Welcome to the Grand Traverse Humanists. If you value science, reason, and compassion and believe that humans are responsible for their own destiny, you have come to the right place. We are a community for the non-religious in the Grand Traverse area, offering a forum for discussing and advancing a secular worldview based on our common humanity. Our programs include monthly speakers and discussions, film and book groups, and various volunteer and social events. All are free and open to the public. Check out Upcoming Events below, or click on the calendar. Nontheists, agnostics, atheists, freethinkers, rationalists, humanists, and more…we welcome you to join us!
Upcoming Events
- G.T. Humanists Meeting: Spiders!
Monday, August 14, 6 p.m.
Traverse Area District Library
610 Woodmere Ave., Traverse City
Join the Grand Traverse Humanists for a presentation on the Amazing World of Spiders! Our speaker will be Craig Olsen, an environmental educator and park ranger for the National Park Service at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. He’s also an educator at the G.T. Butterfly House and Bug Zoo.
- Hungry Humanists: Harrington’s By the Bay
Monday, July 31, 6 p.m.
13890 S West Bay Shore Drive, Traverse City
Grand Traverse Humanists will meet to dine at Harrington’s By the Bay!Link to their menu here: http://www.harringtonsbythebay.com
- Humanist Bike Ride: Leelanau Trail
Sunday, August 6, 11 a.m.
Darrow Park (1025 Bay St.), Traverse City
Join the Grand Traverse Humanists for a bike ride on the Leelanau Trail up to Suttons Bay and back. We’ll meet at Darrow Park in Traverse City (at the corner of Bay St. and Monroe St.) and bike up to Hop Lot, where we’ll have lunch before riding back into town.Those who wish for a shorter ride can start partway up the trail as there are multiple trailheads, or opt to take the BATA bus back into town.
- G.T. Humanists Meeting: Artificial Intelligence
Monday, July 10, 6 p.m.
Traverse Area District Library
610 Woodmere Ave., Traverse City
Join the Grand Traverse Humanists as they welcome Eric Bravick for a talk called AI: Powering Humanity’s Potential. So often, the conversation on artificial intelligence has dwelled on the possible negative or scary aspects. Instead, Eric will present a general overview of the AI landscape with a focus on the positive impacts of AI, present and future.Eric is an industry recognized expert in AI and the related data science fields and has worked on hundreds of projects over the past 35 years, including projects that impacted household names such as Google, Microsoft, and IBM (to name a few). Eric is currently the CEO of The Lifted Initiative, where he is leading a team that is building the next generation of AI enabled Internet infrastructure.
- G.T. Humanist Book Club: Humanly Possible
Sunday, July 23, 4 p.m.
1415 Lake Drive, Traverse City (Rich and Lin Foa’s house)
The next selection for the Grand Traverse Book Club is “Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry and Hope” by Sarah Bakewell. We’ll meet at the home of Rich and Lin Foa, 1415 Lake Dr. in Traverse City (RSVP to Rich at 720-545-8828). Bring a dish to pass if you like.Description from Amazon:
“Humanism is an expansive tradition of thought that places shared humanity, cultural vibrancy, and moral responsibility at the center of our lives. The humanistic worldview—as clear-eyed and enlightening as it is kaleidoscopic and richly ambiguous—has inspired people for centuries to make their choices by principles of freethinking, intellectual inquiry, fellow feeling, and optimism.
In this sweeping new history, Sarah Bakewell, herself a lifelong humanist, illuminates the very personal, individual, and, well, human matter of humanism and takes readers on a grand intellectual adventure.
Voyaging from the literary enthusiasts of the fourteenth century to the secular campaigners of our own time, from Erasmus to Esperanto, from anatomists to agnostics, from Christine de Pizan to Bertrand Russell, and from Voltaire to Zora Neale Hurston, Bakewell brings together extraordinary humanists across history. She explores their immense variety: some sought to promote scientific and rationalist ideas, others put more emphasis on moral living, and still others were concerned with the cultural and literary studies known as “the humanities.” Humanly Possible asks not only what brings all these aspects of humanism together but why it has such enduring power, despite opposition from fanatics, mystics, and tyrants.
A singular examination of this vital tradition as well as a dazzling contribution to its literature, this is an intoxicating, joyful celebration of the human spirit from one of our most beloved writers. And at a moment when we are all too conscious of the world’s divisions, Humanly Possible—brimming with ideas, experiments in living, and respect for the deepest ethical values—serves as a recentering, a call to care for one another, and a reminder that we are all, together, only human.”
- G.T. Humanists Summer Solstice Tie Dye Party
Saturday, June 17, 11 a.m.
Scott and Suzette’s house
4813 N. Indian Lake Rd., Traverse City
Our first solstice party since before COVID will be Saturday, June 17th (optionally extending into Sunday the 18th) at Scott and Suzette Blair’s place: 4813 N. Indian Lake Road.
There are activities to enjoy starting at 11:00 a.m., but we will provide burgers for grilling on a campfire and a steaming cauldron of vegetables around 6:00 p.m. Saturday. You may want to bring favorite drinks, an additional side, or campfire snacks, but these are not required. Oh, and a camp chair if you have one; we have some but not enough.
You are invited to camp here the night of Saturday the 17th. We have 12 acres of meadow and woods for tenting and plenty of places for RVs (campers should bring their own sustenance for meals other than Saturday evening). We have a couple of tents we can lend.
At 12:00 noon on Saturday, our Tie Dye Workshop will begin, led by tie dye artist Laura Shaw. For those participating in this part of the event, bring 1 to 3 items of mostly natural fiber to dye, five pounds of cubed ice per item, and $4 per item to cover costs for supplies. I will send more details on the “ice dying” technique to those who RSVP for the tie dye activity. The second part of the tie dye event will be 10:00 Sunday morning. This is the “reveal.” Whether you camp here or return Sunday, this is when you get your first glimpse of your result, but it becomes more vivid upon drying.
Come any time after 11:00 a.m. Saturday to recreate. Our place is on Indian Lake, a small lake with attached wetlands sometimes hosting blue herons, eagles, and loons. Kayaking, canoeing, and fishing are good here! Come enjoy. We have a rowboat and a small canoe but bring your own kayak if you like. Got a bike? Our property offers direct connection to forested single track mountain bike trails. We have a couple mountain bikes for the bikeless!
Please reply to this email or text Scott at 231-313-7214 and mention particularly whether you will join in the tie dyeing!
