Our kitchen remodel today reached the “done enough” stage. I like our updated kitchen and want to start using it. I am glad to see the newly-uncovered oak floors go well with the fresh paint and granite counter and backspash. Lots of little stuff still to do (fixing many paint errors-and-omissions, installing under-cabinet lights, replacing shelves, replacing a sliced window screen, replacing the cabinet muntins…). All the little blue bits of tape in the pictures are where the paint is messed up. However, at this point, we would rather finish that work ourselves. We ran all of the plumbing and appliances last night and found two leaks, but those were fixed today. Some of the work was very well done, especially the cabinet upgrades, and the stone work. I love how the granite pattern behind the stove looks like sand dunes, and how the book matched granite patterns flow into each other. I also like having shelves under the windows. Still, I am happy to have the contractors out of the house. I am also happy to be able to use my new super-fancy laundry folding counter. I figure I spend so much time standing there, I should enjoy how it looks. Our house is almost 100 years old and I expect this kitchen to serve it well into its next century.
Images Copyright (c) 2023 Katy Dickinson. If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right on Katysblog home).
For the weekly opening worship in our class, My Co-Mentor (and husband) John Plocher and I have been using the worship bulletins from our home parish, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. However, that music has proven challenging. Many inmates love and long for music and as a CIC Chaplain, I am privileged to bring in my smart phone and a speaker. But, while the lyrics and music are in St. Andrew’s worship bulletin, few inmates read music and finding recorded music that matches has been a challenge.
Last Wednesday, John had an idea so we tried something new. I wrote the repetitive lyrics for a traditional hymn on the white board and played the music so the inmates could sing along. They loved it and asked to sing all five verses through a second time before class ended! Most of the students are Christian but the seminar also includes a man who identifies as a Messianic Jew. About two thirds of the inmates in this class are Latino and speak Spanish (most also speak English). All are welcome.
Here is the start of the lyrics we sang, from Hymnary:
As I went down to the river to pray, studyin’ about that good old way, and who shall wear the starry crown, good Lord, show me the way.
Oh, sisters, let’s go down, let’s go down, come on down. Oh, sisters, let’s go down, down to the river to pray. [Refrain]
In class, we listened to the lovely recording by Alison Krauss, from the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” album. Our daughter Jessica Dickinson Goodman not only has a lovely big voice but also a Minor in Vocal Music from Carnegie Mellon University. On Thursday, she and I talked about the challenge of bringing singable music into jail. Last night, Jessica brought over a selection of her song books so now I have more resources.
I am week-by-week revising the assigned TLB chapters, include new material and illustrations, and providing a Spanish translation. I plan to use Hymnary and the books Jessica provided to also create a supplementary TLB section of lyrics that are aligned with the themes of each chapter. So far, the inmates have been very engaged with the new materials. I just had two more students who had completed a prior TLB seminar ask if they can rejoin. So far, so good!
Images Copyright (c) 2023 Katy Dickinson. If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right on Katysblog home).
Yesterday, my sister TechWomen Impact Coaches for 2023 Team Palestine and I had a lovely conversation starting to plan for the arrival of our new mentees. Looking forward to learning from Shagufta Ahmed and Nancy Hendrickson! The 104 TechWomen mentees from 21 countries arrive in San Francisco soon and we are very excited to meet them.
I am thinking of my dear friends and colleagues among the Palestine TechWomen Fellows of cohorts-past, and asking them to support the incoming team. I am also thinking of my journeys in Palestine and hoping that I will learn as much during the next six weeks. My first trip to Palestine was in 1979 after I was graduated from U.C. Berkeley, my second was in 2006 to create a Sun Microsystems mentoring program between technical groups in St. Petersburg (Russia) and Hertzliya (Israel), and the third was an (unofficial) delegation of five TechWomen mentors to Gaza City in 2016, as guests of Mercy Corps and Gaza Sky Geeks. I very much look forward to traveling there again.
I was honored to be the 2010-2011 Process Architect for the U.S. State Department – Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ TechWomen mentoring program and am very proud to continue my service as a citizen diplomat. In 2022, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken expanded TechWomen (based in the San Francisco Bay Area 2010-2022) to include a cohort in Chicago. My daughter, Jessica Dickinson Goodman, is a mentor for 2023’s Team Nigeria, based in Chicago. Jessica was one of the mentors who went with me to Palestine in 2016 and she has been an Impact Coach for Team Palestine in prior TechWomen years.
