President Carl Lynde welcomed all to the July 16th meeting of the Brattleboro Rotary Club held via ZOOM. <ED NOTE: 27 Rotarians attended.> Tom Franks offered the following motivational statement:
There are circumstances that must shatter you; and if you are not shattered, then you have not understood your circumstances. In such circumstances, it is a failure for your heart not to break. And it is pointless to put up a fight, for a fight will blind you to the opportunity that has been presented by your misfortune. Do you wish to persevere pridefully in the old life? Of course, you do; the old life was a good life. But it is no longer available to you. It has been carried away irreversibly. So there is only one thing to be done. Transformation must be met with transformation. Where there was the old life, let there be a new life. Do not persevere. Dignify the shock. Sink so as to rise. — Leon Wieseltier, Kaddish
<ED NOTE: Weekly assignments for the invocation or motivational thought can be found on the club website. The following would be the next people on the list: Tom French (7/23), Betsy Gentile (7/30), and Phil George (8/6).>
This was followed by the pledge of allegiance. Birthday greetings were extended to George Weir.
GUESTS: Steve Ryder (speaker)
TRIVIA QUESTION
Who coined the term "cyberspace"?
(Answer below)
JOKE OF THE WEEK
There was no joke today.
<ED NOTE: Had Phil Steckler been able to attend, he would have told the following joke:
After a morning of fishing, a Rotarian left for a district meeting. In the afternoon his wife decided to take the boat onto the lake and read her book.
A game Warden pulls up alongside her in his boat. “Good morning, ma’am. What are you doing?”
“Reading a book,” she replies.
“You’re in a restricted fishing Area he informs her.”
“I’m sorry officer, but I’m not fishing, I’m reading”.
“Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start fishing at any moment. I’ll have to take you in and write you up.”
The woman replies, “if you do that, I’ll have to charge you with sexual assault.”
“But I haven’t even touched you,” said the game warden.
“That’s true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know, you could start at any moment.”
“Have a nice day ma'am,” the warden said. And he left.
At our July 23rd meeting, Regina Stefanelli will tell a joke or lead us in song and Jerry Theberge will offer a Rotary Minute. 2020-21 weekly assignments are posted on the club website.
ROTARY MINUTE
For today’s Rotary Minute, Rob Szpila offered the following:
Ever since joining Rotary, I've been fascinated and appreciative of our “Don’t talk politics” ideals.
So, I dug into the ROTARY CODE OF POLICIES published just this June 2020: Section 2.090. Rotary International and its member clubs must refrain from issuing partisan political statements.
And Section 26.020. Because its world-wide membership includes persons of many facets of political opinion, no corporate action or corporate expression of opinion shall be taken or given by Rotary on political subjects.
What is a political subject?
I was a little surprised last year when The Rotarian Magazine devoted its cover and several articles to global warming — notably a Q&A with Rotary International President Barry Rassin. In that Q&A, Rassin declared that Rotarians have a moral obligation to talk more about climate change.
"With polio, people say, 'OK, that's just health care.' But when you start talking about the environment, people ask if it's political." "I'm not talking politics;” Rassin said, “I'm talking about our world and how to make it a better place." "I look at my own country — Bahamas - climate change is almost personal," Because of rising sea levels, "my country is going to be gone if we do nothing."
Recently, we’ve all been watching people around the globe, frustrated and enraged by the death of George Floyd, pushing to find new ways to end racism. As of this week, the Washington Redskins are no longer called that. Native American people are finally spared this stereotyping from that team.
I’m proud of our work in our club with Native Americans – I find there to be nothing political about it. I hope that we as a club can continue to seek and find positive ways to bring benefit to all. And I wonder what other non-political ways can we help end racism in our world – and bring benefit to all. Like Rassin said about Climate Change, we could say about Racism: it's not political, it’s personal.
At our July 23rd meeting, Regina Stefanelli will tell a joke or lead us in song and Jerry Theberge will offer a Rotary Minute. 2020-21 weekly assignments are posted on the club website.
UPCOMING PROGRAMS
07/23 – Steve Puderbaugh, 2020-21 Rotary District 7870 District Governor
NOTE: 2020-21 weekly assignments, are posted on the club website.
REMINDERS
Please bring your bottles and cans to Putney Road redemption center to benefit Pure Water for the World. Please remember to inform the staff that the bottles and cans should be credited to the club.
This is the 3rd newsletter of the 2020-2021 club year.
There has only been 1 brag so far
FINES
NONE ;-(
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The following club members were recognized for their years of service: Milt Gilmore (59, Dane Rank (8), and Sophie Howlett (2).
The district golf tournament will take place on August 21. For more info, contact Carl Lynde.
Plans for a project to repair the cathedral at Living Memorial Park are being discussed.
The Golf Committee will be meeting on Tuesday at 5 pm via ZOOM.
If you would like to be a sponsor of the club’s website, contact Marty Cohn. <ED NOTE: The list of sponsors for 2020-21 is The Richards Group, BMAC, Berkley & Veller Greenwood Country Realtors, and Brattleboro Memorial Hospital.>
BRAGS / HAPPY DOLLARS
<ED NOTE: Yes, we are keeping track of these happy dollars and brags.
Unless noted, happy dollars and brags are $1>
Carla Lineback - for Frank Rucker and all the preparations being done to prepare for the reopening of the schools.
Carl Lynde ($5) – for the District 7870 Mask project. <ED NOTE: you can read about this in the latest district newsletter by clicking here.
Carl Lynde ($5) - for the Brattleboro Country Club’s clinic for kids.
Bill Vermouth ($20) – for having two different women offer him a ride in the rain.
George Anthes – for his recent vacation.
PROGRAM
Stan Nowakowski invited Steve Ryder, president of True North Networks, who gave us a presentation on “Cybersecurity: How to Work Securely from Home.” If you would like a copy of Steve’s presentation, contact Marty Cohn.
<ED NOTE: On BCTV you can now watch the club’s new show, “Brattleboro Rotary Club Speaker Series” by clicking here.>
Rotary Cares - TV Show
Rotary Cares, Episode 27 – Passing the Gavel
In episode 27 of the award-winning, monthly show, Rotary Cares, Brattleboro Rotary Club past president Marty Cohn discusses “passing the gavel”, a time when a club president steps down. Our guests are Brattleboro Rotary Club Past President Sandy Rouse and Brattleboro Sunrise Club Past President Kevin Yager. The show is produced by Brattleboro Community Television.
Past President Martin Cohn who attempts to give a gist of the meeting respectfully submitted this bulletin. However, it is always better to attend. If you have any complaints about the contents of this bulletin...
ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION
Science Fiction Novelist William Gibson first coined the term "cyberspace” in his short story "Burning Chrome.” He then popularized the concept in his debut novel “Neuromancer” in 1984.
