in the gaps in benefits (such as access to housing, education, and jobs and freedom from violence) of women living in poverty compared to women with more affluence. They pointed out it is important to ally with women in other movements besides the particular segment of the human rights movement in which you participate. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 20.80000114440918px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Several of the women spoke against religious extremism that is "distilled and exaggerated," which has become a fault line in all people's lives, having the potential to cause serious harmful consequences in many communities. The panelists cited violence against "women human rights defenders (WHRD)" as something that women must rally together to name and combat. They challenged the audience: "Can we defend women human rights defenders in our neighborhoods?" The panelists spoke forcefully against the political use of religion to achieve political purposes, which leads to dividing the people in communities from each other. They cited the need for accountability in connecting local movements with global movements. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 20.80000114440918px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">The women closed with some important reminders for all people who care about human rights:</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<li>Keep the fire burning.</li>
<li>With equality, there is no deadline.</li>
<li>Who do you want to be equal to?</li>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pictured here is Dr. Gertrude Mongella, Former Under-Secretary-General of the Fourth </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">U.N. World Conference on Women. Mongella spoke after another wonderful panel featuring Young Activists joined by Mary Robinson, President of Ireland (1990-1997) and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-2002). The young activists shared their dreams and hopes for what the world could be like and how the NGOs which they have joined and started are helping to create a more equitable future for all.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555;"><span style="line-height: 20.80000114440918px;">Mongella helped summarize a packed day at the Apollo Theater, rocking with world music and universal messages of hope and renewal for humanity:</span></span></div>
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<li><span style="color: #555555;"><span style="line-height: 20.80000114440918px;">Have confidence. Instill confidence.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #555555;"><span style="line-height: 20.80000114440918px;">Build teams. You can't go it alone.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #555555;"><span style="line-height: 20.80000114440918px;">Remember your constituents. Walk alongside them. Invite them to walk with you.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #555555; line-height: 20.80000114440918px;">Gather evidence. Do the research.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #555555; line-height: 20.80000114440918px;">Develop trust as you work with institutions and governments in order to build capacity.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #555555; line-height: 20.80000114440918px;">Maintain multi-level, multi-faceted relationships.</span></li>
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This is a post devoted to photos from my arrival in New York City for the United Nations 59th annual Conference on the Status of Women (UNCSW59) through yesterday, the first day of events with the NGO "Ecumenical Women." I'm a delegate from the Episcopal Church's Diocese of Colorado, and I also serve on the church's Executive Council (its board of directors) as chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Advocacy and Networking for Mission. </div>
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As someone who has focused intently on social justice and public policy issues for the church during my soon-to-end six-year term, being here at UNCSW59 has been "right up my alley," with presentations, panel discussions, and workshops on human rights for women and girls. My intention with this post is to give the wider church a sense of the flavor of being here at UNCSW59.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">I'm with Helen Achol Abyei, also from the Diocese of Colorado. We met up in Denver for an interview that will be published in the diocesan newspaper, The Colorado Episcopalian. Helen is in her native dress from Sudan.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4qEOcaviMfGju014Xlk1QcYqVFEV-ZB0K8fqdcMQLic1zYWl5h-nHQJ9drhJOSJg2GHbFww4FwxwVRrZ6PTB9gdHGjtSIO7YLyj46ZMeib0E5tFqNLk5Xfxjh1mdc85x7mO4oqjMm-jRq/s1600/IMG_2601.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4qEOcaviMfGju014Xlk1QcYqVFEV-ZB0K8fqdcMQLic1zYWl5h-nHQJ9drhJOSJg2GHbFww4FwxwVRrZ6PTB9gdHGjtSIO7YLyj46ZMeib0E5tFqNLk5Xfxjh1mdc85x7mO4oqjMm-jRq/s1600/IMG_2601.JPG" height="193" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">We arrived at LaGuardia Airport the day after a plane slid off the runway. Air traffic delays kept us on the ground an extra hour before our plane was released to fly. There was still a lot of snow and ice on the ground in New York, and we waited almost an hour in a very long queue for a taxi to take us to our mid-town hotel near the Church Center and the Untied Nations. Luckily, although it was very cold, the wind was not blowing.