Annie has a special interest in exploring wellness in others and supporting their inner healer.
She is a Therapeutic Recreation Specialist and has led numerous workshops on the value of PLAY and wellness. She is on the certification path of NVC, Non-violent Communication to help teach a language of love and oneness. She is the Licensed Unity Teacher at Unity of Citrus, Lecanto, Fl, where she teaches classes, spiritual counseling, and is on numerous teams to support Unity. She loves attending workshops on NVC, silent retreats, any topic that takes her out of her comfort zone.
In addition she is an owner of an import company with her husband, Arbuth.
She thrives on learning and believes that wellness and spiritual growth is a lifelong process of choices and renewal that creates quality of living.
Topic:Belonging
Is there a difference between Unity and Unitarian?
A quote from Rev. Dr. Mark Morrison-Reed:
“The central task of the religious community is to unveil the bonds that bind each to all. Together, our vision widens and our strength is renewed.”
We need to connect and experience a Universal sense of belonging and connection with each other creating peace within and in our world.
Once a Youtube video becomes available, it will be posted here.
Sunday, September 13, 2020
Speaker – Judi Siegal
Biography:
Judi Siegal has a background in Jewish education, is a founding member of Congregation Beth Israel of Ocala, and is a Jewish community leader. She is a member of Ocala Harmony, women’s barbershop chorus; loves RVing, and has three wonderful grandkids. She lives in Ocala with her husband of 49 years.
Judi is familiar to most of you because she has addressed this group many times. She is a retired Jewish educator and former columnist for the South Marion Citizen. She comes via Zoom to you from beautiful Marion County.
Topic:Leviticus 19: In the Time of COVID 19
Leviticus 19, also known as the holiness code, has much to teach us in these trying times. The laws and statutes contained within form the backbone of Western Society.
Don’t believe it. While we may not recognize the future, that doesn’t mean we won’t have one. We’ll look to science, religion, and history for a new perspective on what may be ahead.
Sunday, September 20, 2020
Speaker – Pam Reader
Biography:
Pamela is a graduate of Salve Regina University Newport, RI, RN program. She also has her Master’s degree in Sociology with an emphasis in Family Therapy. Upon graduation, she served a tour as an Air Force Nurse. She worked as a Director of Nursing at a long- term care facility, as well as a Hospice nurse and counselor. She also worked as a Health Education Manager for CIGNA Healthcare and was an adjunct Sociology Professor. When she moved to Texas, she was an In- House Supervisor at Doctor’s Regional Hospital, Corpus Christi. Additionally, she is a certified Hypnotherapist and author of “The Pipe and The Pen: Remembering Our Original Instructions”
After selling their fishing lodge business in East Texas, Pamela and her husband, David, moved to Florida in October of 2019. Pam and Dave live on a water-access-only island on the Homosassa River and enjoy life on the water, particularly recreational crabbing.
Topic:“Meditation: Experiencing the Interconnectedness of All Things”
Exploring the concept of meditation, benefits, types and a short how-to.
READING:
“The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people, when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe in all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.”
Black Elk,
(Lakota Healer 1863-1950)
Once a Youtube video becomes available, it will be posted here.
Sunday, September 27, 2020
Speaker – Rev Carole Yorke
Biography:
Rev Carole Yorke has been a Unitarian Universalist minister in Florida since 1998. She has served the Spirit of Life UUs, the UU Church in Stuart, and First UU Congregation of the Palm Beaches, but is now retired in Port St Lucie, where she lives with her five beautiful Pomeranians.
Topic:“Courage in the Face of Fear; and Animal Blessing Service”
A special blessing for our pets this year. How many of them have provided companionship as we all find our way through this pandemic? While you’re at home, we can get to see all of your pets—invite them to participate from your laps.
Sunday, October 4, 2020
Speaker – Jennifer Hancock
Biography:
Jennifer Hancock is the author of several best-selling and award-winning books and is the founder of Humanist Learning Systems. Not only was she raised as a Humanist, she is considered one of the top speakers and writers in the world of Humanism today. Her professional background is varied, including leadership positions in both for-profit and non-profit sectors.
She teaches Humanism – a combination of Love, Rationality, Science and Responsibility. Her courses will give you hope. They will help you simplify your life by reducing the complexity of the problems you face, which will, in turn, help you reduce your anxiety. Finally – because this is all science based – it will work.
Jennifer is a board member for the ‘Center for Freethought Equality’ and the USA Chapter of the International Humanistic Management Association.
Topic:The Humanist Approach to the True Holy Trinity
In her book, The Humanist Approach to Happiness, Jennifer Hancock outlines what she calls – the True Holy Trinity of Ethics. Unlike the Biblical Trinity, this trinity is about focusing on three key ethical ideas and using those ideas to help make more ethical decisions and live life in a more actively humanistic way.
Sunday, October 11, 2020
Speaker – Rev. Brock Leach
Biography:
Brock Leach is a Unitarian Universalist minister and an affiliated community minister of the UU Church of Sarasota. He currently works for the Unitarian Universalist Association as Executive Consultant for Emerging Ministries, helping develop and lead denominational efforts to support religious innovators. He is also on the board of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), the denomination’s international human rights agency, where he was formerly on staff.
At home in Sarasota, Brock serves on the boards of Children First, Sarasota County’s Head Start agency, the Education Foundation of Sarasota County, and the Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition. He chairs the Professional Advisory Group for Pastoral Care at Tampa General Hospital, is an advisor and board member for several social enterprises, and an executive mentor for the Global Good Fund’s fellowship program for social entrepreneurs.
Topic:Reality TV or Me?
I have only a tenuous grasp of quantum physics and the concept of parallel universes, but I’m pretty sure those of us in the current universe have conjured up some very different realities for ourselves. In the best case, each of us only has a narrow window into the larger reality that animates our world, but we’re good at imagining what we can’t see. Yet, what reality we choose to construct matters to our wellbeing in untold ways. This morning, we’ll think together about constructing healthy ones.
Sunday, October 18, 2020
Speaker – Dennis Wooldridge
Biography:
Dennis E. Wooldridge is a native of Wood River, Ill., and later from Cape Girardeau, Mo., where he graduated from High School and Southeast Missouri State University (1983, BA in Communications). Dennis served in the US Navy for four years as a Journalist aboard the USS Nimitz and USS Conyngham. After leaving the service, he began a career in Radio and Television that spanned nearly 40 years, retiring in 2010 to begin his Communication and Coaching business, NovelQuest Productions. Dennis has always had an interest in community service, lifelong learning, politics and public policy, social justice, and civil rights. Dennis is an active member of Toastmasters International, serving in several leadership capacities, including 2011-2012 District 84 Governor, and as a member of the Toastmasters International Board of Directors. Dennis is currently serving as Vice President of the Volusia/Flagler Chapter of the ACLU. In his spare time, Dennis is an active “Facebooker,” gamer, and novelist.
Topic:What makes people cling to conspiracy theories?”
