Poets

**We are expanding our creative programming opportunities with Queer Quills, a quiet writing and sharing space. Queer Quills features some prompts, supplies and friendly faces to help get some inspiration or feedback for your writing. Hope to see you there!**

Welcome to Drunken Philosophy, a casual, curious, social discussion club. Come grab a drink and a seat at The Oracle. **Optional topic for this meetup: Where is everybody?** In 1950 the physicist Enrico Fermi was talking about aliens over lunch and asked a question that still has not gone away: if the universe is so vast and so old, and even a fraction of those billions of stars have planets, where is everyone? By the numbers the galaxy should be crowded with civilizations. Instead we look up and hear silence. That gap between "they should be everywhere" and "we see no one" is the Fermi Paradox. One of the most unsettling answers is the idea of a **Great Filter**: somewhere on the road from dead chemistry to a galaxy-spanning civilization, there is at least one step that is almost impossible to get past. Maybe the filter is behind us. Maybe life starting at all, or simple cells becoming complex, or intelligence ever evolving, is the freak accident, and we already cleared the hard part. Or maybe the filter is ahead of us, and advanced civilizations reliably wipe themselves out before they spread. Here is the part that messes with people. If we ever found life somewhere else, even pond scum on Mars, most people would call it the greatest discovery in history. But it might be the worst possible news. It would mean life is common, the early steps are easy, and the hard step is still in front of us. So the eerie silence overhead might actually be the best sign we could ask for. **Questions to wrestle with:** * Is it better to be alone? Would you rather we find alien life and learn we are not special, or find nothing and quietly improve our odds of surviving? * Where do you bet the filter sits, behind us or ahead of us, and why? * If it is ahead of us, what is it? Nuclear war, climate collapse, AI, something we cannot even picture yet? And can we do anything about a filter we cannot see coming? * Two principles pull opposite ways here. The principle of mediocrity (the Copernican principle, Sagan's "no privileged place in the universe") says we are ordinary, so what happened on Earth probably happened everywhere, which makes the silence scream louder. The anthropic principle says of course we find ourselves somewhere life was possible, since we could not observe anything else, so our being here may say almost nothing about how common life is. Which lens do you trust, and does the silence still demand an answer once you account for observer selection? * And if we did confirm life out there and had to accept we are not special, what would that do to belief in a higher power, and would shedding (or keeping) that belief help or hurt our odds of pulling together as one species? * Does any of this change how you live, or how humanity should be spending its time and money right now? As always the prompt is optional. Come for the conversation, stay for the drinks, and bring your own questions.

We'll meet at The Capital One Café, 167 Easton Town Center, Space A-103. This is in the main mall where the Microsoft store used to be, on your left if you're standing at the bottom of the AMC Theater escalator. Join us on Saturday for an hour of uninterrupted wordmaking! • What we'll do Join us for an hour of writing! We’ve discovered that it’s strikingly helpful to write with other writers. See if it’s true for you at 10AM on Saturday mornings. Be it a book, blog, script, essay, dissertation, resume, melody, poem or just plain work stuff, you are invited to write it with us. No one will see what you've written or give you unsolicited advice. Instead of just thinking about writing, come and get some real writing done. SCHEDULE: 10:00 - SESSION 1: quick intros. 10:10 - timer starts: write for 1 hour. 11:10 - chat / take off / keep writing. OPTIONAL SOCIALIZING happens at 11A-11:30ish. Writing is very solitary. Connecting (and sometimes even commiserating) with other writers is a cool thing. BEING LATE IS OKAY: just show up and get settled, then check-in with me after the session. (I’ll be the person with the Shut Up & Write! sign.) If you were on time, please be willing to make room for the friendly latecomer. Happy writing and I look forward to seeing you! • What to bring Whatever you need to be able to write! Bring earbuds/earplugs if you want to block noise or the occasional conversation by other patrons. Electrical outlets are limited, so charge your devices before whenever possible. See you at The Café on Saturday!

Main Library, Meeting Room 2B Join us for a welcoming evening of reflection, gentle music, and meaningful conversation. We’ll begin with a short grounding moment, followed by a brief reading from spiritual or philosophical traditions, and an open reflection circle where participants can share (or simply listen). Libera Animae is an interfaith community focused on inner growth, creativity, and authentic connection. All backgrounds are welcome.

Private Group. Closed to the Public Knowing ourselves and understanding our abilities is the first step toward wielding our gifts with control and accuracy. In subsequent classes we will verify and hone our talents with activities and discussion. These are hands-on workshops and participation is expected. The goal of our series will be to develop expertise in areas of particular interest such as mediumship, channeling, divination, healing and, etc.. Our ultimate directions will be determined by class members as we evolve. I look forward to sharing and discovering with you. - Cynthia