"When his sister tricks him into taking her guru on a trip to their childhood home, Otto Ringling, a confirmed skeptic, is not amused. Six days on the road with an enigmatic holy man who answers every question with a riddle is not what he'd planned. But in an effort to westernize his passenger--and amuse himself--he decides to show the monk some "American fun" along the way. From a chocolate factory in Hershey to a bowling alley in South Bend, from a Cubs game at Wrigley field to his family farm near Bismarck, Otto is given the remarkable opportunity to see his world--and more important, his life--through someone else's eyes. Gradually, skepticism yields to amazement as he realizes that his companion might just be the real thing.   In Roland Merullo's masterful hands, Otto tells his story with all the wonder, bemusement, and wry humor of a man who unwittingly finds what he's missing in the most unexpected place."

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

Annual Meeting, Elections, and Solstice Party

We started with a pot-luck dinner at 7:30 PM.

The Annual Meeting began late for 8:00 PM. We elected officers for 2013, approved slightly altered by-laws for the association, and re-approved membership in the Secular Coalition of Connecticut under its new name, the Connecticut Coalition of Secular Organizations

Following the annual meeting we had a solstice party, with live music by Mickey Koth and friends, Charlotte Moulyn, Steve Boshi, and David Schafer.

Humanist Conversations: Recommend a Book or Movie

Our last Humanist Conversations of the year was a "Recommend a book or movie" session.

Monthly Meeting: Doug Peary on H. L. Mencken

Kim Hynes of Connecticut Common Cause was not be able to talk to us, so HAC vice-president Doug Peary will presented the latest in his series on Humanist Heroes, this time covering H. L. Mencken.

The provocative bestseller She’s Not There is the winning, utterly surprising story of a person changing genders. By turns hilarious and deeply moving, Jennifer Finney Boylan explores the territory that lies between men and women, examines changing friendships, and rejoices in the redeeming power of family. Told in Boylan’s fresh voice, She’s Not There is about a person bearing and finally revealing a complex secret. Through her clear eyes, She’s Not There provides a new window on the confounding process of accepting our true selves.

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

This event was CANCELLED

United Coalition of Reason Workshop

There was no Humanist Conversations meeting in November. We were to have hosted a workshop on publicity by Fred Edwords, the Executive Director of the United Coaltion for Reason. However, following storm Sandy, the event was cancelled due to uncertainty about the state of USNH and difficulty in getting our instructor from Washington to New Haven.

This event is CANCELLED

Our guest speaker for the Hartford-area dinner at Hanafin's was to have been State Representative Prasad Srinivasan. Rep. Srinivasan was involved in the founding of Connecticut's first Hindu Temple in Middletown, CT. He would have shared his experience as a state representative who does follow an Abrahamic religion.

Unfortunately, the restaurant gave the room to another group so we will have to reschedule this event.

WoodbridgeWalk/Hike

The walk/hike along an easy, shaded trail and was followed by an optional lunch at a nearby restaurant.

Galápagos takes the reader back one million years, to A.D. 1986. A simple vacation cruise suddenly becomes an evolutionary journey. Thanks to an apocalypse, a small group of survivors stranded on the Galápagos Islands are about to become the progenitors of a brave, new, and totally different human race. In this inimitable novel, America’s master satirist looks at our world and shows us all that is sadly, madly awry–and all that is worth saving.

Monthly Meeting: Supreme Court Review: What Is In Store?

Dan Blinn, an HAC member and an attorney admitted to practice before the Supreme Court, discussed the current composition of the Supreme Court address recent and upcoming Supreme Court cases. As a special bonus, Dan (who practices primarily in the area of consumer protection) discussed the importance of credit reports and gave some tips on how to avoid credit reporting problems.

Humanist Conversations: “The Uprising of ‘34”

Henry Auer is a seasoned scientist with many years in research and development, both in the biotechnology industry, and earlier, as a medical school faculty member. Most recently, until he retired in 2010, he was a patent agent focusing on biotechnology. Since 2010, Henry has become active in global warming and related environmental issues, including publishing his Global Warming Blog at http://warmgloblog.blogspot.com. Henry has an A.B. in chemistry from Princeton, and he earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Harvard.

Hartford-area social dinner at Hanafins Pub, 21 Rankin Rd., Glastonbury. . (860) 659-8599

The guest speaker for September at Hanafin’s in Glastonbury was Jason Deeble, talking on the first Camp Quest held in Connecticut.

Monthly Meeting: Three Major Civil Liberties Cases, Three ACLU Clients

Our featured speaker for September was Andrew Schneider, executive director of the ACLU of Connecticut.

Andrew spoke on “The Clients: A Look at the Sacrifices of Individuals Who Make the ACLU’s Work Possible,” telling the gripping stories of ACLU clients in three major cases involving voter suppression; separation of church and state; and the challenge of Arizona’s “show me your papers” anti-immigration laws.

