Recently, I’ve had a number of conversations bemoaning the long slow decline of UU World magazine, the denominational magazine of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Ongoing budget cuts at the UUA have cut many departments, and UU World is no exception. In the past two decades, staff has been cut, print publication has dropped from six times a year to twice a year, and online publication is less frequent.
UU World may have hit its peak as a glossy publication in the 2000s. Chris Walton, one of the sharpest commentators on the UU scene, was on the editorial staff (Chris later became editor of the publication), while the editor-in-chief was Tom Stites, a long-time journalist who had been part of two Pulitzer Prize-winning teams. Chris started his own design business. But what happened to Tom Stites?
I happened to run across Tom Stites when I was researching an upcoming series of sermons on challenges to democracy. It turns out that Stites is now the president of the Banyan Project, a nonprofit organization working to create community new outlets based on a coop-ownership model. It’s an ambitious project — they’ve even designed a new software platform for community news outlets based on a coop model.
This is a super interesting project. The demise of local newspapers remains one of the biggest challenges to democracy in the United States today — just as the echo chambers of social media remain one of the biggest threats to democracy today. If you live in a local news desert, it’s very hard to learn what’s going on in local government, and very hard to make informed decisions as a voter and as a citizen. A coop model may not work for every news desert, but at this point we need as many options as possible — anything that can help to eradicate news deserts is A Good Thing.
Definitely worth taking a look at the Banyan Project website.
(Still recovering from a mild concussion…slowly emerging from brain fog….)
Twenty years ago, sociologist Mark Chaves demonstrated that one of the things that congregations are really good at is exposing people to the arts, especially music (Congregations in America, Harvard Univ. Press, 2004). In the course of studying everything that congregations are really good at, Chaves came to a rather surprising conclusion:
“If we ask what congregations mainly do, the answer is, in the first place, gather people for worship and religious education. But another answer is that, in their pursuit of worship and religious education, congregations generate as a by-product more artistic activity than either social services or political activity. Although many may wish it were otherwise, congregations facilitate art… more commonly and more intensively than they pursue either charity or justice.” [p. 201; emphasis mine]
I believe this remains true today. In fact, in my limited experience I’d say participating in music-making (as opposed to consuming music, or as opposed to other art forms) is what really hooks people in the UU congregations I’ve been part of. If you want to grow your congregation, and you have the choice between asking staff to spend more time on public acts of social justice, or asking staff to spend more time on nurturing the choir — go with nurturing the choir, every time.
Recently, though, I had a conversation with a UU who pointed out that many people feel intimidated by choir participation. This comment came from someone who is a fairly skilled amateur musician; they were not talking about themselves, they were making what I feel is an astute observation. And it tallies with my own observations. I remember leading some songs with a group of UU children a dozen years ago, and realizing that several of the children had never sung in a group before — we are a society that either consumes music, or performs music, but rarely makes music together.
“The amateur ukulele club scene is a kind of musical revival of participative music making, reminiscent of the sixties folk music and eighties rock band, with the ukulele as a self-accompanying instrument for singers and non-singers alike. The explosive growth of ukulele clubs and sales raises the question: how does the combination of a simple song sheet with no music symbol or notation and a small, lightweight four-stringed acoustic instrument provide sufficient material for group music making by performers who are not trained to read music or at all in music?….”
Ku documents how ‘ukulele clubs are evolving new ways of making music together, while drawing from a widely-known repertoire of popular music, and using online learning tools such as Youtube videos and lyrics websites.
So then of course I started searching for UU ukulele groups. I found them in: Ithaca, N.Y.; Eugene, Ore.; Salt Lake City; Dubuque, Iowa; Boca Raton, Fla.; Newark, Del.; and Raleigh, N.C.. No doubt there are others out there, but I was too lazy to continue my web search.
I’m not saying that your UU congregation should start a ‘ukulele group. But if we want to reverse the decline of Unitarian Universalism, I suspect we should all start thinking more about expanding the kinds of participative music making we nurture.
I took a sick day today (for a truly boring reason not worth going into). My main need was plenty of rest, so I did as little as possible. Since I’ve been getting increasingly serious about playing ‘ukulele, I decided to listen to a bunch of ukulele virtuosi. What follows are my notes to myself about what I’ve been listening to.
Jake Shimabukuro is perhaps the preeminent ‘ukulele virtuoso today. I’m in awe of his technical proficiency. However, his music doesn’t do much for me. I have to say the same thing about James Hill, who occupies the number two spot amongst ‘ukulele virtuosi — amazing skills, but I’m not much moved by his music. Taimane, who I think now edges Hill out for the number two spot, also dazzles me with her technical brilliance but once again her music just doesn’t do it for me.
