Washington Ethical Society: Recent Episodes
affirming the worth of every person since 1944.
The Washington Ethical Society is a vibrant humanistic congregation that affirms the worth of all people.
Washington Ethical Society Platform Service - September 10, 2023 - "Opening Sunday: Welcome!" by affirming the worth of every person since 1944.
Washington Ethical Society Platform Service September 3, 2023 - "Laboring Together" by affirming the worth of every person since 1944.
Washington Ethical Society Platform, August 27, 2023 by affirming the worth of every person since 1944.
August 20, 2023.
"What Has Been" Rev. KC Slack As KC returns from vacation and study leave and we gear up for a new program year, we take a moment to reflect on our first year together, and the many histories that remain relevant to our community
"Rest and Urgency" Robyn Kravitz
Join WES Staff Member Robyn Kravitz as she pulls back the veil on WES’ relationship with urgency. She will share her lessons from Rest is Resistance, MotherWorthy, and WES members’ own words.
Trans and Divine Feminine: the Art of Tuning in to Who We Really Are Joy Ladin
Joy Ladin has long worked at the tangled intersection of literature, Judaism, and transgender identity. She has published ten books of poetry, including her latest collection, Shekhinah Speaks; National Jewish Book Award winner The Book of Anna; and Lambda Literary Award finalists Transmigration and Impersonation, reissued in a revised edition as a free PDF from DoubleBack in April. She is also the author of a memoir of gender transition, National Jewish Book Award finalist Through the Door of Life; and another work of creative non-fiction, Lambda Literary and Triangle Award finalist, The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective. Two new books – Family, a poetry collection, and Once Out of Nature, a collection of essays on the transformation of gender – are forthcoming from Persea in 2024. Her work has been recognized with a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Fulbright Scholarship, an American Council of Learned Societies Research Fellowship, and a Hadassah Brandeis Institute Research Fellowship, among other honors. A nationally recognized speaker on transgender issues, she has been featured on a number of NPR programs, including an “On Being” with Krista Tippett interview that has been rebroadcast several times. Episodes of her online conversation series, “Containing Multitudes,” are available at JewishLive.org/multitudes; her writing is available at joyladin.com.
Showing Up to Change Rev. KC Slack
Communities like WES, which are built on relationships, are communities constantly in motion. As we celebrate and induct the 2023-2024 WES Board of Trustees, we will consider how we as individuals and a community are shaped and changed by each person who shows up
Join WES member Mike Kravitz as he shares his thoughts and lessons from an 18+ month-long journey studying modern fatherhood and his own place in the world. Mike will share his observations of the WES community and places where we have room for growth. He also invites those that are interested in diving deeper to join the next fatherhood cohort with Dr. Jason Frishman at https://www.journeymenfoundation.com/.
Changing the World Using Social Media Sunday, June 25, 2023. 10:30am Emily Newman
Social media changes the way we communicate, the way we understand the world, and the way we are perceived by others. Although it has been used for bad, we can and should use it for good. Let’s spread a message of respect, caring, and action to make a more humane world online and in person.
Emily Newman became a member of WES in 2018 and is still a member of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, where she grew up. She has managed social media for several nonprofit organizations and led numerous workshops to help humanist communities get more engaged online.
Taking a Break Sunday, June 18, 2023. 10:30am Rev. KC Slack
In advance of a few Sundays away, KC encourages us to find ways to take a break
June 11, 2023. "Pride" Rev. KC Slack by affirming the worth of every person since 1944.
June 4, 2023. "Remembering Our Center" Rev. KC Slack by affirming the worth of every person since 1944.
What is the link between our various social justice themes this year? How might we expand our commitments to community care?
May 21, 2023. A Platform with Jé Exodus Hooper by affirming the worth of every person since 1944.
April 16, 2023. "Racecraft, Racism, and Global Anti-Blackness" Rev. KC SlackOn the construction of racial identity, theories of racism, and anti-Blackness as both something more specific than racism and a global issue
April 9, 2023. "The Struggle is Real" Rev. KC Slack by affirming the worth of every person since 1944.
Sunday, March 26, 2023. 10:30am"Getting Vulnerable" Rev. KC SlackDiscussing the necessities, difficulties, and practice of vulnerability
"Power Up!"Rev. KC SlackPowering Up for WES’ future through Stewardship.Sunday, March 19, 2023
March 12, 2023. "Scouting: Its a WES Thing" by affirming the worth of every person since 1944.
Harm ReductionHEAL Ohio https://www.healoh.org/, Minister Blyth BarnowDignity of People Who Use DrugsSunday, March 5, 10:30am
February 26, 2023. "Four Letter Word" Rev KC Slack by affirming the worth of every person since 1944.
February 19, 2023. Global Connections Update by affirming the worth of every person since 1944.
December 18, 2022. "Winter Festival" by affirming the worth of every person since 1944.
We hope you have the courage to tune into a Sunday Service without a title and speaker listed! We invite you to show up as your true self and be open.
"Sexuality Through a UU Lens" Melanie Davis Phd Sunday, September 25, 2022
Explore the UUA’s commitment to sexual justice and the Our Whole Lives program values of Self-Worth, Responsibility, Sexual Health, Justice and Inclusivity.
Sunday, August 21, 2022
"Beginning in the Middle" Rev. KC Slack Our experience of linear time means that each time we begin we begin in the middle. As we begin together, we acknowledge where we have been and root ourselves in shared histories of both tradition and place in order to move forward together.
“All Of Who You Are” Rev. KC Slack
In Rev. KC’s first platform as WES’s Senior Leader, they will explore mythmaking, identity development, and wholeness.
Decolonizing Healthcare
Sunday, August 7, 2022
John Daken & Rachel Kallum Whitman
Seeking assistance for mental and physical distress can be a fraught experience. Healthcare settings feature problematic power relationship shaped by professional roles, variable access to information and money, stigma, impairments, and of course the respective social identities of the individuals involved. Communication breaks down; mistakes are made; people are harmed. Is it possible to deconstruct this system and from its building blocks reconstruct a more just, equitable, and truly healing environment? “Recovering physician” and therapist John Daken will be joined by mental health advocate Rachel Kallum Whitman to explore this challenging topic.
Protecting Trans Kids–It Takes A Village Ellen Kahn, WES Member
Ellen Kahn from the Human Rights Campaign will update us about legislative attacks against Transgender youth, what we can do to help keep Trans kids safe, and share compelling stories to move us to action.
Vulnerability: Together in Exploration Maceo Thomas & TIE Group Leaders
Leaders from WES’s Together In Exploration (TIE) groups will share their experience of vulnerability and growth through regular small group meetings over the 2021-2022 year. New groups are opening up for 2022-2023.
Hidden in Plain Bite
Jesse Tandler is the managing director of the Factory Farming Awareness Coalition, a nationwide nonprofit that educates people on factory farming’s devastating impact on people, animals, and the planet, and empowers them to advocate for systemic change in their communities. He will challenge us to imagine a just and sustainable food system, and discuss personal as well as public policy choices that bring ethics, compassion, and ecological consciousness to the ways food gets from farm to table.
Environmental Justice and Public Health
Dr. Sacoby Wilson
Dr. Sacoby Wilson is an Associate Professor with the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health and Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the University of Maryland, College Park School of Public Health where directs the Center for Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health (CEEJH). Dr. Wilson has over 20 years of experience as environmental health scientist in the areas of exposure science, environmental justice, environmental health disparities, community-based participatory research, water quality analysis, air pollution studies, built environment, industrial animal production, climate change, community resiliency, and sustainability. He works primarily in partnership with community-based organizations to study and address environmental justice and health issues and translate research to action.
The Same River Sunday, June 5, 10:30am Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
Some changes are obvious in the external world, some changes originate within. There’s a saying that you can’t step in the same river twice. As we amble toward recovery, how is the world different, how is WES different, and how are we different?
Ethical Culture, the Atom Bomb, and Big Moral Questions Sunday, May 29, 10:30am Mike Kravitz
Memorial Day Weekend. Current world events have re-ignited the debate over nuclear weapons, left largely dormant after the end of the Cold War. This platform explores some of the history of nuclear weapons, the paradox of their existence and use, Ethical Culture’s influence on nuclear policy, and moral questions surrounding our responsibilities with America’s nuclear forces.
You Are a Miracle Lyn Cox As we celebrate people of many genders who nurture and cherish the next generation, let us honor that which is nurtured and needs nurturing in each human.
"Your Next Favorite Self" KC Slack
Join us for a replay of the second platform of Candidating Week with KC Slack. Here KC talks about "Your Next Favorite Self."
The Gender Multiverse Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
Attacks on Transgender, Nonbinary, and Gender Non-Conforming people are attacks on the very essence of the inherent worth and dignity of every person. Our core ethics and morals call us to honor the many ways that people understand themselves, and to rise up for dignity and worth in legislation, community design, and our personal relationships.
(Please note we have significant internet issues in the building on this day. So this video is from a cell phone. We were making lemonade from lemons -- just grateful to be able to gather together in some way!)
Your Well-Being is My Well- Being: Pandemic Lessons of Resilience from El Rodeo Sunday, March 27, 2022 WES' Global Connections Team
For 13 years WES has partnered with a rural, subsistence farming village in El Salvador. Through annual visits, our relationship has deepened and grown. With recent video messages from community members, hear how they’ve drawn upon their community’s history of resilience to survive and thrive during the pandemic. What do their stories of resilience tell us about ours? What can we learn from their stories to develop our own resilience?
Sharing Power Post-Covid Sunday, March 13, 2022 -- 10:30am Maceo Thomas, Membership Coordinator Two years ago, the world went to connecting with each other virtually. As the word begins to open up in person more fully, we will begin to examine how we have changed across history and challenge us on how we may continue to change in order to share power and be ethical in our community together.
Taraxacum: Tomorrow Tucked Into Seeds Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
Dandelions are underrated as pollinators, medicinal plants, and examples of beauty and color. In an era that calls us to be resilient and hopeful, we can learn from the dandelion’s ability to adapt to different circumstances and to inspire others as it ensures the future. Let us celebrate the hidden beginnings of abundance.
In Motion Lyn Cox, Interim Leader In a tradition that calls for deeds, not creeds, we know that our active choices to live out our values matter. We are people who move. Where do we move? How do we move? How do we find the energy and power to move? Physics metaphors might give us some ways to think about the traditions and movements of which we are a part.
Keep on Moving Forward: Learning from UU & Humanist engagement with the civil rights movement. Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
During the later half of the twentieth century, UU congregations and Humanist communities both engaged boldly in racial justice and missed opportunities to be the people they aspired to be. What can we learn from the way our movements responded in that time?
Pay Attention to Love Day Lyn Cox Feminist scholar and poet bell hooks wrote, “To love well is the task in all meaningful relationships, not just romantic bonds.” What might we learn about life and liberation from a broad practice of love?
"Reckoning With History: Sharing the Truth About Sundown Towns" Stephen Berrey
We will learn about the history of sundown towns—towns and suburbs that have intentionally excluded some racial groups in the past and, for some, in the present. We will also learn how we can research potential sundown towns to contribute to an online public history and social justice project begun by James Loewen (https://justice.tougaloo.edu/sundown-towns/).
"The Wisdom of Broken Things" Kimberley Debus Rev. Kimberley Debus is a Unitarian Universalist community minister based in Takoma Park, inspiring an artful and art-filled faith. She consults with congregations and religious professionals around the world. She is affiliated with the Unitarian Church of Lincoln, Nebraska, and has previously served at the Church of the Larger Fellowship as well as congregations on Long Island and Key West.
In "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., responded to criticisms from the white moderate about the urgency, timing, and techniques of the campaign for racial justice. In our times, how are responding to the fierce urgency of now?
Resolved Lyn Cox, Interim Leader
After a week or so of the new year, how are we doing on our resolutions? Any time of year, there are ways of framing our efforts to help us stay committed to our highest values and shared goals.
Fire Celebration Lyn Cox How shall we re-imagine the year ahead? Bring your intentions for letting go and your intentions for fresh beginnings as we kindle a flame for the new year.
Winter Fest
People of all ages are invited to help bring winter-themed poetry to life in this hybrid adaptation of one of WES’s favorite celebrations. We’ll lift up peace, hope, love, joy, and giving in creative and collaborative ways.
"What is Hope" Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
What keeps us moving forward? Hope need not be wishful thinking or attachment to specific outcomes. Hope can be the relationships and the inspiration and the practices that help us to do the next right thing, moving toward the world of love and justice that we are helping to bring about.
