Hartford Humanists

Since our monthly meeting will be at the Unitarian Society in Hamden, CT rather than a local restaurant, let's meet up in advance for dinner and to carpool down to Hamden! Come by 5:30 so that we can hit the road to Hamden by 6:30. You're welcome to come just for dinner. Or, you can skip dinner and just meet us at the diner by 6:30 and carpool down with us!

A CONVERSATION WITH STATE REP JOSH ELLIOTT - NOTE DATE, TIME, AND LOCATION CHANGE! Hartford Area Humanists next monthly meeting will be a joint meeting with the Humanist Association of Connecticut at the Unitarian Society of New Haven in Hamden, CT. Our guest speaker witll be State Representative Josh Elliott, one of the few openly secular legislators in the United States. SInce his election, Rep. Elliott has consistently been a strong advocate for progressive policies in our state. He has also supported the Secular Coaltion of Connecticut's legislative initiatives and priorities. The biography from his legislative website is copied below. Refreshments will be served; you are welcome (but you are in no way required) to bring something to share. Look for a separate Meetup announcement for dinner before the meeting and for carpooling. The Hamden location is about 30 minutes from our usual Wood N Tap meeting spot. BIOGRAPHY: Since winning the 88th District House seat in the Connecticut General Assembly in 2016, State Representative Josh Elliott has advocated for implementing progressive policies that will help improve Connecticut’s economy and allow it to remain competitive with surrounding states. Elliott, who grew up in Connecticut and attended high school in Hamden, graduated with a B.A. in Sociology from Ithaca College. He later went on to obtain his J.D. at Quinnipiac School of Law. As co-owner of Shelton’s The Common Bond Market and Thyme & Season in Hamden, which he also manages– two family-run natural food stores – Elliott recognizes the importance of investing in working families and businesses, both large and small. As a member of the Progressive Caucus, Elliott continues to support efforts to establish a paid family and medical leave system that would be funded by employees at a 0.5 percent payroll tax. He is also fighting to increase Connecticut’s minimum wage. Elliott is working to ensure that Connecticut employs quality public health standards by pushing for a requirement that all children in the public education system receive proper immunizations. Elliott is also dedicated to improving the treatment of Connecticut's incarcerated population. He is an active advocate of banning the use of solitary confinement and has independently championed a bill that would provide certain telecommunication services to incarcerated people at no cost. Elliott deeply believes the right to vote is a fundamental feature of government and has resultantly sponsored several bills aimed at efficiently reforming Connecticut’s electoral system. Among these are a bill that would restore voting privileges of formerly incarcerated individuals on parole and a bill that would implement a ranked-choice voting system, which would allow a voter to rank candidates by their preference. He has spearheaded efforts to legalize the use of recreational marijuana, sought to equalize property tax rates, and consistently supported establishing a more equitable tax structure. Elliott currently serves as Assistant Majority Leader and vice chair of the Commerce Committee. He is also a member of the Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee and Energy & Technology Committee.

The Humanist Dinner Club: To Be Announced This month, we will discuss Participants are asked to do some preparation before the discussion. The total time required should be less than one hour. Please come by 6:30 pm so that we can all get our orders placed and start the conversation by 6:45. The meeting will end promptly at 8:30 pm Also, please RSVP so that we know how many people to expect - we divide the group up into smaller groups of about 6-8 participants to ensure that everyone gets a chance to participate.

Join us for our 7th Annual Winter Solstice/HumanLight Open House! Hosts will be providing the food for the evening. Bring your favorite beverage if you like! There will be a brief HumanLight ceremony at approx. 8:00 pm. Also once again, we will be collecting donations for a local food bank. Three years ago we collected over 288lbs (A record!) of donated food items. Let's see if we can top 300lbs this year! If you'd like to participate, please bring non-perishable food and/or personal care items (for recommendations click here http://www.ctfoodbank.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/USJ-Healthy-Food-Donation-List-English-Spanish-Final-April-2017.pdf). In many cultures, late December is a season of good cheer and a time for festive gatherings of friends and families. As part of this holiday season, HumanLight is a joyous holiday that is entirely secular – not based on any supernatural religious beliefs or theistic concepts. The HumanLight holiday offers an alternative reason to celebrate during the December holiday season by illuminating Humanism’s positive secular vision of reason, compassion, hope, and humanity. We are inspired by love and guided by knowledge. Same location as last year: We will email our address only to people who RSVP. This is an open house but we would like an accurate headcount so please do not give out our address to others, instead refer them to this meetup so they can RSVP.