Ethically Speaking

Newsletter of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture

May & June 2012

Special Spring Events
Thursday May 10th from 7-10PM

We are all just a little bit different, and that gives our congregation a deep well of strength. Lately, I have been thinking about all of the gifts each of you brings to our community: food prep, creativity, party planning, presiding, photography, business acumen, and passion for justice. The list could literally fill this page. As I get to know long time members and newcomers more and more, I am privy to beautiful thoughts about what brings you to Ethical Culture. I love hearing what you think is special and unique about BSEC and what is nurtured in you when you come here on Sundays. Keep sharing with me, and if you feel like it, I encourage you to have these conversations with each other too. There is nothing more grounding than a shared joy of a place that feels like home, a community, or even a place where people smile when you walk into the room. People tell me our congregation is so genuinely welcoming when they visit us. I have all of you to thank for that. We are a congregation where lifes joys and sorrows are shared, alike. We have a great foundation to build upon, and I think we have many opportunities and challenges for growth ahead of us. I look forward to crossing those bridges with you. With peace, Catherine

Dear Members and Friends

Greetings from the Board

Dear BSEC Members, Spring is really in the air now! As ever, theres a lot going on at BSEC. March saw a fun and tasty 105th BSEC birthday party as well as an engaging first workshop on Restorative Circles. Ethical Actions Chat n Chews are going strong, the membership committee is hard at work, and, of course, we continue our strong platform schedule on Sundays. Here on the Board of Trustees theres much to look forward to. First, mark your calendars for our annual member meeting on Sunday, June 10th at 11am. Well take that time to celebrate another year together and reflect on the year behind us. Well also vote on a number of important things about which youll hear more in the coming weeks: a new budget for the next fiscal year, a proposal to reduce the size of the Board of Trustees, and a slate of candidates for the BSEC Board 2012-2013. All members in good standing are invited to run for the Board. Right now, the Board is focused on a few development projects in particular, in addition to our routine oversight of BSEC. First, were looking at the Good Coffeehouse to find ways of invigorating our longstanding Friday night concert series. We see its potential as a highly desirable space for local artists to perform and as a way of connecting us to our community at large through the arts. It can better reflect the interests of our BSEC community, be a festive place for members and others to congregate, and can serve as a more effective fundraising tool for the Society. If you have ideas or suggestions to contribute or if youd like to be a part of this process in any way (booking, learning to run sound, snacks, volunteering) please contact Jean Rohe at jeanrohe@gmail.com. Since last year, our Childrens Sunday Assembly has undergone some exciting changes. We have a new lead teacher, Alva Rogers, a new curriculum developed by Catherine Bordeau, and, if you havent noticed, quite a few new faces in our Continued on p.2

Board meeting: The board will meet in

the BSEC library . Members and Nonmembers are welcome to attend. Sunday May 12th 11AM

Candidate Without a Prayer With Herb Silverman

He will talk about his fight to change the constitution and his new book Candidate Without a Prayer: An Autobiography of a Jewish Atheist in the Bible Belt. Sunday May 20th 11 AM

Stop Stop & Frisk with Brooklyn Councilman Jumaane Williams

As one of the leading critics of the NYPDs Stop & Frisk strategy subjecting young men of color to unwarranted searches. He will fill us in on the battle and evaluate the prospects of community policing. Stick around after the platform for the Member Recognition Picnic from 12:30-3PM Sunday June 3rd 11 AM

Peace Site Award With Greg Tewksbury

The Ethical Action Committee will celebrate its annual Peace Site Awardee: the National Lawyers Guild which will be awarded to either Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director or Abi Hassen, Mass Defense Coordinator. Sunday June10th 11 AM

Annual Member Meeting

Before our bi-annual member meeting our Clergy Leader in training will offer a brief reflection on gratitude and recognize our members and community leaders for all that they do in our congregation! For More information about these and other events visit our website. www.bsec.org