Finding Peace Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
In a season with relentless messages of joy, yet in a time when much troubles our hearts, how do we find peace? In a season of bright colors and loud music, how do we cultivate inner quiet?
Writing and Re-Writing the American Story Mike Franch Most of us learned our American history as a parade of good things with a few bad things interspersed. Today we are learning that American history is also the story of a lot of very bad things and, even worse, that these bad things are a fundamental and continuing part of the story. Knowing the good and bad is a tool for making the next chapters of our story ones we can be proud of.
Stone Soup In the story of Stone Soup, we learn we are more powerful and resilient together than we are alone, and that however small we think our gifts are, they are a beautiful and necessary ingredient in the larger whole.
"Breathe and Push" Lyn Cox, Interim Leader. November 14, 2021.
In this third Platform in a series on "See No Stranger" by Valarie Kaur, we'll discuss the personal and community disciplines of transitioning to a new way of being as a society. How do we care for ourselves and grow toward the future? Internal, interpersonal, and social actions come together in an ethic of love.
"Tend the Wound" Lyn Cox, Interim Leader
In “See No Stranger,” Valarie Kaur invites us to engage creatively with the interplay of ideas and values in our culture. Certainly, there is a place for rage when human rights and boundaries are violated. Some of us may have the capacity for listening across differences. We can re-imagine a world of compassion and justice.
Remembrance Sunday Lyn Cox, Interim Leader
We gather for an online Platform to remember our beloveds who have died, and to support our friends who mourn. We also turn our attention to some of the intangible aspects of our grief as we begin to emerge from the pandemic. Valarie Kaur invites us to bring our grief into community, to love each other as we wonder, grieve, and fight for a better world than our departed loved ones knew.
The Welcome Table: Where’s My Seat? Sunday, October 24, 10:30am Carol Carter Walker What does it take to live into our desire to be racially inclusive?
This Platform is the culmination of Beyond Categorical Thinking Weekend. During the Workshop, on Friday and Saturday, WES members have had a chance to unpack and move forward on dismantling implicit bias in the search for a new Senior Leader. Carol Carter Walker is an active lay leader with the UUA and with the Paint Branch UU Church in Adelphi, and is a longtime Beyond Categorical Thinking facilitator.
"A Spark" Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
Education is central to the mission and practice of Ethical Humanism.
"Asters and Goldenrod" Lyn Cox, Interim Leader
Indegenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and grassroots activism are converging on a paradigm shift in how we relate to the earth. On this Indigenous People's Day weekend, how are we shifting our attention to heed the wisdom, technology, and calls to action arising from Indigenous communities?
"Collective Liberation or Bust, Voting Rights is a Must" Pablo DeJesus
Pablo DeJesus, Executive Director for UU’s for Social Justice, will invite us to re-commit to the shared work of creating a just and sustainable democracy for all.
Principles of Community Building Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
Forming communities to bring out the best in each other and to help shape the world toward liberation is not only an Ethical Culture ideal, it was something Paolo Friere spoke about in his educational work in Brazil and Chile. As we embrace the possibilities for 21st-century community, ideas about groups who learn and humanize each other through dialogue, ideas about resisting paternalism, and ideas about creatively and actively meeting a changing and fluid world all have renewed significance.
Re-Imagining Community Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
We are in an era of hurry up and wait. We have begun the journey to a post-COVID world, discovering what the new normal looks like in different parts of our lives, little by little. We are caught up in the urgent social justice concerns and life changes that have never left us. We struggle with frustration and a sense of urgency, yet the deeper waters of wisdom lead us to build community in ways that are collaborative, imaginative, and sustainable.
The Book of Life Lyn Cox
In this season when our Jewish neighbors are celebrating the High Holidays, we seek a Humanist frame for renewal. By returning to sources of strength and resilience, maintaining a practice of reflection, and connecting with the best in each other, we find the energy to turn the page into another chapter of our community life.
Many Stones Can Form an Arch Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
Practicing a philosophy that focuses on human solutions to human problems, we look for inspiration in stories about people coming together to achieve important things, despite obstacles like racism or anti-immigrant sentiment or economic disparities. The labor movement can provide a few such examples.
"Seven Gates" Lyn Cox The ancient story of Inanna’s descent to and return from the underworld has common threads with other myths, including the importance of collaboration. Even in a heroic epic story, people need each other.
"This Refulgent Summer" Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Divinity School Address urges listeners to heed direct experience and creative spontaneity. The Transcendentalists tried to balance savoring the world with changing the world. Though some like Felix Adler rightly criticized the Transcendentalists for doing too much of one and not enough of the other, there might yet be inspiration available to help us do both.
"Finding Our Way Through: WES’s Path to Dual Affiliation with the UUA & AEU" Sunday, August 15, 10:30am John Daken, Lyn Cox, Perry Beider
Perry Beider and John Daken look back on the discernment process that led to WES’s decision to affiliate with both the UUA and the AEU. Interim Leader Lyn Cox adds thoughts on how our institutional relationships have deepened since 2008.
Question Box Lyn Cox Bring your questions about philosophy, theology, dinosaurs, and what connects us to this spontaneous, collaborative Platform with Interim Leader Lyn Cox.
Where Love and Justice Cross All Borders Sunday, July 25, 10:30am Immigration Justice Team, Patti Absher, Refugee Resettlement Team, Ross Wells, Sue Smith
WES members who have volunteered in immigration justice, refugee resettlement, and similar movements of solidarity will reflect on putting their values into action and on what WES members might do together next.
"Taking Action for the Earth" Earth Ethics Action Team
Members of the Earth Ethics Action Team will reflect on ways they have collaborated with each other, our partner organizations, and the planet to move toward environmental justice.
Understanding Religion in the 21st Century Sunday, July 11, 10:30am Peter Bishop
Though not all WES members self-identify as “religious,” religious Humanism is the closest label we have for a community like this one that gathers for mutual support, discerning values, raising children, and marking life passages without regard for creed or dogma. The old ways of understanding what religion is will have to change if communities that provide this kind of support and connection are to survive. WES member Peter Bishop will offer his perspective on how communities gathered under the AEU and UUA umbrellas are leading this necessary change, based in his studies of philosophy.
"This Is What Democracy Looks Like" Abi Daken, Brennan Barber, Kate Lang
WES members who have engaged in voter mobilization and other pro-democracy efforts will speak about collaborating for the common good.
Ethical Systems and Us Christian Hayden
How do we establish our approach to, and what guides us in, ethical interaction with the world? Join Christian Hayden, Leader in Training, in learning about the different ways we engage in ethical/moral reasoning.
Building Relationships of Power through Solidarity Amy Vruno, Washington Interfaith Network
Laughing Spirit Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
Laughter (the deep, personal growth kind) emerges at the return of vitality. It can be an affirmation of survival after a harrowing experience. It can be a breath of peace when the truth is revealed. The wisdom side of laughter comes at times of renewal, relief, and realization.
Founder’s Day Lyn Cox & WES Members
Remembering the pride and the puzzles from our past will help members decide what kind of community to be in the present and what to strive for in the future.
A Mother’s Grief Sunday, May 9, 10:30am Lyn Cox The tradition of Mother’s Day was initiated by Julia Ward Howe as a protest against state violence. In those days, the violence was rooted in war, yet in our days as tanks and teargas enter the streets against our own citizens, there is a direct line of tradition that makes Mother’s Day a powerful day to resist state-sponsored violence. Our grief leads us to raise our voices against murder by police; the community impact of the criminal legal system; and the ways parenting, childhood, and family life are disrupted by over-investment in carcereal approaches to safety. While our collective grief is a motivator for change, we remember that the individual grief of families who have lost loved ones is also real, and we make room in our hearts and our actions for community care in the wake of trauma.
Police violence has taken too many people from their families. The grief of those families and the communities who embrace them fuels our commitment to change, and we must also remember that this grief belongs to real people who need community care.
Ideally, our communities lay the groundwork for us to become our best selves. With room enough to make mistakes and grow from them, some tolerance for the discomfort of growing pains, and feedback grounded in truth and love, our communities can help us to bloom.
Environmental Justice in Indian Country and Moving Toward a Transformational Land Ethic Dina Gilio-Whitaker
The talk highlights the author’s main ideas from the book As Long As Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice from Colonization to Standing Rock, and leans into ideas from a forthcoming book.
Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes) is a lecturer of American Indian Studies at California State University San Marcos, and an independent consultant and educator in environmental justice policy planning. At CSUSM she teaches courses on environmentalism and American Indians, traditional ecological knowledge, religion and philosophy, Native women’s activism, American Indians and sports, and decolonization. She also works within the field of critical sports studies, examining the intersections of indigeneity and the sport of surfing. As a public intellectual, Dina brings her scholarship into focus as an award-winning journalist as well, contributing to numerous online outlets including Indian Country Today, the Los Angeles Times, High Country News and many more. Dina is co-author with Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz of Beacon Press’s “All the Real Indians Died Off”: And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans (2016), and her most recent book, As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice from Colonization to Standing Rock, was released in 2019. (Biography from Beacon Press.)
Spring Festival: Demeter and Persephone Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
The story of Demeter and Persephone reminds us that seasonal changes feel differently to different people, that there is a place for grief in the cycle of renewal, and that change is possible. At Spring Fest, we celebrate Baby Naming and dedicate ourselves to nurturing new life among us.
"Accountability and Responsibility: Towards a relational ethic of repair" Anthony Cruz This platform will illuminate dimensions of accountability and responsibility that contribute to a more humanizing praxis for transformative change. In particular, this message will invoke the wisdom from Black and Afro-Carribean thinkers.
"Cultivate a Brighter Future" Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
What we pay attention to grows in our minds and hearts. Words and deeds add up to nourish commitments, from seed to harvest. This Platform is also the beginning of the pledge drive, when WES members are encouraged to renew their commitments.
"Love, History and the Statement of Purpose" Vincent Tyler, WES Board of Trustees As members prepare to examine WES’s Statement of Purpose, let’s look back on how we have defined our mission and values over the years, and imagine how we might describe our direction today.
Superhero stories in popular culture are fictional, yet they contain themes that remind us about making ethical choices. Let's explore how these stories help us to come to terms with the past, grapple with power and responsibility, and team up as a source of strength.
Love is more than sentimentality and greeting cards. Love, in the broader sense, offers lessons such as groundedness, embodiment, and interdependence. This is wisdom that helps us to live out our values. The essays and poetry of free thinking ancestors such as Egbert Ethelred Brown and Lewis Latimer show that intellect and love are partners in cultivating wisdom.
"Trees" Lyn Cox We reflect on putting down roots and growing shelter for generations to come. We will draw inspiration for resilience from the Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shevat, the New Year of Trees, as we consider growth and fruitfulness on a long time scale.
Replacing Magical Thinking with Rational Discourse: How can freethinkers help restore democracy?
The platform will be shared by representatives from all twenty-five national Ethical Societies and will feature music from the Washington Ethical Society Chorus, Jaque DuPree and Barry Kornhauser, with presiders Vandra Thorburn, Elaine Durbach and Lyn Cox.
As we face this historical moment, when cult thinking and fake news have fueled an attempted insurrection, yet grassroots organizing gives us hope in the future of multiracial democracy, we reflect on the intellectual traditions supporting a free society. What do our shared values lead us to do now in order to cultivate a world in which we bring out the best in each other and ideas are allowed to flourish without threat of violence? A panel of ‘freethinkers’ from within our movement will draw from philosophy, history, and Ethical Culture. They are Dr. David Sprintzen, Professor Emeritus at Long Island University; Christian Hayden, Leader-in-Training at the Ethical Society of St. Louis; and Jone Johnson Lewis, Leader at the Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture.
This program is part of our All-Ethical Societies Platform series, in which Ethical Culture societies from around the country will join together on Zoom to learn and grow together. Please consider donating to our All Society Platform Fund to support these events!
'Stardust' Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
The origins of the universe, at least to the best of our knowledge. show that we are related to all life, and that we are connected atomically to all matter. Science leads to awe and wonder while maintaining rationality.
"Dreamers" Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
Working toward a better world, a world of racial justice and an end to interlocking oppressions, requires imagination. On this weekend when we remember the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., let's also consider both the history of civil rights and the unbounded creativity of speculative fiction by writers of color as sources of inspiration.
"Democracy Is Not a State" Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
This week has been filled with emotion as we see the will of the people expressed in the electoral process, and an attempt to thwart that process with violent insurrection. The late Rep. John Lewis reminded us that democracy is an ongoing practice, not a binary condition, and that our sustained and collaborative work is what brings us closer to Beloved Community. We return to our values and reflect on our next steps in our quest for a better world.
