The Ethical Culture Society of Essex County
Programs each Sunday at 11:00 AM
516 Prospect Street, Maplewood, New Jersey 07040
Corner of Parker and Prospect
Phone 973-763-1905

 

Current Week

       

 

 

 

June 18, 2023 at 11:00 a.m.

(Final platform of the 2022/23 Season):

Father's Day Colloquy

 

Jeanine Rosh, our Mistress of Ceremonies, will lead a celebration of Fatherhood, and an examination of what it has meant, and currently means in our lives.
 

 

 

June 11, 2023 at 11:00 a.m.

 

 

 

 

Mia Charlene White, Ph.D.: 

Thinking Together About

Critical Race Theory 

This is a HYBRID event:

 in person at the ECS building in Maplewood and

online via Zoom (link is below)

Mia Charlene White, PhD is Assistant Professor of Urban and Environmental Studies at The New School where she teaches courses on race to students pursuing degrees in wide-ranging fields including urban and environmental studies; design and urban ecologies; philosophy and historical studies; and sustainability management.  Mia resides in Maplewood with her husband Andrew and their two wonderful children Henry and Sydney; she identifies as a Black woman of African American and Korean descent; and she thrives alongside a longtime spine disability - a grounding reality for her and so many others.

Mia did her PhD in urban planning at MIT, where she had dual foci in housing justice and Black studies; her master of international affairs at Columbia, where she focused on human rights and environmental justice; and her bachelor’s degree in anthropology at SUNY Stonybrook, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Mia is a 2023 Mellon Fellow for Inclusive Faculty Excellence and serves as Associate Director of both the Tishman Environment and Design Center, and the Housing Justice Lab, both at The New School. She is working on her first manuscript which explores the potential of municipal reparations plans that are cropping up across the country, and she is writing with a special interest on a subset of approaches that link land and housing decommodification for in-perpetuity affordability, inclusion, and environmental justice.

Further afield, Mia is a co-founding member of the BIPOC Planners Collective, which is an affinity group of the Planners Network that supports planners of color;  she is an appointed official of the South Orange Village Zoning Board of Adjustment, in South Orange, NJ; she is a Board Trustee of the Maplewood Public Library, in Maplewood, NJ; she is the newly elected vice-chair of the Black Geographies Speciality group of the American Association of Geographers (AAG), where she also serves on the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) committee. Her JEDI work in particular allows her to work to support faculty across the country in their commitments to the structural, historical, and spatial study of race.  She recently co-led a Teach In on critical race theory at Columbia HS, and she is presenting an abbreviated version to us this Sunday.

 

For more information, click on this resource link.

 

 

 

 

 

June 10, 2023 3:00 p.m.

Not a Feather, But a Dot

A Film that addresses important social issues of today!

The Ethical Culture Society of Essex County and the Episcopal Church of St. Andrew and Holy Communion Invite you to a documentary and discussion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have joined together to present this documentary by Teju Prasad who grew up in Maplewood and has offered to join in a discussion of the film afterwards.

 

Refreshments!

 

3 PM---JUNE 10 at St. Andrew & Holy Communion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, June 4, 11 am

 

Tom Cunningham: Creating a Space for Tough Conversations

Join ECSEC President Tom Cunningham as he explores what it takes to create the right environment for a tough conversation. Tom's work as the Chief People Officer of a national consulting firm has given him plenty of opportunities to have difficult conversations on challenging topics. He has also taught courses on difficult conversations and will share some ideas and tools to make it more likely you'll have the discussion you want to have instead of the fight you are dreading when you wade into challenging waters.

Tom Cunningham: Creating a Space for Tough Conversations

 

 

Chef Jesse Jones

Sunday, May 28, 2023 11:00 a.m.

 

Memorial Day Weekend:
Our Favorite Holiday Traditions and the Foods that Go with Them 

This is a HYBRID event:

 in person at the ECS building in Maplewood and

online via Zoom (link is below).

We'll share the familiar food traditions that make our families' seasonal celebrations uniquely our own. Chef Jesse Jones, the popular local culinary star, will join us to share his own favorites, and how he developed his unique blend of Southern and French cooking. 

 

Annual Meeting of the Ethical Culture Society of Essex County

This is a HYBRID event:

 in person at the ECS building in Maplewood and

online via Zoom
Please join us for our Annual Meeting. ECS president Tom Cunningham will lead us in a review of this past year and our goals for the year ahead. We will also welcome new members and elect trustees to the Board. Refreshments will be served.

 

 

 

Sunday, May 14, 2023 at 11:00 a.m.

Mother's Day Colloquy
Mothering & Mothers

 

 

 

 

Sunday, May 7, 2023

 

Solidarity Singers
with Bennet Zurovsky!

 

Post-May Day and Post Art Auction Celebration 
As they have done on the first Sunday of May each year, the Solidarity Singers will open our platform. Their performance will be followed by a colloquy on art and creativity.

 

The platform will be followed at 1 pm with a party for art lovers - artists and art buyers, and those simply supporting Ethical's effort to repair and restore our building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, April 30, 11 am

All-Society Presentation: Our Climate Future, with guest speakers from Our Children's Trust, addressing the fight for climate protection and justice.

