“Using Now to Move Through”
*Existentialist Discussion Group to follow the Celebration of Life*
- Facilitator: Jan Lister
- Musician: Dr. Jean Heinrich
August 11, 2019 – Rev. Marsha Mitchiner
August 4, 2019 – Rev. Joan Armstrong Davis
“Making Amends”
Reverend Joan Armstrong Davis is a Unitarian Universalist minister and religious educator having served congregations in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Wisconsin. She is a 1989 graduate of the Candler School of Theology at Emory University where she returned in 2003 for a residency in pastoral care at Emory University Hospital.
Joan currently serves the Northwest Unitarian Universalist congregation in Sandy Springs, GA as their Affiliated Community Minister where she facilitates the work of their lay led pastoral care ministry team.
- Facilitator: D. Patton White
- Musician: Kathy McGuire
July 28, 2019 – Dr. Jon Herman
“When Men Stop Fighting: My Memories of a Pacifist”
Dr. Jon Herman is an associate professor of religious studies at Georgia State University, where he teaches classes in Asian religion, comparative mysticism, and critical theory in the study of religion. He is the author of Taoism for Dummies, and several articles on topics such as interfaith dialogue, contemporary conceptions of “spirituality,” Holocaust studies, religious studies and public education, environmentalism, Neo-Confucian mysticism, and the late science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin. He is currently researching for a book on the Jewish existentialist author Martin Buber’s unpublished lectures on the Taoist classic, the Tao Te Ching.
Jon’s wife Ellen has recently retired as the coordinator of Threshold Ministry, an organization providing assistance to the homeless and those suffering other effects of poverty. She had previously worked in religious education, and university, prison, and hospital chaplaincy. Jon and Ellen are the parents of two daughters, both adopted from China.
- Facilitator: Rev. Marsha Mitchiner
- Musician: Alan Dynin
July 21, 2019 – Dr. Jean Heinrich
“Existentialism and Spiritedness”
Dr. Jean Heinrich is a founding member of our Existential Congregation. She works as a musician, a clinical psychologist, a philosopher and producer of the arts, creating and carrying out trash. She is inspired by Søren Kierkegaard who wrote, “To dare is to lose ones footing momentarily; to not dare is to lose oneself;” and by Harry Emerson Fosdick, who said, “Nothing else matters much – not wealth, nor learning, nor even health – without this gift: the spiritual capacity to keep zest in living.”
- Facilitator: M. Charlene Ball
- Musician: Mick Kinney
- Special Acrobat/Dancer: Rose Shield
Rose Shields is from Atlanta, GA and is working with Core Dance as a Dance Artist. She also is an acrobat and aerial artist working with local Atlanta circuses. She loves experimenting with different movement and performance styles to create and perform thoughtful, fun, and enticing work.
July 14, 2019 – Rev. Kim Sorrells
“Embracing Your Life’s Story”
Rev. Kim Sorrells is a graduate of Candler School of Theology (Emory University) and is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. They are now beginning a position with Atlanta Pride as the Programs and Partnership Manager and will be continuing ministry part time within the UCC. Prior to joining Atlanta Pride, Kim served as Georgia Field Organizer for Reconciling Ministries Network, focusing on faith-based advocacy around Georgia laws affecting the LGBTQ community. Kim has also served in local congressional, as Minister for Spiritual Formation and Youth at Saint Mark UMC, and as a hospital chaplain. They have worked in homeless services through their time in Americorps. Kim has special interest in using spirituality and contemplative practices to equip us with the inner peace to be justice makers in the world. Kim is also a Registered Yoga Teacher and draws on this and other spiritual traditions to inform their ministry.
- Facilitator: Robert Stewart
- Charli Vogt
July 7, 2019 – Mona Reeves
“Oh, to Transgress: Living a Life I Love”
Mona Reeves is creating herself as a Renaissance woman. With a heart and mind for social justice, Mona participated in the UU pilot anti-racism curriculum, Building the World We Dream About, 10 years ago at First E and UUCA. In her master’s thesis, “Conjure Women: The Importance of the Humanities in the African-American Woman’s Fight against Racism,” research supported the conclusion that when people relate human-to-human, there is no room for racism. Mona inspires artists and is inspired by them in her work as a professional art model. She expresses her deep love for music through singing jazz standards, playing piano, and dancing to music that moves her. Mona’s deepest desire is for the eradication of all -isms. Her life quest is a commitment to the power of truth, transparency, and authenticity.
