Pod and Country

Pod and Country Ep.3 - Equity and Other Dirty Words

Our previous two episodes gave us a firm grounding in both theological and historical ideas animating Unitarian Universalist thinking and actions in the fight against oppression and tyranny.  With this episode 3, we move out into the world and into our communities.  We seek to listen and learn how best to support the heroes and saints among us on the front lines of resistance and explore how we can take action in service of those least able to defend themselves against systemic injustice.
Our interview segment features Adrian Tirtanadi, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Open Door Legal. Open Door Legal has created an innovative place-based general practice to demonstrate that universal access to legal services is possible. In the first community that they served, homelessness dropped in half within a decade. In our State of the UUnion segmant, we travel to Baton Rouge Louisiana to visit with Rev Nathan Ryan, Senior Minister of The Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge.  We talk about gumbo, crepe myrtle trees and the importance of always including a cultural context in our dialogue with each other.  We also have music from Francisco Hererra, a little comedy and poetry along with a final reflection from Rev Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister of First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco.  As always, we invite you to come on in!
After listening, here are a few links to explore more about this episode:
Open Door Legal - https://opendoorlegal.org/
Open Door Legal Case Study - Citizenship and Safety After Fleeing El Salvador:  https://youtu.be/oUCzxpKk6_g
SF Board of Supervisors:https://sfbos.org/roster-members
The Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge - https://unitarianbr.org/
More about Bacon’s Rebellion - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon%27s_Rebellion
Paula Cole Jones - Community of Communities -  https://www.uua.org/leaderlab/community-communities
The Tiger Club - www.tigerclubband.com
Francisco Herrera - https://franciscoherreramusic.com/

Pod and Country Ep.2 - Naming Evil

Welcome to Pod and Country, an audio magazine for the spirit! 
In this episode we’ll  continue our conversation with the Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern and the Rev. John Buehrens. In the previous episode they looked at the theological grounding of the Unitarian response to tyranny and oppression. This time they will take a deep and honest dive into the history of the Unitarian response to tyranny and oppression and what it might inform us about how to confront it today. 
We’ll have some comedic sketches and a song from singer/ songwriter Baxter Robertson and we’ll  interview  Rev. Laura Shennum, UUSF  Minister of Congregational Life and former Minister of  the Cascade Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Wenatchee, WA.
So get a cup of tea, relax and enjoy this month's edition of Pod and Country.
 
Resources:
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern. https://vanessarushsouthern.com
Rev. John Buehrens https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Buehrens
Books by John Buehrens: John Buehrens books
Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life https://www.uusf.org/ministers#laura
Baxter Robertson https://baxterrobertson.bandcamp.com
The Tiger Club https://tigerclubband.com/
The Mike and Mari Show https://themikeandmarishow.com/
Send us comments and feedback at podandcountry@uusf.org
Previous Episodes of Pod and Country

Pod and Country Ep.1 - Resisting Tyranny

In this episode. we speak with the Rev. John Buehrens. John was the 6th President of the Unitarian Universalist Association, 1993 to 2001 and is the author of several books about the history of Unitarian Universalism. His most recent book is "A Religious Center with a Civic Circumference: Unitarians in San Francisco Since 1850". He also published "Conflagration: How the Transcendentalists Sparked the American Struggle for Racial, Gender and Social Justice in 2020". 
We'll also feature a comedy sketch and a song from Jon Fromer as well as an interview with Jay Wolin, Senior Minister, UU Church of Sarasota Fl as we reach out to connect with UU churches across the country and hear how they are navigating these uncertain times.
The lights are on - come on in!
 
Resources:
Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern.
https://vanessarushsouthern.com
Rev. John Buehrens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Buehrens
Rev. Jay Wolin.
https://www.uusrq.org/rev-jay-wolin.html
Brian Leonard
https://www.brianleonard.website/
The Jon Fromer Estate—- 
https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/jon-fromer-a-political-life-in-song/
The Tiger Club
https://tigerclubband.com/
The Mike and Mari Show
https://themikeandmarishow.com/
 
Comments: podandcountry@uusf.org