President's Blog
As we welcome 2025, many are wondering what this year will be like. While we can't control what happens, we can all do what is possible to make this year as good as it can be. Your NoVES board has been working hard to find more ways that we can help to bring out the best in NoVES, our local Virginia community, and our nation.
January 5- To build our community, we will start the new year on with an in-person only Winter Festival. We will gather to share our feelings about winter through readings, enjoy a potluck lunch together, make some crafts and talk about the year ahead. More information is in the last NoVES newsletter and online.
January 12 - this will be a zoom only event to discuss "Forgiving Others", an important topic to address as we navigate working towards a better NoVES Society.
Saturday, January 18- everyone is encouraged to join the People's March in Washington, DC, to affirm our commitment to human rights. This march will send a message to the incoming administration that there are many Americans that are still fighting to further human rights. A meeting place will be announced on the website, so please register if you want to get the latest updates.
Sunday, January 19- we will work on helping our local Fairfax community. Speakers from SURJ, a No VA chapter of a national network of groups and individuals organizing white people for racial justice, will talk with us about what we as a society can do to help this important cause. We hope members and friends of NoVES will show up in person to listen to these speakers, but a zoom option will be available.
Tuesday, January 21- The next event will be participation in Democracy Day in Richmond. This is a day to lobby our state government representatives with a clear message in support of campaign finance and ethics reform, ranked choice voting, and access to the ballot. Iris and I have already signed up to go and we hope some others of you will join us at this important event.
For those unable to participate in these special events, there are other ways you can be supportive. If you have time to volunteer for NoVES, we have many committees that can use help such as the Sunday morning Platform team, the Sound Team, the Membership committee and more. Please talk to any board member if you can help out. And if you are unable to participate in these events, but have the resources to help out financially, that is always appreciated by these organizations.
Whatever you choose to do, just know that the actions of one person can make a difference and will be greatly appreciated. And to those who have been working already to make NoVES the best, many thanks for all you do, And Happy New Year to all NoVES Members and Friends from your President, Chris Van Dyke
As 2024 draws to a close, it is time to review, reflect and recharge ourselves. We start the month on Dec. 1 with an in-person talk (with a zoom option) by Randy Best to help us keep calm and carry on during these turbulent times. The following week on Dec. 8 we have a zoom only event to view some short videos and talk about the gift of giving- especially how we can enrich our lives by giving to others.
The third Sunday, Dec. 15, is our annual in-person All Music Platform, with additional fun of a Chili potluck and cookie Decorating! Yum! There will be a zoom option available, but this is one event you really want to come to in person, if possible, to hear the live music and to enjoy the tasty treats! On the fourth Sunday, Dec. 22, there is no platform meeting for the society, but members are encouraged to commit random acts of giving, including giving the gift of their time, talents and contributions to other organizations and people in need.
The final Sunday, Dec. 29, we will have an All-Society Platform (zoom only meeting) hosted by Hugh Taft-Morales, called Gathering Light in our Times. You will need to register for this event to get the zoom link sent to you- the link to register is in the Platform section at NoVES.org.
Check out the Noves Website for details of these platforms and more delightful events that will be offered during the holiday season. We hope you will join in as many as you can, and celebrate the end of the 2024 year with your NoVES family.
This November we will be stretching our boundaries together, starting with an in-person/zoom platform on Nov. 3 by Randy Best to explore how to make Ethical Apologies. He will also lead a decompression discussion on Nov. 7, to help us get through this stressful election season. On Nov. 10, Melissa Sinclair will lead a zoom only discussion to learn about Canyon Chorus. On the Nov. 17, we will have a in-person meeting with a guest speaker, Terry Smith, from WES. He will talk about The Foundation of Applied Ethics. We will end the month on Nov. 24 with a joint Stone Salad/Soup event at WES that will include Washington and Baltimore Ethical Society members! Check the calendar for more details about these events, and many other activities that are being offered this month.
