Dear fellow humanist,

We, Arthur Jackson (president) and Armineh Noravian (vice president) of the Humanist Community in Silicon Valley, California, wish to share an exciting idea with you. Our constant search for ideas to promote Humanism has led us to the realization that one important area is the manner in which Humanists deal with difficult or unusual life circumstances. We believe that sharing such experiences will provide important models of how Humanists live with life’s challenges without divine guidance.

This idea has defined one of our projects, which is to compile a series of life stories by Humanists all across the world. With this goal in mind, we would like to request your help by asking that you send us a life story that might ultimately be printed in a book, which we would like to title “Humanist Life Stories- Sharing our experiences with difficult problems”. We know that projects like this have been discussed before, but are not aware of any collections that are currently available. If you know of any, please tell us.

We believe that the outcome of such an exciting project will have a number of positive consequences, both for Humanism and all those participating in the project. 

Guidelines for submission:

1.      The story should be based on either a personal experience or an event that you experienced with others.

2.      Write about a challenging or difficult situation or circumstance in your life, which you had to deal with or are currently dealing with. Please use the following suggested elements as a guide:

a.       Your personal feelings.

b.      Your experience and if or how it changed you or those around you.

c.       Who did you need to help or support?

d.      Who did you or could you depend on for help or support?

e.       What type of help or resources did you need that wasn’t there?

f.        How did your experience turn out?

g.       What you have learned and what you could tell others as a result of this experience?

h.       How were your Humanist principles involved in helping you through your experience?

i.         What were the positive or negative aspects of your Humanist life stance?

3.      The length of your story should not be more than 5000 words. Shorter stories welcome.

4.      All submitted stories will be subject to editing with your permission.

5.      Submit your story online to humanist-stories@live.com, either as an attachment in Microsoft Word or as text within the email. Or, if you prefer to use regular mail, send your story to: The Humanist Community in Silicon Valley, Humanist Stories, P.O. Box 60069, Palo Alto, CA 94306-0069.

6.      If your story is selected, you will be notified. Please provide your name, mailing address, email address, and phone number.

7.      Please send submissions by September 30, 2008 if possible.

If you have a story to share, we would love to hear from you. If you could pass this along to other humanists whom you might know, we would greatly appreciate it.

If you have any questions or would like further information, please feel free to contact us at humanist-stories@live.com.

Sincerely,

Armineh Noravian & Arthur Jackson