Honoring FEMA

Dear Friend of Unity Through Creativity,

This week we would like to honor the men and woman in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) who have attended to Americans suffering from disasters. For three years, starting in 2017, Unity Through Creativity attended FEMA's annual three-day Higher Education Symposium at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Year after year, we witnessed a gathering of dedicated first responders, high level researchers and passionate educators, as they discussed how to solve real world challenges. Some of the questions the Symposium consistently addressed included how to train enough people well enough to mitigate upcoming disasters, how to save lives as disasters are happening, and how to rebuild for decades afterwards. 

Unity Through Creativity facilitated The FEMA Singing Tree of Learning over two summers.  Each branch of the tree stands for a focus of the Higher Education Symposium - Scholarship, Teaching, Learning, Experience, Research and Administration.  Participants at the Symposium added stories, dreams, and goals to mural through imagery and words.

Below is one story portrayed on a leaf: "Sheriff Erik Weaver of Madison, Virginia, found jobs for 50 family members whose loved one was swept away in a flood. He was inclusive and creative."  The sheriff could have sent the distraught relatives home, but instead, he enrolled them in the search. That level of care and agility is what we hope for in a public servant.

Another story is written on the leaf below - "My greatest sense of pride occurred during a response involving a bomb on a vessel in the Caribbean.  I arrived on scene and knew not a single responder.  I was put in charge.  Within minutes, we came together, over 100 respondents from 18 different organizations.  We quickly came together, saved lives, contained the event and protected what we value. I did not know the answers, but simply put a decision process in place that included all interests."  What skill and professionalism!

The people who gather summer after summer to improve their knowledge and skills in the Symposium have seen more devastating destruction, loss, suffering and pain than most of us can imagine. We honor their commitment, sacrifice and gifts to our nation.

With gratitude,

The UTC Team

Selfless Acts of Love

Dear Friend of Unity Through Creativity,

This is a time to celebrate Selfless Acts of Love. This is a time to focus on living in generosity and for a higher purpose. This is a time to look to those among us who live with courage and kindness and authenticity.

Each month, we will be devoting one week to celebrating Selfless Acts of Love. Please join with us in these moments as we turn our attention away from the calamity and inhumanity so prominent in the news today and towards what is noble and good in human beings.

The Jane Goodall Singing Tree of Love Mural celebrates our treasured elder who lifts us up with her passion for all the living beings of our Mother Earth.

In 2018 Ross Holzman, founder of Create Peace Project, and I co-designed and painted the background for the mural. We took it to the Roots and Shoots Conference on Chrissy Field in San Francisco. Jane Goodall came to see the many projects of 300 young people at the gathering and spoke to us about the impact a person can have.  Inspired by Jane, the young activists drew imagery on the leaves that expressed what they love the most in the world.

Today the mural is installed on the Primate House of the San Francisco Zoo.

In The Book of Hope, Jane Goodall describes how depression can come from not being able to set realistic goals. In the face of overwhelming chaos, there will be many paths to build a just and equitable world. UTC and the Singing Tree Mural Project offer a practical path of achieving a realistic goal. Through creating collaborative paintings that express our shared values, we build compassion, trust, and community. Living in beauty and creativity, in harmony with nature, is an ideal that can guide us through chaos and unkindness as we strive to find connection with others and hold on to what is best in ourselves and the world.

Laurie and the UTC Team

Camp Fire Five Year Memorial Mandala

Dear Friend of Unity Through Creativity,

Our hearts are with all the people in our world going through disasters - from those dealing with the destruction of human violence to those dealing with catastrophic consequences of recent weather disasters. These include the floods in the east of the U.S. and the fires happening now in Los Angeles.

Five years after the Camp Fire in 2018, the deadliest fire in California history, Singing Tree Facilitator Bobbie Rae Jones invited people whose lives were impacted by the fire to envision and create a new future. They created the chalk mandala shown below. In times like these it is important for us to harness the power of art to grieve together and remember the beauty of the world we’ve all been blessed with.

Camp Fire Five Year Memorial Mandala

"I'm reminded of the oak and the acorn and the struggle to become something strong and beautiful through adversity." -Rebekah Dodson, Camp Fire Survivor

May we all stay safe, keep our hearts open and help our neighbors.

The UTC Team