Tomorrow is the last day of grant work and fun while we’re on Cape Cod

Coming to the end of a three-week-surprise-seize-the-moment-and-do-something-wild-every-day decision to spend time on Cape Cod. I was here on biz for three days; returned home and talked to Heather (an avid cyclist) about it. She wasn’t able to go with me on the short trip due to prior commitments. But she suggested we just up and go while we can. So we did. it’s hard to be spontaneous in the USA. So the European-like openness to possibilities made the trip terrific.

We’ve made good friends with people we met cycling. Had great meals with Veronica, Walter, Nancy and a few other UUs at First Parish Brewster.

Nantucket was simply the best. Loved the interior of the UU church there. Couldn’t get over that houses on both sides of the church are literally one body width apart from the sides of the church! Every night at 9 p.m. The UU there rings its bell 52 times! A new church staffer told me that it’s a curfew tradition that kids used to respect!  I’ll be writing a blog post soon called, “The British Aren’t Coming But Global Warming is Here.” It’ll be about church bells, UU and otherwise, and the modern day neighbors around them. 

The trip inspired us to write the beginnings of a biz plan we’ve been hatching; to get grant work nearly done, and to attended a one-day conference on digital development of Cape Cod. An architect/builder friend visited a few properties with us and we may decide to buy and gradually transition here. Not sure yet but it’s a good possibility. Had dinner with my former boss who came down from Boston and we rolled eyes over the bankruptcy filing of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

I spent several hours at a town hall in Barnstable county getting to know the Building Commissioner, Town Planner, Assessor and Health Dept. Director. The people in these roles actually sit near the reception desks of their departments and look forward to talking to citizens. I returned over the course of three days and they actually remembered my name. They also promptly answered questions in email. They were extremely helpful on a number of issues related to sceptic tank improvements; property setbacks; zoning and other tantalizing topics.

Now if the citizens in the towns actually showed some desire to leave a legacy beneficial to those who are to inherit it from them, I think I’d feel even more comfortable with the idea of moving here. As the town planner said to me: “Welcome to the origins of democracy.” Translation: Town professional staffs are progressive, the residents (in many cases mostly retirees) and elected officials evidently are not interested in working on solutions that protect the environment and lifestyle on the Cape but also improve its economy so that a living wage can be earned year round.

A few people looked askance at us when we said we found two properties that we might consider making an offer on. We’ve been researching and looking at so many locations in New England and elsewhere for the last 10 years that we have a laser-focused list of what we need to achieve certain goals. We found 95% of them on the Cape. That’s the highest score to date, with Burlington, VT at 80%. Almost bought a house there last year but realized it wasn’t right for us. Wonderful UU congregation in Burlington!

Last Call: How do you want your “How-Tos?”

Writing and developing digital products in solitude normally awakens the ants in my pants and produces great anxiety. It takes a lot of crowd sourcing to gather the wisdom, experience, needs, and knowledge of a product’s target audience(s) to make something that’s meaningful and lasting. It ain’t easy for me to say goodbye to the crowds and get the work done.

Not this time, though, as I begin to manifest the 1+ years of work on a grant from the UU Funding Program. I’m invigorated! But I need your help to insure I deliver something of value to you dear readers and other interested parties in our faith and beyond. I don’t wanna get lost in the weeds.

A week ago, I traveled to Cape Cod to visit a few UU congregations to finish my field work. I returned home to share how fruitful the visits were and also to relay comparisons of the visits to Provincetown when I was in my 20s. There’ve been business-related trips to the Cape during intervening years. Networking and team bonding exercises accounted for those, and I couldn’t escape to put on my, my, my, my boogie shoes. But I did this time and when my partner asked to return to the Cape as her birthday present, I couldn’t say no, and I didn’t wanna. A mix of dancing and solitude seems to be the right combo to complete the work.

With about 1.5 months left of off-season rates, we hopped into our 1995 Toyota Corolla and tricked it out for Teddy, our 10-pound Jorkie. He’s half Jack Russell and half Yorkshire Terrier. Off to the Cape we headed.

Spontaneity works when it presents itself and no obstacles need be overcome. So I’m on the Cape but wanna do one last check of reality. The grant work has taken me from Boston to Burkeley; Arlington (VA) to Arizona; Minneapolis to Maryland and many other places. I’ve visited in person, or connected through Skype, email, phone, and even – dare I say it – snail mail, with ministers, lay leaders, bloggers of many faiths, and my peeps in the digital profession.

Here’s where you come in: The grant work focuses on presenting UU congregations with easy how-to guidance on how to set up and practice digital ministry. It’s primarily oriented to the needs of a congregation. But the needs of religious professionals are also discussed.

What I’m not sure about is how to manifest it in an easily usable format that is primarily digital but also has downloadable components. I have an outline. I know that I’ll be offering a number of decision matrices – documents that you fill in to answer laser-like questions that are meant to be efficient because they are the product of my 25 years as a digital developer and innovator. I’ll have an intro video that a professional colleague will help create. There may be a few more tutorial-like .mov files.

The SPECIFIC questions for you are:

• What would make it very easy for you to understand the work; how to implement it; and how to discuss it with your congregations?
• Should I develop a community around the work so that all of you can help each other implement it? Note I say: “implement.”
• And then, one last check on needs: Are there any issues or needs that you are having trouble solving to bring your church’s online presence into the 21st century?

Please share this post and encourage others to comment in the next two weeks.

From CapeCod.calm,
Thanks so much!

Spanish Translation of Congregations & Beyond: Share It!

Several months ago Rev. Peter Morales preached at www.uucava.org. I requested a Spanish version of the sermon because I felt it would help my church communicate what UUism is to our  Spanish-speaking community neighbors in Arlington, VA. Sharing it here for any of  you who may benefit from it as well.  Más allá de las creencias