November 2, 2024

Aurora Borealis ’24  (photo by Dave)

The night sky has featured several cosmological events during the last several weeks; the aurora borealis, the dramatic appearance of comet “Bob” and a supermoon with perigee. I have never had much luck capturing the northern lights on camera, but with my iPhone 15 I finally scored. The amazing aurora borealis was barely visible with the naked eye, but the camera eye captured the cosmic show. The cloud cover was stubbornly intermittent, but with patience and a warm, heavy jacket I was able to hang in there and get some shots. Due to a massive solar flare and severe geomagnetic storm, the northern lights were reported as being seen as far south as Texas! And now I have pictures…

Sunday service this week is led by Brigitte Rivers and is titled “Telling Our Stories.” The story-telling finds expression in various forms, but what matters most is the personal reflection, observation and the life story itself. Brigitte shares her process as a writer, artist, teacher and stand-up comic. Our YouTube Channel content for this week 

is a Samhain Service, the pagan festival marking the end of the harvest season and beginning of the “darker half” of the year. Our CUUPS group at UUHoulton leads the service, facilitated by Leigh Griffith and Fred Griffith. CUUPS is the abbreviation for Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans, which identifies with the precepts of classical or contemporary Paganism celebrating the sacred circle of life and guiding people to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature. This is a timely service as we turn our clocks back this weekend. We hope you can join us for one of the services online or in-person.Enjoy the week-end!

In Ministry,Dave

Don’t forget to turn back your clock Saturday night…

Upcoming Events:Arts and Craft ShowSaturday, November 2   9AM-3PM

THIS WEEK’S YOUTUBE SERVICE:

HERE IS THE SERVICE LINK FOR THIS WEEK’S YOUTUBE SERVICE

(Please note it won’t be active until 10AM on Sunday morning)

HERE IS THE ZOOM LINK FOR SUNDAY COFFEE HOUR:
Topic: UUHoulton zoom coffee hour & check inTime: Nov 3, 2024 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us06web.zoom.us/j/85390620571?pwd=NowRXaQTDgG448agll58jd5HzyD8pz.1
Meeting ID: 853 9062 0571Passcode: 534660

Calendar of Events @UUHoultonNov 2 Arts and Craft Show  9AM-3PM    UU fellowship hall         Food and Refreshments available in The Cup Cafe  Nov 3 Sunday Service: Brigitte RiversNov 5 Meditation Group   4PM  (online)Nov 8-10  Mini-Con Event   (comic & gaming conference)Nov 10 Sunday Service: David HutchinsonNov 16 LGBTQ+ Luncheon  12 noonNov 17 Sunday Service: Pledge Drive Kick-Off Sunday    Group-Led Service             Potluck Meal Following the ServiceNov 19 Meditation Group  4PM  (online)Nov 24 Sunday Service: David Hutchinson Nov 24 Art Class @The Cup   1-3PM

Virtual Offering Plate
If you would like to send in your pledge or donation simply drop an envelope in the mail. The address is listed below.  You can also send your donation electronically with our payment system on the church website.  Simply go to uuhoulton.org and click “Donate” on the menu and it will explain how the system works. You can set up a regular monthly payment plan or donate in single transactions.  Thank you for your generous support!  
UU Church of Houlton

61 Military Street

Article from the latest issue of UUWorld Magazine:

Game Changer: UU Elizabeth Hargrave is Reimagining How We Play

The creator of Wingspan, an award-winning and popular board game, says she is working to diversify the field of game design.KAT MCKIM   10/10/2024

Game designer Elizabeth Hargrave takes much of her inspiration from the natural world. (© Matt Cohen)

In 2005, Elizabeth Hargrave was enjoying a ski retreat in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, with the young adult group from her Washington, D.C., congregation, All Souls Church, Unitarian. 

There was just one problem: the winter weather.

As a long-time Floridian, Hargrave wasn’t eager to brave the cold and snow. So, she chose to stay inside instead and play board games.

She didn’t know it at the time, but this first foray into the world of board gaming would eventually lead to a full-time career in board game design and her award-winning game about birds, Wingspan, which, along with its expansions, has sold over 2.5 million copies.

Hargrave has received international recognition for creating beautiful and unique games about nature-related topics—including 2020’s Mariposas, where you guide a family of monarch butterflies on their migration, and her newest, 2024’s Undergrove, in which you play as a Douglas fir trying to get seedlings started with the help of a symbiotic relationship with mushrooms. And her work, partially shaped by her upbringing as a Unitarian Universalist, has also helped spur change in the board game industry, making it more diverse and inclusive.

Hargrave spent most of her childhood in Gainesville, Florida, where she attended the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Gainesville. She felt a strong connection to the UU church and thought of herself as a spiritual seeker, so much so that she briefly considered becoming a UU minister. However, after deciding in college that she wasn’t gregarious enough to enjoy leading a congregation, she opted for a career in public policy.

