For those who plan to come to the sanctuary, the most current COVID precautions posted on the front door. Please make sure to keep a mask on hand, just in case.

Spotlight on our Speakers

Rev. Diane Diachishin graduated and was ordained by All Faiths Seminary in NYC in 2022. She taught
music for 30+ years in private and public school systems. Diane has been an active member of the UUCRT for 25 years, wearing many hats. Diane considers herself a life- long Unitarian. From the age of four, summer vacations were spent with her family and her Star Island community, at an ongoing retreat for UU’s of all ages, which still continues to be a source of renewal and inspiration for her. Diane is passionate about her family, playing music, hiking, and travel.

Lee Steppacher has been practicing meditation for over 25 years. She is particularly drawn to bringing her
practice into daily life in an embodied and heartfelt way. After a career as an environmental professional,
she integrated her love of nature with her meditation practice through training in Awake in the Wild. She offers meditative walks and retreats in nature near her home in Vermont. She is also a palliative massage
therapist working in a hospice setting.

Evan T. Pritchard, a descendant of the Mi’kmaq people, has taught Native American studies at Pace University, Vassar College, and Marist College and is the director of the Center for Algonquin Culture. Steeped in bird lore by his Mi’kmaq great aunt Helen Perley, he is the author of several books, including Native New Yorkers and No Word for Time. A regular on radio shows such as NPR’s Fresh Air and on the History Channel, he lives in the Hudson Valley of New York.

Dr. Charles S. Isaacs has been a schoolteacher, a college professor, a community organizer, a Congressional consultant, a social activist, a gambler and an occasional journalist. He has written opinion
columns and feature stories for numerous newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times Magazine. During recent decades, he has been a consultant to dozens of non-profit organizations operating in the social justice arena. His recently published work includes fiction, poetry and award winning non￾fiction.

‘A Teacher’s Education’

Dr. Issacs is the author of
Inside Ocean Hill-Brownsville, a Teacher’s Education.

In 1968, the conflict that erupted over community control of the New York City public schools was centered in the Black and Puerto Rican community of Ocean Hill–Brownsville. It triggered what remains the largest, longest and ugliest citywide teacher strike in US history. That clash, between the city’s communities of color and the 92% white, predominantly Jewish, teachers’ union, paralyzed the nation’s largest school system, undermined the city’s economy and heightened racial tensions, ultimately transforming the national conversation about race relations.

At age 22, when the strike was imminent, Charles S. Isaacs abandoned his full scholarship at the University of Chicago Law School to teach mathematics in Ocean Hill–Brownsville.

Despite his Jewish background and pro￾union leanings, he crossed picket lines manned by teachers who looked like him and took the side of parents and children who did not. His book, Inside Ocean Hill– Brownsville, tells the story of this conflict, not only from inside the experimental community-controlled district, but from within ground zero itself: Junior High School 271, which became the nation’s most famous, or infamous, public school.