Despite the fact that the Sunday service of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston has moved online, we are continuing some bilingual elements in our service. This week we included a reading by the Uruguayan poet Amanda Berenguer (1921-2010). The author of many books, she was an honorary member of Uruguayan National Academy of Letters. “Limo” can be found in antología de la poesía...
She Says That She Doesn’t Know Fear…
Recently at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston we’ve started doing a bilingual reading once a month. It is part of a larger project of using more Spanish in the service. We have a small community in the congregation who are native speakers and Houston has a very large population of who speaks primarily Spanish. Our small effort is an attempt to be a bit more welcoming...
Many Happy Future Shocks to You
London is the city that looms largest in my childhood. I spent almost every summer of my youth here and have many memories about time in the British Museum, the Natural History Museum, Camden Town, and so many other places. I remember going to the theater and seeing Dustin Hoffman in the Merchant of Venice and both Starlight Express and Les Miserables with the original London casts. I remember...
The Cat Owned the Flat
My parents and I had dinner in the Exmouth Market with R and S, two of their oldest friends in London—people that they’ve known for forty years. There was quite a bit of storytelling, including one episode that involved R almost being thrown into a canal in Belgium. When they told the story, I thought it was from thirty years ago. Turns out it was from about five years ago—which surprised me...
Testimonies from “Through Eyes that Have Cried”
Sandra Elizabeth Borja Armero My name is Sandra Elizabeth Borja Armero. Before I was deported, I worked with the Teatro Jornalero Sin Fronteras (Day Labor Theater Without Borders). My husband and son still live in Los Angeles. My son is five. We named Barack, I would love to show you his picture. He is such a beautiful boy. His name is ironic. Like many people I though the election of the first...
On Seeing Tarkovsky’s “The Mirror”
Last night I saw Andrei Tarkovsky‘s film “The Mirror” at the Harvard Film Archive. This morning, as I was workin in my journal, it brought a poem: On Seeing Tarkovsky’s “The Mirror” The cast of blue light on paleblue walls;transparent blue water collidingon flickeringblue skin,flecked with dark,piercingblack likeblue moles;thin blue shadows… The moment ends.The lights...
20 Years of Listening to Techno Music
I went to my first techno party, or rave, back in the spring of 1993. I consider that event the start of my serious engagement with electronic dance music. I was 16 and before that the only electronic music I listened to was that of industrial bands like Ministry and Skinny Puppy. Since then I have something of aficionado and have been to literally thousands of dance parties in the United States...
Call to Worship, June 30, 2013
This morning I led worship at First Parish in Concord. The sermon that I gave was a variation of my “This Land is Your Land?” It appeared to be a success and I enjoyed myself. The building is beautiful and historic. The social hall was filled with portraits of their famous ministers including Ezra Ripley, Dana Greeley and Barzillai Frost, the minister who Emerson makes fun of in...