[BES Friends] This weekend at BES and more

[Stephen Meskin]

This being the first weekend of March, there will be a lot going on.  
Below this weekend's events are the details of platforms for the whole 
month.

First, it's *MOVABLE TREATS* Sunday.  So bring your desserts with you 
and place them on the table in the corner of our meeting room.  Use 
sandwich bags or snack bags to wrap your desserts in serving-size 
portions and label them to indicate generally what they are.  Mark your 
desserts if they contain nuts or peanuts and avoid heavy icings.  
There's a box for canned and dry-storage items in the corner of our 
entrance room as well.  Suggested items include canned fruits, 
vegetables, and soups, fruit cocktail, applesauce, dry cereals, rices, 
juices, muffin and pancake mixes, etc.
*
*The first Sunday also means that Fritz will be speaking and telling one 
of his children's stories.  His topic is AN ISLAND OF GOODNESS--an 
exploration of how goodness can shine surrounded by violence and 
hatred.  More details below.
*
*The *POETRY GROUP *at meets at 9:30 before the Platform (and again on 
Mar 16).
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*ADVERTISEMENT*:  Gov. O'Malley needs your help with the Maryland 
Legislature for his support of the Global Warming Solutions Act  
(SB-309, HB-712 <http://mlis.state.md.us/2008rs/billfile/SB0309.htm>).  
Please email, write, call, or visit your Delegate or Senator (even if 
you are sure they support the Act) and if so moved come to Annapolis for 
a rally this Wed Mar 5 at 10 am.  For more information see: 
http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org/campaigns/campaign_detail.cfm?id=68
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The first Saturday means our *COFFEEHOUSE*  on March 1, 7:00 pm -- 
Featuring Poet Gedalya Chinn. Gedalya spent his formative years bouncing 
around New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Maryland, and has the 
scars to prove it. He is a high school drop-out but managed to graduate 
from the University of Maryland Baltimore County with a Bachelor of Fine 
Arts in Theatre. Literary influences include Walt Whitman, Reinaldo 
Arenas, Anne Sexton and Samuel Beckett. When not writing poetry, he has 
spent the past few years writing plays and has had productions of his 
work mounted here in Baltimore. In June, he will marry the love of his 
life and is doing cartwheels and somersaults about that. Open mic 
follows the featured reader. Refreshments available. Donation requested.
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March 2: "*AN ISLAND OF GOODNESS*" by Fritz Williams, Leader, Baltimore 
Ethical Society
     All of Fritz's "Good Life" talks this year have been rewritten 
extensively. But on March 3 he will make an exception. In this talk, he 
will tell his own version of the story of the village of LeChambon, and 
he will tell it exactly as he first told it on January 8, 2006. "It was 
a talk that almost wrote itself," he recalls, "and the power of goodness 
in an era of violence and hatred shone right through it with a 
transparency that took me by surprise. I've told a lot of stories, but 
this may be the most moving, most powerful story of them all."
*     FRITZ WILLIAMS* is Leader of the Baltimore Ethical Society and 
serves as primary speaker, teacher, pastor, and organizational leader. 
Fritz also performs weddings and commitment ceremonies. He has worked as 
a parish priest in the Episcopal church, and as a writer and producer at 
public TV stations in Harrisburg, PA, and Detroit, MI.

March 9: *"SILENCE AND MY ROLE AS A MARYLAND LEGISLATOR"* by Delegate 
Liz Bobo, District 12B, Howard County
     Liz Bobo, local legislator, will discuss the week long silent 
retreat led by an American Buddhist monk that she attended in the last 
two years. Liz writes, "My ability to draw on what I learned at those 
retreats at the height of activity of the legislative session has proven 
very helpful. I have gained deeper peacefulness and equanimity." She 
will connect this experience to what she learned by listening to Hans 
Peter Durr, head of the Max Planck Institute in Munich, generally agreed 
to be the foremost quantum physics institution on our planet.
*     LIZ BOBO* has served in the Maryland House of Delegates for the 
last 13 years. She is currently chair of the land use & ethics 
subcommittee and a member of the natural resources and the environment 
subcommittees of the Environmental Matters Committee. Liz has been in 
public service 1976, including a term as Howard County Executive. (She 
is the first woman in Maryland to be elected county executive.) She is 
currently on the Commission on Environmental Justice and Sustainable 
Communities and is Co-Chair, Maryland Clean Car and Energy Policy Task 
Force. She was born in Baltimore, received a BA in literature and a JD, 
both from U. of Md., and is a member of the Md. Bar. Much more info 
about Liz is available at the House web site: 
http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/06hse/html/msa12188.html

