New Exec Board for 2013-2014!!

Congratulations and a warm and happy welcome to these people!

President: Brian Green

Co-Vice Presidents: Emma Tehrani and Jay Feldman

Secretary: Vivien Castillo

Treasurer: Sean Sullivan

PR Director: Lauren Daurizio

Execs at Large: Gwendolyn Sandoboe and Samantha Finley

Religion for Atheists? - A Spirit Week Event

Religion for Atheists

When: Sunday, April 28 12:30–2 pm

Where: Rockefeller, Uncommon Room

A discussion based on philosopher Alain de Botton’s book of the same 

name which argues that “it must be possible to remain a committed atheist and nevertheless find religions sporadically useful, interesting and consoling.” Do you agree? Think he’s full of nonsense? 

Come have lunch and talk about religion as separate from belief, with believers and unbelievers alike.

There will be lunch served! Hope to see you all there!

Spirit Week Events Schedule: http://spirit.uchicago.edu/pdf/Spirit%20Life%20Flyer%20S13.pdf

Weekly Update! Elections, Game Night, Ask an Atheist Day! So many wonderful things!

It's third week! That is exciting because we have SO MANY wonderful events coming up!! Read on to find out about all of them!

Meeting Reminder

You know it's been coming, I've been reminding you about it incessantly, you must be as excited for it as I am...this week's meeting is...Elections!! That's right, our meeting this week, April 18, at 5:45, in the Uncommon Room is going to be an extravaganza of democracy. We are going to vote harder than anyone has voted before. We are going to channel Benjamin Franklin and Aaron Burr. We are going to ensure the continued existence of SA. We are going to eat pizza and ice cream. (Email lheins74@gmail.com with dietary restrictions). Doesn't that sound awesome? So come!

And of course, nominations are still open until elections begin, so feel free to keep nominating. You can check out the current nominees here. Also, recognize that perhaps we need more positions! Poster fairy? Food czar? Webmaster? 

All non-standard positions will have their existence voted on by the exec, but other than that, you're good to go!

Upcoming events:

• Game Night is this Wednesday, April 17, 7pm-10pm, at Jay Feldman's apartment. It's going to be really fun, so come, play games, eat food and have a good time. You can feel free to come late or bring games if you want. Facebook event here.
• Ask an Atheist Day is this Thursday, April 18. Stop by our table outside of Cobb Hall to pick up candy and stickers, tell other people to come by and ask us any questions about atheism they like, and if you have a half hour at some point, join us at the table! You can sign up for slots here, but also feel free to just show up. Also, support us by saying you're coming on facebook!
• Kate Donovan of Northwestern University is giving a talk on the myths and misconceptions surrounding schizophrenia this Saturday, April 20. Find more information here and contact me at cmessinger@uchicago.edu if you want to go.

Future Events

• Tim Short will be giving a talk on growing up in the South, being homeschooled by fundamentalist parents, and going to and then leaving Liberty University on Monday, April 29 (fifth week).
• Jesse Galef will be giving a talk called Defense Against the Dark Arts: The Ethics and Psychology of Persuasion Monday, May 6 (6th week). That's going to be extra super awesome. 
• Tuesday of 7th week, we'll be screening Dogma! More information to come on that soon.
• The Secular Student Alliance National Conference is in June! There are actually two of them, and they're accepting registration now! It would be really fun to go with a lot of you, so consider registering!

Links: 

• Guys, I updated our calendar! It has all of our upcoming events! Check it out! 
• In the midst of recent discussions of Islamophobia and language, I think that this post by Alonso Fyfe about the phrase "barbarian Muslims" is really thoughtful and appropriate. 
• From last week: The longer fictional thought-experiment on lookism.
• Sort of re: our meeting two weeks ago: Is the Christian church a place for LGBT people?
• And the election nomination form, in case you forgot, is here.

See you all on Thursday!

