December 2016 - OE - lists.wedgeblade.net

8/11/16, Spong: The Unlikely Honored Guest at the Democratic National Convention
by Ellie Stock via OE 01 Aug '18

01 Aug '18

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He was surrounded in that reserved and exclusive seating area by the power-elite of the Democratic Party: A former President, the sitting Vice-President and the “second lady,” the spouses and children of the nominees, as well as those especially invited guests, who were uniquely and politically related to the convention’s eventual nominee. This unlikely guest was in his own way quite unique. He was a Republican, one who had been elected to a state-wide office as a candidate of the opposition party. He served as the governor of Virginia from 1970 – 1974 and was the first Republican governor of Virginia since 1869 in the last days of reconstruction. Later he sought his party’s nomination to the Senate of the United States, losing to another Republican, John Warner, who served with distinction from 1979 until he retired in 2008. The name of this mystery quest is Abner Linwood Holton. He is now, and has been since the day I first met him, an extraordinary man. People, unaware of the history of the Democratic Party in Virginia, find it strange that the man I regarded as the best governor of Virginia during the years I lived in that state would be a Republican. Let me tell you his story.</p> <p>Linwood Holton was born in 1923 in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, a town deep in the heart of Appalachia. He was a Republican from the moment of his birth. He was also bright and ambitious. Being a Republican in Virginia in those days was to be part of a distinct minority, perhaps even an endangered one! The Democrats of Virginia were the only cohesive political force in the state. This majority party was run by Virginia’s senior United States Senator, Harry Flood Byrd, who after serving a term as governor from 1926 to 1930, effectively ran the state until he died in 1966. It was said of Harry Byrd that he and a few of his closest political advisors would sit on the porch at his home in Berryville, Virginia, and pick the candidates for every political vacancy in Virginia from governor on down. The electorate was deliberately kept small by poll taxes, which effectively discouraged both blacks and poor whites from voting. A Byrd loyalist was in every county seat in Virginia to run the party. Racism was deep and “States Rights” was a holy slogan designed to make racism seem socially acceptable. Virginia was a one party state. Frequently the Republicans would not even nominate candidates and, even when they did, no one paid much attention to them because whoever won the Democratic primary seldom even campaigned in the general election, since Republicans simply did not win in this state! Linwood Holton made it his life’s ambition to establish two-party politics in Virginia.</p> <p>He graduated from Washington and Lee in Lexington, Virginia, and then entered the law school at Harvard University. Along the way he married a Roanoke girl, named Virginia Rogers, who went by the name of Jinks. She was the daughter of Frank Rogers, an upright, but ultra-conservative, successful and well-connected Roanoke citizen, who was the grandson of the first Episcopal Bishop in Southwestern Virginia. In his mind, the two greatest virtues were to be a conservative Episcopalian and a loyal Byrd Democrat. Jinks, the more rebellious of Rogers’ two daughters, chose to marry a Republican and a Presbyterian! Supported by this remarkable woman, Linwood began his life’s task of strengthening Virginia’s Republican Party. This party’s base, such as it was, had always been in the mountains of the western part of Virginia. As a force in opposition to Byrd Democrats, the Virginia Republican party tilted slightly leftward. There was no room to the right of the Byrd machine. The Virginia Republicans were known for their party’s efforts to improve education statewide and to develop better state mental health facilities. Linwood’s organizational efforts were so successful that in 1965 he was the Republican nominee for governor opposing the Southside, Virginia, Byrd Democrat, Mills Godwin, who had emerged as the new leader of the Democratic Party. The sickness, retirement and subsequently the death of Senator Byrd meant that the torch of party leadership had to be passed to the next generation. It is interesting that Harry Byrd, Jr., always known as “Little Harry,” who was appointed to succeed his father in the Senate, did not succeed him in the leadership of the statewide Democratic Party. Holton was defeated in that first run for the governor’s office, but he garnered a respectable total of votes and succeeded in introducing himself to the state. The day after the defeat, he began planning for his second run in 1969. The governorship in Virginia, we need to note, is limited by the Constitution to a single term.</p> <p>National issues soon began to erode the Byrd majorities. Poll taxes were declared unconstitutional in 1964. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 opened the ballot to people of color. The feminist movement began to galvanize women into an effective political force. A national- thinking Virginia Democrat, named Henry Howell, began to build a liberal political base made up of labor unions, blacks, women and young people. His challenge to the Byrd machine resulted ultimately in his election as Lt. Governor in 1971, but he could go no farther. He remained anathema to Byrd Democrats. In the Democratic Primary of 1969, the Byrd candidate, William Battle, the son of former Governor John Battle, defeated Henry Howell in a bitter contest. The party could not heal this division, so in the General Election, Linwood Holton, supported by many of Howell’s still angry voters, rode to victory with a 65,000 vote majority.</p> <p>In his inaugural address, Holton called for an end to Virginia’s pattern of racial discrimination and its racist politics. No Virginia Governor had ever uttered such words before. Words, however, were not enough. People looked for actions. They would follow soon.</p> <p>In the most dramatic step imaginable, the new governor and his wife made the decision not to put their children in the church-related or independent private schools of Richmond, where all governors’ children had previously attended, but to enroll them in Richmond’s public schools which were at that time about 80% black. It was such a startling action for a Virginia politician that the New York Times covered it with a front page story and a picture of Virginia’s Governor Holton escorting one of his daughters into a school surrounded by a host of black faces smiling broadly. In a state where the official response of the ruling Democratic machine to “Brown vs. the Board of Education,” had been to call for “massive resistance to the law of the land,” a state in which some counties chose to close their public schools rather than to integrate them, here was the highest elected official in the state escorting his children into the majority black public schools of Richmond, Virginia. No action could have announced better that a new day was dawning in what had once been the capital of the Confederacy. One of those Holton children entering those public schools on that day was their oldest daughter, Anne.