INCITE! AT THE US SOCIAL FORUM!!!: connecting w/ folks

INCITE! AT THE US SOCIAL FORUM!!!
HEADING TO THE US SOCIAL FORUM IN ATLANTA?
WONDERING HOW TO CONNECT WITH INCITE! FOLKS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY WHILE YOU’RE THERE?
PRE-CONFERENCE FORUM -
DEVELOPING LIBERATORY RESPONSES TO VIOLENCE
TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 2007
10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Please join us at the US Social Forum to advance our work on creating community-based alternatives to address violence and strategies to build safer, supportive, and more peaceful communities! The movement to create community-based, transformative justice is at an exciting moment! Across the U.S., a small but growing collection of organizations are developing and piloting models that address intimate and community violence that do not rely on State intervention. While in different organizational stages, most of us are already working together in some capacity, but we have not yet been able to formally gather and share our experiences, struggles, challenges and successes –a unique opportunity that the upcoming U.S. Social Forum can provide.
For this reason, Generation Five, Critical Resistance, Creative Interventions, INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, and Action + Community= Transformation would like to invite your organization to participate in a pre-forum convening for individuals and organizations that are currently doing national or local work to develop violence-prevention/intervention models that do not rely on state intervention.

draft gore dot com

DRAFTGORE.COM

87,000 people signed. Have YOU?

BN just promoting the draft gore dot com site…well…who better…At this point, the idea of a presidential election is all up for somebody’s grab! After our current yahoo [ie Bush from the "Great State"], I’m not real clear what it even means to function in this capacity of President of the United States. Do you?

Al Gore: The
Conscience of the
Democratic Party

He’s eloquent, passionate, relentless, undaunted. The first political figure to oppose the Iraq war, Al Gore is also the lead champion in the fight against global warming, a passionate defender of our Constitution, and an unyielding voice against the Bush Administration’s abuse of power. Given his unmatched experience and leadership on issues of moral imperative, Gore is increasingly seen as Democrats’ best bet to win back the White House.

Run Al Run! Listen to original song by Paul Kaplan

‘Hall of Shame’ Exposes Dangers of High-Level Homophobia

‘Hall of Shame’ Exposes Dangers of High-Level Homophobia International Day Against Homophobia Highlights Persistence of Prejudice

(New York, May 16, 2007) ? Pope Benedict XVI, US President George W. Bush and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have undermined human rights by actively promoting prejudice against lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender people, Human Rights Watch said today in its annual “hall of shame” to mark the International Day Against Homophobia.

On May 17, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups in more than 50 countries will commemorate the International Day Against Homophobia, an initiative launched in 2005 that commemorates the day in 1990 when the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its roster of disorders.

On the Bike::Riding for a Cure!

 

27 May 2007

Dear Family & Friends both near and far,

 

I’m excited to write to you since I’m teaming up with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society again to ride for a cure!  Last year I wrote to you and entered into an invigorating summer of fundraising and training.  And, following the success of the ride and your contributions for the Illinois Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, I have decided to join the cycle team again for another event and am doing so as a mentor for the Cycle team!  

You may recall that I rode in the Apple Cider Century last year in Three Oaks, Michigan, and I’m happy to be training for that ride which is scheduled for 30 September 2007.  I have some additional involvement this year.  Not only am I a participant, but I was also invited to be a mentor for this season!  I still fundraise and train, but I also have the opportunity to partner with a group of folks who are fundraising and training for this event.  The mentor’s job is to serve as an encourager during the efforts of fundraising and a partner with participants on training days.  So, either way, I pedal with those participants both on and off the bike!

When I wrote to you last year, I wrote a letter that mentioned why I joined the Society.  To refresh your memory [and remind myself why I’m committed to community], I rode in the memory of a patient of mine who suddenly died following her diagnosis; she had an acute onset of Lymphoma.  And, I rode for Ben who was doing his best to recover from aids-related Lymphoma.  This year I ride for both Sandra and Ben.  Sandra, the patient I mentioned above and my young friend, Ben, who died last June from aids-related Lymphoma.  And yet, I ride for some new folks, too!  I continue to be amazed at how cancer, any cancer, affects all of us!  This year it’s Brian, a colleague-friend of my spouse, who is 31 and recently diagnosed with Metastatic Testicular Cancer.  Lance Armstrong’s LiveStong is not riding in or near Chicago, so this year I ride for Brian.

Drumroll please…Let the fundraising begin!

 I hope you’ll consider giving a financial gift to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  The bleak reality of the Chicago winter has passed and outdoor training rides have begun, but the bleak realities of cancer abides and will abide until there’s a cure.  Chicago winters and the journey of blood-related cancers still present struggle and suffering, albeit not exactly parallel. And so, while I’m out struggling to pedal 35, 50, 75 and eventually 100 miles, cancer patients are struggling on their journey down a path of fatigue and suffering with an added bonus of varying emotional responses to the reality of living with cancer alongside the poisonous chemotherapy and tiresome radiation that some patients receive! 

