Meeting – Page 22 – Toronto Oasis, Secular Community

Sun Nov 08 – [Online] Our Place in the Universe

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm but you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am. Volunteers please join by 10:30 am.

This Sunday our featured presentation will be a TEDx talk by Marcelo Gleiser, a Brazilian physicist and astronomer, about what science tells us about our place in the Universe. Tania Akon, a Toronto Oasis organizer, will introduce the video and lead the discussion after we watch the video together.

We will also be having live music this Sunday! Our featured musician will be Cassie Norton, the music director of Toronto Oasis. Cassie is a Toronto-based singer-songwriter, violinist and climate activist. She has recorded two full length albums as a solo artist, Little Strength (2009) and Quiet Wilderness (2010). Cassie and her band released their first EP: Lullaby for the End of Time in February 2019. When she isn’t busy making her own music, Cassie shares her love of music with others through teaching. She teaches a variety of private and ensemble classes at Regent Park School of Music, and through her private studio. Check out her website: https://www.cassienorton.com/

Please RSVP on meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/nkjfbsybcpblb/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

Sun Nov 01 – [Online] The Moral Roots of Liberals and Conservatives

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm but you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am. Volunteers please join by 10:30 am.

This Sunday our featured presentation will be a TED-Ed talk available on YouTube (about 19 minutes long) by Jonathan Haidt, author of the 2012 book: The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. Dan Cooperstock, a Toronto Oasis organizer, who has read this book, and thinks it’s excellent, will introduce the video and moderate the discussion after we watch the video together.

Please RSVP on meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/ptkqxrybcpbcb/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis
facebook.com/TorontoOasis
instagram.com/TorontoOasis
twitter.com/416Oasis
discord.com/channels/748861336376705034

Sun Oct 25 – [Online] Thought Experiments: Trolley Problem 2.0

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm but you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am. Volunteers please join by 10:30 am.

Thought experiments are used to convey ideas that permit the contemplator to bracket their own experiences and preconceptions to understand an idea, concept or ideology. Thought experiments have two important aspects: the framework under which these will take place, and the content used to convey the idea. This content is sometimes augmented in ways that permit different perspectives of the same idea, which is useful insofar as they sometimes allow the contemplator to assess their own beliefs about a subject matter. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy lays out the academic rationale and underpinnings of thought experiments. Our featured speaker, Tim Mt. Pleasant, will present several thought experiments and how they were used historically for a specific purpose.

Tim Mt. Pleasant is a First Nations member of the LGBTQ2S+ and Disabled community from Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation and is currently studying Philosophy at Ryerson University. His experience comes from work in the Long-Term Care (10 years), Mental Health/Addictions (8 years) and Public Service Sector during the last 22 years. Tim has an interest in Bioethics and in the values that one assumes when entering various systems, the fluidity of control and capacity, and the new realm of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD).

Tim volunteers in areas that allow him to advocate for those with Mental Health or addiction challenges, including marginalized populations and those that get lost in various systems, specifically within Health Care and Social Services sectors. He has served on the Board of Directors of PFLAG Canada, the Canadian Bioethics Society, ARCH Disability Law Centre, Community Resource Connections of Toronto, Toronto Distress Centres, and the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto. Tim is also a member of and currently sits on the Equity Committee of the Canadian Philosophical Association and Ryerson’s Research Ethics Board. Tim recently completed an Undergraduate placement in Bioethics @ Princess Margaret Cancer Centre / University Health Network and is working on completing his final year of Philosophical studies at Ryerson.

Please RSVP on meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/ptkqxrybcnbhc/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

Sun Oct 18 – [Online] No More Rainbows: Sochi 2014 Olympics and Homophobia in Putin’s Russia

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm but you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am. Volunteers please join by 10:30 am.

In 2007, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) selected Sochi to host the 2014 Winter Olympics. LGBTQ communities in Russia had long been under threat, culminating in 2013 legislation that criminalized same-sex activities. The IOC and Putin’s Russia continue to exercise their power in similar ways: undemocratic governance, fraudulent voting processes, hypocrisy and absence of accountability.

Our featured speaker on this topic this Sunday, will be Helen Lenskyj, author of the 2014 book: Sexual Diversity and the Sochi 2014 Olympics: No More Rainbows (https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781137399755).

Helen Jefferson Lenskyj is Professor Emerita, University of Toronto, where she taught sociology. Her work as a researcher and activist on gender and sport issues began in the 1980s, and her critique of the Olympic industry include: Inside the Olympic Industry; Olympic Industry Resistance; Gender, Athletes Rights, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport; and released earlier this year, her most recent book The Olympic Games: A Critical Approach.

Helen grew up in Australia and has lived in Toronto since 1966. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in 1983, and was a professor from 1986 until retiring in 2007. As well as writing books, she enjoys swimming and kayaking. Her website is www.helenlenskyj.ca; TWITTER: https://twitter.com/helenje63185798

Please RSVP on meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/ptkqxrybcnbxb/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

This meeting was recorded at the following link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hhMz7qP2bymGpaWfvTp2DPLh3AQnOnf4/view?usp=sharing

Sun Oct 11 – [Online] What Does Oasis Mean to You?

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm but you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am. Volunteers please join by 10:30 am.

On this Thanksgiving long-weekend Sunday, we’ll all get to participate in our featured presentation. We’ll reflect on what Oasis means to each of us and have the opportunity to share our thoughts and feelings on that topic. The discussion will be led by Clive Hannah.

