Category: Speaker

Antonio J. Torres

December 17, 2017

Antonio J. Torres will speak about his own personal experiences, as well as those of Puerto Rico generally, by going into detail about the legal aspects of the church and state relationship there. Mr. Torres is associated with the Secular Latino Alliance (secularlatinos.weebly.com) and Hispanic American Freethinkers (hafree.org), and used to be involved with Humanistas Seculares de Puerto Rico (www.humanistaspr.org) when he lived in Puerto Rico, before moving to California last year.

Humanist Community Forum (2017-12-17): Humanism in Puerto Rico (Antonio J. Torres) from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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Susan Cabrera

December 10, 2017

Humor plays an important part in our lives not only because it is enjoyable but because it contributes to our mental and physical well-being. As scientific studies reveal, our bodies and minds are inextricably connected. Our thoughts–be they stressful, happy, bitter, or light-hearted–have an impact on our bodies. This talk will focus on the role of humor in promoting overall health. Susan Cabrera has her master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Stanford with emphasis in behavior modification. She has been a counselor at the Stanford Institute for Behavioral Counseling and a clinical researcher at the Stanford Department of Psychiatry. Susan’s poetry book Life in the Fast Lane will be available for sale and personal dedications after the talk.

Humanist Community Forum (2017-12-10): Humor and Your Health – Susan Cabrera from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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Michelle Chappel

December 3, 2017

Women often feel like they need to be superheroes just to keep up with their jobs, families, friends, and side interests. Real superwomen don’t try to be everything to everyone, especially in today’s fast-paced world. Success comes from focusing on what has heart and meaning, boosting inherent skills, and being open to new opportunities. This talk will show women — and men — how to discover their unique creative abilities and use these superpowers to reclaim their power, accelerate their careers, and revitalize their lives.

Dr. Michelle Chappel (www.michellechappel.com) is an internationally acclaimed singer songwriter, business consultant, keynote speaker, coach, and author. She has a Ph.D. in psychology from Princeton and was voted “Most Inspirational Professor” at the University of California, Santa Cruz where she taught cognition, creativity and problem-solving.

Despite being called “crazy” by a few colleagues, she ditched academics to follow her dream to be a rock star. Since then she’s won 17 Billboard International Songwriting awards. Her tunes have topped Europe, South Africa, and U.S. college radio charts, and appeared on ABC, HBO, Encore, and Showtime.

For 20 years, Michelle has combined psychology and music in her creativity workshops to help thousands of people, ages 8 to 96, discover their unique gifts and talents and use these superpowers to excel in work, school, and life.

She also conducts user experience research, innovation workshops, and brainstorming sessions for many well-known companies.

Humanist Community Forum (2017-12-03): How to be a Real Superwoman in Today’s World – Michelle Chappel from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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Laura Stec

November 19, 2017

The odds of eating healthy are not in our favor. Grocery shelves are stocked with highly stimulating junk foods, and brains have been hijacked into expectations of “eatertainment” rather than nourishment. And who has the motivation, or the time to cook and eat healthy food anyways?

Join chef and author Laura Stec for a discussion on what influences our shopping and eating choices, and for tips on how to stay on the healthy side of the holidays. We’ll look at the effects that sugar, salt, fat, time, money and culture have on our minds, bodies and households, and learn ways to set up our kitchen for delicious, nutritious outcomes. Topics include: teaching our taste buds, meal motivation, foods and the environment, vegetable seasonings and complements, cooking with grains.

A mini cooking demo completes the presentation.

Humanist Community Forum (2017-11-19): Cooking For Time, Taste and Turf – Healthy Holidays for People and Planet (Laura Stec) from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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Dr. Judith Banister

November 12, 2017

What is the situation today regarding religious believers and nonbelievers in this country? For some people, the religious landscape is changing frightfully fast. But for many of us, progress toward Humanism and Atheism seems glacial.

The best source of reliable current data and insights on nonbelievers and believers in the U.S. is the surveys designed and carried out by the Pew Research Center. For decades, this unbiased research group has conducted large in-depth surveys to get at respondents’ actual religious or nonreligious beliefs, practices, and affiliations. Let us use Pew Research results to assess not only what recent trends have been, but also where we stand today as a nation.

Dr. Judith Banister is a local Ph.D.-level demographer (population specialist) and statistician. Raised Protestant, Judy became a strong Atheist and Humanist at age 18 when she took an eye-opening college course on the History of Religions. Judy will report and analyze for us the Pew Research Center’s surveys and resulting reports from the most recent decade. Then we will explore together what this reality means for us Humanists and how this knowledge can help guide us going forward.

Click here to see the slides that the speaker showed during her talk.

Humanist Community Forum (2017-11-12): By the Numbers: Nonbelievers in the U.S. (Dr. Judith Banister) from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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