The 51st Annual Conference of the American Humanist Association in Portland, Oregon, May 1-3, gave two chapter officers an opportunity to participate in several stimulating Humanist workshops and to hear some interesting presentations of Humanist subjects.

One of the conference highlights was the 1992 Humanist of the Year banquet when author Kurt Vonnegut was named the recipient of the annual award. Vonnegut is a former president of Poets, Editors, and Novelists (PEN) and is well known for his activism on behalf of progressive social and political causes. His response when receiving the AHA award was bitingly critical of the government bureaucracy's slowness in responding to the nation's critical social problems.

The Distinguished Service Award for the year was given to Ed Doerr, a member of the AHA board of directors, former chairperson of the AHA board and currently the executive director of Americans for Religious Liberty. Doerr was recognized for his energetic and continuous work on behalf of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He writes, talks, and travels continuously to awaken U.S. citizens to the never ending effort of many religious and political leaders to break down the wall that prevents government and religion from developing a cozy relationship.

The most exciting event for President Wineriter and Vice-President Bob Green, was the chapter award ceremony when they were called to the speaker's platform and presented the 1992 Chapter Award.

The executive director of AHA, Fred Edwords, led an inspiring discussion on the goals of humanism and ways to stimulate public awareness of the humanist agenda and increased membership in AHA and local chapters. He emphasized the reality that there are many atheists and agnostics who are not intellectuals and urged us to broaden our image to speak to their interests.

Attending the conference renewed our enthusiasm to expand local interest in humanism and work towards doubling our Humanists of Utah membership in the next year.

--Flo Wineriter