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February 16, 2016
If you've been to Miya's Sushi in New Haven, you know that there's no other restaurant quite like it. Their approach to food is inventive and surprising, featuring unusual combinations and ingredients you don't often find in sushi -- but that's not all that sets them apart. They're also at the forefront of the sustainability movement, featuring ethically-sourced food and even an invasive species menu. This unique approach has won them widespread recognition as one of the healthiest and most sustainable restaurants in the U.S.

Want to learn more about what they do and about sustainable eating more generally? This Sunday at 1 PM, Miya's Chef Bun Lai will be speaking at Humanist Haven. He'll be joined by Vishal Patel of Happy Life Coffee and Greg Grinberg of ActualFood -- and if that's not enough to entice you, there will be free Miya's Sushi and Happy Life Coffee for you to try!

Read on for more information about Sunday's event and our other upcoming programs, including next week's special event with Every Single Word creator Dylan Marron, our next Needs of New Haven meeting, other special events, and more. We hope to see you this Sunday or at another program soon!
 
Best,
Chris Stedman, Executive Director

P.S. Thanks to support from Rebecca Williams, we just joined Meetup! Now you can subscribe to our events on Meetup, in addition to on Facebook. Please invite your friends!
Humanist Haven welcomes Bun Lai on 2/21 at 1 PM.
 
As our global environmental crisis worsens, sustainability is more important than ever. Join acclaimed chef Bun Lai of New Haven's Miya's Sushi for a discussion about how living sustainably is a form of social justice. Lai, who is guided by a passion for ideas and agendas that strive to make the world a better place, will share his thoughts on the challenges and promises of sustainability -- and explain why the fight for social justice must include a recognition of the importance of sustainable living. Plus: Bun's talk will be coupled with a tasting of his recipes that are connected to ideas in social justice! Click here to RSVP to the event on Facebook or click here to RSVP on Meetup.

Humanist Haven is YHC's community gathering where people from all across Yale and New Haven come together to ask big questions, explore what gives our lives meaning and purpose, and act to make the world a better place. Join us at The Grove -- 760 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT -- on the third Sunday of February (2/21) at 1 PM for Humanist Haven with Chef Bun Lai. 
 
Humanist Haven meets on the first and third Sunday of each month; meetings are free and open to the public, with child activities offered on the first Sunday of the month. Want to join a group walking over from campus? A group of students will leave Phelps Gate at 12:45 PM to walk to The Grove.

Bun Lai is a James Beard Foundation-nominated chef whose New Haven restaurant, Miya's Sushi, is the first sustainable sushi restaurant in the world. Miya's is widely acclaimed, having been named one of the three most sustainable restaurant in the U.S. 2012 and Gourmet Magazine's Top Ten Healthiest Restaurant in the U.S., among others. Lai recieved a Key to the City of New Haven in 2010 and was named Huffington Post's Greatest Person of the Day in 2011. He has given lectures at Yale, Harvard, and the Culinary Institute of America, and his writing has been published in Scientific American Magazine. Lai is also a former Olympic trials-level wrestling coach and director of nutrition at a nonprofit organization serving low-income pre-diabetics. He believes that life is short so it should be epic, and lived amongst those who you love, doing what you dream about.
Special event with Dylan Marron next week!
Save the date: February 24 at 7:30 PM on Yale's campus.


Next week: As a
n actor and moviegoer, Dylan Marron has experienced the systemic racism that permeates mainstream media from both sides. But beyond the jobs that it costs actors of color, what repercussions does it have on the way we tell popular stories? And how does that affect the way we identify ourselves? Join the Yale Humanist Community in Davies Auditorium at Yale (15 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT) on Wednesday, February 24 at 7:30 PM for a discussion on race and representation with Every Single Word creator Dylan Marron. RSVP on Facebook here or on Meetup here.


Dylan Marron is a Venezuelan-American writer and actor best known for his role as Carlos the Scientist in the hit podcast
Welcome to Night Vale; he also lends his voice to the Harper Collins audiobook of the same name. Marron also stars as 
Ari in the web series Whatever this is., for which he was named Best Actor by The Boston Globe. He is an ensemble member of the New York Neo-Futurists, who produced his play The Human Symphony, which was entirely performed by randomly selected audience members via mp3 instructional tracks. As the creator and director, he was nominated for a 2015 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Unique Theatrical Production. 