</p> <p>The white population of Virginia was shocked. They believed and stated that their new governor was sacrificing his children on the “altar of integration.” Many suggested that the “inferior education” that his children would receive in those heavily black schools would cripple them for life. It was a strange argument that gave the lie to the previous white claim that all of its racially segregated schools were “separate, <em>but equal</em>.” Anne, in her early teens, would be an exemplary student. She received a fine education and upon graduation from high school would be admitted to Princeton University, from which she graduated <em>magna cum laude</em>. She seemed not to have been penalized at all in her educational achievements. After Princeton she was accepted into the class of 1983 at the Harvard Law School, from which she now holds a doctor of Jurisprudence degree. From there she went into a legal career that in time would include being a domestic relations judge and Virginia’s Education Secretary.</p> <p>While at Harvard she met, fell in love with and married a fellow law student, who was born in Minnesota and educated at the University of Missouri. His name was Tim Kaine. She lured him back to Richmond, where his earlier life experiences, including his Jesuit high school education, his year as a volunteer missionary to Honduras and his mastery of the Spanish language, prepared him to begin his Richmond law practice as a civil rights attorney. Then responding to an expressed community need, he entered politics at the most local of levels, running for a seat on Richmond’s nine-member City Council. In a majority black city, Tim not only won that seat, but was also later elected by that majority-black city council to be Richmond’s Mayor. Two years later, in 2001 he moved to the state level, being elected Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor. In 2005, he won the governor’s office. His wife, Anne Holton, became the first person to be at one time living in the governor’s mansion as the child of a Republican governor and then a second time as the state’s first lady and wife of a Democratic governor. In 2012, Tim Kaine won a seat in the United States Senate. In 2016, with two years remaining in his first term as senator, he was chosen by the presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, to be her vice-presidential running mate. Anne Holton was there with him, waving to the crowd on the final night. As Hillary Clinton raised Tim Kaine’s hand high, former president Bill Clinton was at her side and Anne Holton was at Tim Kaine’s side. The crowd roared with approval.</p> <p>In the VIP section of that vast Philadelphia arena sat the former Republican Governor Linwood Holton, now 92 years old, with his wife Jinks, both still vibrant and attractive, watching their daughter being introduced to the nation. There is sometimes a reward for integrity. Linwood and Jinks Holton, who would not allow their lives to be twisted by the prejudice of racism, challenged the distorting and debilitating social structures of his generation in Richmond, Virginia. Doing what is right sometimes carries with it intimations of transcendence and even immortality. To this day he remains one of my heroes.</p> <p>John Shelby Spong</p> <p>Read the essay online <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">here</a>.</p> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> <div style="color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;text-align: left;"><h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Question & Answer</h2> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Alberto Mejia Aguilera from Mexico writes via the internet:</span></p> <h4 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 22px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;"> Question:</h4> <p>I am from Mexico and I would like to know your opinion about Liberation Theology. Do you think that this theology is still an inspiration for the struggle against the social injustice?</p> <h4 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 22px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Answer:</h4> <p>Dear Alberto,</p> <p>Liberation theology was, I believe, was born in Latin America, so you should be especially proud of it. I associate the name of Leonardo Boff, primarily, with it, but there were others like the murdered Bishop Oscar Romero. It was born in an attempt to apply the principles of the gospel not just to individuals, but also to the structures of our society, which so often drive the masses into poverty. It identifies God with the poor. For those reasons it tended to be resisted in ecclesiastical circles, especially by the leaders of the Roman Catholic during the years of Popes John Paul II and Benedict, both of whom were so politically conservative that they saw it as another manifestation of Communism. I think they were both wrong in this judgment. Liberation theology, I believe, constituted a call to Christianity to see that its alliance with power, both in Europe and the new world, had corrupted the essential justice that Christianity requires.</p> <p>Christianity was born among the poor and the outcasts. It rose to dominate society and so became the religion of kings. Liberation Theology was a necessary correction.</p> <p>I wish you well.</p> <p>John Shelby Spong <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Read and Share Online Here</a></p> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> <div style="color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;text-align: left;"><h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Announcements</h2> <div style="text-align: center;color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;"><a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…"><img align="none" height="262" style="width: 350px;height: 262px;margin: 0px;border: none;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="350" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/e67ac6a0-334…"></a></div> <h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:26px"><span style="color:#000000">Bishop Spong at the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan September 10th & 11th</span></span></h2> <strong>Schedule:</strong> Saturday, September 10, 2016 1:00 pm at the Reynolds Recital Hall, Northern Michigan University 7:00 pm at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Marquette Sunday, September 11, 2016 2:00 pm at the Memorial Union Building , Michigan Technological University At each location, there will be an opportunity for Q&A and book signing.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top"> </td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></center><center><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" id="aolmail_canspamBarWrapper" style="background-color:#FFFFFF; border-top:1px solid #E5E5E5;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top" style="padding-top:20px; padding-bottom:20px;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></center></div> </div> <style type="text/css">#AOLMsgPart_2_1c149769-41d3-4c3b-8300-eaccdde19ae7 td{color: black;} @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .aolReplacedBody table[id="canspamBar"] td{font-size:14px !important;} .aolReplacedBody table[id="canspamBar"] td a{display:block !important; margin-top:10px !important;} } </style>