Now on to some lesser-known ‘ukulele players who do move me with their music.
I first discovered Corey Fujimoto from his 2015 video of the Presto movement of Bach’s Sonata No. 1 in G minor (BWV 1001). His technical skills have only increased since then. He doesn’t appear to be recording much these days, butt he’s a regular on the Hawaii Music Supply ‘ukulele podcast, where he usually plays with Kalei Gamaio, another ukulele virtuoso. Here’s one of their recent recordings. In my opinion, Fujimoto is not only technically brilliant, but his musical sensibility is worth spending time with. His deep knowledge of classical, pop, rock, jazz, and traditional Hawai’ian musics comes together in something uniquely beautiful. He has a deeply humane musical sensibility.
Kalei Gamaio’s solo work is also well worth listening to. I think I first ran into his playing from this video of him jamming on Pachelbel’s Canon in D with Brittni Paiva and Sungha Jung (they really get going about a minute and a half in). Gamaio is probably best known for his own composition “The Unknown,” which has been covered by hundreds of aspiring ‘ukulele players. But I like him best when he plays jazz, as in this recording of “Autumn Leaves” with Neal Chin — or this recording of “Spain” with Chin and Andrew Molina. What I especially like about Gamaio is how well he listens to other players, and complements what they’re doing without overwhelming; he never shows off, but always uses his technical abilities in service of the music. For me, this kind of humility and sensitivity raises him above many other players.
Turning back to jazz and pop, Brittni Paiva is, in my opinion, underrated as a ‘ukulele player. Women are often ignored in the ukulele world, and of the women uke players Taimane Gardner seems to get the most attention. Paiva isn’t as flashy a player as Gardner, but her technique is so good she doesn’t need to be flashy. You see, Paiva doesn’t need to play a lot of notes because every note she plays is perfect, every note has a purpose, as in this recording. She’s also a multi-instrumentalist, and has issued albums where she played every instrument, and produced the album as well. Listen to her version of Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five.”
Fujimoto, Gamaio, and Paiva all come from Hawai’i, the home of the ‘ukulele. The other major hotspot for ‘ukulele players is Japan. I’m just beginning to learn about Japanese players — if you don’t speak Japanese (like me), it’s hard to find out about them. Fortunately, I just discovered the ‘Ukulele Japan website, an English-language site with links to a dozen of the top Japanese players. I’m still exploring this site, and learning about players like Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Iwao, and Tomoko Suzuki. Check out Suzuki’s version of Benny Goodman’s “Sing Sing,” which includes an amazing percussion break — sheer unadulterated fun
George Formby singing “When I’m Cleaning Windows”
Speaking of unadulterated fun, that brings me to the ‘ukulele player who inspired George Harrison, and indeed all the Beatles. That would be none other than George Formby. It’s easy to dismiss Formby’s humorous songs as dated, but there’s more than than you’d think. Maybe he’s not an impressive ‘ukulele soloist like Paiva, but his syncopated right-hand technique is world-class — as in this film performance of “When I’m Cleaning Windows.” And while his songs are goofy, there’s a kind of innocence and simplicity to them. He’s an Everyman ukulele virtuoso.
Which brings me to one final ‘ukulele virtusoso, George Harrison himself: here he is playing the ukulele not long before he died. Simple stuff, but so well done. It’s just about perfect. (And I do think I hear a little bit of Formby in Harrison’s playing.)
So what do I look for in a ‘ukulele player? Dazzling technique is ultimately empty, unless there’s some deep meaning behind it. The best music has to have — for want of a better word — humaneness.
And that’s what I did on my sick day: I listened for the humanity in the music.
Also, I left out Aunty Genoa Keawe, but that’s mostly because I couldn’t find good free videos of her online (she died in 2008). I love the way she accompanied her singing with her uke.
Our congregation’s Ecojustice Camp, a week-long summer camp, just finished its overnight. We left no trash ourselves, but we scoured our campsite for trash that might have been left by others. The campers carefully arranged the trash on a picnic table. Here’s a photo of all the trash we found:
I wrote this post while I was experimenting with cyanotype as a way to get people to look more closely at plants. I updated it several times, with the final revision on 21 August 2025.
(Updates: 30 May; 12 July 2025; 17 July; 20 July 2025. Final revision, 21 August 2025.)
Cyanotype books
Many of the books on cyanotype available online are self-published. The following two books come from reputable publishers.
Cyanotype: The Blueprint in Contemporary Practice by Christina Anderson (Focal Press, 2019), covers everything you need to know about cyanotypes — setting up a “dim room”; how to coat your own cyanotype paper; recipes for classic cyanotype, new cyanotype, and other formulas; how to tone prints; and more. Anderson tested over 100 different papers to see which worked best for cyanotype, and there’s a whole chapter on paper. The last chapter of the book showcases artwork by contemporary cyanotype artists. This is a must-have book.
