President/Publisher:
Susan Sackett
Vice President/
Webmaster:
J.B. Wright
Treasurer:
Bruce Stiles
Program Director:
Henry Geist
Secretary:
Shelley Newman
Members at Large:
Eugene Bukhman
Alan Newman
Harvey Turner |
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The Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix meets at 9:00 a.m. on alternate Sunday mornings at a local restaurant. Currently, we meet at the HomeTown Buffet, 1312 N. Scottsdale Road, in Scottsdale. Map to the HomeTown Buffet. We enjoy the company of our fellow Humanists during brunch followed by a lecture from a guest speaker and topic discussion.
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Upcoming Meetings and Topics
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Jul 27th |
The Evolution of Human Behavior
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Speaker: Dr. Kevin McGraw
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Dr. Kevin McGraw is Assistant professor of Evolutionary and Systems Biology at ASU School of Life Sciences. Dr. McGraw holds an M.S. from Auburn Univ., and a Ph.D. from Cornell. In addition, he has done post doctoral studies at U.C.-Davis.
Dr. McGraw is the author and co-author of numerous books, articles and papers. He was awarded the 2005 Outstanding New Investigator Award by the American Ornithologists' Union. His contributions come in the field of avian visual communication and coloration, and he is credited with pioneering a new approach to the study of ornamental traits. By taking an integrative approach that combines concepts and techniques from evolutionary biology, behavioral ecology, behavioral endocrinology, avian nutrition, and immunoecology, he has helped to solve questions about why and how birds assume the colors they do. He is a world authority on the carotenoid pigments of skin and feathers and other sources of color. By addressing how colors are synthesized, influenced by access to dietary components, and affected by health, condition, and heritage, he has greatly advanced our understanding of how avian ornaments develop and evolve.
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Aug 10th |
The Origins of Religion - Imagine That!
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Speaker: Jerry Walp
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Jerry Walp and his wife, Judy, are members of the Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix. Jerry was born and raised in Ohio and attended a small midwest technical school, graduating with a degree in Industrial Engineering. He spent the next 27 years working for a company in Colorado. Now retired, he has written five books, including Dominance and Delusion: Why We Do the Things We Do (written under the name M. A. Curtis -- and available in our library!). According to Jerry, Dominance and Delusion offers a new and controversial theory with respect to human behavior. It is a analysis of the human animal from an engineering standpoint. The book lays out the reasons why he believes we behave the way we do. His presentation will be based upon the revolutionary ideas in his book.
The Walps are both retired. Judy is a volunteer with the American Red Cross and Jerry is a gardener, growing fruits and vegetables for the food bank. They have one son and two grandchildren.
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Aug 17th |
Break, Blow, Burn, by Camille Paglia
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Event: Book Club
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The HSGP Book Club meets at the Mesa Library, Main Branch, 64 East 1st Street (East of Country Club Way at the intersection of N. Centennial Way -- N.W. corner)
From Publishers Weekly:
The still-vocal critic of Sexual Personae, a book that drew on poetry and painting for its de-deconstructions of gender, checks in with an anthology of 43 poems, along with her own close readings of them. Her introduction offers a jumble of justifications for undertaking such a project (though she is "unsure whether the West's chaotic personalism can prevail against the totalizing creeds that menace it," she hopes it will), but the readings themselves reveal Paglia's fascination with poetry, which she likens "to addiction or to the euphoria of being in love." The book's first half presents canonical work that Paglia has found "most successful in the classroom" (Shakespeare, Blake, Dickinson, etc.). The second features mostly canonical modernist and confessional work (Stevens, Williams, Toomer, Roethke and Plath), with a few more recent pieces. Clocking in mostly at two to four pages, Paglia's readings sound a lot like classroom preambles to discussion—offering background, lingering over provocative lines, venturing provisional interpretations. Some of what she says comes off as grandiose (Roethke's " 'Cuttings' is a regrounding of modern English poetry in lost agrarian universals"), some as boilerplate, some as inspired. Though hit-and-miss, Paglia's picks and appraisals provide the requisite spark for jump-starting returns to poetry.
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Aug 24th |
Home Solar Power Installation
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Speaker: Clark Jones
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Last year, one of our most popular talks was on Solar Energy. Come to the meeting on August 24th and learn how you can go green by going solar! Clark Jones will show pictures and graphs and discuss some of the practical issues of a real solar electric systemg, which will be of interest to all. To learn more about this fascinating field, read his report to the IEEE Computer Society: http://www.hsgp.org/Clarks_Solar_Power_CS.pdf
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HSGP BUILDING UPDATE
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Our building is located at 627 West 8th Street (between Alma School and Country Club) in Mesa. The adobe home is situated on .8 of an acre of land. We anticipate completion sometime later this year. When renovated, we will have a huge 1800 square foot meeting space, a kitchen, library, children's activities, storage and office space. We will be presenting many exciting fund-raising events. Note: We really need your tax-deductible donations of $$$$ cash! (see article below) Please consider donating to HSGP so that we can continue the smooth flow of work!
