For hundreds of years, the residents of isolated rural villages around Medellin, Columbia have been losing their memories, before, inevitably, their lives are cut short in their forties or early fifties. Jennie Erin Smith was drawn in by this medical mystery, and spent nearly a decade deeply immersed in the lives of these people, living with them; attending doctor’s visits, […]
Bird-Window Collisions: How Big A Deal Are They?
Bird-window collisions are one of the largest causes of bird deaths in the world. This presentation covers the reasons why this devastation occurs and some ways it can be prevented, especially by homeowners. CDHS member Carol Quantock is a local environmental advocate. She has been an active birder for over 40 years, and is the vice president of the Audubon […]
What’s So Funny About Humanism?
Who says humanists don’t know how to laugh? Join award-winning stand-up comedian and Executive Director of the American Humanist Association, Fish Stark, for a stand-up comedy presentation that lets us laugh at ourselves just as much as we laugh at the Christian Right. Covering humanist history, ethics, and of course the loyal opposition – and referencing the comedy styles of […]
U.S. Policy on China
Since the Obama Administration announced its Pivot to Asia policy in 2011, U.S.-China relations have been in a downward spiral. The trade war, the pandemic, growing technology competition, rising tensions in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, and contrasting approaches to the Russia-Ukraine conflict have collectively fed a sense of fatalism that the countries were heading toward the […]
The Shadow Gospel: How Anti-Liberal Demonology Possessed U.S. Religion, Media, and Politics
When people talk about the chaotic, increasingly precarious political landscape in the United States, they often blame polarization and the culture wars. The Shadow Gospel tells a very different story. Analyzing eighty years of densely overlapping religious and secular messages preaching the dangers of liberalism, the book shows us the root causes of the problems we face today. Some of […]
Sweet and Deadly: How Coca-Cola Spreads Disinformation and Makes Us Sick
If we knew that Coca-Cola was among the deadliest products in our diet, would we continue drinking it in such great quantities? The Coca-Cola Company has gone to extraordinary lengths to make sure we don’t find out. This program will discuss the findings of extensive research and deep investigative reporting, that uncovered the damage Coke does to America’s health, and […]
Big Mama Thornton, Little Richard, and the Queer Roots of Rock ‘n’ Roll
Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton and Richard “Little Richard” Penniman were gender-nonconforming black musicians who began their recording careers in the South in the early 1950’s. Both demonstrate how queerness was an indelible part of the early rhythm and blues performances that influenced the development of rock ‘n’ roll. The backlash against queerness during the Cold War and the related […]
Forgotten American Icons Matilda Joslyn Gage and Grover Cleveland: Who They Are and What They Can Teach Us
Upstate New York in the mid-19th century was a cauldron bubbling with the lure of fast fortunes, religious zealotry, and battles for civil liberties. This fervor centered on the Erie Canal, which successfully supported scores of villages brimming with opportunity. One village, Fayetteville, NY, was home to two future American leaders – Matilda Joslyn Gage and Grover Cleveland. Gage was […]
Reading the Rock Record: Understanding Our Future
It’s difficult to understand how one or two degrees of global temperature rise can even be observed, much less have any impact on climate and ecosystems. It’s especially difficult to accept as we struggle through another cold and snowy winter. The effects of global warming are hardly noticeable on the timescale of a person’s life. However, on a geologic time […]
A.I. and Our Future
Historian Yuval Noah Harari is a Big Thinker. His 2024 blockbuster book, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks From the Stone Age to AI, concerns how Artificial Intelligence will shape our future. An AI “app” is a computer program trained on a vast amount of information (from the internet), learning to see patterns, for use in carrying out tasks. […]