For teacher trainings - academic background for teachers - clips for supplementing curricula with children/youth - documentaries for Adult Education - our own knowledge -- there are lot of uses for documentaries in our work, but who has the time to look through all the listings for what is on when? Well, I'm just mad for documentaries and I scour the cable tv listings anyway, so I may as well take a few more minutes to post them here for other religious educators to reference.
I am going to post here a listing of documentaries that will be on television during the next week. My intention is to post every weekend-ish what's coming up the following week.
I will focus on overtly religious, social, and political documentaries, but sometimes science docs will leap out at me. Producing a listing of good and useful documentaries is, of course, completely subjective, but my subjectivity is grounded in an expectation of historical accuracy, in the context of Unitarian Universalist Religious Education, and progressive/radical social/politics. So, dear reader, if you aren't progressive or radical, or aren't a Unitarian Universalist, or have no interest in the light that archeology sheds on Biblical myths and stories, what are you doing on this blog?
I assume that DRE's will be able to assess for themselves how to use these docs in an age-appropriate manner and with which particular UU curricula, but I will occasionally annotate if I'm already familiar with the material. Sometimes I'll include links to further info on the docs, but if I don't google will get you there quickly.
I am of course, not suggesting that you videotape them off the television, although a case can be made for copying for educational purposes, I am simply suggesting that you preview them for future purchase.
All times are EST
Monday Jan 7
9:30 Black Starz UNSTOPPABLE: a Conversation with Melvin Van Peebles, Gordon Parks and Ossie Davis - brief article/clip
10 Sund Heaven Came Down Appalachian Rattlesnake Handlers - I know you all know not to show this as an example of typical pentecostal belief and ritual
11:15 Starz E Iraq for Sale The War Profiteers.
12noon Logo Farm Family: In search of Gay Life in Rural America
9 pm Sund The Short Life of Jose Antonio Guiterrez José Antonio Gutiérrez was born in Guatemala and lost both his parents during his country's long, bloody civil war — a war that was covertly funded by the United States government. But it was as the first American military casualty of the Iraq War in 2003 that Gutiérrez is remembered. Documentary filmmaker Heidi Specogna traces Gutiérrez's short, eventful life and reveals a troubling story of illegal immigration, foster homes, and how the American military entices Latinos to enlist by promising them a fast track to citizenship.
10:30 pm Sund I Want To Be a Pilot
12:45 Sund 5 Days The 5 day removal of Israeli settlers from sections of the Gaza Strip. a clip is avail at the website
Tuesday Jan 8
3 am Sund The Short Life of Jose Antonio Guiterrez
7:10 TMC Genesis - a really cool look at the life cycle, follow-up films to Microcosmos and Winged Migration. Link to the trailer. You might recognize the narrator as Sotigui Kouyate, who played the lead (and won lots of awards,) in the film Little Senegal.
9 p Sundance Blue Vinyl A darkly funny doc about the uses and hazards of vinyl (polyvinyl chloride can kill ya)
Wednesday Jan 9
2:45 am Sund Blue Vinyl
6-6:30 HBO Fam Educating Peter
Thurs Jan 10
5:15 am TMAX Protocols of Zion antisemitism in aftermath of 9/11) also available on demand online here.
11:05 SHO Flock of Dodos (Evolution vs. "Intelligent Design") Really funny and good.
PBS Check local listings Today's Man: Adventures of a young man with Asperger's
Friday 1/11
5 am DiscTimes - Mysteries of Asia - Lost Temples of India
6 DiscT - Surviving Sudan
12:10 SHO - After Innocence men released from prison by DNA evidence
4 Hist Cults: Dangerous Devotion (Although I have not yet seen this, it purports to be about dangerous/destructive groups, not new religious movements) -- includes Charles Manson -J im Jones and Jonestown, Warren Jeffs and the Yearning for Zion Ranch --Shoko Asahara and Aum Shinrikyo --David Koresh and the Branch Davidians
Saturday 1/12
6 a HBO Friends of God A Road Trip with Alexandra Pelosi. excellent. It was filmed just before Rev. Ted Haggard was outed as a user of male prostitutes and crystal meth.
