Sunday Platforms

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All Sunday Platform Meetings are held at 10:30 A.M. at 33 Garden St. in Cambridge, Massachusetts and are open to the public. The building is accessible by car or public transportation.

In the event inclement weather causes cancellation of a Sunday meeting, the Board of Trusees will call members. A cancellation message will be put on the Society telephone answering machine at (617)739-9050 by 8:00 A.M. and some radio stations will carry our cancellation announcement.

Note: DVDs are now available for purchase for many of our Platform talks. Contact Michael Bleiweiss at (978)689-2874 or at a Platform meeting.

This Month

May 4 - Humanist of the Year Award

Two years ago, Dr. Kassirer's book On the Take described how medical research is influenced (corrupted) by an endless number of deals for doctors, and how research gets tainted by payments to doctors for being on research committees organized by drug companies. Massachusetts has new legislation to be voted on soon, to counter some of these issues.

Dr. Jerome Kassirer has been a leader on issues of ethics in medicine throughout his career. The Ethical Society of Boston is pleased to honor him as Humanist of the Year for 2008 for his lifelong commitment to this cause.
 

May 11 - The New Penny Press

The American news media is thought to be in a state of turmoil due to the proliferation of blogs and Internet Media. As such, there is a call for new standards, but the target is wrong. The mainstream media needs to adopt the ethos of the citizen journalist in order to disrupt the status quo.  Jim Conley is editor of OnBrookline.com
 

May 18 - Organizing Religious Communities for Social Action

Nancy Banks is the Executive Director of the Unitarian-Universalist Massachusetts Social Action Network. The Network identifies important issues on which to build positive social action to engage their members. The two current issues addressed by the Network are Global Warming and Hunger & Poverty. Nancy Banks will share their organizing strategies and outcomes.
 

May 25 - Memorial Day Breakfast

Each Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend we have a breakfast followed by a discussion about the issues of our day. Our breakfast begins at 10:30 AM, but you are welcome to come earlier and help to set up the repast.

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Next Month

June 1 - Summer Solstice Celebration

Members and friends celebrate the arrival of summer three weeks early. Poetry, dramatic readings, song, music, food, and fun! It's never too early to celebrate SUMMER!
 

June 8 - The Enlightenment in America

Dr. Ernest Cassara, author of The Enlightenment in America, will share insights from his book. Copies of the book will be available at a discount, with proceeds to benefit the Ethical Society of Boston.

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Last Month 

April 6 - Six Weeks in Israel/Palestine: A Spiritual and Dispiriting Journey

In late 2007, Martin R. Federman spent over six weeks traveling through Israel and Palestine, first with the Cambridge / Bethlehem People to People Project in the Bethlehem District for 10 days, and then for over a month in the West Bank and Israel. In this presentation, he will share some of his impressions, thoughts, and observations.
 

April 13 - Sincere, Simple Suggestions for Civility and a Civic Society

In this talk, Ethical Society member Peter Ames will address the causes of incivility and our less civic society, and suggest some steps and goals to resuscitate both.
 

April 20 - After Environmentalism: Mobilizing for Sustainability

Celebrate Earth Day! Two luminaries of the sustainability movement reflect on where we've been and where we are heading in an effort to create a society that is sustainable in ecological, economic, and social terms.  Dr. Mark Roseland is Director of the Centre for Community Development at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, and author of Toward Sustainable Communities: Resources for Citizens and Their Governments.  Dr. Julian Agyeman is Chair of the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University, and author of Sustainable Communities and the Challenge of Environmental Justice (NYU Press, 2005)
 

April 27 - What Is Co-housing - and How Does It Support an Ecological and Socially Relevant Lifestyle

Laura Fitch is one of the founding members, and 13-year resident of Pioneer Valley Co-housing in Amherst, MA as well as a Principal Architect at Kraus-Fitch Architects. Her talk will focus on Co-housing, and how it can support a more ecological and socially relevant lifestyle. As an architect, Ms. Fitch has been involved in the programming and design of more than 2 dozen co-housing projects in North America.

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