- Facilitator: Cindy Lou Who
- Musician: Aviva and the Flying Penguins
June 30, 2019 – Loretta Ross
Calling In the Calling Out Culture: Dealing with Fears of Inclusion and Erasure
Loretta Ross is a Visiting Associate Professor in Women’s Studies at various colleges teaching courses on “White Supremacy in the Age of Trump” and “Reproductive Justice Praxis”. She started her career in activism and social change in the 1970s, working at the National Football League Players’ Association, the D.C. Rape Crisis Center, the National Organization for Women (NOW), the National Black Women’s Health Project, the Center for Democratic Renewal (National Anti-Klan Network), the National Center for Human Rights Education, and SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, until retiring as an organizer in 2012 to teach about activism. Her passion transforms anger into social justice to change the world.
Her most recent books are Reproductive Justice: An Introduction co-written with Rickie Solinger, and Radical Reproductive Justice: Foundations, Theory, Practice, Critique, both published in 2017. Her forthcoming book is Calling In the Calling Out Culture: Detoxing Our Movement due out in 2019.
She has appeared on CNN, BET, “Lead Story,” “Good Morning America,” “The Donahue Show,” the National Geographic Channel, and “The Charlie Rose Show.” She has been quoted in the New York Times, Time Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post, among others.
Her activism began as a rape and incest survivor as a teen mother. She graduated college at age 55. She is from San Antonio, TX and lives in Atlanta, GA. She is a mother and grandmother, and an avid pinochle player. Her dream is to see Venus and Serena Williams play tennis in person.
- Facilitator: M. Charlene Ball
- Musician: Mick Kinney
June 23, 2019 – Dr. Althea Natalga Sumpter
Juneteenth: A Long Time to Freedom
June 19, 1865: Union troops land at Galveston, Texas, to announce the end of the Civil War and the end of slavery. Two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation is put into effect on January 1, 1863, those still held in slavery begin their search for the meaning of freedom. Celebrations gradually gain momentum out of Texas and spread around the country —to become recognized by those of African descent as Juneteenth Independence Day.
Dr. Althea Sumpter is a researcher and scholar who uses her expertise as an ethnographer to document cultures and preserve the Southern story of the United States. With her native Gullah Geechee culture as a prototype collecting the oral histories of elders, she teaches ways to research the cultural history within a community, then how to use documentation technology to memorialize and preserve the stories of a community for future generations. She presents talks and workshops on documenting cultural history for others wanting to preserve stories in their own community or the cultural story of a family. Her research and work can be viewed at altheasumpter.com.
- Facilitator: Robert Stewart
- Musician: Dr. Jean Heinrich
Juneteenth Atlanta Events
Juneteenth Atlanta Parade & Music Festival: June 14-16, 2019
Juneteenth Celebration at Atlanta History Center: June 15-16, 2019
June 16, 2019 – Anthony Knight
“I Love You, Buddy: A Father and Son’s Complicated Journey to Peace”
Anthony Knight is the President & CEO of The Baton Foundation—a Georgia nonprofit organization that serves the emotional, intellectual and cultural needs of Black boys in grades five through nine. Before founding the Foundation, Mr. Knight worked for twenty-two years as a museum educator and consultant. Mr. Knight has extensive experience with and interest in African American history and culture, public and living history, informal education and Black youth. Mr. Knight’s work with The Baton Foundation reflects his ongoing interest in the issues and practices related to the collecting, preservation and interpretation of information about and material culture from the African Diaspora. Mr. Knight’s undergraduate work was in Spanish and English (Ohio Wesleyan University), and his graduate work was in museum education (The George Washington University). Mr. Knight also holds a degree in Spanish-to-English translation from the Núcleo de Estudios Lingüísticos y Sociales, Caracas, Venezuela. Mr. Knight is a New York City native.
- Facilitator: D. Patton White
- Musician: William Chelton
June 9, 2019 – Rev. Angela Denise Davis
“Things I’ve Learned from Podcasting”
Angela Denise Davis, M.Div., M.S., is a ukulele instructor, workshop facilitator, ordained minister, and public speaker. Her work as a minister focuses on how the fusion of art and spirituality can enlarge
the ground beneath our feet and enrich the ways we move in personal and social spaces. In addition, she is also the creator, host, and producer of the ZAMI NOBLA Podcast.
She is a graduate of Clark Atlanta University where she earned a B.A. in Art. She also holds a master of divinity from Vanderbilt University Divinity School, and a master of science in rehabilitation counseling from Georgia State University.
- Facilitator: Libby Ware
- Musician: Alan Dynin