7: 30 am HBO sig. White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (There is a study guide for educators at the website)
10:15 Sund Guerilla Girl
12:30 HBO2 Sand and Sorrow
6:30 pm HBO Fam Educating Peter
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
A Unitarian Schism?
I was recently reminded about the Unitarian Jihad Name Generator, having noticed what might have been the best name ever. I realized that having been abstinent from the ether/internet world for so long, I might have been reborn as a new and different person, so I went over to see what my name is currently.
But I find myself in a conundrum of great magnitude. I did not realize a schism has developed.
And this schism is clearly of greater concern to the Unitarians involved than, say, boycotting a national democratic decision making event, for someone has already decided not to remain in community and struggle over their differences, but I don't know what those differences were, or to which group I belong, and which name I should accept?
Oh. Right. No Hell.
Unitarian Universalist.
Phew.
P.S. Made you look.
But I find myself in a conundrum of great magnitude. I did not realize a schism has developed.
And this schism is clearly of greater concern to the Unitarians involved than, say, boycotting a national democratic decision making event, for someone has already decided not to remain in community and struggle over their differences, but I don't know what those differences were, or to which group I belong, and which name I should accept?
But the First Reformed Unitarian Jihad says that my name isMy Unitarian Jihad Name is: Sister Spikey Mace of Looking at All Sides of the Question.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother/Sister Gatling Gun of Courteous Freedom. What's yours?
Oh. Right. No Hell.
Unitarian Universalist.
Phew.
P.S. Made you look.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Post on Happy or Cranky? New Year's Eve with Kathy Griffin
... on tv. I could never meet her quote to hang out with her in person...
I spent time with my beautiful godson and his family, then came home to discover a Kathy Griffin stand-up marathon on Bravo. If you're not familiar, she's the most incredible self-referential actor-mocking comic in America today. Tho' I think she's the only self-referential actor-mocking comic... Stayed up without napping till after midnight for the first New Year's eve in a decade.
I must admit that Kathy Griffin's CrankySnarkyness makes me Happy Cindy. So on which blog should I post about it? In a brief moment of cross-self-referentiality in honor of the Great Ms. Griffin, I'll post here a funny snarky clip of one of my favorite bits.
To set the context, she's referring to her ever so brief gig working for E! television interviewing stars on the red carpet outside the Golden Globe Awards in 2005. She decided that others were more suited to comment of gowns and such, so she's spend her time asking ridiculous questions and mocking the celebrities she interviews. Just for the record, she got fired for the story you'll hear if you watch the clip below
and because my mom reads this blog, I searched until I found a clip with the *%#!@s beeped out.
I spent time with my beautiful godson and his family, then came home to discover a Kathy Griffin stand-up marathon on Bravo. If you're not familiar, she's the most incredible self-referential actor-mocking comic in America today. Tho' I think she's the only self-referential actor-mocking comic... Stayed up without napping till after midnight for the first New Year's eve in a decade.
I must admit that Kathy Griffin's CrankySnarkyness makes me Happy Cindy. So on which blog should I post about it? In a brief moment of cross-self-referentiality in honor of the Great Ms. Griffin, I'll post here a funny snarky clip of one of my favorite bits.
To set the context, she's referring to her ever so brief gig working for E! television interviewing stars on the red carpet outside the Golden Globe Awards in 2005. She decided that others were more suited to comment of gowns and such, so she's spend her time asking ridiculous questions and mocking the celebrities she interviews. Just for the record, she got fired for the story you'll hear if you watch the clip below
and because my mom reads this blog, I searched until I found a clip with the *%#!@s beeped out.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Does your office look like this?
This video is some sort of promotional/educational "what a DRE job is, and what skills you need to have to be one."
My question is this. Honestly, do any of you DRE's, (or do the DRE's in your congregation) have desks and offices that are this neat?
My question is this. Honestly, do any of you DRE's, (or do the DRE's in your congregation) have desks and offices that are this neat?
