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Weekly Newsletter 11.10.2020

Updates

In August, I facilitated two symposia - “Religion in Film” and “Madonna: a case study in religion & pop culture.” In addition to tweaking those symposia, I’m also preparing a symposium called “Religious literacy: how to talk about religion without pissing anyone off” to introduce a handful of religious traditions through their primary practices. If you’re interested in participating or know someone who might be, stay tuned for information in early 2021!

With the start of the academic year amid extraordinary circumstances, I’ve been watching my friends and former colleagues navigate the challenges of rethinking school life and addressing systemic injustice. In August, I offered a session called “If you want to change the system, change your system” for the Virginia Association of Independent Schools, aimed at giving administrators tools to look at their schools’ cultures with fresh eyes to be able to effect change. I also offered a session called “Connections & Possibilities” for the leadership at the Town School for Boys that introduced contemplative practices both to bolster their own self-care and to set the tone for the school year. 

In October, I was honored to participate in “Leadership in the Age of Personalization,” a three-day summit hosted by my alma mater, Fairfield University, organized by the Glenn Llopis and rooted in his efforts to highlight and facilitate the shift from “standardization” to “personalization” in healthcare, business, and higher ed. In a panel discussion about enriching the student experience, we explored the ways that colleges and universities could reframe the student experience, both on-campus student life and life beyond the boundaries of a campus, not just as “extracurriculars” but as essential to education. 

This week, I started offering guided meditations via Zoom. My approach to meditation is informed by my own engagement with Buddhist insight meditation, Jesuit discernment, and centering prayer, and my aim is to practice being present - to myself, to others, and to the world. If you or someone you know could use a 20-30 minute dose of peace and quiet, visit the meditation page on my site to sign up. 

One last update: over the last many months, I’ve been writing a variety of thought-pieces and posting on Medium. If you’re interested in exploring my take on the world, visit https://billhulseman.medium.com/. If anything strikes a chord (or a nerve!), I’d love the chance to be in dialogue with you about it - leave a comment on Medium, or reach out to me directly if you’d like to go deeper into any of these topics. 

Good Stuff

Listen
If you stream music on Spotify, I’ve started a playlist called “Bill’s Good Stuff,” including music I’ve loved for a long time as well as things I’ve come across more recently. Feel free to add the playlist to your favorites! Bill’s Good Stuff Spotify Playlist

If you’re looking for a pick-me-up, listen to “Soy yo” by Bomba Estereo. The band created the song in response to the rise of bullying in their native Colombia, in particular the case of a gay kid who committed suicide because of the bullying he experienced. The song is empowering, and the video is delightful. As Simon Meija, half of Bomba Estereo, described in an interview with NPR, “So we're trying to empower people to feel that it doesn't matter if you're different or if you're from one country or the other or you're black or you're white or you're gay. What's important is what's inside of you, and you have to fight for that. I think the video brings this message along.”

Read
On Monday, I offered a guided meditation via Zoom for the first time and included the poem “When Giving is All We Have” by Alberto Rios. It’s a poem I stumbled across in the spring, and it’s resonating with me in a new way as we approach Veterans Day and Thanksgiving. 

“When Giving is All We Have”
Alberto Rios

We give because someone gave to us.
We give because nobody gave to us. 

We give because giving has changed us.
We give because giving could have changed us.

We have been better for it, 
We have been wounded by it - 

Giving has many faces: It is loud and quiet, 
Big, though small, diamond in wood-nails.

Its story is old, the plot worn and the pages too, 
But we read this book, anyway, over and again: 

Giving is, first and every time, hand to hand, 
Mine to yours, yours to mine. 

You gave me blue and I gave you yellow. 
Together we are simple green. You gave me

What you did not have, and I gave you 
What I had to give - together, we made

Something greater from the difference. 

See
A lot of folks are focusing on the Peach State these days...which got me humming to myself, “Georgia On Mind”...which inspired in me a deep desire to watch “Designing Women.” You don’t have to be a lifelong fan of the show to appreciate Julia Sugarbaker’s legendary tirades. The second episode of the first season includes one of her best and most famous as Julia cuts a beauty pageant queen down to size after she belittles Julia’s baby sister, Suzanne. “And that, Marjorie, just so you will know, and your children will also someday know, is the night the lights went out in Georgia.” We all need a Julia Sugarbaker in our lives, and, famously, gay bars in Atlanta have featured Julia’s rants for years. When Julia’s read of Marjorie comes on the screen, everyone in the bar can recite along. Didn’t know it was such a big deal? “Well,” to quote Julia Sugarbaker, “Now you do.” 

Use
Looking for a way to expand your arsenal of facilitation tools? Maybe you’re leading a group of students or colleagues and the old in-person ice breakers aren’t working so well over Zoom. Maybe you want to mix up your approach to building a group’s cohesion. Or maybe you just like to have quality stuff on hand. Try Facilitator Cards, developed by seasoned social justice facilitators and co-authors of Facilitation Magic, Meg Bolger and Sam Killerman.