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Jim Key: This is the
Beacon Press report.

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Beacon Press has been
publishing since 1854

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and is an integral part
of our association.

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As Chief Governance
Officer, I'm keenly

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aware of the Board of
Trustees' responsibilities,

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fiduciary oversight
of our association,

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and that includes our
very own Beacon Press.

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Helene Atwan is appointed
director of Beacon Press

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by the Board of Trustees
in October of 1995.

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So please join me in
welcoming Helene Atwan,

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the director of
our Beacon Press.

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Helene Atwan: Thank you, Jim.

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Thank you all.

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I just love following
the singing.

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I feel very brave-- a
brave soul out here.

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So we're gathered
here in Providence

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to talk about how Unitarian
Universalism reaches out

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in love, and how,
perhaps, we might

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stretch our arms even further.

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I want to tell you
some stories about how

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your press is part
of that mission.

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We publish books that aim
to ignite hearts and minds,

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to change the way
people think and feel.

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And when we say,
we publish books,

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please know that
our work doesn't

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stop at printing, digitizing,
and distributing copies

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of books by important
thought leaders.

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The work includes broadcasting
those progressive ideas

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into the wider world, which is
the specific ministry of Beacon

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Press.

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Back in 1854, when AUA
President Samuel Lothrop

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announced the
founding of a press,

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he proclaimed proudly that we
can send forth 1,000 volumes

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to be read by
10,000, for what it

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will cost to send one
missionary to speak

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here and there to a few hundred.

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Lothrop could not have
imagined that the books which

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the press would
publish 160 years later

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would be read on smartphones or
listened to on digital download

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audio apps or discussed in the
Twittersphere and on Facebook.

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He imagined that a persuasive
book making a powerful argument

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was a better tool to achieve
the mission of his faith

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than a missionary.

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But he could not have
foreseen that the book, still

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that very powerful
instrument for the mission,

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would be enhanced by readers
talking on dozens of platforms,

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by viewers and listeners
of the mass media,

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by fans gathering in
real and virtual spaces,

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and then that the authors,
through the use of all

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of these technological
advances, would complete

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the circle by becoming
missionaries, themselves.

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Let me begin with a few facts.

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As I sat down to
write this report,

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seven weeks ago, here's
what was happening.

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We had two reviews scheduled
in the New York Times science

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section.

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We had six authors scheduled
to be interviewed on NPR,

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including one on Fresh
Air, two on Tell Me More,

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and three on All
Things Considered.

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We had authors scheduled
to be interviewed

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on This Week on ABCTV,
on the News Hour on PBS,

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and on MSNBC, and even
on Imus in the Morning.

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That's reaching
millions of people

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with the messages we
want Americans to hear.

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These authors were talking about
racial and economic equality

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and about public health.

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Last year, Beacon authors
spoke to Americans

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in over 750 reviews,
features, and interviews.

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And our authors are
out in the community,

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helping to create conversation
about the issues we care about.

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Last year, we had more than
425 events in 37 states.

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They happened in bookstores,
museums, libraries,

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college campuses,
synagogues, mosques, temples,

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wildlife sanctuaries, and
of course, in UU Churches.

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So here are a couple of
stories about our authors

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on the issue of
immigrant rights.

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The San Francisco Labor
Council organized an event

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to celebrate David Bacon's
The Right to Stay Home.

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100 delegates, along with
hotel union workers, attended.

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Lupe Sanchez, a hotel
worker from El Salvador,

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read her story about
being a virtual slave

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as a domestic worker.

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She broke down crying, and
one by one, each of her four

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daughters read as much as
they could before choking up.

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At the end, everyone gave
them a standing ovation.

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Bacon continues to hold
events like this one

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throughout the country,
using his Beacon

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books as part of his
powerful activism.

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Journalist Mirta Ojito's
Hunting Season-- Immigration

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and Murder in an
All-American Town

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was widely discussed
in the media.

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Her book tells a
very important story

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about a community
struggling with violence

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against immigrants.

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She did a lot of speaking, but
probably the most important

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event she did was in the
All-American town of Patchogue,

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Long Island, where a man named
Marcelo Lucero was murdered

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for the crime of
being Ecuadorian.

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Jean Kaleda, the
Patchogue town librarian,

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who played a heroic
role in the story,

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wrote to us, "Mirta's
talk at the library

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was eagerly awaited.

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Audience members
shared their reactions

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to the news of the murder, as
well as their past experiences

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as immigrants, themselves,
or their interaction

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with immigrants.