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
It all comes together at Christmas -- Embodied Faith, COA, and OWL
The story of Jesus Birth, interpreted by Christian faith, is a story about Jesus as G-d's embodiment on earth. Jesus, according to this belief, was embodied G-d at the very moment of his birth.
My personal belief is in the embodiment of the sacred in all life, and my faith journey leads me to support and promote that sacred spark of life in every way possible. When one holds a baby just born, there is no doubt that there is something sacred about it, a baby is not simply a mass of DNA and tissue and blood that reflexively cries. There is a spark of something intangible yet simultaneously compelling and vivid that produces an attitude of gratitude and awe, or perhaps, recognition.
Of course people were awed at Jesus' birth. Birthing is awe-full.
Human life may be specially situated, because we can reflect upon and share about that embodiment. We reflect on suffering, on joy, on pain, on love. To be cognitively and emotionally reflective about what happens to our bodies and minds is a gift that is, I believe, unique to humanity.
One of the deep deep roots of the theological underpinnings of my job as Director of Religious Education is reflection upon and taking action from a place that takes seriously the idea that the sacred is embodied in human form. This is a touchstone for decision making about programs, policies, interventions, curricular and extra-curricular choices, and the framework of a community within which collective and individual faith development is addressed.
Why do we run Coming of Age programs as a holistic,reflective, intentionally practice-filled faith development experience? Why do we run COA programs with elements of Relationship, Social Action, UU Identity, and Values/Belief? Because latency and teen aged young people are not empty brains to have information poured in, nor are they merely adolescent bodies needing to continually physically externalize their particular internal chaos. They are complex human creatures, at a particular point of development that places incredible intellectual, emotional, and physical demands on them that require guidance and direction. We provide that guidance and structure in these four areas, not because we have the answers, but because we know how to make the path more navigable as they grow -- and because we know that children with structure, boundaries, information and direction, and healthy adult companionship are more likely to develop into healthy adults.
As Embodied Beings from birth, we require certain kinds of guidance, structure, and support. This is why Our Whole Lives, the UUA's lifespan sexuality curriculum, is so important in our congregations. As embodied creatures all the time - we have skin and mind, gender and emotions and spark. Awareness, knowledge and respect for all of these bits of ourselves, as we age and develop, are crucial to making healthy decisions about what we do with our bodies. Personally, I wish we called OWL Our Embodied Selves. But OES is a lousy acronym.
Like COA programs, OWL is based in best practices -- what we know works. We know that simply believing that all the people in our young children's world will maintain appropriate physical and emotional boundaries with them is not sufficient to protect and prepare our children for advocating for their own bodily autonomy. We know that ignoring children's bodies until the sudden onset of puberty does not provide them with the tools to manage the emotional and physical changes of puberty, or ignoring the pulls of sexual attraction will not provide young people with the tools to make careful, healthy decisions about sexual behavior. Our children are beings with bodies with a sacred spark from birth, and from birth we must attend to the sacredness of their bodies, and prepare them to respect, develop, and care for their bodies. We must do so pro-actively, with great attention to developmental appropriateness and milestones, and to best practices in sexuality education.
I sometimes tell parents: There are two things we want our children to hear about from us first -- G-d and Sex.
And right after that, I mention that usually, these are exactly the two things that parents want the most help and support around.
Our religious community is the best suited to provide that help and support, and one way we do it is through the lifespan curricula of the Our Whole Lives program. We don't simply insert it into our "regular" curricula saying "we will return to our regularly scheduled curricula after this brief announcement about sexuality," but as an integrated part of our lifespan faith development programs. Just as the year long COA program is one of many years of RE that build together, (and, imho, is not nearly as successful when a parent comes to the UU for the first time because they want their 8th grader to "have a COA experience,") OWL is also a component of an integrated program. We integrate care for bodies into our curricula, modeling for our children that while we talk about the transcendental and magical, we also talk about the visceral and concrete, that ideas about G-d are explored right next to ideas about babies.
See? It all comes together at Christmas. Babies as the embodiment of the sacred, our sacred responsibility to provide for their care and nurture in ways that actually help them to move along in their development, and our sacred commitment to the work we do and the lives we lead as we tend our own spark.
