Ancient Civilizations

## **World Civil Defense Day Open House** **Disaster Preparedness, Community Resilience & Volunteer Response** How prepared is our community for the next emergency? Join us in observance of **World Civil Defense Day** for an educational Open House focused on disaster preparedness, civilian protection, and community resilience. World Civil Defense Day highlights the importance of coordinated response between first responders, volunteers, civic groups, and community members. This event will introduce the work of the **Scientology Volunteer Ministers**, a global humanitarian program dedicated to helping communities before, during, and after crises. ### **What to Expect:** • Self-Guided tour of a special exhibit in the Public Information Center • Overview of disaster response and emergency preparedness efforts • Educational materials and practical information • Open discussion and networking with others interested in community engagement Whether you are interested in emergency preparedness, volunteerism, public safety, or simply want to learn how communities can work together more effectively, this Open House is designed to inform and inspire. ### **Event Schedule:** 11:30 AM – Self-Guided Tour of the Special Exhibit 11:50 AM – Lunch 12:10 PM – Open House Presentation 12:45 PM – Networking & Community Dialogue 📍 Founding Church of Scientology of Washington, DC 1424 16th St. NW Washington, DC 20036 Open to the public. Guests are welcome.

Grace will be guest facilitator. "I have been a seeker and I still am, but I stopped asking the books and the stars. I started listening to the teaching of my Soul." \-\- Rumi "Authentic spirituality is revolutionary. It does not legitimate the world, it breaks the world; it does not console the world, it shatters it. And it does not render the self content, it renders it undone." \-\- Ken Wilber \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- ***“I am struck with how rare it is to find a few good friends on the path. It is easy to find people who simply want to sit and be entertained by teachers, or who want to sit and entertain by playing the role of teacher. In other words, the quest for affirmation often outweighs the quest for truth.*** ***Yet you may have one or two good friends, and definitely have one or two waiting to be discovered. Find them; be thankful.”*** ***— Shawn Nevins*** 'What will make me happy in life?' ... 'Am I my thoughts?' ... 'What is Enlightenment?' ... We meet every week to ask questions like these in the pursuit of Self-Knowledge and Truth. We are interested in topics like: Zen, stoicism, spirituality, psychology, mindfulness, Nisargadatta, non-violent communication, Socrates, existential philosophy, Alan Watts, taoism, Eckhart Tolle, meditation, Ramana Maharshi, etc. But we are not affiliated with any dogma, philosophy, or religion. Our goal each meeting is to serve as mirrors for one another using question-based inquiry in a safe environment. In a session, every participant takes turns discussing the week's question or topic, and the group asks reflective questions without any agenda besides trying to understand the person's beliefs. A few other guiding principles of our group: * No one is obligated to share * Be honest with yourself and others * Do not try to convince others to believe or think as you do * Keep the focus on the person being questioned We meet at the [Bethesda Library](https://maps.app.goo.gl/GWMozF8zpY1m1PY26) every Monday. The library is a 5 minute walk from the Bethesda Metro on the Red Line, approx 25 minute Metro ride from Metro Center and Gallery Place stations. The library has a a parking lot with metered parking for $1/hour. \*\*\* WE WILL BE IN MEETING ROOM 3 UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED ----- THE MEETING ROOM IS IN THE BACK OF THE LIBRARY \*\*\* Please contact us with any questions!

**Rockville Science Center Chess Night and Lessons by FIDE Master Luke** **Time/Date: Monday evening, 6:30 to 9:00 PM** Join us as FIDE Master Luke delivers a chess lecture with notes. He begins teaching at 7:15pm. **Location: RSC "Storefront" Location,** 36C, Maryland Avenue, Rockville, MD 20850 **Parking:** First two hours free at Parking Garage "A", 20 Maryland Ave #450, Rockville, MD 20850 * Casual Chess - Everyone is welcome. * You do not have to know how to play chess(!!!!) * Chess sets available on a first come - basis. * Wonderful chess sets provided, BYOC (bring your own clock) Host: Howard Lichtman More information about the RSC is at https://www.rockvillesciencecenter.org/

Cardiac disease is the most frequent cause of death. More than cancer, far more than accidents and more than 15 times the number of automobile fatalities in the United States. Not only that, but heart disease often presents no symptoms! Yet, there are simple ways to ward off heart disease. Lets talk about how over lunch at The Executive Diner, 1400 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. Plenty of free parking. Interesting opportunity to be announced at this event.

