Mike's home?
Glendale library?
Glendale doesn't charge to use their rooms, where as Phoenix Does
or maybe at PVCC. Let's look at the calendar to schedule it.
Just so you know, Phoenix Libraries charge like $30 for the use of the room
and like $50 if you are having food in that room. Plus, it's $2/attendee.
Sam,
do you want to see if there is a possibility of borrowing a room at PVCC
for a meeting, that isn't on a Thursday? Or take the Thursday listed below,
and ask Jenny about a room.
Here's some dates that work in my schedule and PAS's schedule:
I'd lean towards larger moon dates so schools don't choose the date we want
for their event.
I think a meeting could possibly occur on a Friday at PVCC, but you'd have
to check with Jenny.
I do have some Thursday's listed below, and any of the dates in the PVCC
List is also ok to do a Mike's.
AT PVCC:
Feb 27 Monday
Mar 6 Monday
Mar 13 Monday
Mar 16 Thursday
Mar 20 Monday
Mar 27 Monday
AT Mike's:
Mar 10 Friday
Mar 5 Sunday
Mar 17 Friday
Mar 19 Sun
Just some dates to think about and set up for a MOM's in Feb or March.
If you want me to look into later dates in April or May, let me know.
Have a super day!
Terri, Event Manager
On Wed, Jan 11, 2017 at 8:02 PM, Redacted sender insanas for DMARC <
dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The next MOM has not been scheduled yet but I hope we have it in March.
Terri is out of town about 2 weeks the end of Feb and I will be out from
Feb 10 through 16. As soon as it is scheduled we will send out a notice to
all PAS members. The IHOP was not great because of the noise on the
loudspeaker. We should try to have it elsewhere. Sam
Sent from AOL Mobile Mail
------------------------------
On Wednesday, January 11, 2017 Leah S <lphxaz@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
when and where will that be? I don't see it on the calendar.
On 1/11/2017 10:01 AM, (Redacted sender insanas for DMARC) wrote:
Thanks, Leah, for your advice. Hope to see you at the next Meeting of the
MInds. Sam
-----Original Message-----
From: Leah S <lphxaz@xxxxxxxxx> <lphxaz@xxxxxxxxx>
To: pasmembers <pasmembers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> <pasmembers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wed, Jan 11, 2017 6:10 am
Subject: [pasmembers] Re: Minority membership-
Sam wrote: "We are the Phoenix Astronomical Society, and yet our minority
membership is very minimal. It would be great if we could attract more
minority amateur astronomers. Any ideas are welcome."
actually - PAS does a lot of outreach and public events, including events
that are attended by the wider public, such as the DBG events and star
parties at public schools - i.e. not just our events at PVCC. and at all
our events, we are friendly and welcoming to people of all races and
origins. I want to add, btw, that we have a lot more public events than
the other astronomy clubs in the area.
but as Paul pointed out, the low representation of "minorities" is not
just a problem of PAS, i.e. it is apparently common in all astronomy
clubs. so it's not as if there are a lot of "minority amateur astronomers"
out there that we are failing to attract. the question isn't "why aren't
the minority amateur astronomers joining PAS" but: why aren't more
"minority" people involved in astronomy to begin with, and what can we as
an astronomy club do about it?
I can think of several factors that affect this situation.
1. expense - it is quite possible that the smaller number of "minority"
amateur astronomers is influenced by the perceived expense of the hobby,
and the fact that in general this is a lower-income sector of the
population. one of the most frequent questions we get at the PAS
"astronomy questions" link is: "I/we/my kids are starting to become
interested in astronomy, so we want to know what kind of telescope to
buy." the point here is that people assume that if someone is interested
in astronomy, the first thing they need to do is to go out and buy a
telescope. and of course that's not the case. as the "answer person" for
PAS "astronomy questions", my advice to people is always: don't rush to
buy a telescope. you can come to our star parties and get a guided tour
through *our* telescopes for free. instead - get a good guidebook like
"Nightwatch" (available at the public library) and get to know the night
sky with the naked eye and any binoculars that you have around the house.
(eventually the person might want to get their own telescope, but they
don't need to do it as a *first* step.)
but, even coming to our star parties might be a problem for low-income
families, who might not own a car, or for whom the expense of driving to
PVCC might be difficult. so this is something that we should also address.
