So this meeting is being recorded. Oh, good evening, everybody. I'm going to go ahead and just read the script for the virtual meetings. Pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 21. This meeting will be conducted be a remote means members of the public who wish to access the meeting. May do so with the zoom link that's been provided on the website. The person attendance of members of the public is permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via zoom. In the event that you're unable to do so. For reasons of economic hardship and despite best efforts we will post the recording of this meeting on the town's YouTube channel. And minutes will be also posted as well. So, I think we then need to go through and just do an audio check and make sure we can hear and be heard. So I'll just go across the screen. Julian. Sorry, I'm here. Thanks, Rachel. Here and can hear. Thank you. Here and can hear love it here here. Cool. Yep. Christie. Hi, everyone. Robin. Yeah. And Arthur. Great. Nice to see you all tonight. It's, I think my thinking is that we have a fairly. Getting some echo there. We'll have a fairly short meeting tonight. Is there anything I can do? I think I keep seeing Robin's thing come up whenever the echo starts. So maybe if everybody could mute themselves when you're not speaking, I think that'd be the best course of action. Excellent suggestion. So there may be something wrong with it. That was a good, good suggestion, Arthur. Thank you. Okay. The minutes were sent out from our previous meeting shortly after that meeting. Does anybody have discussion or notes on those? Seeing none. I guess we would take a. We take a motion to approve them. Oh, and you know what? Our note taker is not here tonight. So I will take. I'll take a second. I can type into the agenda unless somebody else would like to, I can, I can type into the agenda unless somebody else would like to take the minutes. I can take minutes. If you have a, yeah. That'd be great. Cool. Thank you. So could we have a, anybody want to make a motion to approve the minutes? Julian. I'll second. I guess we'll do a roll call vote. Rachel. Yes. Yes. Yes. Christy. Yes. Yes. Robin. Yes. And Arthur. Yes. All right. Great. Cole. Thank you so much for doing that tonight. Okay. So the agenda as I said, I sent it out kind of last minute. I apologize for that. There are a couple of items that were not previously anticipated that were not previously anticipated. I think we have a couple of items that were not previously anticipated. One is a. Another grant amendment request that came through. And then another one is Rachel pointed out. We wanted to have a discussion about rate possible possible regular meeting time so we can. Cover those. But I think the first item. On the agenda is certainly one that. I should just let Julian kind of speak to because she's put. An incredible amount of work into it. I think we should have a discussion about. The normal amendment request at this point for. Yusufa. We do. Yes. He sent in the paperwork. That was what Cindy. You also had in the. The email, but he'd sent it to us. Yeah. So I don't. I guess there's no easy way to distribute the paperwork here to everyone, but I can, I can go through it. is for Yusuf Vasidibe's 2021 project, he did not complete it. And then he subsequently applied and was also awarded a 2022 grant as well. So he initially asked for reimbursement for a session that he did over at UMass. That session, as it turns out, was not open to the public in any way. It wasn't broadcast and it absolutely does not meet our criteria, honestly, to even consider reimbursing for that. So over the weekend, he drafted a new amendment request and his new plan is he would like to complete eight recording sessions of 20 minute long performances and then broadcast these eight unique broadcasts on Amherst TV between May 20th and June 24th. He has confirmed with Amherst TV that they do have scheduling time. They actually came back to him and said, hey, we're short on music programming. We really need that. That'd be great. And he believes that he can get this done now finally. Now, there are many things that have changed for the 2021 project versus the initial grant. So I had a conversation with him earlier today and I explained that anytime we have a change like this, one, we have to make sure that it actually meets our grant criteria. So for instance, that UMass class that he did to a bunch of tuition paying students has no public benefit because it's not open to the public. So we have to look at this new proposed amendment and make sure that it one meets all our criteria, which I believe it does, but also evaluate it for does it still have a comparable public value. So here's what has changed. The dates clearly, this is gone from being an instructional series of videos. It was supposed to be 10 instructional videos for the K through 12 set as kind of an after school thing during the pandemic. It is now kind of a straight up performance of meditative music instead. It certainly doesn't exclude a K to 12 audience, but I think we can all guess that it really is it's not the same K to 12 audience. It has the potential of having a nice long reach particularly because they would be broadcast and then they would be part of the library of on demand videos and Amherst Media's YouTube collection as well. The other kind of big change is this. This was put through as a $2,000 total grant for 10 sessions in 2021. And at this point, he's able to do eight performance broadcast sessions. And he would like to still receive the full 2000 at 250 stipend per broadcast and performance as opposed to 200 per broadcast and performance earlier. Keeping in mind that before the earlier format, it was kind of like you show up, you do a live interactive performance and it's done. Whereas now with this, he needs to go into the studio, record it, Alia, edit it, and then broadcast it. So he does have some different time commitments of his own in doing this work. So I think we can open it up to discussion and questions from there. So I just want to say, and I've only seen, I have not seen the entirety of the correspondence that has gone on, but Julian especially, but Julian and Robin as well have really seen a lot of correspondence out of Yusuf and I think we've worked very hard to try to treat this grantee as fairly as we possibly can, especially given that we've all recognized some language barriers and things and really, I think extended every last possible effort we possibly could to this individual. And so I thought that recap, you captured the salient points very well and there's a lot of other stuff that came and went throughout the process to get to that. The only question that I have that I don't think I heard you address is assuming that we are considering obviously an amendment request, are we thinking about a new deadline to complete these eight recordings? He's put in here that the broadcast would be completed between May 20th and June 24th. And so one could consider that those are the dates and that is the deadline. Knowing the realities of things, I think it wouldn't hurt for us to, you know, I don't know whether it'd be the end of June or middle of July or something like that. Because I certainly don't want him to get into doing all of this and then there's a snag on broadcasting it and that's unforeseen to him. But when I spoke with him earlier, I was clear, I said, listen, these amendments for 2021 should be done. This is a 2021 project, it really should be done. So if we can get something done, it needs to get done now because this is seriously late. Because when I said something about are you sure you can get those program broadcast dates, I don't know, can we leave it up open-ended? No. No, no, no, no. We don't ever really have open-ended projects ever. So at this point, absolutely not. And he was absolutely lovely to speak to. I would really be very pleased to see him follow through on this, but it'll be done when it's done and I'll believe that and see that when that happens at this point. I see Rachel had a question or comment. Yeah, I have two questions.  I mean, just from not knowing anything about it, it sounds like we're basically entertaining a new proposal altogether. Pretty much correct. Right. So retroactively for a budget year that's already passed. So that's if I want to look at just kind of the factual components. That's how I interpret it. And then the other, so is that something that we are talking about making an exception for? Because it sounds like this person hasn't received the money, obviously, right? Because we haven't gone into direct granting. And then my... Let me answer that if you can hold the other. I don't have a sense that we're truly making an exception in that so many 2021 grants were modified in so many ways right down to just, you know, some groups took capital expense money to keep their doors open and things like that. So I think as far as exceptions go, yes, it's late. But aside from that, I think it's all within the realm of the kind of revisions that we did.  And he has, you know, the potential to deliver it in the next six weeks. So which I think has more public benefit than, you know, groups that were just keeping their doors open. Right. Okay, thank you. Yeah, because I was going to say that if based on how you, you're explaining this, is that it would seem fair to me if we just had a hard deadline in this case, right? It's like, okay, if this is all done by June 30th or whatever date, you know, we then here's your grant money, you know, based on our agreement or vote or whatever here. And then I guess my other question, which I don't know whether it's relevant or not to this conversation is that you all mentioned that we as a council also granted the same person something for the year that just passed or the cycle that just passed. So that's, that's just a direct grant. So that has no bearing whatsoever on what's already. Yes, I can, I can speak to that too. I didn't want to go too, too far into it. But Yusuf had put a date of completing the 2022 grant as January 10th, 2022, that date has passed. So he will need to amend his 2022 grant as well. I told him as far as, you know, we had to get the 2021 done today, you know, I didn't ask him to put that amendment in today. But he does need to do that. He's clear that there can't be any crossover. So what I believe he's planning to do, sort of the dog is to amend the 2022 with new dates that are after this series. And he also needs to change that because for that one, he's also switching it to a performance format instead of being more of an instructional format. Did anybody understand a word with the dog? I understood. I had a question about that though, because and I agree with you. We'd be best to just make a decision on FY21 and then, you know, sort out slash help him sort out FY22. I do think we need to do that. But just in the interest of having the information out there, the FY22 proposal was essentially an instructional workshop broadcast through Amherst media. And I don't believe it was, it was not like an interactive workshop, was it? Is that correct? I have to say that there's a little bit of poor process on our parts as far as the 2021 and 2022 grants because in preparation for my call with him, I went back and read them, I copied and pasted them. And quite frankly, his 2022 grant is pretty much a copy and paste 2021 grant. I mean, some organizations do that. They do very similar work. But I have to be honest, I don't, I don't feel like we did our proper due diligence on this one to have made as large an award as as we have, especially knowing that he hadn't followed through in the 2021. But that said, you know, he he certainly can put in an amendment request. But at this point, you know, if you want to get legal about it, if he takes that the the check right now and spends it without putting an amendment request for a date other than January 10, he's already out of compliance. So the only reason no, and I agree, the date needs to be figured out certainly, as well as the format and the content. But just based on that alone, he did not deliver anything like this January 10. So he's not compliant, no matter what. The the only difference, well, there might there's probably on multiple, but I know there's a difference between FY 21, doing a series of 10 workshops for school kids, and then FY 22, doing it on zoom, and it was explicitly on zoom, because it was going to be interactive.  