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Guess this is going to be my favorite Christmas song this year . . . who would have thought . . take popular music and write different words?
by James Wiegel via OE 10 Jan '17

10 Jan '17

"A Hallelujah Christmas" by Cloverton | | | | | | | | | | | "A Hallelujah Christmas" by Cloverton | | | | Jim Wiegel “If you want an adventure . . . what a time to be alive!”. Joanna Macy 401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353623-363-3277jfwiegel(a)yahoo.comwww.partnersinparticipation.com Upcoming ToP training opportunities in Arizona More info on: ToP® Facilitation Methods ToP® Strategic Planning: Mastering the Technology of Participation Register on line / see the ToP National ScheduleAICP Planners: 14.5 CM for all ToP® courses The AZ ToP® Community of Practice meets the 1st Friday, of every month, 1-4 pm, at ACYR, 648 N. 5th Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85003

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Fwd: Documentary on Charles Moore
by Jack Gilles via OE 04 Jan '17

04 Jan '17

Dear Colleagues, Do any of you have recordings of Charles Moore that could be shared with this graduate student from University of Texas? Thanks! Jack > Begin forwarded message: > > From: Joel Fendelman <joel.fendelman(a)gmail.com> > Subject: Documentary on Charles Moore > Date: December 23, 2016 at 12:36:03 CST > To: jackcgilles(a)gmail.com > > Hello Jack, > > Michael May, passed along your email to me. I'm a graduate film student at the University of Texas, Austin and am producing a documentary about Charles Moore who was a member at the Institute. Michael mentioned that you knew Charles and manage the Institutes Archives. I am looking for any archival video and/or audio recording of Charles Moore, do you think you may have anything in the archives? Let me know if you would like to jump on a phone call. > > Very Best and happy holidays, > > -- > Joel Fendelman > ------------------------------ > --- > Director / Producer > > <>www.FendelmanFilms.com <http://www.fendelmanfilms.com/> > www.RemittanceFilm.com <http://www.remittancefilm.com/> > www.David-TheMovie.com <http://www.david-themovie.com/> > www.NeedleThroughBrick.com <http://www.needlethroughbrick.com/> > > >

