2021/11 Chalice Connections
Nov 1, 2021
Chalice Connections hopes to continue its mission this month of presenting timely articles and views of our Fellowship authored by a wide a range of our friends and members.
Articles and Letters to the Editor are welcome and you may email them to me at any time.
To view the newsletter archives, click here.
Fred Parmenter, Editor
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Immigration Justice
UU Immigration Justice Committee approaches the immigration issue as a humanitarian cause. It seeks to uphold the dignity and worth of every person. It calls to all to have empathy for the desperate, the frightened, the abandoned. People need food, clothing, medicine, a home, and a job to pay for it all.
With its limited resources the IJC has raised money to help pay for necessities, such as clothing, shoes. When immigrants are placed in temporary detention, they have their shoelaces taken away. When released to travel to their relatives, they do not get those shoelaces back, hobbling them. Used schoolbooks have been provided so children may have a chance to learn something, a bit of English, to see something attractive.
Our system is not working well. Our wealthy nation is capable of better. And it needs young workers to build up our infrastructure, harvest our food and so many other jobs.
Some additional thoughts. Immigrants at our borders too often are seen only as liabilities. Immigrants come in a of variety types and with a broad range of characteristics. Regarding them as all the same is shortsighted. It would be more practical to see many of them as resources to be developed at relatively low cost. Most are young, ambitious and vigorous enough to survive an arduous journey. They have many years in which to grow and develop. For years they will not stash their incomes in stocks and bonds but will spend it in boosting our economy.
Our population patterns showed decades ago that our country would have many retirees and not enough younger people to do the work. We are there now. Since we did not produce enough babies, an alternative is to let new people into our country to join the workforce. Their potential is an asset.
Ted Zawistowski
Larry Taylor Kiwanis Park
Nov 1, 2021
The Larry Taylor Kiwanis Park is located at 501 Donora Street in Port Charlotte. There is a wonderful little community park. It has a small parking area and two restrooms. It is dog-friendly with picnic tables and grills and many places to sit along its various short, but interesting, trails. The trails are wide enough for jogging, or walking two abreast. members with balance issues would not find the trails to be a problem.
There is a nature trail with exercise/fitness equipment scattered about. There are also two pavilions which you can reserve. Cute and charming. We enjoy this park and include it among our destinations for our strolls.
Fred & Dorothy Parmenter
Hallowed Ground
Oct 15, 2021
The other day Betty Munford went over to visit the Fellowship and Dennis was there doing some work on the property. Betty joined him. They both walked around the property doing what must be done to care for our home. At one point Betty bent down to pick up a shell and as she stood up she was greeted by a fresh, cooling breeze. And immediately that breeze reminder her of a time she was in Russia. She was in a hotel room. The air was stuffy, so she opened the window, and was greeted by song riding in on a fresh, cooling breeze. It was the sound of We are Standing on Hallowed Ground. As Betty looked down she saw the soloist standing in front of her choir which was performing on the field below.
Well that sound and the feeling of that cool breeze never left Betty. She turned to tell Dennis about that special moment. By pure chance Jim Boyle had just come over, heard Betty tell the story to Dennis, ran into the Sanctuary, opened the windows, and sat down to play from memory We are Standing on Hallowed Ground.
So that morning three members of our family somehow all came together, and while together they shared with Betty a rather special moment in her life. We can join them with a few seconds of what they heard:
Fred Parmenter
Geron Davis wrote We are Standing on Hallowed Ground and this excerpt was downloaded from hymnary.org and permission for inclusion in our newsletter was granted by Presbyterian Publishing Corporation.
SWEET ON THE BEEKEEPER
Honey-man, funny man,
Standing-in-the-sunny-man,
Laughs at stings that stun a man,
Lifts what seems a ton, he can.
When summer’s over, wow, he’s tan!
Honey-man, sunny-man,
Making-not-much-moneyman,
Laughter-loving, funny man!
