When the young adults and their allies come together at ConCentric, there is covenant formed that binds us together as we do the spiritual work in our business meetings. Through the rest of the year, like any organisation the bylaws advise us as to how we should operate, and according to the bylaws, their amendment is the exclusive purview of the ConCentric business meeting.(Section 5.A.3.i)

Before General Assembly this year, I heard a disturbing rumour from one of the General Assembly Young Adult Caucus leaders. They told me that there were no plans to elect a YA Caucus Facilitator, as the SC was changing the makeup of the Conferences Planning Committee, and elevating the Deans of the three C*UUYAN conferences to full seats on the CPC, and getting rid of the intermediary Facilitator positions. This change to the committee structure isn't a bad idea in my opinion, but I do take issue with how the Steering Committee (who supposedly operates the elections at the C*UUYAN conferences) was going about this.

General Assembly is in June.
ConCentric is in August.
The SC is proposing an amendment to the bylaws that will change the makeup of the CPC (Section 7.A). There is at least one other proposal to change the same committee in different ways that is also being presented to the ConCentric body, which would retain the Facilitator positions. It's also not uncommon for the ConCentric body to make major revisions to resolutions and amendments before passing them.

So, knowing that it's possible the bylaws won't be amended to do away with the YA Caucus Facilitator position, or will pass a different one, why would the Steering Committee not hold an election that the bylaws require them to? Is this the SC members working in Right Relationship with the body of C*UUYAN?

I'd say not.

This all would have been very simple to do in a respectful and honest way. There was a ruling made at ConCentric 2005 in Boone, Iowa, that clarified that all newly elected C*UUYAN leaders take their offices at the end of ConCentric that CALENDAR year. Thus, a Facilitator elected by the GA Young Adult Caucus 2007 would take office after ConCentric 2007.
Similarly, C*UUYAN Bylaw amendments take effect that same ConCentric, unless specifically stated otherwise in their adoption.

The person running the elections during the GA Young Adult Caucus Business Meetings could have stated that pending the outcome of bylaw amendments, the Facilitator said Caucus elected may never take office, as there was a proposal to remove the conferences Facilitators from the CPC entirely. This didn't happen.

So, for members of C*UUYAN and members of Congregations who pay into the UUA which then gives grants for C*UUYAN to operate, how are we to trust what it is the C*UUYAN Steering Committee and Conferences Planning Committee do with the power we give them? These committees were elected in covenant to serve C*UUYAN, according to the bylaws and procedures we have put in place, and these committees have violated that trust, by not following those rules.

How can they gain it back?

I have a prediction... it's not huge thing, but I think I can predict what will happen surrounding a couple people... or rather, one specific thing, and I'm going to make this prediction, and see how well I managed to do. I swear I've not read any of the early released information available anywhere. Not even a book review.

Remember the locket that no one at Grimauld Place could open? My bet is that said locket is the horcrux that was supposed to be on the island that Albus and Harry went to at the end of Half Blood Prince. This is nothing new, many people have made this connection already, as the letter to Voldemort was signed R.A.B, or Regulus Arcturus Black (how do I know the middle name of Sirius' brother is Arcturus? Look at the Black family tree in the film version of Order of the Phoenix, which is all canon information supplied to Director David Yates by Rowling herself).

The real prediction comes next: Harry is going to realise that he's had the locket the whole time, at Grimauld place, so he'll head off, relieved to have something to do, only to find that the locket is now missing. A bit of thinking then leads him to believe that Mundungus stole it, along with quite a lot of the other Black family goodies, during Harry's 6th year at Hogwarts. There may or may not then be a lot of Order action, trying to get to Mundungus in Azkaban prison to find out where the horcrux is, only to end up finding that he has no idea what they're going on about.

Then, Harry will realise that Kreacher the house elf probably took the locket and hid it away, along with a lot of other of his mistress LeStrange's precious things, to keep Mundungus from stealing them too, so Harry really did have the horcrux available to him the whole time.

Oh, and Kreacher will feel AWFUL for having helped the Potter boy.

Now, I'll admit, I'm the goon that hasn't finished his degree yet, but really now, there has to be something in the way of a decent job in this town. I've been in the market for a new job for about the last year. The company I work for is not in the best shape, and I'd really like to be making more money than what I am, as doing so would let me do things like attend General Assembly. So I've been looking.

I found one. It's not glamourous, but it's money that's at less of a risk of disappearing than my other job (which I'm staying in for the time being). I'm delivering newspapers, between 2am and 6am in the morning. Today was the first day I did the route myself (With Tessie actually), instead of tagging along with someone else, and oh was it rough. The advantage I have is that the route includes the area that I grew up in. I know 2/3 of the route like the back of my hand. The DISadvantage is, the way I've been given the route to do is OBSCENE in how inefficient it is, so I'm at "work", redesigning my route for my OTHER job because there is no way I could do this route the way it is, and be assured of a high enough accuracy.

Event planning, geek for hire, customer service, call center... if you know of a job in ANY of those realms, send me a line hm?

The Redistricting Game is designed to educate, engage, and empower citizens around the issue of political redistricting. Currently, the political system in most states allows the state legislators themselves to draw the lines. This system is subject to a wide range of abuses and manipulations that encourage incumbents to draw districts which protect their seats rather than risk an open contest.

By exploring how the system works, as well as how open it is to abuse, The Redistricting Game allows players to experience the realities of one of the most important (yet least understood) aspects of our political system. The game provides a basic introduction to the redistricting system, allows players to explore the ways in which abuses can undermine the system, and provides info about reform initiatives - including a playable version of the Tanner Reform bill to demonstrate the ways that the system might be made more consistent with tenets of good governance.

