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Our
Society
Fall
Parish Meeting: Sunday, November 15th at 11:45 am
It's
time for us to come together for a Parish Meeting, as we do twice
each year. Our major business items, such as electing officers and
approving the year's budget, are done at the Spring meeting. That
leaves us time in the fall to inform each other about what is
happening at Prairie, and to continue planning for the future of our
congregation. Mark the date: Sunday, 11/15/09 at 11:45, with a
potluck at 11:30. You'll see from the agenda that there are several
issues we'll be covering, and it should be a lively and interesting
discussion.
Agenda:
1.
Opening words and Chalice lighting
2. Approval of May 3, 2009
Parish Meeting minutes
3. Update on Strategic Plan
4.
Ministerial planning and upcoming congregational sessions
5.
Results from our building consultant
6. Governance models
presentation
7. Formation of Bylaws Task Force
8. Questions on
Committee, Minister, and Treasurer's reports (written, emailed
ahead)
9. Closing Words
Please
join us - we hope to see you there.
Rachel
Long
President,
Prairie UU Society
Prairie
Elders Meet October 27th
Prairie
people over 65 are invited to the Prairie Elders meeting Tuesday,
October 27th. Prairie Elders aims to provide good times and mutual
support for Prairie UU Members and Friends over 65. Current
participants range from age 65 to 90-something. We welcome other UUs
who live in the facility where we meet. Informal conversation begins
at 1:30 pm and discussion on the topic is from 2:00-4:00. Newcomers
welcome.
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This
month, our topic will be "A Report Card for President Obama."
Thousands
of websites and reams of print address this topic from countless
angles. Explore any aspect you
wish, offer your assessment or that of others, or just come and
listen. If you need a means of focus, weigh a specific presidential
action against a UU principle. Handouts welcome.
We
meet in the Nakoma Room in the Heritage Oaks building, Oakwood
Village West. Parking is available in front or underneath the
building. You can bring your own beverage cup and snacks to share.
Call contacts listed for directions or a ride: Donna Murdoch
238-3802, Gordon Cunningham 230-3367, Rosemary Dorney 238-4382 or
Rose Smith 233-3363.
Two
Humanist Union Sponsored Events
If
you are at the Pine Lake Camp retreat, at 1 pm on Saturday Oct. 24
you'll have a chance to hear about what the Secular Coalition for
America is doing in Washington from one of the national
organization's officers, Ron Solomon. For a preview of some of the
issues the organization is taking a stand on, visit their website at
http://www.secular.org/.
The
Humanist Union's next regular monthly meeting at Prairie will be on
Sunday Nov. 1. Following our usual potluck lunch at 11:45 am, we'll
have a discussion from 12:30 to 1:30 pm on issues raised by the
insertion of religion into the health
care debate in Washington, led by Julie Merrill-Quinn. Did you know,
for example, that Sens. Kerry and Hatch proposed an amendment that
would prohibit insurers from denying benefits "for religious or
spiritual health care", meaning payments to Christian Science
"practitioners" who charge for praying for sick followers.
Bob
Park, Humanist Union
Book
Club Announces New Selections
The
Prairie Book Club meets monthly, after the Sunday Service at Prairie,
about 11:45 a.m. Bring potluck food to share. This is an open book
club. You may come whether or not you have read the book. Here's what
the book club will be reading from October through December 2009 :
Saturday,
October 24th (at the retreat,) the group will be discussing What
Was She Thinking: Notes on a Scandal,
by Zoe Heller. “A lonely schoolteacher reveals more than she
intends when she records the story of her best friend's affair with a
pupil in this sly, insightful novel…What
Was She Thinking?
is a story of repression and passion, envy and complacence,
friendship and loneliness. A complex psychological portrait framed as
a wicked satire, it is by turns funny, poignant, and sinister. With
it, Zoë Heller surpasses the promise of her critically acclaimed
first novel, Everything
You Know.”
Sunday,
November 29 – Here
If You Need Me – A True Story
by Kate Braestrup. This is the memoir of a middle aged woman who
becomes a UU minister after being widowed and serves as a chaplain in
Maine’s Forest Service. Publisher’s Weekly says that the
author’s “insightful essays are extraordinarily well
written, mingling elements of police procedural and touching love
story with trenchant observations about life and death. Alert to
comic detail even in grisly circumstances…she tells stories of
lost children, a suicide, drunken accidents and a murder, always with
compassion and a concern for the big questions inescapably provoked
by tragic events.” The review at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/28/AR2007082801575.html
will definitely get you to read this book! 211 pages. Recommended by
Barb Park.
