What brought you to KUUF?
Bonner: In the late 2009 I was looking for a spiritual outlet. I was once affiliated with the Radical Fairy organization out of Seattle, Washington but since moving to Bremerton in 2001 my participation with them waned. Late in 2009 I was seeking a spiritual outlet locally and Michael Goodnow, who I knew outside of KUUF, tried suggesting that I attend KUUF in around 05-06 and I was like ‘A church? No, no, no, no. Not for me thank you.’ Then I did a little research on UU and on January 2, 2010, I showed up for my first service at KUUF and I fell in love with it from day one.
Do you have a favorite memory?
Bonner: Being a Gemini, it’s hard to tag down favorites of anything. I do have some favorable memories.
What did/do you do for a career?
Bonner: I am a licensed massage therapist.
How’d you get into that?
Bonner: I love massage therapy and I was seeking a new career about 2011 and a housemate suggested I go to massage school and that made sense to me. I looked into massage school and that was the start of my massage career. I started in September 2011 and graduated in June of 2012.
What are now or have been some of your best talents or achievements?
Bonner: I think I’m pretty at being a good listener. And I’m also a damn good cook. And a damn good licensed massage therapist. Before the pandemic struck us, I used to prepare a monthly supper for the local HIV positive community. And I did that for six years. I used to prepare the entire meal for six years from when I was on the Board of Directors of the Kitsap HIV foundation, which went defunct in 2013. We started it back up in 2015 and since we don’t have the funding now that we did then, we do it as a potluck and I will still prepare the main entrée for each supper and that seems to be a big hit. Since the pandemic hit we’ve only met in May and June and we actually added a second potluck inPort Angeles. When we’re not stricken with pandemic we do one every month in Bremerton and the following week up in Port Angeles. They seem to be pretty popular.
Did you come from any other faith tradition? What was it, and how did it affect you?
Bonner: Yes, I was born and raised in the Moravian church in North Carolina. My hometown-- Winston Salem-- was founded by the Moravians in 1763. They were a simple protestant denomination and they were never too crazy Christian. In 1983 I denounced all forms of Christianity and became Atheist. I remained an Atheist until 1989. A little sawed off stump of a dyke who worked at the local gay and lesbian bookstore--North Carolina White Rabbit Books-- turned me onto the book The Spiral Dance by Starhawk and that introduced me to the Wiccan faith. I still somewhat practice Wicca through the CUUPS organization at KUUF. I would like to see CUUPS become more predominate in KUUF like it did back during our displeasure when Rev. Mike was still with us. That was probably one of the best things about Rev. Mike, his support of CUUPS.
What events or projects at KUUF do you like to take part in?
Bonner: I was a member of the Audio/visual task force with Mack Johnson and Sterling Fisher. We research the AV equipment purchase and installation in our sanctuary. I really liked doing that. I also served one term on the board of trustees from 2013-2016.
But currently I’m also on the Social Justice Committee and I’ve done the Second Friday Film Series which we are so psyched about getting back up now that we have AV equipment in our sanctuary.
I’ve thought about doing a Second Friday Film Series through Zoom, but I haven’t tackled that yet. But anyway, more will be revealed in that regard. I’m also currently on the Worship Committee and I’ve been really digging that particular service.
I suggested to Rev. Jessica at a Worship Committee that I would really like it if we could somehow have a midweek evening service. Rev. Jessica asked what do you envision for this? Just something with some music and maybe some readings and make a regular Vespers service. She took the mantle and she made it happen. With it, Nancy Sleight and I were on a small task force with her to develop the format which she developed in two or three weeks and within the month we were Zooming Vespers services on Wednesday’s at 7:30. They have been so beneficial to me because being on the Worship Committee you sorta see the nuts and bolts of how services are put together and sometimes I don’t get as much spiritual fulfillment from a Sunday service as I would have otherwise. Sorta like the old idiom of seeing sausage being made. Anyway, the vesper services have been very spiritually fulfilling for me. I love zooming them and I look forward to Wednesdays now.
Who or what has had the biggest impact on your life?
Bonner: Narcotics Anonymous has had the most impact on my life.
What is one piece of knowledge that you would consider indispensable?
Bonner: Keep coming back or comparisons are odious; My grandfather always used to say that.
What most appeals to you about UUism at this point in your life?
Bonner: The seven principles. I’m really digging the seven principles, especially the inherent worth and dignity of all human beings, or actually of all beings. I’m also a big proponent of consensus based decision making which is like the democratic process on steroids. I think that consensus based decision making is more spiritually founded than a mere 51% majority. When we seat a minister they must have a 90% majority with a 50% quorum of the congregation. As opposed to like a 51% democratic process with a 20% quorum for most of our other abilities. So I think that consensus based decision making is like the 5th principal on steroids.
What is a weird piece of trivia about you?
Bonner: I squashed my magnolia mouth when I moved to Seattle in 1990. I moved to Seattle from North Carolina in 1990 and I had magnolia mouth, which is like speaking with a Southern accent. I intentionally squashed my magnolia mouth southern accent after I moved to Seattle in 1990 because complete strangers were mocking me.
What is the most interesting/unusual job you’ve done?
Bonner: I worked for the building department of Wachovia Bank and Trust in Winston Salem, North Carolina in the summer of 1985. One day I was tasked with following a dump truck to the landfill because they were remodeling one of the offices and during the remodeling process all people in the office were told to box up all of their files and personal belongings in bank boxes, which are cardboard file boxes. The clean up crew came through on the weekend and took all of those boxes and threw them away in a dumpster and then the dumpster got put in a garbage truck and on Monday morning the office workers came in and they realized that all their files and personal belongings weren’t there. They tracked it down and were able to keep the garbage truck from leaving but two other employees and I were tasked with following the garbage truck to the landfill and wading through to retrieve as much of the personal belongings and files as possible. AND it was right next to all the refuse from the cafeteria and it was a hot August day in 1985. It was like 90-some degrees and 90% humidity. Yuck. And I was allowed to go home and change once we finished. So that’s one of the most unusual things I had to do for a particular job.
What is something that most people at KUUF don’t know about you?
Bonner: I’ve been an open book since I’ve been there. What’s something you don’t know about me, Joey?
There’s a lot I don’t know about you. Where did you grow up?
Bonner: I was born and raised in Winston Salem, North Carolina. I went to an all male boarding school for four years in high school?
Did you get up to any shenanigans?
Bonner: Yeah I did. On April Fools Day we loved to play pranks on people. One of the famous ones was putting shaving cream in the hallway pay phone earpiece then call that phone and watch somebody answer it and get shaving cream in their ear.
What has brought you comfort or entertainment during the coronavirus shutdown?
Bonner: Zoom. I Zoom daily. I am so f**king grateful for zoom and you can quote me on that. Zoom has made it possible for me to connect with my family members back on the east coast and I’ve been zooming my 12 step meetings on a daily basis. We have members zooming in to a local meeting here from around the world. We’ve had members from Berlin, Pakistan, Johannesburg- South Africa, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand on a regular basis. They have been zoomed in from that far away. So it’s been keeping me connected and casting a really wide net. Take this last Wednesday night, my mother and my sister both zoomed into the Vespers service. My sister lives in DC proper and my mom lives in North Carolina.