Today only! Donate to the Food Bank of the Rockies and the Gay and Lesbian Fund for Colorado will match your gift – dollar for dollar – up to $100,000! So give $5 and they will make it $10! This offers expires Wed, March 31, 2021, so give today.
With $10, Food Bank of the Rockies can provide 40 meals to people in the Rocky Mountain region. So join me today in helping people still struggling with the effects of the pandemic.
The Secular Hub held it’s grand opening on February 12, 2013. Eight years later we could not have our traditional Darwin Day/Hub Birthday event. 2020 was a strange year for the Hub, stopping all in-person events at the 3100 Downing St. location in March. We let our lease expire and moved into a storage Pod in December – our last event at 3100 Downing St.
Of course February 12, 1809 was Charles Darwin’s birthday as well as Abraham Lincoln (same year) and Olivia Hooker. Who???
Olivia Juliette Hooker was born February 12, 1915 in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Hooker was one of the last known survivors of the Tulsa race massacre of 1921, and the first African-American woman to enter the U.S. Coast Guard in February 1945.
In 1947, she received her master’s from the Teachers College of Columbia University, and in 1961 she received her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Rochester, with her dissertation on the learning abilities of children with Down syndrome.
On February 9, 2015, Kirsten Gillibrand spoke in Congress to “pay tribute” to Hooker. In the same year, the Olivia Hooker Dining Facility on the Staten Island Coast Guard facility was named in her honor. A training facility at the Coast Guard’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. was also named after her that same year. On May 20, 2015, President Barack Obama recognized Hooker’s Coast Guard service and legacy while in attendance at the 134th Commencement of the United States Coast Guard Academy. On November 11, 2018, Google honored her by telling her story as part of a Google Doodle for the Veterans Day holiday. Hooker died of natural causes in her home in White Plains, New York on November 21, 2018, at the age of 103.
As of January 1, 2021, the Secular Hub is homeless! Since we have not met at the Secular Hub’s location since March 2020 and our lease was expiring at the end of 2020, the Board of Directors decided that it was best to save our funds for a new location.
A team of volunteers braved the COVID-19 virus to pack the Hub’s belongings into a storage pod. Thanks to Bill, Ron, Becky, Dana, Marty, both Joes, Jesse, Jonathan, Danelle, Steve, Brandon, Jeff, and Richard. Forgive me if I did not mention your name because you all look alike in masks! Thank you again for your help in dislocating the Hub.
Packing our belongings into a Pod was kind of like doing a 3D jigsaw puzzle. I hope it does not end up looking like multiple puzzles in the same box.
Then a couple of days later, Paul and I said good-bye to the Pod as it was loaded on a truck to be stored elsewhere.
Our last act of helping the homeless at this location was two people that showed up asking for help. We gave them some sweaters and blanket from the AHH barrel. They also received a box of water and food.
It is sad to see the Hub emptied out. But it is a step to moving to a new location. My hope is next year at this time when we can gather in person, we can be in a new larger location that better accommodates our goals. You can help us reach this goal by donating to our Building Fund.
You donated $2,395 to the Food Bank of the Rockies!
Our fundraiser for Food Bank of the Rockies raised $2,395 for feeding people in-need along the Front Range and Colorado! Thank you to everyone that donated. The money was sent to Food Bank of the Rockies and should provide more than 9500 meals for people in need this holiday season!
Thank you for supporting Food Bank of the Rockies in our recent fundraiser! You donated $1,000 which was matched by the Secular Hub and fellow Hub Members for a total of $2,000 going to help provide food to your fellow Coloradans.
If you would still like to give, click the button below or scan the QR code to donate and we will see that it gets to the Food Bank of the Rockies.
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Dr. John Hoeffecker, from the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado Boulder was November’s featured speaker for the science talk.
The Hub specializes in creating moments and situations where folks representing diverse viewpoints and backgrounds mingle. The exchange of ideas is essential to culture and society and at the Hub we do our part to help in the free flow of ideas.
Dr. Hoeffecker’s talk was wide ranging and deep and possessed a great deal of interaction with the event’s attendees. He took all questions seriously which helped make the talk feel more like a conversation.
