BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.0.1//EN TZID:America/Los_Angeles X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Los_Angeles BEGIN:VEVENT UID:18417@uucpa.org DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260826T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260826T130000 DTSTAMP:20260823T155020Z URL:https://www.uucpa.org/events/resonant-reading-wednesday-2-2026-08-26/ SUMMARY:Resonant Reading (Wednesday)-Earth will forget our names-Mangla DESCRIPTION:Resonant Reading (Wednesday)-Earth will forget our names-Mangla An exploration of ideas\, feelings\, and our life experiences\, using a different short reading as our springboard each time. The sessions are on Saturdays\, 4-5\, and on Wednesdays\, 12-1. All are wide open and you are welcome to come twice a week or once in a while.\n\n\n\nThe reading for th is session:\n\n\nWednesday\, August 26th\n\n \;\n\n\n\n When the Earth Forgets Our Names\, Anika Mangla\, 2025 Alameda County Youth Poet Laureat e\n\nOne day\, the Earth will forget our names. It forgets already. Think of the cities buried beneath deserts. Think of the ruins swallowed by ocea ns. Think of the bones scattered beneath the marble temples of forgotten g ods.\n\nDo you think anyone remembers the first voice that called the moon by name? The first hand that touched fire? The first child who pressed a flower into the palm of another and called it a gift? We are built of forg etting. We are born of it and we return to it.\n\nAnd still we scratch our initial into tree bark as though bark were stone\, as though stone were e ternal\, pressing footprints into wet cement. We leave fingerprints on fog ged glass. We turn absence into relics as if permanence is a promise anyon e can keep. We know it isn’t\, but still. We love\, we laugh so hard our ribs ache like broken wings.\n\nWe hold hands underneath street lamps as if the light is ours alone. We sit beside each other in silence and it som ehow feels like song.\n\nDo you see how miraculous that is? To know we are temporary and still plant gardens\, still write poems\, still teach child ren how to swim. To know the stars we make wishes upon are already dead. T heir fires burned out centuries ago\, their ghosts no longer walking the s ky.\n\nMaybe that’s what it means to be human. To build houses in the pa th of storms\, to pour water into cracked earth\, to know that every word you write will be misremembered\, mistranslated\, or lost entirely. And st ill\, you plant\, you build\, you write. To know the stars you make wishes upon are already dead and still close your eyes and breathe hope into the dark.\n\nWhat else are we if not human? What else are we if not believers in the impossible? That something so fleeting might still matter.\n\nYes\ , the earth will forget our names\, but maybe the wind will carry the soun d of our laughter. Perhaps the rain will carry the taste of our grief. Per haps the roots we watered will not just break ground\, but split open moun tain\, but tear open stone\, but bloom into forgiveness so wide it becomes a forest. Perhaps the sea will keep our reflections longer than our bodie s can bear. Perhaps the dust will hum with echoes of every word we never s aid out loud.\n\nPerhaps the night itself\, swollen with stars\, will guar d the whispers we whispered to no one in particular. And if not\, then sti ll\, love. Because love is what leaves fingerprints on the glass of the un iverse. Love is what teaches the silence how to hum. Love is what leaves e choes.\n\nAnd echoes\, whether carried through sea or stitched into starli ght or buried underneath the weight of centuries\, echoes are a kind of fo rever. So plant\, so kiss\, so write your poems. Teach your children how t o swim. Let them run barefoot through fields that will not keep their name s. Do it anyway.\n\nDo it because forgetting is certain. But the act of re membering\, even for just a moment\, is its own kind of eternity.\n\n\nTo hear the poem read\, go to https://www.cityarts.net/event/ada-limon-2/ r ight after the show introduction\n\n\n\nThe participants over the years ha ve found that the approach we take\, and the respectful\, affectionate com munity of inquirers in which we read and converse\, are as important as th e reading itself. While many small groups begin with a check-in\, with a s ession only an hour long\, Resonant Reading jumps right in to the conversa tion. Those who are frequently in the group get to know each other very we ll this way\, and those who are new will soon find they are among friends. \n\n\n\nFacilitators use a light hand\, posting the reading in the chat an d calling on whoever's Zoom hand is up. Suggestions for readings* come fro m group members\, who also take turns facilitating\, if they want to try t hat role.\n\n\nHow to join:\n\n\n\n Join this class from your Web browser : https://zoom.us/j/96865808923\, passcode 227385\n Join this class using the Zoom app: Meeting ID: 968 6580 8923\n Join this class by phone: 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) Meeting ID: 968 6580 8923\n Join this class by one -tap on mobile phones: 6699006833\,\,96865808923#  (San Jose)\n Phoning in\, but not in the Bay Area?  Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/ abL8clvIYT\n\nThis is the Zoom link for Wednesdays. For the Zoom link for Saturday\, go to Calendar and click on a Saturday session.\n\n\nQuestions? Drop an e-mail to resonant-reading+owner@uucpa.org.\n\n\n \;\n\n*This activity was formerly called "Sacred Text Reading." That proved misleadin g--for one thing\, more often than not our sources are secular--but it's w orth describing the qualities of a sacred text\, which we still look for i n the readings we choose. It is any reading that helps us to:\n\n connect to something of supreme importance to us\n feel more connected to other beings or to the universe\n feel more intensely alive\n align our lives with our values\,\n perceive or feel more deeply\n be more fully and aut hentically ourselves.\n\n ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.uucpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09 /Resonant-Reading.png CATEGORIES:Adult,Learning,Ongoing Events,Small Groups END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Los_Angeles X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Los_Angeles BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260308T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR