Notable Passages- Mama Kathy Allen Rice

January 14, 2013

Dear Members and Friends: It is with much sadness that I share with you that Mama Kathy Allen Rice died at home last night. She had been in hospice struggling with lung complications on and off for the past while. Mama Kathy was 70 years old, and she and her life partner, Jackie Rice, are charter members of Metropolitan Community Church of Greater Saint Louis. Our Pastor for Congregational Care, Gina Durbin, has been supporting the family, and we will announce funeral arrangements as soon as details are finalized. The family has requested that we provide food for the repast following the service, which will most likely be on Friday. Christine White will be organizing the lunch. If you are able to contribute a dish, please contact her at: Christine@mccgsl.org or phone the church office: 314-361-3221 x 100 "Mama" Kathy exemplified and called us to be the best of what we are about as a faith community. She was a powerful prayer warrior and walked the talk by opening her heart and home to countless people who will be changed forever for the better. The way that Christ's love shone so beautifully through her and her partner, Jackie, will be a lasting legacy of hope and inclusion. They have shown us time and again that it is truly love that makes a family. We are sure that there is another rainbow angel watching over all of us now, and trust that she has been met with open arms and a resounding, "Well done," at the gates of heaven. She will be deeply missed. With Christ's love and promises,

Rev. Pressley Sutherand, Interim Pastor Thursday, January 17, 2013  Wake at Austin Layne Mortuary: Layne Renaissance Chapel from 4p to 7p.   Friday, January 18, 2013 10a-10.45a - Viewing 11a-12p - Funeral Service @ Metropolitan Community Church of Greater Saint Louis 12.30p-1p Committal Service @ St. Peter's Cemetery 1.30-3p - Repast at MCC of Greater Saint Louis MCCGSL 1919 S. Broadway, St. Louis, MO 63104 314-361-3221 Metropolitan Community Church of Greater Saint Louis 1919 S. Broadway St. Louis, MO 63104 314.361.3221 www.mccgsl.org

Business Provides Main Street Support for the Marriage Bill

January 13, 2013
via Equality Illinios

Business Provides Main Street Support for the Marriage Bill
Reaction from Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of Equality Illinois
Earlier today, businesses and executives released an open letter to
the General Assembly in support of the marriage equality bill
because it is good for business and a Main Street value.
"These business leaders make fact-driven decisions everyday and
are motivated by logic and reason. They see no reason to deny
loving, committed couples equal access to the benefits and
responsibilities of civil marriage. At the same time, they
acknowledge that in their offices, factories, stores, restaurants and
hotels, a diverse workforce is essential for success," said Bernard
Cherkasov, CEO of Equality Illinois.

"Illinois legislators should recognize that to benefit everyone in
Illinois and build a stronger future, the state must remain
competitive. Passing marriage equality is a major step in that
direction," Cherkasov said.
The Illinois business letter of support was built from a foundation
laid by the Equality Illinois Report: The Business Case for Marriage
Equality. The report includes "Ten Reasons Business Leaders
Support Marriage Equality" and also lists national brands and
national business leaders who support marriage equality.

"These national brands and executives support marriage equality
and value diversity, and Illinois has to answer to that when the
companies look for new places to do business," Cherkasov said.
"The demands of our modern, interconnected business world
should lead Illinois lawmakers to join the right side of history."

St. Louis Black Pride Updates

What's next you may ask. Well.
The State of the Union for STL Black Pride will be held at The Regional Arts Commission Jan 29, 2013 7 pm. We will introduce the Board committee and announcing Upcoming plans for a Bigger and Better STLBP. Contact Secretary Randy Rafter for RSVP info.

Thank You
Jay B.
Blk Pride President

http://www.st-louisblackpride.org/

Bayard Rustin Centennial Place
625 North Euclid Blvd
Saint Louis, Mo 63108

RSVP at (314) 531-2284 or info@slbp.org

Jeanne Manford, founder of PFLAG, has passed away at the age of 92.

Pflag Belleville IL Chapter
Non-Profit Organization

Jeanne Manford, founder of PFLAG, has passed away at the age of 92. PFLAG is an amazing organization providing support to our families, friends and to us. May her spirit live on!

Jeanne Manford, founder of PFLAG, has passed away at the age of 92.

We will always remember everything she has done for Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

Thank you Jeanne.