Sunday,
December 20 – The
Yiddish Policeman’s Union
by Michael
Chabon is a “detective
story
set in an alternate
history
version of the present day, based on the premise that during World
War II,
a temporary settlement
for Jewish
refugees
was established in Sitka,
Alaska
in 1941, and that the fledgling State of Israel
was destroyed in 1948. The novel is set in Sitka, which it depicts as
a large,
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Yiddish-speaking
metropolis.”
(from Wikipedia) The book has won several science fiction awards. 224
pages.
Mary
Mullen, 608.298.0843 or mmullen(at)
chorus.net
All
About the Prairie Caring Committee
Our
Prairie Caring Committee is here to support you as members at times
in your life when you may feel the need for help from your church
community. If you are ill, having surgery, have had a death in your
family, having a child, or just need to discuss an issue with someone
you know, we are here to serve you. Likewise, if you hear of someone
in Prairie who might need our support, contact one of us, Rev. Ralph
Tyksinski, or our administrator, Kate. Your concern will be forwarded
to the appropriate person.
We
are pleased to welcome several new members to our Caring Committee
this year. The members of the committee are: Erin Bosch, Linda
Colletti, Randy Converse, Jill Cornejo, Aileen Nettleton, Robin
Proud, and Linda Sheehy. Each of our committee members has experience
in providing support to others, either professionally or through
volunteer work. We have divided up our membership so that each of us
is a “contact person” for a specific group of
individuals. You should be receiving a letter from “your”
Caring Committee member so that you will have a direct person to
contact. However, we want you to feel free to contact any one of our
members or Rev. Ralph.
As
volunteers, we will do our best to set up support for you or make a
referral to either our minister or a community agency. If you do not
reach one of us or get a response, we may be traveling (or ill,
ourselves!) In that case, please contact another person right away so
that we can work as a team to help you. We look forward to serving
you and our church community.
Aileen
Nettleton, Caring Committee Chair
Ministering
to Prairie’s Future: Upcoming Events from the Long-Range
Planning Committee
What visions
do we have for Prairie’s future? How do different ministerial
approaches and relationships factor into these visions? What can we
learn from other UU congregations that have undertaken similar
explorations? Several upcoming events organized by the Long-Range
Planning Committee are designed to facilitate discussion on these
questions, and more. Join in the conversation!
At
the Prairie UU Society Retreat – on Saturday, October 24, 10-11
am, Ken Skog and Mary Mullen will present a workshop entitled “A
Minister, a Rabbi, and a Priest walked into a Bar....”. Join
the Long-Range Planning Committee to share reminiscences of ministers
or other religious leaders who have played a positive role in your
life.
After the service on Sunday, Nov. 22, Glenda Cosenza of
the Dekalb, Illinois Unitarian Universalist Church will be visiting
for a Q&A session about the differences between roles of settled
and contract ministers, and the process her congregation undertook
when shifting from a contract to settled minister. Please see the
related article in this issue of Prairie Fire for more
details.
Robyn Perrin, Chair,
Long-Range Planning Committee
For
questions on any of these events, please contact Robyn, Christina
Klock, Mary Mullen, Aileen Nettleton, or Ken Skog.
The
Prairie Retreat is Coming - Last Minute News Flash!
We
have a great turn-out for the retreat this year and look forward to
spending the weekend together. Here are a couple of last minute notes
for you before you go:
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Getting
there: The
retreat site is easy to get to: take highway 90/94 out of Madison to
the north / west, then get on 39/51 going north. Take
exit 113 (County Rd E / Westfield) and go left on County Road E for
0.6 mi (through downtown Westfield.) Turn right on County Road M and
go 7.3 mi. Turn left on Pine Lake Road into the camp.
It takes about an hour and a half to drive from Madison.
Where
to park:
Please park all vehicles in the designated parking areas (next to
cabins or in main parking lot). It is important that all roads in the
main camp are kept open and free of vehicles for all guests and for
emergency vehicle access. Please observe the reserved signs which
designate parking for camp vehicles and accessible parking for the
disabled.
What
to bring: If you are coming on Friday, please
bring finger food to share for
an informal potluck. All other meals are included in the registration
cost. Bring your short (2-4 minutes, please) talent show act and
anything needed
for your act. You may wish to bring a favorite board game to share.
If you need them, your book club book and your recorder. Though the
paths are lit, a flashlight might be helpful for getting around in
the evening. Do
check your registration form - if
you are in a cabin, you need to bring your own bedding and towels. No
matter where you stay, you will need to bring all of your own
toiletries.