And that had not happened when we received the FY 22 application, the FY 22 application for one single event on Amherst media. So that would not be interactive. That would be a presentation of the drumming or 3500, of which we were awarded 700. Robin saying no, of which we awarded 700. We awarded 700, but it wasn't for one. It was very unclear. But I believe he said 300 per performance. Which is why I'm not I don't understand why we give him 700. So it was for two performances. Yeah, it was the same, but 5% more per performance. Okay, let me open the Yeah, you're right. So the narrative. He had a total budget of three 300, because he didn't fill it out properly. And we had even discussed whether we wouldn't just, you know, whether we could exceed the the requested amount, which was 300. And there we made an exception to go above and beyond. But you know, the direct granting there's there's not a whole lot we can do at this point to stop it, although I have advised him that he needs to amend. And when he does amend that that means that we can look at the public benefit of 2022 and award it less if we, you know, feel that that it doesn't have the same merits as what he put out there. And I think as far as where we are with 2021, one, we have to decide if we're willing to let him extend and do this at all period, you know, is it even being, you know, is it a possible option and two, we have to look at, you know, can the total grant amount stand as it is, or do we need to reevaluate it for public benefit. And then at the end of the day, he only gets any kind of reimbursement once everything's done and he's given us all the documentation that we need. So for 2021, we're really very much in control, we just need to decide what we think is appropriate based on all of these significant changes. Robin. Are the performances going to be different? Yes, these are these are different performances. So I agree. Let's just let's get an FY21 decision made and we should go back and parse out 22 at a later date. So talking about 21, I'll just give Robin's question is a really important one, you know, eight unique performances are very different than rebroadcasting the same thing eight times. So that I think is a key first question. The overall award amount maximum, right, we're talking about really the maximum at this point because, you know, it's going to be per performance. The overall award amount staying at 2000. He's also proposing or requesting to up the per performance amount from 200 to 250. My understanding from what I gleamed, Julianne, was that that is largely due to the fact that there is going to be some probably not a lot but some editing on the back end of these of these eight. So, you know, there is a little bit more work there. And then I would also say that previously it was going to be just sort of a turn on your zoom and interact. Now he's going to be working through Amherst media in some way. And so that that could also add some additional I don't I don't know what but some additional back and forth. So I think what I'm hearing is that a perspective motion would be something like, and I think Rachel actually hits on the most important thing, which is, let's set a date and just ask him to submit his reimbursement materials by that date. And, you know, that really will be kind of the most the essence is, is will there be work done. But so I guess I'm hearing, I'm hearing a motion that would involve a date change, a format change from zoom to Amherst media, and a rate change for, you know, a new, a new type of work. So the same overall maximum or total award, but the rate changes based and that rate changes is tied to a new type of work. So is that does that sound like it's is that everything that we really need to sort of decide on? I believe so. Robin. So what he's doing may cost more per session than if he had done what he proposed, he broke the grant, he decided the amount. And that was interactive workshop and that was with students, which to me is very different benefit. So I would even be okay with expending the time a little bit. But I'm not okay with increasing the amount at all. And I've said this back and forth, but not to the whole group. It's just to me, it's probably not legal. It's not fair to every other grantee unless we increase their stipends as well or decrease the work. You know, if he had done what he said he was going to do, he wouldn't have these extra costs. And it's just, you know, we can get audited. And I don't know how we're going to explain that. And to me, it's just, it's just, no, it's just not doable. I'm not sure we need eight or 10 performances, but I'm willing to go along with it at this point. But that part, I'm not. And that's just, you know, me, one person. So questions or comments on this, I mean, you know, I take Robin's point, I think we're likely, you know, it'd be better to vote on a single motion rather than, you know, so the goal here, I think should be to try to get a single motion, you know, to then communicate back to the grantee.  Go ahead. Can we take a, you know, just a soft indication rather than a motion of who would support going forward yes or no at all? With the date, the number and the amount? No, no, just, just in general, who supports allowing any kind of amendment or do we just reject the amendment outright regardless? Is there anybody who wants to outright reject the amendment? Okay. I think that's clear. So then it really comes down to, you know, we need a motion as far as what the appropriate compensation is given the public benefit has changed, the audience has changed. It's not instructional. It's, you know, performance and meditative music and it's many lovely things, but you know, does that end up impacting the public benefit and the compensation for it? Cool. I was going to say that I think there's clear public benefit with the amended proposal. I like the idea that's going to go out through Amherst media that people will be able to see it. And I would support just doing it at 200 per performance, keep the rate the same. And, you know, that's, I think we've been very flexible. I think that would be fair. Yeah, and I was actually going to suggest the same thing. And I would also say that eight is a number that I don't know, you know, he originated that number. That's his number. I think us saying that, you know, we'll give you 200 per and you can do up to 10 is reasonable within the parameters of the grant as well. Well, I would just make the motion given the way you all just said that however many you're able to produce by this date is what we're going to pay for because we have our funding and our budget, you know, to kind of account for right at the end. So that's, that would be my, my suggestion, I guess, you know, for the 200 per session, but you only do three will give you 600 by this day. But if you do 11, we can only give you 2,000. That's the one difference. Yeah.  One thing, do we want to put a minimum though? Because otherwise, I don't know if we're going to get any. And that's up to him then, right? Right. But if you put a minimum of, he has to do at least three or five or whatever, up to 10. Or just leave it open. I mean, that's one if you want, add the minimum. I mean, I hate to have him do two and not give him anything because we said the minimum was three, I guess is my, I don't see a risk and just leaving it, you know, per broadcast performance at that point. He just, he does not, he does not. If he does one, he does one, you know. Right. It's really up to him then to, you know, to say, okay, this is the timeframe in which I can, I have to work and this is what I can reasonably produce. And I will be reimbursed at 200 up to 10 within that period, right? So that that seems fair, given what you outlined in terms of, you know, giving people more leeway because of how everyone's had to operate. Yeah, I agree. I mean, Rich, if you want to make that as a motion, I guess I would ask Cole, as a no-taker, if you want to try to formulate that. But, but I think the three pieces are clear to everybody, right? The, well, actually deadline, I mean, I would be comfortable pushing the deadline to, you know, being of all the things that I think need to be, you know, sticklers on. I'm more flexible in the deadline personally, you know, and saying even July 15th or something, just for the sake of, you know, good faith, but deadline, number of performances and rate, those are the three pieces that we're kind of agreeing on, right? Sure, Robin, for your purposes, is there a deadline in terms of what you have to file for a certain grant cycle? Not really. There's no annual reports for audits in terms of... Now, what we do need to have done before we go to the next grant cycle is that the money left over, we can use it for the next few years because it's really not fair to withhold that money. It's not going to get used. So, but, um, yeah, town-wise there isn't, the money has been set aside for it's not being used for anything else until we release it, by paying it or just releasing it back into our funds for the next grant year. So... So, what's the date on that then? And like, when do we want, because I'll make the motion right now. I just need to know what date to say. I think July 15th sounds good, like an asset. That's cool, everyone. That's cool. That's good. Sure. So then I'll motion to approve the amendment request with the change in form and forum with the exception that his fee will be $200 per performance and he will have until July 15th to complete the performances and submit a reimbursement request. I think we needed a maximum of 10 performances and maximum $2,000. With a maximum of 10 performance and $2,000. I'll second that call. Okay, I'm gonna do a roll call vote unless there's any other discussion. So, I'm an I, Julian. I. Christie. I. Robin. I. Arthur. Yes. And Aliyah. Yes. And I was gonna ask... Did you get right? She made... Oh, I'm sorry. I seconded. Okay. For next year and future grant cycles, now that we have reimbursement funding, are we going to like be keeping closer track of like grant projects and if they're, if they're using the money, like if they didn't use the money, because I know, like, would there be like a spreadsheet or something to keep track of that, that we would look at while doing the grant cycle, or do you think that would like metal with the process of looking at things with fresh eyes? No, it's a good question. And it's actually a little trickier now that we're doing direct granting because what we really have to do is, you know, at the end of the cycle, we need to verify that. And this is, I think that the date is very clear to the grantees. We need to verify they've all submitted their final reports and that... So, instead of them giving us documentation, and then we know we can release the funds, we release the funds when we get them, and they provide us the supporting documentation at the end. So, that's a lot of what we were struggling with in making the decision was, oh geez, you know, now we are going to have to, you know, really be on top of these final reports. And at some point, you know, if somebody is unwilling or unable to submit the final report, you know, we have to ask for the money back. So, it's... You're absolutely right. It's even more on us to keep track. Julian, please. And yet at the same time, it's been complicated because, you know, essentially anyone who has a future date for a performance at the time the checks are going out has the benefit of the doubt that they'll just do it. And people who have an earlier date. So, Yusufa had a, you know, January 10th date. We can't get the benefit of the doubt because it didn't happen. And yet it's... You're strangely singling someone out because they chose an earlier date in it. So, it's an interesting situation that we're in.  