Ethically Speaking ~ May & June

Transitioning to a Low Carbon Future

by Rosemarie Hester

Back Then
By Eugene Carrington
Back Then Do you remember the distance the wind the beauty how near but how far it all was back then Deer crossed the winding narrow roadsides nearby trees were so green morning sky so blue, so blue morning dew sparkled on wild spring flowers cold water flowed downstream past our cabin on the hill Do you remember the odors the colors the birds the sounds of nature how near but how far it all was.....back then do you remember the life we lived as young lovers (back then)? The Writers Group includes writers of all levels and disciplines dedicated to promoting the art and craft of writing. The Writers Group will be meeting in the BSEC library on the 2nd floor on the following Sundays from 1-3PM: May 13, May 27, June 10, and June 24. To receive additional information or to receive reminder announcements, location changes or cancellations contact Kim Brandon: kimdarniece@optonline.net. Members and non-members of BSEC are welcome. and we welcome member suggestions about how to proceed. And if youve still got your calendar handy, June 14-17 is the 2012 American Ethical Union Assembly in Albany. Our own Catherine Bordeau will present a workshop, Adios to Burnout with Society Volunteers, and members from our Board will be in attendance. All members are welcome and encouraged to come to Assembly to meet others from Ethical Societies around the country and learn more about Ethical Culture. More information about the AEU Assembly can be found on our information table on Sundays or at www.aeu.org. In peace, Jean RohePresident Rebecca LurieVice-President

In celebration of Earth Day, BSEC held a platform on April 15 about the Transition movement, which seeks to foster the resilience of local communities in response to the fact that the Age of Cheap Oil is in decline and that we must act together now in response to Climate Change. Brooklyn Ethical Vice President and longtime member Rebecca Lurie is actively involved in launching the Transition Initiative in Brooklyn and presided. The Transition movement, founded by Rob Hopkins in England in 2006, represents a "push toward clean air, sunshine, rediscovering each other, community and celebration. (It) is a key shift in our perception. The difference between change that feels like being torn away from something and change that feels like moving toward something is huge...It suggests that collective intentional transition could lead us to a far better place than where we are today." Having spread to communities across the globe, the movement has taken many different forms, depending on
Continued from p. 1 classes. As we benefit from Alva, Otis, and Simbas energy, as well as the commitment of parents and others in our community whove stepped up to support the CSA, the Board of Trustees understands that the CSA is still a work in progress that can and should continue to be shaped by our teachers, students, and community. We are committed to fostering curriculum and staff development, deepening parent and congregational engagement, and supporting Catherine as both our Clergy Leader in Training and our Religious Education director in this time of rapid growth.

the needs and resources of each individual environment. A great resource is The Transition Companion," a workbook which explains the importance of "permaculture," a system of agricultural habits that can be permanently sustained for the benefit of people and the Earth, and "resilience," which refers to the important human ability to adapt. In follow-up, you are also invited to attend the Brooklyn Food Conference on May 12 at Brooklyn Tech HS in Fort Greene for panels on sustainability and justice with other concerned residents of our borough. - Rosemarie Hester, Ethical Action Committee Co-Chair

BSEC Board President Jean Rohe performing at the Earth Day Platform.
Photo credit: Ben Halberstam

Finally, you may remember from our winter membership meeting that the Board of Trustees, with the indispensable leadership of Rebecca Lurie, introduced a plan to simplify and clarify the structure of our administrative and programmatic committees so that we can be a more effective participatory organization. In an effort to move this process ahead, the Board will initiate some leadership development workshops in the next year. As a memberdriven organization we need to cultivate our skills as facilitators and organizers for our programs and committees. We hope these workshops will help us develop a common language around our processes and procedures so that many more among us can feel confident as leaders. We are still very much in the planning phase of this initiative

2 Ethically Speaking ~May& June 2012

Weve tried to integrate some of what the children are learning (and songs they are writing) into our Sunday platforms. On May 6th, our children will lead the entire platform. We have monthly parent circle meetings, and we have two parent co-chairs for this group. Like me and our talented teachers, many of you have ideas for what our Sunday programming for children could or should include. Please continue to bring these ideas to our monthly parent circle meetings. Not all of these changes can or will be implemented (especially not immediately), but most of them will be helpful in shaping the future of our program. To make many of these ideas really successful, we need parents to be involved and taking leadership. Some of the ideas that I think will be able (or will need) to be integrated next year include the following: More service learning opportunities for our children to be giving back to the community at BSEC and in wider Brooklyn. We want these opportunities to be integrated into what our children learn on a theoretical level, and we need your help to do it. A stronger curriculum for our middle school class to study and learn about world religions, including visiting the diversities of religious communities in person. We need a disciplinary procedure to be developed by parents and teachers. If a child misbehaves, we want to make sure that parents, teachers and staff are all on the same page as to the next steps to handle it properly. If (and when) a child bullies another, what steps do we take and how do we take them in a way that respects all families involved but also teaches the child in the process? We need your help and support to develop and implement this. It cannot be done without parents. I think our teachers and classrooms would benefit from having another adult in the room. I suggest a group of Classroom Guides is needed. This would mean adults who can run for supplies, help with behavior and focus, and just generally be of use as needed. My hope is that a group of adults would volunteer individually for 3-4 weeks a year to serve in our classrooms during platform. As our classes continue to grow in size, we will need something like this whether the adults are volunteers or paid staff. This is a conversation the entire community needs to have.