Winter snow’s begun again
and still I love my honey-man.
Sharon Whitehill
Shots from the dark
The above photos appear in the newsletter with the gracious permission of Myrna Charry.
UFOs with Tom Deuley
Nov 1, 2021
This was not a UFO conference as you thought it was per se, but the gathering of long-time UFO researchers, investigators, and historians. In the pictures attached the people you see in the photos and the Zoom screen represent 525 years of interest and work. That number does not include the years represented by those who did not attend.
Normally we will have 10 to 15 people at the conference table with another 3 to 6 people at the table in the adjacent room. This was our first time using Zoom but with the new large screens, we now have we will probably get another 6 to 12 who ordinarily can’t make the trip to Kalamazoo.
We primarily discuss recent events and discuss how we might make more or better progress toward getting higher-quality reports and better inroads into what the Government knows or may know. In the recent past, the Government has taken a great interest in the UFO scene and has charged the various military and intelligence agencies to look into the matter and to report to congress on a regular basis.
Note the bookshelf. What you see is just 1/10th of the collection there. There are two more rows behind what you see, and the adjacent room has two walls full of books and files and also 10 4 draw file cabinets of files. A lot of the work now is the scanning of the case files so that they can be made searchable.
We will meet again in May. We try to meet at least twice a year but would prefer quarterly meetings. Now with Zoom, we may begin to work differently and on a different schedule.
Covid 19 and Climate Change
Nov 1, 2021
Everything else gets blamed on climate change, but COVID?
It may not be that far-fetched. A recent paper in The Journal of Science of the Total Environment reviewed the bat population in Yunnan Province in southern China.
The climate has changed there over the last 100 years and more trees are growing there, attracting more bats. About 40 species of bat have moved in during this time. Overall, there are 3,000 types of corona virus carried by bats. The bats who have moved in over these years have brought with them about 100 new varieties of corona virus. Yet it is unknown if there was direct transmission from bats to humans. It is thought likely that intermediate hosts, such as civets and pangolins, which are found in markets and in closer proximity to humans, may have been carriers.
What does this mean for Florida? Well, if confirmed, this would be an example of unintended consequences. We can raise our seawalls and batten down our metaphorical hatches, but we cannot predict all the outcomes of climate change.
Alan Searle
Letter-to-the-editor
To UUFCC
It’s as if we’ve gone aground. That’s how it feels to me anyway. The UU Fellowship of Port Charlotte lost its way and found itself grounded.
As part of the search committee to find a replacement for Rev. Amy I can with knowledge that our search was tough. Rev. Amy has that rare ability to leave you feeling loved and cared about, even when she is delivering hard truths that you don’t particularly want to hear.
That was my experience with Rev. Amy. Rev. Dan is much more direct and to the point. He would take feedback, however and he was in learning. That is from my experience with Rev. Dan.
I enjoyed listening to Rev. Dan from the pulpit and learning so much about the history of UU and how Unitarianism is the foundation for living a good life. I liked Rev. Dan’s reaction when things awry during a service, mostly due to the congregation learning to use Zoom. He would say, “That’s awkward”.
I had found my spiritual home and feeling uplifted by just walking through the front door of UU each Sunday. When folks ask me, “What is this UU, ?, I found myself saying “That’s a place where you can hold intelligent conversations on most all subjects”. A place where all people are welcome. I loved saying that.
I don’t think Rev. Dan was treated with respect and dignity. I miss him. I miss the congregation.
I miss the ambience of love and caring. I’m sad Rev. Dan’s ministerial career is over. That’s how I feel.
From my broken heart.
Robert Moran
“Let’s not forget that the little emotions are the great Captains of our life’s journey and we obey them without realizing it”. Vincent Van Gogh
I hope we can right our ship.
Art Committee
Our member Art on the Wall Exhibit has been extended. We have beautiful pottery chalices for sale in our cases designed and created by Linda Himes. Also in our cases are chain maille jewelry hand crafted by Fossil Bill. He can customise lengths.