In today’s hyper-political world, conspiracy theories seem to be more prevalent than ever before. How can anyone believe that elitists are running pedophile rings out of pizza shops and cannibalizing the children to extract a mythical, youth-defying substance; that the new messiah has come in the form of Trump, who will herald the end days, or that COVID19 is from 5G towers? Today, we’ll look at some of the most popular flights of fancy and discuss some of the ramifications of living in a conspiracy-rich culture.
Sunday, October 25, 2020
Speaker – Linda Starkweather
Biography:
Linda has been an activist, theatre artist and teacher for over 40 years working as a director, designer, actor and producer first in her hometown of Kalamazoo, MI, then in Rochester, NY since moving to the Finger Lakes area in 1994, and is now a snowbird, living in Dunnellon, FL for the past 6 winters.
Linda and her partner Lynne Westmoreland have delivered several sermons here at NCUU and she is honored to be speaking again today thanks to our new ‘virtual virtuosity’.
Topic:The need to be right is a form of violence
They each carry a sign. Pro Life…Pro Choice….The more they argue the louder they get. The louder they get the more they get in each other’s face. One gets hit with spittle so they hit the other one with a sign. The one that gets hit gets a buddy, so the other gets 2 buddies…. war ensues, blood is shed – crusades and jihads promising peace but delivering blood. It all starts with the need to be right. The need to be right is a form of violence.
Sunday, November 1, 2020
Speaker – Joe Wetzel
Biography:
Joe Wetzel studied linguistics under a graduate fellowship. He was in academia as a French professor, and over the years, became fluent in Spanish, German, and Italian. Literature in those languages is his hobby. He entered the business world in midlife. He has eclectic tastes and became a student again after retiring in 2000, concentrating mainly on history and political science. A Unitarian for half a century, he tends to bring a UU attitude to topics he studies or writes about when he has something to contribute. His first book is titled: Our Unique Heritage: Lest We Forget.
Topic:“Political Correctness: Should We Follow It Wherever It Leads?”
The American Heritage Dictionary defines “political correctness” as: “conforming to a particular sociopolitical ideology or point of view, especially to a liberal point of view concerned with promoting tolerance and avoiding offense in matters of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation.”
However, some claim the term means extravagance, elitism, an obsession, intimidation, censorship, and outright deception. One reads regularly that political correctness (PC) has run amok. My plan today is to offer for your esteemed consideration, a short historical survey of PC usage, using concrete examples from the news. As we go, we can consider seriously what we think our UU principles suggest we might do in such cases.
Sunday, November 8, 2020
Speaker – Bing Futch
Biography:
Using an Appalachian mountain dulcimer, Native American flute, ukulele, and a board full of stomp-boxes, Bing celebrates traditional and modern Americana music with passion, humor and boundless energy. Known for his musical shape-shifting, Bing switches the channels on style and tone with every new song from his roots — rock and blues originals to “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and Disney covers.
As a nationally touring solo performer, he’s headlined at such events as the Walnut Valley Festival, The Florida Folk Festival, Old Songs Festival, the Indiana Fiddlers Gathering, The Big Muddy, and Common Ground On the Hill.
Topic:“Building Bridges”
With so much division in our country at this time, there’s a distinct need to build bridges among people. How do we reach out to make repairs to our society?
Sunday, November 15, 2020
Speaker – Bonnie Wilder
Topic:“Susan B Anthony”
Video will be posted, once it becomes available.
Sunday, November 22, 2020
Speaker – Kirsten Hunter
Biography:
Kirsten Hunter is a lifelong UU and an educator with 25 years of teaching experience. She serves as Director of Lifespan Ministries in co-leadership at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Portsmouth, N. H. She has been preaching and teaching within that community since 2012 and believes deeply in the potential of our covenantal faith. Kirsten is the daughter of Jean and Robert Benner, who are congregants at NCUU. She is delighted to have the opportunity to share worship with all of you.
Topic:“Wisdom at the Table”
As we anticipate the coming holiday in the context of this unusual year, what is here to nourish us and to teach us? Using stories from her own life and wisdom from other sources, Kirsten will offer an invitation toward harvesting the wisdom at our table.
Sunday, November 29, 2020
Speaker – Rod Broker
Biography:
Over most of his working life, Rod was pastor of seven Lutheran churches, primarily in the Chicago suburbs, but also in Alabama, Virginia, and Southern Illinois — where he was also on a university counseling staff. In retirement, he has enjoyed global travel experiences with his wife, Doris, over the five major oceans and the seven continents. He often serves as interdenominational Protestant minister on cruise ships because, as he says, somebody has to do it! The couple also frequently travel throughout North America (including Alaska, Newfoundland, and Labrador) in a small, mini-motorhome. Rod best expresses his beliefs and commitments through participation in the Humanists of North Central Florida community. His other interests include participating in, and promoting, lifelong learning, swimming, computer website building, and supporting the Chicago Cubs.
Topic:“Jesus Without God”
Through this presentation, we will approach some basic historical questions about Jesus and the time and region in which he may have lived: What do we really know about him? Did he even really exist? If so, what was the social, economic, and political context of the region in which he lived? What was going on in his, likely, very small world that might have shaped, driven, and motivated him? And, finally, why does any of this Jesus-stuff matter to most Christian believers and to many nonbelievers alike?
Video will not be available.
Sunday, December 6, 2020
Speaker – Cliff Jackson
Biography:
Cliff has been married to his dear wife, Cathy, for 45 years. They have two children, Lisa and Sandra, who are both married and living out of the nest. Cliff got his Organic Chemistry degree from Florida Technological University (now called University of Central Florida). He started a chemical manufacturing business in 1980 that grew rapidly. (Be careful what you wish for, lol!). For the last four years that he was in business, which seemed like 20, his company was running 24/7. He sold the business in 1996 and entered “slow time.” It was time to join UU and be of service in so many ways, time to travel with family, time to grow personally and spiritually, time to join Toastmasters, and time to share timeless moments on an occasional Sunday morning like today.
Topic:“Cognitive Dissonance, Black Lives Matter,¬ and Coronavirus”
Cliff experienced “cognitive dissonance” long before he had heard of the term. When he was a teen, one of his core beliefs was challenged to the core. As often happens, the challenging belief was modified to restore his sense of balance. However, over time, cracks began to form until his belief was shattered with George Floyd’s death. Coronavirus and Black Lives Matter became intertwined in his new understanding of these events.
Sunday, December 13, 2020
Speaker – Santosh Kamath
Biography:
Raised to be generally “self-reliant,” Santosh has academic education mostly in STEM subjects, with degrees in Chemistry (Synthetic and Theoretical Organic focus) and Mathematics (Statistics minor), leading to careers in Aerospace (in technical and management areas, as well as in designing and developing radar software and firmware for the military), Appropriate Technology (Agriculture, Aquaculture, and Alternative Energy), Speculative Trading, Teaching (Math, Chemistry, Physics, Conversational German and Russian), and Higher Education Administration (Adaptive Technology and Institutional Research).