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirVEQ5n_CulMMwUm7XuUvWveZDIzNtFdoity0cde9517EAjT5CynoV6K0mBP1QJE3KGgG-K6avwbZNSwKwvlkOzTlJWJ2fDDy1mpU8iWikvPkzP1tq_ZiDcBLmpchovRIBnFVyJ_JMPCeI/s1600/IMG_2607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirVEQ5n_CulMMwUm7XuUvWveZDIzNtFdoity0cde9517EAjT5CynoV6K0mBP1QJE3KGgG-K6avwbZNSwKwvlkOzTlJWJ2fDDy1mpU8iWikvPkzP1tq_ZiDcBLmpchovRIBnFVyJ_JMPCeI/s1600/IMG_2607.JPG" height="185" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Helen, Julia Ayala Harris from the Diocese of Oklahoma, and I walked over to Grand Central Station on our arrival night to find dinner on a budget in the food court on the lower level.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrzg-qOeFgNo8ychzVYLxecXUpgSbPtSg67_XE-qJZ5lxoHrpZDF7rsCmkxYvDBKK-AZEtiFNBvHz1AJ9iyoxNQGaWsY1S1-ShvLVemPgNGGvKppVZ-OSbx7CwmeWfDwfByjWXANw2J5RG/s1600/DSC00013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrzg-qOeFgNo8ychzVYLxecXUpgSbPtSg67_XE-qJZ5lxoHrpZDF7rsCmkxYvDBKK-AZEtiFNBvHz1AJ9iyoxNQGaWsY1S1-ShvLVemPgNGGvKppVZ-OSbx7CwmeWfDwfByjWXANw2J5RG/s1600/DSC00013.JPG" height="197" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The orientation for the NGO Ecumenical Women, of which the Episcopal Church delegation is a member, took place a 9-block walk away at the Salvation Army's site, which included a ground floor chapel and upstairs meeting rooms. Here we are piling into the building for a hosted continental breakfast and a 9:00 AM worship start in the chapel. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3tIspR08UAgWIfXHZJqIA38pFrfIEZ-uSYzij7ITdDDR854uBWtzmikx_OG293Z6wV7alQ0JKa5JWz7oFN1-wekXLW_lHrxataJE0JCELl9YwI_E-V7UiPRufYBF7RXguO-7bsXTosqV_/s1600/DSC00019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3tIspR08UAgWIfXHZJqIA38pFrfIEZ-uSYzij7ITdDDR854uBWtzmikx_OG293Z6wV7alQ0JKa5JWz7oFN1-wekXLW_lHrxataJE0JCELl9YwI_E-V7UiPRufYBF7RXguO-7bsXTosqV_/s1600/DSC00019.JPG" height="151" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Some of our delegates before morning worship started: Glenda McQueen, Partnership Officer for Latin America and the Caribbean (R), Vaike Marika Madisson Lopez de Molina from the Diocese of Honduras (L), and Consuelo Sanchez Navarro, also from the Diocese of Honduras (R).</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Joan Grimm Fraser from the Diocese of Long Island, who represents the church as our Provincial Representative in the Anglican Communion's delegation, and I tried a selfie after meeting each other for the first time. It turned out that Joan knows some of the same people I know from the Diocese of Colorado.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Another selfie: I connected with Fern Lee Hagedorn from the ELCA Young Adult Cohort, and we chatted about being raised as Chinese American daughters and becoming lay Christian leaders.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lynnaia Main, a member of our delegation, is the Global Relations Officer with primary responsibility for the church's United Nations relationship. She is the coordinator for our delegation. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lopa Banerjee, Chief of the Civil Society Section in UN Women, from India, moderated a panel discussion titled "Beijing Then and Now." She reiterated the three focal points that Executive Director Mlambo-Ngcuka cited as necessary to make progress on the Beijing Platform for Action: 1) Unrelenting political commitment; 2) Investment in gender equality; and 3) Strengthened civil society. During the panel discussion, the point was made that gender equality is a shared focus for human rights for all people, not just for women.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqVI3uwaqdWIKYRO_Xpztf8n5vljSQgLzfwDjYo-oVVMPrUEl96qe8HYQTtYv1GT8Mh-6c3q-NIDQLfkENH_3UIWq3KZXSqHq8KZ2wh2ah9YShxyWOJPDotTLSdxr8Olu2TERWfL5E2UY0/s1600/DSC00136.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqVI3uwaqdWIKYRO_Xpztf8n5vljSQgLzfwDjYo-oVVMPrUEl96qe8HYQTtYv1GT8Mh-6c3q-NIDQLfkENH_3UIWq3KZXSqHq8KZ2wh2ah9YShxyWOJPDotTLSdxr8Olu2TERWfL5E2UY0/s1600/DSC00136.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Prior to going to the United Nations Church Center for the afternoon's panel discussions and workshops, several of us stopped at the United Nations to register and obtain our official delegate's badge. One enters through a security building after showing identification and our official registration form. This is the lobby of the United Nations after we went through the separate security screening building.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8_BGFN0AkekCpMWPeXJTFgyVWbTBlzTi-65b78Q4hJ81ylscJZm7zLgCTRO9-gLa7LxDVKTfkj5UYkUDh9HMo252n6-8vsHnP9ny1aDLlDec_-pTfF751C03o02kNjT7UWlW5JP6MtBmu/s1600/DSC00140.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8_BGFN0AkekCpMWPeXJTFgyVWbTBlzTi-65b78Q4hJ81ylscJZm7zLgCTRO9-gLa7LxDVKTfkj5UYkUDh9HMo252n6-8vsHnP9ny1aDLlDec_-pTfF751C03o02kNjT7UWlW5JP6MtBmu/s1600/DSC00140.JPG" height="135" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Three of the church's delegation were just joining the line to get their U.N. badges: Grace Aheron from the Diocese of Virginia (L), Hollee Martinez, Diocese of Texas (C), and Jayce Hafner, the church's Domestic Policy Analyst (R).</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijtEDVuqEB1XBpzxyAAMMeq9S-9-n4l4OEGHclHABBaVBx4Cfa1C53SaBHo_53ypymDmosAIPJhjJ4qS6iKHrFlLM4S7YpgCJxD6OFXM19wRoV0EePnSXVRgLVVYgRN38oWKEKX0NdJYDm/s1600/DSC00189.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijtEDVuqEB1XBpzxyAAMMeq9S-9-n4l4OEGHclHABBaVBx4Cfa1C53SaBHo_53ypymDmosAIPJhjJ4qS6iKHrFlLM4S7YpgCJxD6OFXM19wRoV0EePnSXVRgLVVYgRN38oWKEKX0NdJYDm/s1600/DSC00189.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The orientation day closed with a worship service filled with intercessory prayer for the global family in the first floor chapel of the UN Church Center. </span></td></tr>
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LELANDA LEEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00007493781222383380noreply@blogger.com0