### What is ‘*Spies Across Time*‘? Glad you asked. *Spies Across Time* is GBA’s evening reception where guests are encouraged to accept their ‘Mission’ and seek out fellow Agents. This undercurrent of intrigue will enhance the networking as you find your way to the Titanium Canister. Not interested in these shenanigans as you try to nab that big contract? No worries. That’s the beauty of spying. If you choose not to engage as an Agent, most of this will happen without showing up on your radar or impede your serious business. Held in the historic home of former President James Monroe, this Colonial twist on espionage will be the flavor of the evening. Oh, and one more thing, you are encouraged to come dressed as your favorite SPY. White dinner jackets, lavish gowns, trench coats, space suits, and Matadors welcome. #### **Spies Across Time- March 2, 6:30- 10:00 PM** **“There is nothing more necessary than good intelligence to frustrate a designing enemy.”** — *George Washington*, 1777. ### Join us for our intriguing and exciting networking evening gala event. You wont want to miss it! Location disclosed when you get your ticket, but it's near Capitol Hill. Check back tomorrow I might have posted the venue. **GET TICKETS HERE : https://gbaglobal.org/u-s-capitol-hill-blockchain-showcase/**

\| Government Leaders Meet in DC \| Policy makers around the world are coming to DC to learn about blockchain\. \| **FREE eevent during the day see Government Blockchain Association LinkedIn to register or on the website below,** Government leaders and Policy makers around the world are coming to DC to learn about blockchain. **Click on the link to register** Learn More [https://gbaglobal.org/u-s-capitol-hill-blockchain-showcase/](https://gbaglobal.org/u-s-capitol-hill-blockchain-showcase/) Government officials from over 50 government offices and over 300 people have registered to attend the Government Blockchain Showcase on Capitol Hill, March 2nd, 2026 in Washington, DC. Do you have a production-ready blockchain solution that government can use? Schedule a call to discuss showcasing [https://calendly.com/gerard-dache/30min.](https://calendly.com/gerard-dache/30min.) Want to attend the free daytime event on Capitol Hill? Register on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/events/7404602812124524544?viewAsMember=true.](https://www.linkedin.com/events/7404602812124524544?viewAsMember=true.) Want to attend the daytime showcase and the Spies Across Time Evening Reception? Purchase a ticket [https://gbaglobal.org/u-s-capitol-hill-blockchain-showcase/.](https://gbaglobal.org/u-s-capitol-hill-blockchain-showcase/) Who Will Be Attending International Organizations United Nations National Governments Argentina Bermuda Guatemala India Israel Japan Mexico Singapore United States Government White House Of of Science & Tech Department of Agriculture (USDA) Department of Commerce Technology Modernization Fund Department of War (DoW) Defense Acquisition University Department of the Navy Depart of Education (DoE) Depart of Health & Human Services (HHS) Health Resources & Services Admin (HRSA) Depart of Housing & Urban Dev Federal Housing Finance Agency Depart of Homeland Security (DHS) Transportation Safety Agency (TSA) Department of the Interior Department of State Department of the Treasury Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Federal Labor Relations Authority General Services Admin (GSA) Technology Modernization Fund House of Representatives House Committee on Ways & Means House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Internal Revenue Service (IRS) National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) National Institutes of Health Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship State & Local Government Offices Maryland Government Annapolis Prince George’s County North Carolina City of Charlottesville Utah County Virginia Retirement System Washington, DC Office of the Inspector General Washington Area Transit Authority \| [https://gbaglobal.org/u-s-capitol-hill-blockchain-showcase/](https://gbaglobal.org/u-s-capitol-hill-blockchain-showcase/) Click on the link to register About GBA The Government Blockchain Association (GBA) is a nonprofit (501c6) organization committed to advancing blockchain technology standards, facilitating industry education, and ensuring a trusted, secure ecosystem for blockchain solutions. For more information, visit [https://gbaglobal.org/.](https://gbaglobal.org/) For more information contact Bob Miko, [bmiko@pacificdialogue.com](mailto:bmiko@pacificdialogue.com) 203 378 2803. Bob Miko GBA Director of Public Relations Editor in Chief/Producer Pacific Dialogue 203 378 2803 [bmiko@pacificdialogue.com](mailto:bmiko@pacificdialogue.com)

Socrates Café meets on the first Saturday of each month. Though this may be considered a "philosophical" group, there are no rules as to what is discussed. Usually, the topics revolve around social concerns, morality, and the first principles of things. Prior to each meeting we vote online for the questions we will discuss. That way, we will have enough time to ruminate on them and have more in-depth conversations. If you RSVP to a meeting, you may post your question in the event comments section below. I'll send out a survey for voting a few days prior to the meetup. We discuss two questions each night. So you will get to cast two votes in the survey. When we meet, we break into smaller groups of five to seven to discuss the top two vote-getters. Each group discusses one question for around 45-50 minutes, and we then take a short break. After reconvening, each group moves on to its second question. Hope to see you there! -Brian

