Ethical Humanist Society of the Triangle

Stone Soup in the Time of Covid
2020-11-22 13:30 - 15:30 (America/New_York) | Virtual Program using Zoom
Many versions of the Stone Soup tale are set in a time of hardship and want. Soldiers coming back from war begging for food. Villagers wary of sharing their scare goods.

As we look for ways to celebrate Thanksgiving and giving thanks we are aware of the hardships and want that the current pandemic has created and exposed.

Let us examine today’s conditions as well as systemic problems and look to ways to alleviate some of the needs we see all around us. And let us ponder ways to celebrate the holiday while keeping separate from family and friends.

Jan Broughton will lead us in our program.

This talk will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

Understanding "Defunding the Police" with Alex S. Vitale
2020-11-15 11:00 - 12:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
EHST will join with the Riverdale Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture (RYSEC) to hear their program on defunding the police. Here’s the writeup from RYSEC:
“You’ve likely heard the calls for defunding the police, during this summer’s demonstrations against police killings. You may agree and wonder how we could get there, or you may think that defunding goes too far, or you may just wonder what it means. Whatever your reaction, here’s a chance to find out more.”

“Alex S. Vitale will be our guest speaker on this morning. Professor Vitale, who teaches in the Department of Sociology at Brooklyn College and has researched and written about the future of policing for 30 years, will explain the ‘defund the police’ movement and its relationship to the long struggle for racial and economic justice.”
This talk will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

Plastic Pandemic
2020-11-01 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
Plastic is everywhere, and plastic lasts forever. Do we have a problem here? EHST member, Chris Kaman, will talk about the history of plastic, who really benefits from plastic, and why we are both dependent on plastic, and threatened by its use. One documentary on Netflix titled “A Plastic Ocean” illustrates one of the problems with plastic.

This talk will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

Fall 2020 Members Meeting
2020-10-25 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
Each fall, EHST has a meeting of members, friends, and visitors to discuss what has transpired (good, bad, and ugly) for the society this year, and what looms ahead next year for us. the coronavirus has been challenging, and we need to discuss the future of our in person meetings for 2021. Additionally our programs, budget, board activity, and needs are reviewed during the meeting. Questions are encouraged, which we will attempt to answer, to allow members and prospective members to understand our “state of the union.” We also will kick off our pledge campaign for 2021. Come get the facts about our humanist congregation!

This talk will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

School Resource Officers in Our Schools - Help or Harm?
2020-10-18 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
UNC Prof. Barbara Fedders will speak to us about School Resource Officers (SROs) in our schools and whether they benefit all students. She will also highlight the work of the Youth Justice Clinic which UNC sponsors. SROs were originally brought into schools to help prevent mass shootings in schools. Now they are under scrutiny in their alleged role in the “school to prison pipeline.” Some school systems are either eliminating SROs or cutting back their numbers. Prof. Fedders will talk with us about this issue.

This talk will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

America: What Went Wrong?
2020-10-11 11:00 - 12:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
EHST will be joining with the Philadelphia Ethical Society at 11 a.m. to hear James Steele talk about his book “America: What Went Wrong? The Crisis Deepens.” Here’s more about the book: “Long before Covid-19 ravaged the economy, millions of middle-class Americans were struggling with another crisis—stagnant earnings, unaffordable health care and the prospect of an impoverished retirement. This is no accident: Barlett and Steele vividly reveal how Congresses and presidents of both parties repeatedly make decisions that favor the few at the expense of most Americans. But the authors show that this need not be. To make the American dream a reality for all Americans, our government must reassert itself on behalf of all the people—with regulatory oversight that balances public safety with business interests, more equitable tax policies, and programs that assure all Americans of basic health care and a decent retirement.”

The program will be presented via Zoom from Philadelphia. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

Racial Bias in Higher Education
2020-10-04 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
Dr. Shirley Hymon-Parker, Associate Dean for Research at the College of Agriculture and Environmental Services at NC A&T State University, will speak on the issues facing people of color in higher education. Her current research focuses on cyber-human systems, cognitive ergonomics, fairness and inclusion in data science, and mixed data modeling to develop systems that empower caregivers, older people and persons with disabilities, provide support for security and privacy, and protect the nation’s cyber infrastructure. She has over 160 peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary publications and $16.4 million in external research funding. She has advised to completion 20 doctoral students, 34 MS thesis students, 15 MS project students, 47 undergraduate researchers, and 4 high school researchers. Dr. Smith-Jackson has been employed in industry, government, and academia in North Carolina, New York, Virginia, and Germany. She chose academia because her passion is the development and success of future engineers and scientists.