Atheist Shoes, Attractive People, Fun Hangout Time and Elections! Lots of important stuff here, folks!

Hello hello hello! Welcome to second week!

Our meeting this week, April 11, at 5:45, in the Uncommon Room is going to be really really awesome. We are going to talk about lookism. Bet that's an -ism you haven't heard of, but in fact, attractive people are more successful in a variety of ways. Weird, right? To blow your mind even more, we'd love it if you read this great short piece before the meeting (won't take longer than 10 minutes or so) since we'll be discussing it. Come with your stories of having seen or experienced lookism in any directions, your feelings about its existence and what you would do to change it if you could. 

(Also, the reading linked to is an excerpt from a slightly longer piece, which is definitely worth a read if you've got a bit of time).

Elections!

• You knew I was going to talk about elections, right? So here's the deal. The form is here. You all should keep nominating yourselves (and other people! you know awesome and brilliant people in this organization that would be good at exec, right?).  I have not yet emailed people who have been nominated for things, so I will start doing that in a few days. Then, on Monday, April 15, I will post all nominations up to that point, so people can see what's going on, and adjust their nominations or add more.
• Please nominate people (and yourselves)! If you're worried about competition or want to wait until you see the list, don't! Nominate first, see the list, and then you can nominate more or withdraw as you wish!
• People can run in absentia! They'll just have to email in a short paragraph about why they should get the position.
• Feel free to ask me or other execs questions by email or facebook or in person any time about exec and positions and what it's like.

Announcements/Upcoming events:

• Elections are third week, April 18th!
• We're having a game night Wednesday of 5th week, May 1st, at Jay Feldman's apartment. Keep the date open!
• We'll also be screening the hilarious movie Dogma Monday of 7th week, May 13,so keep that evening open as well.
• The Secular Student Alliance National Conference is in June! There are actually two of them, and they're accepting registration now! It would be really fun to go with a lot of you, so consider registering!

Links: 

• What do you think of Sam Harris and his response to all of his critics?
• If you didn't go to SkepTech, that's ok! The videos are coming up here!
• Regarding our conversation about gay marriage last week, here are some critiques of the Red profile picture equals symbol and the Human Rights Campaign
• Atheist shoemakers do citizen science to figure out why their packages went missing. Anti-atheism bigotry, perhaps? Also, I want those shoes.
• And the election nomination form, in case you forgot, is here.

See you all on Thursday!

Welcome Back! Meeting this week + elections!

Meetings are at the same time and place as last year, so come to the UnCommon Room in Rockefeller Chapel at 5:45 for cookies, warm drinks and a relaxed meeting. People have been telling me that they'd like the chance to actually meet each other, so we'll make introductions, hang out, and chat about Prop 8, DOMA and the Supreme Court as well as anything else we'd like.

ELECTIONS!!!

Elections are third week!! As of now, the only nomination we have is for Christopher Hitchens for President. As excellent of a job as I think he'd do, I'd like some other folks in the running. Here's how it works:

1. You use THIS FORM to nominate yourself or someone else for an exec position. If you've nominated someone else, I will email them telling them they've been nominated.

2. If they accept the nomination, their name will go on the list of nominated people which I will keep updated and public to people. Nominations can be made up until elections actually start.

3. On our SA meeting of third week, we will all meet in the uncommon room, where there will be pizza and ice cream. 

4. We will hold elections, starting with election for President, and then going through VP, secretary, treasurer, PR director, Exec at Large, etc. 

5. Then we have a new exec! Hooray!!

Please, please, let me know if you have any questions. I strongly encourage anyone who wants to get more involved to run. Exec positions are created by the people who inhabit them, and they're definitely very malleable. The exec at large positions in particular can be whatever you want them to be, in coordination with the new president. You can also (there's room on the form) add new positions, like webmaster, food czar (responsible for getting food for meetings), grand master of all existence, etc.

