The overwhelming majority of people who have read
any issues of Heart, Mind, & Spirit
—an Electronic Magazine for UUs on Campus—
have found it to be a very positive experience.
No subscriber has ever canceled his or her subscription
because they did not like something in the magazine
or some concept behind the magazine.
Nevertheless there have been some background critics,
who have pointed out some basic shortcomings of the magazine.
None of these critics has (so far) chosen to use this opportunity
to express his or her objections in this file.
So, at least for now it will consist of replies to objections.
Nevertheless, the editors take all comments very
seriously.
And this file will remain open indefinitely
for critical comment from any quarter.
Send your criticism or praise
to the webmaster for posting here.
Thus, for the present, the rest of this file consists
of four shortcomings of HMS identified by critics
—and the actions taken to correct those shortcomings.
This format led to a very low volume use
of the UUA mailing list called HMS-L.
There are only three issues per year.
And three mailings to ask subscribers to select
the feature article for the next issue.
Because HMS is structured as a moderated list,
responses are sent directly to the editors,
rather than thru the UUA computer.
And selected reader responses are posted on the home page,
along with responses from the author of the feature article.
(Here is an example of one such exchange
between readers and author:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/SR3Q&A.html)
REFORMS TO CORRECT SHORTCOMING #1
Heart, Mind, & Spirit is ready to move into
more frequent publication, perhaps once a month,
as soon as there is a demand for it.
There have been four issues as of September 2000.
It takes somewhat longer to build a list of subscribers
and to encourage many people concerned
with UU campus ministry to propose feature articles.
2. Heart, Mind, & Spirit has only one moderator
for the list,
instead of the required two.
REFORMS TO CORRECT SHORTCOMING #2
Karen Rayne has volunteered to become co-editor.
Karen is a college student in Austin, Texas.
She is a life-long UU who has been very active
in many dimensions of the UU movement.
Jimmy Sheldon has also volunteered to become co-editor.
Jimmy is a computer science student
at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Further details about both Karen and Jimmy
will be found in "Meet the Editors":
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/HMS-EDS.html
"Meet the Editors" also lists the UU connections
of James Park.
He has been a UU for 20 years.
And he has been active in the UU campus ministry for 12 years.
3. Heart, Mind, & Spirit
was not aligned with the goals
of the Young Adult/Campus Ministries Office
or C*UUYAN.
This is not actually a policy of the UUA mailing
lists.
Mailing lists are permitted to express a variety of opinions.
In fact, the UU movement embraces many kinds of diversity.
And the UUA mailing lists have allowed
many different voices to be heard.
It is a judgment call whether these forms of campus
ministry
have similar goals or different goals.
Let anyone examine the respective home pages
and decide for themselves:
Do the following organizations have substantially different goals
or are their purposes basically the same?
(1) The Young Adult/Campus Ministries Office of the UUA:
http://www.uua.org/yam/
(2) The Continental Unitarian Universalist Young Adult Network:
http://www.uuyan.org/
and (3) Heart, Mind, & Spirit:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/HMS.html.
A new file has recently been added to the HMS home
page:
"How Heart, Mind, & Spirit Embodies UU Principles":
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/HMS-UUPr.html
REFORMS TO CORRECT SHORTCOMING #3
The feature articles from the first four issues of
HMS
and the 8 links to other UU organizations
remain on the HMS home page for all to read:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/HMS-LINK.html
The Young Adult/Campus Ministry Office of the UUA,
the Continental Unitarian Universalist Young Adult Network,
and the Unitarian Universalist Campus Ministry List
have all been included on this
Permanent Links Page of HMS from the beginning.
This Permanent Links Page shows that Heart, Mind, & Spirit
has made maximum efforts to cooperate
with all other forms of young adult and campus ministry.
Heart, Mind, & Spirit is an experiment in campus
ministry
using exclusively electronic means
—a UUA mailing list and a home page.
(The HMS home page is hosted by the University of Minnesota.)
4. Heart, Mind, & Spirit was not founded by UUs on campus.
The founder and first editor (James Park)
has seven years of paid service
to the UU campus ministry in Minneapolis
(See details in "Meet the Editors":
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/HMS-EDS.html)
HMS never claimed to be an official UUA publication.
This has been explicitly stated in the Frequently Asked Questions:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/HMS-FAQ.html
(See Question #14:
"Is Heart, Mind, & Spirit an official publication of the UUA?")
REFORMS TO CORRECT SHORTCOMING #4:
The two new co-editors are UU college students.
They have been deeply involved in UU youth activities
and now in young adult and campus activities.
(See details in "Meet the Editors":
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/HMS-EDS.html)
A more prominent disclaimer has been devised,
which should make it clear on the HMS home page
and in every issue of the magazine
that Heart, Mind, & Spirit does not officially speak for the UUA:
Disclaimer:
"Heart, Mind, &
Spirit is an independent electronic magazine
for UUs and other open-minded freethinkers on campus,
controlled only by the votes of its subscribers.
The individual authors are responsible for their opinions.
Heart, Mind, & Spirit is not an official publication
of the Unitarian Universalist Association;
the views expressed in HMS are not necessarily
those of the UUA or any of its congregations or affiliates."
This website is hosted by the University of Minnesota,
which is also not responsible for anything in the magazine.
In the future, this disclaimer will appear
at the BEGINNING of any communication
from Heart, Mind, & Spirit to its subscribers
and at the TOP of the home page of HMS.
And if the beginning gives it too much prominence,
perhaps suggesting a conflict between the UUA and HMS,
we could move it to the end.
Would that be satisfactory?
A third possibility would be to put the word "disclaimer"
at the top of all communications,
linked with the text of the disclaimer at the bottom.
This electronic magazine is responsible to the subscribers,
who control the content
by voting among the proposals for feature articles.
ANYONE may propose a feature article.
Each subscribing e-mail address has one vote.
Other areas of reform and improvement
should certainly be considered.
Suggestions from all quarters are welcome.
The past format and content of Heart, Mind, & Spirit
is preserved on the HMS home page:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/HMS.html
Everyone is invited to take a closer look
and to suggest further areas of improvement.
Yours,
Karen Rayne, Jimmy Sheldon, & James Park, the editors of
Heart, Mind, & Spirit—an electronic magazine for UUs on campus
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/HMS.html
revised September 2000