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Re: [Oe List ...] Your 2016 Reflections / Your 2017 Anticipations (from "Journey Reflection")
by Zoe Barley via OE 31 Dec '16

31 Dec '16

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"Journey Reflection" > Sept. 2016 most viewed blog posts
by John C via OE 31 Dec '16

31 Dec '16

Colleagues, friends, family and others, Please view any of the 16 most viewed of the 60 posts during September 2016 @ Journey Reflection blog posts<http://rejourney.blogspot.com/2016/09/journey-reflection-blog-posts-septemb…> Namaste <http://rejourney.blogspot.com/2016/06/journey-reflection-blog-posts-june-20…> John & Lynda Cock ("Cook" online at Facebook ... long story) ________ You can view Daily Blog "Journey Reflection" at these links >> Google: www.reJourney.blogspot.com<http://www.rejourney.blogspot.com/> Books Page: http://www.amazon.com/JPC/LLC<http://www.amazon.com/John-P.-Cock/e/B001K8Y5KW> Web Page: www.transcribebooks.com<http://www.transcribebooks.com/> Ask us to receive free blog posts via MailChimp email daily ... along with 200+ colleagues ... like the one below ... View this email in your browser<http://rejourney.blogspot.com/> Journey Reflection September 30, 2016 Love All? [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/16fbe6261dac75a26854c8af6/images/fccc8064-bf5…] Fyodor Dostoevsky: Love all God's creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God's light.... If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things.... And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.* Journer: I cannot love all, especially the growing Hitlers across the globe. Nez: St. Francis, Gandhi, Mandela and St. Teresa learned to love all-at least more than most of us. Let us especially learn love at home and at our places of religion, now that hate grows at an accelerating pace on Earth. Namaste ______ * The Brothers Karamazov, chp. 41 > read<http://www.online-literature.com/dostoevsky/brothers_karamazov/41/> under g) on the page Image: source<https://www.amazon.com/Brothers-Karamazov-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140445277> ***** We celebrate the profound journey of Frank Bremner, whose memorial service is today. All is well. ***** ________________________________ Xtra Blog Post: "Free Am I"<http://rejourney.blogspot.com/2009/07/freedom-left-to-choose.html> (Conchis) 3.8 million+ views from 199 countries/territories 4,493+ viewable blog posts since September 2004 JPC & LLC Links: [Website]<http://www.transcribebooks.com/> Website<http://www.transcribebooks.com/> [Books]<http://www.amazon.com/John-P.-Cock/e/B001K8Y5KW> Books<http://www.amazon.com/John-P.-Cock/e/B001K8Y5KW> [Facebook]<https://www.facebook.com/pages/Journey-Reflection/263036227044839> Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/pages/Journey-Reflection/263036227044839> [Twitter]<http://www.twitter.com/transcribebooks> Twitter<http://www.twitter.com/transcribebooks> [Google Plus]<https://plus.google.com/u/0/114307312715975337692/posts> Google Plus<https://plus.google.com/u/0/114307312715975337692/posts> [http://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/icons/social-block-v2/color-facebook-48.png]<http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Feepurl.com%2FchW-Ij> Share<http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Feepurl.com%2FchW-Ij> [http://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/icons/social-block-v2/color-twitter-48.png]<http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Journey+Reflection+9.30.2016:%20http%3…> Tweet<http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Journey+Reflection+9.30.2016:%20http%3…> [http://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/icons/social-block-v2/color-googleplus-48.p…]<https://plus.google.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Feepurl.com%2FchW-Ij> +1<https://plus.google.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Feepurl.com%2FchW-Ij> [http://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/icons/social-block-v2/color-forwardtofriend…]<http://us8.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=16fbe6261dac75a26854c8af6&id=67d…> Forward<http://us8.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=16fbe6261dac75a26854c8af6&id=67d…> Copyright © 2016 Transcribe Books, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Transcribe Books P O Box 2333 Davidson, NC 28036 Add us to your address book<http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage.com/vcard?u=16fbe6261dac75a26854c8af…> unsubscribe from this list<http://blogspot.us8.list-manage1.com/unsubscribe?u=16fbe6261dac75a26854c8af…>

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Re: [Oe List ...] OE Digest, Vol 57, Issue 22
by Jaime R Vergara via OE 30 Dec '16