SPECIAL ATTENTION FIRST YEARS: Yes, you can run for things! We have had at least one second year on exec every year this club has been in existence, and we really want you to be involved. You are, to be cliche and overly earnest, the future of this club. If you're worried about commitment or time issues, I recommend treasurer, PR director or exec at large. I promise it can be done, and it's really worth being involved. Talk to me if you have questions or concerns!

Again, here's the form!!

Skeptech Conference

Details:

There's a free conference taking place in Minneapolis April 5 and 6. There will be PZ Myers and Greta Christina and Miri Mogilevsky and Jesse Galef and many other awesome people. The website is here. If you're interested in going, let me know and we can organize hotel and transportation.

Final Weekly Update of Quarter

This email comes to you in 3 very special parts.

Part I: Elections!!!

Elections are going to be third week of next quarter, so it's very important that we start nomination people now. Here's how it works:

1. You use THIS FORM to nominate yourself or someone else for an exec position (I'll list and describe the positions below). If you've nominated someone else, I will email them telling them they've been nominated.

2. If they accept the nomination, their name will go on the list of nominated people which I will keep updated and public to people. Nominations can be made up until elections actually start.

3. On our SA meeting of third week, we will all meet in the uncommon room, where there will be pizza and ice cream. 

4. We will hold elections, starting with election for President, and then going through VP, secretary, treasurer, PR director, Exec at Large, etc. 

5. Then we have a new exec! Wins and profits!

Please, please, let me know if you have any questions. I strongly encourage anyone who wants to get more involved to run. Exec positions are created by the people who inhabit them, and they're definitely very malleable. The exec at large positions in particular can be whatever you want them to be, in coordination with the new president. You can also (there's room on the form) add new positions, like webmaster, food czar (responsible for getting food for meetings), grand master of all existence, etc.

SPECIAL ATTENTION FIRST YEARS: Yes, you can run for things! We have had at least one second year on exec every year this club has been in existence, and we really want you to be involved. You are, to be cliche and overly earnest, the future of this club. If you're worried about commitment or time issues, I recommend treasurer, PR director or exec at large. I promise it can be done, and it's really worth being involved. Talk to me if you have questions or concerns!

Again, here's the form!!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Part II: Skeptech Conference

There's a free conference taking place in Minneapolis April 5 and 6. There will be PZ Myers and Greta Christina and Miri Mogilevsky and Jesse Galef and many other awesome people. The website is here. If you're interested in going, let me know and we can organize hotel and transportation.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Part III: A Movie

Take a break from finals and watch this movie, made by our very own Samantha Finley. Definitely worth 14 minutes of your time.

You guys are great!

Study Break

Date: Wednesday, March 13
Time: 6pm
Location: Harper 151

Info: Instead of our normal meeting, we're going to be screening two god/religion related episodes of Star Trek and eating pizza on Wednesday, March 13 at 6pm in Harper 151. Facebook page here.

Rand Paul talked for 12 hours, so we can definitely hang out for 1: Weekly Update!

Did you all watch Rand Paul? I didn't, but I hear he put on quite a show. Also, we got this website out of it: israndpaulstilltalking.com

I'm sorry for sending this email out so late, but we absolutely do still have a meeting tomorrow/today, March 7, at 5:45, in the Uncommon Room as always. Johnny Antos is going to lead a great conversation about how parents, friends and others might not react particularly well to us telling them that we don't believe in god anymore. How should people come out? What's a reasonable parental reaction? Is there anything to which you would respond badly if your children told you about it? All kinds of interesting questions. 

Announcements/Upcoming events:

• Study Break Next Week! Instead of our normal meeting, we're going to be screening two god/religion related episodes of Star Trek and eating pizza on Wednesday, March 13 at 6pm in Harper 151. Facebook page here.

Links: 

• House of cardinals! Now that the pope is gone, a parody of how to replace them.
• Rick Santorum and Pastor Jeffress are just thrilled to hear that they've been featured in American Atheists' new ad campaign. 
• A baby got cured of HIV! Amazing! But can it be replicated?
• United States Catholics don't really appear to agree with Catholic teachings.
• A good reminder about politics.