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One woman said, 'this
book is a lesson for all,

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but hate is always looking for
another place.' Mirta has done

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a great deal, in
publishing this book."

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I know many of you had a chance
to attend Aviva Chomsky's

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workshop, yesterday.

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Avi credits Beacon
with helping her

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to build a broad and
effective public platform.

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She has become a vibrant
voice for immigration justice,

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through her books
and appearances.

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Her new book, Undocumented,
illuminates the issue

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of living and working in
America as an immigrant,

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an issue that continues to
be central to UU activism,

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to our work in
reaching out in love.

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We were thrilled this year to
publish inaugural poet Richard

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Blanco's wonderful memoir,
For All of Us, One Today.

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This slim volume tells
the story of his journal

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as a gay Hispanic
engineer, ending

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on that gigantic
inaugural lectern.

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I highly recommend
this book to you all.

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I'm proud to say that
the city of Seattle

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chose this book as their
annual Seattle Reads selection,

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and Richard was able to speak
to thousands of people, once

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again-- this time, explicitly
about the experience of being

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both an immigrant and a gay man.

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Believe me, to
hear Richard Blanco

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is to have your heart ignited.

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And Richard's platform
isn't restricted

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to the 10,000 square feet
of the inaugural stage.

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Oh, no-- he has
thousands of followers

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on Facebook and Twitter, alone.

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In fact, let me
pause to point out

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that Beacon has been
singularly successful

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in online outreach, this year.

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We had almost 300
online features.

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Our Facebook fans grew
by over 60%, to 15,000.

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Our Twitter followers
grew 44%, to 10,000.

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We had over 1.6 million
Scribd reads and too many

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YouTube views to count.

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And reaching out in love,
our authors out in cyberspace

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and on the road sometimes
make surprising change.

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Sharon Morgan and
Tom DeWolfe wrote

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a book called
Gather at the Table,

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about interracial dialogue
and reconciliation.

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Sharon Orlopp, the global chief
diversity officer at Walmart,

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was so impressed by
the book that she

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took seven of her
colleagues on a plane

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to Milwaukee, to participate
in an event featuring

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Sharon and Tom.

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Since that time,
Orlopp has written

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to her counterparts
at other corporations,

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such as PepsiCo
and Kimberly-Clark.

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She has, in short,
become an evangelist

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for this book and its authors.

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So we have Walmart
not only listening

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to our message about
race relations in America

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but recommending other
corporate giants take a listen.

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That's reaching out in love.

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Last month, we celebrated
the fifth anniversary

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of our historic agreement with
Martin Luther King Jr.'s estate

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to be the exclusive trade
publishers of his work.

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We celebrated at Ebenezer
Baptist Church in Atlanta,

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with representatives from the
estate and some prominent King

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scholars.

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It was a moment
of enormous pride

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for the press and the UUA.

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I hope many of you
receive the chapbook

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we published to commemorate
the long and rich connection

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between MLK and
the UU community.

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If you don't have it, don't
fail to pick up your free copy

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at the UUA bookstore, with
your registration coupon.

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And while you're
there, you might also

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want to pick up a
few other books.

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With the generous support of
the [? VH ?] program at Shelter

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Rock, we began work, last year,
on a whole new initiative--

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the King Legacy for students.

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This year, we published
A Time to Break Silence

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and worked with
the King Institute

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at Stanford University to
create an online curriculum

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to go with it.

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And this year, we met
with over 2,100 teachers,

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to talk about putting
King's words and his message

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back into the classroom
in this powerful way.

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And this leads me to another
way we reach out in love--

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through so many of
our other books,

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which are taught in schools.

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Over 100,000 Beacon books
were used by college students

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last year.

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We offer free Teacher
Guides for many.

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They had over 38,000
views last year.

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Oh, and your press is doing
just fine financially.

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With the support of
the UUA, of course,

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we're projecting our 12th
consecutive year of surpluses.

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If I had another 10 minutes,
I could tell you much more.

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But instead, I urge you to
look at our books at the UUA

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bookstore booth here, at our
website, which is beacon.org,

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to jump from the home page to
wherever your heart takes you,

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whether it's queer
concerns, environmentalism,

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economic justice, public
education, public health,

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you'll find Beacon offering
important, illuminating books--

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books to set your mind
and heart ablaze--

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and making it our mission to be
sure their messages are widely

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heard.

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Thank you so much.

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