Tomorrow morning I start traveling to the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association. I’ll get up early and catch the 7:20 Acela train out of Providence. Tomorrow afternoon I’ll take the Capitol Limited from Washington DC to Chicago. Monday afternoon I’ll climb on board the California Zephyr in Chicago, and get off Wednesday night in Salt Lake City. When I get to General Assembly in Salt Lake City, I won’t have jet lag, I will have seen some spectacular scenery, I won’t have had to take off my shoes and hat for security guards, and I will be able to lord it over the people who flew to Salt Lake because my carbon footprint will be half of theirs. Physical comfort, beauty, moral superiority — what more can I ask for?
Once I get to General Assembly, I’ll be doing some text-based reporting and some live blogging of plenary sessions for the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). I’ll also be posting here (saving up all my snark for this blog, since snark won’t be appropriate on the UUA Web site). I plan to do some videoblogging, too, if time permits.
So what about you: Will you be going to General Assembly this year? or do you have better ways to spend your hard-earned time and money than by going to some denominational meeting? Will you be following the online coverage of General Assembly? or will you be watching the Red Sox instead? And finally, do you believe General Assembly is worth the thousands of dollars the denomination spends on it each year? Discuss freely. (And if you’ll be blogging General Assembly, don’t forget to plug your blog in the comments.)
P. S.: While traveling, I’ll be able to update this blog in Washington and Chicago. I’ll also be posting to my Twitter feed, http://twitter.com/danlharp, while en route.
Do you have a layover in DC? Text me and maybe I can meet you in Union Station for a cup of tea.
Sweet. I once took the train from NC to MN to pick up a car I’d purchased. It was a wonderful, restul respite during a period of great stress in my life. See you in SLC!
I am lucky to be able to cobble together some personal funds, some professional expense funds and some funds for the volunteer job I do and make a trip to GA happen–I love it. And yes, yes, yes I will be blogging both about the LREDA Board meeting and professional days and the regular rush of GA. Can’t wait. Safe travels.
According to RR schedules, as of the 1940’s, your trip would have taken about 2 1/2 days via NY NH & H to NYC changing to the 20th Century Limited to Chicago, and the California Zephyr to Salt Lake City. Increasing the elapsed time to 5 days is progress indeed.
I wish the railroads would become as good as they once were.
Nope. Not going to GA this year. I’m spending my hard-earned cash on a class that conflicts with GA: Diversity Issues in Counseling. I’ll probably check in on-line from time to time.
Is it worth what we spend on it? No. Especially since lay participants still (usually) have to spend so much out-of-pocket. I don’t think a proposal that limits GA to voting delegates (which would severely hamper youth participation and all but eliminate Religious Educator participation) is the answer. I hope we are serious about trying to find another solution.