All-Societies Platform: Climate Justice - The Case Made by Our Children's Trust  This is a ZOOM ONLY presentation. The link to register is below; the Zoom link will be sent after registration.  Our All-Societies Platform this Sunday will feature special guests from Our Children’s Trust who recently appeared on the front page of The New York Times. This is a great opportunity to meet the lawyer and some of the youth plaintiffs in the upcoming lawsuit Held v. State of Montana, the first ever constitutional and children’s climate trial in U.S. history- which will begin on June 12th in Helena, Montana. On March 13, 2020, 16 young people from across the state of Montana filed their constitutional climate lawsuit against the state, asserting that by supporting a fossil fuel driven energy system, which is contributing to the climate crisis, Montana is violating their constitutional rights to a clean and healthful environment, to seek safety, health and happiness, and to individual dignity and equal protection of the law. They also argue that the state’s fossil fuel energy system is degrading and depleting Montana’s constitutionally protected public trust resources, including the atmosphere, rivers and lakes, fish and wildlife This is a unique opportunity for Ethical Culture families to explore together how to empower our youngsters to speak up and speak out, and to show them a path forward that is empowering and grounded in our beliefs. Click on the link below to RSVP for what will be an amazing event. We hope to see you there. About Our Children’s Trust: Our Children’s Trust (OCT) is a non-profit, public-interest law firm that provides campaign-based, legal services to youth from diverse backgrounds to secure their legal rights to a safe climate. We work to protect the earth’s climate systems for present and future generations by representing young people in global legal efforts to secure their binding and enforceable legal rights to a healthy atmosphere and a stable climate, based on the best available science. CLICK the link below to register in advance. The ZOOM link will be sent to you. ----( Video Call )---- http://vh9d.2.vu/aprasp

 

 

 

 

Platform April 23, 2023
A Celebration for Shakespeare's Birthday!

Meredith Sue Willis & Andy Weinberger
Lead a Celebration of Shakespeare's Birthday

Bring Your Favorite Short Passage of Shakespeare--a Solioquy? A Sonnet?

 

Meredith Sue Willis and Andy Weinberger, long-married and long-members of the Ethical Culture Society of Essex County (each a past president), will lead a celebration of William Shakespeare.

This presentation will be not scholarly but personal, and it will feature your favorite quotations and plays. There will be participation from the audience, so please bring short selections from Shakespeare to share.

Andy will also discuss his work as an Ambassador at one of the premier Shakespeare companies in the United States (Shakespeare & Company), which emphasizes the contributrions of women and mixes high art, entertainment, ethical and diversity concerns, and public education--all through the wit and wisdom of the Bard.

 

 

 

Andy Weinberger is a retired rheumatologist, and Meredith Sue Willis, author of 24 books of fiction and non-fiction, teaches novel writing at NYU and privately.

 

 

 

 

Sunday, April 16, 11 am

Arnell Dowret: Letting Go of Blame - Why Blame Is Unfair, Unproductive, and Unnecessary This is a HYBRID event: in person at the ECS building in Maplewood and online via Zoom (link is below). A humanist and free-thought activist outlines a way to transcend blame. Arnell Dowret is a free-thought activist/author facilitating interpersonal workshops since 1971. He developed The Secular Connections Workshop at the Center for Inquiry Metro-NY in 2001 and subsequently, presented Naturalistic Humanism workshops at the WBAI NY studio including the 2011 cutting edge Meetup, The Experimental Zone.   For 18 years, Dowret hosted WBAI’s Equal Time for Freethought which focused on interactive Naturalistic Support and offered interviews with scientists, philosophers, and leaders in the freethought community. From 2016 to 2018, he led a weekly Naturalistic Support group for formerly incarcerated persons at the NYC Fortune Society.   Dowret is a contributing author to the anthologies, Towards a New Political Humanism and The Myth of Free Will, in addition to articles in Free Inquiry and The Humanist magazines. He has presented at Princeton, Columbia, Rutgers-Newark, NYU, Ethical Culture, and the NYC Future Salon. His current book discusses Naturalistic Humanism, a new approach to understanding our human experience.

 

 

 

 

Sunday, April 9, 2023-- Easter
Spotlight on Members:
Martha Gallahue, Former Leader of the
Ethical Society of Essex County

 

Lessons from Life, the United Nations, and Ethical Culture

Therapist, AEU Liason to the United Nations, Former Nun!
Woman for All Seasons!
Come and Meet Martha!
An Interview/Conversation with Martha Gallahue

 

 

 

 

Sunday April 2
11:00 a.m.

Colin Beck:

When Worlds Collide

 

Striving to overcome inequality in South Africa, starting with efforts to foster literacy and also numeracy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cathleen McCoy Bristol:
The Artist as Observer of the Human Experience
This is a HYBRID event:
in person at the ECS building in Maplewood and
online via Zoom (link is below).

Sunday, March 26, 11 am

Artist and art educator Cathleen McCoy Bristol will celebrate the diversity of human beauty and culture. (McCoy Bristol is one of the artists contributing to our Raise the Roof Online Art Auction in April.)

Cathy loves studying people and that inspires her choice of subject matter. She engages in social commentary in both subtle and in-your-face renderings. Cathy also loves to teach and help others develop their talent. Since art is analytical and is about solving problems, she believes it has great cognitive benefit for seniors.

