THE LAMORINDAN 8-14-09

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Paul Fillinger offered up the day's wisdom from T.S. Eliot, Ansel Adams, Albert Einstein, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thomas Carlisle and the Book of Ecclesiastes, saying "Only those who risk going too far can make a picture of a man trying not to be a success or to be something, but rather is an amateur artist trying to do less than he ought, and yet infinite, and of few words."

Or something like that.

VISITING ROTARIANS

Mark Figone - El Cerrito Past President (during George Chaffey's District Governor year)

GUESTS OF OTHER PERSUASIONS

Jeff Juhala - Friend of Paul Fillinger's, and more about him in a bit.
Jack and Julie Hockel - proud parents of today's guest speaker

BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES, AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS GOODIES

George Chaffey had a birthday, which he spent with old high-school classmates. (That must have been a whooooole lot of money he owed them.)   He and Carol also had an anniversary. King John assessed $40. Sounds to us as though George got off cheap.

John and Connie Linneman celebrated their 34th anniversary at a restaurant other than Postino. Can you believe? Scandal? No, just a private party at, yup, Postino. Whew, had us worried there for a fleeting minute.

Tom Black had a birthday. SFMOMA to see Ansel Adams, Georgia O'Keeffe and Richard Avedon exhibits, then to Doggie Diner, or so he said. A secret spy tells us it was really Delancey Street. $40 and no pictures, as one might expect of our official photographer.

Al Sevilla's wife Cindy had a birthday. Sayeth Al when asked what they did: "Nothing special. Well, she's special." Nice save, Al. $20 anyway, though.

Paul Fillinger somehow managed to forget to introduce Mark Figone, fellow Rotarian from El Cerrito, until sometime around 7:40. Herr Fazel summarily levied an assessment of $10 for the transgression. Since our newly anointed Sergeant-at-Arms was Dominic Porrino, who is still learning how this all works, Rich Shearer stepped up and showed him by (a) grabbing the bucket, (b) pointing out that His Fazelness didn't notice it either, and (c) getting John to match Paul's ten-spot. No thanks needed; just part of bringing the callow newbies along.

NEWS FLASH: LAMORINDA SUNRISE ROTARIANS WIELD PAINT BRUSHES, POWER TOOLS, LADDERS - NO VISITS TO EMERGENCY ROOM REPORTED

No, the headline is not a misprint. An LSR contingent, consisting of John Fazel, Thomas Raeth, Dan Garfin, Gary Fulcher, Skip McCowan and daughter Amy McCowan, Tom Black, Alex Arnold and Rich Shearer and fiancé Valerie Heusinkveld, assembled at the Rush Ranch in Fairfield on Saturday, Aug.15, to help put the finishing touches on a newish barn meant to look old. (This is being accomplished in part by using boards cribbed from an old structure elsewhere on the premises.) The crew stained designated boards (battens, to be precise), used Black and Deckers for pre-drilling nailed said battens into place, and -- get this -- used ladders and walked on roofs to do all of this. No deaths or even injuries. Wow! In fact, nobody did anything to themselves that Ben-Gay, Advil and ice packs couldn't handle. The really amazing part is that our assigned tasks were completed on time and under budget, so much so that Rich Shearer found time to play blacksmith and, after what seemed like three and a half hours, produced one whole honest-to-golly-gosh two-inch nail as a take-home souvenir.

So what is Rush Ranch? It is a really neat ranch (duh) located in the rolling hills on the fringes of the Suisun marshes about 10 minutes south of, but a world away from, Suisun City. It houses a working blacksmith shop that is over 100 years old and has a ton of neat old stuff, some of which doubtless would fetch princely prices on eBay. It has various displays and is available for groups. It has barns and hay and fences and animals, including a goat named Goat (no "kidding"), and tools and all the accouterments of a working ranch. It's also dedicated open space, so it's 2,000-plus acres will be preserved forever and ever amen.

But most of all, it is the home of Access Adventure, the labor of love of one Michael Muir, great-grandson of fabled naturist John Muir. Access Adventure takes less-than-fully-abled people on wagon rides. Very special wagon rides. These are purpose-built wagons that are pulled by Percherons and Frisians (translation - large, strong work horses), and the rigs can go into surprisingly rough and remote terrain, offering access to beautiful places that many disabled - or abled, for that matter -- folks otherwise would never have a chance to see. Michael Muir has spoken to our Club, and Access America has been of special interest to Mary Lou Fazel -- and John, too, of course -- for many a moon. It was a great day in a lovely spot (you really should see it -- Rush Ranch is a lovely location), and Lamorinda Sunrise was able to do what it does best - do some good in the world and have fun doing it.

The biggest challenge for all was not performing the labor. It was combating an armada of horse flies, some big enough to saddle. In fact, several were, in fact, saddled. Look for it on YouTube.

Thanks, John, for setting this up. It truly was a good day and for a good cause.

A CHANCE TO SEE ROTARY IN ACTION

Every year, District 5160 sends a GSE team to another country. "GSE" stands for "Group Study Exchange," and it's a chance for young-ish folks (non-Rotarians) of all different jobs to travel to another country for a month or so to learn about how folks who do the same kind of work do it there. Then, similar folks from the same country come here and do the same thing. It's a great program.

So here's the deal: The District needs a GSE team leader who is a Rotarian. Thomas Raeth was a GSE team leader in 1996. This year, the exchange is with the Rotary District centering on Monterrey, Mexico, and will take place next year from April 5 to May 2. This is a great chance to have a great time and make a real difference. If you want to know what is involved, talk to Thomas. If you are interested in being a GSE team leader, talk to King John.

