Book Club Movie Afternoon

Last Sunday we met at Sheila's for a movie afternoon. Sheila hosted a viewing of "The Five People You Meet in Heaven," which we discussed at the last book club meeting. If anything I felt the movie was even better than the book. The photography was beautiful and Jon Voight's acting has always been excellent. They did a great job making him look like a man in his eighties, when he's probably 20 years younger than that.

For some reason I found the story more touching when I was viewing it. That's the opposite of my experience when I read most books. Generally I enjoy the book and find myself disappointed by the movie. But this time they were very true to the book and only left out a few nonessential scenes. Everything of importance was there, unchanged.

When the film was over, I wasn't the only one wiping away tears. We briefly discussed the movie and then headed out to dinner at El Greco.

Next month we'll be discussing another fantasy of a sort, a speculative fiction by Philip Roth, The Plot Against America. I've already read it but may look at it again before we meet. Kudos again to Sheila, who runs such a great book club. I feel I've learned quite a lot since we started.

Planning Meeting July 17th

Last Thursday we held a planning meeting for the BHC at our apartment. There were only six of us...three Leibowitzes and three guests. Because it was such a small meeting we added a discussion on how many members we'd need for a quorum to make major decisions that go to the structure of the organization. We proposed 7 as the minimum, but will poll the membership to see whether they agree.

We also decided to elect 3 officers, the bare minimum required for a nonprofit organization (which we hope to become eventually). Nominations were put forward and we agreed that I will send out a letter and email asking the members to vote for a President, Treasurer, and Secretary.

Finally, we decided to do two projects this coming year: working with veterans in some capacity, and working to stop sex trafficking in children. Ruth is going to investigate the Veterans' Hospital in Brooklyn and Antoinette is looking into local organizations working on the sex trafficking issue to find out how we can lend a hand.

Coming up in August we have a Reflection, our First Anniversary Lunch, and Book Club. And in September, we're back to the libraries for more of our programs, this time with some guest speakers.

July 4th Party Pictures

July 4th party food

For those who attended, here's a delicious memory. For those who didn't, here's a look at some of our delicious potluck salads. While I don't have photos of the barbecued items, I can assure everyone that it was all beautifully charred and tasty.

July 4th Party

The Brooklyn Humanist Community celebrated our nation's birthday in style and with the usual potluck food orgy. We met at Tony and Melanie's and partied for at least 4 hours, enjoying barbecue, many potluck salads, and excellent conversation.

A few photos of the party (and excellent eats) follows.

BHC Book Club: Heaven Comes to Sheepshead Bay

"They say in Heaven, love comes first

We'll make Heaven a place on Earth," -- Belinda Carlisle

On Sunday we met at Sheila's to discuss Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Sheila welcomed us to Heaven at the door to her apartment. Certainly, the food and munchies were heavenly! There were two big fruit salads, cookies and cake and candies. Someone brought sliced corned beef, and Ruth K. brought a Swiss Chard dish with pine nuts. There were knishes and crab cakes, too.

Sheila designed a fun exercise for us that actually tapped into a lot of deep emotion. She asked us to draw a picture of our idea of Heaven, and then to list the 10 people we'd like to meet there. This was based on the premise of the book, that each soul designs his or her own version of Heaven, and that you meet 5 people who explain your life's meaning to you.

I especially liked Antoinette's version of Heaven, where everyone could be his or her most desired self, at the ideal age and body proportions of the person's choosing. Jason, who came to be our newest and youngest (and so far, our only male) member, wanted his Heaven to be like the Redwall books, where we could all be the creatures of our choice and could shapeshift at will.

Annette suprised us by listing Che Guevera as one of the ten people she wanted to meet in Heaven. But in general we listed family members and close friends. There were some tears as people mentioned loved ones who died all too soon, so this became a very touching exercise. It's wonderful that we are sharing so openly.

I'm looking forward to the next meeting, when we will watch the film version of this book, go to dinner, and return to watch "The Kite Runner." Maybe we'll start to get more participants as word spreads, but already we had an excellent turnout and had to bring extra chairs into the living room. The BHC Book Club is heavenly, all right!