Santosh is a member of the Baha’i Faith, a global religion based on the principle of unity, having served a number of posts at local and regional (Southeastern US) levels in appointed and elected capacities for over 20 years. Alongside his wife and soulmate, Anne (with him in spirit when they cannot serve together), he strives to be an effective servant of humanity.
Addendum: He is steadily working his way back to somewhat normal health following a double lung transplant while coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Topic:“Ego, Ambition, and (Higher) Aspiration”
Many of us and our fellow countrymen find ourselves on an endless treadmill, with the speed and incline increasing inexorably, sometimes slowly, and sometimes rapidly. But the treadmill never stops. We have to learn to “breathe” in this imposing and stressful environment. Often the only thing we can do is to try to maintain our sanity in survival mode.
Such a situation is unhealthful and unsustainable, largely because the forces at work are bringing our institutions to ruin and tearing apart relationships, from individuals to global treaties, bringing us closer and closer to oblivion as a species.
We will explore how to address this reality with practical tools that can be implemented immediately. Human potential is infinite. We can focus on what we can do to reverse course manageably and why we should not despair. The congregation will, itself, be remarkably equipped to do so.
Sunday, December 20, 2020
Speaker – Rosemary Nilles
Biography:
Rosemary Nilles retired from a career in public education, including roles as a teacher, administrator, and consultant. She is secretary of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and a board member of the League of Women Voters of Citrus County. She also is a local group leader for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America – Citrus. She and her husband live in Inverness.
Speaker – Scott Baldwin
Biography:
Scott Baldwin is a retired college professor and academic dean. He is currently the president of the Nature Coast Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU). He is a board member for the League of Women Voters of Citrus County and an active member of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense – Citrus County. Scott is also an enthusiastic participant in the Citrus Bridge Club (All work and no play…)
Topic:“Separation of Church and State: Why It Matters”
• We will discuss the history and meaning of separation of church and state in the United States.
• We will show examples of how keeping religion and government independent of one another impact the daily lives of Americans.
• We will describe the well-orchestrated efforts to erode individual rights in the name of “religious freedom.”
• We will share information about Americans United for Separation of Church and State and take questions.
Sunday, December 27, 2020
Speaker – UU Rev Phil Schulman
Biography:
Rev Schulman first visited us in September of 2018. That was just 10 months after a bicycle-truck encounter left him badly broken and nearly dead. He has been our visiting minister several times since then, and it has been extraordinary to witness his amazing recovery.
In addition to serving four UU congregations as minister, he has organized and supported peer support communities and participated in social change movements. We are glad to have him back with us.
Rev. Schulman will highlight aspects of our tradition to support our continuing a faith that provides reason for hope, which we use for blessings amidst turmoil, strife, injustice, and peril.
Sunday, January 3, 2021
Speaker – Rev. Carole Yorke
Biography:
Rev Carole Yorke has been a Unitarian Universalist minister in Florida since 1998. She has served the Spirit of Life UUs, the UU Church in Stuart, and First UU Congregation of the Palm Beaches. She is now retired in Port St Lucie, where she lives with her five beautiful Pomeranians.
Topic:“Learning to Fall”
Sometimes we can pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and continue on our path. We have all suffered and will suffer our own falls (physical, emotional, and spiritual realities); the fall from youthful ideals, the waning of physical strength, the failure of a cherished hope, losses of our near and dear, the fall into injury or sickness; we have no choice but to fall. It‟s always important to remember that life on this planet is also filled with so much wonder, blessing, safety and grace. Indeed I will assert that life is consistently and overwhelmingly good to. It‟s the beginning of a new year, a great time to think on these things.
Sunday, January 10, 2021
Speaker – Mayol Guiterrez
Topic:“Current Issues/Concerns of Puerto Rican Community””
Sunday, January 17, 2021
Speakers – Gaia & Kurtland Davies
Biography:
Kurtland and Gaia Davies have spent their separate counseling careers and then their 30 years together seeking answers to the big life questions posed in iconic songs, such as “What’s It All About, Alfie?”; “Is That All There Is?”; “What’s Love Got To Do With It?”; and many others. We have come to believe that in every life situation, there are lessons to be learned, new ideas to be explored, delights to be found.
During this strange and different time in our lives, we are discovering that spending some time contemplating such questions can lead us to very new ways of looking at the situations in which we find ourselves.
Topic:“Springtime in January”
The last time we spoke with you it was May. In Florida, we were a few months into the Covid shutdown. The weather was lovely, the birds were many and we had a full case of toilet paper.
We were full of great ideas about how to find the positive in sheltering at home.
A lot has happened since then. We have, along with you, our family and friends and people around the globe, been dealing with a tremendous amount of loss, fear, and loneliness. The pandemic was not the only cause, but it affected us profoundly. We lost our way sometimes. We keep learning new lessons about who we are, what is our purpose and what gets in our way.
Even though we are still sheltering, we are beginning to emerge again into what feels like a resurrection or rebirth of sorts. It feels a bit like springtime in the middle of winter.
Sunday, January 24, 2021
Speaker – Isaiah Haddon
Biography:
Isaiah is a multiracial Hernando county native who has organized events like the Peace Walk for Black Lives, as well as run for County Commissioner District 1 in 2020. He is a lover of Billie Holiday, plays guitar, and loves community- based work.
Topic:“The Enigma of Non-Partisanship”
Video will be posted, once it becomes available.
Sunday, January 31, 2021
Speaker – Nancy Kennedy
Biography:
Nancy Kennedy is a Christian who seeks to share stories of faith, hope and grace through her writing. She has been writing for the Citrus County Chronicle since 1992 as a feature writer and columnist. Her column, Grace Notes, also appears in about a dozen newspapers throughout the Southeast. She likes cats, cute and comfortable shoes, coconut cake and the TV show, “This Is Us.”
She‟s also a member of Seven Rivers Church in Lecanto.
Topic:“Bringing Beauty to a Beauty-Starved World”
The world is ugly and getting uglier. But people of faith are called to bring beauty and hope to the ugliness.
Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021
Speaker – Otis Brown
Biography:
Otis was born and raised in Wilson, N.C. He attended North Carolina Central University in Durham, N.C., and upon graduation from college, moved to New Jersey and worked before being drafted into the military during the Vietnam era. He served four years in the Air Force and then returned to New Jersey, where he lived and worked in the accounting field until 2006, when his family relocated to Florida.
Topic:“The 60s Civic Rights Movement”
I will share my experience of growing up and living in the South during the time of segregation and the movement to integrate the South. I will also share the experience of being arrested as a college student during a protest.
Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021
Speaker – Nathan Sharp
Biography:
Nathan is a Citrus County native and graduated from Florida Atlantic University in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in communication. As a longtime marketing professional in the hospitality industry, he has lived in Seattle, Nevada, and most recently, in Nassau, The Bahamas. He returned to Citrus County in April 2020 with his husband, Eddie, for the next chapter of his long, strange journey. Nathan currently serves as the president of the Democratic Equality Caucus of Citrus County and actively volunteers with the Citrus County Democratic Executive Committee.