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SAGE Metro St. Louis shared PROMO's photo.
January 8  

Notable Passages - Sasha Nicole

Shining Star - Sasha Nicole Passes Away

www.thevitalvoice.com › Lifestyle › Lifestyle

The world of drag suffered a staggering loss yesterday (Jan 3, 2013) when Sasha Nicole, whose given name was Patrick McGuire, passed away at the age of 45

• Miss Mid America 2008
• Miss Heart of America 2007
• Miss Gay Missouri America 2005
• Miss Gay Missouri America 2004-1st alternate

Trixie LaRue

Thank you for being apart of Sasha Sunday and raising over $4,000 in Sasha Nicole's name to be donated Wednesday January 16th in her honor at her Memorial Service at MCCGSL church from 6-8pm to PAWS.

MCCGSL

1919 S. Broadway

St. Louis, MO 63104

www.mccgsl.org    

LOSING MY RELIGION: ON FINDING THE DIVINE ON THE ROAD TO LEARNING

By: Tess Farnham, METROEAST NEWS BellevillePride~ MetroEast News
February 22, 2012

William Blake, from the notebooks

Yesterday in my creative writing class, I gave an assignment that asked students to write the word “God” at the top of the page and freewrite on it.  No rules.  No boundaries.  Just an exploration of that word.

And when I ask something so big of them, I think it only fair that I ask myself to do it too.

(In the past I learned  the importance of participating in those  free-writing assignments from my department chair who cheerfully passes along a good manylesson plans and classroom strategies. And for this most insightful advice, I am truly grateful.)

As a result, I found this inclusive student/teacher exercise to be a most gratifyingexperience for a couple of reasons.

Number one first and foremost, freewriting is  fun-time  and I find  that if I model some kind of industrious task-oriented behavior during this period, then I’m more or less contradicting myself by setting a hypocritical example.  

And that’s no way to get on with the business of sharing the joy of learning.

But lately, I have been a lot pre-occupied with thoughts that just take me to a place that I ought not go.

So I’ve been shirking my responsibilities a little as mentor.

And in this transgression from my duties as well forgetting that no matter what transpires between the two of us, the bottom line is that the student is internalizing this from experience, which, up to now, has always been the best teacher:

“Do as I do, not as I say.”

And when I think of my own learning experiences, that is how it always worked anyway.  I mean, I loved being taught.  Loved my teachers, all of them, even the ones still struggling with themselves to be patient and such, because they taught me other things I needed to know as well.  Things like being organized with numbers and keeping to a schedule.  I mean, these are respectable behaviors that must be tended to as well.

Sadly the point was often lost on me as I always picked up on some other kind of unhappiness in that exchange and it usually made me run from any kind of discomfort that might reinforce it in myself.  So the lesson got lost on me a lot.

I always knew they meant well though.  And I loved them just the same.

I don’t think there is any such thing as a bad teacher.  Just some in need of a bit more love and support themselves it would seem.  I mean, if you look past that sometimes inscrutable and unforgiving face, you can and will see a softer one.  It’s there if you’re willing to look.  The little girl at three years old, her hands having just been slapped for putting them in the light socket.

She knew that Mommy meant well in doing it, meant to save her from the ultimate separation between parent and child.  If anything ever happened to elicit such a misalignment of the stars, then Mommy would fight like a tiger to stop that.  Even if it meant seeing the tears of disappointment on on the face of someone so close, so innocent and vulnerable.  Those words we all wish to avoid at any given time in our tenure as parents.  “Mommy, why?”

Alas, there was a second lesson in that interaction, one that Mommy in her infinite longing to understand, might never have anticipated and that was “If you explore too much, then you will get punished.”

And so it begins, the cycle of learning and punishment.

Followed by rebelliousness and breaking away.

Which in turn leads to more of the same.

And where on earth could we have gone so terribly wrong as to keep that inefficient system alive for so long?

After all, we came into this world, every single one of us, with two very basic means of understanding and those were

A. To love and be loved.

And B: To learn and share what we have learned.

And so I offer up for you this other kind of scenario to ponder, one in which the child’s learning experience leads her to a pile of excrement in the back yard, the one wherein the dandelion is sprouting up so proudly beside it, and in her excitement to share, she just leans down and kneels to it.  A supplicant in awe of the innerworkings of this earth.  That for every pile of shit, there is a rebirth that follows and flowers after it.

It is the way of the world after all.  Birth, Death, Rebirth.

And without all three of these elements, there simply is no way to understand the divine.

So now I sit here before the laptop and freewrite and let the words fall where they may.  No beginning or end to speak of, just being.

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