CSA Calendar
Sunday May 6th 11 AM The Lion, the Witch and the Agnostic Bookshelf

Ethical Education: Ever Expanding

Our Childrens Sunday Assembly programming has undergone many changes and challenges these past two years. In June 11, I was asked by the board to step in as Ethical Education director in addition to my duties as Leader and Coming of Age director. This was an unusual role for a clergy person to take on, and I understood my role to be helping to develop systems for the Sunday School so that we could transition and hire another professional to manage it all. Since June, weve made many changes, and I want to share them with you here. We started a Preschool class (which has brought in 23 families to visit us). We developed age-appropriate curriculum on various themes for our three classes: preschool, elementary & middle school. My hope is to develop a three-year cycle for our curriculum. We developed more print materials to market our programs, including advertisements published in local papers and blogs. We had every family register for Sunday School so that we can know your childrens challenges and gifts (and allergies). We take attendance, so that we can know who attends when (and give out attendance awards). We had a winter sleepover with our families at BSEC, and hopefully, well have another one in June. We brought back the programs of Mystery Pals as well as Parent Night Out.

With Catherine Bordeau and the Childrens Sunday Assembly The Sunday school will join the full congregation to share what they have been learning this year. Preschoolers will sing, the Lower Assembly class will perform a play called Choices written and directed by their teacher Otis Cotton. And our Upper Assembly class will share some of their own Ethical Culture thoughts. Come support our children and youth!

Sunday June 24th 11 AM New Beginnings: Planting Seeds

With Coming of Age Grads Our Coming of Age participants will graduate in this ceremony where we will also celebrate the work of children throughout this past year in the Childrens Assembly. Please come hear the presentations by our Coming of Age graduates as we celebrate and welcome them into their next roles in our community.

We need to think seriously as a community about how the CSA is financially feasible. Currently, our registration fees do not cover the cost of having a CSA. The congregation has decisions to make about how and how much we want to invest in the future by investing in our childrens programming. We are in tough economic times, but we are a cooperative community where I think we can work out an achievable plan together. Our Childrens Sunday Assembly is truly ever expanding and ever-evolving. We need you parents and adults at BSEC to help make it the strongest possible program. We are the community many parents in Park Slope and beyond are looking for, and I think were close to growing by leaps and bounds because we have an amazing Sunday School.

Ethically Speaking ~ May. & June 2012

Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture 53 Prospect Park West Brooklyn, NY, 11215 718-768-2972 www.bsec.org

Remember to Send in Your in Pledges

BSEC: Raising free-thinkers since 1907.
Stay informed, connected, and involved with BSEC on the web:
Website: www.bsec.org Blog: www.bsec.org/BSEC/Blog. html Facebook: Friend Brooklyn Ethical and Like our page:Facebook.com/ EthicalCultureBrooklyn Twitter: We are on Twitter! Follow us @BrooklynEthical Join our new and improved mailing list: subscribe at our website to receive our weekly community builder and stay informed about upcoming events. To join BSEC as a member please contact Catherine Bordeau: Bordeau.bsec@gmail.com
BSEC Staff Catherine Bordeau - Leader in Training Damal Edmond -Administrative Director Ben Halberstam - Communications Manager

AEU National Assembly: June 14-17th in Albany, NY

Its that time of year again, when the societies across the American Ethical Union (AEU) turn their thoughts towards the 97th AEU National Assembly, which will be held in Albany, NY from June 14-17. You can recharge your batteries with workshops like Adios to Burnout for Society Volunteers and learn strategies and tools for strengthening leadership at our society. The entire day on Saturday will be devoted to workshops and panels with experts
Newsletter Editors Ben Halberstam Joel Shatzky

from across the field in Criminal Justice Reform. Were also hoping for a special visit from a previous governor of NY State Come be a part of our national movement and get to know wonderful people from across the country! For more information and to register visit: www.bit.ly/aeulayleadership

Board of Trustees 2011-2012 Fiona Boneham" " Tom Castelnuovo Louise Daniel" " Alec Gershberg Rebecca Lurie" " Lucy McNair Jean Rohe

4 Ethically Speaking May & June-2012