This talk will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

Against the Tide - documentary
2020-09-27 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
The documentary “Against the Tide” is about two ex-offenders and how their community based support teams made a difference as they faced the challenges of integrating back into society. There are more than 40,000 men and women locked up in North Carolina prisons, and 98% will eventually re-enter society. This film illustrates how well things can work out when there is true community support to these men and women. After showing the video we will discuss the film.

This talk will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

Repairing the Harms of Structural Racism
2020-09-20 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
AEU Executive Director, Bart Worden, will speak to us about structural racism, and how we can and should work to repair or better demolish structural racism. After hundreds of years of damage are we at a tipping point that will lead to real and lasting change? Will ethical humanists join efforts to repair the damage of structural racism and help usher in a more equitable and compassionate society?

This talk will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

Organizing: Creating Relationships for Transformational Change
2020-09-13 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
EHST will re-broadcast a presentation made to the Baltimore Ethical Society. Terrell Williams’ story is one we should hear and celebrate. Here is the writeup from the BES website:
We will begin the process of community change by listening to create opportunities for transformational real outcomes. We will use our most radical tool to understand why people want change and what are the fundamental characteristics that are necessary to organize to begin the transformational process (Help).Terrell Williams was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri in a place called Cochran Gardens which is a very violent community one mile from the Arch in downtown St. Louis. He attended college at the University of Kansas and later received a bachelor’s degree in Government Public Policy from the University of Baltimore, a master’s in Special and Elementary Education and post certification in Administration and Supervision. He was a retail executive for twenty years and an educator in the Baltimore City School system as Pride coordinator, which is a structured program inside the school system that helped our most violent students with emotional disabilities. Terrell was also an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University with Teach for America. He is currently an associate organizer with BUILD (Baltimoreans United In Leadership Development), and Co-director of TurnAround Tuesday – a jobs movement that seeks living wage employment for under-employed and returning citizens while developing civic leaders.
This recorded program will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

Celebrate Labor Day
2020-09-06 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
EHST will not conduct a Zoom program today. We do recommend that you celebrate Labor Day Eve in some form or fashion. Wikipedia has a good article about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day. If you want to sing about Labor Day, check out this list of songs from The Nation: https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/top-ten-labor-day-songs/.

Political Correctness and Cancel Culture
2020-08-30 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
Atish Sen, President of EHST, will be joined by fellow EHST members John Holmgren and Fred Breidt for a panel discussion on Political Correctness and Cancel Culture. During this time of highly divided partisan politics, how much room is there for dissent and disagreement across our self-selected tribes? What are we losing when we silence other views?

This talk will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

Ted Talk - William Darity on Reparations
2020-08-23 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
We will play the Ted Talk with William A. “Sandy” Darity, Jr on a blueprint for reparations in the U.S. He explains why it is necessary, and how it could make progress toward “true equality.” Prof. Darity is the Samuel DuBois Cook Professor of Public Policy, African and African American Studies and Economics and director of the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University. We will discuss his talk afterward during our program. You can view this Ted Talk here: https://www.ted.com/talks/william_sandy_darity_a_blueprint_for_reparations_in_the_us.

This talk will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

Prof. Francesca Tripodi - What You Need to Know About Conservative Media
2020-08-16 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
UNC Professor Francesca Tripodi of the School of Information and Library Science will speak about conservative media and how they influence our national dialog. Dr. Francesca Tripodi is a sociologist and media scholar whose research examines the relationship between social media, political partisanship, and democratic participation, revealing how Google and Wikipedia are manipulated for political gains.
This talk will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

A Dialog with Solomon Gibson, III on Race
2020-08-09 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
Solomon Gibson, III, will help us explore our own questions about race, and relations between blacks and whites. Mr. Gibson has spoken to us several times in the last year including a talk on race relations. Today he offers to answer our questions about being black in America, and how we can develop authentic, honest dialog and friendship with people of color.

