Meeting began at 12:30 called to order by Nicholas
Pledge: Marlon Smith
Inspiration: Jamie Hekkelman: Jamie shared her mantra with us: Come up with a word to repeat, them come up with a phrase to live by and finally come up with an affirmation for yourself.
Tuesday Music Track: Provided by Mike Norcia. Gateway Drug by Brevet Brothers. Classic Rock.
Visiting Guests: Amy Potts introduced Stephen Guruwaiya from Los Gatos Living Magazine. They have done several articles on Rotary members.
In Memorium: We learned the sad news that Len Smith passed away. He was in the club for 37 years and a treasured and valuable member. Ed Stahl spoke about having met Len in 1958 when he was an insurance agent on the shell stations. Details about services for Len will be coming soon.
Club Announcements:
Avenues of Services: Thursday on Zoom and Saturday, Oct 2 at the Alameda Fairgrounds. This is a great way to learn about what other clubs are doing.
Rebuilding Project: October 23 from 8am until completion. We will be painting a mobile home in Campbell.
Fall Fundraiser, Movie Night: Oct. 8. No Time To Die, James Bond Movie. Proceeds go to Stanford Children’s Hospital Mobile Medical Clinic and The Bill Wilson Center. Click here for tickets
Rotarian Anniversaries:
Kirsten Bridges, Nava Fathi, Michelle Myers-Nelson, Jack Chevlen, Ron Smith, Paul Christensen, Richard Irion and Marlon Smith.
Member Spotlight:
Carol Abela. Enjoys being with his Rotary family, sharing in the comradery whilst being of service to others.
Red Badge Bio:
Barbara Fishman
She was born in Buffalo, New York. Her parents were first generation Americans. Her mother was a lawyer and then a judge and a major influence in her life. She moved to San Francisco and got a job at UCSF medical center where she met and married Marty. She then worked at the VA hospital in their speech laboratory. Barbara and Marty moved to El Salvador for several months and then returned to the bay area and built their house in Las Cumbres. Barbara has been a volunteer firefighter, a school board member and president, she worked in the downtown San Jose library in their adult literacy program and she is a master gardener with the University of California. She also obtained her real estate license and enjoyed that job. Her hobby is photography and loves photographing the places she has visited. She is now a certified mediator and works in Santa Clara County in the Superior Court. She finds this work very satisfying. Why rotary? She enjoys meeting so many people and working on club projects and has enjoyed introducing her own Santa Maria Urban Ministry project to our existing projects. She ended with a quote from Mohammed Ali: “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth”.
Guest Speaker:
Kate McQueen, Why Journalism Belongs Behind Bars
Kate teaches journalism at San Quentin prison. She is the director of the Prison Journalism Project that started 2 years ago.
Why? The US has a very large population of incarcerated people: 1.8 million. Most media coverage is about the crimes and there is a lack of transparency about prison life which means the population at large is uninformed about what goes on in the prison on a daily basis.
The prison press is the best way to know what is happening inside the prison and the San Quentin News prints first hand accounts of incarcerated people and offers little heard insights into the criminal justice system. They also print stories of inspiration from people transforming their lives.
To keep this project going collaboration is needed with outside volunteers and sometimes they encounter security risks, lock downs and lack of funds. Another stumbling block can be the collaboration of an unwilling prison administration. San Quentin has a great working relationship with the administration.
Some of Kate’s projects include: articles on aging in prison, health related coverage. Age and parole, especially as it pertains to those ‘lifers’ and the impact that the Governor’s ability to veto the parole board recommendations has on those up for parole.
Email Kate or find her on twitter: katejoymcqueen
Up Next:
Oct. 5 First Tuesday: Gali Vineyards Wine Room 21 W. Main St. Los Gatos (NO LUNCH MEETING)
Meeting adjourned at 1:33 by Nicholas