Monday NUUS
Welcome to your first full day of SUUSI 2022! We hope you newcomers are getting oriented and you regulars are catching up on lost time with familiar faces. Workshops and nature trips are in full swing today, so find your locations and be on time so you don't miss a moment!
Thank you in advance for helping us build a beloved community this week:
- Invite newcomers to join your table at mealtime or to sit by you at worship.
- Remember that we’re guests on this campus. Be pleasant and courteous to WCU staff and students. Respect their home. Do not complain, criticize, or make suggestions. Instead, call 888-SUUSI-22 any time – day or night –to bring your issues to SUUSI Staff.
- When SUUSI is at its most stressful for you (Dining hall back-up? Canceled event? Sudden downpour?), take a deep breath and reflect on the value of community. Assume that everyone around you is coming from a place of goodwill. Take another deep breath and then look for a loving way forward.
- If problems arise, help is always a phone call away: 888-SUUSI-22. If you prefer, you can text questions or concerns to 828-538-3041.
Living Our Covenant, Caring for Our Community
Over the last two years, SUUSI has taken a hard look at how we sometimes fall short of being the community that we want to be. We’ve heard from WCU that the behavior of some SUUSI members – specifically, mistreatment of WCU staff – means they may not renew our contract, and we’ve heard from many SUUSI members – particularly folks who are people of color and/or trans – that they have had repeatedly painful and unwelcoming experiences.
As we work to build forward and heal from the trauma, loss, and disruption of the last two years, now is the time to deepen our commitment to widen the circle of both SUUSI and our own practice of faithful values. The new video series “Living Our Covenant, Caring for Our Community,” features SUUSI leaders sharing what it means to be a covenantal community and how we can live into our covenant in new ways to help SUUSI grow and thrive. Watch these short videos to deepen your awareness and your practice of community care!
NEW: Become a CAT Ambassador!
Do you love SUUSI? Do you want to help ensure that SUUSI has a future? Are you passionate about helping SUUSI grow and evoke the best within us as individuals and as a community? Become a Covenant Accountability Team Ambassador! CAT Ambassadors are SUUSI members who commit to help others practice our SUUSI covenant of safety, trust, validation, affirmation, accountability, and reconciliation. No special skills or time commitment is required. Learn more at tinyurl.com/suusi-cat or look for the CAT table at community time!
A Reminder of Our Covenant...
Covid Positive Care Packages
We are hoping no one needs these, but just in case... If you test positive for Covid and have to leave SUUSI early, the Registration staff has assembled a care package to hopefully comfort you with this bad news. Please call the SUUSI Helpline to arrange to have one safely brought to you.
Morning Worship
Textiles maven and worship leader Elizabeth Schell leads us into our week with today's morning worship at 9 AM at Coulter Recital Hall.
Concert Hour
Tonight’s Concert Hour begins at 8 PM and features the wonderful music of Friction Farm, the duo of Christine Stay and Aidan Quinn. Friction Farm combines storytelling, social commentary, and humor to create songs of everyday life, local heroes, and quirky observations, as well as songs of travel, environmental concerns and songs for children too. With Aidan on guitar and vocals and Christine on bass and vocals, these touring performers have charmed SUUSI audiences and endeared themselves to us repeatedly over the years. This pair of generous songwriting souls have become part of the SUUSI family returning again this year to contribute to and enjoy the Nightlife activities. Visit their website, www.frictionfarm.com.
Evening Worship: Vespers
Rooted in the Taize tradition of silence, scripture, prayer, and chanting to quiet the mind and promote deep meditation, a UU Vespers service uses these elements as well as meditative practices from other traditions. Join us at 7 PM in this purposeful, communal meditative space where you are welcome to join in the simple, repetitive chants or simply be in the sacred space. Jen Keller and Eileen Findlay are long-time members of the All Souls Choir and enjoy sharing beautiful music with others.
Eat up!