In 2015 Marron created Every Single Word, a video series that isolates the dialogue spoken by people of color in popular films. He and Every Single Word have been profiled in The New York Times, The Washington Post, BuzzFeed, NPR, and The Guardian, and have attracted the attention and support of Junot Diaz, Kerry Washington, and Aziz Ansari, among others. Tumblr named his Every Single Word blog their #1 of 2015. Marron has lectured about the importance of representation in film and media literacy at the Smithsonian, Lincoln Center, The Potomac School, Rutgers University, NerdCon, GeekyCon, and Friends Seminary.
Needs of New Haven: Learn from La'Quita Boles of Families for Excellent Schools next month
  
February kicked off with an informative Needs of New Haven discussion meeting with Laura Rundell, Volunteer Coordinator at LifeBridge Community Services. LifeBridge has a vast array of programs in the New Haven area and is looking for volunteers in the following areas: 
  • Volunteers are needed to socialize with senior citizens at weekly lunches at the Greek Olive on Wednesdays. 
  • Opportunities are available for volunteers seeking to help out with office administrative tasks. 
  • Groups of volunteers are needed Saturday, April 23 to receive donations and sort them for the community closet. Warm clothing, prom dresses, toys, and school supplies are useful items to donate to LifeBridge's community closet. 
If you are interested in volunteering with LifeBridge in any capacity, please email us! Additionally, consider making a donation here

Next month, on March 7, our guest will be organizer La'Quita Boles from the Connecticut branch of Families for Excellent Schools, a non-profit that uses grassroots coalition building to change education policy. Bring your questions for La'Quita and join us at the Happiness Lab at the Grove on March 7 at 7:30 PM. Free and open to the public.

Also happening next month: A group of YHC community members will be attending the Scrabble tournament fundraiser for Literacy Volunteers of Greater New Haven, after their director Donna Violante came to a previous Needs of New Haven meeting. If you'd like to join us on Wednesday, March 30, please let us know!

Needs of New Haven is just one of our discussion groups, which meet on the first, second, third, and fourth Mondays of the month. Visit the Discussion Groups page on our website to learn more about each group and how you can get involved.
Register now for CT Coalition of Reason conference!

The Connecticut Coalition of Reason is organizing the Connecticut Assembly for Reason & Ethics (CARE), a one day conference to be held April 2, 2016 at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, CT. Registration for the conference is now open! Speakers include:
  • Hemant Mehta, Friendly Atheist author and blogger
  • Amanda Knief, Legal and Public Policy Director at American Atheists
  • Jason Heap, Executive Director for the United Coalition of Reason
  • Wendy Thomas Russell, author, journalist, and editor
The three themes for the day are Community Building, Political Action, and Interfaith Relations. Admission to the conference is $35 and covers all the day's speakers, breakout sessions, and lunch (including vegan options). Individuals in need of financial assistance are encouraged to inquire about scholarships; please email [email protected] and include "CARE scholarship request" in the subject line. Additionally, those in need of transportation should email [email protected] and include "CARE transportation request" in the subject line. 

For more information and to register, please visit the conference websiteYou can also follow the conference on social media via Facebook, Twitter, and our website. We hope to see you there!
Learn with CT Mental Health Center today (Tues.)
 
At YHC, we're trying to build an inclusive community for all, and that means addressing mental health related stigma. On Tuesday, February 16 we'll be hosting a learning session with the Connecticut Mental Health Center. During this session, a number of guests -- mostly individuals who are in recovery from a mental illness and who have faced other struggles related to that -- will come meet with us for a conversation. The discussion will focus on common experiences people with mental illness have in the community at large, including some that might be alienating, and ways that people (including members of our community) can be good allies in changing that alienation. 

The session will last for about an hour, with 20 minutes of sharing by our guests and plenty of time for questions and conversation. If you're interested in learning more about this event, please email [email protected] and ask for time and location details. Please also let us know what you hope to gain from participating in this session. We ask people not to show up to this discussion without confirming with us ahead of time.

What's STEAMMM? On the first Monday of each month, YHC partners with Clemente Leadership Academy to provide a monthly after school STEAMMM (science, technology, engineering, art, math, and medicine mentoring) activity for their middle school-aged students. The program is designed to foster an interest in STEAMM fields and an understanding of how important and useful STEAMM is for society in these young students.

Sign up here to volunteer; you are still welcome to serve if you don't sign up in advance, but you will be serving in an assistant capacity. For more information please contact [email protected] and include "STEAMMM volunteering" in the subject line.
Dinner for undergrad students on Wednesdays
 
Weekly undergraduate student dinners are Wednesdays at 6 PM. While most of the undergraduate dinners take place on campus, on the first Wednesday of each month they happen off campus at the Happiness Lab at The Grove. At these off campus dinners, free dinner is provided. Want to join but not sure how to get there? A group of students will walk over from Phelps Gate at 5:45 PM. To contact the student directors and join the official list serv to get updates, email them at [email protected].
Conversation with David Brooks & Miroslav Volf 

Join YHC and a number of other Yale programs for a conversation about what makes for "the good life."

David Brooks, a columnist for the New York Times and a Senior Fellow at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, is the author of The Road to Character (2015). Miroslav Volf, Professor of Systematic Theology & Director of Yale Center for Faith & Culture, is the author of Flourishing: Why We Need Religion in a Globalized World (2016). 

YHC is cosponsoring this event in place of February's Who to Follow? (WTF?) discussion group. We will be facilitating some of the conversation groups at the end of the event. Join us on Monday, February 22 at 7:30 PM in Battell Chapel (400 College Street, New Haven, CT). We hope to see you there!
Support YHC: Become one of our 20 for 50! 


As you can see from our schedule of events, YHC makes a meaningful contribution to Yale and the Greater New Haven community, and especially to those who participate in our many activities and programs. 
 
