ann arbor pride fest 2023
—
so happy to live in a city that takes pride in all people and celebrates everyone.
—
“festivals promote diversity, they bring neighbors into dialogue, they increase creativity,
they offer opportunities for civic pride, they improve our general psychological well-being.
in short, they make cities better places to live.”
-david binder
After their LGBTQ pride flag was stolen twice in recent weeks, a pair of Ann Arbor churches are responding the only way they know how — giving away more flags.
St Aidan’s Episcopal Church and Northside Presbyterian Church, which share a building in Ann Arbor, are launching a “Need A Flag, Take A Flag” event today. The event will feature 300 LGBTQ pride flags and allow anyone in need of a flag to take home their own handheld versions.
Although the event is in part a Pride Month celebration, the inspiration for it comes from the theft of the churches’ own flags. On April 3, church leadership received an email saying someone had removed the flag and thrown it into the bushes. On June 1, the churches reported the replaced flag had been stolen completely.
“I still haven’t found it,” said the Rev. Thomas Ferguson, vicar at St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church. The Rev. Jenny Saperstein, pastor at Northside Presbyterian Church, told Ferguson, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that whoever took it must have needed a flag. “She said, let’s answer this with something positive,” Ferguson said.
The churches, which often partner on social justice issues, will have 300 flags available and plan to order more if they run out. Launching the event on a Sunday allows the entire congregation to get involved with the advocacy, Saperstein said. “It’s really this church community that stands for that,” Saperstein said. “Not just the pastors.”
Hearing affirming messaging from churches is especially important for marginalized communities. “We’ll hope to change hearts and minds with love,” Ferguson said. “We’re not going away, and we’re not changing our stance here with the oppressed.”
—
Donde termina el arco iris,
en tu alma o en el horizonte?
Where does the rainbow end,
in your soul or on the horizon?
― Pablo Neruda, The Book of Questions
—
source credit: jordyn pair, mlive, ann arbor news
what a wonderfully kind gesture
for someone to leave a gallon of milk and bread behind
to be discovered by someone else who may need it more.
—
“let us temper our criticism with kindness. none of us comes fully equipped.”
-carl sagan
surprising how frogs can be found most everywhere, each of them unique.
—
“you can’t tell by the look of a frog how far they’ll jump.”
-paul doiron
our rainbow of people
—
“look at the rainbow, it is made up of different colors, yet they do not split,
because they know how beautiful they are when they stick together.”
―
powerful messages found everywhere
—
“in an open society, no idea can be above scrutiny, just as no people should be beneath dignity.”
-maajid nawaz
—
grand trunk pub, detroit, michigan, usa -2020
when hanging outside with a couple of my grandies,
we talked as they worked on creating pictures
taken from online designs
very, very carefully selecting each tiny bead to put into place
i thought it would be a good time to tell them about my cat, olive
who loves to pounce on the jigsaw puzzles on my table
when she finds me in the midst of them
i also thought i would do a mini dramatic recreation of how it all happens
as i pretended to be olive, bouncing my hand on the table
i apparently was a little too into my role
when i hit the table
we all froze for a few seconds
after noticing that all of their hard work
had just been destroyed in the course of my acting.
great recovery though
as i apologized
we all laughed and laughed and laughed at what happened
knowing
that while it would take a long time to rebuild their designs
we also also knew
that life can be so instantly funny sometimes.
—
“the more you find out about the world, the more opportunities there are to laugh at it.”
– bill nye
forsythia bright in my quarantine kitchen
blossoms have begun to fall
everything is temporary.
—
“Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.” – pema chodron
yesterday was heavy.
put it down.
—
image credit: diego rivera, untitled (a heavy load) 1948
walking on a bridge and looking down at each side
same day, same time, same place
what you don’t see
is what is happening just below the bridge
to make each side of the very same river
act in a very different way
“no bridge has ever taken sides.”
-ljupka cvetanova, the new land
I didn't have my glasses on.... 