Our thanks to all who have participated so far in helping to renovate the building. Special thanks to Chuck Lesher and Henry Geist, who have been working very hard to renovate the old wing of the building. The old bathroom has been completely re-plumbed, the new toilet is in, and the other fixtures will be in shortly! We are also working on the renovation of the spare room.
JULY UPDATE! We have hired an engineer to work with Ann Marie on finalizing the plans. The latest change to the plans includes raising the roof over the meeting area so we will have more headroom! Watch this column for further updates! |
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FUND RAISING CORNER, by Bruce Stiles
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WHERE THERE’S A WILL, THAT’S A GOOD THING
It is well known in the financial planning community that about half of Americans do not have a valid, up-to-date will. That’s a bad thing, because it can lead to all sorts of complications and problems for the loved ones of the person who passed away.
Please don’t cause problems for your loved ones. HSGP has a few donated CD ROM discs of a will-creation software application and is loaning the software to our Members free of charge.
If you would like to borrow this software, please contact Bruce Stiles at 602-212-1614 or bruce.stiles@cox.net, or catch him at a meeting.
Oh, by the way, we wouldn’t mind a bit if you remembered HSGP and left it a gift in your will. It’s a way of making a final statement saying to everyone,
“This organization was important to me.”****************
Bruce M. Stiles, CFP®, ChFC®, is the Director of Development for HSGP and provides general information to Members and others as a public service. Ideas and opinions expressed in this column are his alone, and do not reflect the opinions of HSGP, which makes no claims or warrantees about the suitability or outcomes of ideas and opinions expressed in the column. |
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SUE GORDON, 1928-2008
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It is with great sadness that we report the death of our very dear member and friend, Sue Gordon. Most of our regular meeting attendees will remember Sue as the always-cheerful lady who wore cute hats and sat near the front of the room, usually knitting energetically while she listened to our speakers (multi-tasking!). Sue always seemed to have a smile on her face.
Recently, she had been helping us with membership reminders, doing this task that no one else volunteered to do, and happy to be doing it. Then, several months ago, dedicated Humanist that she was, she apologized because she wouldn't be able to continue the job, as she was ill with cancer. Sue was always one to put others first!
She recovered from cancer and was able to attend one more HSGP meeting, only to suffer a stroke a few weeks later. This led to her decline and finally, her peaceful death on June 27th. Several of our members visited Sue during her illness, and she was delighted with our visits. Thank you to those who took the time to do this.
No services are planned. Sue would certainly have wished that HSGP be remembered in any donations in her memory. |
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FUND RAISING STATUS FOR OUR NEW HOME
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As of the beginning of July, our generous members had helped us to reach more than half of of our goal! We had received approximately $68,135 in donations and through fund raising activities for our building fund! |
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USED CELL PHONES NEEDED!
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Don't turn in your old cell phone to your provider! Bring them to HSGP meetings! Please bring your working used cell phones, with their batteries, to HSGP meetings. Bring only the phone and battery, not the accessories (cases, headphones, etc.), as they will not accept these. Thank you for helping us with this fundraising activity! |
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HSGP SUPPORTS HOMEBASE!
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 The people at HomeBase are thrilled with our support! Our next drive will be on JULY 13th. Please bring NEW white crew socks, full-size bottles of shampoo and conditioner (especially needed), as well as toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant and other toiletries for distribution to young people living on the streets of Phoenix. They also appreciate gently used clothing, which the young people can wear on job interviews. |
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DO YOU YAHOO?
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A special Yahoo! Group has been set up for paid HSGP members only. It's free and only takes a minute to sign up! Join Yahoo Humanists. Susan Sackett is Moderator; sign up and if you are a paid member, you will be approved by the Moderator, usually within 24 hours. Messages and archives of this group will be accessible only by members, so there is no spamming or flaming. Messages will be posted once they are approved by the Moderator, so if your posts are within the normal Yahoo! guidelines, they will be approved and posted.
We continue to have lively discussions on religion, politics, ethics and other Humanistic concerns. We've had some extremely interesting posts lately, covering topics such as stem cell research, gay issues, theocracy, global warming, and other important areas of interest to Humanists. We now have 46 members signed up. Join our group today! |
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Susan Sackett, Certified Humanist Celebrant, would like to remind you that she is available for all your life passage ceremonies, including weddings and commitment ceremonies, baby namings, coming-of-age celebrations, funerals/memorial services, and even divorce celebrations! Humanist Celebrant. Discounts for HSGP members! Contact her at humanist@hsgp.org. |
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