Clive Hannah is a Toronto Oasis volunteer, helping us manage our social media. He has a passion for community building. In addition to his volunteer work with Oasis, Clive is also an organizer for Toronto Adults with ADHD Support Group and volunteers his time with a men’s group called MasterHeart. Professionally, Clive is an independent software consultant in IT Enterprise Architecture. All of Clive’s work, professional and volunteer, is driven by wanting to create his life rather than letting life happen to him.

Please RSVP on meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/ptkqxrybcnbpb/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

Notes from the meeting:
- Karaoke Night
- Song Circle
- Playing of people’s favourite songs to share with the group
- Finding more social justice music for the group
- Create a debate club
  - Taking on a contrary position
- Seeing our community as a buffer against the world. How we still find ways to accentuate the positive.
- Will we consider putting in place a kids program at some point? What would it take to make this happen.
- Costs of renting a room and to look at community center options.
- The idea of Toronto Oasis becoming a cultural center over the next ten years
- Having consistent events that run monthly on the calendar such as the book club.
- What will the meeting look like when we have live meetings. Perhaps we alternate between zoom meetings and live meetings
- Let’s have a euchre tournament

Sun Oct 04 – [Online] On the Future of Gender, Race & Human Nature

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm but you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am. Volunteers please join by 10:30 am.

This Sunday our featured presentation will be a talk found on YouTube (about 33 minutes long) entitled: On the Future of Gender, Race & Human Nature by Carol Tavris, a social psychologist and feminist. Tania Akon, a Toronto Oasis organizer, will introduce the video and moderate the discussion after we watch the video together.

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

Sun Sep 27 – [Online] Stab Everyone You Love (or How to Talk to Anti-Vaxxers)

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm but you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am. Volunteers please join by 10:30 am.

Vaccinations are one of humanity’s greatest medical innovations, saving over ten million lives since 1962. Given their decades long track record of preventing illness in billions, why are so many skeptical about their safety and efficacy? Our featured speaker, Leslie Rosenblood, will tell the story of how he naively fell into the online vaccination debate (it started with a Facebook post of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfdZTZQvuCo). He will examine the arguments used by the anti-vaxxers, distinguish the denialists from the vaccine-hesitant, provide some do’s and don’ts on how to engage (should you choose to do so), and what the results were of his online debate about vaccines. He will also delve into human psychology and cognitive biases, how to distinguish between objective information and propaganda trying to masquerade as such, some considerations about a potential vaccine for covid-19, and what you can do to educate those in your social circle (in real life or online) on this topic (and many others).

Leslie is a secular humanist and supporter of evidence-based decision making (especially for public policy). He has a Bachelors degree from the University of Waterloo in Mathematics (Computer Science) with a minor in Drama and Speech Communication, from which he learned he didn’t want to code for a living and that he couldn’t live on what acting paid. To postpone making any real decisions, he took an MBA in Science and Technology. Since that time, he has worked in multiple roles across numerous industries in several countries. Along the way, he has performed in countless plays and improvisational comedy nights, run one marathon, and created four demi-clones. Leslie volunteers for the Centre for Inquiry Canada (https://centreforinquiry.ca/) and the Canadian Secular Alliance (http://secularalliance.ca/). He started his blog, Opinions and Questions (https://opinionsquestions.blogspot.com/), in the hopes that his review of a particularly dishonest book (https://opinionsquestions.blogspot.com/2011/11/book-review-vaccine-safety-manual.html) about vaccines would reach a wider audience.

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

Please RSVP on meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/ffpjvrybcmbkc/

This meeting was recorded and is available at this link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ftrcqixSup5nalE7W_x6QDcGkgy87J_s/view?usp=sharing

Sun Sep 20 – [Online] The Rise of Communism and Nazism After WWI in Germany (Part 2)

This Sunday our featured presentation will be part 2 of a two-part talk on: The Rise of Communism and Nazism After WWI in Germany (1918 – 1922ish) by Mark Turi. Mark holds a BA from Brock University and studies the History of Nationalism and Revolution in Modern Europe.

Please RSVP on meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/ffpjvrybcmbbc/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

This meeting was recorded and is available at this link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v8yNq2j1_eBOSfTnk1Ds-7rxBDKJjuYO/view?usp=sharing

Facebook Event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1096166994132528/

meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis
facebook.com/TorontoOasis
instagram.com/TorontoOasis
twitter.com/416Oasis

Sun Sep 13 – [Online] The Rise of Communism and Nazism After WWI in Germany (Part 1)

This Sunday our featured presentation will be part 1 of a two-part talk on: The Rise of Communism and Nazism After WWI in Germany (1918 – 1922ish) by Mark Turi. Mark holds a BA from Brock University and studies the History of Nationalism and Revolution in Modern Europe.

Please RSVP on meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/ffpjvrybcmbrb/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

This meeting was recorded and is available at this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u2MXvkGoCwzooVoA3Reqsb-EujCQwdrS/view?usp=sharing

Facebook Event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/237549140996560/

meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis
facebook.com/TorontoOasis
instagram.com/TorontoOasis
twitter.com/416Oasis

Sun Sep 06 – [Online] How Not to Get Fooled

This Sunday our featured presentation will be a talk found on YouTube (about 20 minutes long) entitled: The Psychology of the Con: How Not to Get Fooled by Maria Konnikova, a writer and psychologist. She is author of the 2016 book: The Confidence Game. Dan Cooperstock, a Toronto Oasis organizer, who has read her book, will introduce the video and moderate the discussion after we watch the video together.

Please RSVP on meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/ffpjvrybcmbjb/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

Facebook Event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/638438343774925/

meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis
facebook.com/TorontoOasis
instagram.com/TorontoOasis
twitter.com/416Oasis