This talk will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

AEU Assembly Platform
2020-08-02 15:00 - 16:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
EHST is delaying its meeting until 3 pm today so that our members can attend the virtual (Zoom) platform which will have music and the initiation of a new Leader (humanist minister) Je Hooper. You do not need to register to attend this program. Here’s more information about Mr. Hooper, and a link to join the program.
Jé Exodus Hooper is an Ethical Culture clergy-Leader within the American Ethical Union and current PhD candidate. Based in the Mid-Atlantic region, his work as creative-clergy and a performance-scholar is focused in decolonizing Humanism, homiletics, and Black Intellectual Thought. His love for performative rhetoric involves decolonized aesthetic of Black homiletic folk-talk– one of imagination as responsive reasoning. His word-working emphasizes human freedom and interconnectedness through embodiment, intuition, creativity, and improvisation. His folx-talk emerges into a love language that aids congregational practice of culture care for empowering community-life.
Here is the link to attend the program: https://bit.ly/AEUAssembly2020

What's Happening at the AEU Assembly?
2020-07-26 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
Our national organization, the American Ethical Union, is having its annual Assembly on August 1st. Various items of business will be decided from electing new board members to passing a budget to bylaw changes and resolutions on social issues of importance. We will present what you need to know, and to give our delegates what they need to make decisions when voting takes place.
Anyone can register to attend sessions during the Assembly. In addition to business sessions there will be educational sessions you may enjoy. Check the sessions here: https://aeu.org/event/aeu2020/
And register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc6si1CI2cA8OXaOacLJzPyVOvKYmIGfK6IOmXRRI_7Z6BD3g/viewform

Hemant Mehta - Is Atheism The Last Political Taboo?
2020-07-19 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
Hemant Mehta will speak to EHST via Zoom about atheism today. Is it the last political taboo? Mr. Mehta has become nationally known for his advocacy for “friendly atheism.” You can view his blog via this link: https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEkcu6vrj4iE9BpHVIXTo_4PRO8WqmDfXUp. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Attendance is limited, so please register soon!

Tenant Rights in NC and the Coranavirus Pandemic
2020-07-12 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
Attorney Kate Woomer-Deeters of the NC Justice Center, speaking on tenant rights during the pandemic. She specializes in Immigrant and Refugee Rights at the NC Justice Center. You can view her resource page for Tenants here: https://www.ncjustice.org/publications/updates-for-tenants-during-the-coronavirus/

This talk will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

Holiday
2020-07-05 13:30 - 15:30
EHST will be taking a holiday, so there will be no Zoom meeting, and no meeting at Extraordinary Ventures. We hope you have a safe, and happy 4th of July weekend!

Reclaim Our Vote
2020-06-28 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
The upcoming presidential election may be the most important in modern American history. Voter turnout will be an essential factor in the outcome, especially given voter suppression efforts and the idiosyncrasy of the electoral college.
The American Ethical Union, our national organization, is partnering with Reclaim Our Vote, a non-partisan organization, to increase voter turnout in North Carolina, Texas, Arizona, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. Since 2017, Reclaim Our Vote has been reaching out to voters in states with a long history of voter suppression and have had measurable results.
In addition to the AEU, Reclaim Our Vote partners include NAACP, StateVoices, Black Voters Matter, Virginia Poor People’s Campaign, DemLabs, Mi Familia Vota, Progressive Coders Network, VoteRiders, the Transformative Justice Coalition, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, UU the Vote, Rapid Resist and others.
Join us on Sunday to find out how you can be involved in an EHST postcard campaign to get out the vote. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

A Philosophical Approach to Coping with a Pandemic
2020-06-21 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
Randy Best, Leader of the Northern Virginia Ethical Society, will speak to us via Zoom. Here is his synopsis…
“What tools do I need to help me deal with a global pandemic? Are some of the ideas and approaches found in Philosophy useful in helping me cope with this existential crisis? I have found that consciously adopting a philosophical approach promotes peace of mind and allows me to move forward to contribute to solutions. I will share my findings with you.”
You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

How the COVID19 Pandemic Is Affecting Service Workers
2020-06-14 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
Prof. Anna Gassman-Pines of Duke University will speak about how service workers are impacted by the COVID19 Pandemic. Prof. Elizabeth Ananat of Barnard College and Prof Gassman-Pines recently published an article in the New York Times about the problems and needs of service workers: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/19/opinion/coronavirus-paycheck-guarantee-act.html. Their study began before the COVID19 outbreak, and has continued since. They described the data as “grim” before and after the outbreak. They also support the Paycheck Guarantee Act proposed by House Rep. Pramila Jaypal which should help these workers.

