I just watched livestreaming at pcusa.org, but it's for real: the Presbyterians just voted 54%-46% to send a consitutional amendment (still to be ratified by the local governing bodies around the country over the next year) that would remove the barriers to LGBT ordination! The scarves were everywhere on the floor - neat to see!

"In response to severe flooding in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, the
federal AmeriCorps VISTA program is making 230 positions immediately
available to assist in flood recovery efforts.

The VISTA members will recruit and manage volunteers and provide
coordination and leadership to assist low-income individuals and
communities in recovering from the severe flooding that struck Linn and
Johnson Counties.

The 230 positions are with the VISTA Corridor
Flood Recovery Program, an initiative of the Community Corrections
Improvement Association. There are two opportunities available:

* 200 VISTA Summer Associates, full-time summer positions lasting
8-10 weeks that provide a living allowance plus a Segal AmeriCorps
Education Award of $1,000 to pay for college or pay back student
loans or an end of service stipend. Preference will be given to
applicants who are able to start by June 30. The commitment must
be completed by September 12.

* 30 full-time year-long VISTA positions that offer a living
allowance, health benefits, training, student loan forbearance,
and the choice of a $4,725 Segal AmeriCorps Education Award or a
$1,200 post-service stipend."

More information on job descriptions and how to apply.

 The other thing that's cool is that Iowa residents who are receiving unemployment benefits (especially those who lost their jobs due to flooding) can also sign up for one of these summer AmeriCorps positions and still receive their unemployment.

Imagine hundreds of people wearing hundreds of scarves watching this!

From the Presbyterian Outlook:

"After First Presbyterian Church, Palo Alto, California, received the More Light Presbyterians' Inclusive Church Award, two of its members, Derrick Kikuchi and Craig Wiesner, received the David Sindt Leadership Award. As the longtime couple accepted their award at the podium, Kikuchi stunned the gathering by asking Wiesner to join him to make their marriage legal in the state of California.

"The couple was greeted by surprised exclamations, whoops of delight and a standing ovation by the body gathered there.

"Michael Adee, national field organizer for More Light Presbyterians, said in an interview that Kikuchi and Wiesner were married in a church ceremony 18 years ago at First Presbyterian church in Palo Alto – in a service that he said the session of that congregation recorded as a “marriage,” not a same-sex union....

"The couple called forth Diana C. Gibson, the pastor who presided over that service 18 years ago. “I’m not asking for us to be married before God because this was already done in our church in 1990,” Wiesner told Gibson. “Will you join us to make this a legal civil marriage?” Gibson accepted, and the two witnesses from the church service 18 years ago, served as witnesses again this time. Gibson is a former pastor of First Presbyterian church in Palo Alto, and now the executive director of the Santa Clara Council of Churches.

""The gathered body was silent as the couple repeated the vows they composed in this largely self-directed ceremony, among them, “to find... the courage to resist the many deaths by which love can die, ... to be willing to take the risk to accept the vulnerability to love again and again and again.”

"After the couple repeated their vows to each other, the body was invited to stand and commit to support Kikuchi and Wiesner, and couples like them. Silverware clinked against dozens of glasses as attendees encouraged the newlyweds to kiss. Gibson waited for the clinking to stop before she declared with careful emphasis on the last word, "By the authority newly given me by the state of California, I declare that Craig and Derrick are married in the eyes of the state.”

Full story here.

Heather Reichgott (of South Hadley) who is in San Jose for the Presbyterian General Assembly wrote this blog entry about the meaning of the scarves.

Powerful stuff.

I'll continue to monitor events this week and report any scarf-related news to this space... thanks all, for all you did that's made such a big impact in San Jose!

Here are the fabulous scarves we were able to send to the Rainbow Scarves Knitting Project:

Read more about the project here. And watch for coverage of the event and the scarves' impact by KLer, femiknits.

Thank you to every person who contributed to this project and made it a huge success - we were able to send around 40 scarves to support the cause!

Of course you are!  So get out there tomorrow and support the cause by buying baked goods!

Click here to find a bake sale near you.

I am lucky to live where I live, and to be raised the way i was. My mother has always been a Democrat and a liberal; I am able to raise my family in the bluest town in a very blue state. That's why shit like this just shocks the hell out of me.

And who is the jackass who takes the time to produce a stamp to put hate messages on money?

I want names, I want faces. I want these people, these specific indivduals, to have to get up in front of America and talk about how these kinds of statements, in their twisted little minds, are in any way okay. 

My sweet little girl is calling for me now; I will go and tend to her sweet little girl needs, and hope like hell that she never has to meet any of those people, ever.  

I love the Mason-Dixon Knitting ladies. When I bought their first book I sat down and read it cover to cover and laughed in that way where you have tears caught in the corners of your eyes. Every knitter should own this book. They have a second book coming in September.

Kay (the northern half of the duo) recently quilted this commerative Obama applique. It's fabulous.

Also check out her new Michelle haircut (scroll to bottom of entry). It's going to be all the rage....

 Two Knitting Liberals had books come out this week! We are just bursting with pride.

Femiknits book is Engineering and Social Justice. This is a book that is badly needed in the field and there is no one better qualified to write it. This is a huge accomplishment.

Sprout, our pal and Knitting Liberal member when she is not touring around the world, had her first book released today. Girls Rock: How to Get Your Group Together and Make Some Noise is the seminal work on how to start a girl band. And the foreword is written by another Northamptonite - Kim Gordon. How freakin cool is our town? Check out the You Tube promo.

Congrats to both our illustrious authors!

Some of us have been talking about this math-knitting nexus off and on over the past few months. But I wanted to pass on this great article about how yarn work is helping solve math problems. It profiles the Valley's own Sarah-Marie Belcastro's new book (can we get her to come some Tuesday?), but it also makes a larger point about how the boundaries of math and science disciplines have been and continue to be gendered, and how handicrafts are getting a newfound respect. One small step for knitting, one giant step for women in math. Or vice versa.

Last night (after suffering through the broken air conditioning at the Yellow Sofa) some of us went over to Drinking Liberally at the Northampton Brewery to watch the final primary results come in. As the clock ticked down to the polls closing in South Dakota, Donna had the brilliant idea that we should mark the occasion in some way. Seeing as we were in a brewery, champagne or shots didn't seem appropriate. Luckly one of the guest beers at the brewery this month is Victory Prima Pils. The folks at the brewery were kind enough to set us up with several tasting racks of the Victory beer. They brought them over to us as the clock wound down.

See how happy we all are? That's because we watch a lot of CNN and we know those flying stars on the screen mean that Wolf Blitzer is about to make a big annoucement.

Like this.....