Finding paper that’s good for cyanotype can be a challenge, since not only must the paper stand up well to repeated wetting, but the pH of the paper is also important. See Christina Andersons’ book for comprehensive information on papers.
One of the inexpensive papers Anderson recommends is Canson XL Watercolor paper. This is currently my go-to paper, and I can recommend it. Widely available at places like Michael’s and Dick Blick.
At a week-long summer art workshop, three of us loved Fabriano Medievalis paper. It’s slightly cream-colored, which sets off the Prussian blue of the cyanotype nicely. However, it does not stand up well to toning, or long wash baths.
I’ve also used Yasutomo “Sketch,” which produces similar results to Hahnemuhle Sumi-e, but is much less expensive. However, it’s very fragile in water and tears easily during the developing process — you can forget about bleaching and toning this paper. If you’re on a budget and very patient, maybe give it a try.
Cyanotype in the classroom
Lawrence Hall of Science sells “Sunprint Kits” with 12 pieces of 4 inch square cyanotype paper and a clear acrylic overlay sheet. Cost buying direct from them is US$5.99 per kit (do not buy from Amazon where the price is higher). This cyanotype paper develops quickly and requires little water to develop — perfect for classroom use. They also sell refill packs of 12 sheets of cyanotype paper for US$3.99, as well as 8-1/2 by 11 inch cyanotype paper. The kits and refills are ideal for class use — inexpensive enough to allow people to experiment.
My younger sister the children’s librarian uses 5×7 inch “Nature Print” cyanotype paper from Dick Blick. It’s just as good, but I’ll stick with the Lawrence Hall of Science paper, because my purchase helps support their science education mission.
Cyanotype websites
Many of the cyanotype websites appear to be “AI”-generated slime. Others are too basic (“Expose the cyanotype paper, put it water, look at the result!”). But I found the following websites to be worth a look.
Cyanotypes with plants
Cyanotype by Angela Chalmers, a PDF, gives instructions on making cyanotype photograms using plants. Great ideas, and the author’s photograms are gorgeous.
The “Koraks Tinkers” blog has a post pointing out the difference between collimated vs. diffuse light when exposing cyanotypes. Direct sunlight provides collimated light, while an overcast day provides diffuse light. This difference is less important when making contact prints from a negative, but will produce quite different results with 3-D objects. Cloudy skies = diffuse light, and blurred edges. Clear skies = collimated light, and sharp edges.
UV light boxes
A UV light box allows you to expose cyanotypes indoors, or at night. I finally decided not to build a UV light box (no room for one in our tiny apartment), but here’s some info I collected while researching them.
Cyanotype of two mullein leaves. The leaves were dampened before placing on the paper, so this is a partially wet cyanotype process — this yields the greenish hues seen above — and a longer exposure would have revealed more details of the veins in the leaf.
The following sentence by J. M. Berger has been widely quoted: “If you believe that only ‘the other guys’ can produce extremists and that your own identity group cannot, you may be an extremist yourself.”
The original context of the quote provides more nuance:
“In the United States, the term extremist is frequently hurled, shorn of context, across racial and partisan divides. Many in the wider West contend that the entire religion of Islam is inherently extreme, arguing for policies that range from the curtailment of civil rights to mass internment. Within Islam itself, furious debates rage about which sect, movement, or nation is normative and which is extremist. These debates influence the study of extremism. There are perhaps three times as many academic studies referencing jihadism as there are referencing white nationalism. Pseudo-intellectuals, some in positions of political power, have argued that white nationalism is far less important than jihadism, despite the fact that white nationalism has a far longer and more deadly history. And they have shaped policies accordingly. If you believe that only ‘the other guys’ can produce extremists and that your own identity group cannot, you may be an extremist yourself. History provides ample evidence that extremism is part of the human condition and not the exclusive province of any single race, religion, or nation. Not all violence is extremism, nor are all of humanity’s countless wars, conflicts, and atrocities. Many cases are ambiguous, but some clearly align with our modern understanding of the word. The diversity and ubiquity of the problem can be seen in a review of historical outbreaks of significant violence driven by ideological belief.”
— from the book Extremism by J. M. Berger (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2018), p. 2.