Resolution Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
How shall we re-imagine the year ahead? Bring your intentions for letting go and your intentions for fresh beginnings as we kindle a flame for the new year.
"De-Stressing: Allowing Our Bodies to Work" Trish Weil, WES Mindfulness Group The practice of deep relaxation is built on the premise that relaxed muscles and anxiety are mutually exclusive states. We can bring about very deep relaxation intentionally and adopt it as a practice. That requires learning to release muscular tension, breathing practices, even bringing attention to sensation. It’s fascinating work that deeply soothes and breaks the circuit of anxiety. If adopted as a regular practice, deep relaxation can bring about beneficial and lasting attitude change.
Winter Festival People of all ages are invited to help bring winter-themed poetry to life in this virtual adaptation of one of WES’s favorite celebrations. We’ll lift up peace, hope, love, joy, and giving in creative and collaborative ways.
"Blue" Lyn Cox, Interim Senior Leader. Between the dwindling hours of sunlight and difficult memories associated with the time of year, many people struggle with the winter holiday season. Let’s look out for one another, and let’s give comfort and solace to our own troubled hearts.
Some of us may be anticipating stressful situations, and are looking for skills in de-escalation. The first step is to de-escalate our own minds and hearts. How can we respond rather than react when our earliest instincts tell us to fight or flee?
The stories we tell about our past affect the way we view the present and orient toward the future. This is true about the myth of Thanksgiving, stories we tell about WES’s and Ethical Culture’s past, stories we tell about our individual journeys, and more. When we recognize the impact of origin stories, we can be intentional about how we tell them in the future and how they guide us to bring out the best.
Follow along as we celebrate the annual coming together of community in this story of Stone Soup.
"Faces of a Just Society" Ryane Nickens
Let’s talk about how we love, protect, and support each other and all of our neighbors.
National and international events that change the course of our lives are in mid-swing. We may wish for certainty, yet we also know that resolution may not be as swift as we might hope. In this in-between time of doing all we can and not yet knowing the results, we ground ourselves as we are able in the here and now. In this moment, we listen to our hearts. In this moment, we listen to each other. In this moment, we listen to what our values might ask us to do next, one step at a time, regardless of outcomes we can’t control.
The Community Relations Committee will present a recorded interview with Daryl Davis and raise the topic of Deep Listening. What skills do we need to hear each other truly and respectfully? How do we find common ground when there are deep disagreements? How do we handle our fear as we engage across powerful dividing lines? The CRC asks us to re-imagine what is possible.
From Daryl’s website: As a race relations expert, Daryl has received acclaim for his book, Klan-Destine Relationships and his documentary Accidental Courtesy from many respected sources including CNN, NBC, Good Morning America, TLC, NPR, The Washington Post, and many others. He is also the recipient of numerous awards including the Elliott-Black Award, the MLK Award and the Bridge Builder Award among many others. Filled with exciting encounters and sometimes amusing anecdotes, Daryl’s impassioned lectures leave an audience feeling empowered to confront their own prejudices and overcome their fears. –https://www.daryldavis.com/
No Human Being is Illegal on Stolen Land Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
On this weekend of Indigenous Peoples Day, we acknowledge that those of us who are not Indigenous are living on stolen land, and we look for a way forward that draws from restorative justice. In addition to reparations and honoring the treaties already made, turning away from a mindset of colonization gives us a chance to re-imagine policies such as immigration.
Vote Love Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
In these midst of global pandemic, rising authoritarianism, and uprising, lives hang in the balance and the future of democracy is on the line. In response, WES joins our Unitarian Universalist kinfolk in answering the call of ethics and values, building powerful partnerships to mobilize our communities to #VoteLove and #DefeatHate in the 2020 elections. Join the UU the Vote team and a lineup of powerful, prophetic UU voices as we explore the intersections of faith, justice, and democracy in this collective virtual experience. For the WES Platform, we will combine elements provided by the UU the Vote team with WES’s own practices of candle lighting, meditation, and community sharing.
Forgiveness & Infinite Interrelatedness Lyn Cox There is both ethical and scientific basis in understanding ourselves as inescapably related to each other, to the entire human family, to the earth, and to the universe. Yet in the course of these relationships, another inescapable fact is that we will sometimes fall short of our best intentions, and that other people will fall short in their intentions toward us. Accountability, responsibility, and possibly forgiveness can help us grow through these mistakes and cultivate a world that makes more room for everyone to thrive.
"The Definition of Riches is ‘Abundant Meaningful Work" WES Members
Several lay members of WES will speak about their vocation or avocation and what makes that work meaningful to them.
Shared Improvisation Lyn Cox, Interim Leader We keep hearing about how these times are “unprecedented.” There is no definite script for working together as the world changes. Building trust, drawing out each other’s creativity, and remaining curious can help us to engage in the jazz-like process of shared improvisation. Part of this week’s Platform address will include a “Question Box,” with Interim Leader Lyn Cox responding to questions submitted by members in advance through this on-line form.
"Together in this Liminal Time" Lyn Cox, Interim Leader.
In Lyn Cox’s first Platform as our Interim Leader, we’ll explore the theme of collaboration and how it shows up on this threshold of change in our world, our nation, and our congregation. Lyn will explain a little bit about the interim opportunity and how WES might grow through it, and will offer some metaphors for teamwork in times of change.
"Reclaiming Democracy" Hugh Taft-Morales Faith in democracy is being challenged today on multiple fronts: anti-democratic tendencies of our current administration; the resurgence of global authoritarianism; money corrupting politics; questions about the electoral college; and, the rampant voter repression. Racial justice protests point out that for large swaths of our population, democracy was never fully realized. In today’s political climate, what does it mean to work to “reclaim democracy”? Hugh Taft-Morales explores this question three months before a critical election.
The Encampment for Citizenship, founded in 1946 by Ethical Culture Leader Algernon D. Black and Alice (“Nanny”) Pollitzer, a prominent civic leader, offered an opportunity for “young adults of many religious, racial, social and national backgrounds” to learn “the principles and techniques of citizenship… through lived experience.” Black believed that young people could be a positive force in their communities if they developed critical thinking skills, youth activism, leadership qualities, and the courage to break free from stereotypes. Eleanor Roosevelt, long-time chair of The Encampment board of sponsors, often hosted students for discussions, workshops and barbeques at her Hyde Park estate. When the program was attacked by McCarthyite forces in the early 1950s, she defended it vigorously. “The reason I think these Encampments are so important,” she wrote, “is that they are attended by citizens of different races and groups. They prepare people for thinking in terms of all people and not in terms of a selected few. Not only we in the U.S., but people all over the world, need young people trained to be good citizens with an ability to think with an open mind.” While COVID-19 has forced this summer’s program to meet online, Encampers are still engaged in building meaningful community together.
Bio: Anne Klaeysen is Leader Emerita of the New York Society for Ethical Culture. She also served as Leader of the Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island for six years and is currently Humanist Chaplain at New York University (NYU) and Ethical Humanist Religious Life Adviser at Columbia University. Anne holds a Doctor of Ministry degree in pastoral counseling and care from Hebrew Union College. She serves on the boards of the Ethical Culture Fieldston Schools and The Encampment for Citizenship.
"These Certain Times" Rev. Megan Foley, UUA Central Region.
Through the spring of 2020 everything got thrown up into the air – our health, our safety, our patience with unjust systems, WES’ clergy leadership structure…and now as we live through the summer of 2020, things are becoming more clear if not more easy. What is the path forward when we find ourselves in the middle of a time of great change? What can we see and do now that the dust is more settled? What is our next faithful step towards the Good?
All I Can Say Is Thanks Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader.
Join us for Amanda’s final platform as WES’ Senior Leader, as she shares her gratitude for the community that she has been proud to serve for twelve years.
"Everything I Know About Life I Learned from Ethical Culture" Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader. The very first time Amanda offered a platform at WES, she titled it “Everything I Know About Ethical Culture I Learned from Wikipedia.” And that was true! Join Amanda to hear about her journey as an Ethical Culture learner and Leader, as she explores how the philosophy and history of our movement has shaped her understanding of the world.
Compassionate Community: If You Build It, They Will Come Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader What does it mean for WES to be a compassionate community–especially in this time? How do we balance care for our own members with the needs of the broader world? Can we infuse an ethos of compassion into not just all we do, but all the ways we are? Amanda will explore this topic, joined by special guests from the WES community.
"To Be of Use" Laura Solomon, Clergy Intern.
Join Laura as she concludes her first year of internship – and her time at WES – with reflections on WES, clergy leadership, and what it means “to be of use” in community.
We Dare to Question Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader One of the hallmarks of Ethical Culture, and humanism in general, is the impulse to question. We ask questions especially at times of change, at thresholds–but our impulse toward curiosity is present at all times. Amanda invites you to participate in one of her favorite platforms by sending her your questions: about life, philosophy, social justice, and more! Please write at amandap@ethicalsociety.org. Music from the WES chorus, band, and friends.
Sunday, May 10, 9:30am "A Family System, Not a Family" Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader
It’s common to refer to a congregation as a family, and even to imagine that a clergy person is like the parent…or (even more problematic!) that the relationship between a clergy person and a congregation is a kind of marriage. Amanda will explore the power behind these ideas, and the importance of being thoughtful with our metaphors. Music from singer/songwriter Lea Morris.
"This Is Not The End" Laura Solomon, Clergy Intern.
In the midst of the many thresholds we are crossing and living between, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. There is power in naming exactly what we are experiencing, and also in being clear about what is NOT happening. As we enter our May theme of “thresholds,” join Laura to consider how, in spite of all the change and uncertainty, this is not the end.
Sunday, April 26, 2020.
"Centering: The Great Turning toward Mother Earth" Lore Rosenthal
Reflecting on the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day, how far have we come? What are our paths for moving forward? Lore will share some quotes from climate enthusiasts as well as share some of her own thoughts. Is our civilization turning toward a partnership with mother earth?
Lore Rosenthal is the Program Coordinator of the Greenbelt Climate Action Network, as well as a volunteer with the Pachamama Alliance, presenting workshops on Drawdown Solutions: Reversing Global Warming.
In times of uncertainty and change, it can be tempting to jump to “what’s next?!” And knowing some of the plans and steps is certainly helpful. But we can also remember to ask “what now?” What are we invited to experience now–even if it is grief or fear? What can we bring to this moment? Join Amanda as she explores the uncertainty of this time–at WES and in the world at large–and the wisdom of asking what now.
The Center of Community Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader What lies at the heart of the WES community? With so much changed in this moment, how do we ensure that the center holds? Together we will affirm what has animated the WES community for more than 75 years.
Finding Our Center Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader & Laura Solomon, Clergy Intern
How do we feel grounded in a time of uncertainty? Is it even possible to feel joyful when surrounded by challenge? Join Amanda and Laura as they explore several ways to find our center in this moment. Special music that will help us in our centering from singer/songwriter Lea Morris.
Keeping Your Head in Troubling Times Sunday, March 29, 9:30 & 11:30am Rev. Dr. David Breeden Rev. Dr. David Breeden, Senior Minister, First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis.
We usually think forward: what am I doing next? We also think backwards: the location of both memory and reason. And then there is thinking in the moment itself, considered contemplation or meditation. Then there are those moments that our minds “wander.” The struggle is keeping all these modes in mind when the times are troubling.
"A Global Movement: Humanism Across Borders" Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader & Christian Hayden.
What does humanism look like in countries and cultures different from our own? What wisdom can we find, and how does it inform our own practice. Join Amanda and guest Christian Hayden, an Ethical Culture Leader in Training with a special interest in pan-African humanism, as they invite us to notice the differences and similarities of our humanist values. Music from the WES Band.
*This platform was created from a recording of the Zoom Webinar-style platform.
Many of us are leaders in different ways–our families, our work places, here at WES. What is it that best prepares us for leadership? Are there skills to learn? Ways to be? Join Amanda as she explores leadership and what wisdom we most need to acquire. Music from singer/songwriter Maureen Andary.
What exactly does collective wisdom mean? Are two heads really better than one? And how about two hearts? Amanda will explore how “group think” can be both challenging and beautifully productive. Music from singer/songwriter Lilo Gonzalez.
Resilient Relationships: Facing Facts and Making Meaning Laura Solomon, Rajesh Vidyasagar
How do we demonstrate resilience in relationships? For some relationships, resilience means staying and making it work. For other relationships, resilience means leaving for the sake of self or others. Is there a recipe for resilience that can help us make the right decision? Join Laura and Rajesh for thoughts about resilient relationships. Music by Josh Blinder.