Going into this, I've never wanted to, you know, police the grantees. You know, I want to try to extend everybody the best benefit of the doubt and be supportive of them. But I think it's a good call out, Leah, that by the time we get to the next round and people are reapplying, we're really going to want to know what their follow-through was. Yeah. And I would just say that that's something we should really think about hard for next year is... I agree. And I don't think it's a fair... It's just a loophole or a wrinkle in the process that, you know, there's however many months between our decision and the actual checks going out. And people whose performances fall within that window, I would hate to hold their... You know, I don't think that's fair. I think we need to reevaluate how we're going to handle that. I don't think we can solve it right now. But I think we do need to reevaluate it. Robin? You're muted, Robin. Is that better? Yes. Okay. So I received a contract for something supposed to happen in December that I'm pretty sure didn't happen. And so I, you know, sent email and said, could you let me know if this happened, if it did send documentation, if it didn't and you want to try to have this, you know, December 2022, then just submit a request for extension. You know, I haven't heard back from this person. There's been several attempts. But basically if I know it was supposed to have happened and they haven't submitted the final report, which some people have, then I just ask them to submit documentation or request an extension. And I haven't submitted those yet until I get one of those. So that's just the way, you know, it goes. It will, you know, next year it won't be as obvious if we do direct funding because it will kind of be any other end of the cycle. But, you know, and it is being tracked. I'm tracking it and it's tracking it. But we'll see what happens. This goes on if there's a lot that it looks like didn't happen. You know, we have a lot of grantees. The towns I contact don't have this many grantees. So it wasn't quite this large of a piece of work for them to follow. And some have split it and assigned different ways to follow, you know, you know, and they've done their game and all of that. But I don't know if we're going to have to do that. I don't think we're really going to have to after any people. I think most people are doing their pigs. They want to. And they are submitting the reports.  I mean, and I think you're doing the right thing now. What I think we ought to do is we ought to consult with MCC before this next grant cycle opens up about how strictly we are monitoring slash policing the date of the event in this, in the new direct granting model. Because there's a part of me that just says, you know, you make a compelling case to us. We review it. We award it.  So I'm not saying that's necessarily the position I want to take. I just think we should explore with MCC because I get the sense looking at other towns at their grant guidelines that ours are probably more rigorous or something than others. So just, just a conversation. Leah, please. Yeah. I was first going to say it's interesting because when we made, when we talked about direct granting, I think that was like August and it definitely looked like very different like trajectory for COVID at that time. And then kind of as like we neared into winter, I think, like I feel like when we were in August, we were in a really good place. And like, I thought this year was going to be like very different with like venue cancellations and stuff. And this year again, we've had just like unpredictable surges and stuff. So I'm really hopeful that next year there will be less of that.  But it's just like hard, it's hard to have a thing that's so dependent off of sticking to the location and the date when that's just like changing so much and it's like hard for everyone. But also how are people proving it? Like, what does that process look like? And what are we looking for in that? So we can forward out to, oh, go ahead, Robin. No, it's pretty much the same as reimbursement.  And most people also submit, you know, how they promoted it. So we'll get flyers and, you know, some people send an entire budget thing. Some people send, you know, two pieces of paper.  This is, you know, and it happened now or a copy of, you know, the review in the paper or really anything that just shows it is okay. And it's really not any different than the reimbursement. Yeah. So just that we know it happened. And there's a, there's a, there's a grant final report. It's just a simple one page form that they fell out. And then we asked them for accompanying, like Robin said, you know, receipts and other evidence. So I want to move us along a little bit just in the interest of time. I know on the agenda, we had indicated sort of a recap of the accessibility session. I will say recap is fabulous. You know, Charles does Baldwin does a wonderful job with the content. He put together a fabulous slide deck. We recorded it. We have his slides. I'm just waiting for them. They were sharing a lot of links to resources in the chat. And I'm just waiting for them to send me that list of links. And then I'll ask Cindy to post, we'll post it all on our website and we'll have it there for as a resource for folks. I genuinely think if anybody seriously wants to explore this topic, that that session will be of value to our grantees. And it's something that we could, I was thinking in next year's award letters, we could just link to it and be like, you know, here is, here's a really useful, you know, overview of accessibility in the arts kind of a thing. And I think the action item that I want to put out there, and we probably, I don't think tonight's the night we're going to make a decision on action here, but you know, we do have funds set aside about, you know, 20, we have a roughly 2,500 plus others if we need it to fund a fall event around accessibility and very loosely defined. We were hoping that, you know, this previous session would give us some ideas in terms of what we're going to do at that session. So, you know, I guess I would, I don't know that we have any clear action we can take, but maybe just a little discussion of what we want to, you know, what direction we want to steer the ship in terms of that event. I don't have, sorry. Go ahead, Jan. I was just going to say that I love the idea of, you know, including it in materials that we're sending out to grantees, both before they apply and in their award letter. It would be great. Robin, Rachel. I'm sorry, Rachel. Yeah, I just wanted to say that it was a really, really good session. And I'm going to have to leave at seven o'clock. I don't know how long this meeting is supposed to go for, but I just wanted to say that in the context of accessibility, because I had sent everybody an email about, are we going to try to set a regular time for meetings going forward? And as I thought more about the Charles's presentation, I realized that there might be a number of factors we need to consider if we were going to try to set a regular meeting time, because this time might not work for everybody. So that was just something I wanted to throw out there in case you guys do get to that discussion after I've had to go. So, but I mean in the context of, you know, all of us having different functional limitations or not, you know, that something maybe to consider if we want to have regular meeting times. That's all. Thanks. And I'll see you all later if I need to go at seven. Well, you know, I'm fine if others would like to jump that topic up since Rachel, you know, you brought up an email and you're bringing it up now. I'm fine to open that now if we want to pause on the accessibility piece for a second and just talk about that. Do you have a proposal or thoughts in terms of, you know, how we should handle this? Rachel? I just thought that if we have some general guidelines in terms of what we want to consider. So, for example, do we need to meet every month? That's a start, right? I mean, I know that that was something that was introduced relatively, I mean, I don't know, but during the grant cycle, yes, we're meeting more regularly, but in between grant cycles is do we want to have meetings every month? That's like the first question. And then my initial thought when I asked the group was just more like, okay, it helps us all to plan to be able to put the dates in the calendar early. But then I thought maybe it can't just be like first Tuesday of every month if that just doesn't work for some of us. So it could just be, you know, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what people's schedules are like. So it was just a question that I had. And we don't have to take up more time discussing it today if the only one who thinks, oh, that might be helpful to know in advance for our own respective calendars. So that's, yeah, I don't have proposals in terms of when that meeting time should be, but I don't know if we need to be meeting every month as a whole group. That's just a question. Julia? Yeah. So generally, I'm a champion of, you know, setting a time monthly and then it's just there. And I think a lot of bodies like us do operate in exactly that way for planning purposes. As far as do we need to meet every month? No, but having a scheduled meeting time doesn't mean that we are required to meet. We would only meet if there's something that we need to discuss, deliberate and vote on. And what's happened is in years past, yes, there was, you know, maybe even a six month or longer lull where there weren't any meetings. But in the, these rolling changes that we've had with COVID and that are continuing, we are finding that there is some amendment or something that we seem to need to vote on every month. I'd have to look back at all of our agendas since the grant deliberations closed out. But I don't think there's been a single month that we could have skipped voting because we had to respond to grantees. Now, we could just, you know, let them wait. And that could happen. If we can't get a quorum together, then they're going to have to wait. But in general, you know, I would support kind of having a regularly scheduled meeting and only meeting if there's a need to meet, not just meetings to have meetings. But as far as what the right time for that is, the makeup of this council is going to change quite a bit in the next couple of months. So one of the reasons the timing is going to change is different people come and go who have different scheduling needs.  