Pine
Lake Camp Rules:
No smoking, no alcohol. Parents need to know where their children are
at all times, and groups of kids or teens may not stay overnight in a
room without an adult. If you encounter any problems, please
come to Robin, Phyllis, or Kate first.
Program
Schedule Summary: All=anyone, Ad=adults, I=intergenerational,
C=children
Friday:
Beginning
at 6pm until 7:30pm - All- arrival, finger food potluck, settling
in to your room. I= Icebreakers by Erin Bosch in Amphlett Hall.
7:30
- 9pm - All= mixers and games and tournament sign ups, Amphlett
Hall. I= Generations Dancing with Ingrid West in the Oakwood
Center, Bonfire and S'mores, outside at fire ring with Kate Liu.
9:00
- 10:30 pm - I= board games, visiting in Amphlett Hall,
Charades with Paula Pachciarz in Oakwood (probably best for older
children.)
10:30-
11:30 pm - Ad = Discussion, "The Pig That Wants to be
Eaten," with Rick Ruecking 1st floor lounge Rader.
Saturday:
7:45
am - All- breakfast set-up
8:00
am - All - breakfast in Amphlett Hall, continue ping pong and
horseshoe tournament signups. Silent Auction opens in Amphlett.
9-10
am
- C
= Uncle Rick's Circus Parade games, led by Rick Ruecking at Amphlett
Hall, Low Ropes course for kids 8 & up with Nick Coenen at
Nature Center, Nature center show and tell with Galen Smith. Ad =
Ware Lecture, led by Rachel Long room 22 Rader Center, Book Group
with Mary Mullen, lower level lounge Rader. I=
ping pong in Amphlett, horseshoes at horseshoe pit with Erin Bosch.
10-11
am - C
= continue Ropes Course, story time with Rose Smith first floor
lounge Rader. Ad= "A minister, a priest, and a rabbi walked into a
bar..."
with Ken Skog first floor conference room Rader, Restorative Yoga
with Katherine Peterson in Oakwood. I=
ping pong and horseshoes continue.
11-12
- C
= finish ropes course, Yoga animals for kids with Paula Pachciarz and
Katherine Peterson in Oakwood. Ad= Women's group with
Mary Somers, first floor lounge Rader. I= ping pong and horseshoes
continue.
11:45
am - All - lunch set-up
12:00
noon - All - lunch in Amphlett Hall, talent show sign up.
1:00
pm - C
= Kid fun / child care in Amphlett Hall.
Ad= Ukrainian Easter Eggs with Kate Liu in craft cabin, guest speaker Ron Solomon sponsored by the
Humanist Union in lower level lounge Rader. I=
watercolor painting with Mary Somers at Amphlett Hall.
2
- 3 pm - C=
Bollywood Dancing with the Malke-Eligantis in Oakwood.
Ad= making collages with Robin Proud in the craft cabin. I= Nature
Walk with Galen Smith beginning at nature center, Hymns and Rounds
with the Tyksinskis in lower level lounge Rader.
2:30
pm - Ad= Beginning recorder lessons with Mary Frantz in room 22
Rader.
3
- 4 pm - C
= Pumpkin Face Painting with Rachel Long in the craft cabin. Teens=
Teen Talk with Rebecca
Malke
in first floor lounge Rader. Ad=
Recorder lessons with Ruth Calden and Mary Frantz in room 22 Rader,
Bridge Lesson with Phyllis Long in first floor conference room Rader.
I = Creating Haiku poetry with Marcia Johnson in lower level
conference room Rader.
4
- 5pm - C
= Paper bag crafts with Ingrid West in the craft cabin.
Ad= Spanish Conversation class with Marcia Johnson in lower lever
conference room Rader, Knitting circle with Karen Deaton in first
floor lounge Rader. I= Fun Dancing with the Tyksinskis in
Oakwood.
5:15
pm - All = table setting. Ad = Slavic Pronunciation, first floor
lounge Rader.
5:30
- All = Dinner in Amphlett. Silent Auction ends.
6:30
pm - All= dinner clean-up, Free time
7:00
- 8:15 pm - All =
Talent Show led by Erin Bosch in Oakwood.
8:15-
10pm - All - Folk Dance lesson with Doleta Chapru, followed by
dancing at 8:30 pm until 10 pm in Oakwood.
