Author: Deva Jones

Lessons From NOLA

September 30, 2015 | Deva Jones | Racial Justice

This post was written by Annie Hanley-Miller and originally posted on Blue Boat. Building Community Overcomes Difference by Annie Hanley–Miller I brought back many things to my home community from my experience at Activate NOLA. It was an intense week and I learned a lot about race, poverty, Hurricane Katrina, and global warming. I also learned a […]

Reflections in Shade of the US-Mexico Border Wall

September 28, 2015 | Deva Jones | Immigration, Youth

This post was written by Jack Spector-Bishop and originally posted on Blue Boat. “What do you do when you come head to head with the very evil you are working against?” “The ants crawl under it, the birds fly around it, the sky connects over it.” This is what I wrote in my journal while I sat […]

Whiteness and Apocalypse

September 25, 2015 | Deva Jones | Environmental Justice, GROW, Young Adult

This post was written by Amelia Diehl and originally posted on Blue Boat. I am so grateful to have been able to attend the Unitarian Universalist College of Social Justice‘s Grounded and Resilient Organizer’s Workshop Climate Justice Training in Chicago, IL and feel connected again to a community and to a movement. I think I might have learned more about […]

Boundless Justice: Expanding Beloved Community

August 19, 2015 | Deva Jones | Internship, Young Adult

This post was written by one of our 2015 interns, Lucy Tucker. Nineteen years ago my birth announcement said I was born between two parades: Babylon and Hermes. To most New Orleanians this makes sense. Any baby born during Mardi Gras season simply has to avoid the parade route on their way to the hospital. […]

Transition and Transformation at Bethany House in Boston

August 12, 2015 | Deva Jones | Internship, Young Adult

This post was written by one of our 2015 interns, Ruth Hanna. A page from a brochure for the Bethany Union for Young Women (not dated, but probably pre-1950). Courtesy of the Andover Harvard Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School. I came across this brochure while sifting through a mass of old documents about Bethany House in […]

A Summer of Standing on the Side of Love: My Story

August 5, 2015 | Deva Jones | Internship, Young Adult

This post was written by one of our 2015 interns, Carter Smith, and was originally published on Standing on the Side of Love’s website here. Unitarian Universalism is in my blood. I am here today because my parents met at the UU church in Birmingham, Alabama many years ago when they were seeking spiritual community in […]

Ending Detention Centers, a Volunteer’s Perspective

July 13, 2015 | Deva Jones | Immigration, RAICES, Volunteering

The following post was written by Melanie Poeling, a participant in UUCSJ’s RAICES volunteer program. Imagine that you are a mother with small children and you have traveled over a thousand miles from Honduras, Guatemala, or El Salvador because of extreme violence against you and your family, only to be detained after requesting asylum at […]

Border Memories

June 19, 2015 | Deva Jones | Congregational Trip, Immigration

This post was written by Reyna Grande, a participant of the 2015 May Border Justice journey with UUCSJ. Thirty years ago last month, I crossed the border illegally through Tijuana. At nine years old, I found myself running through the darkness, trying to find a place to hide from the ever-watching eyes of “la migra”. […]

Protecting Cherry Point

June 2, 2015 | Deva Jones | Environmental Justice, First Nations

Jesse Ford of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis presents Lummi Hereditary Chief Bill James with their letter of solidarity and a handmade challis. The following letter was presented by Jesse Ford, representing the UU Fellowship of Corvallis, to Lummi Hereditary Chief, Bill James, as part of the “Solidarity with Original Nations and Peoples” program […]

In Solidarity with Original Nations and Peoples

May 29, 2015 | Deva Jones | Environmental Justice, First Nations

https://uucsjstaging.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/P1010368.jpg https://uucsjstaging.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2015-04-27-17.44.30.jpg https://uucsjstaging.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2015-04-29-10.42.09.jpg https://uucsjstaging.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2015-04-30-18.02.55.jpg https://uucsjstaging.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2015-05-01-21.23.34.jpg From April 25 – May 2, 2015, the UU College of Social Justice ran our first program focused on “Solidarity with Original Nations and Peoples” based in Bellingham, WA. Our group of 16 people from across the country learned about the history and current impacts of U.S. settler colonialism […]