The room was down a couple floors which meant descending on escalators with many of my fellow heathens. They seemed the usual bunch of older white folks. Approaching the registration table, I proceeded to the section for the part of the alphabet containing my name only to find it manned by a lovely young woman who was bending over as she fiddled with some papers. Her low cut shirt and the angle conspired to give me a nice view of her breasts and I took this as a favorable start to the night. Grabbing my badge, I wandered into the hall
There I found a seat relatively close to the stage next to the video camera of Wisconsin Eye and a few seats down from a young gentleman named Jeramaya who commented kindly on my King Crimson t-shirt. He too was at the show here in Madison back in 2001. It was nice to find another Crimso fan. I offered him a copy of the concert and he gratefully accepted.
Jeramaya and I chatted a bit before Foundation co-presidents Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker began the proceedings.
The opening remarks noted how the Foundation's membership had grown by 50% over the last year with a total in excess of 11,000. In addition, this year's convention was the most well-attended in the organization's history with an expected headcount of 700+. Barker regaled us with song, in this case, the convention's traditional opener "Die Gedanken Sind Frei (Thoughts Are Free)", a freethinker's anthem if there ever was one. He was joined by the lovely Susan Hofer, a local jazz singer who was unknown to me. But she did have a fantastic set of pipes as she demonstrated with her renditions of the Gershwin's "It Ain't Necessarily So" and a song she wrote with Barker called "It's Only Natural". The song appeared on the Hearts and Minds benefit album.
The Hofer-Barker duetting was followed by The Raging Grannies who gave a performance filled with laughter.
The speakers this night were Katha Pollitt of The Nation magazine and actress Julia Sweeney who has as of late let go of God. I intend to write more about their speeches later but let me offer this: just Christopher Hitchens will be saying tomorrow, Ms. Pollitt and Ms. Sweeney both poked fun at religion and noted some of the horrible things people do in its name. By contrast, however, they both talked about something Hitchens will perhaps touch on, but only briefly, and that is the benefits of religion or, more specifically, the solace that individuals find in it and the sense of community it offers. While Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and Sam Harris most definitely concede this, they certainly focus on religion as poison or delusion and not so much as an element that brings naturally social animals together. Both Pollitt and Sweeney were very funny and a pleasure to listen to. Plus I appreciated their views in this day and age when talk of religion tends to center around killing in the name of Yahweh and restraining scientific progress for fear of the fate of a soul.
Tomorrow is the big day with Christopher Hitchens but I am really looking forward to seeing and meeting Matthew LeClaire, the high school student who blew the whistle on a proselytizing teacher. I am wondering how Hitch will be received by a crowd which seems to have an anti-war majority. Love him or hate him, I give him full credit for coming to town today and taking in a bit of local culture by going to The Old Fashioned. Tomorrow also brings lunch with a group of Internet heathens including P.Z. Myers of Pharyngula. Should be fun.
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