*From the [publisher's website](https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324092452)*: *The Second Emancipation*, the second work in a trilogy from best-selling author Howard W. French about Africa’s pivotal role in shaping world history, underscores Adam Hochschild’s contention that French is a “modern-day Copernicus.” The title—referring to a brief period beginning in 1957 when dozens of African colonies gained their freedom—positions this liberation at the center of a “movement of global Blackness,” with one charismatic leader, Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972), at its head. That so few people today know about Nkrumah is an omission that French demonstrates is “typical of our deliberate neglect of Africa’s enormous role in the birth of the modern world.” Determined to re-create Nkrumah’s life as “an epic twentieth-century story,” *The Second Emancipation* begins with his impoverished, unheralded birth in the far-western region of Ghana’s Gold Coast. But blessed with a deep curiosity, a young Nkrumah pursued an overseas education in the United States. Nowhere is French’s consummate style more vivid than in Nkrumah’s early years in Depression-era America, especially in his mesmerizing portrait of a culturally effervescent Harlem that Nkrumah encountered in 1935 before heading to college. During his student years in Pennsylvania and later as an activist in London, Nkrumah became steeped in a renowned international Black intellectual milieu—including Du Bois, Garvey, Fanon, Padmore, and C.L.R. James, who called him “one of the greatest political leaders of our century”—and formed an ideology that readied him for an extraordinarily swift and peaceful rise to power upon his return to Ghana in 1947. Four years later, in a political landslide he engineered while imprisoned, Nkrumah stunned Britain by winning the first general election under universal franchise in Africa, becoming Ghana’s first independent prime minister in 1957. As leader of a sovereign nation, Nkrumah wielded his influence to promote the liberation of the entire continent, pushing unity as the only pathway to recover from the damages of enslavement and subjugation. By the time national military and police forces, aided by the CIA, overthrew him in 1966, Nkrumah’s radical belief in pan-African liberation had both galvanized dozens of nascent African states and fired a global agenda of Black power. In its dramatic recasting of the American civil rights story and in its tragic depiction of a continent that once exuded all the promise of a newly won freedom, *The Second Emancipation* becomes a generational work that positions Africa at the forefront of modern-day history. ***How to find us:*** We meet in the upstairs seating area at Zorba's in Dupont Circle. Look for a sign on a table with a picture of the book's cover on it. ***Links:*** **[Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/91030/9781324092452): By purchasing your book through this link, you help support local bookstores and defray the cost of DCIA's Meetup subscription.** [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Second-Emancipation-Nkrumah-Pan-Africanism-Blackness/dp/1324092459) [WW Norton](https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324092452) [Wikipedia page about Howard French](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_W._French) [Howard French's website](https://www.howardwfrench.com/)

At this junction of time and political environment, it is easy to realize how much cultural diplomacy plays. This annual gala is magnifies the American and Rusian cultural relationships through entertainment and food. Exhibits, like a centennial time travel of Photojournalism to Cinematography (1914 - 2014). It is also decorated by the presence of The Ambassador of Russia to the USA. Black Tie required. This great bell was first cast in the 15th century. In the early 1600’s it was recast to hang in the Kremlin’s “Ivan the Great Bell Tower.” It fell in a fire in the mid-17th century. It was recast again only to suffer a similar fate. It was recast a third time in 1735, and once again damaged by fire which caused an 11 ton chunk to break away. The bell collapsed into its casting pit where it remained for a century. Many efforts to excavate it were made, including Napoleon’s, who wanted to take it as a trophy after occupying Moscow in 1812. The bell was raised in 1836 and placed on a stone pedestal in the Kremlin. At over 200 tons, it remains the largest in the world. Photo: Gilbert H. Grosvenor, "Young Russia: The Land of Unlimited Possibilities." National Geographic Magazine, November 1914.

Twenty years ago, George Mason University professor Zachary Schrag published the definitive history of the Washington Metro: "The Great Society Subway". With the 50th anniversary of the system coming up at the end of March, TEDC founder Will Rice will make a presentation based on the book. Many elements and conflicts combined to create the Metrorail we now enjoy: a trust in big government projects; the battle over urban highways; the emerging D.C. home rule movement; Black-white relations; and the balance of city and suburban interests. Come learn more about it all! Also at the meeting: pick up your pre-ordered Metro 50 t-shirt (for new purchases, an order form is [here](https://transitenthusiastsdc.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/t-shirt-order-form.pdf)). And hear the latest news on how we plan to celebrate the system's golden anniversary on March 27!

