Pledge of Allegiance: Someone great, but I was blinded by the enormous projected flag and did not catch who it was—great job though!
Thought for the Day: Jerry Winges reflected on Empathy:
“Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes.”
“If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
– Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
“Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?”
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations.
“I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.”
– Maya Angelou
Announcements:
- President Fritz reminded us that it is FEET WEEK – so walk a mile in your own shoes, not someone else’s.
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- Sunshine Report:The club wished Melinda Horwitz, (Mike’s wife) a speedy recovery from lung issues.She has spent 3 weeks in the hospital and hopefully is on the rebound.
- 11 Rotarians from our club attended the Sunday celebration of life for our long-time member and past President Chuck Voltz who passed away in December.It was a wonderful gathering of over 70 people and great presentations and memories by his 3 sons.
- Burlingame’s Got Talent! There has been a surge of interest in our newest exciting fundraiser coming Sunday April 30. As of Wednesday we have 18 performers, 50 attendees already signed up, lots of food from local restaurants donated, raffle items and much more. Go to the Rotary Web Site to grab your tickets for what is sure to be a fabulous event! Thanks to Jennifer Pence and many others on the committee for putting this together—don’t miss it!--- and do your part to support our club’s charity donations and scholarships.
Newscast:
Brilliant Harvard Alum Jennifer Pence once again amazed us with a unique and creative Newscast—a live ChatGPT group session on-line. Per audience suggestions she typed in prompts to the AI website to see what it could create. She tried: Rotary Jokes, 3 fun facts, Obscure facts, Rotary Dad Jokes, and finally hit paydirt with: Most Scandalous Events in Rotary History. Did you know that:
- In the 1980’s, Ferdinand Marcos who was a member of a Rotary Club in Manila, was involved with promoting politics and laundering money—the Club was forced to dis-band.
- In 2002, a club in Duarte admitted an honorary member who was a convicted sex offender.
- In 2019 a Kampala Club was convicted of mismanagement of funds.
Program: Jennifer Raiser, an Aragon High School and Harvard Graduate, presented “ Burning Man – Art on Fire.” Jennifer is a writer, management innovator, non-profit advisor, and a Burning Man Project Board Member and Treasurer. This fascinating talk was accompanied by many slides of the enormous sculptures and unique culture of the annual event.
Here are the main facts and take-aways:
- Burning Man was originally conceived in San Francisco in 1986 on Baker Beach by a small group of artists.It has evolved into an annual gathering of 80,000 people who create a temporary city in the Black Rock Desert in northwestern Nevada one week in August.The area comprises 5 square miles of dusty dry lakebed where nothing grows and experiences 80 mile-per-hour winds at times.
- There are no services, bathrooms, stores, electricity or public lights.Nothing is for sale. Everything needed to survive is brought in by the artist participants and at the end everything is brought back out in a “leave no trace” tradition.People share and believe in giving more than receiving. There are lots of small arts, jewelry and gifts—people are always gifting to others.
- There is a new main theme every year such as “Animalia” or “Metamorphosis.” Developing the theme and organizing of the event falls to 200 full time staff helped by 10,000 volunteers.Burning Man is an official non-profit 501C3 entity.Ticket prices are currently around $560.00 per person.
- Participants can bring anything they want.Artist groups spend a year or more designing and engineering the art works.Some of the structures are many stories tall and are prefabricated and assembled on site by huge cranes and equipment.
- No cars are allowed to roam the site unless they are “art cars”—self propelled moving pieces of art.Bicycles are also permitted and are a main way of getting around.Feet are also allowed.
- The main “man” is the centerpiece of the city and is burned on Saturday Night. But the festival is not over until Sunday when the “Temple” is burned and falls to the ground.The Temple is a multistory structure that is spiritual, not religious, where artists leave things in remembrance.All debris and ash is carried out leaving a clean slate for the next year.
- Jennifer describes Burning Man as an art movement, the “Impressionist movement of our day.”An art movement rebels against the status quo of accepted art, artists influence and help each other and find meaning and share with each other.The established art world originally dissed the event but is now coming to accept this new creativity of anything goes.It is entirely subjective, outrageous and provocative.It is a conjuring of one’s dreams, visions and a source of wonder.
Thanks to Jennifer Raiser for an impressive talk and be sure to check out her books and publications: Burning Man: Art on Fire; In the Spirit of Napa Valley; The Art of Being Bill Murray; Designing Retirement Communities for the Future; and numerous articles for the San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, and other publications.
To view this meeting, use the link below:
Our very own Burlingame Rotarian, Mark Lucchesi has started a podcast for the Burlingame Historical Society called "Burlingame is a Small Town." He has interviewed a number of Burlingame Rotarians as well as other prominent folks in our community. You can check out his YouTube podcasts 