Board Meeting

All members are welcome to attend.

Monthly Meeting: Sociocracy and The Rocky Corner Project

In October of 2018 Marie Pulito introduced us to co-housing and told us about the Rocky Corner project (http://rockycorner.org/) in Bethany. The project was so fascinating that we only got to the first part, explaining cohousing. On Monday, May 18, Marie is going to tell us the rest of the story. Community participation and self-management are hallmarks of co-housing. The self-governance model that Rocky Corner chose is called sociocracy. (If you want to read about sociocracy ahead of time, go to www.sociocracyforall.org.)

Marie Pulito is a nurse and a future resident of Rocky Corner cohousing which she has been helping to create since 2006.

We will start with brief announcements at 7:00 PM. The main program will begin immediately afterward.

Book Discussion Group: “Zealot” by Reza Aslam

Our book for May is “Zealot” by Reza Aslam.

Copies are available at local and online booksellers.

Board Meeting

All members are welcome to attend.

Monthly Meeting: Diversity - Retraining Our Biases

This month s program will be a Workshop led by Wendy Mcleod. The current political and social environment has many of us talking and thinking about racism, sexism, and transphobia more than ever before, and in more places. Since there are no recently developed races, sexualities, genders, or creeds, the conversation remains tied to a few key questions: How do we respond to diversity? How do we welcome and encourage diversity in our spaces? Are we supportive or destructive in our actions, commitments, or investments? This experience will focus on identifying individual bias, its impact on daily life events, and defining new ways of engaging with known and unknown differences.

Wendy, a former boarding school administrator, is a native of New Haven who has travelled around the country and abroad. As an African/Caribbean American, musician, technology geek, math nerd, Zen Buddhist, social activist, grant writer, yogi, and pastry chef, she has a lifetime of experience establishing comfort and success in a wide variety of settings, inviting and exclusionary. Join us as she leads us for a self-revealing and inspiring evening.

We will start with brief announcements at 7:00 PM. The main program will begin immediately afterward.

Book Discussion Group: “The Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follett

Our book for April is the best-selling novel “The Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follett. It's a long novel.

Copies are available in public libraries in Connecticut, and at local and online booksellers.

Online Discussion: How is it going?

To join: https://www.uberconference.com/cthumanist Or by phone at: 716-293-7767 and you'll need this PIN - 25266 We've been "socially isolating" for over a week now. What's been working well? What's didn't go the way you thought it would? What advice would you give your past self? (I know someone's gonna say stock up on toilet paper in January!) How are you managing? How can we support each other?

Online Discussion: Religious Exemptions to Vaccines

Do you think abolishing religious exemptions to vaccines is a good idea? Here are some articles on the issue:

• An article about California's experience.
• A summary of states with exemptions (dated January 2020).
• A scholarly article investigating the validity of religious exemption claims.

Come prepared to share your thoughts and reasoning.

Board Meeting

All members are welcome to attend.

There will be no in-person HAC meetings for 30 days from 3/13/2020

In order to support the effort to limit the spread of Covid-19 via a social distancing effort, we’re cancelling or rescheduling all events for the next 30 days.

We have tentatively rescheduled our speaker for Monday, March 16, John Bargh, for May 18.

Our book discussions are all tentatively being rescheduled for one month in the future, so the March book will be in April and the April book will be in May.

We are moving the Wood-n-tap discussion on vaccines to April 27.

There will be no Explorations on April 4 and no social dinner on April 6.

We are investigating how to hold the board meeting on-line. We may try scheduling an event – perhaps a discussion - online,  but we haven’t gotten that far yet.

Humanist Explorations: Rodin's The Gates of Hell

Commissioned in 1880 for a Paris museum, which was never built, Rodin worked on this massive architectural sculpture until his death in 1917. This work, composed of 180 figures and a massive gate nearly twenty feet in height, was never cast in bronze in Rodin's lifetime. In 1980, with funding from the philanthropist, B. Gerald Cantor, a casting was finally produced. This is the story of how this monumental task was realized.

We will view and discuss this documentary.

Dinner & Discussion: The Emergence of the Global Citizen

With the rise of 21st century nationalism here and abroad, how do we combat radical inequality, climate change, extreme poverty, gender inequality, and seemingly endless war?

