Toronto Oasis, Secular Community

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 social scientist and PhD student, Genevieve Gregorich. The talk is about her research endeavor on Bullshit (the card game) and how that provided her with a life lesson. The topic and video were selected and will be introduced by Tim Mt. Pleasant, a Toronto Oasis volunteer.

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

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/298182479/

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

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. Kris Alexander, associate professor at TMU, and sometimes referred to as “the professor of video games”. The topic and video were selected and will be introduced by Tania Akon, a Toronto Oasis organizer.

There will also be live music at our meeting this Sunday! Our guest musician will be Elizabeth Block. Elizabeth was born in New York and loves telling people, “I wuz boan in Brooklyn. You gotta PROBLEM wid dat?” She was brought up on Gilbert & Sullivan, Broadway musicals (when they were written for singers), and the songs of Arthur Block – her dad wrote songs. She went to the High School of Music and Art, where she was an art student, but was allowed to sing in the senior chorus in her last year. She was a choral singer for decades, and a church soloist for many years. She joined Toronto’s informal folk song circle in – she thinks – 1984. A few years later she decided she should learn to play the guitar, which she did – not well, but well enough to accompany herself and other people. She knows a lot of songs, some in other languages, many satirical and/or political. She has written new words to existing tunes, and a couple of times tunes to existing words, never an entire song – but there’s still time.

Elizabeth is a potter by trade. You can check out her pottery work on her website:
http://www.elizabethblockpottery.com/

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

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/298182475/

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

Our guest musician was recorded: GMT20240211-163129_Recording_640x360.mp4

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.

The Canadian government has restricted its funding program for academic research through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Environment Research Council, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation to members of academic institutions, academic hospitals, and research institutions. Importantly, the funding flowed through CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC or CFI are not passed through the Canada Social Transfer or Canada Health Transfer, but directly to principal investigators and academic institutions which may pose problematic when attempting to make transparent the milieu of the modern research enterprise. Our featured speaker, Tim Mt. Pleasant, will survey a Toronto Star article on this topic and provide some relevant context for consideration and discussion by participants.

Participants are asked to review the following article prior to the meeting, if possible.
Canada bans funding for some foreign-linked research (thestar.com)

Tim Mt Pleasant has spent six years undertaking academic training at the intersection of applied philosophy and bioethics, particularly in the ever-developing area of research ethics within a Canadian context. Tim completed his undergraduate training at TorontoMU in 2021, receiving his Honours Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with Distinction and was offered admission to postgraduate programs at Johns Hopkins University, NYU and McGill University.

For the last two years, Tim served as a Postgraduate Student representative to the Advisory Council on Human Research Ethics and was appointed by the Board of Governors to the Research Ethics Board while working to complete degree requirements for the Master of Arts in Philosophy with Bioethics Concentration. Tim is considering all available options on a path forward to meet his postgraduate research training while maintaining sight on the Research Ethics space, particularly as it relates to Indigenous communities, particularly First Nations, in Canada.

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

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/298182472/

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

This meeting has been recorded: GMT20240204-164101_Recording_1856x1024.mp4

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 about Canada’s Housing Crisis by YouTuber: The Plain Bagel. The video lays out a number of factors that have led to housing (both ownership and rental) that is increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to afford for most of us.  What should our relationship to housing be?  Should it be an investment or mainly a place to live?  How can we protect people in the face of huge market forces?  This topic and video 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/298182471/

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

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 Jennifer Keesmaat, an urban planner and Principal at Design Dialog, an integrated planning firm based in Toronto, Ontario. The topic and video were selected and will be introduced by Helen Lenskyj, a Toronto Oasis participant and Professor Emerita, University of Toronto, where she taught sociology.

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

https://www.meetup.com/toronto-oasis/events/298182470/

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

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 Jon Jandai, a farmer from northeastern Thailand and co-founder of the Pun Pun Center for Self-reliance, an organic farm and learning centre (http://www.punpunthailand.org). 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/298134575/

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

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. Tali Sharot, a neuroscientist at University College London and the director of the Affective Brain Lab (https://affectivebrain.com/). 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/298013698/

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

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!

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!

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