Upcoming events

Switch to Calendar View

• Solstice Party Potluck

  • When
    06/21/2026
  •  
    6:00 PM
  • Location
    Clubhouse at 2041 Cochran Place, Cochran Place Subdivision, Maryville, TN 37803

  Celebrate the longest day of the year with good food, good company, and a relaxed summer gathering. Bring a dish for yourself and something to share — simple, homemade, or store‑bought, it all works. Come enjoy a warm summer evening with friends.
  

  Show details
• 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. 

  Show details
• 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)

  **************************************************************

  Please disregard the message about forwarding below.

  Show details
• Blount County First Wednesday Meet-up

  • When
    07/01/2026
  •  
    6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
  • Location
    Peaceful Side Brewery, 106 Everett Ave, Maryville, TN 37804

  Come Join us at the Peaceful Side Brewery, 106 Everett Ave, Maryville, TN 37804

  If you enjoy looking at menus ahead of time, check out this link: 

  https://peacefulsidebrewery.com/taproom-menu/
  

  This will be a monthly event on the First Wednesday. 

  Please disregard the notice below about forwarding this email. If you know of others who would enjoy this event, please share. 

  Show details
• 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.

  Note: The Zoom link will be available in the newsletter and the event announcement emails. 

  
  

  Show details
• 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 "The Showdown"  about armed conflict over suffrage at the Old Knoxville Courthouse and a General History of the Suffrage Movement.  

  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. 

  
  

  
  

  Show details
• Knox County Fourth Wednesday MEET-UP

  • When
    07/22/2026
  •  
    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. 

  Show details
• July Reflections

  • When
    07/26/2026
  •  
    4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  July Reflections 

  What has been the role of Baby Boomer presidents in shaping the current us/them political climate?

  Here is an article to get the juices flowing:

  https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2026/06/14/trump-bush-clinton-generation-legacy-00956933

  This might be a good time to reflect on our own contributions to this cultural norm. 

  The Zoom link will be available in the newsletter and the event notifications. 

  
  

  
  

  Show details
• 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.

  
  

  Show details