SUMMER ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAMS:
(All held on Zoom. Register to receive the link)
*BOOK GROUP (starts up again in September – 4th Thursday : 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.)
*VOICE CLASS – Saturdays. 10:00 – 11:30 a.m. Troy Arnold Fisher
TRAVEL THAT CHANGES HEARTS AND TRANSFORMS LIVES:
Registration Deadline: July 6th
Billie Williams formalized this OUUC class some years ago. It has become one of the most popular of our Adult Religious Education programs. This spring, only one presentation was made before the pandemic closed our church. Now, via Zoom, all congregational members and friends are invited to enjoy the remaining four fabulous programs by OUUC members. Journey with them from your own home to different parts of the world! Learn what they experienced. See the impact on their lives!
All programs will begin at 7:00 on Mondays in July. At the close of each presentation there will be opportunity for dialog.
July 6 7:00 p.m. Helping Syrian Refugees in Jordan Joanne Dufour
This class focused on an experience of working with a Seattle humanitarian as she and a cadre of volunteers prepare to pack up, transport, and deliver aid to Syrian Refugees in Jordan. This is a project which has been ongoing for about the last ten years. Joanne Dufour had an opportunity to participate in a tour of Jordan and Lebanon through the auspices of SCM Medical Missions. The trip included visits to sites of this humanitarian effort including two refugee encampments.
The experience was transformative, allowing first-hand contact not only with the volunteers helping along the way but with the refugees as well. Local guides provided an array of historical and cultural insights to the Muslim and Christian communities. Joanne says she also developed an appreciation of the many steps involved in the collection and delivery of aid.
July 13 7:00 p.m. Rolling Through the Northwest Kelly and Mary Ann Thompson
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
- S. Eliot
I suspect that we all know that the Northwest is rich in history and landscape.
That richness only increases when we slow to the pace of a hike or of a bike.
We have re discovered the Bitterroot mountain loop in Northern Idaho, where Big Bill Haywood and the Wobblies battled the mine owners (and the government) for an 8-hour workday and livable wages. Big Bill was cleared of murder charges by his counsel – Clarence Darrow – and later fled to Moscow, where he died.
The Discovery Trail (now a bike trail) near Port Townsend virtually reeks of trappers and native folk making their way to trade on the shores of the Salish Sea.
The Chehalis Western and Tenino-Yelm trails beautifully redecorate themselves with each season. A few rare autumn days, we have ridden our bikes through a “Golden Tunnel” of vivid fall leaves that made the whole world psychedelic.
We will share some approaches and highlights of regional travels that have enriched and changed our life.
July 20 7:00 p.m. Kissolymos and Beyond Rick Brandt-Kreutz
Traveling and exploring the world is a basic hunger for so many people, nourishing our inner life. Learning about our church’s long history and visiting the land where our faith began, I knew I wanted to go. Not knowing why or what I was intending, I joined the committee and organized a “pilgrimage” with the Unitarian Universalist Partner Church Council for seven people from our church. We spent 13 days visiting the holy sites of Unitarianism with UU’s from all over the USA, and seven of these days we were in our partner village, Kissolymos, Romania. The time with our village friends deepened our connections and gave us the gift of generous memories that will be treasured. I discovered connections between the origins of our UU faith, and my own journey from evangelicalism, to liberal Christianity, to our faith that embraces freedom of religion as not only a central principal, but a warm fire around which both UU’s and our faith partners in Transylvania and Hungary gather.
Following the partner church trip, Betsy and spent 2 weeks visiting sites in Eastern Europe. The history of Nazism to Communism during the 20th century that we explored throughout the region has echoes in our current politics. The journey from Romania to Hungary to Slovakia and on into Vienna, we clearly saw the transition from traditional and poorer countries, to modern agribusiness, smooth train tracks and 1st world wealth that we here in the USA take for granted. In addition to the learning, Betsy and I had a ton of fun including hot Hungarian baths, 20-euro cake and coffee in 18th century Bratislava, and plenty of people meeting moments like with Dutch business traveler, Nils, in Český Krumlov. We also have a story of an 8000 Fornit legal shake-down by Budapest transit authorities. Hope to see you there!
