All Star 2 2016

All Star II Family Conference 2016    Saturday, July 9 - Saturday, July 16, 2016

Family-friendly, creative, and diverse, All Star II is a week that can be as active or relaxing as you’d like it to be. Opportunities abound for both adults and children to make or enjoy music and art; dive into a game of baseball, volleyball, or tennis; explore the harbor by rowboat; investigate the island’s history or marine and bird life; play games; join together in the candle-lit stone chapel; take a morning polar bear dip or a yoga break; bring your talents to the stage on stunt night or at the musicale; watch the sunset at a music-laden marshmallow roast; engage in the morning lecture series or afternoon talks on the rocks; partake in the many All Star II traditions; or just settle into a porch rocker to talk with friends new and old or read a good book.  There are few demands but many temptations, and even more opportunities to create the kind of lasting friendships that continually delight new Shoalers and keep old Shoalers coming back for years.

Our Children's Program

Experienced and dedicated program staff guide children—from newborns to high-school students—through their week. Grouped by age, children gather with their leaders for an hour and a half every morning and most afternoons. Together, they’ll visit the art barn to delve into guided art projects, investigate island mysteries and lore, row to nearby Smuttynose, spend lots of time outdoors, and—among many other activities—explore the marine lab’s touch and temporary holding tanks that showcase the surrounding sea life. Care is taken to help each group bond, and each child prosper. Highlights include the children’s stunt Show, where kids take to the stage to perform skits and songs before an enthusiastic audience, and the Great People Hunt, an island-wide, highly spirited game of hide and seek that involves all ages.

Each group has its own meeting space and two leaders. Before you arrive on Star, your child’s leaders will send a welcome letter noting any special requests for the week. Recent high school graduates can opt to participate in the senior-teen group.

Theme of the Week: Changing the Story, Fixing the Future

We are living between two worlds. There is the world we have always known, but realize now has deep system flaws like extreme inequality, climate change, and global instability.  And there is the future world, one that we can have a hand in shaping. What are the stories and narratives that hold the old system in place? And what are the possibilities for transforming the future? Can we create a new narrative and new ways of engaging socially, economically, and politically? And how can we leverage our own personal gifts to aid this changemaking process?

Together with storyteller, author, and agitator Chuck Collins, we’ll learn about new, rapidly accelerating movements that focus on resilience, resistance, and reparations. Through presentations, discussions, small group work, and even a story slam we’ll explore ways to veer off the tracks that keep leading to crisis, and transition to the kind of world we want to live in. Of great interest to all ages—from millennials to seniors—trying to imagine and create a positive future in a complicated world.

About the Speaker

Chuck Collins is an organizer, storyteller, agitator, and writer.  A senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, he works on issues of wealth inequality, community resilience building, and the transition to a new economy. Chuck writes for a variety of publications including The Nation, The American Prospect, and YES Magazine, and blogs at ChuckCollins7.com. His most recent book is 99 to 1: How Wealth Inequality is Wrecking the World and What We Can Do About It. He is co-author of several other books, including, with Bill Gates Sr., Wealth and Our Commonwealth, and with Mary Wright, The Moral Measure of the Economy. He is a frequent media spokesperson, and has told stories through MassMouth, Boston’s MOTH Radio counterpart. Chuck is also the cofounder of several organizations, including Wealth for the Common Good, the Other 98%, and United for a Fair Economy. He lives in the urban Boston neighborhood of Jamaica Plain, where he is community gardener and transition activist. He also spends some time at his off-the-grid cabin outside of Brattleboro, Vermont.

Minister of the Week

The Reverend Joseph Cleveland is minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Saratoga Springs, New York. At the core of his theology are two beliefs: the sacred is present in everything, no matter how lowly; and everything is not only connected but interdependent. Joe graduated from Andover Newton Theological School in May 2012 and was ordained at the May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Society in Syracuse. He served as a chaplain at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and completed his ministerial internship at the First Parish in Bedford, MA. He then served as Interim Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Michigan.

Music is a large part of Joe’s life and plays an important part in his services. An avid banjo and guitar player, he sees music as one of many ways to create a deeper sense of community. In 2000 he founded the nonprofit organization The Folkus Project to bring folk and acoustic music to the Syracuse, NY, community. Before becoming a minister, Joe taught writing and literature at several colleges. He lives in Saratoga Springs with his wife, Kristin.

Choir Director

Joining us for a third summer as choir director is Reverend Michael Leuchtenberger from the UU Church of Concord, New Hampshire.

Conference ChairsJoni Praded and John Reynolds

24 North Road, Kensington, NH

as2chairs2016@allstar2.org

Registration, Fees, and Logistics

Registration is first come, first served, as it was last year. So, please register early as space can fill up quickly.

Link to Star Island 2016 conference registration page

The conference fee is $100 per adult (age 18 as of July 9, 2016) and $85 per child (age 0 to 18)—with a maximum of $370 per family.

A room and board deposit of $200 for each adult or child who will be 6 years of age or over as of July 9, 2016 is due with registration. Each 18+ child out of high school must register separately. Ten dollars of each individual’s conference fee will be donated to the Ginny Levine Financial Aid Fund (up to $40 per family). Additional donations to this financial aid fund are welcome. The room and board deposit and conference fee are refundable until Friday June 10 2016. All correspondence will be sent via email, so please remember to include your email address when registering.

Registrar contact information:

Ron Cordes

3 Jeffrey Circle

Bedford, MA 01730

781-275-5258

registrar@allstar2.org

Notifications: All notifications (including acceptance letters, communications about wait lists and volunteer jobs, and the "boat letter" that will give you all the necessary information for the week) will be sent via email, so don't forget to include your email address on your registration form. If you do not have an email address, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope with your registration and we will snail mail the letters to you.

Financial aid:  Financial assistance is available to individuals with need through the The Ginny Levine Financial Aid Fund. For information and an application, click here or contact financial.aid@allstar2.org. All inquiries and awards are kept confidential.

Boat schedule: Depart Portsmouth, N.H. aboard the Thomas Laighton on Saturday, July 9 at 2:25 p.m. Depart Star on Saturday, July 16, at 8:45 am. (Times subject to change.)

NEW: T-Shirts, Mugs, and Glasses!

 Adult T-shirts come in Ice Grey, White, or Natural and in a unisex or women's fit. Children's t-shirts come in Azalea (deep pink) and Kiwi (green). T-shirts need to be ordered by 6/24, and you can pick them up and pay on the island.

An order form has been e-mailed out to all conferees, showing the prices and color samples, and can also be accessed by clicking below.

T-Shirt Order Form:   Adobe PDF or MS Word

Pint glasses will be offered for sale on the island.

And, here's the image that will appear on them...

Information for shoalers (conference attendees)

Behind the scenes