March 16:  *"ETHICS AND MENTAL ILLNESS: PAST AND PRESENT"* by Denise 
Camp, Director, MARTYLOG Peer Support Mental Health Wellness & Recovery 
Center
     Prior to a true medical understanding of mental illnesses, people 
suffering with maladies of the mind were shunned, punished and locked 
away. With advances in medications and treatments, people with mental 
illnesses can live productive lives. However, they are still often 
shunned and stigmatized. How can we apply the Commitments of Ethical 
Culture to this oft misunderstood class of fellow human beings?
     *DENISE CAMP* is the Director of the MARTYLOG Peer Support Mental 
Health Wellness and Recovery Center in Pikesville. A graduate of 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY with a B.S. in Biomedical 
Engineering, Ms. Camp was working on her Masters in Electrical 
Engineering when she was diagnosed with Clinical Depression (now known 
as Major Depressive Disorder). Though she continued to work as an 
engineer, Ms. Camp's illness eventually disabled her, keeping her out of 
the workforce for more than 10 years. With the right mix of medications, 
caring mental health professional and a psychiatric rehabilitation 
program called Prologue, Inc., Ms. Camp has become an outspoken advocate 
for the public mental health system by testifying in Annapolis and now 
actually works for the psychiatric program she once attended.

March 23: * "AMERICAN IDEALISM AT ITS BEST: THE LYCEUM MOVEMENT, 
1830-1860"* by David O'Donaghue, Psy.D.
     The Democratic system requires both an educated populace and public 
forums in which to grapple with issues. David O'Donaghue, the founder 
and director of the Baltimore Lyceum, will explore how the Lyceum 
Movement met these objectives through the establishment of local 
educational centers, sponsoring such speakers as Ralph Waldo Emerson, 
Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, and Nathaniel Hawthorne on lecture 
circuits around the country. He will also tell us about his experience 
in continuing this tradition by re-establishing lyceums in the mountains 
of North Carolina, New Orleans and now in Baltimore.
     *DAVID O'DONAGHUE*, Psy.D. spent the first 15 years of his working 
life as a psychologist. He then chose to return to school to do doctoral 
work in philosophy, concentrating on the influence of German philosophy 
on transcendentalism and adult education. David is the founder and 
director of the Baltimore Lyceum.

March 30: *"SUSTAINABLE DESIGN: THE LEEDING EDGE"*by Kim Schaefer, AIA, 
Principal -- Terralogos Eco-Architecture
     Sustainable living is becoming more and more common, but many 
people are still unaware of some of the ways they can incorporate 
sustainability into their lives. Kim Schaefer is one of the founders of 
Terralogos Eco-Architecture, a firm that specializes in applying 
sustainable design techniques to existing structures. Kim will share 
with us her experiences in working in this area, as well as her reasons 
for focusing her business on sustainable design.
     Ms. *KIM SCHAEFER*, a LEED accredited professional, holds a 
Bachelor in Environmental Design from Texas A&M University and a Masters 
in Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Ms. Schaefer 
has been involved in several international sustainable design projects, 
including work in Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and Mexico. She is a 
Registered Architect in Texas, Virginia, and Maryland.  Ms. Schaefer is 
particularly concerned with bringing sustainable design practices to 
affordable housing and with the revitalization of urban communities; to 
that end she has worked with such associations as Habitat for Humanity, 
the Sustainable Washington Alliance, the US Green Building Council, and 
A Rocha, an international Christian conservation group. In October 2006, 
she received the Innovator of the Year Award from The Daily Record for 
her sustainable design work.

 

 


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