2. level of enthusiasm - as you can see from the size of our club compared
to the size of the population of Phoenix, unfortunately not everyone is
enthusiastic about astronomy. (I see this in my own family - all of whom
are intelligent and educated, but they just aren't interested in
astronomy! go figure!)
if we want to encourage people to become interested in astronomy, I think
our efforts would be best focused on kids rather than grown-ups, for
several reasons -
a) the kids have more potential than grown-ups for becoming enthusiastic
about something,
b) the kids have more potential for the future - if we can get them
interested in astronomy, it can really influence their whole future - by
getting them to be interested in science, giving them motivation to succeed
in school, getting them to read more, etc.
c) the kids have more potential for getting their parents interested in
astronomy. (i.e. the parents might not bother on their own, but if their
kid wants to go to a star party - how can they refuse?)
d) the kids are more accessible - we can reach them via their teachers, by
offering to do more star parties in schools with a large "minority"
population. right now we do star parties for teachers who request it, but
if we want to reach more kids, we should reach out and contact the schools
ourselves.
but then the question is how to *maintain* that enthusiasm. for a lot of
people, after they've participated in a star party once, it's "been there,
done that". so we might want to partner with the teachers to find ways to
maintain the enthusiasm, e.g. to find projects that the kids can do after
the star party, and to mentor kids who want to continue participating in
astronomy.
this is an important point, so let me emphasize it - we are talking about
two facets. one is the exposure: doing a star party at a school will
expose the kids to the beauty of astronomy. still, for most of them it
will be a one-time event. however, there might be one or two kids in each
school who would welcome the opportunity to *continue* with astronomy - but
we've already done our star party and gone home. we need to be available
to encourage and mentor any kids who want to continue with the hobby. this
is something that can change a kid's life. he/she might not become a
professional astronomer, but this hobby can start a lifelong interest in
science that will improve their future career prospects.
Alex's idea of a lecture about minority scientists is a good idea, and it
might be well-attended, but I don't think it would have long lasting
effects. we need projects that kids can *continue* with, and we need to
help them continue.
just my 2 cents. :)
On 1/9/2017 5:12 AM, PAUL MALEY (Redacted sender pdmaley for DMARC) wrote:
All:
Minority membership was a topic I was going to suggest for the "Meeting of
the Minds" but had to cancel out at the last minute. Having been in IOTA
for more than 40 years we have struggled with this same concern. In that
period of time there have been no Hispanic and just one African American
female members. In fact, the astronomy clubs I have been a member of has
had virtually nil to a tiny number of minority members most of whom as I
recall were temporary. As the US population demographics continues to move
in that direction I highly suggest that the traditional Caucasian
membership issue be seriously considered. This has also included a small
female demographic which should also be expanded but the main issue is the
lack of Hispanic, African American and Asian constituency.
Having also worked at NASA for 4 decades starting with Apollo, I had no
idea about the minority women participation as was depicted in "Hidden
Figures". You can see that this long term problem extends itself
throughout society and it should be addressed. Only a concerted outreach
will begin to work at solving it.
Paul
Paul D. Maley email: pdmaley@xxxxxxxxx
------------------------------
*From:* "dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
*To:* pasmembers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Sent:* Sunday, January 8, 2017 8:14 PM
*Subject:* [pasmembers] 2 new astronomy movies
Dear PAS members, 2 weeks ago Mike, Paul Facuna, Vera, Frank and I saw the
movie "Passengers". It was a good Sci Fi flick. I saw it again recently in
3D and it is even better. At Camelview Harkins tonight they had the movie
prop of the suspended animation chamber used in the actual movie, in the
lobby.
Vera and I just saw the movie Hidden Figures. It was excellent, showing
the early successes and failures of NASA over 50 years ago. The story of
how minority women played an important part in the trajectory and reentry
computing was incredible and something that was new to me. We are the
Phoenix Astronomical Society, and yet our minority membership is very
minimal. It would be great if we could attract more minority amateur
astronomers. Any ideas are welcome. Have fun seeing the above 2 movies if
you get a chance. Sam Insana PAS President.