Weekly update! God in pop culture, science and faith, dolphins!

We have a meeting tomorrow, February 28st, at 5:45, in the Uncommon Room as always. Our own Brian Green is going to talk about depictions of god and gods in pop culture, especially comic books and graphic novels, so that's going to be awesome. We can talk about what god we'd design if we has free artistic reign and what gods are or should be. Like, what if you have something called a god but he or she is super lame? Exactly.

So I'll bring snacks and you should bring yourselves.

Announcements/Upcoming events:

• A Discussion on Science and Faith, TODAY: South Lounge of Reynolds Club at 4pm. Dr. Jennifer Wiseman will be speaking. Dr. Wiseman is an astronomer and Director of the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is the Senior Project Scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. I'll probably go and live tweet.
• Screwing with Norms: Not strictly related to secularism, but Tea Time and Sex Chats is a cool organization doing instructional talks/discussions about sex. In this talk, they're talking about sexual norms, defaults and scripts that we may have believed or still believe in. Skepticism applied to everything! Harper 140, 7pm, with snacks.
• Skepticamp is this Saturday! If you want to go to a free gathering of skeptics and hear 18 cool 20 minute talks, join me and some other SA members at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N. Knox Ave., Chicago, IL 60630, March 2, 11am to 6pm. Their facebook group is here.
• Tenth week study break! Instead of our normal meeting, we're going to be screening two god/religion related episodes of Star Trek and buying pizza on Wednesday, March 13. Time and location TBD.

Links: 

• How to become pope. 
• So these frat brothers are totally awesome.
• Holy shit, dolphins call each other by name.
• Vaccines are awesome, as proven by this infographic

See you guys tomorrow!

A Discussion on Science and Faith

Date: Wednesday, February 27
Time: 4pm
Location: South Lounge of Reynolds Club

Info:
Dr. Jennifer Wiseman will be speaking. Dr. Wiseman is an astronomer and Director of the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is the Senior Project Scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

7th Week Update! Bruce Lincoln and Pizza!

Seven is a lucky number, which means seventh week must be going awesomely for everyone, right? No? Am I fired from atheism for being superstitious?

Either way, we have a really exciting and important upcoming meeting tomorrow, February 21st, at 5:45, in the Uncommon Room as always. Bruce Lincoln, a professor from the Div School is coming to talk to us, so it's important that we come and give him all our support. Also, we're having pizza!! Check out his website here and wikipedia page here (if someone has a wikipedia page that means they're legit). 

Here's what we know about him:

"Bruce Lincoln emphasizes critical approaches to the study of religion. He is particularly interested in issues of discourse, practice, power, conflict, and the violent reconstruction of social borders. His research tends to focus on the religions of pre-Christian Europe and pre-Islamic Iran, but he has a notoriously short attention span and has also written on a bewildering variety of topics, including Guatemalan curanderismo, Lakota sun dances, Melanesian funerary rituals, Swazi kingship, the Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre, Marco Polo, professional wrestling, Persian imperialism, the theology of George W. Bush, and comparative demonology. "

So come with questions, open ears and empty stomachs.

Announcements/Upcoming events: 

• Bible Study for Atheists Today! 6pm, Hutch. There will be snacks. Study Mark 3 with cool people!
• A Discussion on Science and Faith, February 27th, South Lounge of Reynolds Club at 4pm. Dr. Jennifer Wiseman will be speaking. Dr. Wiseman is an astronomer and Director of the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is the Senior Project Scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
• Interested in cool talks about skepticism? Skepticamp is a free event/gathering of skeptics taking place March 2, from 11am to 6pm, at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N. Knox Ave., Chicago, IL 60630 (more information in the facebook group)

Links: 

• The Fermi Paradox Song! Where are all the aliens??
• Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. Read it. Please. Just try it. 
• In the same vein, check out Luminosity, a rationalist fic, of, get this, Twilight. It's awesome, I promise.