Sunday:
7:30
am - All = breakfast set-up
8:00
am - All = breakfast
9:00
am - All = clean up, both breakfast and general cleaning
10:00
am - All = Key Log ceremony with Anne Lundin at the fire ring.
11:00
am - All = final clean up and departure
Complete
program descriptions are available via PrairieNews and on paper at
the retreat. If
you have any last minute questions, please contact one of the
following: Robin Proud, registrar, 661-0776; Kate Liu, administrator,
271-8218; or Phyllis Long, program coordinator, 608-325-7397.
We
look forward to seeing you there!
Robin,
Phyllis, and Kate
Spanish
Speaker's Potluck
The
next Spanish Speaker's potluck will be Monday, October 26th at 6:30
pm at the home of Kate Tucker, 4504 Camden Rd. Please call Kate at
221-2168 for directions, or Rosemary Dorney at 238-4382 for more
information.
Green
Committee News
Is
anyone interested in helping to study the costs and benefits of a
solar photovoltaic system for Prairie? Prairie committed to doing a
study this year as part of the Green Sanctuary accreditation process.
This study is to be presented at the parish meeting next spring. Al
Nettleton is coordinating this study and would like assistance. If
you are interested in participating, please contact Al at 238-6053.
As
a result of our signing up for Green Power, Madison Gas and Electric
contacted Prairie and will put together a small blurb about
Prairie’s
Green Congregation project to put on their Web site. We'll send the
link to it as soon as it is posted.
Al
Nettleton, Green Committee
Ministerial
Options: Q & A with DeKalb UU Past President Glenda Cosenza
On
Sunday, November 21st after the service, the Long Range Planning
Committee is delighted to invite all interested members to join us in
a meeting with Glenda Cosenza of the Dekalb UU Church to learn more
about Ministerial Options. We are very fortunate that Glenda has
agreed to share the experiences of the Dekalb congregation, as it
moved from having a year-to-year “contract minister” to
making the decision to have a “settled” minister several
years ago. Glenda was the president of the board during this process
and will share how the change has impacted the relationship between
the minister and the congregation. There will be time for questions
for Glenda about their situation and changes that have taken place.
We
will meet in the upstairs Meeting Room immediately following the
service. Pizza will be provided (donations encouraged). Child care
will be available. If you can let Aileen know if you need child care,
that will help us know how many children to anticipate.
This
is one of the opportunities your Long Range Planning Committee is
setting up as part of our year of exploring ministerial relationships
as Prairie looks to its own future. Please plan to join us!
Questions?
Contact any committee member: Robyn Perrin, Ken Skog, Christina
Klock, Aileen Nettleton, or Mary Mullen.
Aileen
Nettleton, Long Range Planning Committee
Prairie
Fund Raising Museum Trip: "Andy Warhol: The Last Decade"
On Saturday,
November 21, Pat Watkins will be leading a fund raising trip to the Andy
Warhol exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The package will include
bus transportation, admission to the museum and three Warhol related
exhibits, and lunch at the historic Astor Hotel, for $62. More
information will be available later, but
if interested, phone Pat Watkins at 233-5795.
You can send your check, made out to Prairie UU Society, to Pat
Watkins' home address to make your reservation. Reservations will be
due by November 4th.
Housing
and Property Notes
Prairie
has discontinued the open-ended collection of food items in bins in
our entryway for food pantries. The bins present both an aesthetic
issue and a possible insect problem. In the future, food or monetary
collections for pantries will occur on specific Sundays with plenty
of advance notice. Please do not bring items to Prairie between
collection days as we do not have a good place for storing donated
items.
Thank
you,
Kate
Liu, Administrator
WOW
group
Prairie's
Women's group, known as WOW, will meet next on Saturday, October 24th
at the Prairie retreat. Check the program schedule for the time. New
members are always welcome. For more information or to get on the
Prairie WOW email list, contact Mary Somers, 276-8397 or
marysomers44(at)charter.net.
Movie
Group
The
movie group will not meet for a film in November, but will resume on
December 10th at 7pm with a viewing of "Ugetsu," a 6th
century Japanese feudal war epic by director Kenji Mizoguchi. Please
bring snacks to share.
Social
Action News
El Salvador Delegation to Speak
Wednesday, November 11th, Mary Somers and Barbara Alvarado,
El Slavador delegation members, will speak on "Mining and Radio of the
Brave" at 7 pm at 825 Hughes Place, South Madison Police Precinct, just
off Park Street behind McDonald's. Discussion will include not only the
trip and violence against anti-mining activists, but the situation in
Honduras and how a radio station like the one in Robert Park's garage
could help the people who live in the mountains of El Salvador and
Honduras.
