February 16th, 2016
“What’s my line?” Three Rotarians, Claire Reiss, John Donaldson and newly inducted member, Susan Rutan, shared a secret about their past. One had participated in the decathlon in junior high school; one had sold popcorn at a movie theater; and one was a drummer in a high school marching band. After many incorrect guesses, it turns out that Claire was the decathlon participant; Susan, the drummer; and John, the popcorn salesman!
Susan Rutan was installed as a new member of our club sponsored by Pat Stouffer and with the participation of Membership Chair, John Trifiletti.
A Few Highlights from our Club Meeting:
Welcome:
President Lora once again opined that there was no better place to be on this day than the Rotary Club of La Jolla, and heard no opposition to that stance.
Invocation:
Zeke Knight: First acknowledged the three octogenarians in the club: Betty Dow (actually 93!); John Todd, and Zeke, himself! (It later turned out that Sid Stutz is also in the “Octoclub”). Then, Zeke shared his “post-Valentine’s day prayer, noting that “Love is the highest form of connectedness.” He cited Lewis Richmond, a Buddhist Priest, in “Aging as a Spiritual Practice.”
- Buddhist Scripture: May I be filled with loving kindness; May I be free from suffering; May I be happy and at peace.
- Buddhist Prayer: As each of us grows older, may we be kind to ourselves; As each of us rows older, may we accept joy and sorry; As each of us grows older, may we be happy and at peace. MAY IT BE SO!
Pledge: Betty Dow – who noted that Dwight Eisenhower was the president under whom the term “under God”, was added to the pledge.
Song: John Todd led us in a rousing rendition of “When You’re Smiling”
Vistors:
The Club Welcomed…
- Dyanne Routh – guest of Cindy Greatrex
- Denise Gitsham – guest of Claire Reiss
- Nayda Locke – guest of Claire Reiss
- Garret Massey and Jennifer Harter – guests of Jane Reldan
- Bob Duffield – guest of speaker Faye Girsh (see below)
Happy Bucks:
- Don Lincoln acknowledged his Granddaughter, whose soccer club is still in the competition for the State Championship.
- Jane Reldan returned safely from a heli-skiing trip, in which she added 97,000 vertical feet to her quest for 3 million vertical feet!
- Sid Stutz reminded us that he is the fourth octogenarian in the club.
The word for our dear Betty Dow is timeless!
Club/Committee/Event Announcements:
- Jeanne Cherbeneau – Rotarians at Work will be Saturday, April 30th, and will be in collaboration with the Marines. The exact location and mission are still to be determined.
- On behalf of Charles Hartford, Interact Representative, President Lora Fisher announced that Interact will participate with members of our club for home build #26 on March 26th!
- President Lora announced the appearance of two club members in the local press: Leanne MacDougall and Claire Reiss, with appropriate fines levied and paid.
Speaker:
Introduced by Leanne MacDougall, Faye Girsh, the former president of the Hemlock Society of San Diego and a Clinical and Forensic Psychologist, presented a talk entitled, Dying in the Age of Choice. She reminded us that the California Legislature passed and Governor Brown signed the California End of Life Option Act, following the model of Oregon, Washington and Vermont.
The law, which has yet to go into effect, provides that a person who is mentally competent and not under duress and with a life expectancy of less than six months, may apply to two physicians who agree with the prognosis, one of whom is willing to prescribe a lethal medication after a waiting period of 15 days and a total of three requests. A willing pharmacist may fill the prescription. No physician or pharmacist is required to provide the medication, and no patient is required to ask for it.
The use of the act in Oregon, which has at 18 years, the longest experience, is infrequent and of those who ask for the prescription, only about 67% actually use it.
A 29-yeay-old California woman, Brittany Maynard, who had a malignant glioblastoma (brain tumor) went with her family to Oregon to take advantage of the law there. She posted a video before her death advocating for the passage of such a law in California so that others wouldn’t have to go out of state to fulfill their wish to die with dignity.
Japan: trains, planes and automobiles!
Dateline Kyoto, Japan 6:20 a.m. Friday, February 19 (1:20 p.m. Thursday San Diego time)
Greetings fellow Rotarians,
Your intrepid scribe here reporting in from the road to Sasebo.
Wednesday night, after a smooth 12-hour flight from Lindbergh Field to Narita airport, ready was my jet-lagged body for the very comfy bed that awaited me at my near-the-airport hotel. If there was a sound that night, it escaped my notice.