Her introduction to people who looked different than those of her neighborhood came when she was eight years old, at Saturday art classes in Newark, and continued with the diverse community at Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art (NSFIA), where she majored in Fashion Illustration. Those connections resulted in lifelong friendships based on the common interest of art. She and her friends celebrated and respected differences. 

 

Learning about others’ cultures deepened her desire to document the human experience in paint. Some of her social commentary is soft, such as children interacting and enjoying each other’s company and indirect messages of diversity,  while other paintings depict in-your-face issues such as equal rights, breast cancer awareness, addiction,  domestic violence and human trafficking.

Cathy has exhibited extensively at venues across Northern and Central New Jersey. “Being an artist is not what I do, it is who I am,” she says. “The artistic brain and eye does not go away because one is not artistically active. The perspective is still creative, even if one is currently not working in his/her gifting.  As Teddy Pendergrass sang, ‘you can’t run from yourself, everywhere you go, there you are!’  

Cathy taught Oil Painting and Fashion Illustration at NSFIA, Junior Division of the Newark Museum, Arts Unbound, Essex County Park Commission, Senior Studio, Maplewood's Acrylic Painting, and Trinity Presbyterian Church's summer program. She has also served as a grant reviewer for Essex County.

She has also curated seven exhibits and has served as a board member for 1978 Maplewood Art Center, Arts Council of East Orange and a committee member of the SOMA Artists Studio Tour.
Http://cathymccoybristol.webstarts.com

 Artist and art educator Cathleen McCoy Bristol, celebrating the diversity of human beauty and culture. (McCoy Bristol is one of the artists contributing to our Raise the Roof Online Art Auction in April.)

 

 

 

March 19, 2023

 

ECSEC Social Action Committee:
What We've Done;
What We Do;
What We Hope to Do

 

With Esther Barcun, Zia Durrani, Jill Farrar,
Bill Graves, Lisa Novemsky, and Meredith Sue Willis

 

See our Resources Page and Our Committee Minutes.

 

 

Sunday, March 12, 11:00 a.m.-

 

 

Daniela Gioseffi:
The Great Women We Know

 

 

Honoring Women's History Month, author, poet, activist, Maplewood resident and longtime leader in the fight for women's rights Daniela Gioseffi will lead us in a celebration of the inspiring women we know or have known, in our personal lives and in the wider world.

In person at the ECS building in Maplewood and online via Zoom (link is below). Author-poet-activist Daniela Gioseffi will lead an "open-mic" celebration of the great women in the nation's life and in our personal lives. She is inviting participants, online and in-person, to come ready to show-and-tell, or simply tell their stories.

 

Daniela Gioseffi, an American Book Award-winning author of 18 books or prose and poetry, from major and university presses: among them, three novels, a book of stories, and six volumes of poetry, as well as four anthologies, one of them a Women's Studies classic in print for 45 years first from Simon and Schuster, and reissued by The Feminist Press, NY. Waging Beauty is her latest poetry collection. She edits an online anthology, Eco-Poetry.org, receiving 6,000 visitors yearly. She's won a PEN American Center fiction prize, grants in poetry and prose from The NY State Council for the Arts; the John Ciardi Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry; and her writing has appeared in The Paris Review, The Nation, Chelsea, Persimmon Tree, myriad other literary magazines as well as in many anthologies from Oxford University Press, Harper & Row, Viking, Doubleday, Simon & Schuster, etc.

 

Sunday. March 5, 2023
11 am

 

 

Colloquy: What Does it Take to Make Peace?

 

 

 

 

We will discuss the concept of peace vs. surrender vs. compromise. What outsiders can do to help warring parties end their conflict -- in Ukraine and other regions, and in less violent situations where it might be possible to prevent an escalation. We hope to hear varying views, aired in a way that models our commitment to respectful dialog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, February 26, 2023

11:00 a.m.

 

Jeanine Rosh:

What Is This Thing Called Love?

 

This is a HYBRID event:
in person at the ECS building in Maplewood and
online via Zoom.

Jeanine Rosh, longtime Essex Ethical member and emcee extraordinaire, will lead a thought-provoking exploration of the many kinds of love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, February 19, 2023

 

 

Lisa Lofdahl:
From Attorney to Blacksmith-
Forging a New Path

 

 

Lisa Lofdahl, of LLMetalworks, is a metalworker, blacksmith and bladesmith who lives in South Orange, NJ and has her shop in Irvington, NJ. Lisa designs and creates custom pieces by hand, focusing primarily on functional and decorative household fixtures and furnishings. Whether hand-forging a chef’s knife or fabricating a table base, she endeavors to incorporate sound design with purpose and function. Lisa enjoys employing traditional blacksmithing techniques, but is not a purist, and often mixes and matches old and new methods to find the right look for her clients.

Lisa’s path to metalwork was first sparked in her early teens, when her dad taught her how to weld with an arc welder and oxy-acetylene torch on their ranch in Colorado. A BS in civil engineering at the Colorado School of Mines added knowledge of science, physics and materials. After a detour into the world of big law after obtaining a JD-MBA from Harvard, she has returned to her roots of working with her hands. Lisa has expanded her blacksmithing and knifemaking skills under expert instructors at the New England School of Metalwork and the Rochester Arc & Flame Center and has collaborated with designers and artisans specializing in wood and glass. More information and portfolio photos may be found at LLMetalworks.com and at Flickr, Instagram and Facebook under LLMetalworks.

