As we get our houses ready for National Immigrants Day (October 28), from a friend in Maskachusetts:
I just drove on Sandy Pond Rd in Lincoln. A Somali (I assume, since he was black with lighter skin and curly hair) took out a prayer mat, oriented it toward Mecca and was doing a midday prayer on the side of the road (there’s no sidewalk). Right in front of a house belonging to a family with a last name of Goldstein.
(Note the hateful failure to capitalize “Black”, but the friend who used the hateful language is an immigrant and, therefore, it would be wrong for me to criticize him while he is enriching us with his presence.)
A July post from the church in the middle of town:
In April, we posed–and eventually distilled–a question in response: What if we activated one of our spaces–the parsonage–to provide urgently needed temporary housing to refugees?
We wish to state clearly that using the parsonage for refugee housing is not necessarily what will be proposed at a special congregational meeting on September 29, but the “what if” of this hypothesis (some might even call it a lightning rod) is what we are working with to ground our debate, open our hearts, and stretch our imaginations.
*The recommendations for length of stay per family vary from several months to about a year.
In Massachusetts, appropriate housing is hard to find and expensive. Newly arriving refugees are often put up in a crowded hotel room for up to 90 days while they are connected with essential services and look for other housing. Some families are transferred to shelters.
A Biden-style trans-enhanced Rainbow Flag is at the bottom of every page of the church’s web site:
(See Is LGBTQIA the most popular social justice cause because it does not require giving money?)
The July post had estimated the cost to the church of helping out migrants at roughly $48,000 per year, mostly in foregone rent. I contacted a friend who is a member of the church to ask whether this expenditure had been approved by the congregation:
That issue was put to rest before the meeting, thank Heaven. … What we voted on is a $7 million improvement of the stone church, which I favored. 95% of the Church agreed. Progress!
So the Righteous voted to spend $7 million on themselves and nothing on the migrants whose cause they champion.
Related:
- Harvard graduate discovers that the suburbs are packed with narrow-minded white heterosexuals (in which the same church hired a pastor claiming to be Brown and 2SLGBTQQIA+)
> Harvard graduate discovers that the suburbs are packed with narrow-minded white heterosexuals
Have you thought about writing for the Babylon Bee? Sounds like a headline.
Progress indeed, away from hanging witches as Puritans. That church you mentioned isn’t Congregationalist anymore, however Congregationalists have a tradition of independence:
Wikipedia: > Each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs.
The ones we went to varied, some spend the money on themselves, others did good deeds. Democracy at work. Our church in CT was one of the latter, and the heart of the community. Looks like it’s open and affirming, now:
https://mcc-ucc.org/about/open-a-affirming-ona.html
> Open and Affirming (ONA) is the United Church of Christ’s (UCC) designation for congregations, campus ministries, and other bodies in the UCC which make a public covenant of welcome into their full life and ministry to all persons.
> At a special congregational meeting on February 21, 2010, the Monroe Congregational Church, United Church of Christ became an open and affirming congregation by vote of the membership.
The mentioned Goldsteins should put up large pro-Israel signs with bright Stars of David.
It’s not the old neighborhood. Greenspun spends 1/3 of his time in Greenspunchusetts, 1/3 in FL, & 1/3 on the road.
Thanks, lion, for sharing your expertise regarding my schedule. I think that I might be at 15 days on the ground in Maskachusetts so far for 2025 (next planned trip is January 2026 to teach at MIT), but I don’t remember making it out to Lincoln during any of those 15 days (I was in Brookline, Boston, and Cambridge). Lincoln doesn’t have a marijuana dispensary, as far as I know, and therefore isn’t a reasonable destination for anyone interested in the full Maskachusetts experience.
Maybe once the kids have finished high school I will start to spend a significant amount of time away from Florida, but I’m still not sure where we’d go for the summer months if indeed we had the freedom to become seasonal. What plans have you made for my schedule once the glorious final high school graduation occurs?
@philg
I’d vote for you going to places where they are trying to do the right thing. Are there any? The Luddite Club traveled to Seine-Port France:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/france-smartphone-ban-scrolling-mayor-village-b2824647.html
Also, Michigan is nice in the summer, Ann Arbor has banned leaf-blowers, which is progressive. Now I’m going to break my rusty cage, and disconnect… | | | ( 🦜 ) | | |
Thanks, PP. The Islamic Republic of Michigan sounds nice for the summer, especially Traverse City and Mackinac Island, but it is quite flat, which isn’t the best contrast with Florida.