Determination. Perseverance. Resilience. Whatever that indefinable quality is, we all need it to make it through the day. At the same time, we have to recharge–and cut ourselves some slack–now and again. Amanda will explore the balance between grit and rest (heard of the nap ministry?) in this multimedia platform. Music from the U Street Jazz Collective.
"Pay Attention to Love Day: Loving Your Very Own Self'" Amanda Poppei, Laura Solomon
Author Sonya Renee Taylor asserts that radical self-love is a powerful antidote to both personal and societal pain. She believes that powerful self-love can change us personally, change our relationships, and change the world. Mr. Rogers says he likes us, just the way we are. For our annual celebration of love, join Amanda and Laura to consider what self-love looks, sounds, and feels like – and how it can change us and our world! Music from Maírí Breen Rothman and Susan Alexander.
"The Ongoing Journey of Recovery…and Resilience" Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader
Addiction can be surrounded by shame and secrecy–but there is power in knowing that we are not alone in our experiences. Amanda will share member stories about recovery, sobriety, and resilience, and consider what lessons there might be for all of us in these stories. Whether or not addiction has ever touched your life (and chances are, it has), join us for this thought-provoking and connecting platform. Music from singer/songwriter Maureen Andary, who will share several pieces including one of her own.
Special guest Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton reflects on the historic and future call to a life of integrity. What does it mean to choose to do the right, hard things?
Sunday, Jan 26, 2020. 9:30am "A Life of Integrity," Amanda Poppei by affirming the worth of every person since 1944.
"The Lonely Life of a Hero: MLK Sunday" Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader.
We often think of prophets as living their values, sure of their own convictions, alone on a mountaintop. But even the most amazing leader must be sure there is a community with them to lead. Amanda will explore this idea through the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and imagine how it might apply to our own lives, as well. Music from the WES Chorus.
It’s one of our favorite traditions here at WES! Bring a vegetable, a stone, and a heart open to old and new stories and music as we look at the Stone Soup story together. How do we pay attention to what is good in our lives? How do we remember the abundance, especially when we seem surrounded by scarcity? And most importantly…how much pie will there be? Music from the WES Chorus and Youth Voices Chorus.
What does it feel like in your body when you believe you’ve found a congregational home? It’s a feeling that can nourish growth and transformation. It keeps us coming back and we often want to share it with others. How can we, in turn, use those feelings in our own bodies to become more welcoming in our communities? Join guest speaker, Christin Green, to explore embodiment practices that build beloved community.
Christin Green is a recent graduate Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC (May 2019). She is the adopted daughter of two women who raised her in a suburb of Kansas City, MO. Christin transplanted to Washington, DC in 2008 to earn a Master of Arts in Women’s Studies from The George Washington University. After completing her Masters, she decided to stay in the area and pursue nonprofit work. The continuing search for purpose led her to attend seminary. Christin intends to spend this first year post-graduation working toward preliminary fellowship and ordination. She looks forward to sharing her time and talent as a musician, a poet, a lifelong learner, and a UU minister in formation.
"Compassion Fatigue and Not Looking Away: Paying Attention to the Whole World," Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader. How do we balance the need to be informed–and to act–with the need to remain centered and grounded? Join Amanda as she explores the very real experience of overwhelm that we can feel in today’s world, and offers some ways to avoid the burnout…without disconnecting entirely from our role as ethical agents in the world. Music from Mauren Andary.
Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader, with Gayle Danley, poet. Join us for our annual honoring of those we have lost, as we pay attention to their memories and share gratitude for their lives. Poet Gayle Danley will join us again this year to share her beautiful reflections, and music will be offered by Mairi Breen Rothman and friends.
At its best, community affirms and reaffirms that we belong to one another. John O’Donohue reminds us that belonging is comprised of both being and longing. What does it look like to belong and to make space inviting others’ belonging? Join Laura to consider both the being and the longing of community, and the ways we draw the circle of belonging together.
The butterfly has become a symbol for migrants--flying around the world, across borders, as part of its natural engagement in the world. And indeed, movement around the world has been a part of human history for as long as there have been humans! How do we understand immigration in America in the larger context of human migration? What does it mean to be an immigrant to this country? Music from singer/songwriter Lilo Gonzalez.
The Buddhist tradition teaches us that suffering comes from attachment--from our hopes and expectations. Join Amanda to consider what it would be like to live without expectations, and how that practice (even when done imperfectly!) can be a core technique for more satisfying relationships.
Join WES Members Scott Aschbrenner, Vickie Fang, and Rajesh Vidyasagar. Ethical Culture founder Felix Adler said that we were a movement for “diversity in creed, unanimity in deed.” But how far does that diversity stretch? Join three WES members with very different religious viewpoints–Christian, spiritual, and totally secular–as they reflect on how their beliefs informs their action.
We often find that grief, anger, even just annoyance come up when our expectations are unmet–when we had hopes for one thing and find that life turns out differently. It can be tempting to rush on to the next possibility, without giving space for ourselves to truly feel the loss, whether in our own lives or in the world around us. Amanda explores the importance of sitting with the experience of disappointment.
As we mark our 75th anniversary, Amanda looks back at what the founders of WES might have expected–not just of our congregation, but of the world around them. Have we met those expectations? What might we expect in the next 75 years? And what does Ethical Culture offer to help us navigate the changes ahead?
Christian Hayden's is a community educator who works in teen dating violence prevention. See how Ethical Culture, his own experience, and the challenges of the future call for us to learn, and model, the courage that intimacy requires.
Amanda will take your ethical and philosophical questions and answer…as best she can! Will this be the year she finally knows the meaning of life? (Spoiler alert: nope). Music – Kweku Owusu
A classic theater game invites us to say YES to whatever is presented within the imaginative bounds of the game. “Hey, you’re on a spaceship!” “Yes, I am!” In real life, we can’t, and shouldn’t, always say an unqualified yes. At the same time, there is wisdom to be found in the practice of “yes…and,” and how different that can feel from “yes…but.” Join Amanda as she returns from sabbatical to share what she is saying yes to right now. Music from Josh Blinder.
Both the great power and the great conflict of the human condition is to crave belonging while finding ways to be separate and creating an “other”. As the politics of identity become central in how we navigate these rapidly changing times, how do we navigate belonging and community? What does it mean – as individuals, families, communities, and institutions – to find joy in our diversity while celebrating the collective? How can we embrace our identities to be agents of justice and change?
Learning to be Joyful Sunday, August 4, 10:30am James Croft James Croft, Leader, Ethical Society of St. Louis
It’s tempting to think that joy is something that happens to us: an emotion that infects us at special moments, but not something we can actively pursue. In this platform, James Croft suggests that this is not the whole story: we can learn to live life more joyfully, and take more control of our emotions. Music from Elena Locayo.
It’s unbelievable isn’t it, that any child ever goes to bed hungry? In this world where this is so much abundance, how can any child, anywhere, ever go hungry? Join Kären as she talks about the challenges of childhood hunger and how we can solve it together- one child and one meal at a time. Music from Nicole Rumeau.
It can be the morning song of the Carolina wren, the purr of a nearby kitten or the sheer joy of watching your dog swim in a lake. Critters of all shapes and sizes can both warm our hearts and make us laugh. Join us for this WES animal blessing. Your pets, safely contained or leashed, are very welcome. If bringing your pet just isn’t in the cards (one of ours is very shy) feel free to bring a picture of your pet to be blessed. And yes, stuffed animals are also welcome! Music from Lilo Gonzalez.
Hugh Taft-Morales, Leader, Baltimore Ethical Society and Ethical Humanist Society of Philadelphia. There’s a lot of anger in America these days, from the anger that fueled Trump’s election to the anger of the #MeToo movement to the anger of street protests. Where does this anger come from? Where will take us? What do you do with it? Reflecting on Rebecca Traister’s new book, Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger, Hugh Taft-Morales explores the history of anger and how it is manifesting in women, men, and himself. Music from Greater U Street Jazz Collective.
Over the last ten months, we have explored ten themes together as a community. What lessons did each teach us? What have we learned about ourselves and our world? And which theme song do we miss the most?! Join Vincent as he explores the wisdom of our 2018-19 themes.
As Amanda prepares to take her seven-week sabbatical, join her for a reflection on the moments in our life when we really need community…and the importance of sometimes taking time away, to be with ourselves. How do we bring the wisdom of each experience to the other? Music from Josh Blinder.
Birds are often figuratively used to represent freedom, risk tasking, and soaring to a new horizon. They are also symbols of joy as seen in their singing. The annual teen platform will be celebrate our graduating teens with a Moving Forward ceremony, and welcome our newest high schoolers with a Moving Up ceremony. We invite the WES community to celebrate with us as our teens becoming more like the bird as they take flight to new heights. Music from the WES music program.
As we celebrate Pride in DC, join us as we explore the evolving meaning of the concept of queerness. How is everyone's world made more beautiful by the boundary-breakers who are expanding our understanding of gender identity and sexuality? And what's up with those pronouns? Music from the WES Chorus.
Music is one of the most hotly contested parts of any congregation’s life–just think of all the churches with a “traditional” service and a “contemporary” service…so no one has to sing a hymn they don’t like! At WES, we sometimes say that if you liked every piece of music on a given Sunday, then we didn’t include enough musical diversity. But how diverse can we get? Join us as we explore the many kind of beauty that WES members listen to. Music from many sources!
At WES, we pride ourselves on not beginning conversations with “what do you do?,” unlike much of career-oriented DC. Instead, we want to know each other more deeply, to know about our passions, our stories, our values. Join your fellow members to hear about their perhaps unexpected histories–and to build our relationships with each other.
What are the stories we tell about ourselves? What if they were reimagined into vintage films, with a liberal dose of imagination? Join us this Founder’s Day to find out the answers to BOTH these questions…and to celebrate, with a little fun and a lot of love, our 75 years of history. Music from the WES Music Program, including WES Chorus and WES Youth Voices Chorus.
Life offers us the opportunity to be in relationship with all kinds of people–beginning with those who raise us. How do we approach our family relationships with curiosity, seeking to learn about people even when they challenge us? And what does the practice of curiosity offer us as we interact with the wider world, particularly with those whose identities or experiences seem dramatically different than our own? Join Amanda to explore the value of beginning with curiosity. Music from singer/songwriter Lea Morris.
Part of curiosity is being brave enough not to look away from the hard parts of life, and, in particular, finding the courage to bear witness. This Sunday, join WES member and internationally-recognized scholar Cayo Gamber as she honors Holocaust Remembrance Week by examining our capacity for evil as well as our desire for repair. Music from flutist Sarah Frisof.
As the saying goes, “I love you, you’re perfect, now change!” Many of us struggle with experiences of self-doubt, and our tradition counters this with an assertion of our inherent worth. At the same time, we are committed to our continual growth…suggesting that we may not be, in fact, perfect. How do we hold these two realities in our personal lives and in our community? Amanda will be joined by members of the Community Relations Committee who will share a draft of our community relations pact. Music from the WES Chorus.
From the earth Ethics Action Team & the WES Teen Group Our WES SEEK participants, in collaboration with members of the Teen group and the Earth Ethics Action Team will be leading a multi-generational earth day platform. This platform will explore issues impacting our environment as we look to live in a more authentic and accountable relationship with our earth and community.
Life without water is not optional. Still, many people on our planet struggle daily to acquire this life source. Water privatization is on the rise in El Salvador and elsewhere, yet people are demanding that water be recognized as a human right rather than a commodity.
Please join Elvis Zavala, the President of the Village Council in El Rodeo, to learn more about the fight for water rights in El Salvador and what WES is doing to support our sister community in their quest to make clean water a reality for every person.
As the saying goes, “I love you, you’re perfect, now change!” Many of us struggle with experiences of self-doubt, and our tradition counters this with an assertion of our inherent worth. At the same time, we are committed to our continual growth…suggesting that we may not be, in fact, perfect. How do we hold these two realities in our personal lives and in our community? Amanda will be joined by members of the Community Relations Committee who will share a draft of our community relations pact. Music from the WES Chorus.
Join WES staff and members as we celebrate our annual tradition of planting dreams, dedicating babies, and sharing brunch! This platform will be full of story and song, and is sure to leave you feeling hopeful about the coming of spring. Music from the WES Music Program, including WES Youth Voices chorus.