Tom Cunningham will interview Lisa about her journey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, February 12, 11 am

William Graves: Lincoln vs. Thomas Jefferson   This Sunday, Abraham Lincoln's birthday, William Graves will discuss Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, and how it begins with a false premise, that our nation was founded on the idea that "all men are created equal." Bill Graves is a longtime Essex Ethical member, a lawyer and a community activist. He and his wife Lorraine are South Orange residents.Â

 

 

 

 

 

Colloquy-Raising Awarenes:
How and for Whom

 

Sunday, February 5, 2023

11:00 a.m.

Does the "Named Days and Months" concept work? We will examine our own responses to them, and explore alternative ways to boost understanding and respect.

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, January 29, 2023--All-Societies Platform by Zoom

The Future is Now: Our Children
Putting Ethics into Action

 

The Future Is Now: Our Children Putting Ethics into Action

Brought to you by our amazing team of Ethical Education Directors, we will hear from the directors themselves about their program as well as from the parents on what goes into raising our ethical leaders of tomorrow. The parents will also tell us about why it’s important that they teach their kids about the the value of Ethical Action and service. For the stars of the show, the kids will share performances with us as well as give their thoughts on what they need from the adults that they embark on their own ethical journeys.

Special thanks to Trish Cowan, Audrey Kindred, and Angel Thompson for all their hard work in organizing this event!

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, January 22, 2023

 

 

Steve Sklar: The Agita of the
Migratory Experience

This is a HYBRID event:
in person at the ECS building in Maplewood and
online via Zoom (link is below).

Steve Sklar, immigration lawyer by day, improviser by night, erstwhile storyteller, will be drawing on his 28 years in immigration law practice to tell a series of true stories related to that line of work, with the goal of capturing at least some of the drama, the comedy, the agita, implicit in the migratory experience.

 

 

 

 

January 15, 2023

 

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Terri Suess, ECS member (and ECS Board treasurer), will lead a discussion: "Can we break the chains of 'ethical infantilism'?"

Terri recommends that people read Dr. MLK's "The Quest for Peace and Justice," his Nobel Peace Prize Lecture delivered in 1964. Click here for the link.

It is valuable to read this today, almost 60 years after it was written. Please consider this essay, in light of current events here and regarding the horrific War in Ukraine.

Dr. King wrote beautifully and his writings were incredibly well-structured, making them easy to follow. His speeches are excellent examples of well-crafted essays. Because of this, you can logically follow through the paragraphs and find how they build on one another to add detail.  

You will find sections about three large problems plaguing humanity - racial injustice, poverty and war. Dr. King describes these as  "inextricably bound to each other" and that they grow out of "man's ethical infantilism".

As you read, try to consider each of these problems and think of progress that has been made over 60 years, as well as where we have fallen woefully short. Please bring  your ideas for how we can make progress to eradicate racial injustice and poverty, and war today. 

 

 

 

Sunday, January 8, 2023

11:00 a.m.

Jeanine Rosh: New Year's Coffee Chat

This is a HYBRID event:
in person at the ECS building in Maplewood and
online via Zoom.

Jeanine Rosh, longtime Essex Ethical member and our Mistress of Ceremonies extraordinaire, will lead a sharing of views on our hopes and intentions for the year ahead, both personally and as an Ethical society.

 

 

 

 

Dec. 18, 2022

11 am

Elaine Durbach and Jackie Herships

What if...?" - Exploring Our Stories
Through Fact and Fantasy

Can telling stories change the past? Journalist and strategic coach Jackie Hership will interview journalist-turned-novelist Elaine Durbach about the process of telling stories, made up or truthful, or embroidered with wish-fulfillment. That telling can be for personal nostalgia, or family legacy, or to explore the boundless realm of "WHAT IF..."

The speakers, long-time friends and fellow members of Essex Ethical, will also look into the publishing options available online and in print, for those who would like to create a lasting record of their stories.

Elaine Durbach is the author of recent novels "Roundabout" and "LAF - Life After Felix" and two earlier non-fiction books, "With Mixed Feelings" (about Cape Town's mixed-race community) and "South Africa, the Wild Realms". Born and brought up in Southern Africa, she came to the United States on a journalism fellowship in 1978, and returned as a correspondent for South African newspapers. She lives in Maplewood with her husband and son.

Jackie Herships, a New Yorker by birth, is a longtime resident of South Orange and Maplewood. She has been a filmmaker and journalist, a public relations consultant, and a strategic coach. She has two daughters, both of whom live in New York.

 

 

This is a HYBRID event:
in person at the ECS building in Maplewood and
online via Zoom .

 

Beethoven Marathon

Birgit Matzerath, Board of Directors, member, Secretary, and pianist extraordinaire  is planning and participating in a Beethoven Sonata Marathon in NY City.  You can hear it in person or live on UTube.

Details are listed below and in the attachments. Thanks you, Birgit for the pleasure you bring to all of us!

