Fairhope Unitarian Fellowship

Diane Thomas
2026-03-15 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
Ticking Time Bomb at Plant Barry

Overview of the threat of 21 million tons of toxic coal ash next to the Mobile River in the Tensaw Delta and possible permanent pollution unless action is taken now.

I was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas I received my PhD in Clinical Psychology in 1973 and practiced for 20 years. Some of my volunteer activities include Chairman of the City of Fairhope Personnel Board; Read Aloud Baldwin and Coal Ash Action Group for the last three years. One of my most notable accomplishments was hiking on the Appalachian trail when I was 58.

Tom Czekanski
2026-03-22 11:00 - 12:00
The Civil War in Baldwin Co. Alabama, a Brief Overview

Mr. Czekanski will provide a brief overview of historic events in Baldwin County Alabama during the Civil War from the occupation of Fort Morgan to the Battle of Mobile Bay and the Surrender of Ft. Blakely, the last major battle of the war.

A retired museum curator, Tom has been employed by Beauvoir, The Last Home of Jefferson Davis, The Louisiana State Museum and The National WWII Museum. He participated in Civil War reenactments for over 15 years as both a Confederate and Federal Soldier recreating battles at historic sites across the country including many locations in Baldwin County. He is currently enjoying retirement in Silverhill with his spouse Annette Chioma.

Jacqueline Allen Trimble
2026-03-29 11:00 - 12:00
Why Poetry Matters in an Unjust World

Even though empathy has been said to be detrimental, it is in fact what makes us human, bends the arc of the universe toward justice, champions equity, and encourages our compassion for each other. Poetry has long been a reflection of that empathy. It is often our earliest interaction with language and teaches us what is required, while challenging and calling out our baser impulses. Poetry matters in an unjust world.

Jacqueline Allen Trimble is the Poet Laureate of Alabama, a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellow (Poetry), a Cave Canem Fellow, and a two-time Alabama State Council on the Arts Literary Fellow. Her poetry has appeared in numerous journals including POETRY, The Louisville Review, The Offing, Salvation South and Poet Lore. Her work has been widely anthologized, most notably in Kwame Alexander’s This is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poetry, and has been featured by the Poetry Foundation’s Poem of the Day, American Academy of Poets’ Poem-a Day, and Poetry Daily.

Also an essayist, Trimble’s work has appeared in numerous collections. She also wrote for the South African television series Die Testament for two seasons. Published by NewSouth Books, American Happiness, her debut collection, won the 2016 Balcones Poetry Prize, and was recently re-released in paperback. Her newest collection, How to Survive the Apocalypse, was named one of the ten best poetry books of 2022 by the New York Public Library. Trimble is Professor of English and chairs the Department of Languages and Literatures at Alabama State University.
