As an Ethical Humanist, I believe making connections with other people is the most powerful transcendental experience of being human. A relationship is the fundamental unit of society, at once a point of transmission and creation of ethics and culture. This Platform will address the difficulties of creating and maintaining meaningful friendships. Improving communications and travel technologies alleviate particular problems yet also create new challenges. Despite many cultural changes, the need for personal connection and the basic building blocks of friendship have remained unchanged for millennia. Drawing upon personal experience, I will outline specific challenges to forming healthy friendships.

D.J. Grothe explores the history of the organized skeptics movement, explaining the mission of the lt;a href="http://www.randi.org" target="_blank"gt;James Randi Educational Foundationlt;/agt; (JREF), dedicated to advancement of scientific and critical thinking about paranormal beliefs (psychics, UFOs, astrology and spiritualism). He will talk about how JREF advances its mission, including its Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, the internationally-popular Amazing Meetings, and the new "JREF in the Classroom" program. He will explore the Ethical Humanist foundations of JREF's mission, and how skeptics can work with humanists to advance common values. lt;brgt;lt;brgt; D.J. Grothe, President of the James Randi Educational Foundation, has lectured widely on topics at the intersection of education, science and belief at universities such as Stanford, Harvard, Yale, UCLA, and UC Berkeley. Formerly a professional magician, he is especially interested in the psychology of belief and processes of deception and self-deception. He hosts the radio show/podcast "For Good Reason," prior to which he hosted over 200 episodes of the popular interview program, "Point of Reason," which he and partner Thomas Donnelly originated in 2005.

Our modern psychological self, which provides the underlying, assumptive framework for how we make sense of ourselves and our place in the world, is a recent historical phenomenon, confined to the industrialized West; profoundly different and radically new. As religion has given way to science, the soul has been supplanted by the self. We will examine this shift from soul to self as well as implications and shortcomings of our modern idea of self. lt;brgt;lt;brgt;Ethical Society member Brian Vandenberg is Professor of Psychology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He received a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering and a M.A. in Philosophy/Psychology from SUNY at Buffalo, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Rochester (NY). He has published over 75 professional articles, including research on the topic of science, religion and the self. He has been elected Charter Fellow of the Midwest Psychological Association and Fellow of the American Psychological Association for his contribution the field of psychology, and has been the research advisor for more than 30 Masters and Doctoral level students.

Claire Anderson, M.D. spent more than 30 years practicing Chest Radiology at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and was perennially elected to the Best Doctors in St. Louis. Recently retired, she describes herself as a writer, a video-editor and a "naturalist-wannabe," but most importantly as Grandmother. Today she translates her own life's arc and recent influences, including the book, Long for this World: The Strange Science of Immortality by Jonathan Weiner, into a prescription for living "life-long immortality". She has been a member of the St. Louis Ethical Society since 1983, and served as President of the Board of Trustees. lt;brgt;lt;brgt;lt;igt;The time calls for action. Up, then, and let us do our part faithfully and well. And oh, friends, our children's children will hold our memories dearer for the work which we begin this hour.lt;/igt;—Felix Adler

How do we promote and assess learning in the 21st Century? While everyone believes in standards, the path from intention to implementation is paved with problems. Problems of trust among learners, parents, teachers, administrators, governments and an endless number of stakeholders abound while citizens from the previous generation plan quality education for children of the next. lt;brgt;lt;brgt;As we establish standards, “teaching” and assessment methods further complicate the process. Applying "one-size-fits-all" standards to all children assumes ignores their unique talents and needs as they move through the system. "Standards" are reduced to daily goals and objectives so that metrics may be applied, and we sacrifice the larger goal of education to a mass production model. lt;brgt;lt;brgt;Sandra Sermos is a teacher at Wydown Middle School in Clayton, MO. She has taught all subjects at each grade of middle school for more than 40 years, 25 of them as a science teacher. She has received numerous awards and was the 2009 Missouri Middle School Science Teacher of the Year. Her primary focus is on the Expeditionary Learning Program, an experiential science program, facilitating "hands-on" interaction between students and the natural world.

It's that time again! Our annual pledge campaign kick-off is an opportunity to reflect on what we truly value most in our lives, and for each of us to examine how we use our life resources to promote those values. Our whirlwind consumer culture is constantly buffeting us with messages to blow us off track, so let this Platform and the Kick-Off Party afterward be your calm within the storm—a time to reflect and be re-energized. Together we can continue strengthening our ethical home and extending our welcome across the wider community.

People often use the words "guilt" and "shame" interchangeably, but they refer to two different emotions with very different implications for ethics. This Platform will explore how, although both guilt and shame are unpleasant, and therefore both can be used to motivate behavior, guilt can actually be our friend as we try to live more ethically, whereas shame is usually an obstacle to our development. How can we better understand our emotions and cultivate those that are healthier and more ethically productive, in ourselves and others? How can we resist or heal from the effects of those who would try to use shame to get their way?

We make judgments about the company we keep, the candidates we support, and the business to which we give our money. When we make choices about the products we buy, what are the influences on our purchase decisions? Does the behavior of a corporation affect the choices we make? Why do we like some companies and avoid others? Linda Locke will discuss corporate reputation what drives our perceptions and how we expect corporations to behave. Come hear her thoughts about the seven deadly sins and how they relate to business ethics and corporate decision-making. lt;brgt;lt;brgt;Linda Locke is the principal of Reputare Consulting (lt;a href="http://reputareconsulting.com/" target="_blank"gt;reputareconsulting.comlt;/agt;), a firm she founded in 2010, after retiring from MasterCard where she was senior vice president for reputation and issues management. She has been a member of the Ethical Society for over 20 years.

For more than 30 years, lt;a href="http://www.growingamericanyouth.org" target="_blank"gt;Growing American Youthlt;/agt; has provided ongoing support to St. Louis area youth who may identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ). Like many young people, LGBTQ youth can face difficulties in school, at home, within friendships and in love relationships. They can also actualize amazing lives despite personal hurdles. lt;brgt;lt;brgt; Advisor Morgan Keenan will introduce us to some amazing youth who live unapologetically authentic lives. Hear what matters to them, about the ways they see communities still mired in old issues, and how they are leading the way toward a better life for everyone.

Moderation Management (MM) is a support group for problem drinking. Most members seek to cut back, rather than quit drinking, but some choose permanent abstinence. In this Platform, MM members share stories of how MM changed their lives. Most MM members are high functioning people who use alcohol to cope with life's many sources of stress. Others simply developed a bad habit that got worse over time. While most of them avoid serious problems due to alcohol, drinking too much holds them back. By helping them learn to drink less, MM makes people better parents, spouses, and workers. Many MM members share common problems and triggers, but this talk illustrates that people drink for many different reasons.