Book Clubs New York

Manhattan Smutty Book Club -

The book for this month is Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon. You'd think being abducted by aliens would be the worst thing that could happen to me. And you'd be wrong. Because now, the aliens are having ship trouble, and they've left their cargo of human women - including me - on an ice planet. And the only native inhabitant I've met? He's big, horned, blue, and really, really has a thing for me... Please join us at Cornerstone Tavern, 961 2nd Ave, New York, NY (51st and 2nd) for great conversation, laughs, and friendship. Look for our signs, and listen for the laughter. We are often in the back of Cornerstone behind the curtain, which is actually a different restaurant called the Stags Head. We start at 7pm, but feel free to come early before happy hour ends at 7. People usually start to drift in by 6:30pm.

New York Story Night #79

New York Story Night is a literary community event based in Manhattan founded to provide creative writers, amateur and professional alike, a stage on which to share their stories and an audience with which to road test their works. Consider an open mic for stand-up tragedy, stand-up horror, stand-up drama if you will. A night of bedtime stories for adults. **For those who wish to share a story, please arrive before 6:50pm and sign-up for a reading slot.** (Find Randy or Maria at the front of the second floor event space.) For those who wish to be an audience, get a drink, find a favored spot, chit-chat with fellow story lovers if you like! At 7pm, reading sign-ups close and we beginning our story night. **Each writer gets 20 minutes in front of the microphone. (15 minutes for the story + 5 minutes for workshop/Q&A with the audience)** We have a 10 minute intermission at the end of every hour. **Rules for stories:** * Stories must be under 20 mins (around 3,000 words) * All stories must be written pieces * Stories can be fiction or non-fiction but must be narrative driven * No poetry, no essays We encourage you to email us at newyorkstorynight@gmail.com if you have questions or concerns on if your story is a good fit for our event. If you cannot attend this particular event but would like to be in tune with our next ones join our MeetUp group, check us out on Instagram @NewYorkStoryNight, or email us at newyorkstorynight@gmail.com to be added to our e-mailing list! New York Story Night is a free event. *\*By attending, you acknowledge that you may appear in photos and videos used for social media or promotional purposes.*

Word and Object by Quine Week 4

How does language come to have meaning and can we trust natural language to be a reliable vehicle for truth? For many in the early analytic tradition, the answer to the meaning of language is intimately related to a correspondence theory of truth where one needs to painstakingly tie words to their reference objects in the world. For these philosophers, logic is the correct tool in order to tame natural language and train it to be a reliable vehicle for truth. For Quine (1908-2000), this is simply not the right approach to language. Quine is known for his blistering critiques of the logical positivists and the early analytic philosophers, calling into question the very idea of a proposition and challenging the analytic/synthetic distinction which had been evolving since Kant. In Word and Object, he tackles philosophy of language, introducing his indeterminacy of translation thesis that there isn't even theoretically a unique way to translate correctly from one language to another. This rattles the very heart of the metaphysical project of tying down language to objects in the world since we can't even seem to tie one language to another in a unique way. He also argues that objects are simply abstract concepts we invent in order to make sense of our experiences, cautioning us against reification. Quine is no anarchist though, he has a deep respect for science and emphasizes an empirical approach to language grounded in the social practices of communities. Maybe we cannot attain absolute certainty but we can certainly design successful social practices to probe and try to understand the world around us. Join us as we explore the nature of language, truth, and knowledge over the course of four weeks with Quine as our guide. Participants should read the entire reading before attending this in person meeting. For the fourth week we will read p. 206-276. I will be reading from this version [here](https://www.amazon.com/Object-Studies-Communication-Willard-Orman/dp/1614275254/ref=pd_lpo_d_sccl_1/144-8361955-9168236?pd_rd_w=0zl00&content-id=amzn1.sym.4c8c52db-06f8-4e42-8e56-912796f2ea6c&pf_rd_p=4c8c52db-06f8-4e42-8e56-912796f2ea6c&pf_rd_r=CAVY77QCJ97HNYZVEEN4&pd_rd_wg=Ls6z1&pd_rd_r=fed52b59-2e41-4e3f-a3ca-9bc0b4cac2c3&pd_rd_i=1614275254&psc=1). For questions please send me a message or post to meetup. Best, Brian

Writers Meetup in the West Village

**Itinerary** People are welcome starting at **6 o'clock**, and you can come and meet other writers, enjoy a happy hour, socialize and hang out as you like until 7 when we will start readings. At **7 o'clock** we formally get together as a group to listen to readings from those looking for feedback. * We do not select readers based on order of arrival or a sign-up sheet, so if you have work until late but still want to come and read, you can! * Each reader gets five (5) minutes to read, so please select a section of work which is appropriate for that time limit. * We welcome narrative prose (fiction and non-fiction), poetry, the occasional essay, and scripts (be they for screen or stage), so long as it is writing that you're serious about. Please no ad copy, journal entries, memes, musings, idea pitches, works where performance is more critical than the writing, or other errata. Nothing AI, if that needs saying. * We'll then spend another five (5) minutes in discussion. This is time for the listeners to provide feedback on the reading and discussing the craft in general. We welcome (and encourage) constructive criticism, so long as it is done with respect. This is just as important as the reading, and is done as an open conversation not lead by the reader or the host, so no hand raising required! * We try to get to as many people who want to read as we can, so if there are a lot of attendees we will be very strict on time. * We take a short break at **8 o'clock** . At **9 o'clock** we finish readings and start our formal social hour. Meet new friends, connect with old ones, exchange longer works for review, or just let loose.

