Cleaning blitz rescheduled
April 10, 2009
We do our own cleaning here at Bell Street Chapel, mostly to save money, but also because it brings you closer to your faith when you personally vacuum the gravel off your church floor. Seriously, cleaning can be both spiritual and fun when practiced in moderation, and for that reason and several others, we do all our cleaning together once a month after service. That usually occurs the second Sunday of the month, but since that’s Easter this month, April’s monthly cleaning blitz will be celebrated on April 19. Please join us and help bring out the shine (or at least remove any scum) in our dear old building.
~Meredyth Waterman,
Cleaning Czarina
Gay bingo
April 10, 2009
Bell Street Chapel is a sponsor for Gay Bingo for the 2008-2009 season. Gay Bingo is bingo spiced up with drag queens, music, crazy themes, etc. When? The third Thursday of each month at 7 p.m., Sept. – May. This month, it’s April 16, and the theme is “hat parade,” so wear your favorite goofy hat. It’s also “you pick the themes” night, so if you have an idea for a theme for a Gay Bingo night next year, wear a costume demonstrating that theme and you’ll get an extra chance to win $1,000!
Admission is $15 which gets you cards for nine games with $100 cash prizes. (Sometimes they give out free special cards to those willing to prove they’re wearing green undies.) You can buy special game cards for prize packages plus there’s a blackout jackpot for up to $1,000! The $15 goes to support people living with HIV/AIDS in RI. It’s fun, and you’ll be helping people with HIV/AIDS. For questions, contact Clara Hardy of the Parish and Social Concerns Committee, at clarapvd@gmail.com.
Newsletter update
April 10, 2009
In order to conserve resources, as well as to reduce costs, Bell Street Chapel will no longer send paper copies of Bell Street Columns by mail to non-members unless you specifically request us to do so. An electronic version of the newsletter is sent to members and friends by e-mail monthly as an attachment to the Bell Street weekly announcements. Remember that you can also read the entire newsletter on our Web site at www.bellstreetchapel.org. If you’re a friend of Bell Street and want to continue to receive paper copies of the newsletter by mail, please send an e-mail to Richard Corso at richardcorso@gmail.com or contact the church office at (401) 273-5678.
~Richard Corso
Newsletter deadline
April 10, 2009
The deadline for the May edition of Bell Street Columns is Sunday, April. 19, at 8 p.m. Contrary to popular opinion, the deadline is not arbitrary. We are on a tight schedule the week that the newsletter is edited, assembled and printed, and it really makes our jobs difficult if we are forced to track down articles or service descriptions and clear up questions at or even after the deadline. You know this deadline all month, so please don’t wait until the last minute. Please e-mail your submissions as separate Word attachments to Meredyth Waterman at MeredythW@aol.com. Thanks!
~Meredyth Waterman
Columns Editor
On The Road to Providence — Imagination and Reality
April 3, 2009
For some time, my commute took me past a curious wall. It was 25 feet high, made of concrete and running from one street corner to another in a zigzag pattern. Rising behind the wall was a thicket of trees. In the evening the area behind the wall glowed with a soft yellowish light reminiscent of torchlight. Nothing else was visible behind the wall and there were no signs indicating what it protected. I tried to imagine what lay behind that wall: a patch of forest protected for historical reasons or a neighborhood park or even a cloistered community with monks, scholars or magicians.
Curiously I checked the local maps and computer programs to discover the history, nature of this mysterious place. However they did not indicate anything unusual, just some small roads with tree names (Aspen, Hemlock, Oak etc.) and indications of a few but not many buildings. Obviously this confirmed my speculation that the wall protected some form of cloistered community. I checked the maps and saw the place where the roads from the cloistered community intersected the street. This must be the guarded entrance I surmised and imagined the rustic gate a little way in from the concrete wall. One evening, determined to introduce myself to the leadership of this cloistered community, I took the exit from the highway and drove to where the map showed the only entrance.
My first shock was when I realized the concrete wall ended at the street corner; it did not wrap-around the cloistered/forested community. From the concrete wall to the rustic gate there was only shrubs and wooden fences; hardly adequate protection for the monks/scholars/mystics. There was no rustic gate, not even speed bumps, just a driveway leading into what appeared to be homes from the 1950s. The torchlight was from old yellowish street lamps circa 1950. The trees were not an ancient forest, just a line of trees planted in the 1950s to act as a sound and light barrier from the nearby highway. When the trees grew too tall to be an effective barrier, the community erected the concrete wall. There where no monks, no scholars, no mystics, no ivy-covered cloisters, just a somewhat forlorn middle-class planned community.
