[BES Friends] Feb Schedule

[Stephen Meskin]

MAIL NOTICE: The February newsletter should have been received by now in 
the Baltimore area. If you haven't received it yet, please let me know 
at admin at BaltimoreEthicalSociety.org

Unless otherwise indicated, all meetings will be held from 10:30 to noon 
at the Society, in the Congress Hotel at 306 W. Franklin St., Suite 102. 
On street parking is available. Handicap parking and entrance are 
available in the adjacent lot with appropriate identification. Ethical 
Humanist Sunday School for children during platform meetings. Call 
410-581-2322 for more information or, on the day of the event, to check 
for closing during inclement weather. Also check our newsletter and web 
site: www.BaltimoreEthicalSociety.org

SUNDAY MORNING PLATFORMS (see details below)
Feb. 5th - "*Sexual Sanity*" by Fritz Williams, Leader of the Baltimore 
Ethical Society
Feb. 12th - "*Religion's Impact on Society: A Scientific Analysis*" by 
Greg Paul, Paleontologist
Feb. 19th -  "*Alternatives to Military Enlistment*" by Tia Steele, Gold 
Star Mother
Feb. 26th - "*2nd Annual BESpeakoff*" with Gordon Stills, Master of 
Ceremonies

OTHER ACTIVITIES
Feb. 4th - *THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES* Saturday at 7pm.
A V-Day Benefit Performance "Until the Violence Stops"  $7 admission 
donation
A special V-Day Baltimore Ethical Society 2006 performance of Eve 
Ensler's The Vagina Monologues will knock your socks off with its humor, 
anguish and everything in between. 2006 performers are BES members 
*Karen Elliott, Judith Katz, Rosemary Klein, Karla Mancero, and Helena 
Wright*.  This is a benefit performance, supporting local organizations 
House of Ruth and TurnAround, Inc. as well as the V-Day organization, 
which works to create awareness of violence against women and support 
organizations that act to fight such violence. For more information, go 
to www.vday.org.

Feb. 5th  - POETRY GROUP Sunday at 9:30am. Facilitated by Karla Mancero.
Bring poems that move you or that you have written to share and discuss. 
A general theme is picked for each meeting - contact Karla at 
poet at BaltimoreEthicalSociety.org to be added to the e-mail list and 
receive notification of topics.

Feb. 5th - BOARD MEETING Sunday at 12:30 pm. All members are welcome to 
attend.

Feb. 7th - NEWSLETTER DEADLINE Tuesday at 8:00 AM.  Send  to admin at 
baltimoreethicalsociety dot org

Feb. 12th - COLLOQUY ON LOVING Sunday at 9:30 am. The colloquy is a 
formal program consisting of guided meditation on a particular topic, 
with responses on a personal level as well as time for silent 
reflection. It was developed by Arthur Dobrin, Ethical Culture Leader, 
author, and teacher.

Feb. 12th - ETHICAL ACTION - Sunday at 12:15 pm

Feb. 19th - POETRY GROUP Sunday at 9:30am. See Dec 4th.

Feb. 26th - NEWCOMERS' MEETING - Sunday at 12:15pm. Learn about the 
history and organization of the Baltimore Ethical Society and the 
Ethical Culture movement.

PLATFORM DETAILS
Feb. 5th - "*Sexual Sanity*" by Fritz Williams, Leader of the Baltimore 
Ethical Society
A female school teacher is arrested for having sex with adolescent 
boys.  A clergyman who's been preaching that Christ can heal homosexuals 
is picked up for soliciting sex from a male undercover cop.  The 
president of NOW calls for the resignation of a major college coach 
because of his remarks about "girls" knocking on the doors of poor 
helpless football players.  Young women show up at the mall with thongs 
protruding from their low rise jeans while young mothers are supposed to 
go to a rest room to breast feed their babies.  Young people are 
encouraged to sign pledges of sexual abstinence, and one of the results 
turns out to be an increase in unprotected sex.  Caught between 
moralizers and marketers, how can we achieve sexual sanity? And what in 
the world is it anyhow?
*Fritz Williams* is Leader of the Baltimore Ethical Society and, in that 
capacity, serves as primary speaker, teacher, pastor, and organizational 
leader. To these duties, Fritz brings extensive ministerial and 
communications experience. He has worked as a parish priest in the 
Episcopal Church, and also as a writer and producer at public television 
stations in Harrisburg, PA, and Detroit, MI. He is especially loved for 
his down-to-earth narrative style of speaking and his "When I Was Kid" 
stories, based on his own childhood.

DARWIN DAY, A joint meeting with the Baltimore Secular Humanists
Feb. 12th - "*Religion's Impact on Society: A Scientific Analysis*" by 
Greg Paul, Paleontologist
Large-scale surveys show dramatic declines in religiosity in favor of 
secularization and popular acceptance of evolutionary science in the 
developed democracies, with the USA being the only major exception. Does 
rejection of the existence of a creator led, as many predict, to 
societal disintegration, or the opposite? Cross-national comparisons of 
differing rates of religiosity and societal conditions show that in 
almost all regards the highly secular, pro-evolution democracies 
consistently enjoy low rates of societal dysfunction, while 
pro-religious and anti-evolution America performs poorly.
*Gregory Paul* is an independent researcher with interests in 
paleontology, evolutionary science and more recently the interactions 
between science, religion, politics and society. Paul edited the 
Scientific American Book of the Dinosaur, and wrote Dinosaurs of the Air 
(Johns Hopkins University Press). His societal research is intended to 
provide the public with the information they need to better chart to 
future course of society, and to challenge long standing myths held by 
all sides of the culture war.

Feb. 19th - "*Alternatives to Military Enlistment*" by Tia Steele, Gold 
Star Mother
A description of the economic, social, and emotional issues faced by 
young people, their vulnerability to military recruitment, and 
alternatives available to them: what there is and what is needed.
*Tia Steele* is a member of the Baltimore Area Coalition for Truth in 
Recruiting, a group of concerned veterans, citizens, parents, and 
teachers, dedicated to providing information and assistance to young 
people.  She is also a member of Gold Star Families Speak Out (a chapter 
of Military Families Speak Out).  GSFSO is comprised of family members 
of US service people killed in the war on Iraq and Afghanistan.  David 
Michael Branning, Tia's stepson, was killed in Fallujah on November 12, 
2004.  Tia Steele also serves as Exhibit Coordinator for the American 
Friends Service Committee Eyes Wide Open exhibit.

Feb. 26th - "*2nd Annual BESpeakoff*" with Gordon Stills, Master of 
Ceremonies
Enthusiasm is running high this year for the 2nd annual Speak-Off at the 
Society. First presented in February of last year to great audience and 
participant acclaim, the Speak-Off is an outreach project of the Society 
to middle school students of Baltimore City. Students at 4 schools are 
practicing now for the big event that will culminate in the Grand 
Speak-Off at the Society on the 26th.
*Gordon Stills*, Ethical Humanist Officiant for BES, and retired 
principal from the Baltimore City School System, coordinates the event 
that includes students, teachers, family and friends. If you were 
present last year, you will want to return to hear the young people 
'speak their pieces.'  If not, you will want to see for yourself what 
the raves were about.

March 5: "*Coping With Difficult People*"* *by Fritz Williams, Leader

March 12: Michael Franch, Leader-at-Large

March 19: Will Englund, Associate editorial page editor The Baltimore Sun

March 26:
Michael Glaser, Poet Laureate of Maryland

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://baltimoreethicalsociety.org/pipermail/friends_baltimoreethicalsociety.org/attachments/20060203/f8ad1cac/attachment.htm>