Rambles » Outreach http://rambles.bearcircle.net Programming, Poker, and Politics. Just Another voice in the electronic wilderness Thu, 13 Jan 2011 08:12:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Central NC Pagan Pride Day http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2008/09/20/centran-nc-pagan-pride-day/ http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2008/09/20/centran-nc-pagan-pride-day/#comments Sun, 21 Sep 2008 03:01:30 +0000 Lance http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2008/09/20/centran-nc-pagan-pride-day/ Carolina Spirit Quest manned the gate at the Central NC Pagan Pride Day (PPD) today. Several current and past board members, event staff, and other members of the Quest community worked the gate with me welcoming attendees, selling raffle tickets and Pagan Pride bracelets, and handing out programs. It was a long day, but it felt like it flew by, if that makes sense.  I am proud to say that we had around 1,200 attendees, collected between 750 and 900 pounds of food (estimated) for the Central NC Food Bank, 29 units of blood for Rex Hospital, and sold all 150 Pagan Pride bracelets we had for sale. I am so psyched about these numbers! It was a truly grand day getting Pagan and Pagan-interested folks together to network, communicate, and build up our community in North Carolina.  The Pagan community in NC has come a long way since the first PPD several years ago.

]]> http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2008/09/20/centran-nc-pagan-pride-day/feed/ 3 Major UUS-L List Changes http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2008/09/09/major-uus-l-list-changes/ http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2008/09/09/major-uus-l-list-changes/#comments Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:05:14 +0000 Lance http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2008/09/09/major-uus-l-list-changes/ I don’t think I’ve mentioned here before that I’m the list owner for UUS-L, the oldest existing Internet-based mailing list for Unitarian Universalists.  UUS-L started in early 1991 when Steve Traugott gathered a list of people interested in a UU mailing list and got it created at the University at Buffalo, part of the State University of New York, on their mailing list service.  I joined the administration team in 1994, and eventually took over sole ownership and management of the list in the late ’90s.  At its peak in early 1996, UUS-L had almost 750 subscribers.  SInce then it has tailed off until just a few dozen remain today, but it still hosts good discussion on just about any kind of topic.

Today, I moved UUS-L from its hosting service at the University at Buffalo to a server that I own and operate.   I received an email from the list service admins that all lists hosted by them must now be sponsored by a university organization or relate to the mission of the university.  UUS-L doesn’t meet either criteria so it had to move.

As of today, the new home for UUS-L is at http://www.bearcircle.net/mailman/listinfo/uus-l.  I’d like to publicly thank UB for hosting the list for so many years with excellent service.

]]> http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2008/09/09/major-uus-l-list-changes/feed/ 3 TVUUC Shooting http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2008/07/28/tvuuc-shooting/ http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2008/07/28/tvuuc-shooting/#comments Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:44:59 +0000 Lance http://rambles.bearcircle.net/?p=35 I’m a bit wigged out just now. My then-wife and I visited TVUUC back when we moved to Knoxville for me to attend graduate school. This is the closest I’ve come to such violence in my life and my thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the deceased, the members of TVUUC, and the Knoxville community. It’s a sobering thought to consider that had I found a job in Knoxville after quitting grad school, I might have been sitting in that sanctuary yesterday morning.

]]> http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2008/07/28/tvuuc-shooting/feed/ 1 Voices of a Liberal Faith http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2007/10/03/voices-of-a-liberal-faith/ http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2007/10/03/voices-of-a-liberal-faith/#comments Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:41:54 +0000 Lance http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2007/10/03/voices-of-a-liberal-faith/ The UUA just posted a new video on Youtube.

I like the various messages in the video and the overall tenor.

]]> http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2007/10/03/voices-of-a-liberal-faith/feed/ 1 More Questions http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2007/08/16/more-questions/ http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2007/08/16/more-questions/#comments Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:56:46 +0000 Lance http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2007/08/16/more-questions/ One of my hobbies is poker. I love playing No Limit Holdem and feed my interest by playing in a free tavern poker tournament league when I have time. No money is involved so it isn’t considered gambling by the authorities.
Last night, I was playing in a tournament and wearing one of my Carolina Spirit Quest t-shirts from a recent Spring Quest event. One of the players at my table asked me what Spring Quest was. I said, “It’s a pagan festival held at Umstead state park the last few years.” His wife then asked me if I was a witch. The action on the table had come to me so I looked down at my cards and folded them before replying, “Yes,” to her question. Someone else asked, “Wouldn’t that make you a warlock?”, but I didn’t get a chance to answer her because I was moved to another table at that point.
I’m proud of who I am and of my faith. I wore a pentacle under my shirt for years before I had the courage to pull it out and let everyone see the badge of my faith. These days, I wear a pentacle openly all the time.

]]> http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2007/08/16/more-questions/feed/ 0 Questions in an Airport http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2007/07/19/questions-in-an-airport/ http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2007/07/19/questions-in-an-airport/#comments Thu, 19 Jul 2007 05:05:20 +0000 Lance http://rambles.bearcircle.net/2007/07/19/questions-in-an-airport/ I’m in Minnesota visiting my family and daughter this week and had an interesting experience in the Minneapolis airport. One of the other travelers approached me and asked if I was Wiccan. I am a public pagan and wear a pentacle and a bear head pendant every day and don’t look Goth at all so its kinda obvious if you know what to look for. I was also wearing one of my Carolina Spirit Quest event T-shirts. I said, “Yes,” and asked him why he asked. He explained he had been interested in Wicca for some time now, but did not know where to start or how to get into it. I thought for a moment and suggested he begin with Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, a very accessible book for people interested in the basics of Wicca. Being a good UU Pagan, I asked him where he lived (Washington, D.C.) and suggested he investigate the UU congregations in the area and whether they have CUUPS chapters. I then gave him the URL for The Witches’s Voice as another valuable resource. He wrote some notes quickly in his PDA, thanks me, and went on his way.

This is the second or third time this has happened in the past year. I’m thinking of designing a double sided business card filled with references for good material on Wicca and Paganism that I can hand out. If you were putting something like that together, what would you put on it? What books, websites, magazines, etc. would you include and why? Comments are welcome!

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