30 Dec '16

Thanks, John. The book cover alone is very telling to some. It is still in "the blue". Jaime Vergara Send OE mailing list submissions to oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to oe-request(a)lists.wedgeblade.net You can reach the person managing the list at oe-owner(a)lists.wedgeblade.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of OE digest..." Today's Topics: 1. new book (John Epps via OE) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Fri, 30 Dec 2016 13:45:55 -0700 From: John Epps via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> To: Tracy Longacre via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Subject: [Oe List ...] new book Message-ID: <CAJ4sm0OLJXzfrpz=BZY_Xd961YoF_PpgBGfe=kj_iSrOZumqFg(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Colleagues: If at some point in a busy 2017 you find yourself with nothing better to do, you might find my latest book a relaxing diversion. It?s 118 pages about some of the people and places that I?ve had the pleasure of encountering over many years in various locations. If you?d like a copy, you can order one from http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/JohnLEpps The price is $15 plus shipping. If you happen to be in Denver and come by, the price will be $10 plus some collegial conversation. [image: Inline image 1]

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new book
by John Epps via OE 30 Dec '16

30 Dec '16

Colleagues: If at some point in a busy 2017 you find yourself with nothing better to do, you might find my latest book a relaxing diversion. It’s 118 pages about some of the people and places that I’ve had the pleasure of encountering over many years in various locations. If you’d like a copy, you can order one from http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/JohnLEpps The price is $15 plus shipping. If you happen to be in Denver and come by, the price will be $10 plus some collegial conversation. [image: Inline image 1]

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Fwd: Susanne Langer quote attribution
by Jo Nelson via OE 29 Dec '16

29 Dec '16

Hi, all, I’m getting down to completing the footnotes in Getting to the Bottom of ToP. Here’s a quote for which I don’t have the specific source. Can anybody help with this? I need the book, publisher, date of publication, and if possible the page number. Take care, Jo > Begin forwarded message: > > From: Ronnie Seagren <ronnie.seagren(a)gmail.com> > Subject: Susanne Langer quote attribution > Date: December 29, 2016 at 10:11:24 AM EST > To: Jo Nelson <jnelson(a)ica-associates.ca> > > You have to take the work of art seriously by observing carefully what's there, and what's not. Then you have to look just as seriously at what is going on inside you as you observe the art to see how you are reacting, what repels you, what delights you. You have to peel back layers of awareness so that you can begin to ask what it means to you. You must work to create your own meaning from an artwork, or a conversation. > > - Susanne K. Langer > > <>Needs a footnote with credit. Not sure if it’s from Philosophy in a New Key: A Study in the Symbolism of Reason, Rite, and Art (1942), or Feeling and Form: A Theory of Art (1953), or Problems of Art: Ten Philosophical Lectures, (1957). There’s a reference copy of the last one in the downtown library; nothing of hers circulates anymore, and Google Books doesn’t have enough of her books online to find the quotes. > > A better source might be the archives in Chicago; I bet someone there has it because I’m pretty sure one of her books was in the briefcase library. Part of this quote is in the intro to The Art of Focused Conversation, but doesn’t even use her name! Ouch! > Ronnie > -- Jo Nelson, CPF, CTF <jnelson(a)ica-associates.ca> Certified Professional Facilitator and ICA Certified ToP™ Facilitator ICA Associates, Inc. 401 Richmond Street West, Suite #405, Toronto, Canada. M5V 3A8 Ph. 1 416-691-2316, x2230 Toll-free 1 877-691-1422 Fax 1 416-691-2491 Website http://ica-associates.ca Cellphone 647 233 6910 Skype “jofacilitator” Vendor of Record: Government of Ontario Learning and Training Services #OSS00536903 Vendor of Record: ProServices Canada E60ZT-120001/826/ZT Business Consulting/Change Management Pre-qualified Vendor, Alberta Education Resource List “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. Richard Buckminster Fuller”

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Global Buzz Reminder
by ICA International via OE 29 Dec '16