Last year, Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. Surgeon General, issued an advisory report on social media and the mental health of kids:
“The current body of evidence indicates that while social media may have benefits for some children and adolescents, there are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents….” — Social Media and Youth Mental Health (U.S. Surgeon General’s Office, 2023)
This is not just a public health concern. It’s also a religious concern, or should be. In a recent opinion piece, Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin writes:
“A religious temperament might mean questioning our utter reliance on such technology: creating islands of time, like the Sabbath or Sunday, when we would liberate ourselves from technology and being more self-aware of how we use our tools, which have become our toys…. That [old] rabbinic statement that has become a cliche: ‘Whoever saves one life, it is as if they have saved the entire world.’ If regulating access to social media will save the life of one kid, it will be worth it.”
We now know that social media has serious adverse effects on adolescent and pre-adolescent health. So let’s do something about it.
I’ve read three or four recent news stories claiming that some large percentage of voters are going to place a lot of weight on the debates.
My personal opinion is that this seems silly. Skill in debating doesn’t necessarily correlate to skill in governing. Furthermore, a president of the United States is really only as good as their team. Debating skill tells me nothing about the ability of someone to put together a good management team. (Besides, we’ve already seen both of the two major presidential candidates govern for several years; we already know how they’re going to perform.)
But the United States seems obsessed with high stakes performance evaluations like the presidential debate. For high school kids, we love our high stakes school tests, and our SAT scores. For sports teams, we love our playoff games. For Unitarian Universalist ministers, we love our “candidating week,” seven days in which to evaluate a candidate for a years-long tenure.
We United Statesians also love our hyper-individualistic take on leadership. We love to imagine that the Great Man theory of leadership is correct. We like to believe that one person in a leadership role has a huge impact on an organization, which is why we pay Chief Executive Officers of for-profit corporations millions and billions of dollars. Even though the Great Man theory of leadership is obviously wrong, we fervently cling to our belief in it; we are leadership theory fundamentalists.
And people wonder why United States democracy is in such trouble….
Louisiana state law now requires that the Ten Commandments shall be posted in every classroom. But if you compare the Ten Commandments found in the Bible with Louisiana’s Ten Commandments, you quickly see that they are not the same Ten Commandments.
In other words, the Louisiana version of the Ten Commandments may be inspired by the Bible, but it is not Biblical. If you’re a Biblical purist, you could say that Louisiana’s rewriting of Exodus 20:2-17 is actually a type of graven image or idol — something that seems like it comes from God, but is actually made by fallible humans.
Below the fold, I’ll include several translations of the relevant Bible passages so you can compare them.
In just two days, it’s time for everyone’s favorite holiday — Pee-on-Earth Day!
When you flush your urine down the toilet, you use a gallon or more of drinking water. From there, your urine enters the stream of wastewater, typically joining human feces to be processed in a wastewater treatment plant or a septic system. By treating urine like feces, our society wastes clean water and energy (energy to purify the drinking water, and energy to run the wastewater treatment plant).
Here in the northern hemisphere, human urine doesn’t spread pathogens. And human urine actually makes a pretty good fertilizer, for plants that want a lot of nitrogen. So instead of flushing urine away, you can spread it directly on plants, although urine is such a concentrated fertilizer you probably will want to dilute it so you don’t give the plants fertilizer burn.
The one problem with human urine as a fertilizer is that First World humans tend to eat way too much salt, and excess salt gets processed out of our bodies through our urine. There are a number of ways to deal with this problem. First, you could eat less salt, which would be good for your health. Alternatively, you can spread urine on a compost pile; some salt will leach out during composting, plus the addition of other compostables will lessen the concentration of the remaining salt significantly. Composting is probably the best alternative, because when you compost urine you can adjust the inputs to the compost to balance the high nitrogen content of the urine.
My spouse, Carol, who writes about ecological pollution prevention strategies, invented the term “peecycling” to describe recycling urine as a fertilizer. She peecycles year round, using urine collection bottles made of used plastic juice bottles (thus turning a single-use plastic bottle into a multiple-use peecycling jug). We’re apartment dwellers, but we have a tiny side yard where we have a compost pile. Then we use the compost to fertilize our tiny eight foot square garden.
However, not everyone can peecycle year round. That’s why Carol has declared June 21, the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, as Pee-on-Earth Day. Everyone can save at least some of their urine and return it to the earth on Pee-on-Earth Day. Find or make a peecycling jug now, so you’re ready for June 21!
Learn more in Carol’s book, Liquid Gold: The Lore and Logic of Using Urine To Grow Plants.Order her book online here. UPDATE: Carol’s webhosting service has bonked her website — if you want a copy of the book, leave a comment or email me and I’ll make sure you get one. (If you order it through Amazon, Carol gets almost nothing from the sale, so if possible please order direct from her.)
(By the way, I’m the one who coined the phrase “liquid gold” to describe reusing urine, some thirty years ago. It’s my one claim to literary fame.)
