Twenty-eight of us gathered at the Community Center. President Cary called the meeting to order. He then asked Victor Griffin to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Al Royse then came to the podium to deliver the invocation. In recalling the presidential debate of the night before, he was reminded of our democratic process and the reaffirmation of our political process. Of all our freedoms, Al feels that our right to vote and elect our leaders is the most precious. He concluded with a quote from one of his favorite presidents, Teddy Roosevelt.
Man in the Arena
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Cary then recognized Marc Friedman who had just returned from a trip to Africa. He assessed him a $5 fine. Marc offered to up that by contributing his remaining currency from several of the countries he visited. It seemed generous when you look at the value on the Zimbabwean note. However…….
Cary thanked the recent new members of his President’s Club, Phil Siegle, Lage Andersen and Alden Cunningham.
Our major fundraiser, the 12th Annual Golf Tournament, will be held on Monday, August 28th at Green Hills Country Club. Cary invited all members who won’t be golfing to join us for the post-golf event at 5PM in the Cypress Room. A list of the prizes for the golf raffle were available at each table and there was an opportunity to purchase a raffle ticket ahead of the event.
It was time for a little levity, so Jennifer Pence took the stage. Since school had once again begun following the summer break, she thought a show and tell would be in order. Jennifer asked for volunteers to recount experiences around a number of topics such as: class clown, substitute teacher, cutting class or detention. Bob Doerr shared an experience of his first day at a new high school where he made the transition from Robert to Bob, the name he’s been known as ever since. Not that it was a surprise to anyone, but Mike Harvey admitted to being kicked out of school for gambling. Not to be outdone, Cary Koh related his experience of intentionally getting kicked out of class with his friends so they could play poker in the hall. Lage Andersen picked up the topic of Class Clown which he related to Rotary meetings where the names of visiting Rotarians and guests would be changed to a made-up humorous one, a la Car Talk. Haywood Jubuzoff or Hugh Lyon-Sack. Victor Griffin and Carol Tanzi were also contributors to these tales of School Daze.
Jennifer then introduced our program speaker, our own Anne Bouliane. Anne followed her dreams of becoming a lawyer, attending Golden Gate Law School at night and clerking for a San Francisco Superior Court judge by day. She worked as an attorney for the SF Superior Court, and then became an assistant district attorney. Anne was appointed as a San Francisco Superior Court judge in 1989. After 20 years on the bench, she retired. But she was not finished with the law and signed up for the Temporary Assigned Judges Program. She serves as a substitute judge in many counties but does most of her work in the far north of California in Siskiyou County. Jennifer sat down with Anne for an interview, asking a number of questions about her current experiences. At the conclusion of the interview Anne then took questions from the gathered Rotarians.
For the complete program watch the Zoom recording. Skip to 46:1 in the video to begin with Anne& Jennifer.
Cary concluded the meeting with a presentation to Anne of a certificate noting that we would be donating five polio doses in recognition of her appearance as speaker.
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 