The cafeteria is open daily from 6:30 AM - 8 PM, and you may eat your meals at any time during those hours. Good news! Carry-out boxes are back on! Compostable boxes and plastic silverware may be found at the cash register, and paper cups may be found at the coffee station. Dining hall plates and plastic cups and metal silver need to stay in the dining hall.
Please note that carry-out boxes are solely for people who are getting a meal to go. If you are eating in the dining hall, use the regular dishes. You may not eat a meal in the dining hall and then fill a carry-out box with more food to eat later. Carry-out boxes have been provided by WCU to meet our request for a Covid-safer meal option. Please don't abuse the university's flexibility.
UPDATE: The food allergy tour in the dining hall has been changed to Monday at 11 AM.
Nature Travel Changes
Remember that the travel for most all Nature trips will be by personal car in caravans. There will be parking passes for participants for the day of your trip and printed directions.
Visit our FAQ to see answers to your questions or send an email to nature@suusi.org if you have other questions.
SUUSI liability insurance requires all participant drivers to submit Driver's License Information and/or sign a waiver in order to be a part of the Nature trip. You can find that form here. Guidelines for acceptable drivers can be found here. Please input your personal information, save the form to your own device, and send it to nature@suusi.org. We also will have printed forms available for manual filling during Registration and at the Nature "Tent" in Blue Ridge Lounge 102.
Nature Trip Cancellations
700 Morning Canoe: Monday, 8 AM
510 Fly Fishing For Beginners: Wednesday, 1 PM
620 Graveyard Fields Water Stomp: Thursday, 9 AM
Who You Gonna Call? The SUUSI Helpline!
You are holding the SUUSI Helpline number next to your heart – it is right there on your name badge! Call 888-SUUSI-22 (888-788-7422) any time 24/7. We are at your service. Call to get your questions answered (go ahead, see if you can stump us). Call to complain (we are good listeners). Call to inform us (you see something, say something). Call to pass on gratitude (the love will be shared). If you would rather email, send to help@suusi.org. If you would like to talk in person, come to the SUUSI Office! We are open from 8:30-4 PM in Balsam 230.
Please note: 888-SUUSI-22 is for voice calls only - texting won’t work. If you just hate making voice calls, you may text 828-538-3041 instead.
Pair-A-Dice Revised Hours
Pair-A-Dice, SUUSI’s board and card game room, will be open from 1-10 PM, Monday through Friday. Come see us in Balsam 305 and 330!
Get Your Dance On
CACHE, our 14+ dance club, isn't being held every night this year, but if you're 21+ Serendipity will satisfy your craving to move! Serendipity is located at Hillside Grind and will be open from 10 PM - 1 AM. If you're ready for a little dress-up, the theme for Serendipity is rainbow. Let's see you shine!
Serendipity's Silent Disco Option
Come celebrate SUUSI by dancing with your friends at Serendipity. You can choose to dance either indoors to speakers or just outside on the grass of the Hillside Grind Coffeehouse, wearing one of the 50 headsets SUUSI has rented.
Ballroom Hour+ Has a New Time, New Location
Ballroom Hour+ is moving to 6:30-8 PM Monday through Friday. We are located in the far end of the Reid Gymnasium. Come out of the main door of the dining hall, take a right, follow the sidewalk, and the Reid Gymnasium will be on your left.
We call it Ballroom Hour+ because of the extended time (1.5 hours), because we will be playing a mix of Ballroom, Swing, Latin, and Country for your partner dancing pleasure, and because we will run a short dance lesson during the evening. For Monday, the lesson will teach the Foxtrot and Rumba basic steps. So stop by and check us out!
Community Time: Gratitude for Community
Kick off the week by making a Gratitude banner and friendship bracelets from 4-6 PM. Lots of materials will be provided as well as a leave one, take one box! We'll have fun with temporary tattoos and SUUSI rocks. Community time is a great space to reconnect and meet new friends. We encourage everyone to bring their favorite activities or talents to share.
