This weekend represented the best of our NoVES community, I think.  On Saturday, we had a fun gathering for spaghetti dinner at Blueberry Hill, thanks to Amy Anderson, her crew of cooks and setup and cleanup volunteers, and everyone who attended.  I saw lots of people in pleasant conversation with each other, talking ethics, politics, life, the universe, and everything.

Then on Sunday, Julius Coles of Africare spoke to us about the project that this Society has been supporting, and the rest of the work of Africare.  I was reminded of Michael Harrington's statement: "That the poor are invisible is one of the most important things about them."  I'm grateful to Mr. Coles for letting us see the faces and the numbers -- in the movie and slides he showed, and for helping the poor of Africa become less invisible.

During the winter, the Ethical Society occasionally closes if the weather conditions are unsafe for driving. Conditions may be safe in some parts of our Northern Virginia area and unsafe in others, so use your judgment and also check email (the announcements email list), this website, or the NoVES phone number (703 437-3161) before leaving on a day where icy conditions may be present.

The usual procedure: A decision is made about 7:00 a.m. on Sunday morning by the NoVES President, the NoVES Leader, and two others who live in different parts of the county, as to whether NoVES will have its platform as usual or not. We do our best to interpret the predictions and current conditions to assess likely safety for our members and friends driving to the platform meeting.

If conditions look like they won't be safe for the drive to or from the Society, and assuming that power is not out, we then try to (a) change the voice message on the NoVES phone line to reflect a closing. We also try to update the front page of the website and send an email to the announcements email list. Check for the email and web update by about 7:30 a.m. on Sunday (power permitting).

To get email announcements from this Society, please subscribe to our announcements email list. Enter your address and name in the section "Subscribing to Announce."

We're still getting a few bugs out of the new website. If you see past events showing up in the right-hand column, you can click on the "more" link to see a few more entries in the calendar.

If you get a blank page, wait a sec, then use the "reload current page" (or similar) browser command to try loading the page again.

For members: you'll be receiving login information shortly, via email. If your current email address is different from the one in the directory, let the newsletter editor know your new one -- this will get it updated in the directory and let us sign you up with the new site.

I'm looking forward to seeing new and old friends on September 9, 2007, for our Opening Sunday. For over 100 years, speakers have described our ethical movement as one of the head, heart, and hands -- so for this year's opening, I'll be speaking on The Heart of Ethics. See you there!

On Tuesday, June 5, I'll be speaking at the Northern Virginia Lifelong Learning Institute.

I'll talk about “Ethics in a World of Diversity.” In the 21st century, cultures that separately developed their own ethical systems are in close contact. “Cultural clashes” and religious differences are often clashes of different understandings of ethics. What is “good” in one culture is “bad” or even “evil” in another. I'll explore with the audience some thought-provoking questions, including (1) Are there common values? (2) Can we learn to live together?

10 a.m., Ernst Cultural Center, Annandale: http://lli.nova.org/

I developed the list below using principles learned in Straight Talk™ and Nonviolent Communication™ as well as "best practices" for small group work in general -- with a little common sense added in. I invite you to consider these basics as ideals -- ideals, in the sense that we all fall short of meeting these at some times, and yet we can continue to improve. One of the goals of belonging to an Ethical Society is to get support for learning to live more in accord with our ideals!

NoVES does not hold Sunday platform meetings during the summer. The closing platform before the break is June 17, and opening Sunday will be September 9.

While NoVES will not be holding Sunday platforms in the summer, we do hold a few special social events and continue other activities.

Watch this site for announcements of time, dates, and locations of the Fourth of July picnic and Labor Day picnic.

Commitment Circles meet through the summer.

Committees and the Board meet during the summer, finalizing plans for the upcoming program year.