Category Archives: News & Reviews

July 5, 2018 · 7:09 pm

Day 2, Episcopal General Convention

This was the first legislative session day of the 79th General Convention of the Episcopal Church “GC79” (in Austin, Texas). I am with the Deputation of the Diocese of El Camino Real (Central California). After a brief meeting of the House of Deputies, today opened with an inspiring worship service, featuring a rousing sermon by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry on The Way of Love. I was able to get a picture of Bishop Michael dancing with the moms and little kids in the Children’s Area up front.

There was some fun at the start of the day when the House of Deputies sent its opening greetings to the House of Bishops – and to Bishop Michael – by way of about twenty Delegates named Michael, wearing caps that said “Michael”. The greeting committee spontaneously serenaded the bishops with the song “Michael Row Your Boat Ashore.” The House of Bishops sent their own greetings to the House of Deputies through a male and a female bishop solemnly wearing sparkly plastic tiaras above their purple shirts and white collars.

I made several tours of the GC79 Exhibit Area, to talk with University of the South – Education for Ministry staff at their booth, visit the Episcopal Shoppe bookstore (where I purchased the book Living Into God’s Dream for signing by author Professor Catherine Meeks), and shop with several of the vendors selling African and other crafts.

Before the late afternoon legislative session, I was able to attend a fascinating panel featuring the Rev. Ruth Casipit Paguio and the Rev. Robin Denney on “Race in the Communion: Formation and Intentional Discipleship” – and got to sit in the audience with Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves. The most important resolution considered (and approved) today by the House of Deputies was B014 Director’s Fees for the President of the House of Deputies.

These blog posts and other GC79 news are posted on the Diocese of El Camino Real website.

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Filed under Church, News & Reviews, Politics

Tagged as Education for Ministry, Episcopal church, General Convention

July 4, 2018 · 6:56 pm

Episcopal General Convention, Austin Texas, Day 1

I arrived late last night in Austin, Texas, for the 79th General Convention of the Episcopal Church. General Convention is the main governing and legislative body of the Episcopal Church and meets every three years. I am with the Deputation of the Diocese of El Camino Real (Central California). Our Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves is in the House of Bishops (of which she is a Vice President) and we are in the House of Deputies. This is the second time I have participated in General Convention – and I will again be blogging about the event.

I am not assigned to any committees, so I plan to attend as many Social Justice resolution hearings as I can. For United States policy, I am particularly interested in the resolutions on mass incarceration and immigration. For Social Justice and International Policy, I want to sit in on the hearings about Israel and Palestine. I am also showing interested groups the first half of the “Transforming Literature of the Bible” course materials I have edited and am already using at Elmwood Jail. In addition, I looking forward to meeting with the Education for Ministry staff who are here in the Exhibit Hall with the University of the South – School of Theology.

According to the Episcopal News Service, the big topics for discussion at this General Convention are:

Marriage Equality
Revising the Book of Common Prayer
The Episcopal Church and the #MeToo movement (for which we had a moving Bishops Listening service tonight)
A salary for the president of the House of Deputies
Following up on the church’s three priorities: evangelism, racial reconciliation and justice and care of creation
Formulating the 2019-2021 triennial budget
Middle East peace

In many ways, General Convention is like a family reunion every three years. We get to talk with folks with whom we have a great deal in common but do not see very often. Today, I already met briefly with the Rev. Canon Eric Law (Kaleidoscope Institute, Los Angeles), some of whose work I am using at Elmwood Jail. We had a rousing welcome (“not a sermon”) by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry who received two standing ovations. I will be here until 13th July.

Today is not only American Independence Day but also my 18th wedding anniversary with John Plocher – happy day, love!

These blog posts and other GC79 news are posted on the Diocese of El Camino Real website.

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Images Copyright 2018 by Katy Dickinson.

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Filed under Church, News & Reviews, Politics

Tagged as Education for Ministry, Episcopal church, General Convention, Jail, John, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

May 18, 2018 · 2:06 pm

New Jail Curriculum

Collaborating with the Rev. Canon William H. Barnwell, this month I have been designing a new curriculum for studying faith and literature at Elmwood Jail (Milpitas, California). In 1980, at the University of New Orleans (UNO), Canon Barnwell started developing a program which would eventually be called The Transforming Literature of the Bible (TLB). TLB is based on his original class in the “Bible as Literature” in the UNO English Department. From the mid-eighties, Canon Barnwell continued to work on TLB for both the university and at his churches: first at Trinity Episcopal in New Orleans, then at Trinity in Boston, and finally at the Washington National Cathedral where he served as Canon Missioner. TLB has been presented dozens of times in a variety of settings. The TLB version we are updating now is dated 2008.

I had been looking for a shorter course to offer at Elmwood Jail where I have been leading seminars in Education for Ministry (EfM) since 2015. Unfortunately, EfM takes nine months per program year and many of the inmates are not at Elmwood that long. EfM continues to be the right program for some Elmwood dorms; however, I was glad to find TLB for faster-cycle dorms. I think we can complete both Old and New Testament studies using TLB in about four months.

With Canon Barnwell’s enthusiastic support, I have edited the first six TLB sessions. I plan to edit the next 30 sessions starting next week. The first six sessions cover “The Hebrew Scriptures, Part One: The Great Stories of Genesis”. In addition to reading all of the Bible book of Genesis, students will also read:

- “The Welcome Table” by Alice Walker (1973)
- “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1955)
- “My Grandmother Washes Her Feet in the Sink of the Bathroom at Sears” by Mohja Kahf (2003)

I am grateful to have Diane Lovelace and my husband, John Plocher, as my Co-Mentors in this new venture. I am giving the inmates Bibles, Books of Common Prayer, dictionaries, pencils and journals to support their studies. Some books are in Spanish and some in English. Ten inmates came last week to hear about the new program. They are a varied group from many faith backgrounds: Catholic, Protestant, and Muslim. We are looking forward to developing the TLB pilot program together.