While we can hope and trust for this summer to be beautiful and a nice reprieve from the blustering winter, most of the cancer patients I saw as a hospital chaplain hoped for a brighter and better day; they strained and hoped for a cure—hoped for a life!  The new life of spring and the subsequent enjoyment of summer-filled activities come only after some very dark days of winter which always come at different times for all of us; and for some of us who struggle with cancer, the new life of being cancer-free is far beyond our reach. 

I speak about blood-related cancers [and cancer in general] from the perspective of a Chaplain who provided services to persons and their loved ones facing what I heard articulated as an uninviting future and a shocking and lonely present.  I also speak about blood-related cancers from the perspective of one whose family has been threatened with diagnoses of blood-related cancers and the subsequent challenging times.  I have witnessed the great need of emotional and financial support when I worked with patients in the hospital.  I only wish I was aware of the emotional and financial support that is always available through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  Now that I am aware, I have a responsibility to my community.  This is my attempt to contribute to the society and partner with those suffering from blood-related cancers. 

Barriers to a cancer-free life are often the disease processrs, financial accessibility and emotional support.  I want my efforts and time with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to help diminish and finally eradicate the barriers of blood-related cancers!  I hope you will help me too!  How, you ask?  Well, while I am no longer serving as a chaplain in a hospital, my path crosses many who do and I continue to meet folks suffering from cancer, including blood-related cancers.  And so, I’m teaming up with the cycle team for an early summer century.  Will you join me in helping me meet my goal of $1,760?

Now, do you ever wonder how your financial gift helps?  I always wonder where my money goes when I send a financial gift to a charitable organization, and so I have some data for you!  Though this data is specific to the Illinois chapter, this information is nonetheless helpful.

$100:                Provides free health education for 10 patients

$500:               Provides a blood cancer patient with financial aid to support medical treatment and travel for one year

$1000:              Assists in the organization of 47 Illinois support groups and education programs for patients, and contributes to Society sponsored blood cancer research.  Donors contributing at this level are welcomed into our DeViller’s Society, named for the family who started the Society in memory of their son, Robert

$10,000:           100% of your gift will help support a cutting-edge blood cancer research project of your choice

Below is a chart to help you see where your money goes when you donate through me to the Illinois Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. 

As you can see from this chart, the money that is raised for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society goes to aid three sectors within the Society, the largest percentage supporting patient and community service.  This is what impresses me with the Society, and why I want to team up again with the Leukemia & Lymphoma’s Team in Training cycle team.  I invite you to consider with me how you can participate in the patient care of those living with blood-related cancers.  Ready to give?  You can donate online securely at my Team in Training website. 

The address is http://www.active.com/donate/tntil/robyncycles07  Or, if you’re the check-writing type, you can mail your check to my house…which I’m not publishing on the internet!  Please include my full name in the memo line ensuring that your funds are listed under the appropriate participant.

Last April when I sat down to write my very first support letter to many of you for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, I recall both the excitement and challenge of raising money and training for a century.  I now find myself in that place again!  Those who supported me became beacons of hope!  It is my hope that this list of beacons will grow exponentially!  Thanks in advance for your support—financially and especially emotionally during this time of fundraising and outdoor training each Saturday!

Just Do It for a Cure!

Robyn

P.S. Thanks in advance for your help, financial and otherwise!  I’m grateful for your partnership in the endeavors I pursue!  I’ll look forward to hearing from you!

conversations: thoughts, actions, new monasticism, church plants

So, as I think about the idea and tradition and history of church/Church, I am reminded of this article that came out in 2005. This article is not so much NEW, but it does question our assumptions concerning church/Church.

I don’t know if the conversations I’ve had recently will yield in a church plan[t]–a sort of both/and fellowship, but one never knows. After all, these conversations have mostly been about finding ways to understand our own experiences in church and what that means now. As my friend was explaining to me last night over a beer at Big Chicks, these conversations are a little like the cat that kept following Anne around, detailed in the narrative in one of Anne Lammot’s books [Traveling Mercies, is it?]. And so, moving beyond the institution in an attempt to retain the goodness and relationality seems important. Perhaps these communities have been able to deconstruct the bureaucracy that limits the freedoms and liberations of the stories of Jesus?

article printed from:
The Christian Century Magazine

http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=1399

Features
October 18, 2005
The new monastics
Alternative Christian communities
by Jason Byassee
At a time when the church had grown too cozy with the ruling authorities, when faith had become a means to power and influence, some Christians who sought to live out an authentically biblical faith headed for desolate places. They pooled their resources and dedicated themselves to a life of asceticism and prayer. Most outsiders thought they were crazy. They saw themselves as being on the narrow and difficult path of salvation, with a call to prick the conscience of the wider church about its compromises with the “world.”

I’m describing not fourth-century monks, but present-day communities of Christians who think the church in the United States has too easily accommodated itself to the consumerist and imperialist values of the culture. Living in the corners of the American empire, they hope to be a harbinger of a new and radically different form of Christian practice.

These “new monastics” pursue the ancient triumvirate of poverty, chastity and obedience, but with a twist. Their communities include married people whose pledge to chastity is understood as a commitment to marital fidelity. Poverty means eschewing typical middle-class economic climbing but not total indigence—some economic resources are necessary for building this desert kingdom. Obedience means accountability not to an abbot but to Jesus and to the community.