News – November 4, 2022

Dear Members & Friends,

      On the first day of my senior year of high school, our English teacher played the band Europe's epic ballad, "The Final Countdown," as we crossed the threshold of her classroom on our last, first day of school. Her message, besides creating a cultural connection between 1980s ballads and the poetry of John Keats, was this: this is the final countdown, and every day matters.

      We have entered the final countdown of this election cycle. Every day matters. Every action we take—or choose not to take—will have an outsized impact of the turnout, and therefore the outcome, of this election. I would like for you to transport yourself to a week from today, looking back to what you did during these final few days. Do you have some regret, over what you didn't do? Or is your flashback an empowering montage set to a 1980s power ballad, such as "The Final Countdown?" As the keyboard riff rises, do you view yourself texting and calling voters? Or is a sad track, with you wishing you could have done more, but not having known how?

      The good news is that it's not too late! If you want to stay involved or get involved for the first time, you can! To sign up for more UU phone-banking, text-banking, and other events, please visit this link. And if you haven't already done so, please fill out our Voting Justice survey, which helps us to track our aspirational goal of 100% of the congregation voting in this election! Click this link to do so.

      If you have already helped Get Out the Vote this election cycle, THANK YOU! If you are about to get involved for the first time, THANK YOU in advance! Either way, please fill out this form so that we can track all of our Voting Justice actions and get closer to becoming a Good Trouble Congregation, as well as help to boost state-wide and national UU the Vote goals! Click the link here to record your efforts.

      I am grateful for all of our efforts that we have taken together. Let's have an epic final countdown!

Jordan Ostrum
Voting Justice Organizer
First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston