Tentative Schedule for Summer 2015

     In the summer we traditionally make things a little less rigorous and scheduled. We mostly have Bake Offs. Again to explain to the unfamiliar member, Bake Offs have nothing to do with cuisine. Instead, at our spiritual meetings, after the traditional half hour of meditation, members take turns or perhaps strongly lobby to present short spiritual pieces they have brought along that have moved them, or that they feel will promote a good discussion in the area of spirituality. Then our very intellectual and well read group adds ingredients (comments and quotes), stirs (the group cogitates and adds whatever mixing that seems required), and the spiritual dish is baked and we all see what we came up with. Members can bring one or two pieces that they might like to share. However, there is no guarantee that they will get their piece presented. If they don't, they wait for another day. If discussions become interesting and members are leaning forward, sitting on the edge of their chair and engaged in the discussion, the moderator will not stop the discussion. But as the moderator, I am watching for a flagging of interest. If people retreat and there seems to be little non repetitive statements to add to our Bake Off dish, we move on to another presenter sometimes totally changing the topic of discussion. Sometimes these meetings don't work so well, and other times -- actually in this group most times, we produce some very energetic participatory discussion. Recently non members of our group and perhaps members of the Mindfulness Center sangha have come in and stood in the back of the room toward the end of our meeting. They have commented that they seldom have seen such an energetic group. I think this kind of meeting and the kind of group that produces it is very special and we must do everything we can to preserve this atmosphere.

     Tentative Schedule for July and August, 2015. (subject to change).

     July 9, 2015:  Summer Bake Off

     July 16, 2015:  Summer Bake Off

     July 23, 2015: Guess what -- Top Secret meeting,  Bake Off.

     July 30, 2015: The Guenther Pohlmann - Todd Davison Society Meeting.  An explanation. Two of our founding members, and leaders have left us. The group preserves the 5th Thursday of any month that has a 5th Thursday to honor these two gentlemen by presenting either some of their writing, some of their artistic loves, such as photos, or music, or the group just shares memories related to the lives of these two very intelligent and spiritual leaders. We are fortunate to have Gunther's daughter and sometimes his wife and his grandson as well as Todd's wife in attendance at these Society meetings. They are often able to supply some pertinent material. Thanx to all of them.
     On this occasion, Su will not be present, so Heidi will talk about something to do with Dr. Guenther Pohlmann and anyone else can join in.

     August 6, 2015: Regularly scheduled Bake Off. (It is the same format as described above.)
                             

     August 13, 2015: Summer Bake Off  But this date Heidi will lead a book discussion group of the book "The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared ", a novel by Jonas Jonasson. If you are looking for a summer read, this one would be a good one. It has to do with aging, nursing homes, and how our society deals with our old people. If you don't have time to read the whole book by Aug 6, even the first 100 pages would contribute to a discussion. You could then complete the book later. You can try to look in the library systems, or check amazon.com. Often they will send a used copy quite quickly. Heidi has a very limited window for leading this discussion, hence the speedy scheduling. For those of you who are confused about the schedule, we did originally schedule the book discussion for August 6th, but since this give us more time to read the book, and Heidi is able to lead the discussion, August 13 will be the book discussion on "The 100 Year Old Man..."

     August 20, 2015: Summer Bake Off

     August 27, 2015: Board of Directors Meeting. The title of this meeting is a misnomer, because there is no real Board of Directors. However, every now and then when the need arises, the entire group meets to discuss future topics for presentation and recruits presenters for these topics. Also sometimes discussions are held about logistics, procedures and how we conduct our meetings. In the past some of these discussions have taken time from our regular hour presentations. Therefore if at all possible we will try to keep discussions of changes in format, changes in procedures, and future presentation ideas to the Board of Directors' Meeting. This will keep intrusions into the hour of our regular meetings to a minimum.

     September 3, 2015: Regular monthly Bake Off.

     September 10, 2015: Resumption of Regular Scheduled Presentations. Topic To Be Announced.

     Now after having spelled out this obviously very complex schedule with its explanations, as your moderator and author of this blog, let me say that nothing is set in concrete. If anyone has a presentation that they would like to insert into one of these Bake Offs, just let me know. The summer is characterized by flexibility.