And that's, you know, so that we can all attend. But yeah, there's no simple answer. I don't think we'll quite solve it tonight. Maybe we could at least find out if everybody agrees that we'd like to try to get to a point of a regular, you know, one monthly time slot and see what we can do. I mean, I'm a planner. So when I hear, when I hear the notion of just getting a calendar out there, or just a recurring every first Tuesday at six or whatever, you know, even if it's an inconvenient time, if it's every first Tuesday at four, and I can plan that a couple months in advance, you know, that's that's very attractive to me. And, you know, that does typically we do tend to meet. Well, no, that's not true. It's usually it's Tuesdays, but but it drifts beginning or end of the month. I have to say to echo what Julian's point, I haven't had a set a meeting yet with ACC, where we haven't had at least one grantee thing that they required some action. And I take the point about letting them wait. And I think it's something to if we explore that, you know, some of these questions with MCC around, you know, maybe we don't need to amend, you know, you want to go Saturday instead of Sunday, you know, maybe we don't need to formally amend every every last performance date in the future. I would be comfortable with a more hands off approach to grantee management. Honestly, I mean, I do feel like sometimes we're particularly for people who want our approval, you know, we really get sucked into a lot of a lot of approving that that maybe we don't need to within the MCC parameters, you know, I think I gather just looking at websites that different cultural councils have different approaches to it. So I think I think those are all strong points. Strongest point, Matt, I heard was that you said Tuesdays at four, let's do that. I have to admit that with with my narcolepsy, when when, you know, the later they start, the harder they are for me. Yeah, it's I flag and I'm not at my best. That's my limitation, you know, I also want to be there when other people are there because no meeting's good about only I show up. But I if it's possible that, you know, we could get them a bit earlier and scheduled ahead, I would firmly endorse that. And I'm also with you that if we can structure things so that we can be less involved and just be more supportive of the artists, and I love that. And I don't think we need to have a stranglehold on things as long as they're coming through for the community. So it's dangerous, I feel like we're getting dangerously close to making a motion here that we do, or even if you don't even call it a motion, but just, you know, coming to an agreement. And I threw out four. And I know Joy has said that's not available to her, but Joy also is likely roll. I mean, I hate to share this without her being here, but she's likely to be moving out of Amherst the next couple months. She's shared with us very openly. So, you know, it's hard to accommodate. You can't accommodate everybody, I think is a problem. And we just do our best with it. But I think that being said, if somebody was was going to be staying on for another three-year term, three-year term, and they said, there's no way that I could do a meeting at two or four, just given my work constraints, we'd have to respect that as well, you know, and sort of keep on working outside the box. So, and unfortunately, I'm looking at the screen, and we know Cole is leaving, we know Arthur's leaving, you know, so I guess there's four of five of us here who, you know, who would have a vested say in that or a vested stake anyway in the discussion. Maybe we, you know, maybe we come back to it next month. Cole, I see your hand is up, but, you know, I don't know. I don't know if we're ready to make that judgment yet. I was just going to say that anytime that you do choose, it might be worth thinking about, you know, different groups of people and what would be most accessible to them, highest number of people. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I mean, in the public, you know, we don't get a lot of public attendance, but that's always a factor as well, so something to bear in mind. So we can just wait until we have new members on board, like later in the year, hopefully, right, to, to revisit this. Okay, thank you. No, thank you for bringing it up. I think it's a really important question, Rachel. So if, if nobody objects, I, we do have an action item, speaking of grantee correspondence, we do have an action item that Robin flagged for us late. It's a fairly simple one, but I feel like it's something we want to make sure we take care of. So does anybody mind if we, if we move matries? Good idea. Thank you. She provides an explanation. The short version is that she wants to move the date of her grant from May 21st to November is all she says is November. So, you know, I think the motion would probably be December 1st as kind of the new deadline, so to speak. So are we proposing that? I'll second it.  Right. And, and not being able to get into the tour museum or something when she was in India and she won't, she's, I guess, to go back in November or something, but. Cole, I'm going to type her name into the chat for the sake of, I don't, I'm sure I mispronounced it. The authors, this was the thing on to Gore, and she very much wants to do it. I've had a whole bunch of back and forth with her. So she just couldn't get access to materials she was hoping to use because it was close to COVID in India. So I guess I motioned, I guess I motioned, a motion emerged from me to move her deadline to December 1st and Robin seconded. Certainly we can have further discussion if folks want to hear more about the rationale. I think it makes sense. But if not, shall we just do a roll call? Okay. Cole. Yes. Julianne. Yes. Christy. Yes. Rachel. Yes. Leah. Yes. And Arthur. Yes. Okay, so we are unanimous there. Thank you very much for letting me bump that up a little bit. And I'll let her know. Thank you, Robin. Right. That's an important piece. So, and Julianne obviously will follow up with you, Sufa. Yeah. Okay. Second. Yeah, you second. I thought. Or just one, because there were two, but. Oh, a second. No, just you, Sufa and a tree that I know, that I know the only other item that unless if you catch it, please, you know, point it at the only other item that I put on the agenda. And actually, I wasn't sure if this is something that needs further discussion or not, but just following up on that. Immers media showcase footage question. Julianne, I don't know if there's anything further. Yep. This, this will be brief. I finally was able to, you know, get buy-in from everyone, but I think that was maybe Friday last week and I haven't had a chance to reach out to Jim over at Amherst Media yet. I will reach out to him. It might be a little slow going because I think they're moving sometime soon. They're building, you know, but I think they're being addicted, which didn't sound very promising. Oh, let's hope it's not that bad. Anyway, yes, I will reach out to him tomorrow because I haven't been able to get to it yet and get into the, you know, do they have a release form and some of the content that the artists in particular didn't want to have seen and all of that. And also just find out what they want to do and make it clear that there's no additional funding, you know, that goes along with this. Thanks, Rachel, by that. They asked for it. They're welcome to it. We're welcome to work with them, but we need to better define it. Great. I'm just happy to hear that that's moving forward and I think that's, you know, they're a key partner in showing off the great work that our grantees do, so I'm looking forward to that. And I actually went in myself in person today just to see the facility and, you know, it's up and running and hopefully they have a new home base to land safely soon. You should get it for payment. I haven't received anything from you for payment for your project. No, I haven't. Go ahead, Leah. Oh, I said, I think Cole was applying for that. I'm not really sure. I haven't sent anything in. So I'm glad you haven't received anything.   Absolutely. Robin, dare I ask, do we have any word on the release of funds where that stands? Oh, I sent you a whole email on it. I mean, I sent you an email with money and fireworks and yes, for the group, for the group.  And I know at least one person, one grantee who received it yesterday, Julie Auntie, you know, Amherst, Bel-A received it. Okay, so I think it literally was yesterday as well that they received it. It went up early, you know, so that's pretty fast. So hopefully everybody has received their checks and it was 56 of them. Great. Wonderful. One dropped. And then there's three or something was still dealing with something like, I mean, I don't know, I have to do the figures, but my figures and Holly's figures of the numbers worked, you know, we have the same number. So 56 went out and there are 64 grants. Excellent work. I know, Robin, you had to chase that down and it took quite a bit of follow up with a lot of different parties. So thank you so much for your efforts there as well as while it was delayed, there was quite a bit of correspondence with folks kindly asking where their money was. So thank you and even really busy and everyone will be thrilled. So thank you. Thank you. So I'm sure if someone doesn't receive it soon, they'll, you know, get back to us. But as far as I know, they, all of those went out. No, that's great. Yeah, I knew that the funds were with the town, but I'm glad to know that the checks came out. So somebody emailed me during the meeting saying, where's my check? So I'll forward that along to you. Yeah, send it to me. I guess too. So yeah. Yeah. Okay. So did you, did anybody, did you think of, was there was there something else that I missed on? No, including, okay. So taking the point that I think Rachel made and, I mean, you know, we would just not meet until, you know, the first Tuesday in July, although July is not a great, July I'm traveling all month. So that's not a great month for me to meet. But if folks want to meet in June, I'm happy to. I think we need further discussion on the, on the accessibility event. Frankly, I think, you know, there's definitely some, some discussion that needs to happen there. But I'm comfortable either way. Do you folks want to meet in June for that sake and for the sake of ongoing grant questions? Well, to Julian's point, maybe we write that we write it in now we schedule it. And then if we decide we don't need it, we don't, we don't meet. I think that makes sense. So that would be June 7th. I could do four o'clock on June 7th. I have an appointment with my sleep doctor at four. That is pure, pure irony there. That's great. I could, I could do four o'clock on June 8th. I could do that. Yeah. Or I could do, I could do five on, on the 7th if Tuesdays are better. I do work until five typically. So five would be better for me. Great. Okay. So five on the 7th, Tuesday the 7th. Sure. And Cindy, Tuesday and Wednesday are your days, correct, that you're available? Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and I can sometimes do Mondays if I need to. Okay. All right. Well, why don't we say five o'clock on June 7th? And then, you know, if truly nothing trickles along, then we can, we can cancel and reschedule. Okay. Well, thanks very much, everybody.  Cole, Cole, will you be coming in June? I don't want, I don't want your last meeting to be this and we just don't even get to say goodbye. This will be my last meeting. You will be missed. You will be missed very much. And everything you've done. Thank you. It's been a good time. And I wrote a column in my student newspaper just last week telling people to join this committee and take my spot. So we'll see. Awesome. Would you send a link to that? Yeah, I can. We're going to name and call with this. If you're leaving before the end of what your term would be, it would be best if you just wrote an official letter of resignation that we can submit to the town. Yeah, I was planning on writing one. And we went look for numbers. We're going to need quite a few, like four, I think. Because Jenny is also leaving at the end of her term. So best of luck to you, Cole. Best of luck to you, Cole. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good night, everybody. Good night, everyone. I have one last quick question mostly for Robin. I remember last year the cultural district did, I forget what it was called, but it was like outdoor arts thing. Do you know what that's happening again and if they're looking for volunteers? We will be looking for volunteers for something. We're meeting next week and apparently Matt is also joining the cultural district. Pretty much talking about that thing. Yes? Cool. Yeah, keep me posted because it was just like very nice to be like involved in a thing. So yeah. Yeah, we definitely, I mean, I had been asked about that. I said, well, what is it for? Then I was like, oh, we don't know yet. So it might be something inside and it might be something outside. And yes, we will need help. So yeah. I think you're great. Okay. Good night, everybody. Thank you, everyone. Good night, everyone. Take care. Thanks.


