BHC Goes to the Cyclones

On Friday night, a group of us met at Keyspan Park to attend the Cyclones game and view the fireworks. It was one of those iffy days, with hot, muggy weather that threatened rain several times. The radio stations warned of thunderstorms come evening.

But the thunderstorms never came, and we had a great time socializing and watching the game. As group leader (because I made the reservations), I received a red Brooklyn Cyclones cap that will keep the sun off my head this summer.

Selma brought a camera and quite a few pictures were taken. When they are developed, I'll try to get them scanned so I can post them on the blog. We had an excellent turnout, with 22 people including some family and friends.

The game was one of those tense ones that turns out great. The Ironbirds were ahead for a number of innings, 3 to 0. But finally somewhere mid-game, the Cyclones scored. I was at the food stands but knew they scored when I heard the shouting.

For a couple of innings the score was tied, and we suspected the game would go into overtime. But no, at the last minute, at the end of the ninth inning, the Cyclones brought in the winning score.

The Friday night fireworks were timed to wait until the game was over. So as soon as the Cyclones made their final score, the fireworks began. It was a great ending to a fun outing.

We got our first bit of publicity, too. Our name, The Brooklyn Humanist Community, appeared on the screen in the middle of the fourth inning, along with the names of other groups attending the game. If you turned your head for a second you missed it, but we were there!

On Sunday we've got the book club, and then on Friday there's the July 4th party. Summer is starting off with a bang!

June Planning Meeting

Here are the draft minutes of our June 19th planning meeting, to be formalized in July.

Start Time 7:34Pm, June 19th, 2008

Present: Ruth Pikitch, Celeste Leibowitz, Bruce Leibowitz, Jason Leibowitz, Tony Severo, Annette Bernstein, Antionette Wagnerman, Adriana Baker, Dorothy Wood, Maureen Egginton, Remi Gay

1. Go Around

1.a. Agenda
We decided to add a discussion of last month's decision to collect $25 in seed money from our "core group" to the agenda.

2. Seed Money. Last month we decided that the Core Group would pay $25 Dollars per person as seed money for BHC. How we should do this?Some favored giving in their checks at the meeting. Another suggestion was to collect the money at the July 4th party at the Severo's. There was some discussion of how people will become members and whether the core group and/or new people need to go through a training process.

Resolution 1. Those present at the planning meeting of June 19, 2008 agreed to use the July 4th gathering to invite the community to contribute seed money in the amount of $25 dollars per person to assist in the operation of BHC.

Resolution 1 passed by Consensus.

Resolution 2. Those present at the planning meeting of June 19, 2008 agreed to open a checking account for BHC as a DBA or a regular checking account with Ruth Pikitch and Bruce Leibowitz as signatories.

Resolution 2 passed by Consensus.

3. Incorporation Task Force Update: Tony Severo gave the report on the work of the incorporation task force. He displayed a listing of tax exempt entities as recognized under the IRS in its Section 501. Of these, the typical 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization is probably the best known. This list can be found at Types of Tax-Exempt Organizations

Would the mission statement as written by the Mission Statement Task Force fit with the NY state law on incorporating as a religion under Article 10 (as outlined for us last August by Kurt Johnson)? A suggestion was made to add the word "spiritual" in either of two places as our quest truly is a spiritual one.The group of meeting attendees has asked Tony Severo to ask Peter Murphy about Religious incorporation based on the current mission statement.

Resolution 3. Those present at the planning meeting of June 19, 2008 agreed to approve the following misson statement:

The Brooklyn Humanist Community meets to support the (spiritual) quest for a meaningful life through reflection, education, social action and the arts.

We aspire to make the world a kinder place and a society that respects the individual and that cultivates the best in everyone.

Some of us consider the search for a philosophy of life as great a commitment as those in traditional religions. Others of us consider the search itself enough.

Whatever your orientation, you are welcome to join us.

Passed by Consensus.

4. Outreach (brainstorming)
Newsletter: Remi has offered to produce a newsletter.
Invite a friend
Flyers: Maureen has offered to create a brand for us and a template to use when creating flyers for our upcoming events. We should provide publicity for guest speakers
Post flyers in libraries
Join Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and have access to their website and after-hours events
Ads and billboards
Celeste invites everyone to write comments and original reports to the BHC blog at Brooklyn Humanist Community .

5. Community or Charitable projects (brainstorming).
Contact everyone with what you do.
Donate things to a charity in the name of BHC.
Get sponsorship for our activities.
Antoinette mentions a company that does these sponsorships. (Mariano's?)
Annette suggests we sell things and send the proceeds to the women's shelter at the Armory, also that some volunteers work with sorting the clothing there.
We could be spiritual counselors for those who indicate no religion at intake to nursing homes. (Suggested by Antoinette).
Rent a table at a street fair, sell items and donate the money to a charity.
Jason suggests that some people join him in volunteering at Seaside Therapeutic Riding.
Without taking it to a formal resolution, we agreed to come up with one or two projects per year that we would commit to work on as a group, possibly one local project and one global one. Celeste as communications point person was asked to send out an email asking who will do what, in order to get this organized and off the ground.
We might ask everyone to work on these projects no less than 10-20 hours a year.
Adriana suggests microloans similar to the work of the "Trickle Up" foundation, and agrees to bring in a proposal on how to go about doing this.
Suggestion: donate coats or other items in the BHC's name in order to generate publicity.
Bruce suggests hands on work, possibly with the homeless.
Another suggestion was made to help brain-injured soldiers from the Iraq war.