Topic:“My Love Story — Finding Love and Acceptance in Rural America”
Our personal journeys lead us to interesting and unexpected places, including back to our hometowns. Growing up in Citrus County in the ‘80s and ‘90s and then returning in 2020 is a unique journey and encompasses four decades of personal growth and reflection amidst a backdrop of political and societal change. The LGBTQ+ civil rights movement has made significant progress during that time period, and my journey has been forever altered by that progress. I’m delighted to share my experiences and how growing up in rural central Florida shaped my story.
Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021
Speakers – Henry DeGeneste
Biography:
Henry DeGeneste is the president of his own security consulting organization. His firm, HDG Consulting, Inc., provides advice and assistance to clients on a broad range of domestic and international issues involving operational risk, crisis management, criminal justice management, and public policy administration. With over 40 years’ experience in senior leadership roles, he is currently focused on providing strategic advice to corporations and institutions of higher education to manage risk and develop emergency and security programs.
Henry is a published author and guest lecturer at many colleges and universities, nationally and internationally, on crisis and risk management, emergency preparedness, international terrorism, transportation policing, aviation, rail and seaport security, law enforcement management, and ethics.
Topic:“Police and Black Lives Matter”
Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021
Speaker – Lizzie Robinson Jenkins
Biography:
Lizzie Robinson Jenkins is a Rosewood descendant. Her aunt, Mahulda Gussie Brown Carrier, was the schoolteacher for the town and lived to tell her recollection of the horrific events that transpired there. Ms. Jenkins has spent more than 25 years researching and preserving the History of Rosewood.
Topic:“The Real Rosewood”
The Rosewood Massacre was an attack on the predominantly African American town in Levy County of Rosewood, Fla., in 1923 by large groups of white aggressors. The town was entirely destroyed in the violence, and the residents were driven out permanently. The story was mostly forgotten until the 1980s, when it was revived and brought to public attention.
Sunday, Mar. 7, 2021
Speaker – Minister Tammy Langley
Sunday, Mar. 14, 2021
Speaker – Carole Yorke
Biography:
Rev Carole Yorke has been a Unitarian Universalist minister in Florida since 1998. She has served the Spirit of Life UUs, the UU Church in Stuart, and First UU Congregation of the Palm Beaches, but is now retired in Port St Lucie, where she lives with her five beautiful Pomeranians.
Sunday, Mar. 21, 2021
Speakers – Shane Creepingbear
Topic:“Native Erasure and Debunking the Myth of White Supremacy”
Sunday, Mar. 28, 2021
Speaker – Kyaien Conner
Biography:
Biography:
Dr. Conner will provide an overview and context about social justice issues we are facing as a society, and then talk more specifically about how art can be used as a form of protest. After talking she will play a few videos by sharing my screen, of my dance company KUUMBA West African Drummers and Dancers of Tampa, using our cultural art through dance, rhythm and song as a form of protest to share the stories of Black and Brown people in the United States.
Topic:“The Role of the Cultural Arts in the Fight Against Racism””
Sunday, April 4, 2021
Speaker – the Rev. Ben Bortin
Biography:
The Rev. Ben Bortin grew up in California, attending the University of California and Starr King School for the Ministry. Along the way, he lived two years in Japan. He served First Unitarian Church of Duluth, Minn., and more recently, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Staten Island, N.Y. He currently lives, along with his wife, Andrea, in Port Washington, N. Y., a little east of New York City. He has a daughter in graduate school. He is pursuing a hospital chaplaincy. He is part of a rather small minority as a lifelong Unitarian Universalist.
Topic:“Moral Courage, Martyrdom, and Hope – An Easter Sermon”
You might have noticed that Easter Sunday, this year, coincides with the anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The messages and majesty of these two religious leaders, Jesus and Dr. King, calling for nonviolence and love in a world blighted with violence and hatred, echo one another luminously.
So often, morally courageous individuals of the past are adulated, while their teachings go unheeded. Too often, that has been the case here. But what lessons and what hope can we derive, can the world derive, from these two martyred figures, the carpenter-prophet from Nazareth and the minister from Atlanta?
Video will be posted once available.
Sunday, April 11, 2021
Sunday, April 18, 2021
Speakers – Don Wright
Biography:
Don Wright and his wife Jeanne live in Dunnellon and have been members of NCUU since 2010.
Don retired in 2007 from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, where he was a professor specializing in physical and geological oceanography. Prior to moving to Virginia in 1982, Don was on the faculty of the University of Sydney, Australia. Don received his doctoral degree from Louisiana State University in 1970. He continues to work part time as Director of Coastal and Environmental Research for the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA), a nonprofit Washington-based consortium of 60 universities. Most recently, he researched, edited, and contributed chapters to the book Tomorrow’s Coasts: Complex and Impermanent, which was published in 2019 by Springer International Publishers. He’s also contributed climate-change-related articles to scientific journals and international conferences. Don serves as chair of the NCUU Social Justice Committee and is a member of the NCUU Board of Directors.
Topic:“Climate Change and Its Global Refugees”
Half of the world’s people live near the coast. Coastal communities in the United States face increasing hazards, including compound flooding by coinciding or sequential storm surge and torrential rains and lingering post-event impacts on human health, superimposed on progressively rising sea levels and climate change. There is a broad consensus that communities in Low Elevation Coastal Zones (LECZ) are vulnerable now and will be much more vulnerable in future decades.
The increasing vulnerability results from a rising sea level and the fact that socioeconomic drivers and aging infrastructure amplify the physical impacts of the underlying climate-related hazards. Public health and safety questions demand increasing attention as prolonged flooding events become more frequent. Worldwide, many LECZ residents are poor and underrepresented, resulting in increasing levels of social vulnerability to coastal hazards. In some low-lying island nations, affected residents already are becoming refugees. Low income and minority residents in the LECZ are the most at risk and least able to adapt to hazards related to climate change.
Sunday, April 25, 2021
Speaker – UU Rev. Anita Farber-Robertson
Biography:
Rev. Dr. Anita Farber-Robertson, retired in August after forty years of active ministry, serving congregations in New England as a settled minister and as an Accredited Interim Minister. She taught at Andover Newton Theological School as the adjunct Professor of Communication.
Rev. Anita chaired the UUA’s Racial and Cultural Diversity Task Force with Dr. Leon Spencer from 1992 until 1997, when the UUA formed the Journey Toward Wholeness Transformation Team.
She is the author of two books: Learning While Leading, Increasing Your Effectiveness in Ministry, for clergy and lay leaders, and Called to Community: New Directions in Unitarian Universalist. Both are available in paperback and on Kindle through Amazon.
Rev. Anita has a consulting practice, Learning Edge Consulting, to clergy and congregations.
The mother of two and stepmother of two, all adult children, grandmother of their combined eight children, she lives by the sea in Swampscott, Massachusetts, with her dog Tinker.
Topic:“Before and After”
There are events that interrupt or change the direction of our lives. Some are major and some may seem minor at the time, but they are choice points, and what we choose makes a difference.
