Annual Meeting, Elections, and Winter Solstice Party.

We started with a pot-luck dinner, followed by a brief annual meeting and election of officers for 2012. We also confirmed our delegates to the Secular Coalition for Connecitcut. After that we held our winter solstice party with music, dancing, and a silent auction.

Book discussion on Dan Ariely’s “Predictably Irrational.” The discussion was led by Carol Siddall.

Our Hartford-area social dinner at Imperial Caribbean Restaurant, 51 Shunpike Rd., Cromwell, went unaccording to plan. This dinner was listed in the newsletter for Tuesday, November 29th, but the restaurant had adopted new opening hours for the winter and so was not open on Tuesday. We therefore moved the dinner to Thursday, but found the restaurant closed when we showed up for dinner. We moved across the parking lot to the DQ and had a good discussion on topics as varied as identity theft and car reliability.

Humanist Conversations: “Three Short Videos”

Monthly Meeting: John Hooper — A Non-theistic “Modern Synthesis” of Humanism and Naturalism

Our guest speaker this month was Dr. John Hooper, president of the Unitarian Universalist Humanists (HUUmanists). John gave a talk based on his presentation at this year's UUA General Assembly.

We also had a brief report on the recent Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) conference in Hartford.

Easy hike in Woodbridge followed by optional lunch.

Walk on a paved walking/jogging trail in Woodbridge followed by optional lunch.

Humanist Conversations: “Transcendant Man”

Dennis Kababik led this month‘s Humanist Conversations meeting. He showed the first half of the 2009 documentary on Ray Kurzweil and his ideas, “Transcendent Man.”

Book discussion on Russell Shorto’s “Descartes’ Bones.” This discussion was led by Dan Blinn.

The book is available at many public libraries as well as at bookstores and online.

Walk on a paved walking/jogging trail in Woodbridge followed by optional lunch. Fitzgerald Trails is located at 100 Center Road in Woodbridge, Connecticut.

Waterbury/Danbury area social dinner at Lisboa, 19 Lafayette Street, Waterbury.

Monthly Meeting: Doug Peary — “ Baruch Spinoza, Humanist Hero”

Doug Peary returned with the latest in his series on notable humanists, this time with a profile of Baruch Spinoza.

Walk on a paved walking/jogging trail in Woodbridge followed by optional lunch. Fitzgerald Trails is located at 100 Center Road in Woodbridge, Connecticut.

Humanist Conversations: “Michael Sandel on the Big Think”

We have enjoyed several installments of Harvard University’s Justice with Michael Sandel at previous HAC events. For this month’s Humanist Conversations meeting, we watched Sandel in a different setting, on the Big Think, saying what he really thinks about several topics.

The 2011 Ig® Nobel Prizes webcast

For the third year running, we co-hosted the webcast of the Ig® Nobel Prizes with the Connecticut Drinking Skeptically meetup group at the library at USNH. (You can get more information about the Drinking Skeptically Meetup Group at http://skeptics.meetup.com/183/, and more about the Ig® Nobel Prizes at http://improbable.com/ig/.)

Our Hartford-area social dinner at Imperial Caribbean Restaurant, 51 Shunpike Rd., Cromwell was moved to the nearby "No Anchovies" pizzeria after we found the Imperial Caribbean was closed as its owner was getting a knee replacement.

David Schafer gave a talk on the origins and history of humanism, losely based on the talk he gave for HUUmanists at this year's General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association, which was held in Charlotte, North Carolina in late June. In November we'll have David's co-presenter with the second half of the talk on the future of humanism.

Walk on a paved walking/jogging trail in Woodbridge followed by optional lunch. Fitzgerald Trails is located at 100 Center Road in Woodbridge, Connecticut.

Humanist Conversations: “Identity”

This month we looked at lecture 11 of Harvard University's Justice with Michael Sandel , which focuses on tension between individual and communal identities.

"We inherit our past, and our identities, from our family, city, or country. But what happens if our obligations to our family or community come into conflict with our universal obligations to humanity?"

We held a book discussion on John Steinbeck’s classic, “The Grapes of Wrath.” The discussion was led by Dan Blinn.

Film Showing: “The Grapes of Wrath.”

To prepare for Saturday's book discussion, we showed John Ford's classic film based on Steinbeck's book. We started with a half hour potluck dinner before the movie.

Hartford-area social dinner at Imperial Caribbean Restaurant, 51 Shunpike Rd., Cromwell. . (860) 613-0005

After September 11, 2001 a handful of researchers dared to ask, “what is religion (good) for?” Investigators from a wide range of different disciplines have entered the fray and, perhaps predictably, their explanations are nearly as diverse as their backgrounds.

This month’s guest reviewed the current explanations and evaluated the merits of each of them to see how close researchers are to figuring out whether we are the only species with religion and, if so, why.

Gregory Shenk earned his Ph.D. in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut. He teaches at the Greater Hartford Academy of Mathematics and Science.

The Lyons provided meat for the grill and soft drinks and members brought side dishes, and desserts. Around 2:30 p.m., Bill Lyon played astronomer Martin Rees being interviewed by Khrista Tippett and we discussed the points Rees made.

Walk on a paved walking/jogging trail in Woodbridge followed by optional lunch.

At a recent book discussion, we shared poetry, but had too much to get through in the available time. So, as there was no Humanist Conversations meeting in August, we used its time slot for another "Bring a Poem" session.

Hartford-area social dinner at Imperial Caribbean Restaurant, 51 Shunpike Rd., Cromwell. . (860) 613-0005

P.J. Deak gave us another fascinating talk about the origins of humanism in the Unitarian-Universalist movement, this time covering early 20th century minister John H. Dietrich.

