News – Page 11 – Toronto Oasis, Secular Community

Sunday January 22nd – [Online] The Mysteries of Human Memory

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 10:45 am for our open social. After 12:30 pm, we will also have an extended discussion for half an hour. Volunteers please join by 10:30 am.

Memory is indispensable for us to function in daily life, and central to our identity as persons. Yet how memory works remains a mystery. Our featured speaker this Sunday, Dr. Mark Reimers, will give a talk about how recent science illuminates how memory works, including making memories, recalling them, and distorting them.

This will be the first in the following series of three linked talks by Dr. Reimers at Toronto Oasis:

The Mysteries of Human Memory (Jan 22nd)
Can We Understand Consciousness? (Feb 12th)
Deceiving Ourselves (date TBD)

Dr. Mark Reimers works as a computational neuroscientist: studying brain function by applying statistical methods to look for patterns in large-scale and high-resolution recordings of brain activity and behavior. He applies these methods to understand normal brain function in memory and to shed light on mental illness.

Dr. Reimers has worked at the US National Institutes of Health, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, and at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics in Richmond, and now does research and teaches at Michigan State University. His broader aim is to ground our understanding of feeling and thought in the facts of biology.

Dr. Reimers was the leader of the Richmond Humanists in Virginia for five years, and now leads the UU Forum in Lansing, and speaks frequently at humanist and science outreach events in Michigan.

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

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

This meeting has been recorded: GMT20230122-163631_Recording_1920x1080.mp4

Sunday January 15th – [Online] Violence in Ontario Schools

We will be watching and then discussing a YouTube video clip of an episode of TVO’s The Agenda on the topic of Violence in Ontario Schools. The host, Steve Paikin, moderates the discussion with his panel of guests: Chris Bruckert, Professor at the University of Ottawa in the Criminology Department who has written two recent reports on Violence in Ontario Schools; Wendy Goodes, a retired elementary school teacher; Anna Sidiropoulos, who sits on the Parent Council of the high school where her two children attend; Tesfai Menghesha, Executive Director of Operations at Success Beyond Limits, a youth-led, community based group that provides academic and social supports to Toronto youth; and Eitan Laufer, a high school teacher currently seconded as an Occupational Health and Safety Inspector for OSSTF (Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation).

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/khbwzsyfccbtb/

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

To view a listing of our past meetings, click here: https://torontooasis.org/category/news/meeting/

Sunday January 8th – [Online] Family Estrangement

We will be watching and then discussing a YouTube video clip of an episode of TVO’s The Agenda on the topic of Family Estrangement. The host, Steve Paikin, moderates a discussion on this topic with his panel of guests: Joshua Coleman, author of The Rules of Estrangement: Why Adult Children Cut Ties and How to Heal the Conflict; Becca Bland, founder and CEO of Stand Alone UK, a charity supporting people who are estranged from their family or a key family member; and Saunia Ahmed, a psychologist at the Toronto Psychology Clinic.

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/khbwzsyfccblb/

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

To view a listing of our past meetings, click here: https://torontooasis.org/category/news/meeting/

Sunday January 1st – [Online] Our Responsibility for Determining the Real Truth

Harold Pinter (1930 – 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. In 2005, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. In his Nobel Prize Speech, which was pre-recorded and shown on video on December 7th, 2005, he argued that as citizens, it is “mandatory” for us “to define the real truth of our lives and our societies.” According to Pinter, we are surrounded by a “vast tapestry of lies.” Pinter makes the case that whereas the crimes of the Soviet Union in the post-war period are well known and documented, the crimes of the United States have only been “superficially recorded, let alone documented, let alone acknowledged, let alone recognized as crimes at all.” Pinter describes the United States as engaging in a “highly successful act of hypnosis” as it is “masquerading as a force for universal good”.

This Sunday, we will be watching and then discussing an excerpt from this Nobel Prize speech. The topic and video were selected by Tania Akon, a Toronto Oasis organizer. Tania will provide a brief intro to the topic & video and lead the discussion after we watch the video.