Members of the Leschetizky Association will perform a wide selection of the piano sonatas on the occasion of the composer’s birthday, in five concerts. The concerts will take place at Klavierhaus, 790 Eleventh Avenue, NYC at 10 a.m., 12 noon, 2:30 p.m., 5 p.m., and 7:15 p.m. on December 17^th.  Free admission, but pre-registration is required due to limited seating.

Please visit Eventbee.com and scroll down on the home page to find the “Find Event” button. Type in “Beethoven Sonata Marathon” and the list of concerts will come up. Please register for each concert you wish to attend and print out your confirmation email to present at the door. Masks and vaccinations are recommended.

The concerts will also be live-streamed on Klavierhaus’s YouTube channel: YouTube.com/c/Klavierhaus.

For more information, please click on the link below:

https://mcusercontent.com/acbdea171b9b1203820094136/files/890c75c5-0057-0eaf-c8e1-55a3525315c7/Beethovenflyer4c.pdf

For the schedule, please click on the link below:

https://mcusercontent.com/acbdea171b9b1203820094136/files/4c7686fb-86ca-8ef0-eeba-175984f00682/Beethoven_Marathon_final_schedule_pdf.pdf

 

 

 

Dec. 11, 2022

11 am

Ali Sazci

 

 

The Human Genome, Benefits and the Era of Precision Medicine

 

 

The number of Homo sapiens chromosomes was determined by Joe Hin Tjio in 1956. With the advent of DNA sequencing and next generation sequencing technologies, the physical map of the human genome has been completed. As we know today, we have 24 types of chromosomes.

The initial human genome cost $3 billion to sequence and annotate the genes on chromosomes; now it costs only $450.

Genetics testing is now available for newborn care, and testing for cancer, neurodegenerative disease and carrier identification. Participatory, predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine are effectively in use nowadays, building a knowledge network for biomedical research and a new taxonomy of disease.

Ali Sazci, Ph.D. Internationally recognised scientist, researcher, and educator in the field of Human Genetics.

Research Interest: To identify genes involved in the etiology of schizophrenia and biopolar disorders and neurological disorders, particularly neurodegenerative diseases and breast cancer, as well as colon cancer and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

Education and Credentials: DSc in Molecular Biology – Higher Education Board of Turkey, Bogazici University; PhD in Fungal Molecular Genetics - University of Leeds

Most recently, he served as Professor of Human Genetics in the Department of Medical Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kocaeli, Turkey, from 1997 to 2020.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dec. 4, 2022

The South Orange/Maplewood Community
Coalition on Race: Present & Future

Robert Marchman & Kelly Quirk

 

Kelly Quirk, Chair of the Board of the Coalition since 2020, has been volunteering for the Coalition since 2016, and on the Board since 2017. She is a Maplewood resident with an MSW from NYU, who holds an LCSW license. She practices social work as the Vice President of Treatment Services in NYC where she is dedicated to working with NYC's Homeless.

Robert Marchman, Vice Chair of the Board, founding member of the Coalition, former chair. Robert, a Maplewood resident, has been involved with the Coalition since its inception. Robert received his JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and has a long career working in regulations for the financial and security industries including his current role as the Senior Policy Advisor on Diversity and Inclusion for the US Securities and Exchange Commission. He serves on numerous boards in addition to the Community Coalition on Race including the national board of PFLAG, the board of Allegheny College, and the Maplewood Library where he and his wife Faye recently donated to creating a fund for equity and inclusion at the Library

 

 

 

 

Sunday, November 27, 2022

11:00 a.m.

 

 

 

Jeanine Rosh:
Post-Thanksgiving
Gratitude Coffee Chat

This is a HYBRID event:
in person at the ECS building in Maplewood and
online via Zoom.

Jeanine Rosh, longtime Essex Ethical member and MC extraordinaire, will lead a fun and thought-provoking exploration of what gratitude means to us, and what makes us most thankful.

Topic: ECS Sunday Platform Nov 27
Time: Nov 27, 2022 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, Nov. 20
11 am

Terri Suess: Climate Change Displacement & Migration - How to Respond?    This is a HYBRID event: in person at the ECS building in Maplewood and online via Zoom (link is below). The world's population is expected to peak at 10 billion by the 2060s, with most of the increase in tropical regions -- areas that will be hardest hit by climate change. Together, these events will push millions of people from their homes. Many have been affected already and are migrating north. The Global North must prepare to welcome people from tropical regions for two main reasons: 1)  Northern industrialized nations have been the greatest emitters of greenhouse gases, which cause global warming, so we have a moral responsibility to help, and 2) The Global North will need migrants in the future since the northern elderly retired populations are increasingly supported by too-few younger workers. By 2050, experts project that cities from Munich to Buffalo will be competing with each other to attract migrants. And just as we must prepare for migrants seeking refuge, we also must prepare for dislocations within our own country -- to help those hardest hit by climate change, often people with the least resources to start over.  Considering these displacements and migrations both internationally and within our nation are at the heart of  "Climate Justice." In this presentation, we will consider Climate Change, corresponding Demographic Changes, Climate Justice -- and how we can plan and prepare now for future challenges. Terri studies climate change and peace issues. She works for policy and personal changes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to slow the impending climate chaos.  She loves reading the New York Review of Books and is also an abstract painter elaine durbach is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Sunday Platform, Nov 20 Time: Nov 20, 2022 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

 

 

Sunday, Nov. 13

Manju Kak: Exploring the Art and Social Commitment of Nicholas Roerich and his Wife, Helena

 

This is a HYBRID event:  in person at the ECS building in Maplewood 
and online via Zoom.

