11/25/2025 by Shannon Day

Meaningful Movies: ‘Remaining Native’

Greetings: Have you gone to one of the Meaningful Movies at Westside UU Congregation? This Sunday November 30 at 10:30 am in Westside’s Sanctuary, they’ll be showing ‘Remaining Native’ a film for Native American History Month.The 1hr 25m film is a coming-of-age documentary told from the perspective of Ku Stevens, a 17-year-old Native American runner, struggling to navigate his dream of becoming a college athlete as the memory of his great grandfather’s escape from an Indian boarding school begins to connect past, present, and future. For over 100 years, the United States made violent efforts to strip Native American children

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11/24/2025 by Shannon Day

World AIDS Day 2025

First recognized in 1988, World AIDS Day falls on December 1 each year. World AIDS Dayis dedicated to spreading awareness of the AIDS pandemic resulting from the spread ofHIV infection, and to mourning those who have died of the disease. An estimated 40million people worldwide have died of AIDS since 1981, and an estimated 37 million areliving with HIV, making it one of the most important global public health issues inrecorded history. Despite recent improvements in treatment, the AIDS epidemic stillclaims an estimated two million lives each year, of which more than 250,000 are children. In 1996, the observance of

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11/18/2025 by Shannon Day

Trans Awareness Week

“Every part of you is sacred, including your gender and sexuality. As UUs, we not only welcome LGBTQ+ people, we celebrate the full diversity of gender and sexuality as a spiritual gift. We build inclusive communities and work for justice and equity as a core part of who we are. All of who you are belongs. All of who you are is welcome.” This quote is from the UUA resource page for LGBTQ+ adults, youth and children and their parents and caregivers. Link. I was heartened to read the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) President’s, Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, statement “joining

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11/12/2025 by Shannon Day

JIGLPET (sounds like Jigglepet) Origins

Greetings: JIGLPETs are a fun away to remember our UU Values: Justice, Interdependence, Generosity, Love, Pluralism, Equity and Transformation but do you know where they come from? They come from us: input from more than 10,000 UUs, from years of discerning, work, listening sessions, discussions, and many drafts encouraging inspirational, poetic, creative language. You can read my 2024 report on the UUA bylaw change here. Later that summer, I was listening the VUU a UU Talk Show that featured Rev. Cheryl M. Walker and they were talking about how to remember our UU values. Rev. Cheryl said what about JIGLPET

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11/12/2025 by Shannon Day

Westside’s Holiday Bag Project for WIN – 2025

Since 2013, we have participated with WIN (Westside Interfaith Network) to provide Christmas gift bags for the many people who come to the Welcome Table, now located at the New Beginnings (formerly Body of Christ) ministry church in White Center for the free Saturday meal. WIN has asked for and received pledges for bags from a number of churches in West Seattle.   Westside has pledged 15 gift bags for struggling, low-income people who live in dwellings: homes, apartments, campers, cars. We have also pledged 5 backpacks with necessary items for people who are unsheltered (Empty backpacks for you to

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11/11/2025 by Shannon Day

Trans Day of Remembrance

This week, on November 20, communities around the world pause to honor the lives of transgender and gender-expansive people who have been killed by anti-trans violence. We remember trans ancestors and beloveds whose lives were cut short by physical violence, and by the mental health toll of living in a world where their authentic selves are stigmatized. Their names, their stories, and their courage call us to bear witness and to act. As we remember, we also commit ourselves to a world where trans people are safe, cherished, and free to live fully into their gifts—to grow old, to become

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11/05/2025 by Shannon Day

Cozy Fall Vibes

Greetings: How are you and your family doing with Seattle’s dark wet weather? I’m all about cozy hobbies and habits. What are your favorites? I love sleeping to the sounds of rain on our metal roof, hot tea or hot cocoa while reading a book, or listening to an audiobook while doing arts and crafts. We’re bringing cozy goodness to RE this month with card making, sewing & embroidery, tea with teens, and pumpkin play clay making. The full RE calendar is in the newsletter below so you can save the dates. Looking forward to seeing you and your family!

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11/04/2025 by Shannon Day

Board Update for October 2025

For the month of October the board continued to work on building the foundation for our year of service. We adopted our covenant which was created during our retreat and addresses how we will work in fellowship with one another and how we will serve the congregation. To develop our document we first looked at the staff covenant and were blown away by the thought, detail,  and care that was doubtlessly put into its development. This month we have been thinking about our goals for the year, trying to be both visionary and practical, and looking to build on the

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10/29/2025 by Shannon Day

Happy Halloween

Halloween greetings: Are you and your family celebrating Halloween, All Hallows’ Day, All Souls’ Day, or Día de Muertos? What are your family’s favorite things to do around the holiday? Do you dress up or decorate? I love Fall and Halloween decorations: spiders, pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, ghosts and skeletal fun. You and your family are welcome to wear your costumes to Saturday, November 1st All Ages Game Night in the Social Hall 5:00 – 7:00 pm. All of Westside, and especially families, are invited to join us in the Social Hall for Games! Westside has a pretty good game selection, but

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10/22/2025 by Shannon Day

Fall in ASL

Greetings: Have you noticed the ASL (American Sign Language) posters in the RE Lounge? This Fall in ASL is just one of the three ASL posters by one of my favorite Deaf artists, Brittany Castle (link.) There are so many good reasons to learn ASL, such as how inclusion and equity are part of our UU values. ASL leads to higher reading levels in kids, improves spatial learning, and has numerous cognitive benefits. Learn more about the importance of ASL (link.) It’s essential to learn ASL from Deaf ASL instructors. I’ve been taking online classes from Seattle’s Visually Speaking and

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