Whew!

The GC Prayer Room is gorgeous!

I knew we would be busy at General Conference, but I have to say that I underestimated just how busy we would be. Since I arrived in Tampa, there has been very little "down time," but I am trying to keep up the Tweets so I can share what's going on.

Yesterday began with some "unofficial" Conference business - for me, this included a Joint Briefing for delegates and a Briefing for Women Delegates. The Joint Briefing focused on the theme: "Intersectionality at work." Intersectionality is a new word for me (perhaps for you, too!) The emphasis was on hearing the voices of the people who are in the margins. My favorite quote was, "Don't forget that the people who are at the margins themselves are agents of change." One of the presentations at the briefing was made by a young man who is 15 years old. He was extremely articulate, intelligent, and inspiring. Harriet Olsen, the head of the Women's Division for the UMC, pointed out that there will be 10 more General Conferences before he hits the age of our average delegate. Something to think about. I for one am thrilled at the energy and vibrancy that young people bring to General Conference. I am glad their voices are encouraged and hope to hear from them a lot over the coming days.

We were encouraged, as we prepare to move into our legislative committee meetings, to consider whose voice is missing during the proceedings: women? people of color? those who do not have English as a first language? those who do not come from "a place of privilege"? One thing I have learned is that there are trained monitors in each of the legislative committee sessions who will literally record the kind and quantity of voices that are heard. I believe we will actually get a report at each break about the tally of how diverse our conversation was. I choose to call this: intentionality about intersectionality. ( There! I used "intersectionality" in a sentence!)

At GC 2012, 41% of delegates are from Central Conferences (outside the U.S.)

The Women's Briefing followed. The women delegates broke into legislative committees to discuss strategy regarding voting on leadership for the committee. Committee leaders can have great influence in setting the agenda for what legislation is discussed and how much time is given to pieces of legislation. (I should mention that there were three briefings following the general briefing: one for those under 30, one for women, and one for racial and ethnic minority delegates - presumably these other groups were having similar conversations). Our group discussed who we might nominate as chair, vice-chair and secretary of the committee. We also discussed who would chair sub-committees (I understand there will be three of these in our committee). Repeatedly emphasized was the fact that these elections go very quickly. If you're not prepared to put forth a nominee, the vote will be taken and your interest group will be left in the dust. Interesting.

I wish I had time to write more, but it is time to move on. I have no hope of every getting a proper explanation of Plan B in this blog, so will encourage you, if you are interested, to go to www.umcplanb.org to learn more about an alternative proposal for restructuring. This will not be a main feature of my legislative committee, but there will surely be much to say about this next week when we go to plenary.

Whew! We're off and running!