Thursday, November 30, 2006

Revised song list for HumanLight celebration

1. HumanLight
2. O Tannenbaum
3. Home for the Holidays
4. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
5. Mr. Santa
6. No ‘L’
7. Sleigh Ride
8. The Good King
9. Jingle Bells (duet)
10. Frosty the Snowman
11. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
12. The First Nowell (duet)
13. I Saw Three Ships (duet)
14. Silent Night (duet)
15. We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Monday, November 27, 2006

Nine Attend November F&F

The November Food & Fellowship was held on Saturday, the 25th, at TeKei’s on Utica. Those present were Glenn, Gail, Dawn, Randy, Ron, Marilyn, Barbara, Jan, and Dan. That’s nine people – a pretty good showing.

Randy told us about a marathon race he had participated in. The course was 26 miles long, and Randy completed it. What a feat!

Barbara told us about the great view she had of fireworks from her apartment high atop the University Tower – that’s the cylindrical building on the east bank of the Arkansas River near downtown.

Other topics of conversation included Chinese food, the Prairie Home Companion movie and Robert Altman, assassinations, Edna St. Vincent Millay, whales, and tiling floors.

In December, there will be a combined HAT meeting and Food & Fellowship gathering. This will take place at the Bradleys (6705 E. 54th) on Saturday, December 16, beginning at 2 PM. The Bradleys will be providing the food. The occasion will be our annual HumanLight celebration.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Minutes for meeting on 11.19.06

At the HAT meeting today nominations were received for officers for 2007. The officers for 2006 were all agreeable to having their names placed in nomination to serve for another year. Thus we will have Randy Bradley as president, Marilyn Clarke as vice-president, Dan Nerren as secretary and treasurer, and Brian Hill as program director.

Attendance was down today with just nine people present. At today’s meeting were Marilyn, Julia, Mary, Polly, Brian, Ron, Sam, and a first time visitor, Vernon. Randy participated in a marathon run today and did not attend, but Marilyn, our vice-president, took over in Randy’s absence. Randy and I had earlier talked about getting a video recorded describing HAT and uploading it to YouTube.com. Vernon, our visitor, said he had some experience in making videos. I think he will assist us in making a video and getting it on You Tube.

Today’s program was presented by Brian Hill. He gave a book review of Piety and Politics by Barry Lynn. He gave us an informative overview of the book -- an excellent presentation, as usual.

Next month HAT will meet at the home of Randy and Dawn Bradley for our annual HumanLight celebration. The Bradleys will provide a light meal. The Secular Singers will provide musical entertainment. This meeting will be on Saturday, December 16, starting at 2:00 PM. There will be no Food & Fellowship gathering in December.

Julia is looking into the possibility of HAT members volunteering for work at a food bank as a community service project.

In January, our program will be the reading of a play. The play for this Readers’ Theater presentation will be selected by Marilyn Clarke. We don’t know at this time how many “actors” will be needed, but if this activity is of interest to anyone reading this, please contact me.

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The ALGAE meeting last Wednesday saw seven old friends coming together for a meal: Dave, Dana, Larry, Julia, Sharon, Patricia, and Dan. It’s always interesting to hear what Dave has been reading. Presently, it is the recently published The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine. This book reveals the mysteries of how the brains of women function. Other topics we talked about included a Nova program about a small group of people who walked using their arms and legs like a dog or cat, South Park TV program, geocaching, science magazines, family reactions upon learning about one’s atheism, and campaign finance reform.

On Saturday a group of five HAT folk drove to Oklahoma City to see an exhibit of Egyptian artifacts at the OKC Museum of Art. Also at the museum we saw many Chuhuly glass works, and we watched a video titled “The Way Things Go.” We then walked to Bricktown, not far away. We then returned to our cars and drove to see a sculpture commemorating the westward expansion of the U.S. We were going to eat at the nearby Bass Pro Shop but discovered there was no restaurant in the building. We drove to a Chinese restaurant a few miles away and ate there.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Weekend events

HAT folk had two opportunities to get together this weekend. The Secular Singers gathered at Randy’s to practice some music for our annual HumanLight Celebration which is scheduled for Saturday, December 16, starting at 2 pm. We have one more rehearsal scheduled before then. It will be on Saturday, Dec. 9, probably starting at 2 pm if that does not conflict with anyone’s schedule.