 

Nicholas Roerich had an unshakeable belief in the intrinsic goodness of life and the spirituality of man. His painting drew heavily upon this and his belief in pantheism. Towards this end he studied the religion, culture, languages, customs of the people of the Himalayas and the Trans-Himalayan region. Through his Art and People to People contact he helped forge cultural and historical links between Russia, and the lands he travelled through, be it Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China, including Tibet. The exploration of these linkages helps us understand how the work of artists helps cement friendship in fields of social, cultural and economic cooperation. By highlighting these linkages we can secure and promote traditional values that are rooted in universality and the philosophy of Cause and Effect to insure the future of an increasingly globalized world. Every visit I have made to New York has led me to the Roerich Museum on West 107th Street. Literally sitting under his paintings I have been enthralled by them, by their vibrant colors until it was time for closing. Moreover as a woman I have deep empathy for what his wife Helena Roerich wrote to a friend in 1937: "... woman should realize that she herself contains all forces, and the moment she shakes off the age-old hypnosis of her seemingly lawful subjugation …….she will create in collaboration with man a new and better world. Cosmos affirms the greatness of woman's creative principle….a personification of nature…it is nature that teaches man, not man nature."

 

 

 

 

 

Manju Kak, visiting from India, is a teacher, author, journalist and academician in history, art and culture. She has edited Nicholas Roerich: A Quest and a Legacy on the spiritual Russian painter. Through word, image, research or curatorial theme, she has intensely explored some unique aspect of Himalayan life; They Who Walked Mountains, a documentary  on the Indo-Tibetan salt trade;  an ethnographic exhibition Kashmiri Pandits, A Vintage Album: the making of modern India.

 As a painter, her last show was Ranikhet State of Mind.  Her PhD explores the Sociology of Culture through the prism of the Iconography of Woodcarving in the Kumaon Himalayas (National Museum, New Delhi). Her last  book, In the Shadow of the Devi: Kumaon Himalayas typifies this.  Manju Kak's commitment to social justice extends through two decades of voluntary work, with a focus on peace and women's rights as a member of the All India Women's Conference and of the Geneva-based International Alliance of Women, as well as through journalism and as a commentator on national TV channels.  Her three collections of short fiction have won critical acclaim in India including the Katha Award and the British Council Prize. They include First Light in Colonelpura, (Penguin) Requiem for an Unsung Revolutionary, (Ravi Dayal) and Just One Life and Other Stories (ImprintOne).

Manju Kak has two sons and five granddaughters.

 

 

 

 

 

November 6, 2022

Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022   11 am

ECSEC President Tom Cunningham: Report From the Annual Retreat of the Leadership of the AEU and its Membership Societies    This is a HYBRID event: in person at the ECS building in Maplewood and online via Zoom \   Tom Cunningham is the Vice President of People at Pariveda Solutions, an international consulting company. Tom's responsibilities include oversight of the Talent Development group and the design and teaching of many of the internal courses at Pariveda, as well as leadership of the mentoring program and the executive development program. His professional background also includes undergraduate and high school teaching. A resident of South Orange, Tom is a regular speaker at the Ethical Culture Society of Essex County and the president of the board of directors. elaine durbach is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Sunday, Nov 6 platform Time: Nov 6, 2022 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

 

 

 

October 30, 2022

All-Society Platform featuring

Former US Senator Russ Feingold

By Zoom

 

 

We are thrilled to announce that the guest speaker for this All-Society Platform is former US Senator and Current President of the American Constitution Society (ACS), Russ Feingold. Senator Feingold will speak about the ACS, a national network of over 250 lawyer and law student chapters who are working together to offer platforms for discussion, opportunities for networking and mentoring, and working at the federal, state, and local levels for a progressive vision of the law. Through grassroots working groups in states across the country, ACS is working closely with the Biden-Harris Administration and other state and local elected officials to recommend qualified and diverse candidates for judicial and other legal positions. ACS is engaged in efforts to protect democracy, advance truth and justice, and transform our laws and legal systems to protect the lives of all people – not just the special interests of a few. ACS advocates for voting rights and non-partisan redistricting; mobilizing and educating voters about their rights; raising awareness and increasing engagement on down ballot races and connecting our members with opportunities to support voting rights and election integrity.

Prior to joining the ACS, Senator Feingold is perhaps best known for his bipartisan effort, with John McCain, to reform campaign financing through the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.

Special thanks to the Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island for organizing this event.

About our Speakers:

Russ Feingold is the President of the American Constitution Society. He served as a United States Senator from Wisconsin from 1993 to 2011 and a Wisconsin State Senator from 1983 to 1993. From 2013 to 2015, he served as the United States Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region of Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. During his 18 years in the United States Senate, Russ was ranked 6th in the Senate for bipartisan voting. He is a recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award and cosponsored the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold Act), the only major piece of campaign finance reform legislation passed into law in decades. Russ was the only Senator to vote against the initial enactment of the USA PATRIOT Act during the first vote on the legislation and was well-known for his opposition to the Iraq War and as the Senate’s leading opponent of the death penalty. He served on the Judiciary, Foreign Relations, Budget, and Intelligence Committees. Russ was Chairman or Ranking Member of the Constitution Subcommittee. For more on Russ, click here.