During November, we will be fundraising for Britepaths, an organization that provides food, financial assistance, financial education and workforce development services for clients in the Northern VA Area. We hope you will give as generously as you can to help this worthy cause.
The Fall season has started and now the attentions of the Ethical Society are turning to voting. We are offering several meetings to talk about voting issues, and will be collecting funds to support the ACLU to hep further in its pursuit of ending voter discrimination. Please join us in person or on zoom when available to learn more about voting issues and what we can do to improve the process.
We will also take a look at the history of European Witches as we near the celebration of Halloween. I am looking forward to finding out more about this interesting topic presented by one of our members, Tom Nyilasi.
And whatever you do, be sure to make a plan to vote! If anyone is in need of assistance to vote, please contact any board member of NoVES so we can help find a way to make it happen for you! Every vote counts!
As the school year starts, NoVES will start back with in-person meetings on Sept. 8, 2024. Since September is National Banned Books month, we will be learning about the ethical issues regarding book bans, reading some of these banned books and finding out what we can do to help stop this process when it occurs. Please join us in this important exploration!
One of the things I think is important as an humanist is to learn about and to support and all people so that we all can live in a better world. I will try to highlight all the populations that are given special months and weeks and days through-out the year and please, share with me (and the rest of NoVES) other ways we can bring out the best in ourselves. This is a collection of articles, videos, books, and sites that might be of interest to you (and perhaps your family):
Something what brought to our attention recently and that is that the NoVES Board meetings used to have an invite to all members in the newsletter. Somewhere along the line in the last couple years, that custom got dropped. Can I blame COVID-19, because I think that is the main reason the announcement got dropped?
The NoVES board meets approximately once a month. Recently it has been on the third Saturday of the month at 10 via Zoom. While the meeting is open to everyone, there is always an executive session for Board members only. 99% of the time this is a formality so that we make sure to have it, but it is a time when sensitive topics might be brought up that we would want to limit the audience usually to protect the privacy of someone. So, with that said, Saturday at 10am until 1pm is the scheduled board meeting for NoVES.
Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86250435076?pwd=Ry9iR0Y4bVlFVmJXZHQrbkVnNDl4dz09
Meeting ID: 862 5043 5076
Passcode: 885527
"Every now and then I think about my own death, and I think about my own funeral.... Every now and then I ask myself, 'What is it that I want said?' I'd like somebody to mention that day, that Martin Luther King Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day, that Martin Luther King Jr., tried to love somebody."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
We are meeting this Sunday on MLK's actual birthday. I find that special that we are meeting on this day and if you can't make it this Sunday, I hope it's because you are doing something for this day of service.
MLK would have been 94 years old this year. He was taken too soon, but he did love somebody and he did give his life serving others. We can honor him by DOING for world. But what? What can we do that matters? I want to remind you that service comes in big and small packages. Sometimes all you can give is a listening ear. Sometimes it's a helping hand, or a donation - large or small. We need ALL of it. We need people to do the work and people to support the work financially. Every thing you do to help another person, matters. We can't all be Martin Luther King, Jr., but we can do good for this world. I know I want to do more. There are times I can manage to do a lot and at other times I can do very little, but if I keep it an aim or goal to always strive for living my core values, I will find ways to do SOMETHING.
Welcome to the New Year everyone! I hope I'll have a chance to talk with several of you at the Winter festival so that we can start talking about what we hope for this spring! I know that we want to have a Spaghetti dinner and we want to plan for our 35th anniversary year, but we can plan more and dream for more and I would love to hear it!
The AEU is a cohost of the third annual HumanLight virtual Celebration. It is happening (today) December 17th at 4 pm.(it is a bit confusing because on the sight it also used December 23 for a date - as that is the "actual" day that you might want to celebrate on our own or with your own group.) This is a new festival to me, but it might be something you feel fits your values and idea of how to celebrate this time of year. It's not one of the other fesitival during the season, but a new one. Want to know more? Read the FAQ here. But to participate, you do need to register which you can do here on the HumanLight site.