"My Journey to and in Humanism" Christian Hayden, Leika Lewis-Cornwell, Rev. Jim Foti, Rev. Patrice Curtis
Join an incredible group of clergy and clergy in training as they reflect on what brought them to humanism, and how they hope to change and grow humanism from the inside out. These speakers are participants and organizers of the Humanist Clergy and Organizer Collaboratory happening at WES on March 25 and 26! Music from jazz singer Nicole Rumeau.
"The Road Less Traveled: All Music Sunday" with Bailey Whiteman, Elise Gould, Vincent Tyler, WES Music Program WES Music Program, with members Elise Gould and Vincent Tyler.
If life is a journey, who is with us as we travel, and what paths did we take not even realizing they were there? Join the WES Music Program as we see where the roads may lead and expect to be surprised and moved along the way.
So often we imagine that life is like a straight line. But in reality our lives are much more like a spiral, including those lessons that repeat over and over again when we think we should get a break from them already! Using the image of a labyrinth as a starting place, Amanda will explore the constancy of change, and how we can find ourselves transformed…even when we feel like we are facing the same darn thing. Music from singer and guitarist Vladimir Fridman.
Join Amanda as she reflects on the values that have guided WES since its founding, and how she sees those values serving WES now and in its future. What is next for us as a community? What skills do we need to learn as we become increasingly multicultural and multigenerational? Amanda will share the view from the balcony–and reflect back the vision that she hears articulated by all of you. Music from the Greater U Street Jazz Collective
You may be thinking the answer to this question is–at least right now–a definite no. And you may be right! Amanda will explore what trust looks like in society as a whole, from the social safety net to traffic laws, and how we can respond when we feel that trust has been broken. Music from the WES Music Program.
“Conflict is Inevitable, but Combat is Optional”: Faith leader Rev. Max Lucado penned these wise words that emphasize how our external engagement is often framed, shaped and fueled by our internal orientation. In our relationships and ways of being in the world, what is our role in conflicts? When we get mired in the drudgery of verbal collisions, how can we navigate a way through? Music from Maureen Andary.
In our annual celebration of love, Amanda will be joined by Ethical Culture colleagues and artists to explore the way many different kinds of relationships ask us to invest in each other in remarkably similar ways. How can deep listening and even tension help to build trust? What does it take to stick with a relationship when trust feels broken? Join us for this celebration of love in many forms. Music from the WES Chorus.
Ethical Culture defines itself as non-theistic--that is, we have "no official position" on whether God exists. Instead, we focus on how to live our lives and build a better world. But does that mean we don't have faith, trust, in anything? Join Amanda for an exploration of what we believe in as humanists, and where we place our trust. Music from Josh Blinder, Johnny Buzek, and Mairi Breen Rothman.
This Sunday, we’re going to take a moment to pause and reflect on our SEEK programming and hear from the newest member of our team. Join L.A. as we celebrate our Sunday programming with our young people (and hear from our young people and leaders) and explore the possibilities of what’s next. L.A. will share what they’ve experienced so far in our program, and what philosophical grounding they bring to our community as we work together to plan for the future.
Join April Renee Goggans, a lead organizer with Black Lives Matter DMV, as she reflects on how Dr. King’s message speaks to us today. Music from the WES Chorus.
Sure, anything might be possible--especially at the start of a fresh new year--but how do we move from possible to probable? Amanda will explore the challenge of finding your path when the range of possibilities feels more overwhelming than exciting. Avoiding decision fatigue, letting go of possibilities not followed, and concentrating on personal mission statements, this platform will invite you to start your year on the right note. Music from the WES Chorus.
Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader & Jason Lange, WES member How did religion begin? Why did so many cultures build pyramids? Where did language come from? Take a fascinating tour of human history–and the mysterious current that binds us together–with Amanda and our special guest, Dr. Kusimba, professor of anthropology at American University. Music from soloist Nicole Rumeau, with David Cole on guitar.
Rev. John Crestwell, On June 28 my worldview changed. Our congregation and city became the center of the universe when a beloved member of the congregation, Wendi Winters, was killed at the Capital Gazette newspaper by a gunman, an all too common theme in America. Today guest minister the Rev. John Crestwell of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis will tell his first-hand account of that terrible day and the good that came out of this evil.
Amanda will explore the concept of sanctuary--as in refuge, a place of safety--and how we do, and don't, experience these places of safety in our lives. This platform will address the effects of climate change on our earth's safety, the idea of safe space/brave space in our communities, and the experience of non-safety felt by so many women--an experience that has been particularly triggered in the past few weeks. Who gets to feel safe? Whose safety must those of us with privilege prioritize? Can we imagine a world with safety for all? Music from the Greater U Street Jazz Collective.
What is the point of sending your child to a humanist Sunday School? Why should we even have children and youth as part of a congregation like ours? Amanda will explore how a community like WES is different than anything else in our children’s lives.
Always a favorite, this platform features YOUR questions, and Amanda's attempts at an answer! Send them ahead of time to amandap@ethicalsociety.org, or be prepared to write them down that morning. Music from Bailey Whiteman.
Join Amanda as she explores the hold that phones--and our other gadgets--have on us. Are they all bad? Is it a generational thing? (Spoiler alert: not entirely). Amanda will rely on research & conversation with our teens...as well as her own phone-breaks during her sabbatical.
Amanda will return from her sabbatical to share with us the idea of chapters in the stories of our lives–& how we can write our own, with ourselves as the hero, the villain, the sidekick, or all three! Join us to look at family systems.
Pause: We are surrounded by noise. We even go so far as to create noise when there isn’t any. How can we learn to appreciate the silence and beckon it during these chaotic times?
What do you think of when you hear the term “con artist?” This Sunday we will explore how we can embrace confidence, creativity, and ethical values to bypass socially constructed barriers in order to live our dreams.
Year in Review -- Join us as we celebrate the close of the last year and welcome in a new one. We will listen to some of our favorite monthly songs since last September.
What is your art of life? Join multicultural artists from The Sanctuaries (thesanctuaries.org), as they creatively explore the major themes of their lives through poetry, storytelling, music, and more. You'll be uplifted, challenged, and inspired.
Felix Adler, the founder of Ethical Culture, was a intense and serious-minded professor. Felix Adler, the circus clown, was...not so serious (among other things, he added a rhinestone to embellish his red nose). Is there a place at WES for both Adlers? WES has increased its serious attention to anti-racism and anti-oppression work in recent years. For some of us, that feels like...well, a lot of work. How do we as a congregation balance our commitment to justice with the reality that many people see WES as a refuge from the "work" of the world? Amanda explores this timely and important topic, supported by music from the WES Chorus.
Amanda explores the way that we can bring playfulness to our lives–from parenting to handling our most annoying acquaintances to dealing with the stress of making our way in the world. Using family systems theory & the hunt for our inner child.
Using personal narrative & attention to recent socio-political developments, Anthony Pinn explores the manner in which the current historical moment speaks to the continued troubling nature of difference in the United States.
"Becoming One Planet: A Story of Race, Justice, and Power" Destiny Watford. Community activist and Goldman Prize Recipient Destiny Watford describes her journey as a teen, organizing to keep an incinerator from moving into her neighborhood. Join her to be inspired by her own story, and moved to action for our world.
“Becoming Just: Building an Anti-Opressive Community,” Zeb Green, Clergy Intern. This Sunday we will explore what it means to be a justice building community. Justice and anti-oppression work is an ongoing process, always on the cusp, always emerging. It is work that keeps going and has no finish line. We find justice through the continuous struggle to live it.
"Becoming Whole: A Humanist Response to Suffering" Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader. What happens when we experience deep pain--grief, loss, betrayal? Traditional religions might tell us there is a plan or a purpose to our pain. What does humanism have to say about how we emerge from the deepest struggles of our lives, and what, if any, meaning do we take from them? Music from the WES Chorus.
Remember the register in the front of your checkbook, before we paid for everything online? Those entries meant more than just whether you had money in your checking account. Join Amanda as she examines living a “balanced” life. Music from Johnnie Buzek & friends.
What does it mean to persevere-- not through big things, but on a daily basis? Join us as we explore one child's story of perseverance, and discover our own. This special Sunday will bring a dose of beauty and whimsy.
What does it mean to be healthy? Whether from a sudden illness, a chronic condition, or the natural effects of aging, we all face issues of health and healing. Join us for an exploration on persevering through the struggle of learning to live and cope.
For our annual Pay Attention to Love Day, Amanda will explore what it takes to persevere in love. In any kind of relationship–romantic, familial, friendship–how do we keep on loving when things get hard?
Join Amanda and her colleague Ryane, a leader with the Washington Interfaith Network and founder of The TraRon Center, in this unique platform dialogue. Ryane and Amanda will talk about how we persevere in the fight for social justice, even when faced with insurmountable odds.
Join two WES teens and Global Connections members, Jason & Russell, in an exciting and emotional platform as they share messages from our sister community of El Rodeo and personal experiences of the recent annual delegation trip. Special media productions (i.e. videos), providing a direct line of communication between our communities, will be prevalent!
Join Rev. Archene, Affiliated Minister at Cedar Lane UU, as she reflects on her own experience as a person of color, woman, & lesbian & how that influences the way she works for justice & against oppression. She has invited our own Clergy Intern to join in reflecting on his experience as a white man.
What does it mean to be intentional about our shared community life? How do we show up in this space in a way that welcomes all, that makes space for different identities and experiences, and that honors our diversity while also celebrating our shared values? And is that all just too much work?! Music from singer/songwriter Lilo G
This MLK weekend, join Amanda in a reflection on the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.--not his legacy of beautiful words and inspiring vision, but his legacy of long-term, community-based organizing. How do we take our intentions to build a better world...and transform those into the actual work of that building?
Join us for a celebration of the year, and a look at what a circuit around the sun means for us in our personal lives...and on a cosmological level! We will travel through space and time, and make our own commitments to the universe we share. Music from singer/songwriter LEA.
This former National Young Audiences Artist of the Year will perform her original poetry with all the trimmings: anguish, triumph, ecstasy, soul & above all, realness. Join us as she delivers a full set of her favorite slam poems to soften & prepare our hearts for the mixed bag of emotions Christmas & New Year's bring.
“Getting Down And Dirty For Hope,” Chioma Iwuoha. by affirming the worth of every person since 1944.
"Should We Keep Hope Alive?" Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader. What does it mean to have hope in the world today? Is it a good idea--or even possible? Amanda will explore the interaction of lamentation, solidarity, and that elusive hope, drawing on the work of Miguel de la Torre and others. Music from the WES Chorus.
With Thanksgiving fresh in our mind, we will explore how gratitude can be an act of cultural resistance. Our society tells us to always want more, to be more. This week we'll take a moment to reflect on the abundance in our lives & how grounding ourselves in gratitude can sustain us in our work.
Join us for our annual celebration of abundance, as we retell the story of the magic soup created by just a few stones...and a community's acts of generosity. This year, we will honor members of WES who have given abundantly of their time and love over the years.
Most of us have emotional reactions all the time--sadness, anger, fear, joy. And frequently, those reactions are part of not just our private lives, but how we interact in the world and with systemic oppression. How do we find the right balance of allowing ourselves to be present to our emotional responses, while at the same time managing our own reactivity? And how can we be present to others' emotional reactions, to honor their experiences, while still finding a way to move forward together? Music from Jean Rohe.
This week we keep in mind Veteran’s Day: the service and sacrifice of service members and their families. As “Abundance” is the theme of the month, Rev. Rebekah will explore how the idea and culture of service is connected to creation and a legacy of empowerment.
Plan to be with us for this important day in our year, when we remember those we have lost and reflect on all they have meant to us. Nationally-acclaimed poet Gayle Danley will share some of her work, and then offer a special workshop for the WES community, inviting you to process grief through poetry
At the request of Black Lives of UU, WES will explore core anti-racism concepts and turn the lens on our own culture, to see more clearly how white culture and a preference for whiteness shows up in our community.
Rev. Pratima Dharm will speak on the topic of grief as a common human emotion experienced by people of all cultures around the globe. Though, the rituals of grief and their observances can be unique depending on particular regional and religious influences, shedding of tears are the most common human expression connected with grief.
We often have to hide parts of our selves, either because they are explicitly unwelcome or because we imagine them to be so. Amanda will share stories of the courageous among us, who have found ways to be fully themselves, despite all odds. Music from singer/songwriter LEA. #WEScourage
Many of us are engaged in social justice work, or political action, seeking to change the recent direction of our country. How do we maintain hope and build up our bravery for that work? And, at the same time, how do we stay true to our Ethical Culture principles? Music from the WES Chorus.
