Category Archives: News & Reviews

January 10, 2017 · 4:18 pm

Guadalupe River High

The Guadalupe River in our San Jose backyard is supposed to rise very high tonight – according to NOAA (the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or Weather Service):

We and our Willow Glen neighbors along the river have been watching it with care. Twenty years ago, the other bank overflowed and water came up from the storm drains to wet our basements. The Guadalupe River Flood Protection Project by the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the United States Army Corps of Engineers has been working against a repeat of that disaster.

On 9 February 2015, I posted “Guadalupe River – Happy to Be Wet” with pictures of how high and low our river can go. I measure by the distance of the stair railing (about half way up the bank) relative to the water. Two days ago, the railing went almost entirely under – NOAA’s measurement was 7.94 feet. Tonight, the river is predicted to rise to 9.6 feet.

8 Feb 2015

29 Sep 2016

8 Jan 2017

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Presiding Bishop Michael Curry in Salinas on January 7

Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry will be featured at an all-day event at Sherwood Hall in Salinas, California, on Saturday, 7 January 2017. I will be one of three panelists asking him questions after his keynote presentation. The event is free and you are invited to attend – no registration is required.

El Camino Real Diocese Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves held a phone call this morning to discuss the panel with participants. I am very much looking forward to meeting Bishop Michael again. I met him briefly during lunch at General Convention 2015 and have listened to many of his talks. Bishop Michael is the 27th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and is the first African American to serve as PB since its founding in 1789. He is a remarkable and inspiring speaker.

One of the highlights from his keynote at the “Evangelism Matters” conference in November 2016 in Dallas, TX: “God made us for God’s dream. We were made to be in communion with our God, with each other, and with the world God has made. That is why we are here… Evangelism doesn’t have a thing to do with a bigger church. It has everything to do with a better world… We Episcopalians are of the Anglican tradition of Christianity. I want to suggest that Anglicans are not allergic to evangelism. Episcopalians need not take Excedrin before saying ‘evangelism’…”

Bishop Michael’s most recent book, Songs My Grandma Sang, was published in June 2015; Crazy Christians: A Call to Follow Jesus was his first book, in August 2013. He has received honorary degrees from Episcopal Divinity School, The University of the South – Sewanee, Virginia Theological Seminary, and Yale.

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Filed under Church, News & Reviews

Tagged as Episcopal church, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

December 29, 2016 · 3:29 pm

Technology for the Incarcerated

I read Dr. Arshya Vahabzadeh‘s recent article “How Technology Could Improve Mental Health in Prisons – But So Far Isn’t” (13 Dec 2016, in Fast Company) and considered other ways in which technology helps inmates. I lead a weekly Education for Ministry seminar at Elmwood Correctional Facility (County Jail – in Milpitas, California). Here is how I see technology helping the ten men in my seminar:

Because they do not have computer access, I make a standing offer to research topics that arise from our class discussions and bring the curious students more information. Last night, I delivered printouts on Suetonius, Julius Caesar, prophecy in the Book of Daniel, the Caiaphas Ossuary, Galilee Boat, Ketef Hinnom, and Tel Dan Stele, plus a biography of Pontius Pilate. Wikipedia‘s easy access to vast fields of knowledge means in only an hour a week, I can bring the inmates a richer view into the world of the Hebrew Bible, New Testament, and Christian history.
I was one of the St. Andrew’s prison ministry team who brought worship and song to Elmwood on Christmas Day. When leaving, I noticed a group of lovely deep purple irises blooming next to the back parking lot. Further on, I stopped to take a photo of two ducks on the water behind the jail. Just then, a big white egret erupted from under the bridge where I stood – as if an angel were arising from the water. Because of easy and cheap digital photography and my color printer, I can show the inmates pictures of how nature was celebrating Christmas with them.
One of my students was transferred from Elmwood jail into the state prison system. He is highly intelligent and deeply faithful and wants to keep up his Christian studies. Because prisons and jails will accept book deliveries directly from Amazon, I can use ecommerce to send him better books than are available in the prison library. For Christmas, I sent him two EfM books: Transformed Lives: Making Sense of Atonement Today, and Care for Creation (a franciscan spirituality of the earth). We hope he will be transferred to a prison that offers an EfM Online course or one with an in-person class.
The Elmwood class asked for song books in both English and Spanish so that they can sing hymns together. I found Oramos Cantando – We Pray in Song. There are Spanish-only and English-only hymnals but this seems to be the only bilingual song book available. I even checked with our church’s Director of Music – who said he did not know of any. I was able to locate eight paperback copies in good condition for less than $10/each on Amazon, delivered in a week from eight different used book sellers located all over the USA.