A growing worldwide movement has begun. It works to find global solutions to these and other pressing issues. What does it mean to be a Global Citizen? How do we accept shared responsibility for the state of the world? As Hugh Evans puts it: "€œThose of us who look beyond our borders are on the right side of history."

Please view a 17-minute video (https://www.ted.com/talks/hugh_evans_what_does_it_mean_to_be_a_citizen_of_the_world) featuring Australian humanitarian Hugh Evans. Evans is the co-founder of both The Oaktree Foundation and Global Citizen, the Global Poverty Project, a community education group that aims to increase awareness of, and action towards fighting extreme poverty. He has received domestic and international accolades for his work in promoting youth advocacy and volunteerism in order to reduce extreme poverty in developing countries. He was 2015 Billboard Magazine's Humanitarian of the Year.

Evans started a movement that mobilizes "global citizens," people who self-identify first and foremost not as members of a state, nation, or tribe but as members of the human race. In this uplifting and personal talk, he describes how this new understanding of our place in the world is galvanizing people to take action. "These are ultimately global issues," Evans says, "and they can only be solved by global citizens demanding global solutions from their leaders."

Join us at the Wood ‘n’ Tap at 2100 Dixwell Avenue in Hamden. Please RSVP via meetup or programs@cthumanist.org.

Board Meeting

All members are welcome to attend. This will be our first board meeting of the year.

Monthly Meeting: A New Vision for Secular Transcendence

Our guest speaker, Tom Krattenmaker, will discuss "A New Vision for Secular Transcendence". As religion has faded from importance in contemporary life, so has the sense of transcendence, which is traditionally described as the experience of "rising above" the mundane, ordinary aspects of our lives. Tom will present his vision for a secular transcendence that does not depend upon belief in any deity or other supernatural ideas. Tom Krattenmaker is an author and columnist specializing in beliefs and values in public life His most recent book is Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower. Tom is also the Director of Communications for the Yale Divinity School.

We will start with half an hour of coffee and conversation at 7:00 PM. The main program will begin after brief announcements at 7:30 PM.

Book Discussion Group: “In a Different Voice” by Carol Gilligan

Our book for February is “In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development” by Carol Gilligan

Copies are available in public libraries in Connecticut, and at local and online booksellers.

IRIS Run for Refugees

Join the €œHumanist Association of Connecticut Team€ at Wilbur Cross High School to raise awareness and money for refugee services. There is a registration fee to participate. To register or to make a donation visit: https://runsignup.com/Race/CT/NewHaven/IRISRunforRefugees

Humanist Explorations: Bombing Auschwitz

As we approach the seventy fifth anniversary of the liberation of the most notorious Nazi death camp, this documentary addresses an uncomfortable moral question: should allied forces have destroyed the camp, and consequently the inmates there who were doomed to certain death, in order to save the hundreds of thousands who followed?

We will view and discuss this documentary.

Dinner & Discussion: Alain de Botton, Athiesm 2.0

In this TED talk https://www.ted.com/talks/alain_de_botton_atheism_2_0 Alain de Botton suggests a "religion for atheists" that incorporates religious forms and traditions to satisfy our human need for connection, ritual and transcendence. Alain de Botton is a Swiss-born British philosopher and author. "Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion," is one of his fifteen published books. Do you find anything new or compelling in his presentation? Is it too simplistic or complicated? Bring your thoughts!

Board Meeting

All members are welcome to attend.

Book Discussion Group: “Where Do We Go from Here?” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our book for January is “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?”, the final book by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Copies are available in public libraries in Connecticut, and at local and online booksellers.

This discussion will be held in the Social Hall at USNH.

Monthly Meeting: Germany, Land of Culture and Beauty

Steve and Susan Boshi will present their annual travelogue, "An armchair trip through one of Europe's major locations, we will share some of the places, from small towns to major cities, and the history, art, and architecture of this fascinating place."

Humanist Explorations: Stanford White

Most people who know about White do so in light of his murder in 1906 at the hands of an ex lover's enraged husband. White was, however, one of America's most brilliant architects and designers. With an inventive mind and a sharp eye, he created a massive amount of the country's great buildings, like The Boston Public Library, Pennsylvania Station, Gilded Age palaces in Newport, Rhode Island, Madison Square Garden, and many others. Join us to learn about and appreciate this wonderful creative mind, whose creations continue to enrich our lives today.