Below is an excerpt from elsewhere on secularhub.org, copied and pasted here because they say it better than I ever could:
Anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) dispersed out of Africa several times after 300,000 years ago, but only one of the dispersals (beginning ~60,000 years ago), was ultimately global in scope, including Australia, the Eurasian arctic, and Western Hemisphere. The global dispersal entailed occupation of habitats and climate zones never previously occupied by earlier forms of Homo, probably because of relatively low plant and animal productivity and extreme winter temperatures. Adaptation to these habitats and climates required technologies of structural and functional complexity
comparable to those of recent hunter-gatherers in similar settings, including mechanical artifacts and insulated clothing. Archaeological evidence of such technologies is found in Africa after ~100,000 years ago and associated with the spread of modern humans into Eurasia and beyond. The quantum jump in technological complexity suggests an
increase in the complexity of the computations that underlie the design of artifacts, which in turn suggests that changes in human cognitive faculties underlie the global dispersal of Homo sapiens.John F. Hoffecker ● since 1998, research faculty at Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado at Boulder
● BA in archaeology (Yale 1975), MA in anthropology (University of Alaska 1979)
● investigated archaeological sites in central Alaska related to early occupation of Beringia during 1980s (Science paper in 1993)
● PhD in anthropology (U of Chicago 1986) with focus on Paleolithic archaeology of Russia and Ukraine
● research scientist at Argonne National Laboratory (1984–1998)
● researched Neanderthal sites in northern Caucasus with Russian colleagues in 1990s (including Mezmaiskaya Cave, which yielded Neanderthal skeletal remains)
● author of Desolate Landscapes: Ice-Age Settlement in Eastern Europe (Rutgers U Press, 2002)
● researched earliest known modern human occupations in Eastern Europe (central plain) with Russian colleagues during 2001–2009 (Science paper in 2007)
● author (with co-author Scott Elias) of Human Ecology of Beringia (Columbia U Press 2007)
● researched early Inuit sites in northwest Alaska during 2000–2011
● researched early modern human sites on East European Plain with Ukrainian and Russian colleagues during 2012–2018 with focus on geochronology
● author of Modern Humans: Their African Origin and Global Dispersal (Columbia U Press 2017) (Choice “outstanding academic title” 2019)
EDITOR: Jesse Gilbertson Logo Design: Terry Kirkham
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From time to time we are lucky enough to experience a true cultural shift. These shifts represent changes to the old ways of acting and thinking, and they can sweep away old, outdated ideas and replace them with the NEW.
Today on the Secular Hubcast we are very proud to present an event which took place where we welcomed members from The Satanic Temple of Colorado into our midst. These Satanists very generously shared their time and insight with the Secular Hub community in a fantastic event that helped to show how alike we all really are. Please enjoy.
This was a Humanism at the Hub event. Check out the next upcoming event on meetup
For the most up-to-date info on TST Colorado activities visit them on FaceBook
If email is more your thing then speak with Viktor by emailing him at media@thesatanictemplecolorado.com
GUESTS:
The Satanic Temple Colorado membership:
Virgil, Amanda Racket, Viktor LaMent, Damien Luciano
Secular Hub membership:
Tom Kellog, Jerry Gilbert, Melissa and Chris
HOST, EDITOR: Jesse Gilbertson
Logo Design: Terry Kirkham
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Life is a constant process of things getting used up and then being renewed. It’s true whether you’re talking about an individual, an organization, or an ecosystem.
The Secular Hub goes through many changes and renews itself with infusions of fresh energy and ideas in the form of new members and volunteers. It’s a hallmark of a healthy organization that times of change are actually times of growth that spur us to be even better than we were before.
On this episode we speak with the Secular Hub’s newest board members, Monica and Dana. It’s incredible to think that the Board membership is composed of six (6!) women and only one man. Dirk, you better watch out!
We’re very happy to welcome our newest Board members and wish them great success as they fulfill their terms of service to the greater community.
GUESTS:
Secular Hub Board Members Monica and Dana
HOST, EDITOR: Jesse Gilbertson
Logo Design: Terry Kirkham
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On September 7, 2019 Andrew Seidel visited the Secular Hub and spoke to a packed house. The Hubcast was on hand to catch his talk as well as the audience participation time afterward.
Andrew Seidel has been working with Freedom From Religion Foundation for years and has come to be posted as the Director of Strategic Response. As a trial lawyer he has argued successfully in favor of free speech and the separation of church and state.
In his new book, The Founding Myth, Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American, Andrew discusses his research on our nation’s beginnings, what was happening in America at the time, and what it means for us today. This was a fantastic event at the Hub and we at the Hubcast are proud to present the audio from this great event.
GUESTS:
From Freedom From Religion Foundation, Director of Strategic Response, Andrew Seidel
From Denver Metro FFRF Chapter, Claudette and Joel
Follow them on Meetup, Face Book, or visit their site
EDITOR: Jesse Gilbertson
Logo Design: Terry Kirkham
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Some events at the Secular Hub are just an absolute delight to go to, and everyone who attends helps a worthy cause at the same time. This week on the Secular Hub, Jesse attends the Hub’s annual chili cook-off and conducts a few casual interviews with some of the attendees. It’s a slice of life from our fun times.
The Secular Volunteer Corps organized and hosted, and the proceeds of the fundraiser are being directed to Heart 9/11. All together we raised over $300 to donate to this great charity.
I’ve always felt that the Hub should be a source of power and support to other organizations, so it was delightful to participate in such a great event. Thanks Monique for organizing and running this thing!
GUESTS: Monique, Chauncey, Others
HOST, EDITOR: Jesse Gilbertson
Logo Design: Terry Kirkham