This program is supported by the Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy and St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church.

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Images Copyright 2018 by Katy Dickinson.

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Filed under Church, Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews

Tagged as Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy - CIC, Episcopal church, Jail, John, Mentoring, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, teaching

April 18, 2018 · 3:42 pm

Thanks, TechWomen!

Thanks to the TechWomen program for the recent Tweet quoting me:

Behind every successful woman is a tribe of women supporting her, like TechWomen

It is my honor to have helped design TechWomen – and to have been a TechWomen mentor and enthusiastic supporter since the program started:

TechWomen brings emerging women leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) from Africa, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East together with their professional counterparts in the United States for a mentorship and exchange program. TechWomen provides participants access to networks, resources, and knowledge to empower them to reach their full potential.

During the five-week program, participants engage in project-based mentorships at leading companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, participate in professional development workshops and networking events, and travel to Washington, DC. for targeted meetings and special events to conclude the program.

Over the past seven years, more than 500 women from Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Palestinian Territories, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Yemen and Zimbabwe have participated in TechWomen.

TechWomen is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). TechWomen, launched in 2011, supports the United States’ global commitment toward advancing the rights and participation of women and girls around the world by enabling them to reach their full potential in the tech industry.

TechWomen is managed by the Institute of International Education (IIE).
More: https://www.techwomen.org/

More about my company, Mentoring Standard: http://www.mentoringstandard.com/

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Refugees in Bunia, Congo

Last month, I posted a disturbing story and images: Help Needed for Displaced in Congo. The number of internal refugees who have settled in Bunia, Congo, continues to grow. The camp now holds over 86,000 people, many of whom are women and children who have traveled for weeks under very dangerous circumstances. The Congo Network of the Episcopal and Anglican churches gets regular updates from the Reverend Bisoke Balikenga who lives and works in Bunia, DRC. The Congo Network is chaired by the Rev. Canon Dr. Isaac Kawuki Mukasa (Africa Relations, Episcopal Church). The US media is reporting very little on this massive humanitarian crisis. I asked the Rev. Bisoke to send the Congo Network photos so that we could help tell the story.

Particularly disturbing were the photos of the girl Rachel and her little sister. The Rev. Bisoke wrote with the photo below: “Rachel sister just come from the hospital, her left arm was cut by the rebel and Rachel was cut in the head and the mother was killed. Rachel is not in a good condition you can see her head. Please pray for them because the life which they have now it is not the good one.” The Rev. Bisoke has taken 30 refugees into his own home, in addition to his family of 8. He is getting some help from friends. If you would like to help displaced people in the Congo, please donate to Episcopal Relief and Development (designate your donation to DRC). Your money will go toward food, clothing, shelter and assistance with trauma.

Coolest Office in San Jose

Thanks to San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo (and Ahmad Chapman, his Communications Specialist) who created the “Great 408” community celebration program for San Jose, which says about “77. Backyard Railroad Caboose” –

You can have your glass-walled high rises and ergonomic standing desks; Katy Dickinson has the coolest office in San Jose. That’s because it’s a 1916 Western Pacific steel framed wooden caboose in the backyard of the Willow Glen home she shares with her husband, John Plocher. The couple purchased the caboose in 2006 from the Golden Gate Railroad Museum in San Francisco after it lost its lease. It was in storage in San Jose for more than a year until it was moved to their backyard in May 2007. The couple has been restoring the caboose bit by bit for more than a decade. Be sure to check out Katy and John’s website for more photos and the history of the caboose.

The web page features the 2007 video by Sam Fineberg of WP668 moving into our backyard. WP668 is the office for my company, Mentoring Standard.

Page updated 27 March 2020 – added images and links.

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Photos Copyright 2008-2017 by Katy Dickinson.

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Filed under Caboose Project and Other Trains, Mentoring & Other Business, Mentoring Standard, News & Reviews

Tagged as garden, John, San Jose, Silicon Valley, Willow Glen, WP668

March 8, 2018 · 4:23 pm

Delicious Food in Egypt

During the TechWomen Delegation to Egypt, we were very well fed. It seemed like every one of the schools and organizations which hosted us generously provided at least a snack in addition to our regular meals. Days were very long so we were happy to be fed sweets and tea at regular intervals! Those of us who went to Alexandria before the Delegation began shared local desserts like Om Ali and Couscous with Nuts at El Shekh Wafik in the morning, and a great seafood feast at Ibn Hamido Seafood Restaurant on the waterfront at night. The next day, we had lunch at the Mena House next to Giza’s pyramids (our rice was in the shape of a pyramid to keep with the theme).

Two local dishes I definitely want to eat again are Kushari (noodles, rice, lentils, chickpeas and onion – pictured at the Abou El Sid restaurant in Cairo), and Halabessa (chickpeas in tomato broth- pictured at the Mahfouz Cafe in Cairo). Our most amusing snack was mathematical cupcakes (at the Girls in STEM Career Fair hosted by Mentor Graphics).

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Photos Copyright 2018 by Katy Dickinson.

Category Archives: News & Reviews

Day 2, Episcopal General Convention

Episcopal General Convention, Austin Texas, Day 1

New Jail Curriculum

Thanks, TechWomen!

Refugees in Bunia, Congo

Coolest Office in San Jose

Delicious Food in Egypt

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