6. Next Planning Meeting will take place on July 17, 2008, at Ruth P.'s apartment, 6:30 PM. We will discuss more about the Incorporation issue and devote most of the meeting to Social Action. Jason L. will preside.

7. Closing go around

Meeting adjourned at 9:56 PM.
Minutes by Jason L., revised by Celeste L.

June Reflection

Last night 10 of us met at Antoinette and Michael's home for another Reflection evening with Dr. Kurt Johnson. As usual the food was excellent. There was a huge salad with tiny mozzarellas, roasted red peppers, and tomatoes. We had barbecued chicken, couscous with vegetables, antipasta, and pepperoni and blue cheese. So everyone ate very well before Constance rang her chimes and summoned us into the living room for the Reflection.

This time we discussed the Ten Keys to Happiness, by Deepak Chopra. We brought up and discussed the points that struck a chord with us. Several of us brought up the difficulty of avoiding anger at a person or circumstance, as well as how hard it is not to pass judgment.

Kurt explained the "keys" in greater detail. He pointed out that some of them have been made into cliches that really aren't accurate. For instance he said, there's an idea floating around out there that whatever makes you angry in another person is also a fault or failing of your own. He said, that's not what is really meant. It is more that when we react angrily to something, it is because we are carrying files in our mind from past hurtful experiences, and we are acting out of fear that this current situation is the same and will result in the same hurt. So yes, when we get angry at someone we are struggling with ourselves, but it does not mean that we have the same characteristic that is upsetting us. It is the internal files we are struggling with.

As far as judgment, Kurt said, it's different from discernment. There's nothing wrong with being able to discern that something is attractive, something else is unattractive, etc. There is also nothing wrong with perceiving something in society that is causing a problem and needs to be changed. I was glad to hear his explanation because in the past I have thought that the "nonjudgment" ideal meant we shouldn't strive to change anything. Kurt said that someone (forget the name) has said, "Everything is perfect as it is, but it can always be made better."

Another Key to Happiness people were struck by was the one about being the sole judge of our own worth, and that we can relinquish the need for external approval. We discussed this in relation to understanding the source of a critical remark: is it meant constructively, or does it grow out of envy? We also talked about society pushing children into highly competitive situations at a very young age (five year olds in soccer games, with the parents sitting there pushing their kids to victory), and about the difficulties faced by celebrities, who depend on external approval for their daily bread and butter.

I appreciate everyone's comments and insights, and I am very grateful that Kurt continues to lead these Reflections. Kurt is a theologian and environmentalist who moves in circles that most of us only hear about. He's discussed spiritual issues with some of the best-known spiritual leaders, and he brings back the insights he has gained to our Brooklyn Humanist Community. Much gratitude to Kurt!

BHC Book Club: A Thousand Splendid Suns

On Saturday, May 31st, we gathered at Sheila's home for a discussion of A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. We had a lively conversation before we got into talking about the book, as we devoured the wonderful spread Sheila provided, plus the extras people brought.

We talked about the relationship between the two main characters, Lila and Mariam. While it was touching that they at first could not stand each other but later came to love each other to the point where Mariam killed their husband Rasheed as he was beating Lila, I found the book mostly brought out my anger at the ongoing oppression of women in fundamentalist cultures, particularly fundamentalist Islam.

We did note that quite a few of the rules and regulations set down by the Taliban weren't all that different from the strictures observed by Hasidic women! I'm not all that suprised by this because fanatical religion is fanatical religion, and it seems most fanatical religion thrives on oppressing women. The big difference is that under the Taliban women could be arrested, beaten, or killed, and no one would have cared. Those rules were law in Afghanistan and that is not the case here in terms of the Hasidim. Nor is it likely to be since they appear only concerned with whether those in their own sects follow their rules.

At the end we veered off into a discussion of politics and some of us said we felt the media has been against Hillary Clinton because there is still a large contingent of Americans who do not want a woman to become President.

Before we left, we made plans all the way through to the end of September. The next book we will read will be The Five People You Meet in Heaven. I'm looking forward to that.

Sheila runs an excellent discussion and is always well-prepared to lead us with thought provoking questions. Because of her, the BHC Book Club is a major success.

Planning Meeting May 22nd

We had an excellent turnout for the planning meeting on May 22nd at Ruth's apartment. The potluck dinner beforehand was delicious. There were cold cuts, cheese, and all kinds of other items. Roger brought a delicious freshly baked bread with bits of black cabbage baked into it. Constance made couscous with vegetables. The BHC certainly knows how to cook -- and eat!

Tony presided over the meeting. We started late but managed to finish up in about an hour and a half. There were three major decisions: (1) to collect seed money towards our start up needs, (2) to invite an out-of-town speaker to one of our meetings, and pay his travel expenses, provided we could get a particular room that would be worthy of his ability to draw a crowd, and would give us the opportunity to do outreach, and (3) we formed a task force of Tony, Remi and me, for the purpose of researching types of incorporation and how we can go about it.

Our next planning meeting is set for June 19th and it looks like I'm going to preside. Kudos to Tony for running the meeting so well, and for making sure we set a date for the next meeting before we left.