One of the things we do well at Special Session is the work of putting our core community values into practice. When I think about our time together, it's easy for me to see how we look for the image of God in all people, how we practice boundless welcome, recognize sacramental celebration, and always find ourselves in the midst of messy grace. We don't live our values perfectly, but we are striving together. That's part of our magic.
To continue engaging this work in the fall, we're going to do some reading and engaging with the idea of disability justice. We hope this work will build our community capacity to welcome and embrace people fully, honoring the fullness of each person's identity. We're going to ask ourselves questions like, "How might we more fully live into our values and our baptismal covenant in our community? What barriers might keep people who want to come to camp from joining us? How can we as a community do more to strive for justice among all people, and to be a welcoming space for all?"
One way to join in this work is to join a reading circle. Several small groups will meet weekly (virtually or via phone) to talk about ta chapter a week from Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. We chose this book as a starting place because it's described as "a toolkit for everyone who wants to build radically resilient communities of liberation where no one is left behind."
To join a reading group, please complete this form by August 20. We'll send you information about how to order a copy of the book, or send you a copy if you need one. Groups will meet for about 45 minutes each week to discuss a chapter; each group will be facilitated by volunteer group leaders. Because these conversations will be directed toward how what we learn applies to Special Session, the groups will be geared toward people who've been a part of camp (in the summer or the fall) as a camper, sojourner, counselor, support staffer, or the caregiver of someone who comes to camp.
If you have questions, please email me at lmullen@dioala.org.
Weekly Reading
Week of Aug 23 Welcome to the Circle, Introductions
Week of Aug 30 Preface + 1. Care Webs: Experiments in Creating Collective Access
Week of Sep 6 Chapter 2. Crip Emotional Intelligence
Week of Sep 13 Chapter 3. Making Space Accessible is an Act of Love for Our Communities
Week of Sep 20 Chapter 4. Toronto Crip City: A Not-So-Brief, Incomplete Personal History of Some Moments in Time, 1997-2015
Week of Sep 27 Chapter 5. Sick and Crazy Healer: A Not-So-Brief Personal History of the Healing Justice Movement
Week of Oct 4 Chapter 6. Crip Sex Moments and the Lust of Recognition: A Conversation with E. T. Russian
Week of Oct 11 Chapter 7. Cripping the Apocalypse: Some of My Wild Disability Justice Dreams
Week of Oct 18 Chapter 8. A Modest Proposal for a Fair Trade Emotional Labor Economy (Centered by Disabled, Femme of Color, Working-Class/Poor Genius)
Week of Oct 25 Chapter 9. Prefigurative Politics and Radically Accessible Performance Spaces: Making the World to Come
Week of Nov 1 Closing
To continue engaging this work in the fall, we're going to do some reading and engaging with the idea of disability justice. We hope this work will build our community capacity to welcome and embrace people fully, honoring the fullness of each person's identity. We're going to ask ourselves questions like, "How might we more fully live into our values and our baptismal covenant in our community? What barriers might keep people who want to come to camp from joining us? How can we as a community do more to strive for justice among all people, and to be a welcoming space for all?"
One way to join in this work is to join a reading circle. Several small groups will meet weekly (virtually or via phone) to talk about ta chapter a week from Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. We chose this book as a starting place because it's described as "a toolkit for everyone who wants to build radically resilient communities of liberation where no one is left behind."
To join a reading group, please complete this form by August 20. We'll send you information about how to order a copy of the book, or send you a copy if you need one. Groups will meet for about 45 minutes each week to discuss a chapter; each group will be facilitated by volunteer group leaders. Because these conversations will be directed toward how what we learn applies to Special Session, the groups will be geared toward people who've been a part of camp (in the summer or the fall) as a camper, sojourner, counselor, support staffer, or the caregiver of someone who comes to camp.
If you have questions, please email me at lmullen@dioala.org.
Weekly Reading
Week of Aug 23 Welcome to the Circle, Introductions
Week of Aug 30 Preface + 1. Care Webs: Experiments in Creating Collective Access
Week of Sep 6 Chapter 2. Crip Emotional Intelligence
Week of Sep 13 Chapter 3. Making Space Accessible is an Act of Love for Our Communities
Week of Sep 20 Chapter 4. Toronto Crip City: A Not-So-Brief, Incomplete Personal History of Some Moments in Time, 1997-2015
Week of Sep 27 Chapter 5. Sick and Crazy Healer: A Not-So-Brief Personal History of the Healing Justice Movement
Week of Oct 4 Chapter 6. Crip Sex Moments and the Lust of Recognition: A Conversation with E. T. Russian
Week of Oct 11 Chapter 7. Cripping the Apocalypse: Some of My Wild Disability Justice Dreams
Week of Oct 18 Chapter 8. A Modest Proposal for a Fair Trade Emotional Labor Economy (Centered by Disabled, Femme of Color, Working-Class/Poor Genius)
Week of Oct 25 Chapter 9. Prefigurative Politics and Radically Accessible Performance Spaces: Making the World to Come
Week of Nov 1 Closing