#WISCFI summarized

So you’re looking for summaries of the Women in Secularism conference, because you, like me, weren’t able to go. Here you go: Skatje Myers, Jen McCreight, Ashley Miller, Skeptical Seeker, and Catherine Dunphy. I’m a little jealous.

Now what I expect to happen, though, is that this long list of speakers — Lauren Becker, Ophelia Benson, Jamila Bey, Greta Christina, R. Elisabeth Cornwell, Margaret Downey, Annie Laurie Gaylor, Debbie Goddard, Jennifer Michael Hecht, Melody Hensley, Sikivu Hutchinson, Susan Jacoby, Jennifer McCreight, Bernice Sandler, Wafa Sultan, and Rebecca Watson — will receive greater recognition, and at the next conferences I attend, more of them will be invited, and I’ll be hearing much more from them.

Another Rock Beyond Belief?

The first Rock Beyond Belief was a phenomenal success, but they need a do-over because there was something important missing: ME. So they just had to fix that and schedule Rock Beyond Belief 2 for next summer, in San Diego, California…only this time, I’ll be there. Rockin’.

I’m going to have to insist that Lt. Connlann Myers also be allowed to attend. He’s based in California, it shouldn’t be a problem.

#INR2 … done

Whew. Good meeting. You should have been here — it ended with a major bang with Seth Andrews blowing us away with some gorgeous video (Sagan!), Maryam Namazie wringing us out with her passionate opposition to the injustice of Islam, and Lawrence Krauss telling us how exciting it was to be insignificant residents of a universe that arose from nothing and is hurtling towards nothing. Now I’m exhausted, but I’m staying here in Kamloops for one more night, with beer to dispose of (I’m like Jesus, only instead of loaves and fishes, beer magically manifests itself in my hands every time I turn around. Which makes me greater than Jesus.)

I think we’ll be having an evening of the remnants of the Imagine No Religion 2 crew and speakers and attendees chattering happily over alcohol. Look me up if you’re still around.

Big day!

I’m about to fly off to the Imagine No Religion 2 conference (hashtag: #INR2), and my daughter Skatje is on her way to the Women in Secularism (hashtag: #WISCFI) conference — there’s lots happening this weekend. It seems like the FtB contribution is split: Maryam, Ian, Natalie, Matt and I will be in Kamloops, while Ophelia, Jen, Stephanie, Sikivu, and Brianne will be in DC.

Follow along on Twitter, and I’ll try to post updates here; Skatje, I think, will also be posting now and then. It’s going to be a fun weekend!

Meetup in DC

I know, I’m going to be in Kamloops next weekend (it will be a great meeting, by the way), but there’s another great meeting going on at the same time in Washington DC, the Women in Secularism conference, and a lot of readers are going to that one, or are just living in that east coast region. So there’s going to be a Pharyngula meetup in DC! It’s a secret gathering of the feminist cabal, though, so I can’t tell you where or when (I don’t even know myself), and if you want to attend you need to write to oniongirlsays@gmail.com to get all the top-secret details.

Will there be passwords? Secret handshakes? Ritual scarification? I don’t know. Attend and find out.

Converge on Convergence

Freethoughtblogs and Skepchick are collaborating and conspiring together to promote science and skepticism at Convergence, in Bloomington, MN, on 5-8 July. You should go! The skeptic track at this con have been steadily growing over the years, and there will be lots of wild discussion and fun. FtB is new to the game (although several of us have attended in the past) but we’re making a big push to join in with SkepchickCon 2012 and make ourselves known here.

We’ve been doing a lot of work behind the scenes — one of the essential elements of participation is to put on a good party, and this year Freethoughtblogs has booked a party room right next to the Skepchick party room. In fact, we’re meeting this weekend to work out all the details. Those of you who’ve attended in the past know that Kammy Lyon has been the Skepchick hostess and organizer for their party, and this year Mary Myers (the “Trophy Wife”) is teaming up with her to be the hostess and organizer for the FtB party. You got that? Not only do you get a weekend of skepticism and science and weird science fiction and fantasy, but you get two big parties going the whole weekend long. You want to be there.