[Profs and Pints Northern Virginia](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“Ireland’s Fight for Freedom,”** with Kevin Matthews, assistant professor of history at George Mason University and former London correspondent for Vatican Radio reporting on British and Irish news. [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/northern-virginia-ireland-freedom](https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/northern-virginia-ireland-freedom) .] After centuries of struggle, Irish men and women won their freedom from Great Britain after waging a war that set the pattern for all other independence struggles of the 20th century. But there was a price—the partition of their country, a split setting the stage for the Northern Ireland “Troubles” that didn’t end until 1998. Gain a deeper understanding of Ireland and its history with Professor Kevin Matthews, a historian and frequent Smithsonian Associates speaker who had served as a journalist covering the last stages of the Troubles in Ireland in the early and mid 1990s. He’ll discuss in depth how the Irish won independence in a two-year war between 1919 and 1921, covering topics as the role women played in the conflict, the life and tactics of the revolutionary leader Michael Collins, and the Irish development of “urban guerilla warfare” using small, highly mobile armed units called “flying columns.” Most important, this talk will examine how the conflict between Irish nationalists and Irish unionists led to Ireland’s division and later conflict. From the Easter Rising to the Good Friday Agreement, from Bloody Sunday to Brexit, this conflict has never quite gone away. As the Irish poet, William Butler Yeats once wrote: Now and in time to be, Wherever green is worn, Are changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born. Professor Matthews will explore how the Irish fought to a standstill what was then the mightiest empire in the world and how, more than he could have known, Yeats’ prediction still rings true today. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image: Members of the Irish Republican Army’s West Connemara Flying Column in 1921. (Public Domain photo.)

http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/2/a/9/6/600_348310902.jpeg Instructor - Crow, HPS Class fee is $30 at the door or approved exchange RSVP with Advance pay of $25 (discounted) by PayPal on the web or by contacting Enchanted Elements (614) 437-2642. Reservations made directly to Enchanted Elements will be added to the class list manually not online. Private Instruction ~ Closed to the Public ~ Initiated Members Only Please come prepared for ritual. Blessings ~ Crow

WQC has weekly Thursday night social nights at the Westerville Java Central. Come and grab a coffee and connect with the community: low stakes, chill environment, and tasty drinks. No registration is required; come as you are.

This meeting will be an open discussion about the book "an Immense World" by Ed Yong

Connected Westerville Night of Networking flips the script on networking, with surprises and connections that'll make you say, "Who knew networking could be this much fun?!"

The Humanist Monthly Program is our longest running event and still a community favorite. In the old days it used to be called "Going to HCCO" and we still like to think of it as our flagship event. Food and drinks will be provided at the event. Feel free to show up a little bit early to hang out and talk. Our March speakers are Molly Gaines and Zack Parrish, co-organizers of the Secular Education Association: They will share their story of how a small group of Ohio parents grew into a national organization tracking released-time religious instruction and other church–state issues in public schools. The presentation will cover SEA’s early wins and hard lessons, what we’re seeing nationally right now, and how local advocates can play a meaningful role in protecting public education. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of the landscape — and practical ways to get involved. Going forward our meetings will be hybrid. You can meet us in-person or attend online Join Zoom Meeting [https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87836564953?pwd=4Mi57ElZkDIFlb1fnlNwOJ0NiOK4tP.1](https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87836564953?pwd=4Mi57ElZkDIFlb1fnlNwOJ0NiOK4tP.1) Meeting ID: 878 3656 4953 Passcode: 760812 One tap mobile +19292056099,,87836564953#,,,,\*760812# US (New York) +13017158592,,87836564953#,,,,\*760812# US (Washington DC) The formal presentation will start at noon

At Evolve Synergy Sessions, you'll be part of a supportive mastermind where we share challenges, brainstorm solutions, and inspire one another to take bold steps in our businesses. Grow your network, gain fresh perspectives, and build meaningful relationships with like-minded women who are committed to success. Whether you’re looking to move the needle in your business or simply need a space to connect and recharge, this is the perfect place to fuel your entrepreneurial journey. [Add Event to Calendar](https://evolvecolumbus.eventcalendarapp.com/) \*\* Please note, we will be arriving around 8:15a for open networking! Get there early and get connected! Contact Alexis Morley at [alexis.morley@edwardjones.com](mailto:alexis.morley@edwardjones.com) or Terri Lawson at [terri.lawson@e-merge.com](mailto:terri.lawson@e-merge.com) for more information.

Join membersrs of the Central Ohio UX and digital design community for a casual monthly breakfast.