As WES seeks to become a more intentionally anti-racist, multicultural community, what tools do we need to learn? How does it feel to be part of the majority culture at WES, and how does it feel to be part of the minority cultures also represented? Music from the WES Chorus.
What does it look like to welcome into our lives all that is...the good, bad, and ugly? How do we increase our capacity to accept the reality we live with, while still holding a sense of the possibility of change? Amanda will explore the Buddhist tradition in this experiential platform.
Imagine you were a traveler from a far-off land, or another time...or even just a different Ethical Society! When you arrived at WES for the first time, what would you find? Would you understand our language, our customs, our (humanist) rituals? Together we will imagine welcoming the stranger to our unique and ever-changing community.
Join John Crestwell as he tackles the complicated relationship between individuality, authenticity, and embodying the sacred.
Join Amanda for this always popular “question and answer” platform. Send her your questions about ethics, social justice, WES, and more ahead of time, or just bring your questions with you–you’ll have an opportunity to write them down. Amanda will address as many as she has time for!
What does it mean to live in accordance with Buddhist principles in the context of global climate change, and its connection with other social ills, racism in particular? Kristin will share her own journey into the intersection of Buddhist practice with socio-ecological crises and how they can inspire, inform and sustain a heart-filled response.
Engagement with anti-racism and other social justice work often includes the experience of making mistakes & even worse, having them pointed out! How can we develop our muscle both to we hear criticism, & to we give it? Amanda will explore the idea & reflect on how we learn together.
Playing on the history of the Labor Movement, how we got the 40 hour work week—and how it isn’t written in stone and could decrease again in a way that rethinks how we order society and our time.
Drawing on the work of the late philosopher, who as the grandson of the Social Gospel pioneer Walter Rauschenbusch, presents a secularized version of the Beloved Community, although he doesn’t use those words.
"Black. Female. Leader Reflections On Social Justice Work In Majority White Congregations," Stephanie Folarin. Discover what it takes to be an advocate for social justice education as a 6 foot, black, female, administrator, with dreadlocks in majority white independent schools. Stephanie will explore her own journey, while reflecting on the lessons it has for any majority white community seeking to support black leadership.
How do we build a culture in a community like ours--one that values communication and allows us to navigate conflict well? Amanda, joined by words from Jo London and Bob Pokorney, will reflect on WES' historical Relationship Building curriculum and the ways that work informs our unfolding culture.
Ethical Culture Leader in Training and artist Je Hooper will join Amanda and Melissa to tell the story of the broken truth that tells us we are loved...and help us find the whole truth that completes the puzzle. Music from award-winning percussionist Tom Teasley.
Rachel is a freshly minted doctor, educator, advocate, and writer who has been shacking up with bipolar disorder since 2000. Rachel has worked in hospitals, in public school settings, and at universities to cultivate safe spaces where people can talk about the experience of mental illness and challenge stigma. With the support of her loving husband (whom she met at Youth of Ethical Societies! Awww!), family and friends, four pets, cheese, and an unconquerable sense of humor, Rachel lives with bipolar disorder but it is not her life.
Parenting can be...tedious. So can almost every aspect of "adulting." Getting up and going to work, sleeping for a bit and doing it all over again. Feeding and bathing the kids, on repeat. Cooking meals for yourself and doing the dishes...endlessly. Where's the FUN in it all? With an eye toward the "fun dad" model, Amanda explores how we can bring zest into daily life. Spoiler alert: being in the moment helps. Music from the WES Chorus.
Throughout history queerness – membership of a sexual or gender minority group – has been denigrated and demeaned. Queer people have been and continue to be subjected to social stigma and legal discrimination all around the world. Today in America, queer people increasingly enjoy legal equality and increased safety, but rarely are we celebrated for the positive contributions we have brought society. In this Platform, James Croft (who is gay himself) will explore how LGBTQIA+ people have, in enthusiastically embracing their own identities, thrown open the floodgates of sexual and gender experimentation for everyone.
As we begin our exploration of Zest, Amanda asks how we find it during a time that can feel overwhelming–whether it’s because of national politics or our own struggles. How do we reclaim the right to live boldly, joyfully, and lustily while also refusing to look away from the hard parts of life?
Founder’s Day: The Way We Were “Founder’s Day: The Way We Were” Cayo Gamber, Sera Morgan, Perry Saidman, Richard Nugent, and Amanda Poppei. Ten years ago, WES was in the midst of transition–a capital campaign, a building renovation, a Leader search. We look back at this moment in time and celebrate the leap of faith WES members took.
“Parenting to Transcend: Teaching, Protecting & Loving Black Bodies,” Monique Miles. We will continue to explore the theme of Embodiment with a emphasis on the black body. What does it mean to have a black body in current society? In particular, what does it mean to mother a black child? We will explore the lessons and tools that are critical to nurture, protect, love and transcend the structural and individual threats to the black body.
Come explore with us the risk of shutting down and shutting out others, and the risk we take when instead we open up to connections, relationship and vulnerability. This is what it means to be Human. Rev. Rachel Christensen is a UU minister from Orlando, Florida. She was Intern Minister at the First Unitarian Church of Orlando, preaching her last service on the morning of the Pulse tragedy last year.
Join us for this special presentation about the intersection of environmentalism and affordable housing. Khalil Shahyd’s work focuses on the Energy Efficiency for All Project, which aims to increase utility-funded energy efficiency programs in the affordable multifamily housing sector. He coordinates with National Resource Defense Council’s affordable housing partners to advocate for efficiency investments in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan. As part of the LEED Neighborhood Development initiative, Shahyd also promotes the expansion of “green” communities in New Orleans.
"Transforming Holidays" Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader. Throughout human history, holidays and holy days have offered a way to tell the story of transformation, to bring hope in difficult times. This weekend marks both the Jewish celebration of Passover, and the Christian celebration of Easter. But what about us? Amanda will reflect on the meaning of these and other holidays for humanists, and invite us to imagine how transformation acts in our own lives.
Felix Adler founded the Ethical Society on a concept of the Spiritual Ideal, with practical principles for achieving it, that is grounded in reason rather than the supernatural. Changing your worldview and having faith enough to use it in moments of uncertainty is the most difficult transformation a person can make.
April 2, 2017. “Tearing It All Down,” Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader. We live in a capitalist society, and there's nothing we can do about that. Or is there? In this auction platform, Amanda examines what would happen if we radically reimagined the way our society works. What would we envision for a world that was just for all? Come hear about capitalism, socialism, and anarchy!
March 19, 2017. "Money Makes the World Go Round (?)" Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader. Often when we think about risk our mind goes to the stock market...investments, risk and reward, high-yield bonds. But sometimes, even talking about money can feel like the biggest risk. Amanda will explore our complicated relationship with money, income, socioeconomic status, and more.
March 12, 2017. You won’t want to miss the WES Teens put on their annual platform as they explore the theme of risk from their own perspectives, and how it applies to their own lives as teenagers in the greater Washington DC area. The teens will also offer an opportunity for audience participation in a fun game show. Are you willing to risk it?
Rep. Raskin as he imagines what the world could look like with the strong leadership of communities like WES, and Amanda as she invites us to envision what that leadership can be in the year to come.
February 26, 2017. In this “auction” platform, Amanda will explore the idea of generational identity–and what gifts and challenges we find being part of a truly multi-generational community like WES. Or in other words, will we ever agree on what counts as popular music? We will also welcome new members in a special ceremony. Music from mezzo soprano Emily Jaworski.
February 19, 2017. Most people come to Ethical Culture through other religions–with very little initial understanding of what Ethical Culture really is and no idea of its history. Melissa will highlight the Core Values of Ethical Culture, including how we teach them to our children and experience them as adults, and share what it means to say “I am an Ethical Culture Humanist!” Music from the WES Chorus.
February 12, 2017. “To Thine Own Self Be True: Pay Attention to Love Day,” Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader. As we mark our annual celebration of love, we focus on loving...ourselves! What does it look like, feel like, sound like when we truly love ourselves, just as we might hope to love someone else, or to be loved? Join us for this joyful honoring of self (and once we love ourselves, imagine what can happen for each other!). Music from singer/songwriter LEA.
February 5, 2017. "Examining Identity to Embrace a More Inclusive Humanism," Sincere Kirabo, Social Justice Coordinator, American Humanist Association. Join our guest Sincere as he examines how we can evolve our humanist lens to regard the nexus of difference that makes up our identities, experiences, and worldviews. To do that, we must first better understand identity: what it entails, the ways it impacts each individual's social position, and how it relates to intersectionality. A deep and thoughtful beginning to our month-long exploration of Identity.
January 29, 2017. “Heroes Every Day,” Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader. Who are the people who have been our heroes in this past year? Who has restored YOUR faith in human goodness? And how can we be heroes ourselves? Join us for this heart-full platform.
January 22, 2017. As we move into a new presidential administration, whatever thought we had of being bystanders must be set aside. We are now the ones who must hold a vision for America, and who must act to make that vision come true. How are we called to be in the months ahead? What is WES’ particular role in this time? Don’t miss this platform that will invite each of us into visioning together.
January 15, 2017. “A Tale of Two Stories,” The Rev. Leon Dunkley. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. . . .” Charles Dickens wrote these words in 1859—the same year that Charles Darwin put forward his theory of evolution, and the same year that John Brown famously or infamously raided Harper’s Ferry. The shape of American history depends on how we tell the story. Fifty years ago, in 1967, Martin Luther King told a story of war in an address that he delivered in New York City. Beyond Vietnam, the address that he delivered on April 4th of 1967 is regarded as King’s highest achievement as well as his most costly mistake. Have we gained in these five decades the perspective that we need to determine which one of these is true?
January 8, 2017. Throughout our lives, we meet people who seem to embody, even radiate, Ethical Culture without ever having been exposed to it. Our WES delegation has partnered with such people in the tiny village of El Rodeo, El Salvador. How have we managed to form such tight bonds with villagers whose backgrounds are so different from our own? Our Global Connections team member members Peggy Goetz and teen Russell Corbin share their experiences and describe the spirit of Ethical Culture that is alive and thriving in our sister community in El Salvador.
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WES member Beth Baker, a freelance journalist and author, explores the “conscious aging” movement. Are there developmental or spiritual tasks that come with aging? How do we find meaning in a time of inevitable loss? What guidance can we draw from ethical culture and from our WES community?
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What does it mean to be committed to a religious tradition? Are people who take their religion seriously just crazy? And if so...how can we be a little more crazy ourselves? Amanda explores what it means to be committed to our own tradition.
01/11/15: Sitting at the Table of Brotherhood by affirming the worth of every person since 1944.
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January 1, 2017. At this platform address, we begin the new year together. What are you ready to say goodbye to from 2016 (maybe...all of 2016!)? What intentions will you set for the year to come?
What is it that we're trying to find in life? Happiness or joy? What might bring us happiness...and are we sure that's the end goal? Amanda explores the elements osf a fulfilling life, drawing on recent research as well as ancient wisdom.
On the day when we celebrate love in all its forms, Amanda examines the concept of self-sacrificial love. How do we find the line between putting another's needs before our own--and forgetting about our own needs entirely? How do healthful, whole relationships of every kind honor both the individual and the unity?
We work for justice out in the world--but what does that search look like in our own lives? How do our families, social networks, and congregations model our work on behalf of anti-racism and anti-oppression? Amanda explores the world of integrated relationships, feminist clothing choices, and equally divided housework.
Fifty years ago, hundreds of thousands of Americans came to Washington for "The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom." Their achievements in terms of racial equality were hard-fought and profound. Their agenda for jobs--full employment with dignified work and wages--seems increasingly out of reach. Applying the lessons of the victories of the civil rights movement to a radically restructured 21st century economy, Rabbi Kirschner of Temple Sinai reconsiders the relationship between wage-earning and value in American life.
US intervention in El Salvador created a powerful love/hate relationship between our two nations. Delegation members share their stories of deepening connections with the people in our sister community, El Rodeo. Hear how our faith in human goodness has been strengthened through a challenging and rewarding four-year partnership
January is a time of personal resolutions in the broader culture--but how do we balance that with our desire to do good in the world? Amanda explores the challenge of caring for self and caring for others as we being our theme of Fairness and Equality.
The Leader of the Riverdale Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture considers how we can plan for the future ethically.
As part of a series on divinity, Amanda considers the Christian story and what, if anything, it adds to our humanistic exploration of the divine within. How might we as Ethical Culturists approach Christmas and all that it means for the world? Does it hold meaning for us?