Contact the office or a member of the art committee if you are interested.
Also look for a virtual version of the current exhibit organized by Tom Deuley.
If you would like to try your hand at photography, we are looking for your photos of florals, gardens and all things botanical. Contact a member of the art committee if you can participate in this photo exhibit.
Trudy Gerhardt
Oct 29, 2021
Theater review
Hello Everyone I hope that everyone is finding fun activities to do while we are apart. I recently saw 2 plays at Venice theater. They have 2 stages. The Pinkerton theater is showing: She Kills Monsters, Young Adventurers Edition, written by Qui Nguyen.
First produced in New York city The Flea Theater. Oct 22 to November 7. The current Venice theater director is Kelly Duyn. Stage manager Julie Buckler. The cast is made up of 16 young actors. The youngest is 11 years old. The play deals with individuals uniqueness and getting to know your love ones before it’s to late. The youth play D & D (dungeons and dragons). There are fight scenes within the game, carefully choreographed. This production may not be for everyone. I enjoyed seeing these young actors entertaining and interacting.
The second play on the main Jervey theater is : The Great American Trailer Park Musical. Oct 29 to Nov 28. Director Luke Manual McFatrich, Music director Michele Kasanofsly, choreographer Geena Ravella.
This play is very fun. Music, singing and dancing. Of course set in a trailer park. Warning there are strobe lights at a small portion, there is swearing mostly on the first act. If that is not overly offensive I think you will enjoy the comic situations. I found it to be a fun evening, often sold out in previous years.
To all you Beautiful people in the dark. Til next time happy viewing.
Patrick Eaton
Movie review – After Life
Oct 20, 2021
This is a 1998 Japanese movie directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. (If you search for the movie be careful as there are other movies with similar names, like After.Life with Liam Neeson which is not the movie you want.)
I saw this movie at Wellesley College’s Film Series a number of years ago. Each semester they would pick a theme and watch four or five movies with that theme. This movie was part of a series of movies they presented dealing with the issue of memory.
The premise of the movie is that when you die you spend the following week at a special facility before you move on. The facility is like an old school that is somewhat run down, but it has lots of dorm rooms, tiny sparse rooms, and a small arts and crafts area along with an amply sized theater. There is a staff of 8 or so who live there permanently and a new group of people arrive and stay one week.
In the first three days you are there you are told to pick a memory. A special memory. It is this memory you will take with you after you move on. In the next 3 days the staff tries to create a set to match your memory. On the last day you will join the others in the theater to watch your memory reenacted.
During the movie we watch 6 quite different people pick a special memory from their past. It turns out each memory chosen was from a rather simple event in their lives – a cool breeze on a tram, a young girl’s dance in red shoes, an afternoon spent on a park bench. And then we struggle along with an old man who could not find any memory he wanted to take with him.
This very simple movie done with very simple people will leave you thinking of what you would choose.
Fred Parmenter
Nann’s Thai Noodle
Oct 14, 2021
Lisa & Allen Roberts continue this month telling us about another of their favorite eateries: Nann’s Thai Noodle
When was the last time you visited Nann’s Thai Noodle? It had been a while for us, but glad we went back. For appetizers we had the pork potstickers and the Tom Ka soup. The soup was sweet and sour tasting with a thick coconut base and succulent shrimp and crisp vegetables.The potstickers were lightly fried, average tasting.
We ate similar rice noodle dishes Mai Fun and Pad Woon Sen. Both came with delicious noodles, egg, and crispy vegetables. I would have liked more sauce, but adding some hot sauce helped. The Pad Woon Sen also had cabbage, mushrooms and tomatoes.
I recommend trying Nann’s or returning for another try. Remember to tell them your spice level; three is the middle. If you enjoy sushi, they have a separate menu of selections.
Lisa & Al Roberts
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