Do you often find yourself being taken advantage of? Perhaps you're often talked down to and treated as less than. Sometimes people can be harsh and judgmental, and you may feel as if they don't hold any respect for you. It's not always nice to hang around those who don't value you. So if given the chance, it may be best to simply walk away and say good riddance. But if you find you are always being subtly treated this way, maybe you'd like to adopt some behaviors to gain respect. You can still be you. You just simply respect yourself enough to not let others walk all over you.  Okay, here are six ways to get people to respect you. Number one, respect yourself first. We should all learn to love ourselves, and in doing so, give us the respect we deserve. Often at times we can be too harsh on ourselves and let our insecurities and dark thoughts take the lead.  Many researchers such as Herbert M. Lefkort state that having a sense of internal locus of control over our own lives is a key condition for our mental health.  Someone with an internal locus of control believes the things that happen to them are strongly influenced by their own actions, abilities, or mistakes. To practice self-respect, you must first allow yourself to say no without feeling guilty. Prioritize what is important in your life, protect yourself, and choose to keep only healthy relationships. It's key to not let others take advantage of you and make sure you get what you pay for in life. So if you're at an ice cream stand and you paid for two scoops of ice cream and only received one, instead of brushing it off, simply ask that you received that extra chocolate scoop and don't feel guilty about it. It's just ice cream and you're hungry. Your priority right now is to satisfy your appetite. And guess what? Ice cream is the way. Two scoops, please. Furthermore, it's important to know you can create your own happiness, not just others. This is a form of self-respect as well. So go ahead and enjoy those two scoops. You respect yourself too much to not appreciate them, and you. Number two, set clear boundaries. It's important to set boundaries for ourselves and others. Let's say your friend often comes over to your house for movie night. You love and care for your friend, but they aren't the most respectful guests.   Do they respect you? It doesn't look like it. A good step would be to set some boundaries for when company comes over and discuss them with your dear friend. You can be kind when discussing this with them and consider their point of view as well. But it's your home and it's ultimately your rules. So tell them they can't keep scavenging through your fridge. Fleas must be on a leash and to keep their cheese-filled hands to themselves, not on the furniture. And pause off the table, fleas. Number three, understand you don't have to be nice all the time. Who wouldn't want to be nice when they want to? But when you feel like you have to at the expense of your own happiness, it's not a good idea. Sadly, a lot of people think they can take advantage of those who are kind to them. This doesn't mean you have to stop being a good person. Just simply know when you must put yourself first. And also, don't feel guilty about it all the time.  But what kind of friend is that? You may feel guilty if you don't accept your friend's invitation to hang out every time, but you just got snuggled into a bubble bath. You'd just like to be alone tonight. Perhaps you don't allow yourself to not smile.  As great as smiling feels, a forced smile can't always make you feel better. Allow yourself to admit you're having a bad day. You don't need to be in a certain mood for anyone. Allowing unnecessary guilt to take control can leave you associating these once happy actions with something forced and uncomfortable. Practice assuring yourself that if you allow yourself the guilt-free time to relax first, you'll only feel happier when the time comes to hang out with your friend next. Number four, speak up. Many of us often have shy personalities. So doing all the talking during a group conversation may not be our thing, but just because you're shy doesn't mean you should let others interrupt you. If others often interrupt you or appears if they aren't listening, there's some tricks you can use to make yourself heard. First, try saying the name of the person you're speaking to mid-conversation. Similar to the cocktail party effect, we will often have our attention pulled back to reality when our names are heard, such as when we're at a cocktail party and hear our name in the distance. You know how your music teacher would always say your name mid-sentence to regain your attention? We're doing the same thing here. Another trick is to often use hand gestures and give an equal amount of eye contact to everyone. Using hand gestures grabs attention and strongly conveys your message. Eye contact? If someone was looking into the depths of your soul, you'd be bound to notice. Just make sure you give everyone equal amounts of eye contact, maybe no soul staring today. Number five, don't over-apologize. Do you often find yourself apologizing for something that wasn't even your fault? It may just become habit to say, sorry, when something goes wrong, you may only want to say it to not be unkind, but your words should carry weight, especially in apology. If you apologize too often, your sorry may be viewed as nothing to others who hear it too often. And unfortunately, over-apologizing can be assigned to others that you are submissive.  Some common things we unnecessarily apologize for. If you don't want to do a favor, don't apologize, it's a favor. If you have an opposing opinion, agree to disagree, it's your opinion. Stand by it. Remember, you don't have to be unkind. Say sorry when sorry is due, but be conscious of how often and how unnecessarily you do say it. And number six, display confident body language. Confidence is key. That's what people often say, and it can be very true most times. If you want to command respect, a good way is to let your body language show that you can't be pushed around. Quite literally too. Strong stance and good posture won't send you toppling over if bumped into. So use good posture and stand up tall. Make good eye contact when listening and speaking. Crossing our arms is often seen as defensive, so it's best to relax them by your side. Carry your head high and eyes forward instead of looking to the ground. Observe the scene at a party. Don't be afraid to people watch. It's a party after all. And remember those hand gestures? Continue to use the mass speaking and you'll be as confident and respected as an Italian chef at a pizzeria. Mamma mia. Sorry, too much ice cream and pizza. Uh, oops, not sorry. So do you often feel disrespected? Will you use these tips? Do you say sorry often? Let us know about a time where you felt disrespected. Which tips would you use to command the respect of others? Share with us in the comments below. If you found this video helpful, don't forget to click the like button and share this video with someone who may need it. Subscribe to Psych2Go and hit the notification bell icon for more content like this. And as always, thanks for watching.


