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UUMUAC (You Me Act): The Unitarian Universalist Multiracial Unity Action Council
UUMUAC (You Me Act): The Unitarian Universalist Multiracial Unity Action Council episodes
- Work in Progress (November 2025)
This podcast features Rev. Dr. Marie Manning, better known as Twinkle. She will talk to us about what it means to all of us to be a work in progress. But before you listen to what she has to say, here's a little more information about Twinkle.
Reverend Manning currently serves as the contract minister for the UU congregation in Waterville, Maine. Previously, she excelled at retreat leadership and workshop facilitation for many years. Now, as a semi-retired media professional, award-winning television producer, author, artist, and poet, she is founder of TV for Your Soul and the Empowering Women's Signature Series. I hope you'll want to learn even more about Reverend Manning, and you can do that by visiting her website, twinklesplace.org.
Her presentation here has been excerpted from the full UUMUAC Third Wednesday Vesper Service for November 2025, which you can watch on our YouTube channel.
During this podcast, Reverend Manning begins with a reading of Jennifer Bloom's poem, "Work in Progress." It was originally published in her 2020 book, Within My Illusions, published by Balboa Press. The poem ends with the line, "I am a work in progress, and still I am complete." But that's just the beginning of Twinkle's musings and prose as she takes off from that point and offers us an entrancing meditation and reflection on this topic.
We are sure you will enjoy this remarkable exploration of all the ways we grow and change, all of us works in progress.
30 min - Science in the Time of Trump (October 2025)
This podcast consists of a talk given during our monthly online Vesper service in October 2025. full service, including a lively discussion about the topic, "Science in the Time of Trump" is available to you on YouTube. Our speaker this time is Dr. Suzanne Willis.
She is a professor emerita at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois, where Dr. Willis taught physics until her retirement in 2012. Having been interested in science her entire life, Dr. Willis received her bachelor's degree in physics Mount Holyoke College. She then went on to Yale University to complete both her master's and doctoral degrees, again in physics, and in 1988, she joined the faculty at Northern Illinois University.
Dr. Willis remained there until her retirement in 2012, also serving for a time as President of the Faculty Senate and Executive Secretary of the University Council. Her main research focus was experimental, high-energy physics. Since retiring, she has expanded her interests to physics education and public science literacy.
As you are no doubt aware, the current Trump administration is clearly opposed to both science and scientific research. In this talk, Dr. Willis explains the long-term ramifications of this opposition to scientific research currently in progress. She also predicts how academic academic research will fare in the future. With that said, I hope you enjoy this very informative presentation.
What you are hearing on this podcast is an extract of a much longer program, including Q & A. You can find it on YouTube at this address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_ko4RgJ09E&t=819s
23 min - Church of the Free Spirit with Rev. Dr. Matthew Spear (September 2025)
TRANSCRIPT
Speaker Barbara Jean Walsh
Hello. My name is Barbara Jean Walsh, and I am a Board Member of UUMUAC, the Unitarian Universalist Multiracial Unity Action Council. (For more information about UUMUAC, please visit our website at UUMUAC.org.)
Each month, it is our pleasure to offer an online vespers service featuring noted speakers who typically share their unique perspectives on liberal religion. This sermon has been extracted from one of those services. I hope it will inspire you to check out UUMUAC more closely.
Our speaker for this podcast episode is Dr. Matthew Shear, who has, in his own words, come from “Practice to Pulpit.” In this program, he is offering us his vision for a Church of the Free Spirit. That explains the “pulpit” part of his journey, but you may be surprised to learn that the “practice” part refers to his optometry practice including his post-grad work at the Baltimore Academy for Behavioral Optometry.
Dr. Shear is deeply interested in how our behavior is affected by misperception of ourselves, and the whole world. He is an engaging speaker with a gift for breaking down complex topics into wonderfully understandable segments. And, as you’ll find out, he is very good at creating acronyms to help us all remember the many segments that together comprise the Church of the Free Spirit.
Please click on FULL TRANSCRIPT to read more.
34 min
About UUMUAC (You Me Act): The Unitarian Universalist Multiracial Unity Action Council
From the publisher's feed
UUMUAC stands for Unitarian Universalist Multiracial Unity Action Council, but you don't need to be a Unitarian or a…
Universalist to understand our message:
We need to work together to build the world that Martin Luther King dreamed of, a world where people are judged by who they are and what they do - not the color of their skin.
UUMUAC hosts a monthly vespers service via Zoom and YouTube, featuring speakers who are both articulate and passionate about both multiracial unity and liberal religion. This podcast will extract sermons from those services and other UUMUAC-sponsored online events. Note: If you would like to attend Vespers by Zoom, so you can participate in the conversation, please use our CONTACT FORM at the bottom of our webpage.
In future episodes, we will be sharing sermons delivered by one of our co-founders, the late Rev. Dr. Finley Campbell, who left an impressive legacy of his writings and speeches, including a large collection of taped sermons that have not yet been digitized.
Here's a little more about who we are and what we believe:
The UUMUAC Vision & Mission
Preamble
Racism and related forms of prejudice are revealed when someone treats another person differently due to their perceived race or ethnicity. These prejudices affect people around the world. Such disrespectful conduct is especially harmful in religious communities because of their commitment to strong ethical and moral standards.
Vision Statement
We envision our congregations, associations, and communities as being not color blind but color appreciative; as judging and treating people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin, their cultural heritage, or other identity; and as treasuring all forms of diversity in the context of Martin Luther King’s Jr’s “Beloved Community.” We call this vision Multiracial Unity.
Mission Statement
It is the mission of the Unitarian Universalist Multiracial Unity Action Council to foster activities for multiracial unity and to counter racism and neo-racism through worship, education, bearing witness, and other actions, and to find and engage like-minded individuals and groups. We affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and strive to defend freedom, reason and tolerance as articulated in the Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism adopted in 1985. This includes promoting their use in individual congregations, through congregational autonomy, and in our own actions.
We looking forward to hearing from you!