About TechWomen: “TechWomen empowers, connects and supports the next generation of women leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) from Africa, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East by providing them the access and opportunity needed to advance their careers, pursue their dreams, and inspire women and girls in their communities. Through mentorship and exchange, TechWomen strengthens participants’ professional capacity, increases mutual understanding between key networks of professionals, and expands girls’ interest in STEM careers by exposing them to female role models.” There are 1,153 TechWomen Emerging Leaders and Fellows in 22 Countries. More than 150 companies have hosted TechWomen Emerging Leaders.
Katy standing in the Dead Sea 2006Gaza City Vase 2016TechWomen arrive in Gaza, Feb 2016Gaza Sky Geeks with TechWomen 2016Katy Dickinson and TechWomen presenting, Gaza City 2016Selfies with Eileen Brewer at Gaza City harbor, Feb 2016
Images Copyright (c) 2006-2023 Katy Dickinson. If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right on Katysblog home).
Temporary Kitchenette in John Plocher’s Office, 8 September 2023
After 26 years in our home, we are updating our kitchen. Our Spanish Mission style house was built around 1931 in San Jose’s Willow Glen neighborhood (Silicon Valley, California). We think the kitchen was last remodeled after the big Loma Prieta 1989 earthquake. The kitchen is large but the layout is fixed by four doors (to John’s office, the laundry room, the basement, and the dining room).
We are keeping the original cabinets because they are solid oak and, while after so many years the finish is trashed, they are good quality, fit well, and are in the right places. We are replacing the pulls, hinges, and drawer slides, so that means rebuilding the drawer boxes. We are also changing two under-cabinet doors to be drawers. The update is limited to those cabinet changes, granite counters to replace the nasty cheap tile, a new sink and faucet, cabinet and wall paint, electrical plug upgrades, and three new appliances: induction range / stove, microwave, and sink disposal. The induction stove meant we also had to buy all new pans. There has been much discussion over microwave placement. John (the fancy cook) says he prefers it over the stove, so we bought a new microwave unit with a built-in hood.
It feels like camping out in our own home. John is patient with the temporary kitchenette we created in his office. (This is overseen by the Moltres Pokemon mural my mother Eleanor Dickinson and son Paul painted when that was his bedroom.) We are doing dishes in the bathroom. My birds are confused by their extended field trip to the dining room, where their cage is surrounded by boxes of china and kitchen stuff. The contractor came by this morning to say that the countertops will be installed tomorrow, and the cabinets and paint will be finished next week. Here’s hoping for that to happen as scheduled!
Nov 2022 John Plocher in old kitchennew kitchen stove, 31 July 2023kitchen backsplash granite slab, 17 Aug 2023kitchen granite shopping, 17 Aug 2023old kitchen 20 August 2023kitchen demolition 21 Aug 2023kitchen after counter removal, 21 Aug 2023kitchen electrical work, 22 Aug 2023kitchen with new backer boards, 24 Aug 2023John Plocher and curious dogs in kitchen 29 Aug 2023bathroom dishes 8 Sep 2023
Images Copyright (c) 2023 Katy Dickinson. If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right on Katysblog home).
I was touched and thankful for the positive feedback about this event, notably this comment by the Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy‘s Chaplain Ra Amen, “The absolute best interreligious training on the topic. The synergism between the panelists and moderator was seamless. The questions and answers allow for a broad range of insights and experiences to be covered. Whether a novice or as one with years of experience, there was much to be gained from the discussion that will serve me well in future interreligious situation in jail or the general society. It was a model that could be use national in jail and prison ministry. I commend everyone involved in putting on this training.” Another comment from volunteer Chaplain Barbara Harriman was heartwarming, “The seminar today was amazing! Your panel was filled with compassionate scholars, including you! It was very impressive and informative. Thank you so much. I’m so glad you made the video accessible. I will share it with others.” I am grateful for the support.
Grateful thanks to the inspiring and excellent panel speakers:
Reverend Liz Milner, Executive Director & Facility Chaplain, Correctional Center for Women, CIC (Santa Clara County)
Sheikh Rami Nsour, Founding Director, Tayba Foundation (a non-profit organization dedicated to serving individuals and families impacted by incarceration, Fremont)
Thank you as well to the friends, family, and colleagues who helped me put on this event. Especially Karen LeBlanc, Jessica Dickinson Goodman, and John Plocher.
