Upcoming events

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• June First Sunday

  • When
    06/07/2026
  •  
    10:30 AM - 12:30 PM
  • Location
    PSCC, Hardin Valley Road.

  Leigh Cowden will speak on Wills and Estates.

  Leigh Cowden, Principal Attorney and founder of Vermillion Law, is a USAF veteran and licensed attorney in Tennessee, Florida, and New York. She has practiced law since 2007 and brings over 30 years of business experience across multiple industries. She divides her time between Tennessee and Florida and enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with family.
  

  Attorney Cowden will be speaking on June 7, 2026 about Wills, Trusts, and Probate. This session will discuss what the probate process looks like, the types of estate planning strategies available, and what the estate planning process looks like at Vermillion Law. 

  Coffee and other hot beverages will be provided. Bring a snack to share if you wish. 
  

  We meet in the Cafeteria Annex of the Goins Administration Building. The Annex is located at the back of the building and we ask that you enter from the direct entrance at the rear of the building so as not to disturb another group who uses the rest of the building.

  For those joining via Zoom, the link is provided in the newsletter and the announcement email below. 

  
  

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• June RET Book Club

  • When
    06/14/2026
  •  
    1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  In person Book Club Event!  Note time and location!

  Beyond Belief: The Science-Backed Way to Stop Limiting Yourself and Achieve Breakthrough Results

  by Nir Eyal

  Behind every endeavor are beliefs that shape outcomes.  Most people never question those beliefs, even when they hold them back.  Beyond Belief by bestselling author Nir Eyal reveals one counterintuitive truth: these beliefs aren't facts. They're tools.  Understand how they work, and you can set them aside when they are unhelpful and replace them with better ones to change what's possible for you.  Backed by the latest neuroscience and psychology research, Eyal shows you how your hidden assumptions filter what you see, what you attempt, and what you achieve, and gives you a clear, practical method to change them. Learn how to: See what others miss – Beliefs filter your perception. Shift them, and options that were invisible come into view.  Stay grounded under pressure – Change how you respond to uncertainty, so steadiness becomes your default, not something you force.  Break costly patterns – Improve your health, relationships, and career by removing interference – not adding more effort.  Expand what you think you're capable of – Your limits aren't fixed.  They're learned.  And what's learned can be relearned.  Once you understand how belief really works, you can stop fighting yourself — and start building change that lasts.

  June 14, 2026 1:00PM to 2:30PM

  Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church

      2931 Kingston Pike

      Knoxville, TN 37919

  
  

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• Solstice Party

  • When
    06/21/2026
  •  
    6:00 PM
  • Location
    TBA

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• Knox County Fourth Wednesday MEET-UP

  • When
    06/24/2026
  •  
    6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
  • Location
    Corner 16, 9637 Kroger Park Dr
Knoxville, TN 37922

  Come join an informal gathering for food and conversation at the Corner 16 Restaurant, 9637 Kroger Park Dr, Knoxville, TN 37922 near Pellissippi and Northshore.

  If you are interested in seeing the menu beforehand, you can check it out here.  

  Disregard the notice below about forwarding this email. Feel free to share with others who may be interested. 

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• June RET Reflections

  • When
    06/28/2026
  •  
    10:30 AM - 12:30 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Special in-person Reflections!  Note time and place.

  
  

  Where is Starship America Going?

  
  

  A crazy election, up and down tariffs, protests, more inflation, and war and woes in the Middle East.  Time for a mid-year evaluation and discussion.  Did any of this work for you?  Mad as Hell and not gonna take it anymore?  Well, what are going or not going to do?  Vote in the primaries?  That's a start.  Join us for an in-person discussion about what to do about the course of the Starship.

  Bring a snack for yourself and maybe others as you please.  It's been a while!

  10:30 to 12:30 at Pellissippi State in the Goins Cafeteria Annex-(usual meeting place)

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• July RET Book Club

  • When
    07/12/2026
  •  
    4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice

  By Virginia Roberts Giuffre

  
  

  The world knows Virginia Roberts Giuffre as Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s most outspoken victim: the woman whose decision to speak out helped send both serial abusers to prison, whose photograph with Prince Andrew catalyzed his fall from grace. But her story has never been told in full, in her own words—until now.
  
  In April 2025, Giuffre took her own life. She left behind a memoir written in the years preceding her death and stated unequivocally that she wanted it published. Nobody’s Girl is the riveting and powerful story of an ordinary girl who would grow up to confront extraordinary adversity.
  
  Here, Giuffre offers an unsparing and definitive account of her time with Epstein and Maxwell, who trafficked her and others to numerous prominent men. She also details the molestation she suffered as a child, as well as her daring escape from Epstein and Maxwell’s grasp at nineteen. Giuffre remade her life from scratch and summoned the courage to not only hold her abusers to account but also advocate for other victims. The pages of Nobody’s Girl preserve her voice—and her legacy—forever.
  
  Nobody’s Girl is an astonishing affirmation of Giuffre’s unshakable will—first, to claw her way out of victimhood, and then to shine light on wrongdoing and fight for a safer, fairer world. Equal parts intimate and fierce, it is a remarkable narrative of fortitude in the face of depravity and despair.

  
  

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• July Third Sunday, In-Person Meeting

  • When
    07/19/2026
  •  
    10:30 AM - 12:30 PM
  • Location
    PSCC, Hardin Valley Road

  Women's Suffrage Expert, Wanda Sobieski, will speak on armed conflict over suffrage at the Old Knoxville Courthouse and a General History of the Suffrage Movement. More details and a bio will be posted later. 

  We will be meeting in a classroom at the Hardin Valley Campus of Pellissippi State Community College. The exact building and room TBA. 

  Coffee and other hot beverages will be provided. Bring a snack to share if you wish. 

  For those joining via Zoom, the link will be sent with the newsletter and the event announcement emails. 

  
  

  
  

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• August RET Book Club

  • When
    08/09/2026
  •  
    4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention

  by Clara E. Mattei

  Capitalism isn’t inevitable, scientific, or natural—it's a relatively young system that can be replaced.
  
  We live in a world where cuts to social programs are deemed necessary, unemployment is considered natural, and rising living costs are accepted as normal. We’re told that change isn’t possible—the markets know best and there’s no alternative to capitalism. But what if mainstream economics itself is the problem?
  
  In this groundbreaking manifesto, economist Clara E. Mattei shows us how the dogma that rules our economies is not only delusional but also detrimental to our societies and livelihoods and fundamentally hostile to working people. Pseudoscientific models are used to justify enduring problems such as poverty and inequality in order to support a system that unfairly rewards people who already have the most resources.
  
  Today’s economic institutions, from the Federal Reserve to the International Monetary Fund, wield immense power over monetary policy yet are shielded from democratic scrutiny. All the major problems we face—from a health care system that prioritizes profits over well-being to the rise of ultranationalism—are rooted in an economic system that fails to serve the common good.
  
  Why should we accept this? In this urgent intervention against capitalism, Mattei shows how escaping this system begins with understanding the economy from a fundamentally different perspective. The time has come to challenge the broken economics of our modern age—to achieve true economic freedom and finally escape from capitalism.

  
  

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