Longtime HCSV member and leader Arthur Jackson will lead a discussion of the Humanist Community, and Humanist Community bumper stickers.
Humanist Community Forum (2015-01-25): Why My Car Wears a Humanist Community Bumper Sticker from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.
The candidates for the Humanist Community in Silicon Valley (HCSV) Board of Directors will each present their thoughts regarding HCSV, and will take questions from the audience. The election will be held at the beginning of the Feb. 1st Forum, and is limited to HCSV members. Please contact Sena Havasy (senahav@gmail.com) if you want to become a member. There will be more candidates than Board openings this year, so it is especially important that you attend in order to decide which candidates you want to vote for.
All candidates have been invited to prepare statements to be placed on our web site. We are presenting those statements here in alphabetical order upon receipt:
I’m Thomas Bergstrom. I’m from Southeast Wisconsin from a town called Kenosha which is the home of AMC Motors. It was a blue collar pro-union town.
I’m 48. Have a associate of science degree. I studied technical illustration, studio art, architectural history, interior architecture, mechanical engineering processes, 3D animation, and higher math.
I have worked in the technical publishing industry for over 20 years. I have also worked in video production for about seven years.
As a board member, I want to help grow the Humanist Community in Silicon Valley, attract younger members, and work on action committees that address income inequality especially for local blue collar workers.
To attract younger members we need to promote ourselves on the internet by having an interesting presence on popular sites.
To address income inequality we should write to large dot com corporations who, abusively, pay low wages to their cleaning and food prep staff and also write to local news media about the results.
I have many ideas and hope to serve the community better.
I’ve been a member of Humanist Community since 1988. This was the era of Catherine & Peter Bishop’s children’s group and the first Humanist House at hostess Paula Rochelle’s Saratoga home.
Board meetings were in Burt & Margie’s dining room where I soon became Recorder for several years. I later became a useful “place-holder” VP until I reluctantly advanced when the President resigned for career opportunities.
I’ve led and been a panelist in Sunday Programs, assisted the debut of our Sunday buffet led by Marsha Farmer; served on the Welcoming, Program, Awards, and other committees; helped at backyard barbecues; at costume, May Day, drumming, and swimming parties; and at weekend overnight retreats for education and fun. I also served for several years as the unpaid Editor-in-Chief of the HCSV Newsletter.
Besides the NL, I still love quietly talking with and listening to our Community. As always, I will continue to bring your ideas and concerns to the attention of the Board: The HCSV Board is important, but the Community is who we really are.
Why do I want to run for the board?
I have been a member of the Humanist Community for about 20 years, much longer than any other community I have been in. I have made only some minor contributions to the community, including two forums, assisting with an election, and participating in clinic defense. The board is clearly an important and necessary part of the community. I could do more for the community by participating on the board.
What would I do if elected to the board?
I am reluctant to answer that general a question because all too often candidates to federal office say one thing and do another. I think it’s better to refer to my experience.
I can say that I think I want what all or most humanists want, to grow the number of members of HCSV, and to have
more non humanists knowing humanist values.
So what is my experience?
I’m asking for your vote in order to complete the six years allowed a Board member before needing to go off the Board for at least one year. I want to use my remaining time to help support the success of our newly hired Executive Director, Julie Wedge.
Since I believe humanism has the potential to provide a new foundation for civilization that is congruent with and depends on science I see the development of relevant, effective organizations to build the necessary structures as essential.
I think a model chapter of the American Humanist Association would help move society in the right direction.
I am deeply invested in the model of a paid administrator because of my study of chapters of the American Humanist Association when I worked as assistant director of AHA in the 60s and since. I believe it is critical for the long-term success of HCSV and of all Humanist chapters.
In fact I came to this area specifically to test this model. Although I lacked the skills necessary to develop the essential financial support to adequately test the model I was able to help HCSV build up sufficient savings to make it possible this year to give this model a better testing.
I think HCSV has all the ingredients necessary for success with this idea:
I have been a member of the HCSV community for 5 years and have enjoyed being on the board for 2 years, mostly representing the Family Program for parents and kids. The Family Program is a small collection of local families who meet every Sunday morning to talk, play, experiment, and learn from each other. As humanists, we teach our children to appreciate the wonders of the natural world, and to develop an ethical code based on treating our fellow human beings on the topic of our choice. We read stories, have debates, do experiments, and learn about the world. Sometimes we create art, sometimes we explore the outdoors, sometimes we just play.
The Humanist Community has served its members well for over 50 years, and in order to continue our high level of service to members, we need to continue keeping members’ interests at the forefront of board discussions and decisions. I think my experience, globally and in higher education (both teaching and administration) in particular, have helped me to remain fairly flexible, broad-minded and considered a good listener – available to hear your thoughts, either by phone or by email, anytime, 24/7. And I would appreciate your feedback on the needs of the community and what I can offer, to build a better world together, promoting a good life, complete with good will and understanding.
