The hummingbird speaks to the spirit of wine women and philosophy's Philosophy Club experience.
Philosophy Club

Here is what Eve Dolphin - shaman and friend of wine women and philosophy - has to say about the hummingbird.

"Hummingbirds make epic journeys, traveling thousands of kilometers through gales and high water. These tiny, tenacious birds remind us that we too can travel long distances and overcome great obstacles in order to learn and to drink of the nectar of life."

Announcing Our Spring 2012 Philosophy Club Series 

Are you up for an adventure in philosophy?  The second series of our philosophy club could be the perfect place for you to find out.

What is it we're offering? An immersive philosophical exploration of a central theme over the course of six Thursday evenings.
  • March 22
  • March 29
  • April 19
  • April 26
  • May 10 (combined with wwp salon evening)
  • May 17
The club meets in Montreal-West and each evening runs from 7.30pm to 10pm.  Each session is organized around a combination of small lectures, assigned readings, "living philosophy" exercises, and group discussions. Together, we work the ideas that arise from both the corpus and the experiences of those participating in the series.

Who is it open to? This club is open to members of wine women and philosophy - new members always welcome. Priority will be given to women who attended our first series given last Spring. Women who are likely to get the most out of our Philosophy Club series are curious about life, enthusiastic about learning, generous toward themselves and others, and open to new adventures.

How can I find out more?  E-mail us at wwpgetaway@live.com to indicate that you are interested, and we will be happy to answer any questions you might have, and tell you more about the series.

Our Club History

Our Philosophy Club began in April 2011. The title of our first series was The Invisible Matron. It was structured as a 6 week experience - participants coming together on Thursday evenings (7.30-9.30 pm) in Montreal West.

The idea for this course came out of the salon evenings themselves, and the expressed desire on the part of some of our members to get together to do some philosophizing on a more regular basis. Some of our salon evenings and getaways have touched on themes that were explored more extensively in The Invisible Matron:
  • the idea that women grow more radical as they age and acquire a different voice with which to speak ;
  • the traditional mind/body split within Western Philosophy that has failed to take seriously the lived bodily experiences of women in general, and women hitting midlife and beyond more specifically ;
  • the trope of the obedient and dutiful daughter ;
  • the ways we negotiate belonging and "fitting in" at different stages of our lives.
And some of the themes that we explored in The Invisible Matron break new ground:
  • the monster/beauty paradigm that accompanies women's journey in and out of visibility and invisibility ;
  • how women's lives have been "written" in a wide range of media so as to conceal truths and reinforce stereotypes ;
  • the lost or hidden lives of "ordinary" women throughout history, and how these lives can be recuperated and reclaimed through traces like their diaries, letters, and photographs ;
  • the framings that society makes of women who lead both conventional lives and those who step outside of the conventions;
  • what it is to be an aging female "self" in a society that worships youth and has a very limited conception of female beauty and female "being-in-the-world."
Readings for this series are drawn from writings by, among others, Carol Gilligan, Gloria Steinem, Carolyn Heilbrun, Luce Irigaray, Iris Marion Young, Kathleen Woodward, Germaine Greer, Roland Barthes, Joanna Frueh, Gilles Deleuze, Barbara MacDonald, May Sarton, Susan Griffin, Adrienne Rich, and Nel Noddings.

Interested in what was covered at each class? Details on our first series can be found on our blog.