Homeless Shelter News
Several
blankets were collected for the men's homeless shelter. Thank you to
everyone who contributed a blanket. Also
newsworthy is that next month we do not need any volunteers for our
regular shift at the Men's Homeless Shelter. A member of First Society
who is turning 16 wants to celebrate her birthday by inviting her
friends and family to work at the shelter with her! She and her friends
and family will work on "our" November 7th Saturday, as First had all
their volunteer shelter spots filled for the year.
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Social Action to present "Seven Jewish Children: A Play
for Gaza", by Caryl Churchill
This play was presented by the Social
Action Committee over the summer, following a Sunday program on
Palestine, and is now being performed again on November 14th at the Socialist Potluck located at the
WilMar Neighborhood Center, 535 Jennifer Street. Potluck begins at
5:30, announcements at 6:30, then the play, followed by open
discussion. The play is free but donations will be accepted for Medical
Aid for Palestinians.
Mary
Somers, Social Action Chair
Rev.
Ralph's Ruminations
 During
these autumnal days of October I am becoming more deeply aware of the
cooling temperatures and shortening of daylight. It is a time for a
clearing from the skies
of the heat and haziness of summer. For some of us these crisp days
may signal
a time for gaining clarity about what we want to dedicate or
rededicate our lives toward achieving. These are days when we become
more aware of and appreciate the crispness and sharpness of the
realities that ask us about what plans we have for our various
selves:personal, family, community, country and world. In giving
ourselves to these larger realms of meaning we can often be
unwittingly deceived by our desire for perfection.
The
Biologist, Lewis Thomas in his marvelous book, “The Medusa and
the Snail” offers a cautionary note:
We have evolved scientists . . .
and
so we know a lot about DNA, but if our kind of mind had been
confronted with the problem of designing a similar replicating
molecule…. we’d never have succeeded. We would have made
one fatal mistake: our rmolecule would have been perfect .... The
capacity to blunder slightly is the real marvel of DNA. Without this
special attribute. we would still be anaerobic bacteria and there
would be no music.
As
Prairie moves forward toward making major decisions about our future
during these coming months it is worth remembering that we don’t
have to achieve perfection in our planning or decision making. To
blunder, slightly or markedly, is the normal shape of human
achievements.
UU
minister and author, Forrest Chuch, who died at age 61 this past
month after a three year battle with terminal cancer wrote this about
his own struggles with our perfectionist tendencies.
The
Imperfectionist
The
reason I’ve been able to produce
so
much is that I’m not a perfectionist
-
I’m an imperfectionist.
I’m
confident that everything I say
can be improved upon by others,
and that’s my great strength,
because I know that it won’t been improved upon by
others unless I take the first step.
When we only do things which please us,
or don’t frighten us,
after a while fewer and fewer things please us.
Over
time, our circle of options diminishes
until
we are prisoners in gardens of our own making.
The
more decisions you make in your life,
the
more times you act,
the
more certain it is that you will be wrong.
To
be fulfilled we need to recognize,
all
of us,
 that
the world doesn’t owe us a living
-
rather we owe the world a living.
And
in the brief time that is given us,
we
must somehow learn to give ourselves away.
Forrest
Church
May
it be considered that as in our personal lives it is a worthy goal
for our Prairie UU Society life to be learning how to give ourselves
away.
Glad
to be journeying, imperfectly, with you,
Ralph
UU
Community News
Fair
Wisconsin to Speak at First Society
The
LBGT Welcoming Committee of The First Unitarian Society of Madison
warmly invites the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender &
questioning members of the Reeb and Prairie Unitarian Universalist
congregations to a potluck on Friday, December 4, at 6:00 pm in the
Landmark Auditorium of the First Unitarian church. A speaker from
Fair Wisconsin will be on hand to update us on the current status of
LBGT rights in Wisconsin and answer questions. An award will also be
presented to Bill Wartmann for his impressive humanitarian work on
behalf of Unitarian LGBTs. Please join us for an evening of community
and celebration! Bring a dish to pass, a desire to meet your fellow
UUs and a sense of fun. RSVP to Liz Dannenbaum
(liz.winter.dannenbaum@gmail.com
or
phone 221-3997) by Sunday, November 29th so seating numbers and
childcare can be arranged.
Liz
Dannenbaum, First Unitarian Society
Prairie
UU Society
2010
Whenona Dr.
Madison,
WI 53711
608-271-8218
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