Workshop Forms Due Nov 1st

Reminder that the forms workshop proposals for OMDSI 2008 are due on Nov 1st! The forms are available on http://www.omdsi.org.

If you do submit a proposal, please look for an acknowledgment from Jane Harkey, who is the workshop coordinator, to make sure the proposal was received and is being processed.

And, even if you are just thinking about a proposal at this time, please drop her an email today to let her know that you might be submitting a full proposal later this month, so she can plan appropriately.

Jane can be reached directly at janeharkey@hotmail.com.

SI '07 Pictures Ready for Viewing

Brad Bolton has posted his pictures of OMDSI'07 (and past years) at http://www.proftalon.smugmug.com/. Enjoy!

A Letter from Dave

Summer Institute Community,

What a week we had at Kenyon College. We all look at SI through the lens of our own experience and expectations, and I hope your week was as full of new relationships and new experiences as mine was.

I loved the sessions on Buddhist meditations and chanting, and used them to calm myself between dealing with the usual problems when 600 people get together for a week away together. As SI ’07 Chair Amy Kent likes to say, “SI is like throwing a weeklong party for 600 of your closest friends.”

Speaking of Amy, wasn’t she amazing. The way she handled everything from broken bones to last-minute announcements she couldn’t read, Amy handled anything that was thrown at her with grace and a laugh. I’m feeling a bit insecure moving into her job, as SI ’08 chair, but as a backpacking mentor advised me many years ago, I’ll do this job one step at a time and eventually we’ll all reach the mountaintop.

Before I talk about what changes there will be at SI 2008, I’d like to linger a little more on SI 2007. The further I am from Summer Institute, the more I realize how good the week was for my soul. During SI ’07 I went from dealing with one problem to the next as did most planning committee members, but along the way I made such close connections with several people I had never known well before.

In Unitarian speak I was in “right relationship” with them, but to me I made friends out of a need to build a support network quickly to keep me sane. From my fellow planning committee members who forged a strong bond to a young adult who was a good listener and helped me work through a couple bad spots, their sage counsel and friendship will stay with me a long time.

And I have to give Alyssa Lamb’s tie-dying afternoon workshop a plug. What a nice break it was to take an old shirt to her workshop and emerge with a piece of art I could wear, and continue to wear back home. I wore one of the shirts I tie-dyed to a weekend book discussion group and it was the hit of the party.

But SI 2007 is now over and we begin planning for SI 2008. The biggest change, which will impact everything from scheduling to programming, is that a newly renovated and expanded Pierce Hall will be open for us. Beginning in March, 2008, Pierce Hall will serve as the main dining center for Kenyon College. It will seat and serve 1,500 diners at a time, with eating areas on two floors. Food service will be handled at multiple feeding stations for easy access and to reduce lines.

Pierce will also feature a new and expanded Pub on the lower level in the area of the old Pierce Pub. The new Pub will have increased seating and a small stage for musicians. In addition to the Pub we will sponsor a non-alcoholic coffee house in Pierce during Pub hours with free coffee and places for conversation, games, and musicians.

We will also have Hanna Hall available to us at SI 2008. Always a favorite with SI families, it was being renovated this years to refinish its floors and spruce the grand old lady up a bit. Ernst and its “food court” will be gone by next summer, literally gone, replaced by a sloping hill, hopefully of grass and not dirt.
The SI Planning Committee is seeking proposals for workshops by Nov. 1. I’ve heard that our ’07 theme speaker, the Venerable Shih Ying-Fa, the abbot of the CloudWater Zendo and founder of the Zen Society of Cleveland, is proposing that he present a workshop based on the formal Chinese and Japanese tea service. (How cool is that? Let alone that the guy has the title “Venerable.” That’s way cool).
I’ve also heard about possible workshops on the art of mosaics and deep-water aerobics (I don’t think you’ll need scuba gear). Your planning committee will meet the second Saturday of every month at the beautiful Akron church to plan a great 2008 SI.
I’ll keep you all updated so you’ll know what to expect. See you at Kenyon in 2008.

Dave Murray
2008 Summer Institute Chair
dmurray08@gmail.com

Reimbursement Forms

We just realized that the home address for me on SI 2007 expense reimbursement forms is incorrect. Two numbers were transposed. The correct address is :

Dave Murray
2893 Bendigo Lane
Lambertville, MI, 48144

My Congregation

My Congregation
(sung to My Generation by the Who)
apologies to the Who; lyrics by Brad Bolton and Christie Anderson

(2 bars intro)
Falwell tries, to put us down; We won’t take it, lying down
Hank Thoreau is our hero; Next to him, Calvin’s a zero.

(chorus)
My congregation, my congregation baby
My congregation, my congregation baby

Open minds, we light our chalice; Open hearts, we have no malice
Have no creed, no dogma goals; WE have seven principles

My congregation, my congregation baby
My congregation, my congregation baby

Read our minds, on our bumpers; You won’t find no, bible thumpers
Long haired short haired butch or baldin’; All together we look for Walden

My congregation, my congregation baby
My congregation, my congregation baby

We don’t have no bible school; Hogwarts is our teaching tool.
Down to earth, never stuffy; We get high on fair trade coffee

My congregation, my congregation baby
My congregation, my congregation baby

Vegetarian, gluten free; Organically grown, non-dairee
Muslim, Buddhist, liberal Christian; Humanist, Atheist, Pagan, Wiccen

My congregation, my congregation baby
My congregation, my congregation baby

We are gay and we are proud; We wear our politics, very loud
Recycle reuse, don’t pollute; Drive hybrid cars to summer institute
Save the whale, save the lion; Save us from Dick Cheney’s lyin’

My congregation, my congregation baby
My congregation, my congregation baby
“Talkin bout my congregation” a capella

OMDSI 2007

Have you seen the slide show?

Start planning for next year!

The 2008 OMD Summer Institute will be held July 13-19, 2008, at the Kenyon College, with it's new dining facilities.

Keep an eye on this blog for more information as it develops.