Hi all,
We've lots of news for you.
Upcoming Events:
Book club has been rescheduled to Thursday May 10th at 7pm on third floor of Quay Co-Op Restaurant in Sullivans Quay, Cork. The chosen book is The Handmaid's Tale. The novel is set in a dystopain future in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The novel presents a totalitarian theocracy that has forced a certain class of fertile women to produce babies for elite barren couples. Through the voice of Offred, a handmaid who mingles memories of her life before the revolution with her rebellious activities under the new regime, Atwood has created a terrifying future based on actual events.
Ritual Making Workshop
Our next event is on Sunday 29th of April at 12 noon in the Quay Co-op (click here for map). This event will be about ritual making and ceremony, the history of it and a brief workshop on making your own rituals in the home. The workshop will be facilitate by Annie Hoey. Annie has a degree in Drama and Theatre studies, a postgraduate in Studies of World Religions. Annie has done extensive work on the history and art of ritual making. As always Cork Humanists events are free to attend but we do appreciate small donations to cover running cost and rent of the room.
Here is a link to a Facebook event page for the workshop
Past Meetings:
On Sunday March 25th at 12 Noon (to 14.00) at the Quay Co-Op meeting room, the next meeting takes place.
Positive Psychology and the Good Life.
While traditionally psychology has focused on what is wrong with people, positive psychology is a relatively new sub-discipline of psychology which focuses on how people live optimally. Speaking on the day was Dr. Zelda di Blasi a psychology lecturer in UCC who has had research published in the Lancet and the British Medical Journal. Zelda did postdoctoral research in Integrative Medicine and Health Psychology at the University of California San Francisco, where she is currently affiliated faculty member. She currently co-ordinates a module in positive psychology for final year students in UCC and her interests include the therapeutic effects of harnessing positive emotions.
While traditionally psychology has focused on what is wrong with people, positive psychology is a relatively new sub-discipline of psychology which focuses on how people live optimally. Speaking on the day was Dr. Zelda di Blasi a psychology lecturer in UCC who has had research published in the Lancet and the British Medical Journal. Zelda did postdoctoral research in Integrative Medicine and Health Psychology at the University of California San Francisco, where she is currently affiliated faculty member. She currently co-ordinates a module in positive psychology for final year students in UCC and her interests include the therapeutic effects of harnessing positive emotions.
On Friday March 15th at 7pm on the top floor of the Quay Co-Op Restaurant in Sullivans Quay, Cork, our very own book club had its 2nd meeting. The selected text for this meeting was Midnights Children by Salman Rushdie. Description: This book deals with India's transition from British colonialism to independence and the partition of India.
Midnight's Children won both the Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1981. It was awarded the "Booker of Bookers" Prize and the best all-time prize winners in 1993 and 2008 to celebrate the Booker Prize 25th and 40th anniversary. It was also added to the list of Great Books of the 20th Century, published by Penguin Books.
On Sunday February 12th (12 to 14.00) at the Quay Co-Op meeting room, we, along with Humanist organisations around the world, celebrated Darwin Day, an international celebration of science and humanity as well as the discoveries and life of Charles Darwin - the man who first described biological evolution via natural selection with scientific rigour. As well as a celebration of the anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth on February 12th 1809, the day expresses gratitude for the enormous benefits that scientific knowledge, acquired through human curiosity and ingenuity, has contributed to the advancement of humanity. We marked the occasion with some wine, music, a birthday cake for Mr. Darwin and a guest speaker Dr. John Murray, a lecturer in Paleontology (fossils!) at NUI Galway, who gave an excellent presentation entitled "Darwin's Revelations".
On Thursday February 2nd at 7pm on the top floor of the Quay Co-Op Restaurant in Sullivans Quay, Cork, our very own book club had its very first meeting. The selected text for the first meeting is The Sea by John Banville, winner of 2005 Man Booker Prize. Description: When art historian Max Morden returns to the seaside village where he once spent a childhood holiday, he is both escaping from a recent loss and confronting a distant trauma. The Grace family had appeared that long-ago summer as if from another world. Mr and Mrs Grace, with their worldly ease and candour, were unlike any adults he had met before. But it was his contemporaries, the Grace twins Myles and Chloe, who most fascinated Max. He grew to know them intricately, even intimately, and what ensued would haunt him for the rest of his years and shape everything that was to follow. With themes covering loss to childhood, and from religion to alcoholism, there is sure to be something for everyone in it. The book is available for €4.99 in Vibes and Scribes (last time we checked!) and can often be found in second-hand bookshops.
First 2012 Meeting in January:
Meeting was held at 12 noon on Sunday January 15th.
The talk was titled “Hatchings, Matchings and Dispatchings” by Brian Whiteside, Director of Ceremonies for the Humanist Association of Ireland, and will be speaking on the services provided by Humanist Celebrants and some of his own experiences during the course of his work.
Christmas Dinner.
A hugely successful dinner and chat was held on Saturday 17th of December at Luigi Malone's at 2p.m. Fun and good food was had by all.
Previous Meeting / Secular Education Event
On Sunday of 6th of November we held our second meeting in the Quay Co-op at 12 noon. The meeting centred on the issue of secular education and guest speakers included Jane Donnelly, education policy officer for Atheist Ireland and Colm Breen, who is one of our own members, a local resource teacher and talked about the establishment of a non-denominational primary school in cork. The meeting took place in the newly refurbished meeting room owned and run by the Quay Co-op, which is located on Cove St. here just behind the Quay Co-op's main premises. For those of you who are driving there is parking located just across the bridge here. On the day we had some teas and coffees before we begin the meeting.
Amongst the subjects that were addressed by Jane and Colm, were the constitutional situation in relation to secular education, the current state of play with Educate Together Schools, the relationship between VEC Schools and the Catholic church and how people can get involved in secular education projects. The issue of patronage within the schools system was also discussed. A link to the facebook event can be found here.
As we are still in the process of setting up we would encourage supporters of the Cork Humanist to attend our meetings as we will also facilitate a short discussion amongst our members on issues pertaining to the Cork Humanists itself; what our goals are and what events people would like to see run. A poster for the event is attached if you would like to put it up in your local, shop, school, library etc.
Inaugural Meeting on Youtube
Loads of you have emailed in saying how disappointed you were at missing the inaugural meeting so we've put it up on youtube for you. The videos are on our website here.
Have Your Say
At the suggestion of our members, we've created a thread on the subject of "What you would like to see Cork Humanists become", to have your say simply create a profile and click on the following link.
Getting involved in the Cork Humanists
If you are interested in getting involved with the Cork Humanists be it with PR, day to day administration, the website, finances, hospitality, youth, parents, older adults, organising social, charitable, educational projects or events, all you have to do is
with "Committee" in the subject bar and a few sentences of what you had in mind. As we are still getting set up positions can be shared or even created to suit the particular skills and ideas of our members so now is a great time to get involved.
Best wishes,
Annie and Aaron
