Moose Lodge to Host Benefit for MSCC on March 14th
The Moose Lodge will be hosting a Chicken Dinner on Sunday, March 14th, from 11:00 a.m. to 3 p.m., to benefit Main Street Community Center.  The dinner will cost $7.00. Desserts will be available, too, for $1.50 each.  Carol Keene, President of the Center's Board of Directors, said of this event:  "We are deeply appreciative of the generosity of the Moose Lodge in its hosting this benefit for our Center.  As everyone in Edwardsville knows, the Lodge has been a lifeline for many worthy causes, and we are honored to number among those that the Lodge supports."   The Moose Lodge is located at 7371 Marine Road in Edwardsville. 

March Coffee Talk on Mach 19th to Feature Local Author Pat Hughes
Main Street Community Center will host a Coffee Talk featuring Pat Hughes, a local author, on Friday, March 19th, at 9 a.m.  With her topic being "Fighting Writer's Block," her focus will be writing and motivation. She will talk as well about National Novel Writing Month.  Hughes, who is an SIUE retiree and an Edwardsville Library ELF, says that she has been "involved in the secret vice of writing forever." 
This event is free and open to the public.  Coffee Talks is a casual roundtable discussion with community leaders from government, civic, educational, economic development and not-for-profit organizations. The event will take place at Main Street Community Center, located at 1003 N. Main Street in Edwardsville, Ill.  Coffee and donuts provided.  No reservations required.

Main Street Community Center Hosts "Dialogue with an SIUE Professor"
Main Street Community Center will host "Dialogue with an SIUE Professor" on Thursday, March 18th, at 10:30 a.m., featuring Dr. Rebecca Rozelle-Stone, Assistant Professor of Philosophy.   Dr. Rozelle-Stone's topic will be "Attention as the Basis for Love." The late French Christian mystic, activist, and philosopher Simone Weil (1909-1943) described attentiveness in a way that is unlike how we now think of attention as concerning only a person's cognitive or psychological abilities. For Weil, attentiveness is not narrowed focus, but an openness and receptivity to the world and to others, and it forms the basis of moral orientation and even love.  This "Dialogue" will explore these ideas in detail, as well as consider some different ways that attention can be cultivated (academic studies, certain types of labor, and appreciation of art.) This event, offered in partnership with the SIUE Office of Educational Outreach, is open to the public. Refreshments are provided.  The Center is located at 1003 N. Main Street in Edwardsville, Ill.

St. Patrick's Day Lunch on March 17th
Main Street Community Center will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day with a special luncheon on Wednesday, March 17th, from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.  The menu will include corned beef and cabbage, boiled potatoes, Irish soda bread, iced layer cake, and coffee or tea. The cost per person is $6.00.  Please RSVP by Friday, March 12th.  Call the Center at 656-0300, e-mail Jackie@mainstcc.org., or stop in to sign up.  As usual, there will be raffle baskets and a 50/50 raffle. 

Main Street Community Center Hosts Two Book Club Discussions  
Main Street Community Center will host a book club discussion on Thursday, March 11th,  from 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.  Participants will discuss the New York Times bestseller The Help by Kathryn Stockett, a novel about the bravery and commitment to change of three black domestic servants in  white households in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s.   The evening book club will meet on Wednesday, March 17th, at 7:00 p.m. to discuss What is the What by Dave Eggers, a fictionalized account of Valentino Achak Deng who joins the Sudan's "Lost Boys" in their march to refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, and whose quest for a safe haven and self-fulfillment takes him to America where he meets still other challenges..    
Meetings are open to the public. A voluntary donation of $1 is suggested to help defray refreshment costs. The Center is located at 1003 N. Main Street in Edwardsville, Ill.

Coffee Talk at Main Street Community Center Focuses on "Equality between the Sexes"
Main Street Community Center features G. W. Linden and Phil Vivirito of the Mankind Project at its Coffee Talk, Tuesday, March 9th, at 7 p.m.  Their topic is "Equality between the Sexes."  Among the questions that they will address is: How can Mars and Venus adjust to each other—and cooperate in the 21st century?  Maintaining that women have recently made great educational and economic progress while many men have been falling behind, Linden and Vivirito will raise the further questions of whether masculinity needs to be restructured, and how men and women can achieve equality and mutual respect.  This event is open to the public. Refreshments are provided.  The Center is located at 1003 N. Main Street in Edwardsville, Ill.