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Updated 3 January 2017
Images Copyright 2016 by Katy Dickinson

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Filed under News & Reviews, Politics

Tagged as birds, Education for Ministry, garden, Jail, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

December 1, 2016 · 1:06 pm

Learning in Jail, Using Wikipedia

I lead a weekly Education for Ministry seminar at Elmwood Correctional Facility (County Jail in Milpitas, California). This month, we started our second EfM term inside Elmwood. Our seminar includes six men in Year-1 (studying Collins’ Introduction to the Hebrew Bible) plus four continuing to Year-2 (studying Powell’s Introducing the New Testament: A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey). We use college-level texts plus Bibles, Books of Common Prayer, and the EfM Reading and Reflection Guide, with other resources in both English and Spanish.

I am also the EfM Mentor for another weekly seminar hosted by Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church (Saratoga, CA). One of the differences between my two classes is availability of outside reference materials. The student inmates do not have web access. So, I make a standing offer to print out articles from Wikipedia and other sources to supplement assigned texts. The EfM students at Elmwood are deeply curious and want to learn all they can, especially about text and biblical references and topics raised during our theological reflections.

Yesterday night, I was asked to look up the Oracle of Delphi, lyrics to two hymns, and Milton’s “Paradise Lost”. I bring in printouts glued at the corner (staples are forbidden). During the last year, I have provided Wikipedia articles on these topics:

Amenemope (pharaoh)	Apostle (Christian)	Archangel	Ark of the Covenant	Assumption of Moses
Baptism of Jesus	Bel and the Dragon	Ben Sira	Bible translations into English	Book of Amos
Book of Baruch	Book of Jasher (biblical references)	Book of the Wars of the Lord	Book of Kings	Cain and Abel
Cenacle	Civil and political rights	Code of Hammurabi	Crossing the Red Sea	Crusades
David	Davidic line	Diodorus Siculus	Don Quixote	Francis of Assisi
Golden calf	Gospel of Jesus’ Wife	Herodotus	Historical criticism	History of ancient Israel and Judah
Huldrych Zwingli	Ignatius of Loyola	Innocence Project	Instruction of Amenemope	Isaac
John Calvin	Levite	Maimonides	Martin Luther	Nephilim
Noah	Nostradamus	Oxford Martyrs	Paleontology in New York	Paul the Apostle
Peter	Qarqar	Rechabite	Sanchuniathon	Sirach
Sodom and Gomorrah	Ten Commandments	Ten Lost Tribes	Tertullian	Third Temple
Unknown years of Jesus	Western Wall	William Shakespeare	Zayin	.

If you are interested in volunteering in a Santa Clara County (Silicon Valley) jail, please contact the Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy (CIC).

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

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

November 29, 2016 · 1:23 pm

Honoring Jail Ministry

Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves honored dozens of jail and prison ministry volunteers last month, among them, myself. Since 2007 Bishop Mary has served as the third bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR) in California. Since 2015, she has also been the Vice President of the House of Bishops. Some years ago, Bishop Mary created the Simple Servant Award to honor those working as faithful ministers in the community.

I was out of town – in Sewanee, Tennessee, renewing my Education for Ministry Mentor Accreditation, and being trained as the Diocesan Coordinator for EfM – so I missed the Simple Servant presentation at the ECR annual convention on 4 November 2016. However, my husband John Plocher helped Bishop Mary prepare her presentation slides, so I was able to contribute photos and information in advance. The Reverend Peggy Bryan worked with two of my student inmates on the artwork for the certificate.

Jack Fanning and I received our certificates the following week. Jack helped me to start the first EfM program at Elmwood Correctional Facility (Milpitas, California). There are about 25 EfM seminars in prisons in the USA but ours seems to be the first class in a county jail. We just started our second EfM term inside Elmwood. Our seminar includes have six men in Year-1 plus four continuing to Year-2. Thanks to the University of the South, The Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real, CIC Ministries, and Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church for their joint and generous support of this program!