HCSV recently made an important decision, to hire an executive director. In order to cover this expense HCSV is going to have to change and grow into something bigger, different, and better than it is today. I’m thinking that Julie is going to be able to lead us there. But we need a board who can process change well and can think outside the box and work well with others. I’m so far outside the box that I don’t even know what the box is or how people came to be in it. I think having a board member with my perspective would be a useful addition to the mix.
I have also been hosting the HCSV web site for about 10 years and I have a background in technology, law, politics, and religion as founder of the Church of Reality.
As a a member of HCSV for more than 10 years, I feel it’s time to “give back” for the many pleasures our Sunday meetings have brought me. The best way I can think of to fulfill my “debt” is to serve on the HCSV Board.
The current Board just hired an Executive Director, who by all accounts is extremely capable and well suited for this job. I’m curious to know what ideas she might have about our future, and to work with her and the rest of the Board to consider the details, including costs, of her suggestions. I believe monthly financial statements should be shared with the membership.
I expect one area of continuing focus would be how to attract new members, particularly younger members, and I support efforts in this direction; I’d also like to see a more diverse racial and ethnic mix in our membership.
Re: my relevant experience, a few years ago I served as President of the Board of Directors of a San Francisco-based group of professional travel writers and photographers, with 130 members at the time. I also served as Events Coordinator for the same organization.
Over the years, I’ve worked as a volunteer in many organizations, including a PTSD program for Vietnam Vets, Amnesty International, and the local food closet. I was a Precinct Leader for John Anderson (remember him?!). Currently I’m teaching ESL at Avenidas Senior Center. And, oh yes – a couple of years ago, I worked as co-editor of our own HCSV newsletter.
I mention my history of volunteer work to indicate 1) my belief in contributing to organizations I consider important and 2) my ability to to “work well with others” in a variety of situations. I think HCSV is terrific already, but would welcome the opportunity to make it even better by serving on the Board.
Program to Meet the 2014 HCSV Board of Directors Candidates
The five candidates pictured above and listed below are running for our 2014 Board elections to be held 2 February 2014.
They will introduce themselves and share their thoughts about what they hope to accomplish on the Board.
The candidates are:
Dominic Borg: “My foremost desire is to support HCSV in continuing to facilitate a great community and great events. Additionally, I hope to work with fellow Bay Area organizations planning events, and sharing knowledge and resources symbiotically. I would like to explore new things we could do that reflect our mission statement. I look forward to helping to get the word out about HCSV events and welcoming new people to the community.”
Hilton Brown: Hilton U Brown III: I’ve been a member of the Humanist Community for over twenty years. I served as treasurer for more than eight years, and I have served in several other offices in the HCSV. I want to help the community grow and fulfill the promises of our Values, Vision and Mission.
Jonathan Figdor: I was the first Humanist MDiv who graduated from Harvard Divinity School where I pioneered the Humanist Chaplaincy Training Program co-developed with Greg Epstein from the Humanist Community at Harvard. I served as the Assistant Humanist Chaplain at Harvard, and am now the Humanist Chaplain at Stanford. I’m interested in pursuing connections between HCSV and younger Humanists in Silicon Valley.
Laura Mappin: I spent almost 10 years looking for this community. I’ve been an active member for one year and a self-identifying humanist for over 30 years. I was particularly drawn in by the variety of topics you discuss at your forum. I’m particularly interested in getting more visibility for HCSV and in reaching out to many whom I believe are already looking for this kind of group so that this great resource you have built here can thrive.
Martin Squibbs: I have been a member of the HCSV since the late 1990’s, and a board member for the last 2 years. I believe the HCSV is of great value in providing a secular, welcoming and open minded community for people to come, make friends and explore the essential questions of life. What values to best hold and live by; how to better treat one another, and how to better protect and respect our home, planet Earth. I want to play whatever part I am able to in supporting this community and joining with its members to seek answers to these questions and to live by them as best I can.
There will be an opportunity for Q&A after their presentations as time permits. This will be followed by a general discussion with audience participation of HCSV as time allows.
The main event will be the installation of the Humanist Community’s Board of Directors followed by brief statements from each Board member about their goals for HCSV for the year, and for the Humanism Movement. There will be time for audience members to ask questions of the Board members.
Board members for the next year will be: Arthur Jackson, Martin Squibbs, Marie Stephens, Helen Athey, Hilton Brown, Andrea Dorey, Paul Gilbert, Harrianne Mills, and Peng Zhang.
The presentations from the Board stressed that Humanists care about the well being of all humans, and that many of the other activities of members are focused on social issues and social justice. They also discussed the need for a permanent home for HCSV with facilities for both the Sunday Forum and luncheon, but also rooms for our many weekly activities.
There were numerous questions and comments from the audience.
For more information about the Board see: http://www.humanists.org/blog/board-of-directors/.
What would you like to see HCSV look like in 2013? Bring your best ideas. These will be recorded and passed on to the HCSV Board, Program Committee, or wherever they might help us do better in 2013.
As usual in HCSV there were as many different ideas as there were people.