July 27 7:00 p.m. World Cultural Immersion Abroad and at Home Linda Crabtree
Like to travel? Up for culture shock and exposure beyond imagination and comfort? Want to enrich your life and the lives of others in unique ways? How about experiencing another country and culture though meaningful volunteer service? How about taking your family (children or parents) along?
I have found travel through volunteer and educational programs to be the most rewarding because they have gifted us with cultural immersion and relationships that are unattainable on standard group or individual travels. There are many options to get “immersion travel” which include inter-generational experiences.
Jim and I took advantage of three global volunteer organizations which have guided us through the years. The first was a two-year term with the Peace Corps in Malaysia. We still relate to several families there over Facebook and have revisited there once! The second was with Medical Teams International out of Portland where we were on a construction crew at an orphanage in Romania. And the third was with Cross Cultural Solutions in a shantytown in Peru with our kids and grandkids (ages 9 and 10). We lived with volunteers from around the world and worked in a senior center and a school. We also accompanied a social worker on home visits.
Our global learning and experiences have shaped our choices in seeking other cultural immersion through travel opportunities, by hosting foreigners (exchange students, families who have immigrated, others who also seek immersion travel), and in exposing our families to other ways of being.
With pictures and stories, learn what we did, and what impact these experiences have had on us and our families. Learn how you, too, can find short-term or long-term cultural immersion experiences with off-the-beaten path opportunities.
The world in which you were born is just one model of reality. Other cultures are not failed attempts at being you: they are unique manifestations of the human spirit. — Wade Davis.
ABOUT THE OUUC ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAM
OUUC’s adult education program offers a wide range of classes to help members and others in their spiritual development and in a broad variety of life skills, as well as to increase knowledge in specific areas, or just to have fun. The Adult Education Committee reviews ideas for classes, finds and assists instructors, and publishes seasonal catalogs of the class offerings.
Registration is open to all members and friends of OUUC and members of the larger community.
If online registration is a problem for you, contact Sara Lewis at 360-786-6383 x. 102
To reduce the chance of class cancellations because too few people have signed up, please register at least a week before your class begins.
The fee for a single class of up to two hours is $10. For classes longer than two hours or with multiple sessions, the fee is $15. A fee of $25 covers as many classes as you wish to take. Exceptions to the fees are noted in the class descriptions. The fee will be waived, upon request, if it creates a hardship for you. On-site child care can also be requested when registering.
For attendees from the broader community: Per calendar month there is no charge for a single two hour class or a film session and any included discussion, but attendees can make an optional donation in any amount they wish. Classes and workshops of over two hours, or additional sessions in the same calendar month, require the same fees as for OUUC members-friends. Please feel free to invite your friends from the broader community to use the OUUC website to register for classes, but kindly remind them about any fees.
Unless otherwise noted, all class leaders are members of the OUUC community who generously contribute their expertise, time and hard work to develop their course material, completely gratis. Please make every effort to attend all sessions of each class for which you have signed up, or let the class leader know ahead of time if you can’t attend. Newcomers to OUUC can find classes relevant to this faith tradition marked with a chalice logo:
The Adult Education Committee welcomes offers to lead future classes from members of the broader community as well as from the OUUC congregation. Please direct proposals or inquiries to the Adult Education Committee, c/o the OUUC Office (dre@ouuc.org / 360-786-6383), or contact a committee member. A member of the committee will contact you and guide you through the process of setting up your class. Current members are: Margo Curl, Joanne Dufour, Mary Moore, Kathy O’Connor, Larry O’Connor, Anne Radford, Julie Rosmond, John Snyder, Pat Sonnenstuhl, Bob Sundstrom, Gary Worthington (Chair), and Sara Lewis (Staff).
Because this process takes time, please meet the deadlines below for submitting completed proposals for new classes:
For inclusion in the winter-spring 2020 program (January–June): Oct. 31, 2019.
For inclusion in the fall 2020 program (September–December): June 30, 2020.