See you guys tomorrow!

Fifth Weekly Update: Time Travel, Asking Religious Advisers about Sex, and Defections from the Westboro Baptist Church

Iiiiit's fifth week! How are the midterms going? Everyone staying warm? Ready for Sex Week? 

We have a meeting tomorrow, Thursday, February 7th, 5:45 pm, in the UnCommon Room! (Remember: down the hall and to the left in the Rockefeller Chapel basement.) We're going to talk about Time Travel.

Announcements/Upcoming events (Mostly sex week related): 

• Sex Week is next week! It's going to be a whole amazing week of great events, which you can find out about through the website (www.sexweekuchicago.com) and by signing up for the listhost, which you can do through the website. 
• There is going to be an event where you get to ask four religious advisors any questions you want about religion and sexuality. Have a challenge? Is there something you always wanted to know? Want to learn about the varieties of religious opinion on sexuality? Want to talk to other students about their experiences with religion and sexuality? This event's for you! 4pm Thursday, February 14.
• There will be THREE amazing atheist speakers: Greta Christina, talking about Atheism and Sexuality; Cliff Pervocracy, talking about consciousamory, an approach to sex and relationships, and Natalie Reed, talking about fourth wave, or trans-feminism. 
• My sister, Giuliana Serena, is going to be talking about body-positive approaches to menstruation, for both men and women. It's going to be awesome. Finally, Jay Feldman and I are going to be leading a workshop on what sex ed should look like. 
• Interested in cool talks about skepticism? Skepticamp is a free event/gathering of skeptics taking place March 2, from 11am to 6pm, at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N. Knox Ave., Chicago, IL 60630 (more information in the facebook group)

Links: 

• What do you guys think about religious arguments for gay marriage? Useful for making political arguments? Or making everything worse? 
• Megan Phelps-Roper and Libby Phelps-Alvarez have left the Westboro Baptist Church! I guess no one is beyond questioning, and thank goodness. 
• Oh Texas education and your tenuous relationship with science, evidence and reality. The anti-evolution fight continues!
• Look, atheist church! 300 people! Isn't that amazing?

See you guys tomorrow!

Judaism Discussion

Date: Wednesday, January 30
Time: 6:30pm
Location: UChicago Hillel, 5715 S. Woodlawn Ave, Chicago, Illinois
RSVP: Facebook event here.


Info: Chana is leading a discussion about Judaism and whether the practice of the law is essential to it. Any of you atheist Jews or people just interested in Judaism might be interested in coming by Hillel and having bagels. It'll be fun! 

Weekly Update 4: Bubbles, Oobleck, Boy Scouts and Jewish Law

Fourth week! Midterms are starting, the snow is melting and...oh wait it's going to be cold again tomorrow. Hope you're all bundled up!

We have a meeting this Thursday, January 31st, 5:45 pm, in the UnCommon Room! (Remember: down the hall and to the left in the Rockefeller Chapel basement.)

First week we talked about tragedy. Second week we did thought experiments. Third week we discussed bias. These are big heavy topics. Obviously, we need a light, relaxed, AWESOME meeting to chill us out. 

And what is both relaxing and AWESOME? Science. 

So we're either going to make polyhedral (cubical, pyramidal) bubbles:

which are both AWESOME and have to do with surface area to volume ratios and surface tension.

OR

We'll make oobleck

which is the coolest thing ever and is also about nonnewtonian fluids and shear and also goopy messes that are fun to play with. 

We'll let you know which when we decide. 

