“Bliss and Other Good Things”

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: Robert Stewart
• Musician: Mick Kinney

“How to Smile, Love, and Sing all Year Long”

Barbara Van-Helsdingen is a retired special education teacher and construction supervisor. Formerly from Niagara Falls Canada, she now resides with her wife in Tucker, Georgia. Barbara speaks on a variety of topics from her many travel and work experiences. She believes in a world of love for everyone. She was a pupil of Leo Bisceglia who said hugs were very important. Barbara was a speaker and minister at the Pink Triangle Christian Fellowship PTCF for many years in Buffalo, New York. There she helped to create and run a coffee house for the abandoned LGBT community dealing with many issues. Later she went to the Canadian Arctic and lived among the Inuit for many years. She is happy to be in Georgia now full time and available to speak and share her life moments with others.

Facilitator: D. Patton White

Musician: Aviva and the Flying Penguins

“It’s in There: Black Self-Actualization in the face of ‘Social Progress’”

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: Libby Ware

Musician: William Chelton

“Using Our Voices/ Speaking Up”

Pauline Rose Clance, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita of Psychology at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia where she taught in the Doctoral Clinical Program for 28 years and was the first Senior Faculty Associate for the Task Force for the Advancement of Women. In 2012, she received an Honorary Doctorate in Science from Lynchburg College in Virginia.

She has been in private practice in Clinical Psychology for over 33 years and was a co-founder and faculty member of the Gestalt Institute of Georgia, President of the Southeastern Psychological Association, along with being a national and international speaker.

In 1978 Dr. Suzanne Imes and Dr. Clance wrote an important academic article on the Impostor Phenomenon which continues to gain world-wide attention.

She is one of the Founding and a long-term member of the First Existentialist Congregation. Pauline believes that the First E is needed more now than ever at this time in our country.

Facilitator: Sharon Mathis

Musician: Charli Vogt

Remember and Resist: Learning from the Dutch

What can we learn today from the Dutch Resistance to the Nazi occupation? Although only a tiny percentage of Holland’s population decided to act, Mary Dingee Fillmore will explore what motivated both Jewish and Gentile resisters, the actions women and men took, and how they relate to us today. Remembrance isn’t enough; we must act to honor them and learn from their courage.

Bio: After living in Amsterdam and becoming gripped by the stories of the Holocaust and Resistance there, Mary Dingee Fillmore devoted thirteen years to research about that place and time. The result is the acclaimed historical novel, An Address in Amsterdam, about a young Jewish woman who joins the anti-Nazi underground, published in 2016 by She Writes Press. Mary earned an MFA in Writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2005. As a writer, speaker and in her consulting work, Mary facilitates conversations for a fairer, more peaceful world.

Facilitator: M. Charlene Ball

Musician: Alan Dynin

“Small Gestures – Big Rewards. Atlanta Transit Angels’ work helping asylum seekers along their rocky path to safety.”

Grace Hawkins, Grandmothers for Peace, will speak about the “Overground Railroad” now called “Atlanta Transit Angels,” a group that goes to bus stations to meet migrants and give them necessities like blankets, baby diapers, children’s clothing. Some of the Grandmothers are going to the border to meet migrants, and Grace may tell us about that.

• Facilitator: Lorraine Fontana
• Musician: Mick Kinney

“Glimpses of Glory”

Rev. Chris Glaser has devoted his life to the reconciliation of the LGBT and religious communities. A graduate of Yale Divinity School, he has authored 12 books and, since 2011, has written a free weekly blog for progressive Christians, Christians who recognize the value of every faith and no faith, as well as the need for science and political involvement. His free weekly blog can be found at: http://chrisglaser.blogspot.com.

• Facilitator: D. Patton White
• Musician: William Chelton

Neoliberalism and the Unraveling of Democracy and the Social Contract

Dr. Marian Meyers is a professor in the Department of Communication and an affiliate of the Institute of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Georgia State University. Her research interests include the media’s portrayal of women and other socially marginalized groups from an intersectional perspective that views race, class, gender and other markers of social identity as inextricably interconnected. She has published articles or books on topics ranging from the status of women in higher education, the portrayal of women in the media, and how African American women journalists cover the news. Her most recent scholarly interest is neoliberalism, the effects of neoliberal ideology on democracy, and the dissemination of neoliberal beliefs through mainstream media. Her most recent book, due out in February with Routledge, is Neoliberalism and the Media. It explores how the media are complicit in promoting and naturalizing neoliberal ideology.

• Facilitator: Barbara Van-Helsdingen
• Musician: Jean Heinrich

“Watch Night:  Waiting for Freedom”

“On December 31, 1862, many enslaved waited in praise houses and churches on the Sea Islands to hear if the Emancipation Proclamation would become real. The first day of 1863 became the first day of freedom for many forced into bondage throughout the Southern states. The New Year’s Eve Watch Night service has been celebrated ever since that day to commemorate the end of slavery.”

Althea Sumpter is a researcher/scholar who uses her expertise as an ethnographer to document cultures and preserve the Southern story of the United States. Using as a prototype the oral histories she has collected from Gullah Geechee elders in her own culture, she teaches ways to research the cultural history within a community, along with methods to use documentation technology to memorialize and preserve those stories for future generations. She holds a Doctor of Arts in Humanities degree (African/African American Studies and New Media Technology) from Clark Atlanta University, as well as Bachelor and Master of Media Arts degrees from the University of South Carolina.

With extensive experience in the media production industry and an Emmy-nomination, Sumpter has taught digital media production and scriptwriting at Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Clark Atlanta University and The Art Institute of Atlanta. She is a member and past chair of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission, created by Congress in 2006. Her research and her work can be viewed at altheasumpter.com.

Facilitator:  Libby Ware

Musician:  Kathy McGuire

“Holiday Thoughts – Little Women and Why It Matters”: 

“One of the most famous holiday lines in a novel may be this one, ‘Christmas won’t be Christmas without any present,’ grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.

In this 150th anniversary year of the publication of what has been described as equal parts thinly disguised family memoir, complex social chronicle, and young adult novel. we will look at its American Christmas holiday messages, what is said and still says about growing up female– and whether it will survive the 21st century as a popular classic book.”

Marti still ranks Little Women among her favorite books, and arguably her first favorite book, has seen most if not all of the film adaptations, and is eagerly awaiting Greta Gerwig’s much anticipated remake with Meryl Streep, Saoirse Roman, and Timothee Chlamet, scheduled for a Christmas 2019 release.

Marti Keller graduated from David Starr Jordan Junior High in Palo Alto, California, and went on to degrees in journalism and theology. This is her 20th year as a Unitarian Universalist parish and social justice minister. She is the consulting minister for the UU Fellowship of Auburn, Alabama and the minister with the Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation for whom she carries the gender equity and justice portfolio. She is a published poet and creative non-fiction author, and the project director for Decatur Haiku, a year of focus on this Japanese micro verse form.

Facilitator:  Jan Lister

Musician:  Alan Dynin