Amanda considers the monthly theme from the perspective of Buddhism. How does this largely non-theistic tradition imagine the divine? How does the concept of enlightenment tie in? And what does all of that mean for us as Ethical Culturists?
What if this were true? What if we were all kind, all the time? It's hard to imagine, isn't it? Rev. Strauss reflects on kindness as a fundamental moral principle. Sometimes the most profound ideas and practices are the most simple, and the hardest to live.
What do compromise, sustainability and (gasp!) amen have in common? At last year's auction, three WES members bought the right to a word--and asked Amanda to explore the meaning, origin and significance of those words in a platform address. Here it is!
Laughter is infectious, loneliness is catching, and fear spreads like wildfire. What would you like people to catch from you? Mary explores the contagious nature of the human condition.
On tax day, Amanda explores the democratic ideals of America's founding--and look at how those ideals are woven into Ethical Culture. She examines the liberal religious lives of many of our founding fathers (and mothers), and asks how we are fulfilling the promise of democracy in America and in the vote-less District of Columbia.
The idea of grace is present in everything from Christian theology to yoga chants...but what do people really mean when they talk about grace? Amanda considers grace from a philosophical perspective and will engage with a more experiential understanding from Jennifer. This dialogue offers a chance to explore an idea that is rich in meaning.
Amanda finishes a three-part series on how world religions and Ethical Culture answer key questions of faith and practice. She'll consider how we make moral choices: where we draw authority from, how we know we're doing the right thing, and how we choose among multiple "right" things.
We share a basic human need to connect with each other and with the world...a need, perhaps, for transcendence. How do different religions approach this need? How does our tradition, based in ethics and grounded in the human experience, respond? Does Ethical Culture have anything to say about what there is besides the tangible world we can see and taste and observe? Is that all there is?
The first in a series examining big questions through a world religions and Ethical Culture lens, this platform will explore opposing views of human nature. What does Ethical Culture say about human nature, and how did that view evolve--or depart--from other religious traditions? And what implications do these different views have on public policy in a country where religious views often underlie our most basic assumptions?
This address examines our connections with people, activities, and ideals with an eye to how these connections work for, or work against, our efforts to live ethically. Learning to differentiate between attachments and commitments cann help us develop a deeper understanding of what we hold most important and lead us toward living in greater accordance with our most cherished ideals.
Four WES members share how they find and nurture their passion at WES. Each has found ways to grow through our community, from the arts to social justice, but the tie that binds is the depth of their commitment.
Love. We want it, we seek it, we give it, we lose it, we find it, we speak of falling in and out of it, and making it but what is this thing called love? Aldous Huxley said of love: "Of all the worn, smudged, dog-eared words in our vocabulary, love is surely the grubbiest, smelliest, slimiest. And yet, it has to be pronounced for, after all, 'love' is the last word." Drawing on her interviews with WES couples, Mary weaves together an exploration of love, the most challenging and "ultimate" of human experiences.
We all carry multiple identifies--religious, cultural, family-based. How do we braid those identities together into one coherent whole? What does it mean to be an Ethical Culturist who practices Buddhist meditation and celebrates Jewish holidays at home? And how might our congregation choose to explore our own multiple identities?
The US has historically projected two conflicting messages: w promote our founding myth as a haven for those fleeing persecution, even as we have spurned the newcomer as not authentically American. Our nation is experiencing one of its periodic episodes of nativism and xenophobia. For those who are ethically minded, it is the occasion to deepen our commitment to the best of American ideals. It is time for us to reconsider our relationship to "the other," the stranger in our midst.
As a community, we turn our attention to our Statement of Purpose--our touchstone for visioning, for planning, for understanding who we are as a people. Amanda and Mary explore the need for purpose in a religious congregation, and as they share their own thoughts on what it might look like for us to live with purpose.
Amanda uses Dr. Martin Luther King's anti-war work as a springboard for thinking about America's military, the ethics of support for the military generally and for individual troops, and WES's own involvement in conscientious objector status work. A challenging and thought-provoking platform.
As we begin our congregational theme of Worth & Dignity, Amanda explores what this basic Ethical Culture principle really means in our daily lives. How do we act out our belief in the worth of people who are different than we are? How could our community and our world look if we sought out those who are different? And why would we want to do that?
Memorial Day could be about honoring those who committed their all to what mattered in ways that create rather than destroy. Nonviolent action to achieve freedom and social justice has a long history and be highly effective.
Religious studies author Karen Armstrong refers to our species as "homo religiosis." Amanda explores everything from scientific research on meditation and longevity to our own experiences, and imagines what it might mean to be wired for a religious life.
"Dreams, I have come to believe, are almost always partnerships...they require both dreamers and dream makers."--Robert Peyton. As we welcome new members and celebrate 35+ year memberships, we take this opportunity to explore the meaning of belonging to an Ethical Culture community, the vision that inspires commitment, and the role of human connections in creating bounty or deprivation in our lives.
Springtime often makes us think of organizing our closets. But what about our community? Our neighborhood? Amanda shares her experiences with the Washington Interfaith Network and what she's learned about community organizing. She explores its resonance with Ethical Culture principles, and considers what it might mean for WES to catch the organizing spirit.
In this season when so many religious traditions celebrate renewal, Amanda offers an Earth Day platform that examines the possibility of rebirth in the face of death. She considers climate change and catastrophic environmental degradation--in the context of hope!
As we mark another tax day, we also mark another year of DC's taxation without representation. Amanda will explore what this means for us as an ethical community and especially for one located in the District.
Fritz probes the mystery of one of our most important human attributes. He examines the widely held theory that incongruity holds the ey to what we find funny, and ventures into the dark side of humor and the relationship between comedy and the cosmic joke.
Amanda explores America's economic system and how it does--and doesn't--serve our need for justice in the world. She also examines the value-worth paradigm in Ethical Culture, and talks about justice in our own congregational economic picture.
It's been several years since Prince William County, VA, the home of Rev. Ladd's congregation, served as a flashpoint of controversy regarding local enforcement of federal immigration law. She tells the story of what happened in Prince William County and relates the spiritual and communal price they continue to pay in exchange for immigration enforcement on the local level.
In the final part of a series exploring Adler's spiritual pains, Amanda examines the struggle every person faces between the values we profess...and the lives we actually lead. Very few of us behave just as we would to in every moment of our lives--and yet we must somehow take those very disappointments and use them as the building blocks of our next attempts. How do we move forward in life when we can never be fully who we wish we were?
In the second of a series on Adler's three spiritual pains, Amanda focuses on how we experience the suffering of those around us. Drawing on wisdom from world religions, particularly Buddhism, Amanda imagines how this "spiritual pain" might have influenced Ethical Culture's early social justice work and how it motivates our work as individuals and a community today.
Ethical Culture founder Felix Adler identified three spiritual pains as the basis for the religious impulse. In a three-part series, Amanda explores first our sense of insignificance in a huge universe. How does this pain play out in our own lives? How does it motivate our need for community and meaning?
A. Powell Davies, probably the most important minister in the almost 200-year history of Unitarianism in the DC region, dreamed of creating a coalition of religious liberals. But that dream has proven difficult to realize. Rev. Marshall shares the history and development of two such organizations of religious liberals in Washington: Unitarians and Universalists. What kepm them apart, and what finally brought them together?
As we celebrate our annual Pay Attention to Love celebration, Amanda focuses on one of the more difficult aspects of love: what we do when our hearts are broken. What is the ethical response to a broken covenant? What about when we ourselves are the breakers? Amanda explores covenants large and small and in all arenas of our lives, looking at current writing on relationships as well as philosophical approaches.
Amanda delivers the second of two platforms "won" at last year's auction. This time around, she's been challenged to speak about sex--a subject often taboo in religious communities but vital to our lives. Amanda explores the concept of "ethical sex," as she wonders what, if anything, makes some sex unethical.
One of the hallmarks of our religious movement is our willingness to stop out into unexplored territory and be open to new possibilities. Because of the nature of our work, most religious communities give their clergy a sabbatical so that we can replenish our inner resources and rekindle our calling. As she begins her sabbatical, Mary explores what stepping out of the current might mean to each of us.
The most-used definition of fundamentalists may be "those people who disagree with me." But fundamentalism is a particular way of understanding the world and especially truth. What draws people to fundamentalism? And what can bring them back from the brink?
At our annual service celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we explore how we live up to his dream for his four little children. How do we create a community where our children learn anti-racist values? Amanda is joined by WES members reflecting on their own experience.
The longing to offer our compassion and assistance to others is part of being human. But despite our good intentions to help others, we often hold back because we don't know what to do or say, or are afraid to intrude. Even when we overcome our hesitations we sometimes find that we have made things worse with our attempts to help. What are some genuinely helpful ways we can serve, support, and encourage those in need?
On this Sunday in December, we gather to celebrate the coming of winter and to explore the meaning of Christmas in the humanist context.
"The world is my country. To do good is my religion." These words from Thomas Pain inspire us to make connections with people beyond our borders and help create a more just and loving world. Members of WES's Global Connections Committee explore how our new sister-community relationship with El Rodeo, El Salvador, is an expression of our highest ideals.
WES member Peter Bishop offers a follow-up to Amanda's science and religion platform on August 1, 2010.
The Harry Potter series is one of the most successful in the history publishing and filmmaking. What makes these stories so compelling? Amy argues that the ethical dilemmas explored are as important to the books' success as the magic wands. Amy Anderson is a member of the Northern Virginia Ethical Society.
In the first of two platforms from last year's auction, Amanda takes on some challenging questions from the winning bidders--questions that get to the heart of our religious commitments and our life together. How do we tell the truth to each other? Under what conditions is venting healthy and ethical? Under what conditions is silence the better choice? Is honesty the best policy always? Are white lies never an ethical option? (Amanda hopes next year's winning bidders pick something nice and easy like the history of religion throughout all time.)
A project called Show Me Equality has for two years now been running buses from Missouri to Iowa full of couples and clergy to solemnize marriages. Why drive five hours to your own wedding? Because these devoted couples happen to be gay and lesbian, and Iowa legalizdd samd-sex marriage in 2009. Ethical Culture Leader Kate Lovelady has been honored to rid on the Love Bus twice so far to help officiate these marriages, and she shares some of the stories.
In our free religious movement, we are not bound by traditional lists of rules. But we do live by certain principles. How though, do we create them--when we can't just read the list of ten that someone else put together? What do we live by, and why? Mary invites each of us to explore our own list, our own ethical map of the world, the formation of our deepest values and the way they shape our lives.
We live in a multicultural age of conflicting values. Some refer to this as a "postmodern" era, in which the values of the European Enlightenment are challenged. The celebration of "tolerance" is a product of these far-reaching trends. This address explores: What standards can we as Ethical Culturists invoke in our relations with cultures not our own? "Is there such a thing as 'false tolerance'?" "Where does Ethical Culture stake its claim in this changing world?"
Alida writes, "When I was growing up in a Unitarian Universalist congregation, the opening words on Sunday morning were often: 'the place where we meet to seek the highest is holy ground.' When I walked into WES years ago, I was delighted to find the same words displayed. This platform is about th promises we make on 'holy ground,' also known as covenants."
We don't often talk about God at the Ethical Society. But just what God aren't we talking about? The word is important in our interfaith work, our interactions with the wider world, and for some of us in our own spiritual journeys. Amanda explores the changing conceptions of God over the last thousand years or so--just a quick overview! You are invited to reflect on what "that word" really means.
The fall and the start of our new congregational year together bring a host of new possibilities. We can easily find ourselves being driven by them, rather than engaging them with intention. Intentionality is bout facing ourselves, loving ourselves, broken and whole, incomplete and striving. Mary explores what it means to make a fresh start.
This celebratory Sunday marks the symbolic return from summer to our community. Amanda looks at the importance of staying power, in our congregational life and in our faith--and how Ethical Culture brings hope for us and for the world.
This Labor Day celebration features music from the DC Labor Chorus, ld by Dr. Elise Bryant, a professor at the National Labor College.
Amanda considers questions sent to her by members--from the state of WES to the state of the world.
Amanda and others explore how raising children--our own and other people's--enriches our experiences of joy, mindfulness and trust.
Barbara takes the advent of her 80th birthday to imagine her life both through her own lens and the lens of scientific discovery and possibility. She explores the importance of science in hr own journey and the incredible diversity of the natural world.
As a religious person who believes in science, Amanda explores the ways in which the two disciplines inform and challenge each other. The first in a "Science and Reason" theme.