It was my imagination that had created this magical place. It was my desire for something special and mysterious that had caused me not to suspend my disbelief, but to suppress logic and dismiss all rational explanation. It was a common phenomenon employed by sideshow magicians and illusionists: provide enough information that the audience will see and believe whatever the entertainer wants them to see and believe. It is also used for unscrupulous reasons by charlatans, corrupt politicians and cult leaders to gain our trust in order for use to do what they want. While I will always encourage good imagination and dreams that reach beyond the ordinary, I also advocate for a healthy dose of skepticism so as not to be deceived.
~ Rev. José Ballester
Movie Night, Friday, April 10, 6:30 p.m.
April 3, 2009
In an effort to live out our commitment as a Unitarian Universalist Association Welcoming Congregation, Bell Street Chapel sponsors a monthly Movie Night featuring films that examine gender identity issues. Over the past several years, we have seen dramas and documentaries, comedies and heart-breakers – all acclaimed and artistically significant films. Genevieve Peri seems to have an endless number of ideas for films in this category.
In April we will view a drama concerning an Iranian woman who is a refugee in Germany and living as a man there. Our licensing agreement does not allow us to identify the film by name in public communications, but anyone who wants to know more may contact Carol Crowley at ccrowley8@cox.net.
As always, we will share a potluck dinner before the showing of the movie. We always follow up with a short discussion led by Genevieve Peri. So do join us on Friday, April 10, at 6:30 p.m. in Eddy Hall. Bring a nonalcoholic beverage or some food to share – and bring your friends to Bell Street Chapel’s Movie Night!
~Carol Crowley
Events
April 3, 2009
Bell Street’s Seder is being planned by Wendy Schwartz, Carol Crowley, Peg Boyle and the Events Committee for Thursday, April 9, at 6 p.m. The service prior to the feast is a lot of fun and would be a good way for newcomers to get to know others. You will find the food sign-up sheet in Eddy Hall.
The Events Committee is working on bringing a concert to our acoustically near-perfect chapel in May. As of the newsletter deadline, we were still working on securing an artist and nailing down the date, but expect an announcement soon. The Events Committee has a dream – a dream that we will sell out the concert with a combination of advance ticket sales, enthusiastic support from our parishioners and good publicity. You can make this happen and show your appreciation for the Events Committee’s sustained labor of love over the last three years. This year we are the ones who brought you Jesse Holstein, River Heart, and arranged all the sign-ups, set-ups, and clean-ups for all our regular potluck events (Thanksgiving, semi-annual meetings and canvass brunch). You can thank us and treat your family and friends to the concert, or sell tickets to your family and friends who love classical music, but the best idea of all would be to purchase tickets to give your mother on Mother’s Day, May 10. This is a present that is not only unique and musically uplifting, but would not require the care of the traditional potted plant.
We know the arts are suffering in our sad economy, making it all the more important to dream with us of selling this concert out. You will be not only support the gifted artist, but you will also help us raise $1,000 or more for the Bell Street general fund. Together we can. Yes, we can.
~Ellen Kellner
Events Committee Chairperson
Ethical Eating
April 3, 2009
In the early 1960s, along with the birth of fast food, Iowa Beef Packers (IBP) opened its first slaughterhouse, using assembly-line principles that eliminated skilled workers. Each worker stood in along the line, making the same knife cut thousands of times during each shift. Once skilled laborers, meat packers became like the cheap and powerless workforce in the fast-food industry. The new plants paid wages sometimes half of those of union workers in Chicago.
Eventually, ConAgra became the biggest meat-packer in the world. Today it is the largest food service supplier in North America, selling food under brand names including Hunts, Armour, La Choy, Peter Pan, Hebrew National and Healthy Choice. It has been found guilty of systematically cheating chicken growers, price-fixing, wire fraud, misgrading crops and adding water to grain before sale. The largest ConAgra beef plant has an annual employee turnover rate of about 400 percent. Health insurance is offered after six months, but the average worker quits or is fired after three.
