2021: A Message from our new president

Hello! If you’re new and reading this, WELCOME to Sunday Assembly Pittsburgh. If you’re a regular member of our community, we love you and are glad you are still here with us in 2021. As the new President of SAPgh (and in an effort to refresh our blog posting as a community), I am writing to reflect on our first quarter, as we revitalize after a tough year for everyone.  I’d also like to invite you to deepen your involvement with our community in 2021.  SAPgh has been fortunate to stay consistent and solid with our membership and programming throughout the pandemic, but we also have big goals and dreams for expansion and reconnecting, as the world (safely) opens back up throughout the year. We miss hugging you, we miss playing live music with you, and we miss drinking coffee IRL with you. Until those cozy days return, check out what we have put together on Zoom so far. We’ve had a lovely start to 2021 (how is Q1 almost over already?!), and hope you join us as much as you can this year. 

• These themes are on fire! (sung to the tune of Alicia Keys;) Our Programming Committee lined up an excellent and soul-inspiring flow for Q1 to keep us “Wondering More” & “Living Better.” Zoom Fatigue didn’t get us down! We started out January with the theme of Hope. Let’s be real, we were missing each other big time, as 2020 drew to a close. It was helpful to hear some of our community members share personal stories of finding hope amidst the despair of the past year, as well as to learn some psychology behind hopefulness! That led us to Pleasure in February, which requires some hopefulness for those of us who have experienced trauma, especially in our bodies. We read some of the most powerful work out there, from activists of all backgrounds, who are doing work around sexuality, embodiment, justice, and other areas where pleasure has historically been denied by the larger systems in which we exist. And of course, we couldn’t talk about Pleasure without talking about the ways womxn and femmes are often denied access to theirs, which leads us to… March’s theme of Women’s Empowerment. This theme feels especially POWER-full to celebrate Women’s History Month in 2021: we have our first woman sitting in one of the two highest offices in our country, and our current Board of Directors here at SAPgh is also comprised of a majority of femme & non-binary folx. Join us for this empowering celebration on Sunday, March 21 at 10am via Zoom. 
  • Wondering what you missed so far? Follow the links above to check out our new Archives webpage — this will continue to be updated with resources from our monthly Assemblies! 
• Solid Community. Our Community Committee experienced no interruption to our regular programming during the pandemic. We are excited to have experienced growth in this committee, with big plans and dreams for reconnecting more IRL, as our community gets vaccinated and things become safer in 2021. In the meantime, our monthly programming will continue as solidly and consistently as always. If you want to get involved in planning these or other social events, contact me! 
• Help us reach more of Pittsburgh. Our website is undergoing some major changes, as highlighted in my writing here! We are looking for someone to manage & increase our engagement on our socials (Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube). If that sounds like you, let our Outreach chair, Brandon, know! And, if you want to write a blog post, contact Lisa for more information. 
• How else can you get involved? We always welcome new faces on the “stage” at our monthly Assemblies. Our regular segments include songs, a reading, X is Doing Their Best, A Moment of Science, and a theme host/MC. If one of our upcoming themes in Q2 speaks to you, or if you’d like to be involved in the planning for our Q3 & Q4 themes, let our chair, Maevon, know so they can help you get involved! 
  • April: Recovery
  • May: Animals
  • June: Creativity

Again, thank you for being a part of our family here at SAPgh, and we hope to keep loving you with emojis on Zoom or hugs IRL this year and every year. 

Love,

Ashley