Surf Beat: July 28th, 2015 Edition

 

Surfbeat
July 28th, 2015

Lora Fisher and Federeica Alemanno

President Lora Fisher with Rotarian Federica Alemanno from Milan.


A Few Highlights from our Club Meeting: 
Welcome and Introductions: President Lora Fisher
Invocation: Camille McKinney presented Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Spring Prayer
Pledge: Stan Mendoza                                                         Song: Ron Spellman gave us four “choices”, drawn from a jar by Lora Fisher (although the two opened were “God Bless America!”

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 SPRING PRAYERCamille McKinney giving the invocation

                     For flowers that bloom about our feet;

For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;

                        For song of bird, and hum of bee;

                        For all things fair we hear or see,

                        Father in heaven, we thank Thee!

                       For blue of stream and blue of sky;

                      For pleasant shade of branches high;

                      For fragrant air and cooling breeze;

                       For beauty of the blooming trees,

                        Father in heaven, we thank Thee!

                                -Ralph Waldo Emerson


Visitors:
Lora Fisher and Club Members welcome…

  •  Shawn Cheney, Commander of Wounded Warriors at Balboa Naval Hospital
  • Cherri Barnswell, Armed Service YMCA Director at Balboa Naval Hospital
  • Mariam Sulaiman, Branch Manager of US Bank, guest of Lora Fisher
  • Sara Iantosca with La Jolla YMCA guest of Sue Ball
  • Rotarian Federica Alemanno from Milan.

 


Lora Fisher with John Trifiletti   Burton Housman, Sherry Barnes and Shawn Cheney 2Announcements:
  • Will Creekmur, Club Foundation Chair, announced the fund raiser: “Strike Out for Polio”, a bowling tournament to be held in the future (signups requested). He also announced the opportunity to clarify one’s Paul Harris status, and replace a missing pin.
  • Bill Burch announced a District Event: Dinner at Coriano Winery on Tuesday, August 4th.  If interested in attending, please contact Bill directly at 858-354-0765.
  • John Trifiletti reminded people of the Deering Banjo Auction and Banjo Lesson from Alison Brown.
  • Burton Housman presented a special award to Cherri Barnswell for her outstanding service to the many wounded warriors of Iraq and Afghanistan whom she assisted at the Balboa Naval Hospital as they recovered from life-changing wounds, as a consequence of the war. Burton particularly thanked Sherry for personally “saving his life” by giving him a purpose when he was distraught by the carnage of the war.

 


Craig Schniepp, Ellen Kardashian and Ken King  ATT00002  IMG_9072     Craig Schneipp, Ellen Kardashian, and Ken King                      Ellen Kardashian                              Ellen’s Daughter

Stump The Club Member!

In this second in a series, Lora Fisher asked Gwynn Jones to guess an obscure fact about Ellen Kardashian, Ken King and Craig Schniepp. Ellen’s daughter is about to become a Captain in the Fire Department; Ken once dated Miss Florida; Craig sailed from Newport to Ensenada. (Gwynn correctly identified each of the participants’ “factoid” after one question to each. 

If you have a fun little known fact about yourself and would like to participate in the next “Stump the Rotarian” please contact Lora Fisher at lora.fisher@usbank.com


Christopher Beech

Speaker: Christopher Beach

Christopher Beach, the long-serving director of the La Jolla Music Society, spoke about both the upcoming Summerfest Season and the full 2015-2016 season. He also spoke enthusiastically, and provided drawings of the soon to be opened Conrad Prebys Music Center on Fay Avenue (now “officially” dubbed the “Conrad”), scheduled for completion in late 2017 or early 2018. The arts complex will include a 500 seat capacity two level concert hall, with design by architects Epstein Joslin of Cambridge, MA, and acoustical design by Yasahita Toyota; a 150 seat cabaret room, a multipurpose theater, and an open air lobby.The Music Society operates on a $4.5 M/year budget, is debt free, has an $11 M endowment, and the $60 M “Conrad” is fully paid for!Artists coming this year include the New York City Ballet, Ballet Flamenco de Andalusia, Pianist Joyce Yan, and blues singers Keb Mo and Aaron Neville, among others.