29 Dec '16

Reminder for entries This reminder is for the Global Buzz that will be published January 5th. 2017 (Please send your entries at least a day ahead) Please send all your entries by regular e-mail to: inform(a)ica-international.org with your entry as an attatchment. Send details of news items, training programmes, your peer to peer connections with other ICAs, any concerns you may have and of any events that are coming up at your location. Your report can be long or short, but remember that all other ICAs would really like to know about the things that matter where you are, and what you are doing as an ICA. Peter, for ICAI Communications Pour les entrées de rappel Ce rappel est à la Global Buzz qui sera publié le 5 Janvier 2017 (Veuillez envoyer vos entrées au moins une journée à l'avance) Veuillez envoyer toutes vos entrées maintenant par courriel ordinaire à : inform(a)ica-international.org avec votre entrée comme un attatchment. Envoyer les détails des articles de nouvelles, des programmes de formation, vos connexions peer to peer avec d'autres CIAS, de toute préoccupation que vous pourriez avoir et de tous les événements qui sont à venir à votre emplacement. Votre rapport peut être longue ou courte, mais rappelez-vous que toutes les autres CIAS aimerait vraiment savoir à propos de choses qui importe où vous êtes et ce que vous faites comme une ICA. Recordatorio de las entradas Este aviso es para el Global Buzz que se publicarán 5 Enero 2017 (Favor de enviar sus entradas al menos con un día de antelación) Por favor envíe todos sus entradas ahora por correo electrónico a: inform(a)ica-international.org con su entrada como un archivo adjunto. Enviar detalles de noticias, programas de capacitación, el peer to peer las conexiones con otros convenios o acuerdos internacionales, las preocupaciones que usted pueda tener y de los eventos que se aproximan en su ubicación. El informe puede ser a corto o largo, pero hay que recordar que todos los demás convenios quisiera saber realmente sobre lo que realmente importa, y lo que están haciendo una ICA.

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12/29/16, Spong/Mike McHargue: May our world learn to see the infinite shades between black and white.
by Ellie Stock via OE 29 Dec '16