If you are interested in volunteering in a Santa Clara County (Silicon Valley) jail, please contact the Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy (CIC).

Two photos taken by Elrond Lawrence of the 4 November 2016 presentation in Salinas:

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Filed under Church, Home & Family, News & Reviews, Politics

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

November 29, 2016 · 12:17 pm

TechWomen 2016 Fellows – Next Steps

The 90 TechWomen 2016 Fellows returned to their 19 countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. After a very busy month in the San Francisco Bay Area and a week in Washington DC, they have been been reconnecting with home and family. Some of us mentors in the Silicon Valley have continued working remotely with our mentees since we last saw them in Washington DC. Two groups with whom I have actively continued to work are Team Tunisia (the development group of six from Tunis, plus three TechWomen mentors), and the TechWomen 2016 Fellows who have become Certified Mentors with my company, Mentoring Standard.

Team Tunisia has met remotely twice already and is busily developing plans, branding, and social media for WAKTECH. WAKTECH will developing a software application plus community system to improve public transport in Tunis. Our team won one of the TechWomen Pitch Day seed grants last month and we are now looking for additional sources of funding and support. While we were in Washington DC, Team Tunisia was able to meet His Excellency Fayçal Gouia, Tunisia’s Ambassador to the United States. We brought along our TechWomen trophy to show him!

12 TechWomen 2016 Fellows have completed the submissions required to become Certified Mentors after returning home. They have demonstrated that they hold the following three qualities:

Significant Mentoring History.
Good Reputation.
Respectable Professional Experience.

Congratulations and welcome to:

Engy Abdalla	Architect & Interior Designer, TechWomen 2016 Fellow	Alexandria, Egypt
Yousra Anwar Abdelhady	Independent Trainer, TechWomen 2016 Fellow	Alexandria, Egypt
Chioma Hannah Ezedi	Programmer, Abububakar Tafawa Balewa University, TechWomen 2016 Fellow	Bauchi, Nigeria
Yelena Filipchik	Sales Intelligence Manager, PepsiCo, TechWomen 2016 Fellow	Almaty, Kazakhstan
Habsatou Nadia	Project Engineer, Cameroon Telecommunication, TechWomen 2016 Fellow	Yaounde, Cameroon
Kitio Tsamo Arielle	Founder: WIT, Computer Science Lecturer Assistant: University of Yaounde 1, TechWomen 2016 Fellow	Yaounde, Cameroon
Diana Hasan Nassar	Product Manager: souq.com, TechWomen 2016 Fellow	Amman, Jordan
Estelle Ndedi-Nzalli	Computer Sciences Engineer, Information Technology Department, Ingenieris, TechWomen 2016 Fellow	Yaounde, Cameroon
Dr. Francisca Onaolapo Oladipo	Professor, Federal University Lokoja, TechWomen 2016 Fellow	Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria
Gulshnar Salpykova	IT Specialist, Transtelecom JSC, TechWomen 2016 Fellow	Astana, Kazakhstan
Yomna Emad Saleh	Business & Innovation Consultant: Innovety, TechWomen 2016 Fellow	Cairo, Egypt
Nazira Sheraly	CEO, Agroholding Jashyl Charba, TechWomen 2016 Fellow	Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic

I am very proud of all of them! More information about each of these remarkable mentors is on Mentoring Standard’s Honor Roll.

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TechWomen Visit US State in Washington DC

The TechWomen mentors and our mentees enjoyed our first full day of meetings in Washington DC today. Speakers at the US State Department included TechWomen’s champion Evan Ryan (Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs), Catherine Novelli (Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment), and our beloved founder of TechWomen, Sheila Casey (Deputy Director, Office of Citizen Exchanges, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs). We also heard from Dr. Jennifer Blum of the Association for Women in Science and Ziad Haider (Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs, US State Department). Oracle gave us a lovely reception in their corporate townhouse this evening.

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Category Archives: News & Reviews

Guadalupe River High

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry in Salinas on January 7

Technology for the Incarcerated

Learning in Jail, Using Wikipedia

Honoring Jail Ministry

TechWomen 2016 Fellows – Next Steps

TechWomen Visit US State in Washington DC

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