May 2, 2021
Speaker – Dr. Jeffrey Nall
Biography:
Jeffrey Nall, Ph.D,. is a father, professor, and civically engaged scholar. He teaches philosophy and humanities courses for Indian River State College and the University of Central Florida. Nall also teaches courses in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Florida Atlantic University. He is the author of Feminism and the Mastery of Childbirth: An Ecofeminist Examination of the Cultural Maiming and Reclaiming of Maternal Agency During Childbirth. To learn more about his work go to www.JeffreyNall.com
Topic:“God is a Mother: The Difference between Having and Making Babies, and What It Means for Reproductive Rights”
Women do not “have” babies; they create them. In this talk, Jeffrey Nall, Ph.D., argues that ordinary attitudes, communication, and cultural expression concerning pregnancy and childbirth contribute to the repression of women’s reproductive rights and foster a lack of reverence for the creativity and agency of our mothers. Nall contends that we often speak in a manner that envisions women’s creation of new life as a passive and predetermined act. This thinking is rooted in patriarchal consciousness that can unintentionally give credence to misguided anti-abortion arguments. By more mindfully thinking and speaking of childbirth, argues Nall, we can foster a more honest and respectful way of thinking about women’s reproductive rights, abortion, and childbirth.
Sunday, May 9, 2021
Speaker – Betty Jean Steinshouer
Biography:
Betty Jean Steinshouer has served the people of Florida since 1989 as part of the Speakers Bureau of the Florida Humanities Council, doing costumed portrayals of various authors who came South to help “bind up the wounds of the nation” after the Civil War, and continuing through the Jim Crow era and the Civil Rights and environmental movements. In 2004, she was named a Fellow in Florida Studies at the University of South Florida-St. Petersburg.
She has toured 44 states and Canada, in addition to Florida, and is particularly well known for her popular “Willa Cather Speaks,” for which she did decades of research, leading to her book, Long Road from Red Cloud: Life Lessons from Willa Cather, published In 2019. It won Book Fest’s International Book Award for Biography in 2020. Her next book, Florida Journeys, about 12 “scribbling women” who were in Florida from Reconstruction to Apollo 8, will be published in December 2021.
This Pulitzer Prize-winning author has been as famous for what we don’t know about her – “the thing not named” — as for what we know. Many of her short stories and classic novels such as “My Antonia” and “A Lost Lady” take on a whole new meaning in light of a new book revealing her gender dysphoria and life-long medical issues. She was initially given a boy’s name, which was changed to a girl’s name, with great difficulty, during puberty and her difficult path to a successful adulthood. Her mother’s understanding and support, especially during a five-year period of cross-dressing, made a huge difference in “Willie” being safe and accepted in her family and community.
Sunday, May 16, 2021
Speakers – Rev. Brock Leach
Biography:
Rev. Brock Leach lives in Sarasota and works for the Unitarian Universalist Association as executive consultant for emerging ministries, helping develop and lead denominational efforts to support religious innovators.
In Sarasota, Brock volunteers on the boards of Children First, Sarasota County’s Head Start agency, the Education Foundation of Sarasota County, and the Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition. He chairs the Professional Advisory Group for Pastoral Care at Tampa General Hospital. He also serves on the board of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), the denomination’s international human rights agency, where he formerly was on staff.
Prior to ministry, Brock had a 24-year career as an executive for PepsiCo. He holds a BA degree in economics from the University of Colorado Boulder, an MBA in finance and marketing from the University of Chicago, and a Master of Divinity degree from Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago. He is currently a Doctor of Ministry student at Boston University’s School of Theology.
Topic:“Building a Multicultural Movement”
In this moment of overwhelming divisiveness, it’s hard to imagine how we might cross cultural boundaries to tackle our common human challenges. As part of my UUA work supporting religious innovators, I’ve been interviewing ministers of culturally diverse congregations to learn what they know about building and sustaining multicultural communities. Their answers are hopeful and inspire me to imagine how Unitarian Universalism can show the way forward.
Sunday, May 23, 2021
Speaker – Russell Buddy Helm
Biography:
Classically trained musician, he has recorded and performed with many greats: Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, the Allman Brothers, Bethlehem Asylum, Sting, Big Joe Turner, Baba Olatunji, Frank Zappa, Kanye West, Wolfman Jack, and many others. Russell worked with Aretha Franklin’s producer, Jerry Wexler, lived and performed in Coconut Grove, Fla., and toured around the world, playing drums with Tim Buckley. A prolific writer, he wrote the Star Wars comic strips for George Lucas, and psychic novels and drumming books for spiritual growth and healing. His “Helmtone Healing Drum Protocols” is used by many therapists and recovery centers around the U.S., Australia, Japan, and Europe. He streams a healing drum workshop on Zoom three times a week that’s posted on Facebook and teaches online private drum therapy sessions. He was a drum therapist at Bridges to Recovery in Pacific Palisades, Calif., for six years and for 35 years has maintained a healing center and ethnic gift store: Seasons, 1021-A Montana Ave., in Santa Monica, CA 90403, with his partner Cathy Javier. He offers a certification program for Helmtone Healing Drum Protocols to therapists, energy workers, healers, counselors, and teachers to augment their own modalities. All inquiries are welcome.
Topic:“Healing Drum Prayers With Russell Buddy Helm”
This will be a healing meditation using African Djembe drums with vocal accompaniment. There will be gentle, nurturing rhythms that soothe the soul, putting our good intentions into relaxed, manifesting grooves that create a personal connection with the Universe. Drumming prayers connect us to the creative forces around us and within us. This helps release anxiety, fear, and tension to embrace Universal blessings and wisdom. It also creates a future for evolution of our personal and cultural higher consciousness. Rhythm is used as a tool for expanded awareness and sense of belonging to the greater elements of consciousness.
Video will be posted once available.
Sunday, May 30, 2021
Speaker – Sylvie Rokab
Biography:
Sylvie is a Nature-Therapy Guide and an award-winning filmmaker with 25 years working as a director, producer, cinematographer, editor, and writer – for digital platforms, conscious cinema, and television — including HBO, PBS, Discovery, and Travel Channel.
Narrated by Liam Neeson, her film, Love Thy Nature, received 27 awards and had over 300 screenings worldwide – with “view-and-do” events in which audiences engage in nature-connecting and restoring activities, such as tree-planting, wildlife-gazing, and forest-bathing.
A certified Nature-Therapy guide, Sylvie leads retreats and expeditions to guide participants to deepen connection – with nature, others, and self. Sylvie’s vision is to shift our paradigm to a nature-inspired civilization and restore our spellbinding world.
Topic:“Love Thy Nature – Virtual Forest Bathing”
This webinar will invite participants to discover Forest Bathing (aka Nature Therapy) and learn ways to bring the practice into their daily lives as a way to heal stress, promote well-being, and experience wonder in the simplicity of a nature-guided life. Sylvie will highlight how this practice is an essential tool in times of Covid.
