What happened at General Assembly?

[applewuud]

I missed going to GA this year...had to work. I really like being part of a "megachurch" once a year, for the services, the workshops, and the rare chance to hear reasonable debate about important issues not screened by the corporate media.

So, how was it? We can get the info off the UUA website...and I'll go and watch the videos of the main services and speeches...but was anyone there who can give a report on how things felt this year? What was the main energy?

As to votes, I understand we voted to replace the word "church" in a lot of official documents with "congregation", a change much welcomed by UUJA (UUs for Jewish Awareness) members. But that's about all I've heard, so far, except for the local media in South Carolina obsessively focusing on the fact we had a speech by the Sufi imam who's wanting to build a mosque at Ground Zero.

Any change in the plans for next year's GA in Phoenix? (It was going to be cut back a lot in protest of the anti-immigrant law Arizona passed.)

Was there any discussion about the idea of the Association offices moving out of Boston to the suburbs (to the old campus of Hebrew College)? I'd hate to lose the historical position right on Boston Common, but can see practical reasons (mostly, the incredible value of the real estate there) why they might move.

 

[Storm]

I couldn't go.

 

[JonathanCid]

Well, I know that a statement of conscience on "ethical eating" was passed. The gist of it sounded good to me, but I've read some complaints about classism with regards to the statement.

Also, that next year's General Assembly will be a special "justice" GA, and will still take place in Phoenix, AZ. It seems they decided it would be better to have a "justice" GA and show presence in Arizona than to boycott and have GA elsewhere in response to Arizona's immigration laws. I tend to agree.

This is a pretty good summary of events at GA, I think: http://www.uua.org/news/pressroom/pressreleases/185114.shtml

I was able to watch some of General Assembly thanks to UU Planet TV, and loved it, especially the youth bridging service.

 

[Lucian]

I checked it out over the internet. It was horrible to watch the ethical eating thing. The imam's speech was interesting and Nick Page's performance was great.

 

[Storm]

What was horrible about ethical eating?

 

[Lucian]

What was horrible about ethical eating?

All the arguing over minor details. I also didn't understand the topic and it didn't seem very interesting.

 

[Storm]

I see.

 

[applewuud]

It is a lot more difficult to find videos from the GA website this year. After a sidetrack to Vimeo, I finally found them on:

UUA General Assembly 2011 in Charlotte, NC - live streaming video powered by Livestream

Don't be put off by the advertisements (for beer!) or the "OFFLINE" color bars--look below for the 14 videos they've saved, covering the plenary sessions, worships, and Ware lecture by Karen Armstrong.

Vimeo has some workshop videos, apparently.

 

[bicker]

All the arguing over minor details. I also didn't understand the topic and it didn't seem very interesting.

I think the details discussed weren't actually minor for those interested in the issues underlying the ethical eating statement. One of the great things about UU is that we don't all have to place every one of the UU's issues at the top of our own personal list of priorities: We can each choose to value some of the issues more than others. The association reflects a consensus view of what's important - not a compromise, but pretty-much a true consensus. Coming to consensus takes work.

I'm personally very interested in ethical eating issues, and our congregation has also chosen to spend the next two years focusing on engaging our local community - operationalizing the ethical eating statement of conscience. I think perhaps one of our responsibilities, in choosing to do so, is to make the issues "real" for people of conscience, so that many more people come to understand the importance, understand more of the nuances, and understand what we all should be doing differently, as a result.

 

[applewuud]

GA debates are much more fun if you're actually there; on video you can't capture the whole vibe. However, endlessly debating about details is part of the mix, unfortunately. A real democracy, which GA is a rare example of, can be tedious. It's sort of like a town meeting where everyone who shows up is intelligent, articulate and wants to influence the course of events.