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

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

To view a listing of our past meetings, click here: https://torontooasis.org/category/news/meeting/

Sunday December 25th – [Online] Toronto Oasis 2022: Favorite Music and Food

For our featured presentation, five Toronto Oasis participants: Ryan Zhang, Paul Kaplan, John Shannon, Dan Cooperstock and Tania Akon will each take 2 – 5 minutes to share their favourite music and/or food. As always, following the presentations, there will be time for a lively discussion on the topic, hopefully including lots of us sharing our own favourite music and food. For sharing your favourite music, please email a link (e.g. link to a YouTube music video) to 416oasis@gmail.com by Saturday Dec 24th if possible. This way there will be time to download it and have it cued up, ready to share with the group.

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

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

To view a listing of our past meetings, click here: https://torontooasis.org/category/news/meeting/

Sunday December 18th – [Online] Toronto Oasis 2022: Retrospective and Reflection

Toronto Oasis organizer, Tania Akon, will present a retrospective, looking back on all the topics we explored at Toronto Oasis this year. Participants will then be invited to reflect and provide feedback on our programming this year and going forward – both on the topics we cover and the format of our Sunday meetings.

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

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

To view a listing of our past meetings, click here: https://torontooasis.org/category/news/meeting/

Sunday December 11th – [Online] Breaking Free from Limiting Beliefs

We will be watching and then discussing a TEDx talk by Lauren Weinstein, about self-confidence, self-acceptance, and overcoming insecurities. Weinstein is the founder of Resonate Coaching, which helps its clients improve their public speaking and interpersonal communication skills. She is also a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, teaching one of the most popular classes there—The Essentials of Strategic Communication.

The topic and video will be introduced by Toronto Oasis organizer Dan Cooperstock.

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

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

Sunday December 4th – [Online] Woman, Life, Freedom: The Time Has Come for Iran

Forty-three years after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, after enduring many setbacks, the people of Iran are now rising up against the totalitarian regime, to revive their modern values for Women, Life, and Freedom. Through the bravery and courage of the new generation, after the build-up of years of anger and rage of the older generations and the plight of the many remaining victims who are suffering from oppression, the discourse has now changed and the Time Has Come. The global community has heard the Iranian voice and they are aware of the great danger this regime poses for humanity as a whole.

Our featured speaker on this topic will be Arash Jamshidi who lost his sister, Shadi, in flight PS752. He is now actively collaborating with the Families of Victims Association for seeking Justice and Truth. Arash is a medical doctor who immigrated to Canada 4 years ago and now resides in Toronto. Using his experience in community work and management he is now creating an international organization advocating for clinical assistance, and healthcare support for Iranian protesters.

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

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

This meeting has been recorded: GMT20221204-163612_Recording_1920x1080.mp4

Sunday November 27th – [Online] Sex Education, Then, and Now – The Times They Are A-changin’

Our featured speaker, Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, will review developments in sex education since the 1990s in Ontario schools. In the 1990s she was a member of the Toronto Board of Education’s curriculum writing team that developed a unit on sexual orientation, a pioneering step for any school board (except in Scandinavian countries). She refers (privately) to this as ‘the curriculum from hell’ because of the controversies it generated within the board and in the broader community. Fast forward to 2019 when Doug Ford introduced a new sex education curriculum for Ontario schools, and this year, when a number of (unsuccessful) transphobic candidates for school trustee were campaigning throughout the province during the 2022 elections.

Helen Jefferson Lenskyj is Professor Emerita, University of Toronto, where she taught sociology.

This Sunday, we will also be having live music! Our featured musician will be cellist, George Crotty: https://www.georgecrotty.com/

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

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

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

This meeting has been recorded: GMT20221127-163237_Recording_1920x1080.mp4#t=334

The guest musician has been recorded: /VeryLargeUploads/GMT20221127-163237_Recording_1920x1080.mp4

Sunday November 20th – [Online] Is Work Replacing Religion?

We will be watching a YouTube video from the YouTube channel: Religion for Breakfast, a channel that presents topics from the academic study of religion to the general public. The video is entitled “Tech Companies: A New Religion?” It is about the attempt of Silicon Valley tech companies to introduce elements of religion and spirituality into their work culture. It’s a very interesting topic since it not only shows how much power employers have over employees at work, but also shows the importance of the human need for community.

The topic and video will be introduced by Toronto Oasis volunteer Ryan Zhang.

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

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

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