Zoom Info

Join by computer, tablet, or smartphone: http://vh9d.2.vu/p

Join by phone: Meeting ID: 891 9333 5697

 

 

 

 

 

October 23, 2022

Ted Glick and Beyond Extreme Energy

"Divesting Our Way Toward Clean Energy and Other Lessons From An Environmental Activist."

Ted Glick has been a peace, justice, climate and independent politics activist and organizer since the Vietnam War. He spent 11 months in prison for nonviolent draft resistance actions to stop that war. He was a founder and coordinator of the National Campaign to Impeach Nixon. He has been a community organizer, coalition builder and youth leadership supporter since the 1970s

Since 2003 his main work has been focused on the climate crisis. He is currently a leader of the climate group Beyond Extreme Energy and is President of 350NJ-Rockland. He has been writing a twice-monthly "Future Hope" column of political and social commentary since 2000. In 2020 and 2021 he published two books, Burglar for Peace: Lessons Learned in the Catholic Left’s Resistance to the Vietnam War, and 21st Century Revolution: Through Higher Love, Racial Justice and Democratic Cooperation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Morning Program

October 16, 2022
11:00 a.m.

Bill Graves

 

Get Out the Vote - What Makes People Go to the Polls

This is a HYBRID Program
In Person at the Ethical Culture Society Building (Masks Recommended)
and on Zoom (for link, email ecsec.nj@gmail.com)

 

With the midterm elections just weeks away and crucial issues at stake, American democracy is in the spotlight. ECSEC member Bill Graves, a longtime community volunteer, will lead a discussion on what works best to motivate people to take part in elections, and the urgent need to use those methods this time around.

 

 

STAY AFTER PLATFORM!
WRITE GET OUT THE VOTE POST CARDS!!

Tomorrow Sunday October 16, 2022,
after Bill Graves speaks on Getting Out the Vote,
Join the Social Action Committee and

WRITE A CARD TO GET OUT THE VOITE!

We are writing non-partisan cards to voters in North Carolina-- we have all the supplies, cards, lists of names, scripts--everything you need to help GET OUT T HE VOTE! Bring a pen and...

Please join us!

 

 

 

October 9, 2022
11:00 a.m.
Online by Zoom!

Prof. Karim-Aly Kassam

"A Methodology of Hope for the Climate Crises:
The Role of Ecological Calendars"

Why is a methodology of hope relevant to climate change research among indigenous and rural communities? Indigenous and rural societies which have not contributed to climate change are at its vanguard. Thereby, exacerbating existing inequities and increasing anxiety about livelihood and food systems. The immediate impact can be seen on food systems of indigenous and rural communities. Disruption and anxiety caused by climate crises not only affects their wellbeing, but also the food security of larger urban populations. Our research proposes a methodology of hope using ecological calendars to anticipate climate change. Building anticipatory capacity – being able to visualize diverse futures – is at the core of being able to address the anxieties caused by unpredictable weather changes. Grounded in the local ecology and culture, these calendars represent an effective adaptive response to climatic variation and may even be applicable in Manhattan.

Dr. Karim-Aly Kassam is International Professor of Environmental and Indigenous Studies in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. He is jointly appointed to the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment and the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program. Read more about him here.

 

 

 

October 2, 2022

11:00 a.m.

Erika Erickson Malinski

Gender Themes in Her Novel Pledging Season

Erika Erickson Malinoski grew up in Michigan and now lives in New Jersey with her multi-generational family. In between, she earned a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Michigan, taught secondary math and sex ed in California, and realized that the universe is very strange. She is also a devout Unitarian Universalist. You can follow her on Twitter at @EEMauthor, Facebook at facebook.com/EEMauthor, or send a message using the form below. You may also wish to check out the FAQ page.

 

 

September 25, 2022

Local Hero Award to Cecilia Zalkind

Speaking on Her Work on
Advocacy for Children

The Social Action Committee of the Ethical Culture Society of Essex County is presenting its Annual Local Hero Award to Cecilia Zalkind, Founder & CEO of Advocates for Children of New Jersey

 

This Is a HYBRID Program-In Person at the Ethical Culture Society Building (Masks Recommended) and on Zoom (for the link, email ecsec.nj@gmail.com)

 

In 2015 the Social Action Committee of the Ethical Culture Society of Essex County instituted a program of celebrating Local Heroes who have enriched the lives of our community and region. We believe that many people in our communities are doing important, under-appreciated work in social service and social action. They are doing important work that is often taken for granted and under-appreciated.

It seemed appropriate to us to honor such individuals and their work for the community. Some of these local heroes are well known in the community: some are known mostly behind the scenes. In all cases, we believe they exemplify the values of Ethical Culture in their lives and activities.

 

Our 2022 Local Hero is Celia Zalkind, President and CEO of Advocates for Children of New Jersey.