Membership Rally!

The rally will be facilitated by expert Past District Governors Larry Sundram and Dave Breeding from the Rotary Zone 25/26 Membership Team. Some highlights include:

• Inspirational Keynote by Rotary International Director Brad Howard as requested by our District club presidents• 16 Interactive Exercises• Personal action plan for your club• Comprehensive Workbook for note taking and reference after the sessionThe Membership Rally builds on the foundation of last year’s membership seminar and takes it to a whole new level with new content, insights, and actionable information to help your club!ALL Rotarians who are interested in membership and improving their club.  Registration can be accessed by clicking here.

From the Pages of

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August 2015 Edition

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 SAN DIEGO STUDENTS TACKLE VACCINE CONTROVERSY

A group of teenage journalism students in suburban San Diego were in the early stages of a new project – an educational film funded by a Rotary grant – when their teacher’s phone rang. A prominent blogger had caught wind of what they were doing from a local news story, and wasn’t pleased. The fledgling film came under fire almost overnight as ripples of protest spread through the blogosphere. With calls pouring in before shooting had even begun, the advisers considered halting the project, questioning whether it would be worth the controversy surrounding its subject matter: vaccines.

“I’ve been involved with immunization initiatives for over 20 years now,” says Amnon Ben-Yehuda, one of the San Diego Rotary members who had contacted the Emmy-winning broadcast journalism program at Carlsbad High School about a health education project, initially conceived as a 15-minute film about the immune system, in 2011. “We knew there were people out there who were against vaccines, but they didn’t represent a force we had to deal with until this project.”

Ben-Yehuda chairs a Rotary districtwide committee that works with local health agencies to increase vaccination coverage. He’s seen vaccine-preventable diseases affect even affluent neighborhoods, where the barrier isn’t access to vaccines but skepticism about their safety. “For about the last 10 years, we’ve recognized that the important thing is education,” he says. “We began to realize that we were repeating the same message and not getting anywhere. Young people have to learn about immunization before they become parents, so we started working with schools.”

Read More in the August 2015 Edition or Click Here 


Club MeetingsUnless 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!
District Event: Dinner at Coriano Winery on Tuesday, August 4th.  If interested in attending, please contact Bill directly at 858-354-0765.Mail Attachment

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Padres

The remaining “Rotary Padres Nights” for this baseball season are as follows:
Monday, August 10th at 7:10 pm vs. the Cincinnati Reds – Rotary Price is $30.00 for Field Infield Seats (Section 107); and,
Saturday, September 5th at 5:40 pm vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers – Rotary price is $50.00 for Field Plaza Seats.

Please invite your members to join other Rotarians from District 5340 for an evening of baseball and fellowship.

Part of each purchase will be donated to Rotary’s “End Polio Now” campaign. To place your order for tickets, please reply to Rotarian Kevin Forrester (kforrester@psmkr.com), or (760) 944-1918, no later than 7 days before the scheduled game day.


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Questions/Issues/Feedback: surfbeat@rotarycluboflajolla.com   Contributors: Diane Salisbury, David Shaw, Lora Fisher
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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, Rotary InternationalMembership is open to all by invitation. For further information about our club and membership, please contact John Trifiletti by clicking the link below.
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Jan. 13, 2015 Speaker: Shaun Briley – La Jolla/ Riford Library Branch- Public service at La Jolla/Riford Library

Shaun and CatherineShaun Briley has seen the book business from all sides: published author, retailer, marketing hack for a publishing company and finally librarian. Briley started his career as a journalist working for a British conglomerate that sent him to the Persian Gulf to cover the war against Saddam Hussein. Later, he wrote a book called ‘How Not to Live Abroad’, about living in Spain, which was likened to ‘Under a Tuscan Sun’ or ‘Year in Provence’ – gone wrong. The experience ultimately drove him to the sunny climes of California where he has finally laid down roots. A resident of La Jolla, he took the post of branch manager on the retirement of former librarian, Catherine Greene.