29 Dec '16

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} .aolReplacedBody #aolmail_templateContainer,.aolReplacedBody .aolmail_bodyContent{ background-color:#ffffff; } .aolReplacedBody .aolmail_bodyContent div a:link,.aolReplacedBody .aolmail_bodyContent div a:visited{ color:#4487cf; }</style><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none;margin: 0;padding: 0;background-color: #ffffff;width: 100% !important;" class="aolReplacedBody"> <center> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="100%" width="100%" id="aolmail_backgroundTable" style="margin: 0;padding: 0;background-color: #ffffff;height: 100% !important;width: 100% !important;"> <tbody><tr> <td align="center" valign="top"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="aolmail_templatePreheader" style="background-color: #ffffff;"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top" class="aolmail_preheaderContent"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"><div style="color: #505050;font-family: Arial;font-size: 10px;line-height: 100%;text-align: left;"> </div></td> <td valign="top" width="190"> <div style="color: #505050;font-family: Arial;font-size: 10px;line-height: 100%;text-align: left;"><a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…"><img style="border: none;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;height: auto;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;" src="http://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/print.png"></a></div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="aolmail_templateContainer" style="border: 1px solid #4487cf;background-color: #ffffff;"> <tbody><tr> <td align="center" valign="top"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="aolmail_templateHeader" style="background-color: #D8E2EA;border-bottom: 0;"> <tbody><tr> <td class="aolmail_headerContent" style="color: #202020;font-family: Arial;font-size: 34px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;padding: 0;text-align: center;vertical-align: middle;"> <img alt="" border="0" style="margin: 0;padding: 0;max-width: 600px;border: none;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;height: auto;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;" src="http://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/newsletter_he…"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" class="aolmail_headerNavigation"> <h5 style="color: #202020;display: block;font-family: Arial;font-size: 12px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 15px;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;text-transform: uppercase;"> <a style="color: #4487cf;text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">Homepage</a> <a style="color: #4487cf;text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">My Profile</a> <a style="color: #4487cf;text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Essay Archive</a> <a style="color: #4487cf;text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">Message Boards</a> <a style="color: #4487cf;text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Calendar</a></h5></td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="aolmail_templateBody"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top" class="aolmail_bodyContent" style="background-color: #ffffff;"> <table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> <div style="color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;text-align: left;"><h1 style="color: #003d4a;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 34px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">May our world learn to see the infinite shades between black and white.</h1> <p>This week’s guest author is Mike McHargue, Author and Podcaster</p> <p>Evolution shaped our brains to take shortcuts. Our senses relay to the brain a ceaseless, torrential downpour of stimulus and information, and so our neurons team up to sort and sift this stream into higher-order abstractions–mainly categorizations in the form of either/or classifications.</p> <p>Prey or predator. Edible or inedible. Friend or Foe.</p> <p>Modern civilization allows us the time and space to view the world with more nuance, but we generally don’t take advantage of it. A black-and-white, with-me-or-against-me worldview is just so easy for our brains, and therefore gratifying. So, we sort the world into oppositional camps via snap judgements that are hard to shake off.</p> <p>Conservative or liberal. Rich or poor. Theist or atheist.</p> <p>I understand this tendency–I was raised in the Southern Baptist tradition. I learned as a child to view the world almost exclusively in “this or that” terms–and it served me well. The world made sense, and I understood my place in it. The purpose of my life was to know and serve God–and that meant taking Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.</p> <p>I had a crisis of faith in my thirties, and because I’d been taught you were either a theist or an atheist, I took the only option available to me and became an atheist. It’s a common tale, but mine has a twist. I was an atheist, yes, but also a deacon who taught Sunday School, and I was married to a good Baptist.</p> <p>I didn’t believe in God anymore, but I loved my wife, Jenny. I knew if I admitted that I was on the other side of the theist/atheist divide, I could lose my marriage. So I did the only thing I could: I lied. I pretended to believe in God for two years.</p> <p>In time, a small circle of friends and family became part of a small circle that new “my secret.” Pretending to believe in God every Sunday was fatiguing and I couldn’t keep up the facade. I started to plan by public exit from faith.</p> <p>Then I encountered God.</p> <p>That sounds like a line ripped from one of those Christian movies they play mainly at evangelical churches, but that’s not what I mean. Yes, I had an incredible, moving mystical experience that changed how I saw the world, but it wasn’t one that sent me back to my old faith. Not at all. I didn’t cross back over to the “theist” side of the fence.</p> <p>I found myself lost, unable to fit with either camp.</p> <p>Atheists lack belief in any God or gods. My encounter with a blinding light that made me feel known and loved knocked me out of that camp.</p> <p>But theists believe in a personal God with an agency and a specific plan for humanity. They have sacred texts, and complex theological notions.</p> <p>That wasn’t me either. I’d encountered a Great Something, maybe even a Great Everything, but that light didn’t recite the 10 commandments– or anything at all. It was just a presence; a moment of profound peace.</p> <p>As an atheist, I was every bit as much a black-and-white thinker as I’d been as a Baptist, but I was in a state where neither binary view fit. Skeptics flatly dismissed such encounters as trickery from our brains, while theologians all made supernatural assumptions I couldn’t.</p> <p>I was stuck. And then I heard a book mentioned in a YouTube video (of all places) called <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…"><em>Why Christianity Must Change or Die</em></a>. I bought it immediately because of a single word in the description: nontheist.</p> <p>I’d never heard of a nontheist before, but as I turned the pages of Bishop Spong’s book, I felt at home. Here was someone compelled by the mystery of faith, and indeed by the person of Jesus, but who was also uncomfortable with a bunch of supernatural theologies bolted on to his teachings by centuries of Christianity.</p> <p>It was from Bishop Spong that I learned of God as a Ground of Being or Source of All, and how to reclaim a faith I loved, but couldn’t stomach. Spong revealed a faith based on transformation, but without a rejection of science. But most of all, Bishop Spong showed me I was not alone–other people felt like the theist/atheist dichotomy is a false one.