I've spent a bit of time playing through this game, er, learning tool. It's actually rather interesting, and I think I'm definitely in favour of this "Tanner Bill" they've mentioned. It's a good way to blow off a couple hours of work. :-)

Saturday mairn'n comes about, and we're off to Meijer with a trunk full of pop bottles. I don't like Meijer, nor indeed most big box stores. One of the most wonderful things about our new apartment is the walking distance between it, the Food Co-op, the two Ypsilanti Farmers Markets, and the new Dos Hermanos Market, which not only reduces the amount of driving involved, and sustains my community much more, but also leads to a much more pleasant shopping experience all around.

Tessie is doing fine, but my bottles keep getting rejected. A bit of testing then determines that while the 20oz Diet Dr. Pepper bottles are being accepted, the 16.9oz (half litre) bottles are being spat out of the machines like Exorcist vomit. A quick trip through the soft drinks aisle confirms my suspicion that Meijer has gone completely off the deep end in regards to the idea of "we only take back what we sell", and is only taking back the EXACT SIZE BOTTLES they sell, not just brands that they sell (which used to be the norm, and indeed still is anywhere there aren't stupid automated machines).

We returned some of the bottles, then were so sick of needing to sort by size, we decided to cash out, and run down the street to Kroger, since that is the chain from which Tessie's dad buys all his Diet Dr. Pepper up north. Sure enough, OUR Kroger doesn't carry 16.9oz bottles either, so we're out of luck again.

So half our bottles couldn't be returned until Fathers Day when we retured the Jeep to the north country. I just have to say: Only taking back the same size bottles a shop sells is a bit ridiculous.

Starting off, I went to a memorial service at the First UU Church of Ann Arbor for David Leland Dawson, the father of one of my best friends and UU coconspirators. I didn't know Mr. Dawson very well. He was Spencer's Dad, the good cook with the white beard that went out back after dinner and smoked his pipe. But, he meant a lot to Spencer, and I've seen how much my friend has learned from his father, and it shows in the work I do with Spencer, so I was there to celebrate his life, and support my friend. The service probably had one of the best selections of music of any I've been to (and that's over 100 funeral and memorial services).

I came home after the service and some mingling, and told Tessie to figure out what she was wearing to our friends wedding later that evening, again at the home of the Ann Arbor congregation. Now, I had originally not intended on attending said wedding. I didn't get an invitation, and I'm not one to crash weddings. In discussions, I found out that there WERE no invitations, and those attending were those who were local family, friends, those asked, and those who by word of mouth just HAPPENED to be going, so I decided to show up for the ceremony at the very least, and in the end managed to get dinner at the reception as well.

Well, the wedding was lovely, as they are wont to be. It was a bit of a reunion for a number of old Michigan YRUU leaders, as the groom was Michael Ohlrogge, who currently serves on the Commission on Appraisal, and has been a Heartland District leader for some years. He also managed to break down into sobs at two points during the ceremony, so if any of you readers are old Michigan YRUU folk, I'm handing o'er my mantle of "Most Tears" to Michael. Erika must have gotten all her sobs out at worship last week, as she was drier than a Mormon wake, but she looked gorgeous. If Peacebang gave out awards for "Best Thrift Store Purchase", Erika would win.

To round out the evening, I was asked to take part as a representative young adult in the Bridging ceremony the youth group has each year. I had no clue until a few minutes before the worship what was to be involved, as when I was a part of the group this kind of thing never happened. Note to self: work on the extemporaneous speaking, specifically for UU endeavors. What I said was well received (hey... I made some of them cry), but delivery needs improvement.

I was much impressed with the worship. It was both a bridging out for the seniors, and a bridging in for the Coming of Age class. It's the kind of bridging that I am learning is more and more important, showing to our youth that this faith is one they can belong to in all stages of their life, and that this faith needs them to stay. It's the kind of bridging I never had, that I have found I needed.

So today, I played friend, supporting another in hard times of grief at the loss of ones father, in celebration of the union of two souls, and in greeting those leaving their UU community for another. Not bad for 12 hours work. Whatever tomorrow has in store, Saturday, June 2 2007 will be a day I remember, for what it has taught me about how we work together through life's' transitions.

This number is copyright Donald Wilson, 2007. Anyone found using it will be informed under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to cease and desist.

Why? Simple: The Motion Picture Association of America believes that it owns the 16 digit hexadecimal number 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0. This number is very precious to them, as it's the key that's needed to decode the HD-DVD's that have started to be released. A wee bit of tech know-how and that key can allow someone to copy as many of those DVDs as they like, and re-distribute.

Now, I'm not a big fan of the DMCA, and I'm not an advocate of piracy, but I'm deeply opposed to the abuses of copyright that the music and movie companies have been lobbying through Congress the past couple decades. The MPAA is even willing to say "We own this number". Well Disney, I own this one.

More information can be found here, and here]]> tag:blogs.donaldwilson.info,2007:/donald-obloggin//1.274 2007-05-03T16:00:56Z 2007-09-18T22:02:32Z

The other neat thing is the artwork. Shamus Young has taken single frames from the recent Lord of the Rings films directed by Peter Jackson, and attached speech bubbles and the like to them. He is currently about half way through The Two Towers.

If you're not a role playing gamer, or you don't know any, a lot will likely go over your head. At the same time, I still think most anyone would find something to appreciate.

This is me waiting and writing at the coffee shop.