You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

Are Humans Bad For The Earth?
2020-06-07 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
Leader Kate Lovelady spoke to the New York Society for Ethical Culture in October 2010 on this topic. We will show her talk via Youtube, and discuss our reactions to it. The Pulitzer Prizewinning book “The Overstory” was published in 2018, and it covers similar territory as Ms. Lovelady’s talk. You can view it here if you can’t participate on Sunday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnQZNjGD_p4&t=2189s

You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

Instances of Gratitude Felt in Spite of the Coronavirus Pandemic
2020-05-31 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
Join us for a check-in and discussion this Sunday led by EHST Program Chair John Holmgren. Our topic will be “Instances of Gratitude Felt in Spite of the Coronavirus Pandemic.” We welcome you to think about your experiences over the last three months and share any positive moments that emerged during the upheaval of lock down and social distancing.
This will be presented via Zoom.
You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

Losing I, Finding We - An Exploration of Attachment
2020-05-24 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
Christian Hayden, an ethical humanist leader-in-training, will speak to us via Zoom. Ethical Culture does not have explicit tenets or commandments, but it does ask of its members/followers to commit to building ethical relationships, because we as a community feel they are imperative to social justice and realizing a better world. At the same time, many of us struggle to invite intimacy into our personal, romantic, and communal lives — why is that? And what ideas might lead us to better meeting our charge in the future?
The most important thing to know about Christian, is that he is an Ethical Culture leader in training. The second most important thing is that he fell in love with photography recently, so you might hear about that, too. Christian is a full-time facilitator, a very part-time poet, and is striving to be a 24/7 humanist. He also spent a year in Ghana with the Humanist Service Corps and was awarded the Mossler Fellowship in 2016.
You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

Taoist Philosophy
2020-05-17 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
The Tao Te Ching text in the form we know it dates from between 200 to 600 BCE, It is a collection of 81 verses that have elements similar to Buddhism, Christianity, Stoic Philosophy, and others. Taoist philosophy as outlined in the Tao Te Ching contains many of the principles of ethical humanism and offers us practical guidance for daily living. Fred Breidt will discuss a bit of the history of the Tao Te Ching, the many translations of the text to English, its relationship to western cultural values, and related topics. Recommended reading for the talk is: Tao Te Ching, the Definitive Edition, by Lao Tzu, Translation and Commentary by Jonathan Star.
This will be presented via Zoom.
You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

Journey to Myanmar: Pagodas and Bamboo Houses.
2020-05-10 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
Earlier this year, EHST member Jan Broughton traveled to Myanmar with a group of fellow Habitat for Humanity volunteers to participate in that organization’s international Global Village program. Through the monetary contributions and volunteer labor of these groups housing is built for peoples in many countries. Travel, meals, and accommodations are arranged by the local and host country Habitat affiliates. The volunteers learn about local customs and building methods for an unforgettable experience in cultural immersion.
In her talk Jan will briefly cover the history of Burma/Myanmar and share the cultural practices she observed while being the tourist in cities and the countryside. Included in the photographic essay will be a description of how to build a bamboo house in less than and week.
This will be presented via Zoom.
You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

The Compass Center for Women and Families
2020-05-03 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
Valerie Saur, Director of Education for the Compass Center, will speak to us about the mission and work of the Compass Center for Women and Families. Here is their mission statement: “Compass Center for Women and Families helps all people navigate their journey to self-sufficiency, safety, and health. We empower individuals and promote equal access to opportunity regardless of gender or economic status. Our services include career and financial education, domestic violence crisis and prevention programs, assistance with legal resources, and youth health programs.”

You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. We are NOT meeting at Extraordinary Ventures. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please email us at info@ncethicalsociety.org and provide your first and last name in your request.

Special Meeting
2020-04-26 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
This meeting is a restricted meeting for members and those familiar with our society. We hope you will find another meeting of interest and participate via our Zoom based programs.