Humanist Conversations: “Steven Pinker on the Myth of Violence”

Hartford-area social dinner at Hanafins Pub, 21 Rankin Rd., Glastonbury. . (860) 659-8599

The guest speaker for August was Nancy Boone of the Legal Access Resource Center’s Connecticut Alliance of Basic Human Needs. Nancy told us about the extent to which basic human needs are being met in Connecticut and what efforts are underway to fill the gap.

Monthly Meeting: David Niose — Nonbeliever Nation

Our featured speaker for August was David Niose, President of the American Humanist Association. David talked about his new book, Nonbeliever Nation: The Rise of Secular Americans. and the idea of "identity politics" for secular americans.

This talk was in memory of Nat Wolf.

David said this talk was “An overview of my book, Nonbeliever Nation, discussing several of the major themes, particularly the notion that an identity-oriented movement of Secular Americans stands the best chance of reversing the damage that has been done by three decades of Religious Right dominance.”

David Niose has served as president of the American Humanist Association since January 2009, following four years as treasurer of that organization. He also currently serves as vice president of the Secular Coalition for America. He blogs at Psychology Today, and has written extensively for many other publications. On a more local level, David is a founding member of Greater Worcester Humanists.

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

Potluck and talk: “Does it Bite?”

Have you ever wondered what is real vs imagined of the stories of flesh eating spiders or wolves and bears with a preference for human flesh? Dr. Marsha Zellner gave an in-depth look at the venomous snakes and insects in the continental US, as well as discussing a variety of animal bites and the diseases associated with them. She will discuss identification, geographic location, those at risk, prevention, and urgent medical care for those unfortunate enough to be bitten.

Dr. Zellner is a full time Emergency Medicine physician at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Bridgeport, CT and board certified in internal medicine. She is also a certified Wilderness First Aid Provider. She has extensive experience as a hike leader and educator for Mosaic Outdoor Clubs of America.

WoodbridgeWalk/Hike

We had scheduled a walk/hike from 10:30 AM until about 12:30 PM, along an easy, shaded trail adjacent to the Thomas Darling House, 1907 Litchfield Turnpike, Woodbridge. The hike was to be led by Marsha Zellner.

The walk was cancelled as heavy rain was forecast, but apparently we didn't get the word out and several people, including one of the co-leaders, turned up and had a great walk, finishing just as the rain started.

Humanist Conversations: “Is Christianity Good for America Politics?”

Dan Xenatro of Connecticut Valley Atheists and Dan Blinn of the Humanist Association of Connecticut were the in-studio guests on the August 1, 2012, broadcast of WNPR's "Where We Live," with Susan Campbell guest hosting for John Dankosky.

Hartford-area social dinner at Hanafins Pub, 21 Rankin Rd., Glastonbury. . (860) 659-8599

Our guest speaker was Dennis Paul Himes, the Connecticut State Director for American Atheists. Dennis gave an updated version of his article from the American Athiests magazine on “The Creator God: a Solution in Search of a Problem.”

Monthly Meeting: Gregory Shenk — Sociobiology at 66

Our July monthly meeting featured a return visit from member Gregory Shenk, who 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. Greg said this about his talk:

In his (in)famous attempt to forge (some would say “force”) a connection between biology and the social sciences, E. O. Wilson used Sociobiology, a term coined 30 years earlier by John Paul Scott as the title of his book about the adaptive origins of human behavior. Scott coined the term to propose an “interdisciplinary science which lies between the fields of biology (particularly ecology and physiology) and psychology and sociology.”

Some scholars have hinted that the timing of Wilson’s book can explain the hostile reception that it received. Time has healed some of the wounds that Wilson was accused of inflicting on scholarship in the social sciences and humanities but much of the potential that the field of sociobiology proposed 66 years ago by Scott and again by Wilson 36 years ago has yet to be realized. This talk will highlight its successes along with the promises that remain to be filled.

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

Humanist Conversations: “Our Divided Political Heart”

Annual Picnic at the Raffords' home in Middlebury

Hartford-area social dinner at Hanafins Pub, 21 Rankin Rd., Glastonbury. . (860) 659-8599

Our guest speaker was former Hartford Courant Columnist Susan Campbell.  Susan frequently writes and blogs on issues concerning religion and politics and her book “Dating Jesus: A Story of Fundamentalism, Feminism, and the American Girl” won the CT Book Award for Memoir in 2010.  Her blog Still Small Voice regularly addresses religion and politics.  She will be speaking to us about Religion’s Problems: the Public Face of Christianity.

Stephany Cousins kindly hosted a book discussion at her home in Bethany. We discussed “god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything” by Christopher Hitchens.

