Recent Events (2005)

Our current calendar of events is on our home page and in our newsletter.
When What
Sunday, December 25th Annual brunch at Shangri-Lee, 965 South Main Street, Cheshire, CT. Link to map of Shangri-Lee Chinese Restaurant location
Monday, December 19th Annual Meeting, Elections, and Solstice Party.

We started with a potluck dinner, coffee and conversation at 7:30 PM. Our annual meeting and election of officers for 2006 was followed by our Solstice Party.
Monday, December 12th
7 PM		 New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location.
Sunday, December 11th Board and standing committee meetings (postponed from November).
Saturday, December 10th
Humanist Conversations
We advertised we were going to show selections from the controversial movie The God Who Wasn't There by Brian Flemming. In the end we wound up viewing and discussing the entire film. At a future date we'll look at some of the supplemental material on the DVD, which includes interviews with Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Earl Doherty, Richard Carrier, and Alan Dundes		 Poster for 'The God Who Wasn't There' by Brian Flemming
Wednesday, November 30th Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner at Lisboa, 19 Lafayette Street, Waterbury. Link to map of Lisboa restaurant location
Sunday, November 20th Monthly Meeting.

Thomas Clark of the Center for Naturalism: Tough Mind, Tender Heart: The Progressive Implications of Naturalism. (A recording of this talk is available on the Center for Naturalism web site.)
Monday, November 14th New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location.
Saturday, November 12th
Book discussion on The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris. cover of 'The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason' by Sam Harris
Saturday, November 5th Humanist Conversations

We discussed the relationship between Turkey and the west, based on Christopher Caldwell’s September 25, 2005, New York Times Magazine article, “Bordering on What?”
Sunday, October 23rd October board and standing committee meetings.
Wednesday, October 19th Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner at Lisboa, 19 Lafayette Street, Waterbury.
Monday, October 17th Our Monthly Meeting featured a return visit from skeptical archeologist Ken Feder. This year his presentation was entitled Archaeology on Mars and was primarily about the "Face on Mars" and other imagined faces.
Monday, October 10th New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange.
Saturday, October 1st At our Humanist Conversations meeting we viewed the episode on Muhammad Yunus, Founder of Grameen Bank, and several others, from the PBS series: The New Heroes.
Wednesday, September 28th Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner at Lisboa, 19 Lafayette Street, Waterbury. Link to map of Lisboa restaurant location
Sunday, September 25th September board and standing committee meetings.
Monday, September 19th Our Monthly Meeting featured a summary of this year's AHA National Conference ("Humanism on the Rise"), HUUmanists' programs the UUA's General Assembly, and the CSH's 25th Anniversary ("Toward a New Enlightenment")
Monday, September 12th
7 PM		 New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location.
Saturday, September 10th

Picnic and book discussion at Bill and Kathy Lyon's home in Cornwall

Book discussion on Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain by Antonio Damasio. cover of 'Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain' by Antonio Damasio
Saturday, September 3rd
cover of 'Working' by Studs Terkel Humanist Conversations

We celebrated Labor Day with readings from Studs Terkel's Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do. at the USNH library.
Wednesday, August 31st Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner at Lisboa, 19 Lafayette Street, Waterbury. Link to map of Lisboa restaurant location
Sunday, August 28th August board and standing committee meetings.
Monday, August 15th Monthly Meeting.
Our guest speaker was local author Brian Trent, author of Remembering Hypatia, and contributor to the Humanist. cover of 'Remembering Hypatia' by Brian Trent
Tuesday, August 9th New Haven area social dinner at Contrassegno 4137 Whitney Avenue, Hamden Link to map of Contrassegno Restaurant location.
Saturday, August 6th Humanist Conversations
movie poster for 'Promises' We showed the movie Promises, one of the suggestions from our "Bring a movie" Session in July.

You can learn more about the film and get updates on some of the people who participated in it at the Promises Project.
Wednesday, July 27th Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner at Lisboa, 19 Lafayette Street, Waterbury. Link to map of Lisboa restaurant location
Sunday, July 24th July board and standing committee meetings.
Monday, July 18th Our Monthly Meeting featured a return visit from Eugene B. Kogan, Senior Political Analyst at Americans for Informed Democracy and the John Kenneth Galbraith Fellow at Americans for Democratic Action Education Fund, with a talk: Liberalism or Leadership: Debating the Future of the Democratic Party

Monday, July 11th
7 PM		 New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location.
Saturday, July 9th
cover of 'Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for Progressives' by George Lakoff Book discussion on Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for Progressives by George Lakoff, at the USNH library.
Saturday, July 2nd
2:30 PM		 Humanist Conversations: "Bring a movie" Session

It's time to swap movie recommendations. Do you have a favorite film to recommend? Is there a movie you think all humanists should see? What film do you think best expresses humanist values? Which movies would you include in a series for humanists?