What a stimulating and wide-ranging discussion we had today at the Humanist Study Group meeting at Hardesty Library. In addition to myself, the others there were Randy, Glenn, Dave, Ron, Audrey, Marilyn, Mary, Richard, Sam, Russ, Polly, Larry, and Don. An attendance of 14 is pretty good for our small group. The subject of discussion was an article by Steve Paulson, “The Flying Spaghetti Monster.” No one believes there is a flying spaghetti monster, just as in Bertrand Russell’s day no one believed there was a silver teapot orbiting Mars. Yet neither of these concepts and be proven not to exist.

Randy asked that each of us put in writing our own personal philosophy. He would like for us at some future meeting(s) to read our statement to the group.

I had to miss the first ten minutes of the meeting. I have been attending Church of the Restoration on Sunday mornings, and that often puts me late getting to 1pm meetings. If any of you would like to add your recollections of the discussion, please use the comment option.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

HumanLight 2006 Planning

Nothing is set in stone, but this is more or less the way I envision the program shaping up. We have a set of 15 songs. (If this seems too long, we will cut some.) The program is mostly vocal music with a few instrumental selections. Numbers 10, 11, and 12 will be sing-along.

1. HumanLight
2. O Tannenbaum
3. Home for the Holidays
4. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
5. Mr. Santa
6. No ‘L’
7. Sleigh Ride
8. The Good King
9. No Masters and No Gods For Me
10. Jingle Bells
11. Frosty the Snowman
12. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
13. I Saw Three Ships
14. Silent Night
15. We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Sunday, November 05, 2006

November Calendar

November 2006
Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Sat., Nov. 4, 7:00pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th St. Two piano duets (from the movies) by Gail & Dan. Feature presentation to be chosen that night.

Sat., Nov. 11, 5pm to 7pm
Secular Singers at the Bradleys. All are welcome. We will focus on getting ready for our annual HumanLight (www.humanlight.org) celebration coming in December to be held once again at the Bradleys. The program will soon be posted on the HAT blog.

Sun., Nov. 12, 1:00pm
Humanist Study Group at Hardesty Library, on 93rd near Memorial. Topic: Richard Dawkins and the Flying Spaghetti Monster. See www.salon.com/books/int/2006/10/13/dawkins/

Wed., Nov. 15, 11:20am
ALGAE (A Little Group of Atheists Eating), luncheon at White River Fish Market, 1708 N. Sheridan.

Sun., Nov. 19, 1:00pm
HAT Monthly Membership Meeting at Hardesty Regional Library. Business: Nominations for officers for 2007. Program: Brian Hill will review Barry Lynn’s new book Piety and Politics: The Right-Wing Assault on Religious Freedom.

Sat., Nov. 25, 11:30am
Food and Fellowship at TeKei’s Asian Restaurant at 1616 S. Utica.

Sun., Nov. 26, 2pm
Tulsa Atheist Rendezvous/Tulsa Atheist Meetup We will meet at Border’s Bookstore on 21st St. near BA Expy on the second floor near the computer books. Additional details will be posted later at http://atheists.meetup.com/477 and www.tulsaar.blogspot.com.

Field Trip to OKC Plans are being made to caravan to OKC to view an exhibit at the Oklahoma City Art Museum, possibly on Nov. 18. Details to follow.

Questions? Call Dan at 798-3629

Movie Night at the Bradley Abode

I feel so fortunate to know Randy and Dawn Bradley. They open their house to us the first Saturday evening each month for the HAT Movie Night.

In addition to the Bradleys last Saturday, there were Sharon, Gail, Dan, Jan, Marilyn, Sam, and Audrey present. After a few moments of light repartee and jocular banter, Gail and Dan sat down at the piano and knocked out a couple of tunes: “The John Dunbar Theme” and “Moon River.”

We next retired to the Bradley Media Center for the evening’s DVD entertainment. First we watched a five-minute segment from Buena Vista Social Club – a duet sung by Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo. Next we watched two 30-minute episodes of Penn and Teller’s Bullshit! TV series. The episodes we watched were titled “Signs from Heaven: The Virgin Mary or Grilled Cheese Sandwich” and “Conspiracy Theories.” We talked about watching “Circumcision: Snip and Chuck” but decided instead to watch A Prairie Home Companion. Many of you are familiar with Garrison Keillor’s radio show by the same name. It’s a delightful show filled with music, storytelling, and cornball humor. The radio show serves as the setting for the movie.

In addition to the popcorn and soft drinks provided by the Bradleys, Gail brought homemade bread pudding and Audrey brought cheese and crackers. I feasted upon these treats as if I had not eaten all day. It’s good to be alive and great when you can be among friends.