Leonard Perlmutter is head of the American Meditation Institute, headquartered in Averill Park, where he teaches meditation and Yoga. The Institute has published his book, The Heart and Science of Yoga. Perlmutter’s talk was about what he calls “the Science of Yoga,” which has little to do with the common picture of Yoga as bodily contortion exercises. He began by likening Yoga to the principles of humanism, entailing a constant search for truth, focusing upon this earthly life and its betterment.

Our December speaker was Curran Streett, Program Director for the Pride Center of the Capital Region. Founded in 1970, it was originally called the Capital District Gay Community Center. With three paid staff and relying mainly on volunteers, the Center offers meeting and activity space to the LGBT community (estimated to be between 4 and 10% of the total population) in a 9-county region. LGBT” stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender.

Dr. Bruce W. Dearstyne: “New York Remembers . . . Or Does It?” November, 2011

Dearstyne casts himself as an advocate for New York History – making him something of a rara avis. But he holds that history is not dry and dull, but really full of more entertaining stories than in fiction. Further, he says, the way we think about our past shapes our progress into the future.

Marc Adams is – let’s see – a direct descendant of John Adams; child of a fundamentalist Christian minister; a former student at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University; gay; an ordained Humanist minister; author of 9 books; and founder of HeartStrong, which provides help for LGBT students in religious schools. Adams explained that already in kindergarten he felt “different,” and by age 7 realized that while teachers were pushing the boy-girl thing, he was instead attracted to male classmates.

Dr. Steven A. Leibo is a Professor at the Sage Colleges and SUNY and frequent commentator on Northeast Public Radio. He previously addressed us on climate change. Leibo’s September 11 talk was titled “Ten Years Later.”

His focus was on the Middle East, covering both the historical background and the current situation. Leibo identified several distinct stages, starting with the postwar “secular nationalist movements” exemplified by Egypt’s Nasser.

Colin Donnaruma: The Continuing Struggle to Defend Civil Rights: the NYCLU's Priorities for 2011-2012. Aug 2011

Donnaruma began by noting that with the election of Barack Obama we had "overly high expectations". Here in NYS, however, same-sex marriage equality passed fast this year. NYS is now the sixth and the third-most-populous state in the U.S. to do so. Many more – 44 – are yet to follow suit. We have Marriage Equality in NY but not at the Federal Government level.

Matt Cherry: The Right to Blaspheme -- Why an atheist defends religious freedom at the UN. July, 2011

Matt Cherry, formerly with the Institute for Humanist studies, is currently the UN representative for the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), a global federation of humanist and atheist groups. His talk was entitled, “Why an atheist defends religious freedom at the UN – the right to blaspheme.”

Our June speaker, Christopher Chabris, is the co-author with Daniel Simons, of The Invisible Gorilla: How Our Intuitions Deceive Us.

The book (and his talk) discusses what he calls “everyday illusions” – intuitive commonsense beliefs about how our minds work, that often tend to be systematically wrong, hard to overcome, and can get us into big trouble if we’re not aware of them.

Dr. Lawrence Wittner has written extensively on the history of peace movements. His most recent book is titled Confronting the Bomb.

His theme was the danger of nuclear weapons, and complacency about it. There are 22,000 nuclear weapons in the world. If the U.S. attacked Russia with 300 nukes, the earth would be left a smoldering ruin...

Charles Nalle was a slave owned by Blucher Hansborough of Culpeper, Virginia (actually, he was also Hansborough’s half brother.). Charles was married to Kitty – itself a privileged situation for a slave – but she was on a nearby plantation – it was common to keep slave families from living together. When Kitty’s owner died, his will freed her; but Virginia law required freed slaves to leave the state. Kitty went to Washington, DC, still slave territory, in order to remain near Charles. Then, in October 1858, aided by a local white agent of the Underground Railroad, Charles managed to escape north.

He began with the premise that people are unequal, some having more access to power and decision-making, and the ability to make – and interpret – history. Due to shifting sands in these regards, an historical event’s meaning is always unstable. Kuritz further held that history always has its “silences” – things not talked about.

Dr. Smith saw the global warming debate turning into more of a political issue than a scientific one; a “manufactured controversy” in which deniers base their positions on what they’d like to be true, and are impervious to facts. Thus he observed that even as data comes in confirming that global temperatures are rising, public belief in this is falling. Dr. Smith noted the obvious parallels to the evolution “debate.”

Dr. Janny Venema- Kiliaen van Rensselaer, New Netherland, and the New Netherland Research Center, December, 2010

Dr. Janny (pronounced “Yanni,” like that Greek schmaltz musician) Venema has been with the New Netherland project for 25 years and is Assistant Director. The Society, under the auspices of the State Library and the Holland Society, is engaged in translating and publishing surviving documents from the Dutch colonial period. Dr. Venema is the author of two books, one about Beverwijck (the Dutch name for Albany) in the 1650s, and one about Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the “first Patroon” of what is now Albany and Rensselaer counties.