On Truth in Politics by Michael Lynch Week 1

Does truth matter in politics anymore or is it just about power? With so much of our political discourse influenced by social media algorithms and the echo chambers we tend to find ourselves in one starts to wonder what role does, and/or should, some kind of overarching truth play in our public discourse. Michael Patrick Lynch argues that truth is indispensable for democracy and he reminds us that our relationship to truth is never fully determined. The goals of this work are to describe what kind of truth is vital for democracy, the pivotal role it should play in a healthy society, and how we can take steps to correct our misalignment in values. Participants should read the entire reading before attending this in person meeting. For the first week we will read p. 1-97. I will be reading from this version [here](https://www.amazon.com/Truth-Politics-Why-Democracy-Demands/dp/0691231931). For questions please send me a message or post to meetup. Best, Brian

Daytime (in-person) Book Club - The Wedding People

Fresno Zoom Online Speed Dating

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Writers Meetup in Alphabet City

We're back at Hekate, where they’re serving THC drinks, Kava, and sober cocktails while we meet, socialize, share, and discuss our work. Welcome to the Writing Group! Craft is in session. **Itinerary** People are welcome starting at **6 o'clock**, and you can come and meet other writers, enjoy a happy hour, socialize and hang out as you like until 7 when we will start readings. At **7 o'clock** we formally get together as a group to listen to readings from those looking for feedback. * We do not select readers based on order of arrival or a sign-up sheet, so if you have work until late but still want to come and read, you can! * Each reader gets five (5) minutes to read, so please select a section of work which is appropriate for that time limit. * We welcome narrative prose (fiction and non-fiction), poetry, the occasional essay, and scripts (be they for screen or stage), so long as it is writing that you're serious about. Please no ad copy, journal entries, memes, musings, idea pitches, works where performance is more critical than the writing, or other errata. Nothing AI, if that needs saying. * We'll then spend another five (5) minutes in discussion. This is time for the listeners to provide feedback on the reading and discussing the craft in general. We welcome (and encourage) constructive criticism, so long as it is done with respect. This is just as important as the reading, and is done as an open conversation not lead by the reader or the host, so no hand raising required! * We try to get to as many people who want to read as we can, so if there are a lot of attendees we will be very strict on time. * We take a short break at **8 o'clock** . At **9 o'clock** we finish readings and start our formal social hour. Meet new friends, connect with old ones, exchange longer works for review, or just let loose.

Writers Meetup in East Williamsburg

A special, Thursday evening event at a new spot! So if you thought Tuesday was just too square a night to come out, don't worry, we got you. **Itinerary** People are welcome starting at **6 o'clock**, and you can come and meet other writers, enjoy a happy hour, socialize and hang out as you like until 7 when we will start readings. At **7 o'clock** we formally get together as a group to listen to readings from those looking for feedback. * We do not select readers based on order of arrival or a sign-up sheet, so if you have work until late but still want to come and read, you can! * Each reader gets five (5) minutes to read, so please select a section of work which is appropriate for that time limit. * We welcome narrative prose (fiction and non-fiction), poetry, the occasional essay, and scripts (be they for screen or stage), so long as it is writing that you're serious about. Please no ad copy, journal entries, memes, musings, idea pitches, works where performance is more critical than the writing, or other errata. Nothing AI, if that needs saying. * We'll then spend another five (5) minutes in discussion. This is time for the listeners to provide feedback on the reading and discussing the craft in general. We welcome (and encourage) constructive criticism, so long as it is done with respect. This is just as important as the reading, and is done as an open conversation not lead by the reader or the host, so no hand raising required! * We try to get to as many people who want to read as we can, so if there are a lot of attendees we will be very strict on time. * We take a short break at **8 o'clock** . At **9 o'clock** we finish readings and start our formal social hour. Meet new friends, connect with old ones, exchange longer works for review, or just let loose.

On Lying and Politics by Hannah Arendt

Continuing the theme of truth and politics, we turn to consider the related question of what we should expect from politicians when it comes to lying. Some see lying as a black and white issue, but honest reflection of the nuance of public discussion yields tension between the desire for complete honesty and the reality of uncertainty, various media platforms, and the raw speed of information. That being said, there are different degrees of lying in politics and one suspects that there is some critical threshold which a democracy can tolerate. Join us as we discuss the wisdom of Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) who was a widely respected political philosopher of the twentieth century. Participants should read the entire reading before attending this in person meeting. We will read the entire book for this week. I will be reading from this version [here](https://www.amazon.com/Lying-Politics-Library-America-Publication/dp/1598537318). For questions please send me a message or post to meetup. Best, Brian

On Truth in Politics by Michael Lynch Week 2

Does truth matter in politics anymore or is it just about power? With so much of our political discourse influenced by social media algorithms and the echo chambers we tend to find ourselves in one starts to wonder what role does, and/or should, some kind of overarching truth play in our public discourse. Michael Patrick Lynch argues that truth is indispensable for democracy and he reminds us that our relationship to truth is never fully determined. The goals of this work are to describe what kind of truth is vital for democracy, the pivotal role it should play in a healthy society, and how we can take steps to correct our misalignment in values. Participants should read the entire reading before attending this in person meeting. For the first week we will read p. 101-210. I will be reading from this version [here](https://www.amazon.com/Truth-Politics-Why-Democracy-Demands/dp/0691231931). For questions please send me a message or post to meetup. Best, Brian

Uptown Reading Morning (Inwood)

✨ Registration will open on June 12 ✨ Join us at **[Buunni Coffee](https://www.buunnicoffee.com/)** in Inwood to read, relax, and sip some delicious coffee (or tea) on Sunday morning! We'll spend half an hour settling in, ordering drinks, and doing introductions, and then read from 11:30 to 12:30. Or longer, if you like. Buunni Coffee is easy to get to from the Inwood - 207th stop on the A (accessible station), the 207th stop on the 1, and several buses.