Looking Back

Our Great Decisions program on “Russia and the US” got our series off to a good start on February 20th, with about 25 people attending. Hosted by Chuck Putney of the UU and our own Julie Mackaman, the program was moderated by Gudrun Hutchins, who did a phenomenal job explaining the backdrop of tensions between Ukraine and Russia and helped us understand Putin”s popularity with the Russian people. Our timing for the event worked out well!  Our conversation focused on foreign policy and our relationship with Russia over time, something that would have been a lot harder to do if the Russian invasion had happened a week earlier than  it did.

Looking Ahead

Our next Great Decisions program on “Drug Policy  in Latin America” is on March 20 at 2 pm, hopefully at the UU Fellowship Hall.  Of course, we can’t be 100% certain that Covid will allow us to meet in person, but we can sure hope!

We will view a video that provides an overview of the topic and explains how drug policy is made. It points out that the United States’ drug war has been a huge failure. Reform has focused heavily on criminalization instead of healing and rehabilitation. Violence across Latin America has escalated over the years, and as one drug trafficking ring is shut down, another pops up in several new locations.

Again, we will divide into small groups for discussion. Each group will explore approaches to drug policy that have at least some hope of making a difference.

Please consider attending.  Send an email to AAUW at bennvtaauw@gmail.com so we can keep you informed and help you locate the reading from the program book.

Participants are expected to bring questions to explore about the reading or about the issue in general.