Dr. Sherrie Lyons- Species, Serpents, Spirits and Skulls: Science at the Margins of the Victorian Age, November, 2010

At the November 14 meeting of the CDHS, Dr. Sherrie Lyons (BA in Genetics (Berkley)) and Ph. D in the History of Science (University of Chicago), treated a large and enthusiastic audience to a summary of her latest book, Species, Serpents, Spirits and Skulls: Science at the Margins of the Victorian Age. Her presentation was preceded by an interactive session that attempted to answer the question, “How many humanists does it take to get a Mac laptop to communicate with the digital projector?” Dr. Lyons’ presentation described the explosion of scientific investigation and discoveries in the fields of biology, chemistry and geology during the Victorian Age and the coincident proliferation of all sorts of pseudoscience and false science.

Marilyn Sassi has a degree in Fine Arts from Russell Sage, has taught at various local colleges, and has been involved with antiques for over 40 years. Her talk was on the history of toys. Sassi first started with antiques when furnishing an apartment; she would encounter antique toys but resisted their allure, thinking toys are for children. Then one day a publication she wrote for sent her to cover a toy auction. The toys were in glass cases; champagne was served; and not a child was in sight. She was soon hooked.

Stephen D. Solomon teaches First Amendment law at New York University and is Associate Director of NYU’s Carter Journalism Institute. His topic was “Kids and Prayers – the Misunderstood Conflict over God in the Classroom,” based on his recent book, Ellery’s Protest: How One Young Man Defied Tradition and Sparked the Battle over School Prayer.

Dr. Jason Wiles teaches biology at Syracuse Univerity. Having become mindful how misunderstandings about evolution hamper many students in studying biology, Dr. Wiles has focused attention on the teaching of evolution. His presentation was a photo tour of Kentucky’s Creation Museum. Actually located near Cincinnati, this 70,000 square foot, $30 million facility was opened in 2007 by “Answers in Genesis Ministries.” Dr. Wiles’s photos showed it to be no cheesy joke but, in its way, an impressive and seductive attraction.

Nancy Marie Payne, our July speaker, has ten years of experience as a professional storyteller. She presented a first-person narrative of a ten-year-old girl, Jenny, who traveled on the first “orphan train” out of New York City in 1853. While Jenny was fictionalized, everything else about the story was fact-based. ”

Dr. Michael J. Murphy is a Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus from the Department of Natural Sciences at SUNY Cobleskill. His topic was “The Immorality of Coerced Sexuality: Lessons from the Biology of Intersex Conditions.” Dr. Murphy’s key premise was that it is indeed immoral to interfere with formation of loving relationships, including those involving sexual intimacy, by rational adults.

Stephen Andersen- Surviving Motherhood in Africa, May, 2010

Our Mother’s Day program was about Motherhood in Africa, presented by Stephen Andersen, who took a leave from his IBM job to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali, 2005-07. The Peace Corps is a US government program, begun in 1961, aimed at promoting world peace and friendship, through better understanding of Americans by other peoples, as well as better understanding of other peoples by Americans.

Flynn stressed that throughout history, “people like us” have been very much in the minority; and if you think the societal climate is hostile, it was way worse in past times. But nevertheless, Flynn avowed, it’s such people who have been in the vanguard of civilizational progress, with an impact greatly disproportionate to their numbers.

Connie Frisbee Houde is a photojournalist who has traveled to Afghanistan 4 times since 2003; her last trip, in late 2009, was with “Code Pink,” an activist women’s organization, spending 10 days in Kabul.

She began with a slideshow of a visit to Kabul’s street of music stores, focusing on one musician in particular, whom she labeled “the essence of Afghanistan.”

Dr. Frank Wind- Awash in Tales- Noah's Flood and Other Flood Myths, February, 2010

Dr. Frank Wind, a professional geologist and storyteller, has been an active member of CDHS. His talk was entitled “Awash in Tales – the Biblical Story of Noah’s Flood and Other Flood Myths.” Dr. Wind began by citing the famed 17th century calculation by Bishop Ussher that, based on the Bible’s chronology, the creation occurred in 4004 BCE – to be exact, on October 23....

Our January program featured Dr. John Delano, from the University at Albany. Professor John W. Delano is a Distinguished Teaching Professor at SUNY’s Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, and Associate Director of NASA’s New York Center for Astrobiology. He discussed the search for life beyond Earth, focusing upon the Kepler space telescope, launched last March.

Past Events at CDHS 2010, 2011

This page lists recent lectures and events. It includes a brief description plus a link to a complete summary.

Stephen Andersen- Surviving Motherhood in Africa, May, 2010

Dr. Frank Wind- Awash in Tales- Noah's Flood and Other Flood Myths, February, 2010