The Skepchicks also sponsor bringing in speakers to participate in the events, and they need a little help raising money for that. Join in if you can’t make it, and especially if you can.

Madisonian Gathering?

I’m at UW Madison right now…after the meeting ends at 6, any recommendations for an impromptu Pharyngula gathering? Shall me just meet in the ratskeller in the nearby student union? I’ll be there anyway, maybe I can haul in a few other notorious people.


Decision made! Gather at State Street Brats, Ratskeller (again…organizers are gathering there) sometime after 6.

Hey-o, Madison!

I’m about to depart for this event:

Mary and I have 7 hours of driving ahead of us. It’s going to be no fun at all, although it looks like the meeting will definitely be worth it. One peeve, though: the two speakers I most want to hear are Kevin Padian and Elliott Sober, and they’re both scheduled to speak tonight. I doubt that I’ll be able to get there in time. Could someone tell them both to wait until 9:00 or so to start their talks? Just for me?

All right, if they rudely refuse to hold up the entire conference for me, I expect someone who’s there to review it all for me on Saturday. Pantomime over beer at lunch would be acceptable, and entertaining.

(Also: hashtag for the conference is #ftf1. Follow the festivities on Twitter.)

More juicy stuff for Minnesotans

Sorry, all you foreigners who don’t live in an awesome state like Minnesota, but I have to mention another cool local series of events. The Hennepin County Library is sponsoring DNA Day, with multiple opportunities to learn about genetics, genetic diseases, cancer genetics, and genetic family trees. I don’t know why it’s called DNA Day, though, because they have multiple events spread out between 19 April and 1 May at various libraries around Minneapolis. There is limited space, so registration is required (these events are free, though), and you’d better get in there fast.

Wait, I just got home!

I have to catch up with all of my classes now, but I also have to prepare for the next couple of weekends. Next on the agenda:

  • I’m flying off on Friday for the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism in New York. I’ll be talking about squid.

  • Next weekend is the Freethought Festival 2012 in Madison, Wisconsin. I shall be talking about the scientific method, and why it’s incompatible with religion.

  • Then I get a few weekends to stay at home and get through finals week. Yay!

  • On 18 May, I’ll be at Imagine No Religion 2, in Kamloops, British Columbia. I forget what I’m talking about there, something sciencey, I’ll figure it out later.

  • Also on 18 May, I won’t be attending the Women in Secularism conference in Washington DC, because I can’t be in two places at once. However, my daughter Skatje will be my proxy there and will be reporting back on it in her own cantankerous and independent-minded style (I have no idea where she gets that from).

I do have to say something about the Women in Secularism conference: some people are being condescendingly stupid about the fact that we can have a special purpose conference within the broader domain of secularism. It is embarrassingly idiotic that we actually have clueless atheists who are demeaning the idea that there is worth in dedicating conferences to specific issues: would there be any of this dismissal if it were a conference on secular parenting, separation of church and state, secular lobbying, race and religion, or the pernicious influence of religion on education? Because these are all pressing concerns, as is the importance of involving women in atheism, and it is a mark of the growth of atheism and secularism and humanism that we do have focused conferences. Expect to see more of this sort of thing in the future.

But somehow, macho assholes seem to think women are unimportant. Sorry, guys, this is the future coming at you: institutions will be egalitarian or die. And the only thing that’s unimportant is addressing the whines of spoiled man-children who break into tears and rage at any diminution of their privilege. Bye-bye, testosterone-addled dinosaurs.


See also this article at CFI.

Look, people, and yes guys, I’m talking to you specifically. This conference is not about “separating” women from men, it’s about having the spine as a movement to say that women deal with prejudices and oppression that are unique to them, thanks to religion, and at the same time recognizing that our own community has a LOT of work to do in how we treat, acknowledge, and highlight our female half. It’s not a conference exclusively FOR women, but yes, about them. Our boss Ron Lindsay says men absolutely should attend. PZ Myers says men should attend. And I’m telling you, too. If you think it’s a problem to have a conference like this, I challenge you to buy a ticket, show your face, and talk about it like a grownup. No more nameless Internet thuggery.

By the way, there are a limited number of $25 student registrations still available for the women in secularism conference.