Transition Worship Services
Please send information about those SUUSI members who have passed to nurture@suusi.org by noon Tuesday for our Memorials service Tuesday evening.
Do you wish to dedicate your child to this SUUSI community? Please send an email to nurture@suusi.org by 6 PM Wednesday for our Life’s Stages service, which will be held Thursday evening.
Support Spaces
The Nurture staff provides three spaces where members of the SUUSI community may seek peace, support, and connection. All will be open 24/7 Monday-Friday, with gatherings planned at specific times.
Meditation Room: Blue Ridge 203
The Meditation Room is a peaceful space for quiet contemplation and rest. Group meditations will be led by Rev. Kimi Riegel on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 8-8:30 AM and on Wednesday and Friday from 5:15-5:45 PM.
OASUUS Lounge for BIPOC: Blue Ridge 271
The OASUUS Lounge offers safe space for SUUSI BIPOC (Black, indigenous, and people of color) to gather, talk, reflect, meditate, and replenish in body or spirit. Watch the NUUS for announcements about specific planned gatherings.
Addiction and Recovery Space: Blue Ridge 230
You're invited to participate in a hosted Recovery Support Meeting tonight from 5:30-6:30 PM and a hosted Twelve-Step Support Meeting on Tuesday from 10-11 AM. At these initial meetings, we will plan out a schedule of meetings for the rest of the week.
Run for the SUUSI Board
Want to help make SUUSI the best it can be? Serving on the Board is a great way to contribute to this gathering we love so much. This year at SUUSI, we’ll elect TWO Adult Trustees and one Youth Trustee. Want to run? For more information, contact the elections coordinator at elections@suusi.org.
- Nominations must be submitted to elections@suusi.org by noon on Tuesday, July 19. Nominees must also submit a candidate introduction to the SUUSI NUUS (nuus@suusi.org) by 4 PM the same day.
- You may nominate yourself or someone else. If you nominate someone else, make sure they agree to serve.
- Adult candidates must have attended at least three full SUUSIs in the last five years, and Youth candidates must have attended two of the last three full SUUSIs. (The present one doesn’t count.)
- At the time of the election, Youth candidates must be between 15-17 years old and Adult candidates must be at least 18 years old.
- Board members must affirm the Seven Principles of the UUA and the religious purpose of SUUSI.
Teen Way Off Broadway Returns!
Each year, our talented teens put on a musical theater production for the whole SUUSI community, called Teen Way Off Broadway. Join us on Friday at 8pm for our single show! Each day this week, you will find a clue in the NUUS for what the theme of the show is this year. Today’s clue:
After all these years apart, SUUSI is going to be magical!
Think you know the theme? Send your guesses to twob@suusi.org. The first person to guess correctly will get a shout out in the NUUS!
You Need the NUUS
Every evening at 9 PM, the next day's SUUSI NUUS will arrive in your email so you'll be ready for the next day. Is someone you know not getting the NUUS? Have them email nuus@suusi.org. Submit your own NUUS items by emailing nuus@suusi.org.The deadline for the next day’s email NUUS is 4 PM.
Stay In The Know
You may have already received a text from the Remind app inviting you to join a “class” called suusi22. If you haven’t accepted that invitation, please do! If you didn’t receive a text invitation, you can sign up manually by texting @suusi22 to 81010.
NUUS for Age Groups
Youth and Youth Parents
Remember this morning's mandatory meeting for Youth parents in Killian Building, next to University Center, from 9-9:30 AM. If you have youth, make sure one parent or guardian attends!
Also be sure to fill out a Participant Locator Form and hang it on your door. Cell phone coverage here can be spotty, so we need a backup way to find you if your child needs you.
Middlers Dance
Clarification! We've had some questions about when the Middlers Dance is. The dance will be Wednesday night from 7-9 PM at Hillside Grind.
Lucky 13s!
The 13s Bonding Trip is Monday morning. Please meet at Forsyth 314 at 9 AM. Bring water immersible shoes, a swimsuit, sunscreen, water, and a towel.
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