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<div style="display:none;font-size:1px;color:#ffffff;line-height:1px;max-height:0px;max-width:0px;opacity:0;overflow:hidden;"> Humanist Association of Connecticut - Newsletter for December, 2023 </div>
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<div style="font-family:Raleway, Arial;font-size:13px;line-height:1.6em;text-align:left;color:#333333;">To unsubscribe, visit <a href="https://www.cthumanist.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hac-announce">https://www.cthumanist.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hac-announce</a> or email <a href="mailto:webmaster@cthumanist.org">webmaster@cthumanist.org</a></div>
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<h1>The Humanist Association of Connecticut</h1>
<h2>Newsletter for December, 2023</h2>
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<div style="font-family:Raleway, Arial;font-size:13px;line-height:1.6em;text-align:left;color:#ffffff;">Revised COVID policy: We request that you be as fully vaccinated as possible.</div>
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<h1>Welcome to December</h1>
<p>It's December, time for our annual business meeting, elections, and Winter Solstice Party. There's also our Annual Brunch in Wallingford on December 25th, along with most of our other regular programs.</p>
<h1>The Other Side of Prospect</h1>
<h2>A Book Discussion Series, and an Afternoon with Nicholas Dawidoff</h2>
<p><img src="images/dawidoff-prospect.jpg" alt="Nicholas Dawidoff" /></p>
<p>Coming in January/February 2024</p>
<p>An important series of events has been planned using the book The Other Side of Prospect as a springboard for conversations about race, criminal justice, and the state of our post-industrial urban communities. All events are jointly sponsored by the USNH Adult Religious Education Committee, the Anti-Racism/Eight Principle Team, and the Humanist Association of Connecticut.</p>
<p>All are encouraged to read the book, by local author Nicholas Dawidoff, in advance of the events. The book is widely available in public libraries, through Audible, Hoopla, and Kindle, and through many book retailers!</p>
<p>On January 14 & 28, and February 18, 2024, all Sundays, Becky Sandmann and Gayle Walter will facilitate a 3-part book discussion from 12-2pm at USNH. Each of the three discussion sessions will explore a different aspect of Dawidoff's book, so if you are interested, please plan to attend all three sessions if at all possible.</p>
<p>The Book Discussion series will be followed by a full afternoon of programming with the author, Nicholas Dawidoff, on Sunday, February 25, from 12 to 3pm.</p>
<p>SAVE THE DATE!!! Stay tuned for details about registration for the event.</p>
<p>We will start with the author's talk with Q&A, then take a short break with light refreshments, followed by a discussion with a panel of community representatives on the issues addressed in the book, moderated by Nicholas Dawidoff himself!</p>
<p>(The option to attend remotely will be available.)</p>
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<div style="font-family:Raleway, Arial;font-size:20px;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6em;text-align:left;color:#333333;">Humanist Explorations - "Babette's Feast"</div>
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<div style="font-family:Raleway, Arial;font-size:12px;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6em;text-align:left;color:#333333;">Saturday, December 2, 2023<br />2:30PM to 4:30PM</div>
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<p>This fine film from 1987, based on a story by Isak Dinesen (known also as Karen Blixen) tells the tale of an ascetic religious group in late nineteenth century Denmark. Having renounced all possibility of earthly pleasures in lieu of their religious devotion, their lives are changed by the arrival of a French political outcast in the community. Babette alters their lives in a way they never dreamed possible and the relationship between earthly pleasures and emotional (some would say spiritual) ones become blurred and inseparable. This stunningly beautiful and bittersweet film will be shown in its English language incarnation, to avoid the distraction of subtitles. These two short videos will prepare you for this film - <a href="https://youtu.be/5V7z-O1HG5E?si=zQamfMrTbfuAadb">https://youtu.be/5V7z-O1HG5E?si=zQamfMrTbfuAadb</a> and <a href="https://youtu.be/H5w9skKcdnA?si=bFoAuQpRMBb6wG1">https://youtu.be/H5w9skKcdnA?si=bFoAuQpRMBb6wG1</a></p>
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<div style="font-family:Raleway, Arial;font-size:13px;line-height:1.6em;text-align:left;color:#333333;"><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/700%20Hartford%20Turnpike%2C%20Hamden%2C%20CT">USNH, 700 Hartford Turnpike, Hamden CT</a></div>
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<div style="font-family:Raleway, Arial;font-size:13px;line-height:1.6em;text-align:left;color:#333333;"><strong>Social Dinner:</strong> Monday, December 4, 2023 7:00PM to 9:00PM</div>
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<div style="font-family:Raleway, Arial;font-size:13px;line-height:1.6em;text-align:left;color:#333333;"><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/1157%20Campbell%20Ave%2C%20West%20Haven%2C%20CT">Turkish Kebab House, 1157 Campbell Ave, West Haven CT</a></div>
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<div style="font-family:Raleway, Arial;font-size:20px;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6em;text-align:left;color:#333333;">"Accidental Gods" by Anna Della Subin</div>
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<div style="font-family:Raleway, Arial;font-size:12px;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6em;text-align:left;color:#333333;">Saturday, December 16, 2023<br />2:30PM to 4:30PM</div>
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<p>Our book for December is <em>Accidental Gods: On Men Unwittingly Turned Divine</em> by Anna Della Subin.</p>