 

Cecilia Zalkind has an extensive background in public policy advocacy for children. Her 25 years in leadership roles at ACNJ have helped produce key policy advances in child welfare, early care and education and health care in New Jersey. She has led important coalitions such as the Early Care and Education Coalition and the New Jersey BUILD initiative that have advanced high-quality early care and education in the state. Cecilia has argued before the New Jersey Supreme Court on preschool standards in Abbott v. Burke, the landmark educational equity case, and on the issue of permanency for foster children in several child welfare cases. Cecilia serves on various national leadership committees, including the national Children's Leadership Council. Cecilia Zalkind joined ACNJ in 1984 as public policy director and became executive director in 2001. While at ACNJ, she served as an adjunct professor of family and adoption law at Seton Hall Law School. She holds a B.A. and M.A. from New York University and a J.D. from Rutgers Law School.

 

Sunday Morning Program

September 18, 2022
First In-Person, On-Premises
Program of the Year!

 

Managing Our Collective Good

 

Tom Cunningham

Tom Cunningham, President of the Board of Directors of the Society will present the first on premises Sunday platform of the Society.

 

The talk will be available in person or on zoom.

 

What is more important to a healthy society than the responsible stewardship of that which we all share? Our common responsibilities include physical resources, such as water, and values, such as our democratic ideals.

The Nobel prize-winning economist Elinor Ostrum studied how communities of human beings care for those things they hold precious and developed a perspective on how we can protect our common values by working together.

Come hear Society President Tom Cunningham share the fascinating work of Ostrom on the concept of the Commons and some thoughts on how that work can be applied in our present society to protect that which we love and hold dear.

 

 

September 11, 2022
11:00 a.m.

 

 

 

 

Opening Program for the 2022-2023 Season

 

Led by Jeanine Rosh 

Welcome to the new season at Essex Ethical!

With music and sharing, reflecting and envisioning, we will take stock of the summer we’ve been through, and look to the opportunities and challenges of the year ahead. We will also mark the 21^st anniversary of 9/11, and will honor our past president and longtime member, music maestro Joe Gluck, who passed away in July.  

 

 

 

 

Interested in Ethics?

Ethics can help us live more steady, stable, creative and happier lives. And they are essential to our Democracy!

 

Join an outdoor Monday-Evening reading /discussion series to explore how Ethics can impact our lives!

 

We will be reading & sharing ideas about chapters from The Humanist Way, by Edward Ericson. Discussions may also lead us to other articles and essays relating to Ethics today.

 

Mondays p.m.

at the Ethical Culture Society of Essex County

516 Prospect St., Maplewood, NJ

Corner of Prospect and Parker, up from Columbia High School

Meet outside in the yard, or on the porch if weather is inclement!

Light Refreshments will be served.  Come for one or all of these summer discussions.

 

 

All welcome!

For more information contact tsuess05@yahoo.com

 

Birgit Matzerath will present a classical
piano concert on Friday, August 26th.    Details to follow.

 

 

 

Folk Friday is Back (on the porch!)

Sing-along & jam

 

Folk Friday

at Ethical

August 19, 2022

Ethical Culture Society

ON THE PORCH

516 Prospect St

Maplewood, NJ 07040

7:00 PM to 8:30 PM

lnovemsky@comcast.net   973 763-8293

bring acoustic string and rhythm instruments

join in playing, singing, or listening with us
bring some refreshments to share

 

Past Programs:

Father's Day Program by Zoom 6-19-22

Jeanine Rosh led members in a discussion of their fathers and the challenges and delights of fathering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The American Ethical Union All-Society Platform
Sunday, July 24, 2022, at 12pm ET

All-Society Platform All Hands on Deck
(The Importance of the Work of the Many
Volunteers Across the Ethical Movement)

Date: July 24th
Time: 12pm - 1:30pm ET

 

For our latest All-Society Platform, we will be celebrating the importance of volunteerism to the Ethical Culture movement. Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture Leader Jone Johnson Lewis will discuss the work of Anna Garlin Spencer and how her work for social justice in the early years of the 20th Century relates to issues that we face today. Next, we will honor the recipients of this year's Anna Garlin Spencer Volunteer Award. We will also pay tribute to those who we have lost this past year during our Mourners' Moment.
Zoom Info

Join by computer, tablet, or smartphone: https://bit.ly/3nvOVYw
Join by phone: Meeting ID: 841 3154 2286

 

 

 

June 19, 2022

11:00 a.m. by Zoom

Father's Day Zoom Colloquy:
Exploring Fatherhood with Jeanine Rosh!

Jeanine Rosh, a longtime leading member of Essex Ethical and the MC of our seasonal and periodic social get-togethers, will lead a commemoration of our own fathers and an exploration of what fatherhood means today. The fathers among us will be given first access to the mic.  

This is our last formal program of the season. We will keep you informed of interesting talks held by other societies or the AEU during the summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 5, 2022
11:00 a.m. by Zoom

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know
About Electric-Cars

Andy Weinberger

Andy Weinberger will speak about electric vehicles and their positive and negative points as well as some general thoughts on why to choose one and what things to consider in selecting one. He will discuss some specifics of the vehicles and some of the myths about them. He will answer questions at the end and notes that, although he is familiar with electric vehicles, he does not maintain he is an expert in all aspects of them!

Andy, a resident of Orange, is also a current ECS Board member and past president, husband of Meredith Sue Willis, father of ex-youth member Joel, and a grandfather of three.