June 6, 2021
Speaker – The Reverend Dr. Steve J. Crump
Biography:
The Reverend Dr. Steve J. Crump is Minister Emeritus of the congregation of the Unitarian Church, having recently completed forty years in the ministry, 36 of those years in Baton Rouge. He holds religion and ministry degrees from the University of Chicago Divinity School and Meadville-Lombard Theological School, Chicago.
In Baton Rouge, he is known for leadership and activism around interfaith, anti-racism, and community organization and empowerment issues. He was one of several leaders locally who helped found what the Interfaith Federation of Greater Baton Rouge is today.
The Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge, founded in 1951, is today the largest Unitarian Universalist congregation in Louisiana, having grown its campus in recent decades to accommodate two Sunday morning worship services with adult, youth, and children’s programming.
Topic:Ask Yourself this Question
Place a flower near your computer monitor or smart phone for this service as we honor the first Flower Communion 98 years ago, created by Unitarian Norbert Capek. Are you troubled by the autocratic and undemocratic tendencies in our society? Are children, youth, and young adults perplexed as the few steps forward we make as a society seem to be accompanied with steps in reverse? Youth are not alone in their consternations.
Our guest minister this morning poses a simple question to ask as we survey the state of our culture and tend to a very Unitarian Universalist answer. But remember to place a flower nearby as we participate in our zoomed Sunday broadcast.
Sunday, June 13, 2021
Speaker – Judi Siegal
Biography:
Just say Today’s speaker is Judi Siegal, familiar to most of you since she has addressed this group many times. She is a retired Jewish educator and former columnist for the south Marion Citizen. She comes via zoom to you from beautiful Marion County.
Topic:Oy! My Papa: Famous Jewish Fathers from the Bible and Today
From early Biblical history, the patriarchal Jewish society has reigned supreme. In honor of Father’s Day, I will discuss the role of the Jewish father from Biblical times to today.
Sunday, June 20, 2021
Speakers – Dr. Jeffrey Nall
Biography:
Jeffrey Nall, Ph.D. is a father, professor, and civically engaged scholar. He teaches philosophy and humanities courses for Indian River State College and the University of Central Florida. Nall also teaches courses in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Florida Atlantic University. He is the author of Feminism and the Mastery of Childbirth: An Ecofeminist Examination of the Cultural Maiming and Reclaiming of Maternal Agency During Childbirth. To learn more about his work go to www.JeffreyNall.com.
Topic:The Price of Patriarchal Privilege: How Men Perpetuate Male Supremacy and the Painful Price they Pay for it
Feminists are well-aware of the harm patriarchy has and continues to do to women around in the United States and around the world. We are also well aware of the privileges that patriarchy issues to men. What is less appreciated is the price men pay for patriarchal privilege and the harm that comes with it. In this talk Jeffrey Nall, Ph.D. draws on his research and experience teaching courses such as “Men and Masculinities” to show why he believes that the price men pay for male privilege almost invariably outweighs what they gain. Just as there is no singular way of being a woman, so, too, is there no singular way of being a man. Yet patriarch culture insists that men conform to a singular idealized model of masculinity, one that benefits very few and hurts all too many. Drawing on student testimony—from class discussions and papers—Nall argues that the “man box” is a prison of fear, pain, and denial; one that not only denigrates women and girls but also constricts and inhibits the full humanity of boys and men.
Sunday, June 27, 2021
Speaker – UUA General Assembly
Recognizing the importance of shared ministry and the many innovative approaches to worship created by congregations during the pandemic, UUA President, Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick Gray, selected the First Universalist Church of Minneapolis to serve as worship leaders for this year’s GA Sunday Morning Service. Music will be offered through collaboration with 2021 GA Choir Director Susan Mashiyama, the GA virtual choir, and musicians from First Universalist.
First Universalist has been a model of shared ministry and what it means to put the work of dismantling white supremacy and building anti-racist, anti-oppressive practices at the center of their ministry. They have been on the front lines in support of the Movement for Black Lives in Minneapolis, bringing spiritual care and moral leadership in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by police and the important uprisings for justice that followed. Children and families are a vital part of their ministry, and they have been using creative approaches to engage all ages in worship during the pandemic. Their leadership exemplifies some of the best practices for the creativity, spiritual depth, and moral leadership that is possible when we embrace the work of shared ministry rooted in love and justice.
Last year more than 10,000 screens tuned in to the watch the Sunday Morning Worship at GA! Please join us again this year on Sunday, June 27, 2021 at noon Eastern for the largest annual gathering of Unitarian Universalists in worship. We encourage all congregations to gather as is possible and practical to participate in this wonderful, communal event. The service will be streamed on uua.org and on the UUA’s YouTube channel; members of the public are welcome.
Video not available.
July 4, 2021
Speaker – UU Rev Gabrielle Parks
Speaker – Roddy Biggs
Sunday, July 17, 2021
Speakers – Dr. Joe Jenks
Building Bridges Through Cultural Diplomacy
Sunday, July 25, 2021
Speaker – Linnea Guerin/Life Story Club
Everyone Has a Story
Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021
Speaker – Salvatore Vieira
Biography:
Salvatore Vieira (he/him/his) is the Central Florida Field Organizer at Equality Florida. He is responsible for volunteer engagement through the field electoral programs, legislative session, and pride programs, as well as developing and maintaining our volunteer leadership program – the Equality Captains. Salvatore is very passionate about grassroots organizing, and believes whole-heartedly in amplifying and uplifting marginalized voices.
Salvatore got his break into political activism as a volunteer turned Field Organizer for Senator Elizabeth Warren’s campaign for President during the primary. He went on to work with Organizing Together 2020 before making his move into the nonprofit world with Equality Florida.
Prior to finding his voice as an advocate, he received his B.F.A in Musical Theatre at the University of Central Florida, and performed in theatres along the east coast!
Topic:Gender-Neutral Pronouns: Why Do We Use Them? / Florida’s Current Fight for LGBTQ+ Rights
Salvatore will be discussing the importance of utilizing gender-neutral pronouns. Learning and opening our minds to LGBTQ+ education is like learning a new language. With just a little time and effort to learn this language – one can provide a safe environment for LGBTQ+ individuals. He will delve into gender-neutral pronouns – what are they, why do they matter, and best practices around pronouns. He will also spend some times discussing the issues Equality Florida is currently working on – highlighting the first anti-LGBTQ+ law in FL in 24 years, as well as the work they have been doing federally to advance rights for LGBTQ+ folks across the nation.
Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021
Speaker – Rev. Carole Yorke
Biography:
I am surviving as best as I can with this pandemic, along with my three Pomeranians in Port St. Lucie. I love the opportunities for a Zoom service here and there. I’ve been in Florida since 1998 and I look forward to the day when we can get together again.
Topic:Love: Imagine that!
A whole sermon on something that is NOT: a Hallmark card fit for Valentine’s Day; a song like the Beatles: Love, Love, Love. Where will we find something on love that is not those things…well, there’s the Hebrew Bible; Jesus; the Buddha, MLK Jr; Karen Armstrong. And we look at the question: Can You Love Your Enemies? Can you?
Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021
Speakers – Elaine Silver
Biography:
“Rev. Faerie” Elaine Silver is a seasoned performer, songwriter, touring musician and recording artist (23 CDs) with the voice of an Angel. It has been described as stunningly clear, supple, rich and like fine crystal.
She is a trans-denominational minister, licensed Science of Mind Practitioner and Ordained Divinity Priestess. For many years she has combined her beautiful voice and lively Spirit with Truth teachings to present healing concerts, music-inspired Sunday church lessons, workshops, and celebrations.
Elaine has had the honor of working in conjunction with many world- renowned spiritual leaders, teachers and authors including Deepak Chopra, Neale Donald Walsh, don Miguel Ruiz, Barbara G. Walker, Marianne Williamson, Alan Cohen and Wayne Dyer.
Topic:The High Watch
Holding on to the High Watch – a term used in New Thought philosophy means to stand in the possibility of the highest and the best. Elaine will be lecturing and demonstrating this spiritual principle through singing. She’s looking forward to returning to her NCUU family again.
Sunday, Aug. 22, 2021
Speaker – Pam Reader
Biographical summary: Pamela Two Spirits Reader’s dream vision is a big part of her spiritual teachings. She is a former USAF RN, certified hypnotherapist, former radio host, and has produced numerous hypnotherapy programs designed to promote healing on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level. Pamela has a MS in Family Sociology and a Ph.D. in Transpersonal Psychology with many years of hospice nursing experience.
Topic:Synchronicity: The interconnectedness of all things
Synchronicity: Remembering our greatest original lesson … that we are all interconnected.
Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021
Speaker – Rev. Bruce Seaman
Bruce Seaman retired as a Presbyterian Church, USA minister last August. He has been married to Nancy for 40 years. Both are originally from Long Island, New York. Nancy is the Benefits Supervisor for the 6500+ employees of the Marion County School District. They have lived in Ocala-Marion County since 1997.
Bruce has been a community activist for much of his time in this area. He was Chair of the Marion County Democratic Party from 2007 until 2010, Coordinator for Awake Marion, a collaboration of progressive activists for a few years, Outreach Coordinator for son Ray’s successful 2014 campaign for a school funding referendum, President of Bridges Project, a coalition of activists addressing race relations, from its beginning in 2015 until 2019, and is presently working with some longtime area activists in developing a progressive advocacy training and support organization to be called We Rise Marion.
Topic:The Path of Prophets: Advocating from Faith for Justice
Brazilian liberation theologian Helder Camara, Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, has been quoted: When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist. There is a world of difference between providing services and advocating justice. Bishop Camara captured that difference brilliantly.
Faith communities are adept at providing services to those in need, but often the controversial task of advocacy is avoided. Service entails little risk usually; advocacy risks offending some faith community members as well as the broader community and its leaders. Should the faith community fully embrace its prophetic calling, or is there a different, more sustainable path to be pursued?
Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021
Speaker – James Shaw
Biography:
James Michael Shaw, Jr., is a practicing attorney and a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tampa, where he formerly served on the Board of Trustees. Mr. Shaw has chaired the Legal Panel for the Greater Tampa Chapter of the ACLU of Florida since 2007 and is the current chair of the ACLU of Florida’s State Legal Panel. Mr. Shaw is a partner with a national law firm and also served as local counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in the case that desegregated the Pinellas County Schools. He graduated magna cum laude from Oakland University with a Bachelor’s degree in music composition and magna cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law. Mr. Shaw has also been an adjunct professor at St. Petersburg College and is a frequent speaker in the Tampa Bay area on subjects relating to constitutional law, insurance law, and aviation law. He is originally from the Detroit area but currently lives with his wife and two children in Tampa, where he is blessed to have made countless friends and enemies.
Topic:“Cash Bail: Why It’s Awful and What You Can Do About It”
Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021
Speaker – Cliff Jackson
Biography:
Cliff has been married to his dear wife Cathy for 46 years. They have two children, Lisa and Sandra, who are both married and living out of the nest. Cliff got his Organic Chemistry degree from Florida Technological University (now called University of Central Florida) He started a chemical manufacturing business in 1980 that grew rapidly. (Be careful what you wish for.) Over the last four years of his business, which seemed like 20, his business was running 24/7. He sold the business in 1996 and entered “slow time.” It was time to join UU and be of service in so many ways, time to travel with family, time to grow personally and spiritually, time to join Toastmasters, and time to share timeless moments on an occasional Sunday morning like today.
Topic:“Thriving Through the Pandemic and Beyond”
I will share my thoughts and observations about what has been helpful dealing with COVID, for the past 18 months, for this current wave, and for whatever we find on the other end of this long tunnel.
Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021
Speakers – Don Wright
Biography:
Don Wright and his wife, Jeanne, live in Dunnellon and have been members of NCUU since 2010.
Don retired in 2007 from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, where he was a professor specializing in physical and geological oceanography. Prior to moving to Virginia in 1982, Don was on the faculty of the University of Sydney, Australia. Don received his PhD from LSU in 1970. He continues to work part time as Director of Coastal and Environmental Research for the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA), a nonprofit Washington-based consortium of 60 universities. Most recently, he researched, edited, and contributed chapters to the book,
Tomorrow’s Coasts: Complex and Impermanent, which was published in 2019 by Springer International Publishers. He also has published climate-change-related articles in scientific journals and presented at international conferences. Don currently serves as chair of the NCUU Social Justice Committee and is a member of the NCUU Board of Directors.
Topic:“Water in the Anthropocene: Too Little or Too Much?”
Water is an extremely undervalued commodity that is essential for life. But in many parts of the world, water is so scarce that many do not have enough to drink and often little or none for hygiene. However, in many wealthy countries, much water is wasted on watering lawns, filling pools, or simply misusing it. Animal agriculture consumes huge amounts of water. Worldwide, there are 48,000 large dams on major rivers and many smaller ones on small streams. These dams cut off water supply to those downstream, often causing losses to agriculture or severing the supply of sediment to maintain coasts. And now, global warming is causing dry regions to become drier and wet regions to become wetter, with more frequent and severe flooding by torrential rains and increased river discharges. These problems are caused by humans in the Anthropocene.
Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021
Speaker – John Spivey
Biography:
John Spivey is a graduate of the University of Central Florida, where he earned both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. His Juris Doctor degree is from the University of Arkansas. He is a partner in Graves and Spivey, PA. They have been appointed public defenders for the 5th Circuit, which includes Citrus. He recently won a local death penalty case involving a juvenile, sentenced years ago. He will speak to us about issues faced by public defenders, including bail justice/no cash bail and the death penalty.
Topic:“Public Defenders’ Experience With Bail Justice and the Death Penalty”
Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021
Speaker – Dennis Wooldridge
Biography:
The fragility of democracy: Social justice depends on our government’s adherence to Constitutional law.
Topic:“We the People: It’s Up to Us”
Video will appear when available.
