New Director’s Directions: Getting Normal and How To Do It
By Mike Trombley
In spite of all the rumors that no one is spreading, I’m still around. Okay, I have to admit, I haven’t stayed around, having taken a trip to both Las Vegas / Phoenix and a second trip to Ft. Myers in Florida, It’s great to be vaccinated. I highly recommend it to anyone that hasn’t tried it yet. “Oh, the places you’ll go…” (Dr. Seuss, I believe or maybe it’s: I believe in Dr. Seuss). Anyway, the moral here is “Go get Vaccinated!”.
I hope everyone takes some time to check out MNA’s new web site. I have a challenge for everyone, with the results I hope to incorporate onto our website soon. The goal of this challenge is to let people know that another atheist(s) may live nearby that shares the lack of belief in “god(s)” and that we’re all over Minnesota.
Steps
- Travel to your town’s “Welcome to …” sign (or just the city boundary sign if “welcome to …” isn’t a thing where you live.)
- Take along anyone interested in being identified on the MN Atheist’s web site.
- Have someone take a picture that incorporates the city’s name / sign and whomever you’ve gathered. I (we) would rather see faces than shoes so get a close-up if you can.
- Email the photo to Dir3@MNAthests.org along with the names of each person (in order, left to right, front to back!) within the photo. People can remain anonymous if they want by hiding faces / wearing masks / facing away. Everyone identifiable must agree to have their name and image “published,” though it likely won’t make anyone famous.
- I’ll aim to create a page off the web site that shows “Atheists Live in _____, MN” with pictures and names, alphabetically aligned by city.
- Once we have a few, we may use social media to expand our audience with a hashtag of “#AtheistsLiveIn”. If you want to start this off on your own, go for it.
And now for some great news: be sure to check out the exciting return of the Upcoming Events on the next page. But remember, at all our great events — in person as well as online, don’t forget the secret MNA handshake so that everyone knows you’re one of us. Oh, wait. We don’t have a secret handshake. Scary. You’ll just have to identify yourself and talk with others if you want to know more about them — I highly recommend it.
As many of you know, I’m also the group librarian. This means I have a great bookshelf backdrop available for all my Zoom calls. It also means that dues paying members can borrow some books to put behind them for their own, more-believable Zoom appearances. Or, if you want, you could always read some of them as well. To pique your literary interest, here are 15 more book titles currently available — out of roughly 210 within our library.
Atheism — The Case Against God
Born Again Skeptic’s Guide to the Bible
Breaking the Spell
Challenging the Verdict
Deconstructing Jesus
End of Faith
Fundamentals of Extremism (assumed as not be- ing a “how-to”!)
God Talk
Just Pretend — A Freethought book for Children Leviathan
Pagan Christs
Some Mistakes of Moses
Subject to Debate
The War on Science
With God on Their Side