A preference for service over sales drove the switch to library work. The La Jolla/Riford Library is a classic public service institution, open to all, that aims to create lifelong learning opportunities and foster community connections. Its offerings include literacy and other youth programs as well as career and personal development resources for all ages. The library in La Jolla attracts interesting presenters and is blessed with the biggest collection of books outside of the Central Library downtown. It has a large contribution to make in the cultural life of this community and is often a draw for people throughout San Diego, for instance for its musical concerts, art exhibits and author talks.

Under Briley, the library is very focused on increasing its collaboration with the school district and providing services to attract middle and high school age students. He will talk about how the library is doing and reveal some exciting new initiatives within the community.

 

Visit Shaun’s Website Here

Jan. 6, 2015 Speaker: Fredrick Clerie – San Diego Rock Church – Hopestart Inernational

 

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I was born in Haiti, “the poorest country in the Western hemisphere”, and I lived there for 16 years. I came to the US to get a college education, intending to return to Haiti and work alongside my dad who was doing church planting work there. Negative political developments forced my dad to leave Haiti, and I decided I would never go back there. I went on to graduate school for a degree in Biochemistry and made a career with large pharmaceutical and biotech companies. After the earthquake that devastated Haiti in January 2010, I heard God’s call to return to Haiti to do humanitarian and missionary work. Since then, with the help of friends at Impact195 and at the Rock Church, we have dug deep water wells, opened an orphanage, a center for abandoned babies and started a feeding program for over 500 malnourished children who go to tuition-free primary schools but are too hungry to learn what they are being taught. With the support of the Rock Church and other organizations, I plan to expand the orphanage, the abandoned baby center, and the feeding program, and to open schools to teach trades as well as leadership and business management skills.

 

Visit Fredrick’s Website Here

Dec. 16, 2014 Speaker: Erica Ollmann Saphire, Ph.D., Ebola Virus

Erica Ollmann SaphireErica Ollmann Saphire, Ph.D. is a Professor of Immunology and Microbial Science at The Scripps Research Institute. Her research explains how and why viruses are pathogenic and provides the roadmap for medical defense. Her team has explained how the viruses drive themselves into cells, how they suppress immune function, where human antibodies can defeat them, as well as the structure of the entire human antibody itself. A recent discovery expanded the central dogma of molecular biology by proving that certain viral proteins actually rearrange into different structures at different times for different functions.

Her work has been recognized with the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering, an Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease and a Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, by young investigator awards from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the American Society of Microbiology, and by the Surhain Sidhu award for the most outstanding contribution to the field of diffraction by a person within five years of the Ph.D. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, serves on the Scientific Leadership Board of the Global Virus Network and is the Director of the Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Immunotherapeutic Consortium. This organization, the VIC, united the field into a single force to understand and provide antibody therapeutics against Ebola, Marburg, Lassa and other viruses.

Dec. 9, 2014: Dipak Gupta, SDSU, Understanding Terrorism & Social Conflict

Dipak K. GuptaDipak K. Gupta is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science at San Diego State University.  He served as the Founding Director of undergraduate program in International Security and Conflict Resolution (ISCOR). In 1997, he was awarded Albert W. Johnson Distinguished Lecturer, the highest research award for the university and was the “Professor of the Year” in 1994. His primary research interest involves the causes of terrorism, ethnic conflict, and the impact of political instability on national economic development.

Born in India, Gupta received Master’s degrees in Economics from Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, India, and University of Pittsburgh.  He earned his Ph.D. in the area of Economic and Social Development from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at University of Pittsburgh. He has been a visiting scholar at St. Antony’s College, Oxford University, El Colegio de Mexico in Mexico City, Leiden University in the Netherlands, Fudan University in Shanghai, China and the Terrorism Prevention Branch at the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP) in Vienna, Austria.  He was also awarded a summer fellowship in the International Studies Program at the Hoover Institution for War, Peace, and Revolution, at Stanford University. He received a post-doctoral fellowship at the Institute for International Politics and Economics in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

Professor Gupta is the author of nine books and over 150 publications in scholarly journals, research monographs, chapters, in edited volumes and newspapers.

