Rotator for July 21st, 2005
Photographer: Cindy Luedtke
Editor: Cindy Luedtke/Matt Cabot*
Next Week's Program:
28 July - Ted Garrett - LAVA
AUGUST
4 August - Chris McKay - NASA11 August - DG Visit - Arlene Greenberg
18 August - Oscar Garcia - Mesa de la Comunidad
25 August - Ed Zschau - Entrepreneurship
SEPTEMBER
1 September - Brian Ward, MD - Ageing and the Threat of Blindness8 September - Michele Tong - The California Lottery
15 September - Bill Pierce - AVHS Principal
22 September - Jean Newton Fraguglia - Retirement Living
See Programs for all of the important dates.
To our Website
* Past President Cindy actually did edit this newsletter (her first), but I had to get the Rotator out on Sunday, and was unable to receive it before I left so any editorial problems are strictly mine. Matt Cabot
Meeting# 2:
President MARLENE gonged the meeting at
12:15, as she said she would. KAILAS CHIDAMBARAM lead us in an unstoppable
Pledge, followed by songwriter, and leader CRES MCFALL in his own rendition
of Oh, give me a home. Great lyrics, CRES.
Past President Billy Russell
gave us the Thought for the Day. He read a poem by Edgar A. Guest. US Poet, and Rotarian. A message about hope and the Rotary Spirit that in wake of the London terrorists attacks, seemed quite appropriate. ROCK ON ROTARY (my addition)
We had only one visiting Rotarian,
but what we lacked
in quantity, we made up in quality. All the way from Russia. Another 7
guests, and we nearly had a full house. It must be us.
As we arrived today, we were greeted by 4 Rotary flags
that said something. Later we found out that each of them, in their own
language said:
“Service Above Self.” A reminder of Pres Marlene’s
International theme for the year. Today’s program was an example of having
one program each month with an international theme. Today’s program was
Exploring Islam.
We started off the meeting today with 10 minutes of
‘free time.’ In reality, it was “directed” free time.
We were asked to
discuss among ourselves our prior interaction with the Muslim community. At
our table, the consensus seemed to be we hadn’t had a lot.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: KATIE NUTTER asked us to save September 24th for a progressive dinner. A clipboard will be passed in the next couple of weeks. She also said that she is looking for venues to host 8 people for dinner during this progressive dinner, ending at MEL KAHNs.
Pres MARLENE asked us to send our well wishes to PAUL SCHUTZ who had “minor surgery." PAUL organizes our weekly Greeters.
Pres MARLENE also encouraged all members to express their funding wishes at the Extraordinary Meeting of LARC Tuesday July 26th, from 6:30 to 8:30 PM at Northern Trust Bank. PE SAM PESNER is chair. So please RSVP to Sam at pesner@aol.com No food or beverages will be provided, so BYOB (Bottled Water, of course!)
Opinion surveys will be conducted. Grant areas to be discussed:·
Community Building groups·
Community Service groups·
Rotary AIDS Project·
Rotary Scholarships·
Rotary’s World Community ServiceIMPORTANT NOTE: ATTENTION NEW MEMBERS (and everyone else who is dissatisfied with his/her Handbook photograph – or have a photograph more than 10 years old): Headshots for the new club Handbook will be taken by MIKE HARRIGAN and JERRY TOMANEK at the Garden House before and after the LARC club meeting NEXT Thursday, July 28th and August 4th, from 11:30 – 12:00 and 1:30 – 2:00.
Another date to remember is Thursday, July 28th from 7 to 9 PM where there will be a MEMBERSHIP training session at the Doubletree Hotel in San Jose. Topics include:
·
Membership Plan· Diversity
·
Community Resources·
Approaching a Prospective Member·
Closing the SaleAll LARC members, especially those in membership services are encouraged to attend.
MEMBERSHIP: Check the last Rotator for a list of new members in the past year, and those who are no longer members. You can also go to our website, hover over Members, scroll down to Rotator Archive and click. Click on July 14th. This page by the way contains all of this year’s Rotators, in case you missed something.
Yucatan hurricane update: Roy Lave who is very involved in World Community Service, and particularly the Yucatan peninsula sent us this email from Cindy Wilber. Cindy presented to our club last year about the progress made on the peninsula and how our contributions have helped. Click here for her email describing the effects of Hurricane Emily on the Yucatan Peninsula..
Another Rwanda in the making? In his excellent presentation to LARC last year, PDG (Past District Governor) Nick Phillips (District 9270) painted a grim picture of the reality of the AIDS pandemic in South Africa, and described his District's attempt to provide care for AIDS orphans.
Today, he brings us
another reality -- the regime of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. Because
reporters are hard to find in that country, the information flow is minimal
at best. For a first hand account of the devastation created by this
corrupt government, click on here
for a Zimbabwe Rotarian's description.
RECOGNITION MASTER: When
it came time for Recognition (read GET YOUR POCKET BOOKS READY) Pres Marlene
forgot to recognize the Recognizer, JOHN MOSS. She tried later at the end
of the meeting but there was such a hue and cry, particularly from LEE LYNCH
TODAY’S PROGRAM: As promised, the program today
fulfilled Pres Marlene’s desire to have a program addressing International
Interest. Today Samina Faheem Sundas,
Their religion teaches never to harm another human,
their environment or buildings. They can (in the name of their religion)
never have an offensive war. When discussing the notion of women’s rights she said
that again, it is not the religion but the insecurity of the man that causes
this behavior. That it is usually insecurity. . In Islam, marriage is a
“partnership between a man and a woman.” “Women have a right to
property.” “Women have a right to their wages, and do not have to
contribute it to the family if they don’t want to.” Concerning arranged marriages, she said that it was
voluntary, that “who else would have the interest of the daughter more in
mind, than the father.” Ms Sundas said that if this was not the case your
were probably “married to the wrong person.” She does not like the labels of “conservative”, or
‘progressive” Islamic, because they are “too hard to take away.” She said that in 2000 before 9/11 there were 2000
Muslims who ran for office; in 2002, less than 700; in 2003 less than 70;
and in 2004, less than 40 nationwide. Her final comments were that Muslims should not stay
cloistered, but move about the community, helping others, and being visible. Samina has invited one and
all to her birthday party on 24 July, 5:00-9:30 PM at 120 Park Avenue, Palo
Alto 94306. For more information about Samina and her organization,
American Muslim Voice, look at
http://www.amuslimvoice.org/.
that she passed it on to
next week. While we didn't have a fining session, JOHN HAMBLIN
certainly was cruising for a fine.
Executive Director of American Muslim
Voice spoke about Islam, Religion and Culture. She said that Islam is a
“religion of Peace” and that terrorists who kill civilians, in the name of
Islam are kidding themselves, not the world, but themselves. There is
nothing in the Koran that could be construed to condone these actions.