Images Copyright (c) 2023 Katy Dickinson. Thanks to photographers, Karen LeBlanc, Joel Martinez, John Plocher, and Barbara Merrill. If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right on Katysblog home).
In July 2023, I quietly celebrated a year of weight loss maintenance – Hooray! I still use the Fooducate nutrition and weight tracker to record what I eat and weigh each each day, as a reminder. Several people have asked how I did this: please read my 22 September 2022 update for what worked for me. (This only represents my experience – your mileage may vary. Use a program that works for your health and way of doing things and you will be more likely to stick with it.)
I enjoy shopping for clothes to fit my new form (usually used, by way of ThredUp and other thrifty online sources), and am still working out what style, design, and fit is best for me in each season. I have some unusual constraints on this. As a Chaplain in the county jail, for work I cannot wear clothes that are predominantly red, blue, or other gang colors. Also, as a new Grandma, I need to consider how to manage a very active 9 month old who likes to grab, pull, and chew on me. For my birthday later this month, my husband John treated me to a shopping trip at the Sézane shop in San Francisco with my friend Laura Biché. John hates to shop, so buying my own gift is a present to him. Last weekend, I wore one of the Sézane dresses I bought on our date night, seeing “Shakespeare in Love” by Silicon Valley Shakespeare.
If you want to receive Katysblog posts by email, please sign up using the Sign Me Up! button (upper right on Katysblog home). Images Copyright 2023 by Katy Dickinson.
Please join us for “The Same and Different: Supporting Muslim and Jewish Inmates,”an Interreligious Panel, 1:30 to 3:30 pm on Sunday, 3 September 2023, hosted by St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (13601 Saratoga Avenue, Saratoga, California – San Francisco Bay Area). This is an in-person event that will also be live-streamed. Here is the live streaming link, https://vimeo.com/event/3655244. Here us the one page handout about the panel.
Rabbi Amy Eilberg, Peace and Justice Activist, Spiritual Director, Kindness Coach and Author (Los Altos). Rabbi Amy Eilberg is the first female rabbi ordained in Conservative Judaism.
Reverend Liz Milner, Executive Director & Facility Chaplain, Correctional Center for Women, CIC (Santa Clara County)
Sheikh Rami Nsour, Founding Director, Tayba Foundation (a non-profit organization dedicated to serving individuals and families impacted by incarceration, Fremont)
This is a two hour training event (with a panel of experts) for jail chaplains – and those interested in learning about jail chaplaincy – on best practices in supporting inmates, especially those who are Muslim or Jewish.
There are about three thousand inmates in Santa Clara County jail. Eight staff CIC Chaplains and hundreds of volunteers interact routinely with prisoners of all faiths, including discussions about non-medical special diets (Kosher, Halal, or Vegetarian), leading educational and spiritual programs, offering individual pastoral care visits, and distributing religious items (such as scriptures and religious prayer or study materials, hijab, or kippah or kufi head coverings, prayer rugs, and rosaries). For the last several years, many jail prisoners have had access to county-provided electronic tablets offering educational programs, entertainment, and religious and spiritual scriptures and other documents from a wide range of religious and spiritual contexts. Discussions with inmates who are interested in exploring or converting to Islam or Judaism seem to have increased since the tablets became available.
“The Same and Different: Supporting Muslim and Jewish Inmates” attendees can gain a greater understanding of Islam and Judaism and learn best practices for supporting inmates from those religions. There will be small group discussions after the panel. Some attendees will also be able to take home an excellent book to support their ministry with Muslim or Jewish inmates:
Dayle A. Friedman, ed., Jewish Pastoral Care: A Practical Handbook from Traditional & Contemporary Sources (Nashville, TN: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2015).
Muhammad A. Ali, Omer Bajwa, Sondos Kholaki, and Jaye Starr, eds., Mantle of Mercy: Islamic Chaplaincy in North America (West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Press, 2022).
Book quantities are very limited: first come, first served. Rabbi Amy Eilberg, Sheikh Rami Nsour, and Katy Dickinson are all speakers for the Islamic Networks Group (ING), a peace-building organization providing face-to-face education and engagement opportunities that foster understanding of Muslims and other misunderstood groups to promote harmony among all people.
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