POTLUCK 11 AM to 1 PM EST at ATLANTA FREETHOUGHT HALL

TALK 1 PM EST at ATLANTA FREETHOUGHT HALL & on ZOOM

How Not to do a Paranormal Investigation

Karen Stollznow and Matthew Baxter

Matt and Karen will be speaking about investigating the paranormal through a skeptical lens.

Dr. Karen Stollznow is a linguist, researcher, and podcaster. She’s the author of Bitch: the journey of a word; On the Offensive: prejudice in language past and present; Missed Conceptions: how we make sense of infertility; and Language Myths, Mysteries, and Magic. Her forthcoming book is Beyond Words: how we learn, use, and lose language. Karen is currently a researcher at Griffith University. She’s also a host of the science, history, and folklore podcast Monster Talk, and a veteran investigator of paranormal claims. Karen lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband and son. 

Matthew Baxter has always had an interest in the paranormal and was fascinated by every aspect of it. He read books by believers and skeptics alike and was determined to find his own truth. Matthew has investigated homes, pubs, restaurants, hospitals, parks, churches, and theaters. He has gone after UFOs, aliens, cryptids, and psychics among other phenomena. He has appeared on Larry King Live, National Geographic, CNN, and the Travel Channel along with many appearances on local news programs, documentaries, magazines, and books. He has spoken at conferences such as TAM and Universities nation wide.

Our meeting Is in person (4775 N. Church Lane. Atlanta) or via Zoom, your choice.

To join the Zoom meeting go to this link:
us02web.zoom.us/j/89006560911
Or show up in person at Atlanta Freethought Hall (4775 N. Church Lane, Atlanta, GA)

POTLUCK from 11 AM to 1 PM EST

Join AFS members and guests for some good food and great socializing prior to the 1 PM talk. Please bring food according to the first letter of your last name:

A – G : Please bring a Side Dish

H – P : Please bring a Main Dish

Q – Z : Please bring a Dessert

Atlanta Freethought Hall

4775 N. Church Lane, Atlanta, Georgia 30339

Atlanta Freethought Hall is a former Primitive Baptist Church, rebuilt in 1866 after the original structure was destroyed by General Sherman’s troops during the Civil War. Atlanta Freethought Society (AFS) was founded in 1985, which makes it one of Metro Atlanta’s oldest secular societies. AF Hall is the meeting place for several other organizations and we rent the building at reasonable rates. If you would like to rent the hall for an organization meeting, a party, a wedding, etc., please see an AFS Board Member. Our building is wheelchair accessible.

TALK BY SUZI EHTESHAM-ZADEH

“Trump’s America vis-à-vis The Islamic Republic: The Concentration of Power and how the Powerful Prey/Pray on the Ignorant“

Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh

The daughter of a high-profile Iranian doctor and a small-town American science teacher, Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh was born in Washington, D.C., came of age in Iran during the Shah’s era, and later traveled back to the United States to attend university, receiving a degree in philosophy from Stanford University in 1978. The Islamic Revolution began brewing during her senior year at Stanford, and shortly after graduating she returned to Iran and plopped herself down in the middle of it. She later moved to Spain, where she met and married a Spaniard, thus weaving a third cultural strand into her identity.

A career English teacher, Suzi has taught students in public schools, private schools, and universities on three continents and in three languages. She has taught ESL to children in Honduras, World Literature and Linguistics to university students in Tehran, IB Literature and Theory of Knowledge to high scho ol students inSpain, Creative Writing to undergraduates at Boston University, and Literature and Composition to middle school, high school, and university students in Georgia.

Alongside her teaching career, Suzi has maintained a second career as a writer, editor, and translator. Rather late in life, she received an MFA degree in Creative Writing from Boston University, where she had the privilege of studying with National Book Award winners Sigrid Nunez and Ha Jin and Pen/Hemingway Award winner and New York Times Bestselling author Jennifer Haigh.

Suzi’s fiction has appeared in The Georgia Review, Fiction International, Glassworks Magazine, Narrative Northeast, Mobius Journal for Social Change, Quiddity International Literary Journal, and elsewhere. Her recent story collection, titled Zan, was awarded the 2022 Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize and was published in June of 2024.

Suzi’s cultural identity is a bit of a moving target, which makes it a paradox that she has resided, for the better part of the past two decades, on a 6-acre mini-farm in Woodstock, Georgia.

Our meeting Is in person (4775 N. Church Lane. Atlanta) or via zoom, your choice.

To join the Zoom meeting go to this link:
us02web.zoom.us/j/89006560911
Or show up in person at Atlanta Freethought Hall (4775 N. Church Lane, Atlanta, GA)

Atlanta Freethought Hall is a former Primitive Baptist Church, which was built in 1866. Atlanta Freethought Society was founded in 1985, which makes it one of Metro Atlanta’s oldest secular societies. AF Hall is the meeting place for several other organizations and we rent the building at reasonable rates. If you would like to rent the hall for an organization meeting, a party, a wedding, etc., please see a Board Member. Our building is wheelchair accessible.

Details

Our meeting Is in person (4775 N. Church Lane. Atlanta) or via zoom, your choice.
Our January meeting will be a talk by Mark Banks about the fascinating subject of Astronomy (not astrology). We will start with our ancient ancestors who spent thier entire lives out under the stars. Then, move along to the reaissance & the birth of our modern science of Astronomy. Then a review of our journey to the present & future of stellar exploration.
Mark Banks has been a long term member of AFS, a retired aerospace engineer, an avid amateur Astronomer and past president of the Atlanta astronomy club (2010-2018).

Before the January 12th meeting we will have a Potluck Lunch, starting at 11:00. Join AFS members and guests for some good food and great socializing. Please bring your favorite dish with plenty to share.

AFS will provide drinks, plates and silverware.

The main meeting will start at 1:00PM after lunch.

POTLUCK & TALK BY MANDISA THOMAS

“The Revival of Reason”

Our December program will be a talk by Mandisa Thomas, Founder of the Black Non-believers. Her talk will be about “The revival of reason” , an upcoming event in March and about the Black Non-believers . 

Please join us starting at 12:00 noon to socialize and get to know your fellow secular community members. Our events are free & open to the public. Our facility is Handicap Accessible.

To join the Zoom meeting go to this link:
us02web.zoom.us/j/89006560911
Or show up in person at Atlanta Freethought Hall (4775 N. Church Lane, Atlanta, GA)

In order to serve our freethought community both near and far, we usually meet at Noon both on Zoom and in Atlanta Freethought Hall for socializing, and then the talk starts at 1:00. The speaker may be speaking via Zoom or may be present in the Hall.

Atlanta Freethought Hall is a former Primitive Baptist Church, which was built in 1866. Atlanta Freethought Society was founded in 1985, which makes it one of Metro Atlanta’s oldest secular societies. AF Hall is the meeting place for several other organizations and we rent the building at reasonable rates. If you would like to rent the hall for an organization meeting, a party, a wedding, etc., please see a Board Member. Our building is wheelchair accessible.

---