“Founders’ Day: Celebrating Our Existence”
- Presenters: Dr. Jean Heinrich and D. Patton White
- Musician: Mick Kinney
September 29, 2019 – Dr. Jean Heinrich and D. Patton White
September 22, 2019 – Lisa Cottrell
“The Power of Passion”
Lisa is a psychotherapist in private practice, a poet, writer, and activist. She is a long time member of the First Existentialist Congregation. She has been a student of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh since 1999 and has studied with many other Buddhist teachers. Lisa incorporates feminism, existentialism, mindfulness and compassion in her therapy practice. She also trains therapists how to use mindfulness in their lives and professional practices. She offers her CD, Mindful Meditations for Well Being, as a free download from www.wellbeingpsychotherapy.net.
- Facilitator: Libby Ware
- Musician: Alan Dynin
- Special Musician: Beth York
September 15, 2019 – Amy Stout
“Leave it to the Beavers”
Amy Stout trained as a neuroscientist and pharmacologist. When she made a career change from lab work to research administration, she began a phase of community engagement and local activism. She has served in number of volunteer roles at the neighborhood and city level and is an advocate for better laws and policies related to sustainability, planning and land use. She is a member of the founding board of directors of the Candler Park Conservancy and will discuss their work as well as other citizen activism that has positively impacted this public park. The combination of a public works project and the influx of a keystone species has transformed a section of the park into a treasured nature habitat in the midst of the city.
- Facilitator: Ted Pettus
- Musician: Dr. Jean Heinrich
September 8, 2019 – McKenzie Wren
“Dialogue across Difference: Healing the world one conversation at a time”
McKenzie Wren is a skilled facilitator who honors the power of community to solve its own problems. Her particular areas of focus are helping businesses and non-profits create cultures of collaboration and inclusion. Through her independent practice called Culture on Purpose, McKenzie helps groups and organizations increase their sense of community specifically by assisting with communication flow and increasing engagement. She brings an asset-based approach to all that she does and uses collaborative and participatory tools to make sure all voices are heard. She excels in helping teams and coalitions thrive by supporting participants in creating shared vision and processes. Underlying all of her work is a commitment to social justice and racial equity. Her work around diversity, inclusion and equity is rooted in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s expression of the Beloved Community.
McKenzie earned her master’s degree from Emory University Rollins School of Public Health where she also taught students on leadership and community engagement. She is VP of membership of the Southeast Association of Facilitators, Director of Education at National Association of Women Business Owners and President of Congregation Bet Haverim where she also sings in the chorus. She is passionate about her family, gluten free chocolate chip cookies and her electric bicycle.
- Facilitator: Robert Stewart
- Musician: William Chelton
September 1, 2019 – Kathie deNobriga
“Once More from the Top: Beginning Again”
A founding member of Alternate ROOTS, a service organization for community-based artists in the South, Kathie deNobriga served as ROOTS’ executive director and planning/development director for ten years. She continues to serve on the board, working on various committees as needed, and sharing the institutional memory of 40 years of continuous membership.
Raised in Kingsport TN, deNobriga holds an M.A. in Theatre (Directing) from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC, and a B.A. with honors in Speech Communications and Theatre Arts. Her early employment included directing and managing community theatres in Smithfield and Sanford, NC and performing with The Road Company, a professional ensemble in Johnson City, TN. DeNobriga was a Visiting Artist for two years for the NC Arts Council, and a Fellow in the Rockefeller Foundation’s Next Generation Leadership program and in the Rockwood Leadership Institute.
She is now a consultant, specializing in strategic planning, building organizational capacity, designing staff/board retreats and guiding creative conflict engagement. She is project manager for the Arts and Democracy, a member of the consultant pool at the Georgia Center for NonProfits. She trained as a mediator at the Atlanta Justice Center and is a board member for Arts & Democracy and Alternate ROOTS. She served two terms as Councilmember and one as Mayor for the City of Pine Lake, where she is an advocate for and practitioner of arts and community development.
- Facilitator: D. Patton White
- Musician: Ken Gregory
August 25, 2019 – Anthony Knight
“What Shall We Remember? The Past, the Present, and Our Quest for Self”
Anthony Knight is the President & CEO of The Baton Foundation—a Georgia nonprofit organization that serves the emotional, intellectual and cultural needs of Black boys in grades five through nine. Before founding the Foundation, Mr. Knight worked for twenty-two years as a museum educator and consultant. Mr. Knight has extensive experience with and interest in African American history and culture, public and living history, informal education and Black youth. Mr. Knight’s work with The Baton Foundation reflects his ongoing interest in the issues and practices related to the collecting, preservation and interpretation of information about and material culture from the African Diaspora. Mr. Knight’s undergraduate work was in Spanish and English (Ohio Wesleyan University), and his graduate work was in museum education (The George Washington University). Mr. Knight also holds a degree in Spanish-to-English translation from the Núcleo de Estudios Lingüísticos y Sociales, Caracas, Venezuela. Mr. Knight is a New York City native.
- Facilitator: Rev. Marsha Mitchiner
- Musician: William Chelton
August 18, 2019 – Franklin Abbott
“The Stranger”
Franklin Abbott has been a practicing psychotherapist in Atlanta for nearly forty years. He is also a poet, musician, community organizer and amateur oral historian. His connection to the Congregation and Old Stone Church goes back more than 40 years to early urban radical faery gatherings held in the sanctuary before First E became its steward. He has spoken at First E many times, performed music and poetry there, and coordinated events and memorials.
- Facilitator: Lorraine Fontana
- Musician: Susan Ottzen
August 11, 2019 – Rev. Marsha Mitchiner
“Using Now to Move Through”
*Existentialist Discussion Group to follow the Celebration of Life*
- Facilitator: Jan Lister
- Musician: Dr. Jean Heinrich
August 4, 2019 – Rev. Joan Armstrong Davis
“Making Amends”
Reverend Joan Armstrong Davis is a Unitarian Universalist minister and religious educator having served congregations in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Wisconsin. She is a 1989 graduate of the Candler School of Theology at Emory University where she returned in 2003 for a residency in pastoral care at Emory University Hospital.
Joan currently serves the Northwest Unitarian Universalist congregation in Sandy Springs, GA as their Affiliated Community Minister where she facilitates the work of their lay led pastoral care ministry team.
- Facilitator: D. Patton White
- Musician: Kathy McGuire
July 28, 2019 – Dr. Jon Herman
“When Men Stop Fighting: My Memories of a Pacifist”
Dr. Jon Herman is an associate professor of religious studies at Georgia State University, where he teaches classes in Asian religion, comparative mysticism, and critical theory in the study of religion. He is the author of Taoism for Dummies, and several articles on topics such as interfaith dialogue, contemporary conceptions of “spirituality,” Holocaust studies, religious studies and public education, environmentalism, Neo-Confucian mysticism, and the late science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin. He is currently researching for a book on the Jewish existentialist author Martin Buber’s unpublished lectures on the Taoist classic, the Tao Te Ching.
Jon’s wife Ellen has recently retired as the coordinator of Threshold Ministry, an organization providing assistance to the homeless and those suffering other effects of poverty. She had previously worked in religious education, and university, prison, and hospital chaplaincy. Jon and Ellen are the parents of two daughters, both adopted from China.
- Facilitator: Rev. Marsha Mitchiner
- Musician: Alan Dynin