Sunday, Oct. 10, 2021
Speaker – Lowell Smith
Biography:
Lowell was born in Huntington, WV and spent his early life in Anderson, IN. He earned an AB degree at Anderson University and his MD at Indiana University. He spent eight years as a GP in a small town in Southern Michigan, including two years in the Air Force, delivering Air Force babies. He spent three years at West Virginia University, attaining certification in Internal Medicine and doing a fellowship in Oncology, becoming the first oncologist in Muskegon, MI. While there, he established an affiliation with an ECOG investigational group, in cooperation with Chicago Presbyterian St Lukes. After 44 years in medicine, he retired in 2007. He also developed an avocation in music, which has greatly added to his quality of life.
Topic:“Oncology: A Practice of Lux et Veritas”
In this day of widespread distrust of scientific information, oncology gives a model for obtaining important medical information through systematic and unbiased investigation. It has offered medical remedies for previously untreatable conditions and rational information for conditions for which there are limited helpful treatments.
Video will appear when available.
Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021
Speakers – Rev. Carole Yorke
Biography:
Rev Carole Yorke has been a Unitarian Universalist minister in Florida since 1998. She has served the Spirit of Life UUs, the UU Church in Stuart, and First UU Congregation of the Palm Beaches, but is now retired in Port St Lucie, where she lives with her five beautiful Pomeranians.
Video will appear when available.
Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021
Speaker – Savanna Mapelli
Biography:
Savanna Mapelli is a founding member of the Human Rights Special Interest Group (HR-SIG). Its mission is “to inspire local community efforts to educate, advocate, and implement international human rights policies and goals.” She served as one of 20 delegates for the League of Women Voters of the United States (LWVUS) to the UN Commission on the Status of Women from 2017-2019. She is a licensed attorney in New Jersey and teaches international humanitarian law for the American Red Cross. She is certified by the Mark Morris Dance Group in New York, to teach dance to Parkinson’s patients. (Photo by J. Follows: “Friend of Peace.” Copied with permission from https://www.hrsig.org/about)
Topic:“Inspirational Works of Art at the United Nations”
This 30-minute slide presentation showcases the beautiful sculptures and wall art on the United Nations property in New York City. The presentation features photographs and descriptions of over two dozen works of art, selected to highlight the theme of universal human rights and peace. All photos were taken by members of the Human Rights Special Interest Group (HR-SIG) https://www.hrsig.org/.
Linda Myers (she, her) has been a member of NCUU for 15 years, since she moved to Florida. She has a long professional and volunteer history in women’s issues and social justice. For New York City, she was an assistant to a commissioner, and later ran an experimental housing program. For the state and a local development corporation, she focused on providing subsidized housing. Linda was often the first, only, and highest-ranking women at the International Paper Co., at Rockefeller Development Corp., and was a mentor to many women. In Citrus County, Linda was one of the founders of our advocacy program on sex education and of the local League of Women Voters. She chaired the Centennial Celebration for Citrus County and is also a past president of NCUU.
Topic:“Halloween or the Day of the Dead?”
Based on a short story by Maria Semple, NCUU members will read a teacher’s attempt to provide diversity on Oct 31.
Video will appear when available.
Currently, we are having our Sunday Services via Zoom. We plan on having in-house services starting December 12th. Please send an email to [email protected] if you would like us to send you the Zoom link. Thanks!
Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021
Speaker – UU Rev Dr. Steve Crump
Biography:
The Reverend Dr. Steve J. Crump is Minister Emeritus of the congregation of the Unitarian Church, having recently completed forty years in the ministry, 36 of those years in Baton Rouge. He holds religion and ministry degrees from the University of Chicago Divinity School and Meadville-Lombard Theological School, Chicago.
In Baton Rouge, he is known for leadership and activism around interfaith, anti-racism, and community organization and empowerment issues. He was one of several leaders locally who helped found what the Interfaith Federation of Greater Baton Rouge is today.
The Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge, founded in 1951, is today the largest Unitarian Universalist congregation in Louisiana, having grown its campus in recent decades to accommodate two Sunday morning worship services with adult, youth, and children’s programming.
Topic:“A True Pouring Out”
Living a happy life amounts to having a charmed life. But an authentic life, one that is rich in meaning may also be touched, even inundated, in trouble and woe. The question for the morning in this water ingathering ceremony for the congregation is: “For what are we pouring out our lives?”
Sunday, Nov. 14, 2021
Speakers – Sean Norman
Biography:
Sean Norman received a B.A. in History from Columbus State University before receiving a M.A. in Applied Anthropology and a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems from the University of South Florida. He specializes in the geoarchaeology of prehistoric coastal landscapes examining sites such as the Crystal River mounds and the Tomoka Mound Complex. He currently serves as the Acting Executive Director of the Gulf Archaeology Research Institute (GARI) in Crystal River, Florida. In addition to coastal prehistory, he collaborates with associates at GARI on the archaeology of the Seminole Wars and serves on the Board of Directors for the Seminole Wars Foundation.
Topic:“Native American Landscapes of Central Florida”
Over thousands of years of occupation, Native Americans have left an undeniable impact on the landscape. The earthen and shell mounds of southeastern North America are among the most apparent examples. However, archaeology reveals a broader array of modified environments that impact us to this day. This presentation will highlight different examples of ways Native American settlements in Central Florida have influenced everything from where modern towns and roads are located to how we deal with sea level rise and climate change.
Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021
Speaker – Linda Starkweather
Biography:
Linda has been an activist, theatre artist and teacher for over 40 years working as a director, designer, actor and producer first in her hometown of Kalamazoo, MI, then in Rochester, NY since moving to the Finger Lakes area in 1994, and is now a snowbird, living in Dunnellon, FL for the past 7 winters. Linda and her partner Lynne Westmoreland have delivered several sermons here at NCUU and she is honored to be speaking again today thanks to our new ‘virtual virtuosity’
Topic:“Spirituality of Breath”
Breathing is the link between body and mind, between spirit and matter, between the conscious and the subconscious mind. The breath is a force, a bridge, a tool. It connects us to each other, and to our own nature, our source. It is also an amazing source for healing and good health. A wise Buddhist saying suggests that “We can resolve our lives in the next breath”.
Sunday, Nov. 28, 2021
Speaker – Lynne Westmoreland
Biography:
After a 30 year career in music, Lynne Westmoreland returned to graduate work in Humane Education. Humane education considers the intersectionality of human rights, animal protection, environmental concerns and how our media and culture, beyond our conscious awareness, indoctrinate us to live in ways that are in direct conflict with our most deeply held values. Lynne’s work as a humane educator has been in UU faith communities, through teaching meditation and mindful communication, and with end of life work. Lynne has been a Unitarian for about 40 years and finds deep commonality between our seven principles and Humane Education.
Topic:“Talk Is Cheap”
Unitarian Universalists have a long history of acting on behalf of our deeply held belief that everyone should be accorded dignity, respect, equal rights, and inclusion and we discuss that belief often in our services, our outreach, and our daily lived lives. Simultaneously, we are stymied by the fact that more people of color are not drawn to our communities. What more can we do to make everyone feel welcome, respected, and valued as members of our communities?