Most of these events take place at The Grove. The 20 for 50 campaign will ensure that YHC's work can continue. We're seeking 20 individuals who will pledge to donate $50 per month and help us cover the most basic cost of our space -- the rent.  That's just $1.67 a day, or less than a cup of coffee at many coffee shops.
 
 
As a 501(c)(3), YHC relies entirely on your donations. Your donation is fully deductible. Click here to make a one time gift or set up a recurring donation.
Weekly YHC Programs

See below for our lineup of recurring programs and visit yalehumanists.com to learn more!

Sundays
 
1 PM: Humanist Haven
First and third Sundays of each month
Location: The Grove
Who: Open to the public
 
Mondays

12 PM: None/Others lunch
Location: Yale Divinity School
Who: Yale Divinity School students only

3-5 PM: STEAMMM (science, technology, engineering, art, math, and medicine mentoring) service program
First Monday of each month
Location: Clemente Middle School
Who: Email for details
 
7:30 PM: Discussion Groups
-Needs of New Haven (first Monday of each month)
-Practical Humanism (second Monday of each month)
-Unsacred Sacred Texts (third Monday of each month)
-WTF (fourth Monday of each month)
Location: The Grove
Who: Open to the public
 
Tuesdays
 
Existential counseling office hours (also available other days by appointment)
Location: YHC Office at The Grove or Davenport College
Who: Open to the public
 
2-3 PM: Chat with Maytal (from the Yale Chaplain's Office) and Chris
Location: Breathing Space (Old Campus)
Who: Undergraduate and graduate students only
 
Wednesdays
  
Existential counseling office hours (also available other days by appointment)
Location: YHC Office at The Grove or Davenport College
Who: Open to the public

6 PM: Undergraduate dinner
Location: First Wednesday of the month at The Grove, all other Wednesdays on campus
Who: Undergraduate students only

7 PM: SMART Recovery
Location: The Grove
Who: Open to the public

Thursdays
 
12 PM: None/Others lunch
Location: Yale Divinity School
Who: Yale Divinity School students only

6 PM: Grad Students, Professionals, and Young Adults Board Game Night
Second Thursday of each month
Location: Email for details
Who: Open to the public

Fridays
 
8 PM: Grad Students, Professionals, and Young Adults Pub Night 
Fourth Friday of each month
Location: Firehouse 12 (unless otherwise stated)
Who: Open to the public
Get YHC Gear!

Want to wear your Humanism on your sleeve? (Or your laptop, or your...?) Check out our YHC tees, buttons, and stickers -- and let us know if you want to learn more about how to get your own by donating to YHC!

Drink YHC coffee!

Have you enjoyed the coffee at Humanist Haven? Want to make it at home? 

Get your caffeine fix with our locally-roasted, small batch, ethical coffee. Proceeds support YHC! 

Click here to buy.

Alumni: Get involved in Humanist Alumni of Yale!



The Humanist Alumni of Yale (HAY) is a shared interest group for Elis committed to exploring nonreligious perspectives on living an ethical life and finding personal fulfillment. HAY connects Humanist alumni around the world with resources, enabling its members to organize social and service events with other Humanist alumni in their community-both at Yale and more broadly. HAY will also provide alumni with opportunities to connect with and help current Humanist students and groups. Want to learn more about Humanist Alumni of Yale and get involved? Click here to learn more, or sign up by visiting http://bit.ly/YHCalumni.

Struggling with addiction? Join us for SMART Recovery

 
Are you struggling with addictive behaviors? Our weekly SMART Recovery support group mees every Wednesday at 7 PM in the Happiness Lab coffee shop, which is attached to The Grove at 760 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT
 
The goal of SMART, which stands for Self-Management and Recovery Training, is to provide quality, science-based educational tools and community for individuals struggling with addictive behaviors-and a nontheistic alternative to twelve-step programs, which rely heavily on God and Christian theology. People of all faiths and beliefs are welcome to attend. Please click here for updates regarding weather-related or other cancellations of our meetings.
Young adult pub nights and board game nights


YHC's group for graduate students, professionals, and young adults hosts two events every month! 

The first is a board game night, every second Thursday of the month at 6 PM. For location details, email [email protected]

The other is a pub night, every fourth Friday of the month at 8 PM at Firehouse 12. We hope to see you there!
Lunch for YDS students 


The None/Others (formerly known as the Open Party) at the Divinity School hosts round-table lunches on Mondays and Thursdays at 12 PM. To find out more about joining, volunteering, speaking opportunities, or for general inquiries please contact the None/Others at [email protected].
'A Better Life' screening with filmmaker Chris Johnson 


Join the Humanists of the Unitarian-Universalist Church in Meriden, CT on Saturday, February 27 at 7 PM for a screening of A Better Life: An Exploration of Joy and Meaning in a World without God, with author and filmmaker Chris Johnson. A discussion and book signing will occur after the movie. The event will be held at the UU Meriden Church (328 Paddock Avenue, Meriden, CT).  Tickets will be $10 advance/$12 door. Light refreshments will be available for purchase.
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