Narrative Reflections: Philosophy in Literature & Film

Welcome to the Existentialist Cafe! Join us for an afternoon of discussion where we explore life's biggest questions in a relaxed, open forum. Whether you're well-versed in philosophy or simply curious about the mysteries of existence, this event is for you.

No preparation is needed, and the conversation topics will be determined by the participants.

🎉 You’re invited to celebrate the first year of our amazing group! 🎉

We’re marking one year of great conversations, new friendships, and a truly special community.

📍 Town Brewing:
Come enjoy delicious food and drinks — including beer, seltzers, wine, and cider — and hang out with familiar faces (and maybe a few new ones too!).

🎯 We’ll have fair-style games with silly prizes — so BRING CASH!
Funds go toward Meetup fees so we can keep this group thriving.

All are welcome, whether you’ve been to one event or twenty. We’d love to celebrate with you!

To the Lighthouse is a 1927 novel by Virginia Woolf. The novel centers on the Ramsay family and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland between 1910 and 1920. Following and extending the tradition of modernist novelists like Marcel Proust and James Joyce, the plot of To the Lighthouse is secondary to its philosophical introspection.

In her forward, Eudora Welty writes “To the Lighthouse is at once ethereal and firm, as perhaps only a vision can be. A presiding presence with streaming hair and muscles stretched, the novel’s conception has the strength of a (William) Blake angel. It is an exertion, a vaunting, a triumph of wonder, of imaginative speculation and defiance; it is that bolt of lightning Virginia Woolf began with, an instantaneous burst of coherence over chaos and the dark. She has shown us the shape of the human spirit.”

The Will to Change offers a powerful and compassionate critique of patriarchy and its devastating impact on men. Challenging the dominant narratives around masculinity, bell hooks argues that traditional patriarchal models deprive men of emotional awareness, intimacy, and the capacity for authentic love. Drawing from feminist theory, psychology, and personal narrative, she exposes how patriarchy harms not only women but also the men it claims to empower.

Please join us as we discuss:

• The nature of identity in asymmetrical power relationships
• Can those who benefit from a system also be harmed by it?