What we’re about
Do you have a mind that is hungry for for new and challenging ideas? Are you searching for a community where you can learn together with your fellow neighbours? Are you looking for welcoming place to share all your beautiful thoughts? Then it's time to pull up a seat at the Hungry Minds table and get all filled up. There's a great variety of topics - you are sure to find something to whet your appetite here.
Upcoming events (2)
See all- The Great Unraveling - A Hope-Filled ConversationTess' Backyard, Kitchener, ON
Let's imagine that it's the end of the world as we know it - how are you feeling?
Do you think we are on the edge having our social and political systems unravel? What does this mean for our future? Is it a bad thing? Is there a better way that might emerge? Are we capable of paying the cost of getting from here to there? What, if anything, can we do to prepare? What, if anything, can we do to help?
Please note - you do not need to read the following resources to attend the discussion. Please post any other relevant resources you may want to contribute in the comments section.
Ten years ago The Guardian published a long essay on moving to postcapitalism with the headline "The End of Capitalism has Begun" in which it saw some optimism for us.
The Post Carbon Institute has a booklet entitled "Welcome to the Great Unraveling: Navigating the Polycrisis of Environmental and Social Breakdown" by Asher Miller and Richard Heinberg that is a good resource for this discussion, albeit a little more on the pessimistic side.
There's also a very good discussion of what it is like to live under a system that is not based on supporting the value of human living in Václav Havel's long essay The Power of the Powerless. The whole essay is quite good, but if you're short on time you can cut out sections XII to XIX where he talks more about the nature of dissidence and dissident groups in Czechoslovakia. It's hard to see where Section XII starts in the linked pdf - it is in the first paragraph on pg 34. If you're skipping the less pertinent, you can pick up again at Section XX on pg 72. There is a book copy of The Power of the Powerless available with an introduction by Timothy Snyder - it is available from the library. You can also message Tess directly and she can email you an epub copy.
- Talking About My Generation!Tess' Backyard, Kitchener, ON
We are bombarded with talk about what 'generation' people belong to and all the stereotypes that come with that. I'm sure you can list at least a dozen of these stereotypes off the top of your head. So let's talk about it! How much does being born in a certain period influence your beliefs and tastes? What part does pop culture play in this? Will we lose it as pop culture becomes so diverse? Is it all nonsense that we are buying into because it can be used to sell things to us and possibly pit us against each other?
I came across a cute little podcast that got me thinking about this topic again. I've been promising to do a meetup on it for years, but listening to this sparked the timing for now. It doesn't directly address head on but mentions it and allows you to obverse the new generation coming up and how they perhaps react to things a little differently. Or do they? It's Search Engine's "The Stupid Little Yogurt Question" - you can find it on the show's webpage at this link or search it up on whatever app you use to listen to podcasts on your phone. It will give us a place to start the conversation.
Here's a good page from the Pew Research Center that gives a good overview on the subject.
Looking forward to hearing about things you've learned and your thoughts on all this. Post any resources that you think would be interesting to check out in the chat section for this event.