So he was a military guy. I got it bad for those It's the message right here black boy. Tell me how you really feel Cuz I just want to build with you black girl. Tell me how you really feel I Want to keep it real with you. I want to live better eat better I want to love better sleep better. Yeah, I want nobody that's perfect cuz I'm not perfect I don't want anybody that has these ridiculous metrics and none of that. I just want somebody That we can like each other first and they can grow into love and they can be genuine love reciprocate of love and Loyalty and when I say loyalty, I don't mean Cheating cuz I think I have a relatively unique perspective on cheating talk about it. I think it's cheating when you emotionally When you give another woman Your emotions or you can't you have another woman catering to you and vice versa emotionally versus if it's just physical Like I would be less ups I can just go ahead and say I really don't care If I'm with somebody and they dip off every now and then if you know what I mean But it's like you be calling her when you upset That's where it's different in my eyes and I can actually say I got that perspective from my mother She kind of taught me that so and then I just like I was able to see it in my interactions in real life and and So that's not really what I mean when I say loyalty when I say loyalty, I basically mean like If I've been tripping for a while, can I still depend on you to be there? Like if I'm just going if I'm in one of my moods, are you gonna try to break up with me when you upset and It's just I think I have this I don't want to diagnose myself because I haven't spoken to anybody yet like a psychiatrist I haven't gotten into my therapy journey yet. I think I do have abandonment issues. I think I have this thing where I try to Just be extra when it comes to Certain things because I have this fear that eventually It's not gonna leave me like some you know I'm saying something something's gonna go wrong he's gonna get tired he gonna see all these baddies on Instagram and He's gonna be out and it's just that's that's that's why loyalty is so big for me Like are you gonna actually come back home? Like if I have your kid, are you gonna come back home? You know, that's a big thing for me Yeah You just gave me some much needed perspective That's the big thing for me and I just don't want it to wreak havoc in my feelings I don't want to shout at people please anymore because I'm scared that Somebody's gonna walk out the door And I don't really know how many other people Suffer from this if they didn't have a parent in their life So they didn't have a mom or you know because it can happen for guys too guys have issues who had horrible mothers or had absentee mothers And maybe that also speaks to because human beings I think we just naturally seek love and acceptance and I think we That's just in our biology and I just I gotta figure out like what's the game plan to to get in it organically And how to sustain it And how to properly show it and receive it And to just not always have the fear that something's gonna go wrong It's hard out here It's difficult. It's it's just it's so difficult and it just gets it gets worse or it gets worse and worse Because You can be attractive and you can be thick And you can get all the attention like we talked about of guys chasing you down and everything but Nine times that it's in, you know, it's about And so that's why I have the time I don't even have most of the time I don't even entertain my DMs because No, I'm not about to do that. So It's just hard, you know, I don't even know where to start I'm in a point now where I don't even want to Well, first I think I need to just take a break from dating, which is what I've been doing I don't even want to enter it another relationship because that last situation was just too much for me And that's the guy that just recently got married You called him a steam what Was what do you mean by that? There was a video I did With Tanisha talks it premiered last Tuesday and It was you know One of the things we brought up is like every girl has a guy in her phone that like if she called him was like You know what? I'm ready Steve. He would be he would run to where she was and like the guy who was So in love with her, but she just doesn't like them deep in the friends on type of thing. I don't think he was that man. Okay Yeah So he was a military guy. I got it bad for those I Be like he was He wasn't a Steve's like he He got bitches like he was a tall guy six to built muscular But you he won the Steve I actually had to put in some work for me to get his heart and I didn't get that ring but I Know I got the heart to Even to this day Mmm Okay, I don't want to I'm not gonna say no names and give I'm trying not to give away too many details, but He we started messing with each other Talking not necessarily dating like casual sex type situation situation ship Back before I had kind of come into Jiggly back before I had so he met me when I was still overweight It's still drinking at eight o'clock in the morning still, you know so I always wanted him and I always wanted to Have my feelings for him be reciprocated. I always wanted him to want me back And so even though it was just a situation ship, I was just going above beyond those Trying to try to get them right trying to do what she's supposed to do to ensure your man and It kind of worked and it didn't Well, obviously it didn't because he's married now but in the very beginning for a few months, it was just like a bunch of Just casual sex and we have fallouts then we get back on and fall out and get back on and then I Guess we had gotten in that and in between of us like falling out and stuff He would be dealing like other women and stuff like I say you got bitches Um After a while of us just going back and forth in that cycle I don't know what it was because I don't think I really Love change with time like I if we will fall out. I would see how my behavior caused that fallout or if my behavior caused that fallout and I would just kind of like tweak it to okay like You don't raise your voice and you don't like that, you know, like that type of stuff So With time months past of us just like going back and forth in that cycle He finally just came to me one day and we we started like actually dating like for the title on a dating like, you know and I met his mom and everything and I Think part of the reason it felt like most we started dating it felt like it started progressing really fast Which was what I wanted at least a lot, right? but he had me meet his mom and very soon after His lease was going up on his apartment. So we were he was looking for a new apartment and It ended up We ended up talking about like moving together which we did and I think it was then that I realized that I Did all this to get here to get this goal to get him to want me back. I wanted him And I don't know how to do this like I don't know how to how to do this. I don't know how to do this like that. It was Cool when it was casual sex because I come over when we miss each other when we needed each other We do what we do hang out do what we do and then we have our moments apart, but When you live with somebody That's when you start to see all the things you didn't notice like No, you snore is kind of loud But also I had other things like that I didn't work I didn't realize I needed to work on within myself at that time as well So I had a lot of insecurity Which didn't help with the fact that like I say he's an attractive guy And so I won't make him out to be perfect, but I can't even really say our relationship in it because of him Because I just I made life with me. So difficult And it oftentimes it really wasn't even things that he did it was stuff that I had to work on And I was just like extremely emotional and I didn't know how to deal with my emotions and how to deal with them and deal with him at the same time and how to You know just kind of like move around and get out of my own way But one day we just had like a really big blow-up and it didn't help that I was drinking But we had a really big blow-up and It didn't get violent, but like I was like yelling. I was just irate. I was just like there and He just came out the room and he looked at me and he said this right here This is over. Hmm Like I don't know. It was it just That was a wake-up call for me because I had never had a guy come to me and And leave me and break up with me like it's done, you know, so And I'll say that when it originally ended I was trying to find ways that it could be his fault Like I would kept trying to because I was like, I'm a good good girl. Like it's I Didn't put my hands on him. I ain't cheat on him. Like, why would you leave me and I didn't like I didn't get that like I was talking about earlier with how you communicate with the man and the other Things that men need I didn't get that part.


Welcome to the First Unitarian Society. Excuse me, my name is Becky Burns, and I use the pronouns of she or they, and I'm a member here at our congregation. One of the ways I serve it is as a worship associate. Today, I'm joined by one of our ministers, Kelly Asperth Jackson, and the worship team of Linda Warren, Heather Thorpe, Stephen Gregorius, and Daniel Kearns. As well as all of those volunteering today as greeters, ushers, hospitality providers, sound tech, and lay ministers. At First Unitarian Society, we question boldly, listen humbly, grow spiritually, act courageously, and love unapologetically. If you are visiting us today, welcome. We're so very glad you're here with us. If you would like more information about First Unitarian Society, please stop by our welcome table located in the comments. And we also hope that you'll be able to stay and join us for a coffee hour immediately after the service. Following the service today, our climate action team will be leading a discussion circle in the landmark auditorium. And for those of us, those of you connecting with us virtually today, we're very glad that you're here with us as well. And we hope that you'll be able to take a moment and watch the announcement slides after today's service to learn about some upcoming programs and activities. If you haven't already, you'll be receiving a postcard in your mailbox soon. It'll be coming sometime this week, so please take note of it, sign up in the comments, and we offer great thanks to Bev for her volunteer crew, for arranging their support for this event. And now I invite you to join me in a moment of silence, to center ourselves, and bring ourselves fully into this time and space as we join together once again in community. Open the doors, push on looming wooden archers and broidered with ironwork, brace shoulder to shoulder against the weight of history, unmoved, slough off any musty smell of unused joy or stored up sorrow. Knock rust off the hinges if you have to, and let your breath precede you inside. Open the doors more, make room for a shaft of sunlight to cross the threshold, give the dust motes something to dance about, peek through a single slice of possibility, and name even the half-hidden truths you see. Open the doors wider still, pour yourself through the gap, strut or sneak or sidle as suits you best, cleanse whatever scrapes catch your skin, and bind up the wounds that keep you from entering hole. Open the doors as far as they will go, draw on the strength of the stones beneath you, ground yourself in a firm sense of who you are, stand as a beacon welcoming the next seeker, and shine far beyond the lintel and sill. Open all that you are, heighten and deepen your connections to the world around you, broaden your definition of neighbor, grow into the largest target of grace that you can muster, and pray to become a gateway for even greater love and compassion. Open up the doors, my friends, lest we keep the stranger out and condemn ourselves to prisons of our own making. And now I invite you to rise in all the ways that we do and join me in the words of aspiration for the kindling of our chalice flame. May the flame of this chalice, the symbol of our faith, connect us to all who have come before us, all who are with us in body and spirit, and all who are yet to come into being. May it serve as a reminder of our unity and connection across all time and space. And now I invite you to turn to those around you and greet each other with signs of love and peace. When I would like to invite forward anybody who would like to come up here and share a story with me this morning, good morning, those are fancy shoes. Well, good morning, it's good to see you today. Indeed, that is not only is that a picture of a crane, it's a picture of the best dancing crane that I could find in all of my time on Google. So it's getting to be spring now, this morning's temperature notwithstanding. Can we think of any signs that we are seeing in the world around us that make us think about how it's spring? Yes. The W made out of flowers. Yes, at the university. That is definitely a sign of spring in Madison. You are right about that. Yes, did you have something? Yeah, flowers are blooming and it's getting warmer on average. Yes, making seas out of pretzels. I don't know, but I'm intrigued. I wanna know more about this. Yes, animals coming out of hibernation. Yeah, for sure, absolutely. We care for other people that we love. Hopefully a year round activity, but also a good springtime activity. Yes, flowers, I agree. Birds are hatching out of their eggs, out of their shells. Yes. The trees are blooming. They're really blooming right now. Yes. There's buds on the trees. Yes. Plants are getting sunlight. They're growing bigger. They're blooming. They're blossoming. Yes. Buds are growing on the trees. Yes, yes. The flowers are coming up. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. So here is one example that I have in mind. Some of the birds that don't hang out with us all through the winter are coming back now and one of those are the sandhill cranes. Have you seen any sandhill cranes yet this season? Yeah? Some of you have? Not, it's not a sandhill crane, but a crane nonetheless, yes. You saw a crane during the winter, out of place, out of step, undermining the entire background of my argument. Yes, thank you. So I have a story for you today that's about some cranes, or at least some cranes are involved in it, but it starts out with a character named Lu Dongbing. This is a story from a very long time ago in China. Did it really happen? Can't say. But Lu Dongbing is an actual person who lived a long time ago in China. Can I check in with you at the end? Is that okay? Okay, great. So he was traveling from city to city and town to town and he was a very wise person and he was a very kind person, but he didn't have any money at this point in the story. So when he got to a new place, he would have to find someone who would be willing to give him the things that he needed in order to live, things like food and shelter, pretty crucial stuff, even though he couldn't pay them for it. So he went to different restaurants and taverns in each new city and he would go to the place and he would say, look, I would really like something to eat, really appreciate it, but I'm not gonna be able to pay you. And most of the people who ran those restaurants and taverns and other places like that were like, well, goodbye. They were not interested in that arrangement, but there was one person in this one particular city who owned a tavern and when Lu Dongbin explained the situation to him, such as it was, he said, yeah, okay, here, have some food. And Lu Dongbin ate that food and he drank something to drink and he had a very nice evening in the tavern and he thanked the tavern keeper and then he left without paying as they had agreed to at the beginning. And so, about a year passed and he came back through the same town and this time he started in that tavern where they had been so nice to him in the past, where the owner had been so understanding and he said, do you remember me? And the tavern said, I think I do, tavern keeper said. And same arrangement. He ate, he drank, he had a nice time, he didn't pay anything. This happened a few more times, a few more years went by and eventually, on the fourth time, Lu Dongbin said, thank you so much. The meals have been excellent. I am very grateful. I would like to do something for you in return. And so he took out a paintbrush and he went to the wall of the tavern and he painted a beautiful picture, beautiful picture of some cranes on the wall. Big cranes, just like that. So he painted a picture of the cranes and he said, this is a special picture. Play some music and see what happens. And so the tavern folks did, they played some music and the cranes climbed down off of the wall and they started dancing. How do you think that a crane dances? I think it's mostly in the wings, personally. What do you think? Oh, like in ballet, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, what do you think? How do you think a crane dances? Okay, I like that, I like the shoulder action. Yep, yep. Okay, it can do some break dancing on its beak. I think that's awesome. I'm not gonna be able to illustrate it personally. Yes, twirling around, yeah, okay. So the cranes danced and the people in the tavern thought this was a lot of fun and they watched the cranes dance and some of them danced with them. And so Ludong Bin went back on his travels but people came to the tavern from all around to see the dancing cranes to play music and to dance with them and to just enjoy the food at the tavern, to enjoy the company of other people and the music. And this went on for many years. The tavern became very famous. It had a very brisk business. The tavern keeper was doing very well and many, many years later, Ludong Bin came back through the city once again and he came right to the tavern and the tavern keeper greeted him warmly and said how grateful he was to see him and Ludong Bin asked the tavern keeper, have I paid you back what I owed you? The tavern keeper said many, many times over, I have done very well for myself in the years since you painted those cranes on my wall and the tavern, the Ludong Bin said, very good, I am glad that I have repaid my debt and he took out his paintbrush and he painted over the cranes so that they were not there anymore and they wouldn't come down and dance anymore. And do you think that the tavern keeper was disappointed about that? No, I think it would have been reasonable if he had been, I wouldn't be upset with him to be disappointed, but he wasn't. He said, I'm very grateful for what I received. I do not need more than what I got. And you know what else? The people who were used to coming to that tavern to enjoy the dancing cranes, they kept coming to that tavern because in all those years of enjoying the show, they had gotten to know each other and gotten to enjoy each other as well. So it was still worth coming back to that place even if the cranes weren't there anymore. Thank you so much for listening to my story. We're gonna sing a few classes now. Hi. Oh, you can make the world so presence-free. Please join together and rise in body and spirit as we sing hymn number 308, the blessings of the earth and sky. The sounds of wind and water, of animals moving about and calling to each other. The innumerable sounds created by human beings and all our artifice. However, out beyond our planet's atmosphere into the vast gaps between the stars which compose most of the cubic footage of the cosmos, it is a different story. Waves and particles still fly about. It is beautifully, mysteriously complicated up there. But the human ear is evolved from our environment down here such that there is very little for us to literally hear in space. In a sense, the world is loud, but the universe is quiet. So now, in order that we might commune for a time with that vast cosmic silence, let us spend this moment together, resting in reverent quiet. Amen. It must have been hot when they set out into the desert. The spring in Egypt is not what I would call mild. And although the local climate has shifted somewhat in 3,000 years, the Sinai was a desert then as it is a desert now. In the story of the Exodus, of the liberation of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt, the possibility of freedom comes abruptly and is almost immediately revoked. It is a daring, desperate flight into the wilderness seeking to outrun the grasp of oppression. And in addition to the strain, the struggle, and the fear of that moment, it must have been hot because the story goes that the people had no time to let bread rise and bake conventionally. They just flattened the dough and carried it on their backs, letting it bake in the sun. That is the reason why the Jewish Festival of Passover, which commemorates the story of the Exodus from Egypt and which begins this coming Monday night, is also known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Being a Jewish holiday here in the context of Unitarian Universalism, some number of us celebrate Passover and most of us do not. Our tradition is shaped and informed by many different strands of human spirituality and one of these is Judaism. We do not all need to share a given practice or a particular theology in order to engage with it and to learn from it. This vast breadth to our tradition is among its most distinctive and vital qualities when we engage it deeply and with care. Here at FUS, our spiritual theme this month is interdependence, the ways in which our lives and the freedoms and purposes which give those lives meaning rely upon each other. So with Passover about to begin, as a Unitarian Universalist and a Jew for whom this holiday holds deep meaning, I am inviting you to join me in considering some lessons that we might draw from the particularities of this festival and the story that animates it. So first, just the bare bones of the narrative. Once, the children of Israel were a single family. They were called the children of Israel because there was one man named Israel and his children, their associated households. The family settled in Egypt where they were welcomed and over generations they grew numerous until the pharaoh, the king, out of fear or greed or malice or all three decided to subjugate the children of Israel, the Hebrew speaking people in his midst. They became slaves and there was suffering and death for a very long time. Until the cry for freedom rose to heaven. The demand for justice reached the pharaoh and he refused again and again and with each new refusal life got worse for everyone, even the pharaoh. So that one day he relented and the people fled quickly in case he changed his mind, which he did. He chased after them, trying to recapture them, to force them back into slavery, but pharaoh failed and the people got free. This is not a history. It is a type of story older and more powerful than that. It is a myth. And while history is full of details that have no discernible larger meaning, every element of a myth matters. At the triumphant moment of the Exodus story at the edge of the desert, the people are certainly hot and probably tired, but they are free. And who is they? According to the story, the people who left Egypt were a mixed multitude, not just Hebrews. But many other Egyptians besides. Perhaps due to connections of family or other close relationships, maybe just getting out of, because getting out of Egypt seemed like a really good idea to a lot of people at that moment. There is no freedom in a slave holding society. There's just the people that you can step on and the people who can step on you. So when they left Egypt, they left as a coalition. This is the central event that Passover celebrates, literally the point at which its signature lack of leavening enters the narrative. And who is it for? A diverse community, not a uniform group, but all sharing in the realized possibility of liberation. Now the lessons that I have to offer you from this are probably already obvious. About how the struggle for liberation from oppression can unite us across differences and variations. How powerful we can become together when we do not make sameness the precondition for belonging. In the text of the Torah, the central account of this ancient story, the message is incredibly hopeful. The mixed multitude is blessed and embraced. The whole body sets out together with one common good between them, one destiny in front of them. The sad truth is that it does not last. A millennia or two later, it would become relatively common as an idea in Jewish thought to blame certain offenses committed and woes experienced by the many generations after the Exodus on this mixed quality. Recasting as weakness or corruption, the hallmark of the most transcendently joyful moment in the tradition's very origin story. Now a lot of people across time and space have buttressed their fears and prejudices with bad theology. That human tendency is not news. So I pointed out not to spoil the hope and possibility of a mixed multitude, not to discourage us from embracing the power of our differences, but to remind us that the scapegoating impulse about anyone and everyone who got here or got over a minute or more after you did is hack material. That joke was played out before the invention of the printing press. Now from mythology, sometimes mistaken for history, let us move to a matter of history too often misunderstood as mythology. You probably know that the Seder, the ritual meal of Passover, has a ritual plate