Parenting can be...tedious. So can almost every aspect of "adulting." Getting up and going to work, sleeping for a bit and doing it all over again. Feeding and bathing the kids, on repeat. Cooking meals for yourself and doing the dishes...endlessly. Where's the FUN in it all? With an eye toward the "fun dad" model, Amanda explores how we can bring zest into daily life. Spoiler alert: being in the moment helps. Music from the WES Chorus.

Throughout history queerness – membership of a sexual or gender minority group – has been denigrated and demeaned. Queer people have been and continue to be subjected to social stigma and legal discrimination all around the world. Today in America, queer people increasingly enjoy legal equality and increased safety, but rarely are we celebrated for the positive contributions we have brought society. In this Platform, James Croft (who is gay himself) will explore how LGBTQIA+ people have, in enthusiastically embracing their own identities, thrown open the floodgates of sexual and gender experimentation for everyone.

As we begin our exploration of Zest, Amanda asks how we find it during a time that can feel overwhelming–whether it’s because of national politics or our own struggles. How do we reclaim the right to live boldly, joyfully, and lustily while also refusing to look away from the hard parts of life?

Founder’s Day: The Way We Were

“Founder’s Day: The Way We Were” Cayo Gamber, Sera Morgan, Perry Saidman, Richard Nugent, and Amanda Poppei. Ten years ago, WES was in the midst of transition–a capital campaign, a building renovation, a Leader search. We look back at this moment in time and celebrate the leap of faith WES members took.

“Parenting to Transcend: Teaching, Protecting & Loving Black Bodies,” Monique Miles. We will continue to explore the theme of Embodiment with a emphasis on the black body. What does it mean to have a black body in current society? In particular, what does it mean to mother a black child? We will explore the lessons and tools that are critical to nurture, protect, love and transcend the structural and individual threats to the black body.

Come explore with us the risk of shutting down and shutting out others, and the risk we take when instead we open up to connections, relationship and vulnerability. This is what it means to be Human. Rev. Rachel Christensen is a UU minister from Orlando, Florida. She was Intern Minister at the First Unitarian Church of Orlando, preaching her last service on the morning of the Pulse tragedy last year.

Join us for this special presentation about the intersection of environmentalism and affordable housing. Khalil Shahyd’s work focuses on the Energy Efficiency for All Project, which aims to increase utility-funded energy efficiency programs in the affordable multifamily housing sector. He coordinates with National Resource Defense Council’s affordable housing partners to advocate for efficiency investments in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan. As part of the LEED Neighborhood Development initiative, Shahyd also promotes the expansion of “green” communities in New Orleans.

"Transforming Holidays" Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader. Throughout human history, holidays and holy days have offered a way to tell the story of transformation, to bring hope in difficult times. This weekend marks both the Jewish celebration of Passover, and the Christian celebration of Easter. But what about us? Amanda will reflect on the meaning of these and other holidays for humanists, and invite us to imagine how transformation acts in our own lives.

Felix Adler founded the Ethical Society on a concept of the Spiritual Ideal, with practical principles for achieving it, that is grounded in reason rather than the supernatural. Changing your worldview and having faith enough to use it in moments of uncertainty is the most difficult transformation a person can make.

HumanisticSpirituality by affirming the worth of every person since 1944.