Issue 36: February 2007, Page 4

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Prairie Star People

Congratulations to Mark Ritchie (First Universalist Church, Minneapolis, MN) who was recently elected Secretary of State for the state of Minnesota!

Joan Benziger (UU Society of Iowa City, IA) has been appointed to the General Assembly Planning Committee for the Unitarian Universalist Association to replace someone who has stepped down. Word has it that she would be up for election to a full term soon. Thanks, Joan, for your enthusiastic service!

Kathy Burek (Michael Servetus Unitarian Society, Fridley, MN) was just named to the UUA’s Health Plan Board of Trustees.

Thanks, Mike!

We wish Mike Schwab, former Director of Camp Unistar, well as he moves on to a new position with another UU camp. Prairie Star District appreciates the many contributions made by Mike Schwab and his family, as campers, members of the Management Committee, and in Mike’s role as Camp Director at Camp UniStar for nine years. Mike’s wife Becky Rose served on the Management Committee and their children Arthur and Rose were campers and staffers.

We value Mike’s advocacy and leadership in the successful capital campaign to upgrade the food service facility at the camp.

Mike brought a thoughtful, committed presence to his work as Camp Director. Over the years, campers of all ages held Mike in high regard for the excellence of his work, and the PSD Board, too, thanks and acknowledges Mike for his work.

PSD History Committee Turns to Video Production

The Heritage and Archives Committee will offer a workshop on history videos at the PSD Annual Conference in April and conduct two full-day history video workshops for congregations this fall.

Taking a cue from successful television documentaries, PSD’s Heritage and Archives Committee is now working to record stories from the District’s past on video. With help from the District Board, two projects are now under way.

Video team member Jerry Lakso (White Bear UU Church, Mahtomedi, MN), is now generating footage on the Herman Bisbee heresy trial, which created a sensation in Minneapolis-St. Paul during the later 1800s. An outspoken advocate of women’s suffrage, Transcendentalism, and Darwinism, the controversial Bisbee was disfellowshipped by the Universalists. He was vindicated a scant decade later by the fact that most local Universalist clergy had adopted his views. The production will feature interviews with experts on the period and contemporary photographs and drawings. Jerry is a video editor for Twin Cities Public TV.

Fascinating stories and rich visuals make for good documentaries. Menomonie, Wisconsin’s Main Street provides both of these in the Mabel Tainter Memorial Theater. Built by a Universalist lumber magnate and his wife in memory of a daughter who had died young, the massive, striking edifice served the community in a variety of ways: theater, library, city hall, and Unitarian meeting place. While some Menomonie residents still speak critically of the Tainters' liberalism, the well-preserved building thrives today as the scene of theater productions and weddings. It also houses the Unitarian Society of Menomonie. Committee member Tim Hirsch (UU Congregation, Eau Claire, WI) is creating the video. He is a retired professor of American studies and an authority on regional history, including the Tainter story.

Why video? The technology is accessible — inexpensive and easy to learn. And DVDs are easy to distribute and effective in RE classes and adult study groups. The Heritage and Archives Committee is encouraging individual congregations to document their histories on this medium.

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