The injury rate in a slaughterhouse is about three times higher than the rate in a typical American factory. Every year more than a quarter of the meatpacking workers in the United States (roughly 40,000 men and women) suffer an injury or work-related illness that requires medical attention, most commonly lacerations, since many workers make a slice every two or three seconds. About six animals a minute are carved by workers desperate not to fall behind. The pressure to keep up has encouraged widespread methamphetamine use. Women are sometimes fondled on the line, and a number of companies have lost sexual harassment suits. Workers are under tremendous pressure not to report injuries and two sets of injury logs were regularly kept at IBP: actual injuries and injuries reported to OSHA.
The most dangerous jobs are performed by cleaning crews, a workforce of largely illegal aliens who earn about one-third less than regular employees. They lose body parts in the machinery they clean, get sickened by chemical cleaning fumes and suffer headaches and vomiting on the job while climbing into bloody muck. They have been beheaded, crushed and torn apart. Some have died in blood collection tanks, overcome by hydrogen sulfide fumes. OSHA fined National Beef for its negligence in one such case. The fine was $480 for each man’s death.
But what can we do? One answer is don’t eat at fast food restaurants, the biggest purchasers of beef from these plants. Or don’t eat meat, period. Carrying wholesome food with you so you aren’t tempted to stop for a burger is a good idea. Also, buy grass-fed beef or free-range chickens. Yes, it’s more expensive, but you aren’t buying into ConAgra and the corporate proliferation of human (an animal) suffering. Or how about boycotting ConAgra foods, and letting it know why? The CEO is: Gary M. Rodkin, 1 ConAgra Drive, Omaha, NE 68102. Its Web site (www.conagrafoods.com) has a list of its products. Or better still, go to the Organic Consumer Association (www.organicconsumers.org) and click on “Take Action.” It’s a terrific Web site with lots of ideas for things you can do to make a difference.
Daydream Theater presents “The Wire Game”
April 3, 2009
Bell Street Chapel is proud to host Daydream Theatre Company’s production of “The Wire Game,” written and directed by Lenny Schwartz. Designed by James Belanger and featuring original music by Jessica Cowan, “The Wire Game” is a play about how the Internet and social networks have been integrated into our daily lives. It depicts how addicted the characters become and how they use and abuse this form of communication. As things spiral out of control, the characters do horrifying things to each other trying to gain their balance. The play shows where we are as a culture and where we sadly may be going.
Performances will be on April 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 30 and May 1 and 2. All shows start at 8 p.m. Ticket prices are $10 for general admission, $5 for students and seniors. A $1 discount will be given to anyone who brings a nonperishable food item to support the Community Food Pantry at Youth Pride, Inc. Tickets can be ordered by calling (401) 290-7865.
Bell Street Supports Community Supported Agriculture
April 3, 2009
This summer, Bell Street Chapel will provide space to Big Train Farm for its community supported agriculture (CSA) program. Big Train Farm is a small tenant vegetable farm managed by John Kenny. It is a subsidiary of Urban Edge Farm, a 50-acre farm managed cooperatively by seven farm/garden businesses that independently and cooperatively sell to restaurants, at farmers’ markets, and through CSA programs in the Providence area. The land is managed in collaboration with the farmers and South Side Community Land Trust, which leases the land directly from the state.
Big Train Farm is offering a large CSA program in 2009 to Providence and Providence-area residents. The program consists of members making an investment in the farm in the spring and then receiving produce on a weekly basis from spring until fall. With CSA investments, farmers are able to maximize their productivity in the spring, starting off the year on the right foot before any of the farmers’ markets have started or any other income is flowing in. In return, CSA members receive the highest quality produce from the grower and, in a good year, members can expect to receive above and beyond the cost of their initial investment.
The benefits to the community when there is a strongly supported agricultural base are many. Communities have access to the freshest products, preserved landscapes, and a secure food source. When grower-to-consumer relations are intimate, as they are in a CSA program, the customer has influence over not only what the farmer grows, but how they grow it. This brings about more sustainable practices, such as organic and naturally grown systems of agriculture and practices that preserve water, soil and our community landscape. CSA members benefit from receiving the freshest produce available, but also know that they are taking part in preserving part of our regional heritage, our precious land.
A total of 22 or 23 pick-ups will be held at the chapel on Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., beginning either the last week of May or the first week of June and run until early November. A full share costs $525 and is sufficient for 3-6 people. Half-shares are also available for $275 and feed 1-3 people. You can join the CSA by sending a check to Big Train Farm at 151 Melrose St., Providence, RI, 02907. For more information or to arrange a payment plan, contact John Kenny, farm manager, at BigTrain_Farm@yahoo.com.