It wasn’t until years later, when a high school friend described his experience testing and providing feedback on a newly developed board game, that she realized board game design was a potential field of interest.

“That was the first time that it occurred to me that people make games, that they don’t just spring into the world fully formed,” Hargrave said.

Her imagination was further sparked when her husband suggested creating a board game about birds. Many of the board games that she had encountered at t

he time focused on a handful of similar themes, such as space travel, trains, and castles. But the Seventh Principle of Unitarian Universalism—respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part—had always resonated with Hargrave, and the idea of making something that emphasized nature and interconnectedness appealed to her.

“That was the first time that it occurred to me that people make games, that they don’t just spring into the world fully formed.”

“At some point, my spouse actually said, ‘What if there was Race for the Galaxy [a popular space-themed board game] but with birds?’” Hargrave recalled. “That was the immediate spark that got me to start” designing Wingspan.

After much testing and revision on Hargrave’s part, Wingspan was published in 2019. It has received numerous awards, including the prestigious Kennerspiel des Jahres and the American Tabletop Awards: Best Strategy Game. The game imagines that each player is the proprietor of a wildlife preserve and must attract birds to different habitats within that preserve. Each bird is represented by its own colorfully illustrated card that also shares a fact about that specific species.

Wingspan’s success was not only an accomplishment for Hargrave—it also furthered a shift toward more diversity within the board game industry.

A diversity of themes was already starting to happen, but Wingspan helped show publishers that there is an appetite for games about “more unusual subjects,” Hargrave said. Some publishers, she said, have started “to ask, ‘How can we hook up with new designers who are doing unusual stuff?’” These publishers are interested in people coming from different backgrounds, she added, and are now asking such questions as who “will help us reach more diverse audiences?’”

Jamey Stegmaier is the co-founder and president of Stonemaier Games—the company that published Wingspan—and he notes that although there has long been a wide variety of themes within tabletop games, Hargrave’s work is making a long-term impact.

”Wingspan is far from the first successful tabletop game with a strong nature theme or by an amazing woman designer,” Stegmaier said via email. “That said, Wingspan has reached a lot of people—the 2 millionth copy of the game is currently in print—so I think there’s a high likelihood that it has inspired people in various ways.”

“Elizabeth Hargrave is a powerful advocate for marginalized and underrepresented voices in the tabletop game industry and community—she’s the type of person who lifts up others with her.”

Hargrave gravitated toward a service-oriented career in college partially because of the messages about social justice and activism that she heard at the Gainesville fellowship, and that inclination has followed her into her work as a game designer. In addition to challenging the status quo with her designs, Hargrave has also advocated making the entire board game industry more equitable and inclusive.

For example, she is currently helping to start a trade organization for board game designers. After seeing that the industry operated largely on a word-of-mouth network, she realized that new designers without many industry contacts are at a disadvantage. She hopes that the organization will help them access resources and information about the business side of board game design, such as how to read a contract and navigate financial dealings with publishers.

And after consistently hearing the incorrect refrain that she was one of the only women designing board games, she created a platform on her website to share the work of women, nonbinary, and Black designers.

“Elizabeth Hargrave is a powerful advocate for marginalized and underrepresented voices in the tabletop game industry and community—she’s the type of person who lifts up others with her,” Stegmaier said. “So, I do see both her, Wingspan, and her other games having a long-term impact on the game industry.”

Hargrave said she has “a fundamental belief that as we diversify the pool of designers, we will see games that serve people with different perspectives and help everybody find the game that’s right for them, and that will broaden the pool of people who are gaming, which then becomes a virtuous cycle.” As a result, the industry will get “designers from that larger pool,” she added, “instead of being stuck in a feedback loop.”

More photos from the recent Aroostook Apple Day… 

One of the workshops offered in the UU parlor.

Working in the kitchen preparing fresh-baked goodies…

Photo from the recent UU women’s trip to Grand Manan.

Prayer List
For those working for social justice and societal changePray for peaceful action and democratic process in our nationThe war in Ukraine continuesPrayers for those in Palestine and Israel as the war continues Prayers for the worsening humanitarian crisis in GazaPrayers for those affected by the tragic school shooting in Georgia.Prayers for those recovering from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Florida, North Carolina and the South EastPrayers for peace in the Middle East as the conflict widensPrayers for those recovering from hurricane Milton in FloridaPrayers for a peaceful and orderly election on Tuesday. Don’t forget to vote!

The Four Limitless Ones Prayer

May all sentient beings enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.

May we be free from suffering and the root of suffering.

May we not be separated from the great happiness devoid of suffering.

May we dwell in the great equanimity free from anger, aggression and delusion.

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