Announcements/Upcoming events: 

• This Wednesday, January 30, I'm leading a discussion about Judaism and whether the practice of the law is essential to it. Any of you atheist Jews or people just interested in Judaism might be interested in coming by Hillel and having bagels at6:30 pm. It'll be fun! Facebook event here.
• Sex Week is happening sixth week! It's going to be a whole amazing week of great events, which you can find out about through the website (www.sexweekuchicago.com) and by signing up for the listhost, which you can do through the website. There will be no fewer than THREE amazing atheist speakers: Greta Christina, talking about Atheism and Sexuality; Cliff Pervocracy, talking about consciousamory, an approach to sex and relationships, and Natalie Reed, talking about fourth wave, or trans-feminism. Also, my sister, Giuliana Serena, is going to be talking about body-positive approaches to menstruation, for both men and women. It's going to be awesome. Finally, Jay Feldman and I are going to be leading a workshop on what sex ed should look like. 
• Interested in cool talks about skepticism? Skepticamp is a free event/gathering of skeptics taking place March 2, from 11am to 6pm, at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N. Knox Ave., Chicago, IL 60630 (more information in the facebook group)

Links: 

• Israel has admitted to nonconsensually administering birth control to Ethiopian citizens. Beyond awful, and totally racist. 
• You guys might have heard of a proposed Arizona bill to make high school students swear an oath to graduate. An oath that mentions god, thereby excluding the nonreligious. Luckily, they've backed off, in part thanks to the wonderful work ofSerah Blain, who you should all know and love. 
• We tend to talk about people who are anti-atheist or anti-gay as being on the "wrong side of history." Ian Cromwell thinks maybe we should stop using that phrase. What do you guys think?
• Boy scouts won't discriminate against gay people anymore! But they still don't want atheists. :(

See you guys Thursday!

Weekly Update

Meeting Reminder: Next meeting tomorrow, Thursday, January 24th, 5:45 pm, in the UnCommon Room, which is the room down the hall and to the left in the Rockefeller Chapel basement.

And what is this meeting about? Well, in the theme of the evening, we'll be talking about bias, personal and scientific. We'll talk about people's experiences in and out of the secular movement, the evidence about bias and how it operates (ever heard of chilly climate? You will!) and all other related things. Is there bias? How much? How should we address it? Feel free to bring your own stories and check out Harvard's Implicit Association Test and also this piece on chilly climates. 

Following that, we will all be walking over to Kimberly Veal's talk about Freethinkers and Freethought in the Civil Rights Movement. If you can only make it to the meeting, that's fine, but I'd really love for everyone who can to come to this talk. It's going to be great.  Facebook event here. 

The meeting will have just hot drinks, but Kimberly Veal's talk is going to have lots of yummy snacks, brought to you by Emma Tehrani :)

Announcements/Upcoming events: 

• Sex Week is happening sixth week! It's going to be a whole amazing week of great events, which you can find out about through the website (www.sexweekuchicago.com) and by signing up for the listhost, which you can do through the website. There will be no fewer than THREE amazing atheist speakers: Greta Christina, talking about Atheism and Sexuality; Cliff Pervocracy, talking about consciousamory, an approach to sex and relationships, and Natalie Reed, talking about fourth wave, or trans-feminism. Also, my sister, Giuliana Serena, is going to be talking about body-positive approaches to menstruation, for both men and women. It's going to be awesome. Finally, Jay Feldman and I are going to be leading a workshop on what sex ed should look like. 
• Interested in cool talks about skepticism? Skepticamp is a free event/gathering of skeptics taking place March 2, from 11am to 6pm, at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N. Knox Ave., Chicago, IL 60630 (more information in the facebook group)
• If you're interested in speaking at Skepticamp, email ChicagoSkeptics@gmail.com right away!

Links:

• Do you guys know we have a website and a twitter? Johnny Antos is doing an excellent job of running them now, so go check them out.
• Inauguration news: Obama Urged to Resign Over Beyonce Scandal
• Speaking of Obama, did you all catch that he recognized us nonbelievers on Religious Freedom Day?
• Andrew Tripp, who you'll all meet tomorrow if you're coming to the Kimberly Veal talk, is having a really interesting blog discussion with Greta Christina over oppression of atheists and how it compares to other oppression. His first post here, her response, his response to that. They'll be continuing in days to come.