High School Interact Clubs And Rotary Club Of La Jolla Join Forces To Build 21St House In Mexico For Needy Families

By Sally Fuller (LJ Light Article) –

Volunteers from the Interact Club at La Jolla High and The Bishop’s School were joined by members of La Jolla Rotary to build the 21st home for an impoverished family in Tijuana.

You may also read the article HERE on La Jolla Light’s website

The home design is 16x20 feet with a small sleeping loft. The homes are unheated, have no running water and no electricity. — courtesy
The home design is 16×20 feet with a small sleeping loft. The homes are unheated, have no running water and no electricity.
 The non-profit Project Mercy manages all the client-side considerations. Clients are evaluated based upon their family needs, legal rights to the property, and other considerations. To date, Project Mercy has arranged construction of more than 1,500 homes in Tijuana neighborhoods.

The total expense is $4,600 for the building materials, the cement foundation, building supervision and two or three local framing carpenters. An outhouse with a septic tank is an additional $900. Funding comes from generous Rotarians, community members and Interact Club fundraising.

Volunteers need to be in good health and must possess a passport or green card. The build day begins with a rendezvous at Mission Bay Visitor’s Center at 5:30 a.m. The home-build begins at 7:30 a.m. and ends by 4:30-5 p.m. Due to unpredictable border waits, return to the visitor’s center ranges from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. At the end of the day, everyone is tired but happy!

Some people ask is it dangerous? Mexico is a developing country with well-publicized problems and attendant risks to visitors. Construction work is potentially dangerous and precautions are taken to reduce the likelihood of injury.

Plans are to build again in early March and late June. To join the effort, visit rotarycluboflajolla.com and click on “contact us.”

Oct. 28, 2014 Speaker: Carmen Chavez, Casa Cornelia – Central American Refugee Children

Carmen ChavezBeginning last year and specifically in the last few months, there has been an overall increase in the apprehension of Unaccompanied Children from Central America at the Southwest Border.  You may have seen it in the news. An experienced attorney, whose organization provides needed services to these children going through the legal process, will provide an informational overview and background on the issue of children traveling alone to the U.S. from Central America.  Come learn about this current issue regarding unaccompanied children at our border.

Biography

Carmen Chavez was born and raised in San Diego. She graduated from San Diego State University with a B.A. degree in Political Science. While in college she became very involved in community service, especially in the area of human and civil rights.  She continued her dream to service the community through public interest law by attending Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, CA graduating in 1999.  While at Loyola she participated in Moot Court, Public Interest Law Foundation and La Raza Law Students Association.

After passing the California Bar Exam, she began working at Casa Cornelia Law Center fourteen years ago and currently serves as the Executive Director overseeing a staff of 17 and a volunteer base of over 300.  Casa Cornelia is a non-profit law firm in San Diego providing quality pro bono legal representation to victims of human and civil violations eligible for humanitarian protection under the law.

She started her service at Casa Cornelia as the recipient of the Equal Justice Works Fellowship, which allowed her to provide legal services to indigent victims of abuse and those seeking refuge from persecution and torture in their home countries.  As a Staff Attorney and then Associate Director, she handled VAWA, U Visa, T Visa, NACARA, Naturalization, and asylum cases affirmatively and defensively (Immigration Court and Board of Immigration Appeals), Special Immigration Juvenile Status (SIJS) for children and has argued successfully before the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals several times.  During this time, Carmen has given numerous presentations and trainings to the legal community, social workers, law enforcement, students, community groups, faith community, parents and clients in San Diego County and elsewhere. She is a member of the American Bar Association, Lawyers Club and the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association.

