This project began with a few curious questions. It is not yet finished. It has taken over one and a half years as it stands now. It tells a little bit of a lot of parts of Unitarian Universalist youth history, and focuses on the part which is least explained: the breakdown and systematic replacement of one youth organization with another. The stories of these organizations are not unique. Every year some districts overhaul their programs, and many of them make similar mistakes on a smaller scale. Individual congregations also have problems like these, as do other (non-UU, non-religious) groups. Parts of the UUA are still healing from the upheaval of changes fifteen and twenty years ago. Parts don't remember. Both are unfortunate and potentially dangerous.
I sent a few questions to a few people by e-mail. Many of those people answered my questions and passed them on to other people. I got responses by e-mail, responses by U.S. Postal Service, a few telephone conversations, and many, many personal conversations in hallways and church social halls and on street corners. Most people, it turned out, had similar things to say about similar events. Some people declined to be identified, some declined to be associated with their comments, some were willing to have all identifying information used. To protect those who wished to withold their identities, I have often generalized, combining the comments of several people and identifying none. The acknowledgements list many of the contributors, and many other people. While I was collecting responses, I was reading material obtained from the Youth Office, material from peoples' personal libraries, and material available from the UUA. I was also reading relevant e-mail mailing lists and occasionally requesting permission to use something posted. I got photographs, articles, copies of posters, copies of People Soup, and even a copy of the hard-to-find only book on the subject, Follow the Gleam, by Wayne Arnason, written in 1980. My final resource, actually my first, was my personal experience. I was deeply involved in UU youth activities in Connecticut from age 14 until I graduated from high school and went to college, where I started a college young adult group. In this, my senior year, I have also been interning as a youth advisor to a large UU congregation in Minneapolis. This has given me a broad geographical view and a great deal of leadership experience within the denomination. I have also seen youth groups from the position of member, youth leader, and advisor. Hands-on experience is invaluable in understanding why things might happen as they have or as they do.
What's the point of this project? There's a lot that these stories can teach people who work with people, whether as youth, religious people, or just parts of communities. The problem is that the stories need to be "out there" in order to do anyone any good. So here they are, along with some thoughts to get readers thinking. The Unitarian Universalist Association Purposes and Principles support a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". This is such a search.
I would like to thank the people who helped me. They include: Lenore Anderson, Wayne Arnason, Dave Bue, the Carleton College UU group, Jeffrey Crist, Denny Davidoff, Jerry Davidoff, Skot Davis, Donna DiScullio, Joyce Dowling, Judy Gibson, Gordon Gibson, Bill Gupton, Linda Hart, Leon Hopper, Ed Inman, Karl D. Kappus, Vera Knapp, Sean Korb, jessika lander, Jeanine Lanouette, Spencer Lavan, Arpie Maros, Kevin McCullough, Elaine McMillan, Metro-New York and Prairie Star districts, Alan Miller, Phillip Miller, Bev Nagel, Sarah Oelberg, Brian Oelberg (p. 100.50), Colin Pringle, Bob Renjilian, Kent Saleska, Dan Schatz, Meg Schellenberg, Jim Sechrest, Bill Sengeford, Daniel Simer O'Connell, Cindy Spring, Notelrac Starshine ( Carl Hommel), Eric Swanson, David Taylor, Arthur Thexton, Kevin Timken, Bob Tisdale, Lorne Tyndale, Carl Ulrich, the UUYAN-l mailing list, Joanne Victoria, Helene Wecker, the Unitarian Church in Wesport, the Hundred-Acre Wood, the Youth Office staff past and present, the YRUU-l mailing list, and all those who, by intention or accident, go unnamed.