Sunday December 31st – [Online] The Power of Fun

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. You can join the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

We will be listening to and then discussing a TED talk by Catherine Price (https://catherineprice.com/), a health and science journalist and author of the upcoming book: The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again. In this TED talk, she shares evidence-backed ways to weave playfulness, flow and connection into our everyday lives. The topic and video were selected and will be introduced by Tania Akon, a Toronto Oasis organizer.

Please RSVP on Meetup to get access to the Zoom link:

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/297885491/

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

Sunday December 24th – [Online] The Power of Platonic Love

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. You can join the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

We will be listening to and then discussing a TED talk by Dr. Marisa G Franco, psychologist, professor, friendship & belonging expert, and author of the New York Times Best Seller book, Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make—and Keep—Friends. In this TED talk, which follows the format of a brief talk followed by a Q&A/interview, Dr. Franco discusses science-backed tips on how to make and keep friends. The topic and video were selected and will be introduced by Tania Akon, a Toronto Oasis organizer.

Please RSVP on Meetup to get access to the Zoom link:

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/297756018/

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

Sunday December 17th – [Online] Choosing to Live

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. You can join the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

We will be listening to and then discussing a TEDx talk by Chinonye Chukwu, a Nigerian-American writer, producer, and director. In 2019, she became the first Black woman to receive the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival for her film Clemency. Then, in 2022 she released TILL, the first feature-length drama about Mamie Till Mobley and her son Emmett Till, whose lynching in 1955 galvanized the civil rights movement in the U.S. Chukwu’s film TILL has also been nominated for and won numerous awards.

In the TEDx talk we will be listening to, Chukwu talks about her experience of severe depression that forced her to, in her words: “make a choice: to float through this life existing by living by other people’s expectations or just go ahead and choose to embrace my life doing things on my terms.”

The video and topic were selected and intro & outro will be provided by Tania Akon, a Toronto Oasis organizer.

We will also be having live music this Sunday! Our featured musician will be Cassie Norton, a Toronto-based singer-songwriter, violinist, teacher and climate activist. Cassie is also the music director of Toronto Oasis.

Please RSVP on Meetup to get access to the Zoom link:

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/297617452/

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

This meeting has two recordings of our guest musician:
GMT20231217-162507_Recording_640x360.mp4
GMT20231217-173413_Recording_640x360.mp4

Sunday December 10th – [Online] How Present-Day Politics Changes the Past

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. You can join the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

We will be listening to and then discussing a YouTube video by YouTuber J. Draper. It’s about the story of a warrior-queen figure, Boudica and how her story has been distorted to suit all kinds of political narratives. The video and topic were selected and will be introduced by Lola Bradford, a Toronto Oasis participant.

Please RSVP on Meetup to get access to the Zoom link:

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/297481192/

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

Sunday December 3rd – [Online] Cultural Implications of Toronto Slang

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. You can join the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

We will be listening to and then discussing a TEDx talk by Dr. Derek Denis, an assistant professor of linguistics in the Department of Language Studies at the University of Toronto Mississauga. The video and topic were selected and an intro & outro will be provided by Helen Lenskyj, a Toronto Oasis participant.

Please RSVP on Meetup to get access to the Zoom link:

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/297337752/

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

Sunday November 26th – [Online] Religious Transition

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. You can join the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

We will be listening to and then discussing a YouTube video interview of Rodney Allgood, founder of one of the biggest online ex-Jehovah’s Witness communities, Empowered exJW on Facebook. In this video, Rodney is interviewed by another ex-Jehovah’s Witness, Vevian Vozmediano. They talk about the very difficult experience of “pulling the plug” on the life and reality you are born into and charting a new life. The video and topic will be introduced by Tania Akon, a Toronto Oasis organizer.

Please RSVP on meetup to get access to the Zoom link:
https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/297196666/

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

Sunday November 19th – [Online] Chokepoint Capitalism

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. You can join the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

We will be listening to and then discussing a YouTube video interview of Cory Doctorow, a tech journalist, consumer protection/privacy advocate and co-author of “Chokepoint Capitalism”. The video and topic were selected and will be introduced by Lola Bradford, a Toronto Oasis participant.

Please RSVP on meetup to get access to the Zoom link:
https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/297048336/

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

Sunday November 12th – [Online] Listening to Shame

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. You can join the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

We will be listening to and then discussing a TED talk by Brene Brown, recorded one year after her Power of Vulnerability TED talk. The video and topic were selected and will be introduced by Tania Akon, a Toronto Oasis organizer.

Please RSVP on meetup to get access to the Zoom link:
https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/296911932/

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

Sunday November 5th – [Online] Humanism in Popular Music from Thailand: Add Carabao’s album ‘Poem’

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. You can join the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

Our featured speaker will be Ann Norman, who learned to speak Thai while working in Thailand for two years in the mid ‘80s. Twenty years later, she relearned the language, and learned to read Thai in order to translate the songs of her favorite band, Carabao, into English. From there she was recruited into the Thai prodemocracy movement, and served as the Executive Director of the Thai Alliance for Human Rights for two years.

As a preview to her talk on Humanism in Popular Music from Thailand, Ann wrote this article that lists 30-some songs, with excerpted lyrics. Each song title in the list is hyperlinked to the page with the music video and entire translation. You can check out Ann’s article here:
https://carabaoinenglish.com/uncategorized/humanism-in-the-add-carabao-songs

Please RSVP on meetup to get access to the Zoom link:
https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/296769747/

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

This meeting has been recorded: GMT20231105-162631_Recording_1920x1080.mp4

Sunday October 29th – [Online] Living a Purposeful Life

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. You can join in to the meeting starting at 10:30 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour, until 1:00 pm.

We will be listening to and then discussing a YouTube video interview of Rodney Allgood, a motivational speaker and international empowerment coach. The video and topic will be introduced by Tania Akon, a Toronto Oasis organizer.

Please RSVP on meetup to get access to the Zoom link:

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/296639831/

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