The Baltimore Ethical Society Meetup

BES Journeys Interviews
Karen Elliott
BES President

Please note: During the summer season, often our members give informal Platforms on subjects that interest them. Topics can be serious or humorous, ranging from anything to everything. They can be off topics from our typical Sunday Platforms. They are always educational. And we thank our members who volunteer to share with us their time and talents. Enjoy!

Most Ethical Society members don’t grow up in Ethical Culture - as a group, we come from very different religious (or non-religious) backgrounds and are drawn to Ethical Societies for different reasons. Karen will interview a small group of BES members about what led them to come to BES, what keeps them here, and more.

Bio: Karen S. Elliott is a long time member of the Baltimore Ethical Society. During her professional life, she held various roles within the information systems area of the life insurance industry, including business and technical analysis, training, writing, and project management. She has volunteered as a poet/teacher, technical expert, and organizer at her local school, served on several non-profit Boards - including the Baltimore Ethical Society - and raised a son as a single parent. She is a lifelong activist, particularly for all facets of human rights and for peace.

Homegrown National Park
Rosalie Donatelli
BES Treasurer, Master Gardener

Please note: During the summer season, often our members give informal Platforms on subjects that interest them. Topics can be serious or humorous, ranging from anything to everything. They can be off topics from our typical Sunday Platforms. They are always educational. And we thank our members who volunteer to share with us their time and talents. Enjoy!

Description:
What if the largest national park began right where we live?

The future of biodiversity isn’t determined only in national parks and wilderness areas—it also depends on the choices we make where we live. As natural habitats continue to disappear, the green spaces around us have become increasingly important in rebuilding the healthy ecosystems that sustain pollinators, birds, and other wildlife.

Drawing on the principles of Douglas Tallamy’s Homegrown National Park movement, Rosalie Donatelli shares practical, science-based ideas for creating habitat and restoring biodiversity. Whether you have a large yard, a small garden, or just a few pots on a patio or balcony, discover how millions of small actions, taken together, can become one of the largest grassroots conservation efforts in history.

Bio:
Rosalie Donatelli has been a member of the Baltimore Ethical Society for about 15 years and has served as Treasurer for the past five years. A lifelong environmental and peace activist, she has been a Certified Master Gardener and volunteer educator for more than 20 years, first with Rutgers University Extension and now with the University of Maryland Extension, where she promotes native plants, organic gardening, and sustainable landscaping.

When she’s not teaching about gardening and the environment, Rosalie performs Javanese gamelan music, which she studied in Indonesia and continues to play with the Indonesian Embassy gamelan ensemble.

Baltimore Ethical Society Poetry Salon
Kirk Mullen
BES Member, former BES President & Chair of the Caring Committee

Note: During the summer, we offer Baltimore Ethical Society members an opportunity to present topics and issues of interest to them. Please enjoy these informal Platforms.

For over two decades, a few members of the Baltimore Ethical Society have been gathering on a monthly basis prior to the platforms, to start their Sunday mornings with poetry. The poetry which has been shared has sometimes been composed by participants within the group and sometimes by "famous and not so famous" poets. We gather to enjoy the beauty of the spoken word. After the reading of the poem, we discuss what the poem evoked in us. Please join us on August 3rd at 10:30 a.m. when the platform will be the BES Poetry Salon. Please bring a poem or two to share with the group.

Biography:
Kirk Mullen spent 33 years working with impoverished rural and urban children prior to retiring as a school psychologist and educator. Kirk started visiting the Baltimore Ethical Society in February 1991 and officially joined in May 1991. In the fall of 2003, BES member, Karla Mancero, suggested the starting of a poetry appreciation group. The first meeting for that group took place on the first Sunday in the month of January 2004 and from then on, has met on the first Sunday of each month before the platform. The founding members of that group were Karen Elliott, Glascoe Baker, Brian English, Karla Mancero, and Kirk Mullen. During the summer of 2006, Karla Mancero moved to Washington state and Kirk took over the management of the poetry appreciation group. In 2022, this group was officially renamed, the Baltimore Ethical Society Poetry Salon. It brings joy to Kirk‘s heart to say that the Salon has never missed a first Sunday meeting since it’s

Mindfulness is a tool we can use in our daily lives to act in a more ethical way.

We practice mindfulness meditation so that it comes naturally in stressful times. Join us as we sit (on chairs) and breathe (just the way it comes naturally) and listen to the words of Thich Nhat Hanh, one of the world’s best-known teachers of mindfulness.

For more information on the Baltimore ethical society:

Website: http://bmorethical.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bmorethical

Phone: 410-581-2322