I awoke at 4 a.m. to begin leg one of my cross-island trek toward the city of Sasebo, home of our sister Rotary Club of, you guessed it, Sasebo. A short shuttle ride took me back to the airport where, conveniently, there is a station linking travelers to Japan’s marvelous public train network.
Deviation from my I-thought-brilliant travel plan began immediately as I discovered that although the trains run near continuously, the ticket office wouldn’t open until an hour later. That gave me time to explore the spectacle of an almost completely empty Tokyo and to learn that a 24/7 7-11 (#-lovers unite!) is a gift from the gods. That afforded me an early breakfast that included a boiled egg sold in its own perfect little box. (Note to P. Stouffer: This may be a much easier alternative to corralling live chickens into a Haitian coop!)
At 6:30 on the dot, the ticket office opened and I was soon on a train west.
My transfer at the enormous Tokyo station was, in a word, mind-boggling! (Okay, two words, thank God for hyphens!) I recommend it to anyone who would like to know what being in an extremely busy ant colony would feel like. It made our beloved NY Grand Central station seem like a 4-way stop intersection in Iowa. (Ed. note: Sincere apologies to all Iowans.)
Having survived that experience, I hopped the next train to Kyoto where I spent last night in a 150 year old traditional Japanese home. I’ll see a bit of Kyoto today then jump a Sasebo-bound train tomorrow morning.
There my plan is to meet up with fellow La Jolla Rotarian, Hiroshi Yoshida, and to finally meet our Sasebo friends.
もっと来て (More to come!)
La Jolla Treasure Hunt:
Congratulations!
Check Out this Weeks News Bits. Click the Logo Below
From The Pages of:
February 2016 Edition
Q&A: In Exile
Melhem Mansour lives in London now. But for nearly a year, he didn’t have anywhere to call home. “After my fellowship ended, I was just traveling around. I was in 12 countries,” he says. “I didn’t know where to go.” It was the spring of 2012, and he had just finished the three-month program at the Rotary Peace Center at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. In his native Syria, violence was escalating. Before he left for Thailand, he had been detained and questioned for criticizing the government. If he returned, he risked being jailed.
Though he’s unable to go home, he’s careful to note that his passage to England was much easier than for many people now fleeing the region. Mansour has a day job working for Apple, but his heart is in peace and conflict resolution work. He consults with several nongovernmental organizations on the Syrian conflict and helps organize “hackathons,” competitions that bring together programmers and nonprofit experts to find technical solutions to humanitarian problems. Though he was critical of the Syrian government before the war, today he keeps his comments focused on the humanitarian crisis created by the conflict out of concern for the safety of his parents, who still live in Damascus. He spoke with Contributing Editor Vanessa Glavinskas.
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Club Meetings Unless otherwise noted, all club meetings are Tuesday, 12:00 noon – 1:30 p.m. at La Valencia Hotel, 1132 Prospect St., La Jolla (Map) Check out the Upcoming Guest Speakers on the Club Calendar
Upcoming Events
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- PETS – Southern California Nevada.
LAX Marriott – Information & REGISTRATIONFeb 19, 2016 – Feb 21, 2016
- District 5340 Peace Forum (Click for Information)
USD – Kroc Institute for Peace and JusticeFeb 27, 2016
8:00 AM – 12:00 PM - Advocates for HOPE Training Session
Mar 05, 2016
8:00 AM – 12:00 PM - 2016 District Training Assembly
Mar 19, 2016 7:30 AM
- 2016 Global Grants Management Seminar
Joan Kroc Institue for Peace & JusticeMar 19, 2016
12:10 PM – 2:00 PM - Model United Nations Conference
Apr 09, 2016 – Apr 10, 2016
- Rotary Leadership Institute, Parts 1, 2 & 3 Offered. University of San Diego, KIPJ
Apr 23, 2016
8:00 AM – 3:30 PM - Rotarians at Work Day
Apr 30, 2016
- “Thousand Smiles” Clinic
Ensenada MexicoMay 06, 2016 – May 07, 2016
- District Conference – 2016
May 13, 2016 4:00 PM –
May 15, 2016 12:00 PM
- PETS – Southern California Nevada.
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Click here to visit the district website.
Rotary Club of La Jolla is one of sixty clubs in the San Diego area’s Rotary District 5340 and one of the 34,000 clubs that make up our parent organization,
Published weekly by Rotary Club of La Jolla Visit our club website: http://www.rotarycluboflajolla.com/ Friend us on Facebook Questions/Issues/Feedback: surfbeat@rotarycluboflajolla.com Contributors: Lora Fisher, Diane Salisbury, David Shaw, Patrick StoufferEditor: Susan Farrell
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