Part of the point of religious community is to help us grow into qualities of spiritual maturity, enabling us to conduct our lives with dignity, grace and meaning. The concept of spiritual maturity implies that some ways of living are qualitatively better than others; is that so? The Rev. Dr. Kendyl Gibbons is Senior Minister of the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, Co-Dean of the Humanist Institute and adjunct faculty at Union Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.
As Miss Manners says, we "follow a common language of behavior in order to avoid making communal life abrasive, unpleasant and explosive." Mary Herman offer a lighthearted but thought-provoking call for a revival of civility and how it applies to our community life.
Guest speaker Tony Hileman has been both senior leader of the New York Society for Ethical Culture and executive director of the American Humanist Association. In this platform he discusses how the Ethical Movement has changed without losing its essential character. From the historic roots of Ethical Culture to modern Ethical Humanism, we have remained in substantial agreement on foundational points.
American democracy is confronted by many external threats: terrorism, economic chaos, and environmental degradation. To address these threats effectively, we must also solve problems internal to democracy: paralyzing partisan hostility, ugly culture wars, sound-bite media coverage, and a selfish individualism corrosive of the common good. The traition of Ethical Humanism can help by reminding us that democracy is not merely a form of government, but is an approach to relationships. Hugh explores how we can reinvigorate our civil discourse and build an ethical democracy.
Fatherhood is a timeless role that is nevertheless reinvented by every new father. On this Father's Day, John reflects on his experiences parenting two children, in the context of his own childhood and the many theories of parenting he has encountered as a practicing psychiatrist and consumer of popular literature.
We celebrate the installation of the new Board of Trustees and think about the passage of leadership and the caretaking of this community -- which belongs, in the end, to us all.
WES teens share the transitions they are making on their ethical and spiritual journeys. Teens include Elizabeth Axley, Josephine Lichten, Elena Nicholson, Emma Rothman, Sarah Strohminger, Justin Taft-Morales, and Corey Wathen.
Amanda reflects on summer, gardening, poetry, and the eternal human quest for something different.
Given the environmental, political, and financial messes around us, it's not surprising that many of us feel worried, depressed, and beaten down these days. Yet lightening up, or learning to relate to the world in a more playful way, can provide us with the energy and freedom to live our lives more fully. Visiting storyteller Joshua Searle-White explores the spiritual practice of lightening up.
For our annual Founder's Day, Bob Berson shares a special address about a distinguished figure from history who is not as well known as he should be.
This Mother's Day celebration looks at the many ways women and mothers have been perceived over the ages. Amanda considers children's literature, the original anti-war Mother's Day proclamation, and gender and sexuality issues.
What was that list of seven sins, again? And what does it matter for us? Amanda explores the original septet, the version articulated by Gandhi, and her take on what they mean for us today.
Amanda explores the philosophical side of creativity, looking particularly at the work of Henry Nelson Wieman and his concept of "creative interchange" as the spark that occurs when we truly connect.
Many Americans have been horrified about a bill before the Ugandan legislature which would make homosexual acts punishable by death. But what is the appropriate American response to this legislation? Is the response different if the bill was likely inspired by US evangelical ministers? In the larger context, how do we interact with cultures that are different from our own--and what is the line between imposing our values and standing up for what is right?
Michael Franch suggests you don't have to believe in the "magic" of Easter to learn from the story of Jesus. Dr. Franch was Dean of the National Leaders Council of the American Ethical Union and Affiliate Minister, First Unitarian Church, Baltimore.
Three WES members explore the question that Mary Oliver poses in her poem: what will you do with your one wild and precious life? Their stories address broader questions of what we love and what we take risks for.
Amanda examines the humanistic impulse behind some of the world's great liberation stories.
Ethical Culture founder Felix Adler thought that a vocation was at the heart of the ethical journey. How do we find our place, our calling, in life? Mary and Amanda discuss their own vocations and the call that Ethical Culture hears in the world today.
Ethical Culturists and Unitarian Universalists are often accused of "believing in nothing" or worse "believing in anything." Both religious groups have have a commitment to creedlessness as a community.And disbelief is gaining in visibility today, with more vocal presence of atheists and even a mention in the 2009 inaugural address. Yet most of us have quite strong beliefs. Jone Johnson Lewis, Leader of the No. Virginia Ethical Society, explores the landscape "beyond disbelief."
The first of a five-week focus on the theme of silence and voice. Mary Herman explores silence and speech both as spiritual practices, as healing powers, and as damaging norms.
In WES's annual platform on Valentine's, Amanda shares thoughts on covenant--promises that we make to each other, whether in our marriage, our family, or our religious community--and how love runs through the promises make.
What are the foundational principles of an Ethical Culture perspective on life, truth, and the world around us. What makes Ethical Culture unique? How might the world be better if our values were more widely shared? What are we called to do and to be?
In this traditional platform, WES members reflect on how they wish to live in the coming year.
We often talk about the importance of neighborliness, of connecting with our community. But in these times of extended families flung across the country, of email and videoconferencing, of apartment buildings and suburban sprawl, who are our neighbors?
A thanksgiving platform celebration to reflect on the abundance in our lives and prepare ourselves to make the most of our own Thanksgiving with family and friends.
When playwright Nicole Burton, an adopted person, set out to find her birth family, she couldn't have known of the odyssey and gifts that were in store for her. Her search and reunion unfolded in places as far apart as England, Italy and Louisiana. Nicole describes how reunion has helped her build courage, acceptance and a greater capacity for love.
How do we live truly sustainable lives--in our personal choices and in the world at large? What dos it mean to have enough, to have lives of plenty? And how can we seek to live sustainably in our religious community?
This annual Remembrance Day service seeks to honor those we have lost over the last year and throughout our lives. We consider more deeply the ways that w, and those we love, are both broken and whole, both flawed and somehow perfectly, uniquely ourselves.
Many have heard the insightful, honest, fascinating essays on National Public Radio's "This I Believe," by people from around the nation telling us what they accept as true. Four WES members say what they believe, how they came to believe it, and why it is so important to them.
We live our lives by coming into, and then occasionally falling out of, right relationships with ourselves, with others, and with life itself. Each new year in the life of the WES community, the opportunity arises to prepare ourselves with a fresh start.
At the beginning of the congregational year, Amanda considers whether we live in a secular age or a religious age--and how Ethical Culture can span the divide.
Fritz Williams says he believes in cultivating opposite, but complementary views of life, and in meeting life's challenges with contradictory strategies. It is by encompassing these opposites, by being involved and vulnerable, but simultaneously transcendent and detached, that our lives are graced by resilience and joy.
Ethics As Religion, 13 September 1998, Don Montagna, WES Leader. Notes: Don explains why we all need religion, why we receive it in a community, how Ethical Culture builds a religion without supernatural creed, and finally how the community comforts members in grief.
Tikkun Olum - Repairing the World After Genocide, 15 April 2007, Estelle Laughlin, WES Member. Notes: Compelling testimony from a holocaust survivor.
If Not Us - Who?, 26 February 2006, Don Montagna, WES Leader. Notes: Wonderful platform on empathy. Do not dehumanize the 'other' but widen the concept of 'us'.
Humanistic Spirituality, 19 September 2004, Don Montagna, WES Leader. Notes: Don explains why we need humanistic spirituality, what it is, how to create it. This highly rated talk is one of the member's picks.
Humanistic Spirituality, Don Montagna, 19 September 2004 Comment: "Brilliant! Why we need humanistic spirituality, what it is, how to create it." (Jo London) "Don delivers a mature reflection on the subject beginning with a 6 minute reflection on his leadership and the community 30+ years into his tenure." (Paul Baker) (49 minutes)
Christ vs. Jesus, 4 April 2004, Don Montagna, WES Leader. Notes: Don briefly mentions the Christ of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" and then recounts the historical Jesus. Next, he interprets the teachings of Paul of Tsarsus and the Gospel of Love. He closes preaching the practice of love in the community.
Our annual memorial ceremony is an opportunity to honor your loved ones and keep alive within you their spirits at their best. People important in our lives continue to influence what we do and think even after death. By appreciating the blessings they gave us, we can more fully benefit from these gifts and pass them on to others. By understanding the errors they made, we can learn from their mistakes--rather than allow them to haunt us.
What is Good?, 1 December 2002, Don Montagna, WES Leader. Notes: Why is Good a central concept of EC? How is it defined and applied by philosophers in the face of contradictions? What about our own lives? Don gives a careful examination of these and related questions.
What is Good?, Don Montagna, 1 December 2002 Comment: "Felix Adler argued Ethics and Religion are real and amenable to rational, scientific analysis. He made "good" a central concept in his system. Don explains" (Paul Baker) (33 min)
Why an Ethical Society?, 15 September 2002, Don Montagna, WES Leader. Notes: The talk explores Ethical Culture in relation to society emphasizing the role of ethical agents. It gives a good explanation of eliciting the best.
Using Your Powers for Good, 3 March 2002, Don Montagna, WES Leader. Notes: Learning ethical leadership, cultivating values with triage, developing good authority and appreciative listening.
What Do You Really Want?, 6 January 2002, Don Montagna, WES Leader. Notes: Lovely New Year Platform
It's Time for the Child Within to Grow Up, 23 March 1997, Susan Bagot, Leader - Northern Virginia Ethical Society.
Midlife Challenges, 12 December 1993, Susan Bagot, Leader - Northern Virginia Ethical Society. Notes: The speaker asks a long series of questions and then supplies an interesting framework for understanding Midlife. Technical: Last 1 -2 minutes of speech were lost.
Who defines reality and how we think about thinking shapes our personal and political world. Awareness at moments of decision enables us to strengthen our skills for creating a better future.
Joell Is History: A Retirement Tribute, 28 June 1992, "Don Montagna, Judy Toth, and Others", WES Leaders and Members. Joell Silverman was a long-time community leader and leader of religious education at WES. Notes: (this recording has not yet been reviewed) Technical: Long gaps during transitions have been removed.
Ben Margolin recalls WES's Tax Case, 17 May 1992, Followed by comment by Don Montagna. This short segment is an excerpt from a longer recording. See "WES in the 60s" in the side menu.
Celebration of Don Montagna's 20th Anniversary As WES Leader, 17 May 1992, MC: Judy Toth, WES Leader. Notes: (this recording has not yet been reviewed) Technical: Long gaps during transitions have been removed.
Ethics, Education, and Community: Pushing Our Spiritual Envelopes, 29 March 1992, Ken Davis, WES Member. Notes: The talk discusses some of the core work of the "Eliciting the Best" course. The adoption of a value paradigm reinforced by the inner critic limits our lives and relationships. Instead we need to develop an inner witness to reinforce a value paradigm. Ken Davis helped develop and also taught the "Eliciting the Best" adult education program at WES.
Reclaiming Masculinity, 6 March 1988, Don Montagna, WES Leader. Notes: "Don frames the talk around the mythopoetic characters the "woman's man", the "wild man", and the gardener and applies ideas to maintaining relationships. Let this blast from from the 1980s Robert Bly past provoke your thinking!" Technical: The tape team had trouble capturing this marathon talk without a couple of short gaps.
6 January 1985, Don Montagna, WES Leader. Technical: Parts of the talk that concern only setting goals for 1985 have been extracted and packaged separately.
6 January 1985, Don Montagna, WES Leader. Technical: Parts of the talk that concern only setting life goals for 1985 have been extracted and packaged separately.
Relativity and Responsibility in Ethics, 8 May 1983, Edward L. Ericson, Past WES Ethical Leader and author. Technical: noticeable hum
Homeless In America, 20 March 1983, Mitch Snyder, Activist with the Community for Creative Non-Violence in Washington DC. Notes: A radical critique of american society by a prominent, local activist. It also describes the CCNV's work in DC which WES supported in various ways at the time.
History of Ethical Culture, 18 July 1982, "Judy Toth, Alice and L. D. MacIntyre", Alice and L. D. MacIntyre were founding members of WES. Judy Toth was a member at the time and became a Leader at WES and the Saint Lous Society. Notes: Toth spoke of the history of the EC movement. The MacIntyres spoke of the founding of WES. Technical: The tape is incomplete but we present what is available (40 min.) because of its historical importance. Listen (40 min)
Making Choices, 6 December 1981, Don Montagna, WES Leader. Notes: Don introduces important terminology used at WES in the 80's-90's. The topics include: childhood development and choice habitual choices (drama) vs. intentional choice importance of a strong 'choice muscle' to ethical action childhood drama influences adult choices the power of asking Technical: "noticeable hum, short lost intervals break the continuity of the talk in a few places "