which holds and displays certain crucial foods important in conducting the meal and telling the story through it. There are six elements usually considered traditional, although that tradition actually has a long history of evolution and change. For instance, there used to be a fish, which is a whole different sermon, although ironically, also having to do with the erasure of women leaders as this one is about to be. Some number of us have heard this story before, I am sure, of why it is that some people, each Passover, place an orange on their Seder plate. For those of us who haven't, it goes something like this. At some synagogue, somewhere, some time, in relatively recent history, a woman was giving a scholarly talk on a topic of interest to the congregation. Occasionally, when this story is told, a phrase that is grounded in the configuration of Jewish religious space, that you can get the gist of. This character needs no particular credential to know intrinsically that his is the most important voice in the room. This anonymous wag interrupted the scholar in order to loudly declare children is why, every year at this time, we put an orange on our Seder plate as an act of brazen defiance against the patriarchy. Defiance demonstrated by allowing a momentary, impulsive act by a single anonymous man to essentially dictate a change in ritual practice for generations to come. Now, some of us who know this story also know that it did not happen, that it is not the actual story of the orange on the Seder plate. I said before that the woman on the Bema sometimes has a name, and when she does, it is usually the correct one. Dr. Susanna Heschel, a contemporary scholar and professor of Jewish studies. But the man in the story doesn't have a correct name because there is no man in the actual story. The actual story is that in the early 80s, Dr. Heschel visited Oberlin College and she encountered there a particular Haggadah, the book that provides the stories and prayers to guide a group through the Passover Seder. This Haggadah had been composed by a group of students to express their intersecting values of feminism and queer liberation. As one expression of this, the text called for placing a crust of leavened bread on the Seder plate, a sign of radical inclusion and solidarity with Jewish lesbians. Today we might extrapolate this to all members of the LGBTQI spectrum. As they had been told time and again that they could not belong in Judaism had no place in Jewish space, the crust of bread was meant to symbolize the exact opposite. Dr. Heschel was moved by the concept but found the implementation too transgressive. That crust of bread is the most fundamentally forbidden thing during the holiday of Passover. To her, its presence on the Seder plate was a desecration. It would invalidate the Seder itself and it would reinscribe the contempt for and intolerance of queerness that it was trying to answer. So she devised a new ritual. She placed an orange on her family's Seder plate as a symbol of everyone excluded from and marginalized within the tradition. It was not there just to be looked at, it was there to be eaten, to be peeled and divided up into sections and shared around the table so that everyone could taste the sweetness of it so that everyone could practice expanding the circle of inclusion to something that had not been included before and so that everyone would have to spit out the seeds. Symbolic of the patriarchy, the homophobia, the queerphobia and all other dimensions of bigotry and bias that we must spit out of ourselves and overcome in our society. The actual story and the more fulsome practice that goes along with it offers us some strategies for building solidarity with one another. Being willing to create and adapt new practices, holding an intentional place for those people and identities that have been pushed to the margins. Accepting that the project of dismantling systems of oppression will sometimes call on us to do things that others find impolite, like spitting at the dinner table. Understanding the confrontation with intolerance as something that requires concrete action and begins within ourselves. It also counsels us to be mindful of the actual stories of things. Without some rigor in attending to the who's, where's and why's of things, our stories can drift away from the challenging and towards the comforting, away from disruption and complexity and towards simplicity and complacency. Like most progressive Jewish people in America, I keep this practice. Whenever I host a Seder, there is an orange on the plate. Even if I often struggle to find one with actual seeds in it. But there is a third layer to this story. I think we should trouble ourselves with. And that is to sit with the question of whether or not the transformation of the crust of bread into an orange was actually the same sort of change as the one that turned a woman's scholars considered innovation into a reflexive reaction to the prejudice of a single anonymous man. Each change renders its subject less radical, less challenging, less a confrontation with the underlying assumptions of the system it is embedded in. A story about feminist practice becomes centered on a man. A story about transgressive solidarity becomes a new affirmation for the tradition that it was transgressing against. I do not know, but it may well be, that there was someone for whom something powerful was lost in Dr. Heschel's innovation. Someone who might say, "'I was never so lucky as to be treated like an orange. Surprising, but not unwelcome, sweet, and worthy of a place at the table." No, it's the crust of bread that represented my experience. Cast out, anathema, forbidden. When I looked at it, I saw myself there in the ritual for the first and only time. I do not say this to criticize Dr. Heschel or the gift of practice he has given to contemporary Judaism. A practice I follow myself. I say it to name a question that I do not have an easy answer for, which I believe we all need to make time to sit with. Every practice of inclusion entails some transformation for the group doing the including. Where is the right boundary line precisely? Between transformation for the in-group and acclamation for the newly included. Rounding the bend now, and noticing that this whole message really has been about some of the finer points of Jewish story and practice, I am willing to bet that at least one of you is wondering, what does this actually have to do with me? I can enjoy the intellectual stimulation of a lecture on comparative religion from time to time, but I am not Jewish and this whole thing has gotten pretty deep in the weeds. And it's all right if you feel that way. I still love you. My liberation is still bound up with yours. But I have brought this to you, both of these detailed specific examples from some of the stories and rituals that deeply shape who I am, because they are both about and Passover, so far as I am concerned, is about and Unitarian Universalism is absolutely about welcoming the wholeness of every precious individual person into an arrangement of full belonging with the larger whole, which means that sometimes we hear stories we didn't know before. If we're honest, not everyone is gonna speak to us. Sometimes we share practices that feel unfamiliar, possibly even uncomfortable, although bodily integrity and a baseline of psychological security is always a fair expectation. Our creedless faith refuses to make coerced sameness a precondition for a place at the table, which means that we get the opportunity and bear the responsibility to learn from each other in all of our differences and specificities. The traditional Haggadah and nearly all of the less than traditional ones I have encountered contains a formula. The leader indicates the matzah, the unleavened bread at the table and pronounces in part, this is the bread of affliction, which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Let all who are hungry come and eat. Let all who are in need come and celebrate the Passover. The terms that we set for belonging, at least explicitly, for moving into relationship with us in our congregation are very nearly as vast and generous and open as this ancient invitation. Our promises have already been made. The work as ever is only for us to live up to them. I invite you now into this time of giving and receiving where we give freely and generously to this offering which sustains our community here as well as our outreach offering recipient who this week is a ray at forward. A project that FUS initiated with our partners that renew Wisconsin, a ray at forward provides advice on financing and energy efficiency as well as seed money for solar energy projects for nonprofit organizations. With your help, this program will continue to provide the gift of green energy for years to come. There are multiple ways to share your gifts this morning. Baskets are now being passed here in the auditorium for cash or checks. And you will see on the screen that you can donate directly from our website, fusmedicine.org. You will find our text to give information there as well. We thank you for your generosity and your faith and your faith in this life that we create together. Enjoy the losses of our days. We hold our own pain and celebration together with those. We share these here, knowing they're held gently in care, in support and in love. We light a candle of memory and mourning for Barbara Ellen Strong who passed from life last week. Barbara's a very long time member of FUS, fiercely committed to this institution and maintained her presence among us physically even when it was exceedingly difficult for her to do so. Private Memorial was held for Barb this past week and a public celebration of her life will be planned for later this spring. It allows that she touched, be strengthened and heartened by her memory. One of us lights a candle for their two year old and their care team at UW Children's Hospital as he approaches surgery this week. We extend to you our care, our hope for a good outcome. They all go well. We light a candle for all those who feel isolated by grief, by chronic pain, by mental illness and all others who are alone and lonely. To you we extend our compassionate hearts. We light a candle of ongoing lament for the violence which plagues our world. Fervently we yearn for peace here at home and around the globe. We light a candle for all those joys and sorrows, hopes and dreams that remain unspoken in the silent sanctuaries of our hearts. I invite you now to turn with me both inward and outward and join together in an attitude of meditation and prayer. Now in the season of spring as the rains fall gently on the angry and the fearful, the joyful and the sad alike. And as the earth gives forth its greenery once more, let us turn our hearts towards those who need our care. We think of those whose faces are now wet with tears in this season of falling waters, whether they be tears of grief or lights gone out of the world or tears of pain or sufferings of others or of their own. May those tears give sustenance to some new possibility as the spring rains help to melt the snow on the mountaintop and feed the rushing river below. Spirit of hope, current of life that draws us ever onward. Teach us to be patient with ourselves and others and show us courage in our crying. We think also of those who want for the stuff of life in the season of blossoming renewal. May the rebirth of the natural world foretell a rebirth of the human heart as well. A resuscitation of mercy and justice and loving-kindness until to help all who need it is our guiding goal. Spirit of love, heartbeat within every heartbeat. Teach empathy to us and help us never to forget it. We think finally of those who are not free in these days that celebrate freedom, whether that bondage comes from outside or within. May every chain be broken, every tyrant deposed. May every yoke be lifted up and every message of self-hatred be wiped away clear. Spirit of freedom, wind that blows from all directions, unfailing and undaunted.  May the meditations of our hearts lead to the work of our hands. Amen. Rise and body or in spirit as we sing our closing hymn number 318, we would. Ancestor Theodore Parker prayed for us, be ours a religion which like sunshine goes everywhere. Its temple, all space, its shrine, the good heart, its creed, all truth, its rituals, works of love, its profession of faith, divine living. And so I charge you to show your faith by living it. The work of our religion is whatever love demands of you. Seek and believe all of and only the truth. Worship at the altar of every heart you meet. Move as gently in the world as you do in this place.  Amen. Blessed be, go in peace and please be at rest for the postlude.