Welcome Alex Haider-Winnett, our new Interim Religious Education Director!

Alex Haider-Winnett is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist originally from Orange County, California. He holds a BA in Peace Studies from Earlham College and a MDiv from Pacific School of Religion. Alex has served as a Sunday School teacher and has led Our Whole Lives curricula at several UU Churches around the country (including here at Oakland). He has a passion for integrating popular culture and spirituality. He lives in Davis, CA, with his wife Rev. Christine Haider-Winnett–a palliative care chaplain and spiritual director in Sacramento–and their preschool-aged child Elliott. Alex loves watching movies, playing with legos, cooking; and his pickles have won awards at the California State Fair. We expect Alex to start in mid-August, and he can be reached at alex@uuoakland.org.

Summer Reading with Racial Identity Caucuses, for September’s First Sunday

This month Pastor Theresa invites everyone to read one of two recently published books to equip and sustain us on our journey toward wholeness. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color are invited to read Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger, by Lama Rod Owens, a book that serves as “both a balm and a blueprint for those seeking justice who can feel overwhelmed with anger–and yet who refuse to relent.” Allies for Racial Equity (members of dominant cultures) are invited to read Me and White Supremacy and to follow author Layla F. Saad on a “28-day journey, complete with journal prompts, to do the necessary and vital work that can ultimately lead to improving race relations.” On September 6, at the First Sunday Gathering for Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression, we will break out into racial identity caucuses to reflect on what we learned and how we might apply the insights.