Or, this year, in my case a little sooner than Christmas. In 44 hours when my twin nieces will be born.
My personal belief is in the embodiment of the sacred in all life, and my faith journey leads me to support and promote that sacred spark of life in every way possible. When one holds a baby just born, there is no doubt that there is something sacred about it, a baby is not simply a mass of DNA and tissue and blood that reflexively cries. There is a spark of something intangible yet simultaneously compelling and vivid that produces an attitude of gratitude and awe, or perhaps, recognition.
Of course people were awed at Jesus' birth. Birthing is awe-full.
Human life may be specially situated, because we can reflect upon and share about that embodiment. We reflect on suffering, on joy, on pain, on love. To be cognitively and emotionally reflective about what happens to our bodies and minds is a gift that is, I believe, unique to humanity.
One of the deep deep roots of the theological underpinnings of my job as Director of Religious Education is reflection upon and taking action from a place that takes seriously the idea that the sacred is embodied in human form. This is a touchstone for decision making about programs, policies, interventions, curricular and extra-curricular choices, and the framework of a community within which collective and individual faith development is addressed.
Why do we run Coming of Age programs as a holistic,reflective, intentionally practice-filled faith development experience? Why do we run COA programs with elements of Relationship, Social Action, UU Identity, and Values/Belief? Because latency and teen aged young people are not empty brains to have information poured in, nor are they merely adolescent bodies needing to continually physically externalize their particular internal chaos. They are complex human creatures, at a particular point of development that places incredible intellectual, emotional, and physical demands on them that require guidance and direction. We provide that guidance and structure in these four areas, not because we have the answers, but because we know how to make the path more navigable as they grow -- and because we know that children with structure, boundaries, information and direction, and healthy adult companionship are more likely to develop into healthy adults.
As Embodied Beings from birth, we require certain kinds of guidance, structure, and support. This is why Our Whole Lives, the UUA's lifespan sexuality curriculum, is so important in our congregations. As embodied creatures all the time - we have skin and mind, gender and emotions and spark. Awareness, knowledge and respect for all of these bits of ourselves, as we age and develop, are crucial to making healthy decisions about what we do with our bodies. Personally, I wish we called OWL Our Embodied Selves. But OES is a lousy acronym.
Like COA programs, OWL is based in best practices -- what we know works. We know that simply believing that all the people in our young children's world will maintain appropriate physical and emotional boundaries with them is not sufficient to protect and prepare our children for advocating for their own bodily autonomy. We know that ignoring children's bodies until the sudden onset of puberty does not provide them with the tools to manage the emotional and physical changes of puberty, or ignoring the pulls of sexual attraction will not provide young people with the tools to make careful, healthy decisions about sexual behavior. Our children are beings with bodies with a sacred spark from birth, and from birth we must attend to the sacredness of their bodies, and prepare them to respect, develop, and care for their bodies. We must do so pro-actively, with great attention to developmental appropriateness and milestones, and to best practices in sexuality education.
I sometimes tell parents: There are two things we want our children to hear about from us first -- G-d and Sex.
And right after that, I mention that usually, these are exactly the two things that parents want the most help and support around.
Our religious community is the best suited to provide that help and support, and one way we do it is through the lifespan curricula of the Our Whole Lives program. We don't simply insert it into our "regular" curricula saying "we will return to our regularly scheduled curricula after this brief announcement about sexuality," but as an integrated part of our lifespan faith development programs. Just as the year long COA program is one of many years of RE that build together, (and, imho, is not nearly as successful when a parent comes to the UU for the first time because they want their 8th grader to "have a COA experience,") OWL is also a component of an integrated program. We integrate care for bodies into our curricula, modeling for our children that while we talk about the transcendental and magical, we also talk about the visceral and concrete, that ideas about G-d are explored right next to ideas about babies.
See? It all comes together at Christmas. Babies as the embodiment of the sacred, our sacred responsibility to provide for their care and nurture in ways that actually help them to move along in their development, and our sacred commitment to the work we do and the lives we lead as we tend our own spark.
Or, this year, in my case a little sooner than Christmas. In 44 hours when my twin nieces will be born.
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