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This is a sample table to guide selection of poems to read. Title / Link Poet Year Collection Whitsunday George Herbert 1633 The Temple Suddenly R.S. Thomas Evening R.S. Thomas Our Mother-tongue Is Love; A Sonnet for Pentecost Malcolm Guite 2012 Sounding the Seasons Speaking in Tongues Mary Rose O’Reilly Caedmon Denise Levertov Four QuartetsContinue reading “Pentecost Poems June 5 ’22”

As you recite the Creed, experiment with variations in mind.

Jason Stanley, Yale philosophy professor, author of How Propaganda Works and How Fascism Works, unpacks “deNazification”. JS interviewed by Brooke Gladstone in the final segment of an On the Media podcast – excerpt of transcript below.https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/antisemitism-behind-putins-denazification-on-the-media      4 March 2022 Brooke G  37:29This is on the media. I’m Brooke Gladstone. When Putin declared war on UkraineContinue reading “Denazify signals anti-Semitism”

October 2, 2021 In the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and the widespread BLM protests, the leadership of my Christian congregation considered various programs that would both boost the awareness of the persistent systemic racism throughout the United States, and ideally, motivate members to engage locally in activities that address social injustices, especiallyContinue reading “Reflections on Implicit Bias Training”

Rationale for canvassing: Admission: I was not a faithful student with suggested homework, for example, journaling. So, it would not be in good faith to claim that my views are representative of other participants.             Several people attended some early sessions and then dropped, for reasons unknown to me. Spectrum of conjectured reasons: From aContinue reading “Annex 1: Canvas method and validity”

Until recently, racial literacy was the core of IBT; racial healing is more recent.FW Twine, A White Side of Black Britain 2010:  Racial literacy includes: 1. recognition of racism as a contemporary rather than historical problem, 2. consideration of the ways in which race and racism are influenced by other factors such as class, gender,Continue reading “Annex 2. Racial Literacy”

Julia Galef is a leader among those promoting a revival of rationality in private discussion and public discourse. Like IBT aiming at sub-conscious attitudes, Galef urges us to be alert to our universally shared cognitive biases. A central theme in her book “The Scout Mindset” is that we would do well on occasion to “hideContinue reading “Annex 5. Risk of weakening the guide’s influence”

When and in what contexts does an increase in the personal awareness of systemic racism matter?     Suggested texts: – IX Kendi 2006 Stamped From the Beginning, a history of racist policies and crimes from Aristotle to today. A key message: Racist policies precede development and rationalization of racist ideologies. – Eric Foner   1988:  ReconstructionContinue reading “Annex 3. Other ways to invest effort and resources”

Some MGH content/quotes, often paraphrased, that were presented during the sessions, with comments: “In the aftermath of highly stressful or traumatic situations, our soul nerve [vagus] and lizard brain may embed a reflexive trauma response in our bodies.” (“lizard brain” is no longer an accepted concept) “… form of racialized trauma lives in the bodiesContinue reading “Annex 4. Flawed notions of biological intergenerational transmission of trauma in MGH.”