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By: Dr. Bill Harlan
President Chris Gallagher, “Top Gun,” continues to flaunt the Geneva Conventions by holding hostage the Surfer Boy Bobblehead in his Reign of Terror. (Don’t think we haven’t noticed.) Chris zoomed the meeting into order and paid tribute to RI president Holger Knaack of Germany. (Holger Knaack is the answer to the question, “Where do “double a’s” go to show off?”) Holger’s motto is “Rotary Opens Opportunities.” This set off a frenzy of Competitive Backgrounding among the Zoom participants: Chris Gayler led off with an Anti-Squirrel logo; Hermann Welm followed with a shot of the beach which prompted him to take off his shirt and Mike Conklin brought his three boys home on leave. And to think this madness started with Gobind Anand perching on the Golden Gate
Bridge!
Our Greeter Jerry Marrs brought some sanity to the proceedings. After the Salute he offered the hope that we meet others with active, empathetic listening skills, except Jerry had a whole bunch of specific suggestions involving various body parts this correspondent did not catch. Jerry’s son is still doing well in the Marines and flying around the world. His son Isaac is crushing it at Cal High. Jerry’s doing estate planning law now.
The President gave us the news items we may have missed: the bear in a convenience store getting beer, the little girl caught in the kite tail, the goat chewing the mail and the woman on the wing of an airplane cooling off. Top Gun opined that probably the most overt sign of optimism is ordering a 2021 calendar. On that hopeful note we intoned “Aloha.”
Announcements:
Chris and Priya Jhingan are working on a hybrid meeting in a few weeks where 12 lucky Rotarians will meet in the flesh while the rest of us watch. Colette Lay says we did all right on the collection for the Food Bank but could do better. Don Jones reminds us of socks for homeless. We got yelled at by three of the best about the Auction, Terry Koehne, Norbert Walz, Gary Sloan. Don’t forget we have pledged $250 each in merchandise or cash for the event. Interact Report: Thom Files caught us up on all the Interacters have been up to this summer. They have been holding Zoom meetings to keep everyone up to speed. Because of the cancellation of the annual Camp Venture week, they have been holding mini classes on-line covering the typical topics of the experience. For new students at Cal High the Club has been offering an orientation to the school. Club members have continued to make masks for the pandemic. To help in an outreach to a Interact club in Brazil, the members have been using the services of Vera Packard, our own Fount of Knowledge of all things Brazilian.
Recognitions:
President Gallagher recognized Colette Lay for a birthday cake and flowers. This correspondent was recognized for his 82 birthday which was held in conjunction with the 81st celebration of Hitler’s Invasion of Poland. (Historians are perplexed as to why the Germans decided to attack on Dr. Bill’s first birthday.)
Program:
Colette Lay introduced our presenter, Master Morgan Newman of the East-West Kung Fu School. She explained that the term “king-fu” was a generic title for Chinese martial arts; “tai chi” is the equivalent of meditation in motion. Master Newman introduced Ms. Lee, 15 years old, who demonstrated the physical aspects of king fu by repelling an attacker with a series of kicks, punches and jumps, all gracefully delivered and keeping strict social distance. Then Ms. Newman switched to qi gong, the emotional counterpart of the discipline. It is like a dance with slow, fluid movement, finding balance and inner peace. Ms. Myers showed us the beauty of qi gong behind the exercise. She is a active participant in competitive qi gong. (This correspondent understands that such contests can be brutal at a personal level.) The Master Newman led us in a meditation exercise which had us taking deep breaths from our stomach, raising our arms and bringing our hands together before our faces. It was very satisfying and restful, just what we need in these Covid days of summer. New students are always welcome at the East-West Kung Fu School. The session ended with Chris Gayler, a former student, knocking a bunch of papers on the floor.  Photo from East-West Kung Fu School website Photo from East-West Kung Fu School website Chris Gallagher made a terrible pun about “cross words” at the “crossword puzzle. Why do we continue to embarrass ourselves in front of strangers?
Patti Hennigan is next week’s greeter. The program is “I Can Do That.”
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