<p>From Amazon: A provocative history of men who were worshipped as gods that illuminates the connection between power and religion and the role of divinity in a secular age</p>
<p>In a revelatory history spanning five centuries, a cast of surprising deities helps to shed light on the thorny questions of how our modern concept of “religion” was invented; why religion and politics are perpetually entangled in our supposedly secular age; and how the power to call someone divine has been used and abused by both oppressors and the oppressed.</p>
<p>“Subin doesn't cover Q-Anon or January 6, but reading her account of the global and historical power of the irrational, I became more and more convinced I might be reading the year's most relevant book about American politics.” – Tom Scocca, <em>Air Mail</em></p>
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<div style="font-family:Raleway, Arial;font-size:13px;line-height:1.6em;text-align:left;color:#333333;"><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/303%20Washington%20Ave%2C%20New%20Haven%2C%20CT">Wilson Branch Library, 303 Washington Ave, New Haven CT</a></div>
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<div style="font-family:Raleway, Arial;font-size:13px;line-height:1.6em;text-align:left;color:#333333;">"Poverty, by America" by Matthew Desmond<br />January 20, 2024</div>
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<div style="font-family:Raleway, Arial;font-size:13px;line-height:1.6em;text-align:left;color:#333333;">"Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison<br />February 24, 2024</div>
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<div style="font-family:Raleway, Arial;font-size:12px;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6em;text-align:left;color:#333333;">Monday, December 18, 2023<br />6:30PM to 9:00PM</div>
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<p>It's that time again for our traditional solstice POTLUCK DINNER with live music provided by Mickey Koth and John Kalinowski! Please bring a dish to share. There will be a short Annual Meeting, primarily for the election of the Board. We'll have a Solstice Quiz, and Frank Avitable will do the annual reading of Lois Woodrow’s “Ode to the Tilt”. You will have an opportunity to pay your Membership dues, both for 2023, if you have not yet paid, and for 2024; please bring a check or cash. Nina Stein, our Treasurer, will be ready to collect! Let’s get together and CELEBRATE!</p>
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<div style="font-family:Raleway, Arial;font-size:12px;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6em;text-align:left;color:#333333;">Monday, December 25, 2023<br />12:00PM to 2:00PM</div>
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<p>Enjoy our year-end brunch with other humanists! We're returning to the buffet restaurant in Wallingford that we have met at in the past, Pacific Buffet & Grill (<a href="https://pacificbuffetandgrill.com/">https://pacificbuffetandgrill.com/</a>). Come out and socialize with friends on a day when most of the country is closed. Occasionally people will decide to follow this event with a movie.</p>
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<div style="font-family:Raleway, Arial;font-size:13px;line-height:1.6em;text-align:left;color:#333333;"><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/20%20Ives%20Rd%2C%20Wallingford%2C%20CT">Pacific Buffet & Grill, 20 Ives Rd, Wallingford CT</a></div>
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<h1>Slate of Officers for 2024</h1>
<h2>Officers of HAC</h2>
<ul>
<li>President: Carol Siddall</li>
<li>Vice President: </li>
<li>Secretary: Patricia Williams</li>
<li>Treasurer: Richard Siddall</li>
</ul>
<h2>Standing Committee Chairpersons</h2>
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<li>Hospitality: Amy Wexler</li>
<li>Membership: John Connell</li>
<li>Development: </li>
<li>Programs: Carol Siddall</li>
<li>Publications: Richard Siddall</li>
<li>Publicity: Aaron Goode</li>
</ul>
<h2>At-large Board Members</h2>
<ul>
<li>Frank Avitable</li>
</ul>
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<h1>Sock collection</h1>
<p>While New Haven Public Library is no longer collecting socks, Gayle Walter has found an organization which is a ready recipient of new socks, the most needed item of clothing at shelters, especially during the winter months.</p>
<p>Please bring your contributions of <em>new</em> socks, all sizes, to any HAC meeting.</p>
<h1>Membership Renewal Time!</h1>
<p>HAC's membership year runs from January 1st to December 31st, so if you have not paid in the last few weeks it's time to renew. See below for a link to the membership page on the HAC web site, or bring your payment to one of this month's events.</p>
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<div style="font-family:Raleway, Arial;font-size:13px;line-height:1.6em;text-align:left;color:#333333;">To join HAC or renew your membership, visit <a href="https://cthumanist.org/membership">our membership page.</a></div>
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<div style="font-family:Raleway, Arial;font-size:13px;line-height:1.6em;text-align:left;color:#333333;"><a href="https://cthumanist.org">HAC</a> is a chapter of the <a href="https://americanhumanist.org/">American Humanist Association</a>, a member of the <a href="https://ctcor.org/">Connecticut Coalition of Reason</a>, and a <a href="https://uuha.org/local-groups/humanist-association-ct">UU Humanists local group</a>.</div>
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<div style="font-family:Raleway, Arial;font-size:13px;line-height:1.6em;text-align:left;color:#333333;">© 2023, the <a href="https://cthumanist.org/">Humanist Association of Connecticut</a><br />c/o <a href="https://www.usnh.org/">USNH</a>, 700 Hartford Turnpike, Hamden CT 06517-2214</div>
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