Author: Toronto OASIS

This week we will explore the different ways we see the Oasis Community making a difference in our broader community.  Please come with your ideas, and as always snacks for us to share while we discuss.

The meeting is in the 2nd Floor Multipurpose Room beside the elevator (a new room for us) in our usual building – Koffler House, 569 Spadina Ave.

(Catching up on weeks we had failed to post about:)

Our June 25 speaker was Michael Dorman, about alternative families, including gay families. Michael was one of the founders of Gay Fathers of Toronto, almost 30 years ago, an organization that is still going strong!

(Catching up on weeks we had failed to post about:)

June 18 our fascinating speaker was Richard Zemel, talking about Artificial Intelligence, including ethical issues about it.

RICHARD ZEMEL is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Toronto, and the Research Director at the new Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Prior to that he was on the faculty at the University of Arizona, and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Salk Institute and at CMU. He received the B.Sc. in History & Science from Harvard, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Toronto. His awards and honours include a Young Investigator Award from the ONR and a US Presidential Scholar award. He is a Senior Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, an NVIDIA Pioneer of AI, and a member of the NIPS Advisory Board. His recent research interests include learning with weak labels, models of images and text, and fairness.

Toronto Oasis is a community that meets regularly to create a place to celebrate the human experience. Each week we gather to discuss a wide variety of issues and interests. Launched in February 2016, Toronto Oasis welcomes all people who want to be part of a community exploring life through reason.

Every week we gather to be inspired, entertained, motivated and  build our secular community in Downtown Toronto.  This week’s speaker is Yitzi Gal. to speak about how improv theatre helped him overcome social anxiety.

Sunday, May 28, 2017
11:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Koffler House
569 Spadina Ave, Toronto, Toronto, ON (Map)

Join and RSVP

Featured Speaker this week:

YITZI GAL is a faculty member at The Second City Training Centre in Toronto. He is currently attaining his masters degree in Drama Therapy at Concordia University in Montreal. He has also studied Drama Therapy at NYU in New York City. Yitzi teaches improvisation for anxiety classes at Second City as well as other venues around Toronto. Yitzi began taking improv classes nearly ten years ago in order to cope with his own anxiety, and has since graduated from several improvisational theatre programs and has performed in various venues in Toronto, New York, and Montreal.

Featured Musical Guest:

KATHRYN MERRIAM and CASSIE NORTON

Snacks & Goodies

Thank you to everyone who contributed to last week’s refreshments! What a delicious tradition for our post-gathering socializing.

As always, your contributions are very welcome this week and will never go to waste; extras go to feeding the homeless.

Sunday, May 21, 2017
11:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Koffler House
569 Spadina Ave, Toronto, Toronto, ON

Join and RSVP

Every week we gather to be inspired, entertained, motivated and build our secular community in Downtown Toronto. This week we are excited to have our very own Dan Cooperstock present for us.

Don’t Throw the Baby out with the Bath Water!

Dan will talk about what secular non-religious folks and communities can learn from the helpful practices and specific values learned in liberal religions, most particularly from his experience as a liberal (and non-theist) Quaker. Among other aspects of his talk, he will talk about the Quaker business process, and give examples of how Quaker values have applied to his business.

Dan Cooperstock discovered liberal Quakerism in University in England in 1979, and has been a member of and very active participant in the Toronto Quaker Meeting and the Canada-wide Quaker organization, including many leadership positions, since 1981. Professionally, Dan is a computer programmer. For the 10 last years he has been an entrepreneur, writing and selling software for small to mid-sized churches and charities. Outside of work, Dan is an avid movie-goer, group ride leader with the Toronto Moto Scooter Club, participant in a song circle, and dancer with the LGBTQ square dancing club the Toronto Triangle Squares.