</p> <p>That insight has become the animating energy behind my work today. I’m an author and podcaster who helps tens of thousands of people every week see beyond the forced categorization in our culture. I help the Church-in-exile realize they are not alone–that in fact there are millions of us. I count myself among the Christian nontheists, and in doing so help others to do the same.</p> <p>May our world learn to see the infinite shades between black and white.</p> <p>About the Author</p> <p>Mike McHargue (better known as Science Mike) is the best-selling author of <em>Finding God in the Waves</em>, host of <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Ask Science Mike </a>and co-host of <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">The Liturgists Podcast</a>. He’s a leading voice on matters of science and religion with a monthly reach in the hundreds of thousands. Mike lives in Tallahassee, FL with is wife Jenny and two daughters. Visit Mike’s <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">website </a></p> <p>Read the essay online <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">here</a>.</p> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> <div style="color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;text-align: left;"><h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Question & Answer</h2> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Peter from Tasmania, Australia writes:</span> </p> <h4 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 22px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Question:</h4> <p>When Jesus said, "In my house there are many mansions," was he giving legitimacy to the other world religions like Islam and Buddhism?</p> <p> </p> <h4 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 22px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Answer:</h4> <p>Dear Peter,</p> <p>The quotation you cite is from the Gospel of John and most Biblical scholars doubt the literal historicity of any of the words attributed to Jesus in that text. They do not doubt, however, that this Gospel captures much of the meaning of Jesus in its narrative.</p> <p>The idea that in the Kingdom of heaven there is room for all is one of those essential themes. Organized religion tends to become narrow in its focus to increase its power and to threaten those who think differently with exclusion from God's presence.</p> <p>What we need to hear first is that every religious system is a human creation. For this reason alone no religious system can capture the fullness of God. God is not a Christian, a Moslem or a Jew. All religious systems are designed to help us walk into the mystery of God. Most of us walk via the cultural path into which we were born. It is natural to honor the pathway on which we have found holiness. What we do not seem to understand is that we do not bring honor to our pathway by being negative about someone else's pathway.</p> <p>Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism have each produced millions of holy lives. So has Christianity. However, holiness is never found in that religious attitude that assumes that truth itself has been captured in my particular religious system. That attitude, rather, produces religious persecution, religious violence, religious bigotry and religious wars. There is far too much of that kind of religion in out world today.</p> <p>I urge every person of faith to sink their lives deeply into all that their religious system can be but never to assume that God is a Being who can be known only through that tradition. God cannot be limited and the ultimate judgment about what is finally true belongs to God alone, not to us. So walk in love. Join hands with all those who seek God and a god-filled life. They are not the enemies of your religious convictions. They have simply found the Holy One in places different from ours. You and I must honor that place, for God is bigger than any religious system that any person has ever devised.</p> <p>~ John Shelby Spong <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">Read and Share Online Here</a></p> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> <div style="color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;text-align: left;"><h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Announcements</h2> <div style="text-align: center;color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;"><a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…"><img align="none" height="172" style="width: 518px;height: 172px;margin: 0px;border: none;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="518" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/00566787-939…"></a></div> <div style="text-align: center;color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;"><span style="color:#008080"><strong>We are delighted to announce our first Embrace Festival! May 4-6, 2017 in Portland, Oregon</strong></span></div> Embrace Festival is a 3 day, international, sacred community and social transformation gathering, which will be held May 4-6, 2017 in beautiful downtown Portland, Oregon for those wishing to positively transform their lives, their local communities, and the world. <strong>Vision</strong> In May 2017, people from all over the world will gather in Portland to share knowledge and wisdom, learn from each other, celebrate, be inspired, and find the tools needed to create and enliven local movements within our communities. Together we will explore Sacred Oneness, Christ Consciousness, Eco-Spirituality, Social Justice and the way of Universal and Personal Transformation that honors the Divine in all. We want you there! Please save the date and consider joining us! Tickets are currently set at Early Bird Pricing only until December 1, 2016. <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.</a> <div style="text-align: center;color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;"> **********************************</div> Please send your Happy New Year and get well messages to Bishop Spong addressed to <a href="mailto:admin@progressivechristianity.org">admin(a)progressivechristianity.org</a> and we will forward them to Bishop Spong for you. </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top"> <table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="aolmail_templateFooter" style="background-color: #FDFDFD;border-top: 0;"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top" class="aolmail_footerContent"> <table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td colspan="2" valign="middle" id="aolmail_social" style="background-color: #FAFAFA;border: 0;"> <div style="color: #707070;font-family: Arial;font-size: 12px;line-height: 125%;text-align: center;"></div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" valign="middle" id="aolmail_utility" style="background-color: #FDFDFD;border: 1px dashed #d3d3d3;"><div style="color: #707070;font-family: Arial;font-size: 12px;line-height: 125%;text-align: center;"><div class="aolmail_vcard"><div class="aolmail_adr"><div class="aolmail_street-address"></div></div></div></div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" valign="middle" id="aolmail_utility"><div style="color: #707070;font-family: Arial;font-size: 12px;line-height: 125%;text-align: left;"></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></center><center><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" id="aolmail_canspamBarWrapper" style="background-color:#FFFFFF; border-top:1px solid #E5E5E5;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top" style="padding-top:20px; padding-bottom:20px;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></center></div> </div> <style type="text/css">#AOLMsgPart_2_25e8511c-da7e-4128-a56f-abb1b41ebfdb td{color: black;} @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .aolReplacedBody table#aolmail_canspamBar td{font-size:14px !important;} .aolReplacedBody table#aolmail_canspamBar td a{display:block !important; margin-top:10px !important;} } </style>

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