Skepticamp

Date: March 2, 2013
Time: 11am-6pm
Location: Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N. Knox Ave., Chicago, IL 60630
RSVP: facebook group

Details: Interested in cool talks about skepticism? Skepticamp is a free event/gathering of skeptics.  If you're interested in speaking at Skepticamp, email ChicagoSkeptics@gmail.com right away!

Sex Week UChicago

Date: 6th Week
Time: Check Website below
Location: Check Website Below
RSVP: Sex Week Website

Details: It's going to be a whole amazing week of great events.  There will be no fewer than THREE amazing atheist speakers: Greta Christina, talking about Atheism and Sexuality; Cliff Pervocracy, talking about consciousamory, an approach to sex and relationships, and Natalie Reed, talking about fourth wave, or trans-feminism. Also, Chana's sister, Giuliana Serena, is going to be talking about body-positive approaches to menstruation, for both men and women. It's going to be awesome. Finally, Jay and Chana are going to be leading a workshop on what sex ed should look like.

Speaker Kimberly Veal

Date: Thursday, January 24, 2013
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Stuart 105
RSVP: Facebook Event

Details: Kimberly Veal, Executive Director of Black Nonbelievers of Chicago, will be speaking about the Civil Rights Movement and the unappreciated role of secular, nonreligious and freethinking individuals within it.

Snacks and drinks will be provided.

Dinner With Blake Page

Date: Monday, January 21st
Time: 6:00pm
Location: Pick Me Up Cafe
3408 N Clark St, Chicago, Illinois 60657-1606
RSVP: Facebook Event

Details: Blake Page, a representative from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, is going to be visiting Chicago. Come get dinner and hang out!

You may remember Blake as the cadet who resigned in his last year at West Point over religious exceptionalism.

Weekly Email 1! Or is it 2? Does the last one count? Who cares, it's here!

Announcements/Upcoming events:

• We're going to the Latino/a Atheist monthly meeting this Saturday, January 19. It'll be on the early side, but it'll also get you all back home in time to nap and do all your homework. It will be really fun, so you should all RSVP on the facebook event here.
• Monday, January 21, there is going to be a dinner with Blake Page, who recently quit West Point because of their treatment of atheists. It should be very interesting and fun, so come on out! Facebook event here. 
• Kimberly Veal, president of the Black Freethinkers Association, is coming to speak at UChicago about the role of freethinkers in the Civil Rights movement on January 24th, at 7:30 pm, in Stuart 105. Facebook event here. 
• Sex Week is happening sixth week! It's going to be a whole amazing week of great events, which you can find out about through the website (www.sexweekuchicago.com) and by signing up for the listhost, which you can do through the website. There will be no fewer than THREE amazing atheist speakers: Greta Christina, talking about Atheism and Sexuality; Cliff Pervocracy, talking about consciousamory, an approach to sex and relationships, and Natalie Reed, talking about fourth wave, or trans-feminism. Also, my sister, Giuliana Serena, is going to be talking about body-positive approaches to menstruation, for both men and women. It's going to be awesome. Finally, Jay Feldman and I are going to be leading a workshop on what sex ed should look like. 
• Interested in cool talks about skepticism? Skepticamp is a free event/gathering of skeptics taking placeMarch 2, from 11am to 6pm, at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N. Knox Ave., Chicago, IL 60630 (more information in the facebook group)
• If you're interested in speaking at Skepticamp, email ChicagoSkeptics@gmail.com right away!

Links:

• A blog post about atheism and death, very much related to what we talked about last week. 
• The piece about shootings and mental illness that I promised I'd send.
• A hilarious probability fail on the part of a Catholic priest. 
• Is humanism a well-defined concept? What do you guys think?