The films suggested are listed here.
Wednesday, June 29th
7 PM		 Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner at Lisboa, 19 Lafayette Street, Waterbury. Link to map of Lisboa restaurant location Call the restaurant at (203) 754-0789 if you need directions.
Sunday, June 19th June board and standing committee meetings.
Saturday, June 18th Humanist Conversations
The session was to have been on addressing the concerns behind the push for "Intelligent Design," but unfortunately we were unable to show the videos of "Intelligent Design" adherents, and the session wound up being a general discussion on "Intelligent Design."
Wednesday, June 15th New Haven area social dinner at Contrassegno 4137 Whitney Avenue, Hamden Link to map of Contrassegno Restaurant location.
Saturday, June 4th Annual Picnic at the Raffords' home in Middlebury
Wednesday, May 25th Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner at Lisboa, 19 Lafayette Street, Waterbury. Link to map of Lisboa restaurant location
Sunday, May 22nd May board and standing committee meetings.
Monday, May 16th Our Monthly Meeting featured our vice president, Doug Peary, with another of his mini-biographies: Richard Dawkins, Humanist Hero.
Saturday, May 14th
cover of 'The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror' by Bernard Lewis Book discussion on The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror by Bernard Lewis, at the USNH library. There was also some discussion of criticism of Lewis in Orientalism by Edward Said.
Monday, May 9th New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location.
Saturday, May 7th At Humanist Conversations we watched a 1979 interview with Ayn Rand and consider how her atheist libertarianism relates to humanism.
Wednesday, April 27th Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner at Lisboa, 19 Lafayette Street, Waterbury. Link to map of Lisboa restaurant location
Sunday, April 17th April board and standing committee meetings.
Saturday, April 16th Humanist Conversations: Whose life is it
We discussed end-of-life issues.
Monday, April 11th Our 16th Anniversary Meeting featured Humanist Institute graduate, board member, and humanist minister Ross Hamilton Henry.
Monday, April 4th New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location.
Wednesday, March 30th Our Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner was held once again at Lisboa.
Monday, March 21st Our Monthly Meeting featured departing member and past speaker Dr. Nash Boutros who asked us to consider "Is Freedom Overrated?" Nash pointed out that concepts like freedom of speech take second place when people lack basic security.
Sunday, March 20th March board and standing committee meetings.
Tuesday, March 15th Our New Haven area social dinner tried a new location: Contrassegno in Hamden.
Saturday, March 12th
cover of 'Freethinkers : A History of American Secularism' by Susan Jacoby Book discussion on Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism by Susan Jacoby, at the USNH library.
Saturday, March 5th
2:30 PM		 At Humanist Conversations we discussed the article "Was Darwin Wrong?" from the November 2004 National Geographic Magazine. The article makes clear that Darwin was not wrong.
Sunday, February 27th February board and standing committee meetings.
Wednesday, February 23rd Another successful Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner at Lisboa, 19 Lafayette Street, Waterbury. Link to map of Lisboa restaurant location
Sunday, February 20th Our Monthly Meeting and Darwin Day celebration featured guest speaker Dr. Massimo Pigliucci (SUNY-Stony Brook).
cover of 'Denying Evolution: Creationism, Scientism, and the Nature of Science' by Massimo Pigliucci Dr. Pigliucci is the author of Denying Evolution: Creationism, Scientism, and the Nature of Science, Tales of the Rational: Skeptical Essays About Nature and Science, and several other books. cover of 'Tales of the Rational: Skeptical Essays About Nature and Science' by Massimo Pigliucci
Monday, February 14th Our New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair, 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location, happened to fall on Valentines Day.
Saturday, February 5th Humanist Conversations
Does Humanist Manifesto III describe your humanism? What do you agree and disagree with? Is there a document that's closer to your view of humanism?
Saturday, February 5th A memorial service for Virginia Clark was held by family and friends at the Courtyard by Marriott, 4 Sebethe Drive, Cromwell, Connecticut.
Sunday, January 30th We held our rescheduled January board and standing committee meetings.
Wednesday, January 26th Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner at Lisboa, 19 Lafayette Street, Waterbury. Link to map of Lisboa restaurant location
Sunday, January 23rd
2 PM		 Our January board and standing committee meetings were postponed due to a snow storm.
Monday, January 17th Our Monthly Meeting featured a return visit by environmentalist and entrepreneur Jon Miceler, who spoke about two expeditions to Tibet in search of an antelope (Chiru).
Saturday, January 15th
cover of 'The True Believer; Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements' by Eric Hoffer Book discussion on The True Believer; Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer, at Manny Ratafia's home in Woodbridge.
Monday, January 10th New Haven area social dinner at Pasta Fair, 262 Boston Post Rd, Orange Link to map of Pasta Fair restaurant location. We had originally publicized that we'd meet at Contrassegno in Hamden, but found that it was not open on Mondays.
Saturday, January 8th Humanist Conversations was supposed to discuss: "How does your humanism affect your life? What is your understanding of Humanism? Upon what is that based? What are the best books or articles that explain the ideas of humanism? Bring any relevant reading material to share." The meeting went a little off-topic, so we decided to revisit the subject at a later date.

For basic background information try visiting http://www.jcn.com/manifestos.html for the Humanist Manifestos, http://www.jcn.com/humanism.html for the AHA answer to the question, "What is Humanism?", or visit the national organizations' websites at http://www.americanhumanist.org and http://www.secularhumanism.org.

Click here to see some other events we've enjoyed over the years.