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

Humanist Conversations: “Kazan, Miller, and the Blacklist”

Hartford-area social dinner at Hanafins Pub, 21 Rankin Rd., Glastonbury. . (860) 659-8599

Our guest speaker was author Larry Rifkin, who spoke for HAC in Hamden in November, 2010. Larry is a frequent contributor to Free Inquiry. His topic was “What does humanism say about our place in the universe, and does it make any difference?”

Monthly Meeting: Doug Peary David & June Schafer, Humanist Heroes

HAC vice-president Doug Peary presented a very special addition to his “Humanist Heroes” series, summarizing the lives and achievements of our very own Dr. David and June Schafer.

Book discussion. We discussed “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy.

Humanist Conversations: “The Reason Rally”

Hartford-area social dinner at Hanafins Pub, 21 Rankin Rd., Glastonbury. . (860) 659-8599. The meeting was moved to the bar area at the last minute as the restaurant had given away the back room to a larger group.

Our guest speaker was Daisy Cheng-Milano of the Atheist Humanist Society of Connecticut and Rhode Island. Daisy provided us with an update on her efforts to set up a coalition of the various humanist, atheist, and secular groups in Connecticut.

Anniversary Meeting: Lost Civilizations & Lost Innocence

One of our very favorite speakers, archaeologist Kenneth L. Feder, Ph.D., is a professor at Central Connecticut State University. This was his twelfth talk for us since 1999 — a great time to feature him as our anniversary speaker!

Ken told us about this talk: “Having been a talking head for a number of television documentaries over the course of the last few years, in 2009 I naively accepted the request for an on-air interview by an independent production company for a video focused on what they called “North America’s Ancient Lost Civilizations.” I thought the video’s intent was to illuminate the archaeological record of America’s indigenous societies. Instead, the documentary presented what was effectively a fundamentalist Mormon view of history in which the mound building societies of the American midwest were not Native Americans but, instead, ancient wandering Hebrews. If you have ever trusted television documentaries, this story will convince you to be far more skeptical of both the process and the result.”

Humanist Conversations: “What’s the problem?”

Book discussion. We discussed “God’s Harvard” by Hanna Rosin.

Since 2000, America’s most ambitious young evangelicals have been making their way to Patrick Henry College, a small Christian school just outside the nation’s capital. Most of them are homeschoolers whose idealism and discipline put the average American teenager to shame. This school grooms these students to be the elite of tomorrow, dispatching them to the front lines of politics, entertainment, and science, to wage the battle to take back a godless nation. Hanna Rosin spent a year and a half embedded at the college, following the students from the campus to the White House, Congress, conservative think tanks, Hollywood, and other centers of influence. Her account captures this nerve center of the evangelical movement at a moment of maximum influence and also of crisis, as it struggles to avoid the temptations of modern life and still remake the world in its own image.

Hartford-area social dinner at Hanfins Pub, 21 Rankin Rd., Glastonbury. . (860) 659-8599

(NOTE: This is the SECOND Monday of March.)

Monthly Meeting: Freethought’s Forgotten History: Tom Flynn Presents Robert Green Ingersoll and the Freethought Trail

Freethought lecturer Robert Green Ingersoll was America’s most famed and controversial orator, yet few today recognize his name. He may be the most remarkable American most people never heard of. Ingersoll is not alone in being forgotten by history. West-Central New York (centered on the Erie Canal between Utica and Rochester) was a cauldron of social ferment, including freethought, abolition, women’s rights and more.

You may recognize Tom Flynn as the Executive Director of the Council for Secular Humanism, editor of Free Inquiry magazine, a journalist, novelist, entertainer, and folklorist. Tom Flynn is also the director of the Ingersoll Birthplace Museum in Dresden, New York, in the heart of the Finger Lakes. Tom gave us an illustrated lecture on the life and accomplishments of Ingersoll, and discuss highlights of the surrounding Freethought Trail.

Humanist Conversations: “The Freedom Riders”

Book discussion. We discussed “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Private group tour of the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center prior to the book discussion.

The Stowe Center is located at 77 Forest Street in Hartford, CT, right next door to the Mark Twain house on Asylum Avenue.

Our Hartford-area social dinner at “location TBA” did not come to pass.

Monthly Meeting: Charles Darwin And The Meaning Of Life

To celebrate Darwin Day, Dr. David Schafer outlined the development of several sciences to position Darwin in the scientific milieu of the mid-19th century, and demonstrate just how far, up to this moment, his Theory of Evolution has helped humanity in our quest to understand our own position in the universe and, in the process, to recognize what and who we are.

Humanist Conversations: “Hot Coffee”

Book discussion. We discussed “Half the Sky” by NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn. This discussion was led by Dan Blinn.

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

Monthly Meeting: Our Pilgrimage To La Belle France

Steve and Susan Boshi told us about their recent five-week adventure traveling through France.

Humanist Conversations: “Would the world be better off without religion?”