AND A CHANCE TO SEE OTHER GOOD WORKS IN ACTION

Paul Fillinger's erstwhile Toastmasters friend, Jeff Juhala, was in the house today.   That's nice, but even nicer is what he does. Jeff is the training director for Royal Family Kids Camps. This is not just another bunch of summer camps. Well, actually it is just another bunch of summer camps. What makes them special is the clientele -- foster kids. There is a whole bunch of stuff foster kids miss out on under the best of circumstances -- and circumstances are rarely their best for these kids. Jeff gave a brief description of what he does and what these marvelous camps offer. Thanks for letting us in on this, Jeff.

SAYAKA SAYS, REDUX

Remember Sayaka? Our Youth Exchange student from Japan? George Chaffey updated us on the doings of our Queen of Lime Green High-Top Converse Sneakers. It turns out that our Sayaka is (a) married, (b) a new mother and (c) an English teacher.

HELP NEEDED FOR THE LAFAYETTE ART & WINE FESTIVAL

Alex Arnold is spearheading efforts to help out directing traffic and such at the annual Lafayette Art & Wine Festival, Sept. 19 and 20. Where? Go to downtown Lafayette and you'll find it. Impossible to miss.

Anyway, Alex is looking for folks to do three hour shifts and has a sign-up list. If your name isn't on it yet, contact him and have your name added.

OH, AND WESTIVAL IS COMING UP

The self-same Alex Arnold went on to remind that we will once again be selling hot dogs at Lafayette Elementary's annual Fall/Halloween carnival, cleverly named Westival, Oct. 10, at - you guessed it -- Lafayette Elementary School between 3:00 and 7:00 p.m. Mark your calendars.

DICTIONARY PREP LOOMS

Our annual dictionary-for-third-graders project is in the works. Dictionaries have been ordered, the stickers and letters are being made, and the Raeths will once again open their lovely house for this month's TGITLFOTM as the time to put the stickers and letters in the dictionaries before we take the dictionaries to every third-grader attending public school in town. Be there, or be square.

MOTORCYCLE RIDE REPORT

Our intrepid bikers breakfasted at Millie's and then terrorized the roads of the East Bay. Okay, maybe not terrorized. But they seem to have had a great time. Also, it appears that Hays Englehart brought along everything but the kitchen sink, including tons of video equipment. With that equipment, Hays was prepared to memorialize the whole shindig. When the group stopped and Hays pulled out his computer to show off the video extravaganza, there it was - one photo. But a GOOD photo!

But they clearly had fun, and that's what matters.

BECKY WARE, ARGENTINA BOUND

Our very own Becky Ware, daughter of Steve, is getting ready to head off to Argentina for her Youth Exchange year. Today, she graced us with a PowerPoint presentation showing the city to where she will be traveling (Comodoro Rivadavio, pop. 130,000, a mere 1,125 miles south of Buenos Aires), her first host family (including a daughter about Becky's age) and her host Club (Comodoro Rivadavio Oueste). It's clear she will be in good hands,

Of course, Becky would love to hear from us. You can e-mail her at ware.becky@gmail.com.   Have a great time, Becky.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG

Dom Porrino won the raffle and pulled the white marble, to the tune of razzing and miscellaneous abuse. And no, the headline has nothing to with the item, but I'm running out of ideas and this scribe's brain hurts.

PROGRAM

Today's speaker, Christi Hockel, is an amazing 30-year-old woman. She loves to dance: at age three, she danced the role of Clara in "Nutcracker," and at 25 she was teaching hip-hop classes in Minneapolis. She attends Diablo Valley College, sports a 3.9 GPA and serves as a teaching assistant. She works at Safeway, loves getting her paycheck, loves to cook, and loves to come home to her apartment. She has over 800 volunteer hours at John Muir Medial Center. On October 10, 2009, she is getting married to her fiancé, Austin, whom she met when he was a student in her hip-hop class. She will then go to live with him in Dallas. Yes, THAT Dallas.

Pretty routine sounding stuff. Pretty routine, that is, until you realize that Christi has Down Syndrome.

She explained that the condition is caused by virtue of being born with an extra chromosome. Most folks have 23 pairs of chromosomes, with each pair consisting of one from the mother and one from the father. People with Down have an extra chromosome in pair #21, making it "trisomic." Christi has a variation of Down Syndrome in which not all of her #21 chromosomes are trisomic -- some are, but some are the normal bisomic. Christi queried whether it was the trisomic or bisomic chromosomes that get her into trouble.

She can't have gotten herself into too much trouble, however. Not long ago, Christi was keynote speaker for the National Down Syndrome Congress. She has also been, literally, the poster person for the Congress, getting the "star" treatment at the photo shoot.

Christi gave us a glimpse into her education. It became clear very quickly that she was blessed to have parents who insisted that she receive every educational opportunity available. And teachers who insisted on developing what she CAN do, not allowing her or them to dwell on what she might not be able to do.

She also noted that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has opined that pregnant women should be tested to see if their unborn child has Down Syndrome. Christi noted that, in most cases where a fetus is identified as having Downs Syndrome, the fetus is aborted. Not surprisingly, she is deeply troubled by this.

Christi's central theme throughout her talk was simple and powerful: "We are more alike than different." And how profoundly right she is. Christi expressed her desire to earn her own living, to have her own place to live, to have her own friends, to have that special someone with whom to live and to continue learning.

How routine. How incredibly profound. One listener remarked afterward that her talk "sent chills up my spine." Doubtful that he was the only one so moved.

Thank you, Christi Hockel,, for reminding us of that the deeply human hopes, dreams and needs that spring from us truly do make us more similar than dissimilar.

CALENDAR

Friday, August 21 - Weekly meeting at Postino, 7:00 a.m. Program: Paul Fillinger recounts his and Glenda's recent trip to China as part of an Alliance for Smiles cleft palate surgery team.