We just completed our final Sunday Platform of the season and I’m beat.  For the past four weeks I’ve been involved in one Ethical Culture event after another.  They’ve been very interesting, rewarding experiences but honestly, I’m ready for a vacation.

First was our Society’s participation in the ViVa Vienna fair over the Memorial Day weekend.  For the second year in a row, we had a booth where we displayed Ethical Culture and NoVES literature, answered questions from fair-goers, gave away candy and other items with our name on them and, most importantly, collected over 20 new email addresses to add to our newsletter list.  Our booth was graced by a beautiful graphics display created by Chris Centner, which drew lots of attention.  Thanks to all NoVES members who made it possible by making the arrangements, providing the brochures and other supplies, and sitting at our booth for hours in the hot and sometimes stormy weather.

The second event was our Retreat at Shepherd’s Springs in Sharpsburg, Maryland.  I’ve been to several Retreats now and I really value them.  They provide a time to relax and interact with other NoVES members.  There’s limited TV and internet (can’t we live without those things?) but plenty of opportunity for reading.  Some of us attempted to spend time outdoors on the beautiful grounds but quickly discovered that the mosquitoes had recently come out and were hungry.  This Retreat was the first in which I ran a workshop – an introduction to your digital camera.  I enjoyed it and I think those who attended did as well.  I’ll probably do it again at the next Retreat.

A couple of days after the Retreat ended Mary Ellen and I were off to St. Louis as delegates to the American Ethical Union Assembly.  This was a three-day period filled with meetings, workshops and networking.  Mary Ellen was one of the presenters in a workshop led by Hank Gassner and Chicago’s Scott Walton, where she described our officiant program.  Mary Ellen, Phyllis Duncan and I were interviewed by a young man as part of his PHD project on secular religions.  It turned out that the man was the grandson of the esteemed science fiction writer Phillip Jose Farmer, who died recently.  At the Assembly, the AEU presented its Elliott/Black award for moral courage to former Army Chaplain James Yee.  Yee, a West Point graduate and a Muslim, was assigned by the Army to counsel Muslim “detainees” (i.e., prisoners) and staff at the Guantanamo “detention facility” (i.e., prison).  As Yee told us, while working at Guantanamo, he found the treatment of the prisoners to be deplorable, as it routinely included torture and other immoral and illegal activities.  However, when he persisted in complaining about it to his superior officers, he was grabbed on his way to visit his family and imprisoned, without charge, with no notice of his detention given to his family who were waiting for him to arrive.  He was held in solitary confinement for over two months, after which he was released, with no explanation and no apology.  The Assembly also featured the first Anna Garlin Spencer award, given for service to the Ethical Culture movement.  The recipient was our own Herb Blinder, who made a moving acceptance speech.

Finally, the final Platform of the season was preceded by our Membership Meeting, at which the membership voted for two-year terms for five Board members, Mary Bellamy, Hank Gassner, Marianne Moerman, Karen Raymond Hart and me.  The membership also voted to approve the Board’s proposed budget for 09-10, a proposed three-year contract term for our Leader, Jone Johnson Lewis, as well as a small increase in her compensation, and a proposed change in the By-Laws providing for term limits for Board members.  The Platform included awards given to NoVES members Chris Centner, Irene Napora, Lynn Konnerth, Joe Maxwell and Iris Woodard to thank them for their outstanding contributions to the Society this year.

This is my final column as NoVES President.  I’ve appreciated the opportunity to serve you over the past two years.  I will do my best to support the new President once he or she is elected by the Board, as I’m sure all of you will do as well.