Nov. 18, 2014 Speaker: Jodi Waterhouse, USD, University of the 3rd Age

Jodi WaterhouseJodi Waterhouse began her career at USD 18 years ago when she joined the USD Professional and Continuing Education Department.  During her tenure at USD she has directed many types of programs simultaneously to include Business and Corporate Education (18 years), Family Business Forum (16 years), Event Director of the Kyoto Laureate Symposium (10 years), Business Development, and University of the Third Age (18 years).  Her passion for University of San Diego and bringing USD to the community and the community to USD is her greatest professional joy!

CorpProfeduverticalShe’s married to her wonderful “British” husband Steve, has 2 amazing kids, Ian – 16  and Elyse 14, and a golden retriever, Simon.  Beyond promoting USD in the community, she loves watching her kids who are amazing athletes compete in their various sports.  She is truly a sideline mom!

Follow Jodi (@USDCorpEd) on Twitter

 

Nov. 4, 2014 Speaker: Casey B.K. Dominguez, USD – 2014 Midterm Election & Its Aftermath

Casey DominguezCasey B. K. Dominguez is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of San Diego. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2005. Her research specialties are congressional elections, political parties, and the presidency. Dr. Dominguez has published articles on presidential elections, congressional elections, and political parties. Her ongoing research focuses on the development of presidential war powers.

Scholarly and Creative Work

Dominguez’ Ph.D. dissertation examined congressional primary elections, and found that the political party establishment attempts to stack the deck in favor of a particular primary candidate under predictable conditions. Her current research focuses on the institutional and financial relationships between political parties and interest groups. In 2009, she co-authored a paper, published in the journal American Political Research, identifying legislative and electoral interest group coalitions.

She has also published work on the presidential honeymoon period in Congress and the Presidencyand in The Forum, and is currently researching congressional responses to presidential assertions of expanded war powers.

Teaching Interests

Dominguez’ teaching interests include a wide range of topics in American politics. She teaches the introductory American Politics class, as well as upper division courses on the presidency, parties and interest groups, and campaigns and elections. She has also taught classes incorporating research methodology, including the Political Science/International Relations research Capstone, and an interdisciplinary honors course in Social Network Analysis.

Nov. 11, 2014 Speaker: Gregory R. Hillgren, Patriots Initiative – Embracing America’s Armed Forces Community

Gregory R. HillgrenAre you ‘Answering the 21st Century Call’ to support our nation’s armed forces community?  Are you giving time, treasure… or both?  Are you doing so wisely and effectively?  Are you making a difference?  Let’s find out.

Mr. Hillgren was a founder and serves as the Chairman of The Patriot Initiative (‘TPI’), the nonprofit outreach program of the Rancho Santa Fe Foundation located in the San Diego region, the home of America’s largest military service population.

Since 2008, The Patriots Initiative has driven philanthropic support to active military service members and their families, the wounded and fallen, and veterans by identifying, evaluating and underwriting the very finest nonprofit service providers serving that space.  Greg also founded the Endowment Leadership Initiative at the Rancho Santa Fe Foundation which supports the Navy SEALs Foundation through TPI.  He is the past-Chair of the Rancho Santa Fe Foundation (2005-2006) and served as a Director for nine years.

Mr. Hillgren’s professional career has focused on real estate investment and development, overseeing a range of successful commercial, residential and mixed-use projects throughout California, including several complex property repositionings.  His privately held firms also make strategic investments in emerging California companies and their technologies.

Greg earned his undergraduate and MBA degrees from the USC Marshall School of Business where he remains actively involved.  For the past decade he has served on its Board of Leaders and is the Co-Chair for Marshall’s $400 Million Capital Campaign.  Greg’s support for USC includes the endowed Hillgren Scholarships for Global Studies.  In 2013 Greg was the recipient of the USC President’s Award from the University’s Alumni Association.

Greg and his wife, Nancy, are active in their community of Rancho Santa Fe where they were the recipients of the RSF Community Service Award in 2002.    Greg’ recreational pursuits focus on golf, and he’s served multiple terms as President of the Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club (2002-2004).