Book discussion on God is not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World—and Why Their Differences Matter by Stephen Prothero. This discussion was led by Bill McWilliams.

Walk on a paved walking/jogging trail in Woodbridge (Fitzgerald Trails, 100 Center Road in Woodbridge) followed by optional lunch..

Humanist Conversations: “Forgiveness” (Part 2)

Our first session on forgiveness resulted in a spirited discussion, so we returned to the subject this month. We watched more excerpts from the PBS film "Forgiveness: A Time to Love and a Time to Hate."

“Poet-Luck: Poetry and Pot-Luck”

We celebrated Independence Day with a pot-luck lunch, followed by a talk by David Schafer on American Poetry.

Hartford-area social dinner at Imperial Caribbean Restaurant, 51 Shunpike Rd., Cromwell. . (860) 613-0005

Walk at Fitzgerald Trails,100 Center Road in Woodbridge, Connecticut.

Humanist Conversations: “Forgiveness”

Generally regarded as a positive response to human wrongdoing, forgiveness is a conceptually, psychologically, and morally complex phenomenon. Forgiveness has over the past quarter century engendered the interest of scholars and practitioners in such disparate fields as psychology, law, politics, international affairs, sociology, and philosophy. To assist our discussion, we watched excerpts from the PBS film "Forgiveness: A Time to Love and a Time to Hate."

Walk on a paved walking/jogging trail in Woodbridge followed by optional lunch.

Movie: “The Pledge of Allegiance Blues”

This event was a showing of the 72 minute documentary “The Pledge of Allegiance Blues,” about Michael Newdow, followed by conversation with the filmmaker, Lisa Seidenberg.

Hartford-area social dinner at Avon Indian Grill. .

To mark our 22nd anniversary, the association's vice-president, Doug Peary, gave us a sneak preview of the biographical and viewpoint information that will be in his upcoming sequel to his book “Humanist Heroes.”

We celebrated National Poetry Month belatedly by sharing poems.

Humanist Conversations: — The Great Pink Scare”

We showed the film “The Great Pink Scare” from the PBS “Independent Lens” series. Steve Boshi led the session. http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/greatpinkscare/

Hartford-area social dinner at Avon Indian Grill. .

In honor of the 300th birthday of Scottish Enlightenment thinker David Hume, the association's vice-president, Doug Peary, will give his “Humanist Hero” presentation on Hume.

Sean Faircloth, the executive director of the Secular Coalition for America, visited several organizations over this weekend. On Sunday afternoon he gave a talk entitled "Our Secular Decade: A Strategic Plan for Secular Government" at USNH. (He gave the same talk at Yale for the Secular Student Alliance chapter earlier in the afternoon.)

Hartford-area social dinner at Avon Indian Grill. .

Book discussion on Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul by Edward Humes.

The book discusses the Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School District trial in which a school board's efforts to introduce intelligent design into the curriculum was successfully challenged in federal court. Optional additional reading: the court decision in Kitzmiller is available at www.pamd.uscourts.gov/kitzmiller/ kitzmiller_342.pdf

The book is available at many public libraries as well as at bookstores and online.

Our March monthly meeting featured a return visit from CCSU archaeology professor, Ken Feder.

In his work, The Go Between, English novelist L.P. Hartley phrased it this way: “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”
Following this metaphor, in a sense, an important goal of every archaeologist is to serve as a tour guide to non-archaeologists who hope to visit the “foreign country” that is the past. In this lecture, I'll attempt to serve as your tour guide and direct you to at least some of the 50 sites that I think are the most important and the most interesting for you to experience first hand.

Humanist Conversations: “60 Minutes on Healthcare”

We'll watch and discuss a segment from a recent 60 Minutes program on healthcare issues.

Book discussion on The Color of Water by James McBride.

This memoir tells two, parallel stories. One is the story of the bi-racial author, son of an African-American father and a white mother, who is an accomplished journalist and musician. The other story is his mother's story, an Orthodox Jewish convert to Christianity. This critically acclaimed book published in 1996 spent over two years on the New York Times bestseller list, and is assigned reading in many high schools and colleges.

Is there more to this story than revealed in the uniform accolades of reviewers and readers alike? Bonnie Cohen led a lively discussion.

The book is available at many public libraries as well as at bookstores and online.

Hartford-area social dinner at Avon Indian Grill. .

Our guest speaker was Vlad Chituc, president of the Secular Student Alliance at Yale.

Organized by the Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Fairfield County, the Wilton Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and the Unitarian Church of Westport.

Humanist Conversations: “The Great Pink Scare”

We once again postponed the planned showing and discussion of the Great Pink Scare due to bad weather.

Hartford-area social dinner at Avon Indian Grill. .

Book discussion on Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace ... One School At A Time by Greg Mortenson. It's available at many public libraries as well as at bookstores and online.

Our guest speaker was June Schafer. June spoke to us about the Humanist belief that we are all one human family, with a responsibility to care for one another.

For the past 15 years June has chaired the Task Force for Poverty and Social Justice of the Unitarian Society of New Haven, where her leadership has benefitted successive generations of children from the Waverly Townhouses in the New Haven inner city. She has also been honored by the Connecticut Secretary of State, who presented her with a Distinguished Service Award of the State Council on Vocational-Technical Education (SCOVE); the Interfaith Cooperative Ministries of Greater New Haven, which granted her its annual Mustard Seed Award for “exceptional leadership”; and by the Connecticut Attorney General “in recognition of her tireless dedication to the community and State of Connecticut” as recognized by the Muhammad Islamic Center of Hamden.” She is a co-founder of the Humanist Association of Connecticut and currently its president.

Humanist Conversations: “The Great Pink Scare”

Our planned discussion of the film “The Great Pink Scare” was postponed due to a snow storm on Friday.