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Greetings, Religious Educators!

Your editors, Jacqui James and Pat Hoertdoerfer, have invited me to write the cover letter for this issue, and I welcome the opportunity to call your attention to recent developments and opportunities.

GA 03
The UUA General Assembly in Boston this year is likely to be the biggest-ever assembly of UUs in the United States in our history, as well as the biggest assembly of UU youth. It is often the case that religious educators find GA too expensive to attend, but I am hoping that this GA will be more do-able than most. Boston is within driving distance for many of our congregations, and home hospitality is being offered at modest rates by local districts. Wherever you live, consider making this trip to Boston to connect with some of our historic roots, soak up contemporary UU spirit, and have a voice in our future.

New Lifespan Curriculum Project
Moving forward with the lifespan curriculum project, we issued a "Call for Freelance Curriculum Writers" in a number of UU and liberal non-UU sites last fall. We have received many inquiries and over one hundred application packets which we are evaluating.

We are encouraged by the interest from familiar names and ones new to us. This spring, representatives of the UUA Curriculum Advisory Committee will join us in interviewing some finalists as we select the first authors, and design an orientation for them that includes philosophy, values (including anti-oppression lenses), and overall goals. Of course, we cannot start every component of a lifespan curriculum at the same time. Some authors will start writing this summer; some later in '04 and some in subsequent years. Applications from potential authors will be received again in the future.

We are often asked, What age group are you starting with? We will have various curriculum writers developing curriculum for a number of ages concurrently. In other words, we are not starting with preschool and working sequentially to high school eight or ten years later. We are also often asked, When will the curricula be available? We will begin some field-testing in '04, and continue field-testing as long as we need to. Publication of new core curricula could begin in '05, depending on the results of the field-tests.

Cultural (Mis) Appropriation
Developing new educational and worship resources should raise the question, How can I use multi-cultural material appropriately, accurately, respectfully? To help the authors of the lifespan curriculum project, a diverse group of us are developing guidelines around cultural appropriation issues. This resource will be available to everyone when completed. We welcome your input, your experiences, your suggestions for resources, etc. Please send them to me via mail or email ( jfrediani@uua.org).

We hope this packet facilitates your work and your connection to others.
In the faith,

Judith A. Frediani Director, Lifespan Faith Development