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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
 | | Of course he said it. He believes it. |
Paul Bettelheim's thought was: "Having the life you want by being present in the life you have." That's what he said. Really.
VISITING ROTARIANS
Gary Irwin - Moraga
Mike Keller - Lafayette
Bill Eames - Lafayette
Alicia Cragholm - You need to ask?
GUESTS OF OTHER PERSUASIONS
Kelli Nahos, American Cancer Society
Jim Newport, for the umpty-umpth time
Maggi Kurimai - Buena Vista Auxiliary and the reason we let Dennis hang around
Andy Calloway - Ditto on the BVA part, not so much on the Dennis part
DeeDee Tully - Also for BVA
BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES, AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS GOODIES
 | | Skip maybe should have stayed home today? |
Skip McCowan has a great family. He and Linda celebrated their 33rd anniversary, and their daughter, her boyfriend and their son graciously allowed Skip to buy them dinner at Lake Tahoe. Such consideration. Such filial piety. Such a $33 contribution to the Club's bank account. Such a $20 nuisance when Skip's cell phone went off later in the middle of the meeting.
MAYBE TIGER WOODS IS AVAILABLE
 | | Alicia came prepared |
The Lafayette Club is having its annual golf tourney on August 29, says Alicia Cragholm, whose attendance at our meetings is better than some of our Members'. Said tourney will be held at the Rossmoor Golf Course on Monday, August 29. Lamorinda Sunrise will, of course, rise to the occasion and sweep all before us on the road to victory. Or not. If you are interested, contact Alicia or any one of the other Lafayette Rotarians who have been visiting of late.
TURNING SOMETHING SAD INTO SOMETHING HELPFUL
 | | A big THANK YOU to Paula and Kelli |
Paula Bernard lost her mother to cancer recently. But she is not just sitting around collecting condolences. For example, today she brought Kelli Nahos of the American Cancer Society to tell us about the Relay for Life, an ACS event going on many communities, including Lafayette. The Lafayette event will take place from 4:00 p.m. August 19 to 11:30 a.m. August 20 at the Lafayette Christian Church parking lot.
What is Relay for Life? In a nutshell, it's an all-night event (or as much of it as you care to take part in) featuring laps (walking, running, handstands, whatever) around a designated area. The goal is to raise money, raise awareness, make friends, honor survivors and share the bonds that cancer creates and destroys. You can help by showing up, walking, encouraging, contributing, volunteering, and probably in other ways, too.
Interested? Check www.relayforlife.org. You can get info or sign up there.
MOTORAMA FOLLOW-UP
Remember that event we had back in June? You know, the car show and gala event? I think we called it "Motorama." Yeah, that was it.
As you might recall. We raised some money. Today, we donated some of it. In particular, we gave a check for well over $9,000 to the Buena Vista Auxiliary, a tremendous local group that promotes children's literacy through one-on-one tutoring to kids identified
 | | The ladies say THANK YOU to L.S. Rotary |
by their teachers as being able to benefit from this help. Andy Calloway, De Dee Tully and our own Maggi Kurimai were here to accept the check from Grand High Poo-Bah Alex Arnold. Ms. Calloway thanks us on behalf of BVA and let us know that our contribution will provide over 16 hours of tutoring to kids who will benefit.
Ms. Calloway did a great job of explaining the benefits this program confers on the kids. She did leave out one category of beneficiaries of Buena Vista's efforts, though: Us. All of us. Illiteracy costs every taxpayer untold millions of dollars in lost productivity and criminal justice expenses. "Howzat," you ask? The average reading level in the Contra Costa County lock-up is about fourth grade. It is not much different at any other county jail or state prison. Simply put, the vast majority of people who can read and earn an honest living do. So this is not only investment in kids, it's an investment in the well-being of the entire community.
Thanks to Andy Calloway, DeeDee Tully and Maggi Kurimai for sharing a bit about what BVA does. Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary can be very proud to sponsor such a great local cause.
TGITLFOTM ALERT
TGITLFOTM ("Thank God It's The Last Friday Of The Month") is always fun. Members, spouses, Significant Others, prospective Members, and the occasional stranger off the street get together on the last Friday of each month (except the months when we don't feel like doing it) to socialize, shmooze, and generally let down what little hair we have.
 | | Y'all come! |
This month, there's an extra thrill - the chance to trash Brad Davis' digs. Well, maybe that isn't fair to Carol, who has to live there, too, but you should come anyway. So how do you get there? From Hwy 24, take the Pleasant Hill Road exit, going north (towards Acalanes High). At the 4th light, turn right onto Green Valley Drive. Green Valley Drive will become Monarch Ridge Drive. When it does, Chez Davis will be the third house on the right, 585 Monarch Ridge Drive. Lost? Call 925-935-1915.
RSVP to Brad. Bring your friends. Bring your SO's. Bring potential Members. Bring an hors d'oeuvre to share. Bring something to drink, although there seems to seems to be surplus of white wine already available. Mike Edwards promises to bring a case of "leaky red bottles" of his justly-famous wine. See you there.
PROGRAM
 | | Yes...Cameron really is a chip off the old block |
He came for the breakfast, decided to stay when he won the Raffle and pulled the ever-elusive white marble, and then regaled us with tales of his recent sojourn to Europe. "He" is none other than Cameron Shearer, Rich's son and living proof that there is such a thing as a smart-ass gene.
As many of you know, Cameron is no stranger to Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary. He has sold many a Raffle ticket over the years (although nowhere near as many as the Sisters Ware), has helped at a number of work projects, and is a veteran of Camp Royal. Today, he spoke to us about his semester abroad in Florence (the one in Italy) and his month of Euro-traveling afterwards.
Cameron has been attending Diablo Valley College. "They don't have semester abroad programs there," you might think. And you would be oh-so-wrong. It operates through AIFS, the American Institute for Foreign Studies. AIFS doesn't think of everything, but they come pretty close: housing, health coverage, classes, food plans, and, if you want it, transportation to and from are all part of the program, and for one heck of a lot less than a similar program would cost through Cal State or UC.. AIFS has study-abroad opportunities all over the world. Florence was the one made available to Cameron, and that's where he went.
He took a full course load while in Florence - this is supposed to be a "semester" abroad, after all. The two courses that made the most impact were the required Italian Life and Culture course and one titled "Magic, Witchcraft and Religion." The Italian Life and Culture course was designed to give the students insights into what makes Italy, Italy. Cameron particularly enjoyed the cooking class parts of this course. Despite having "Witchcraft" in the title, the other course did not have a cooking component.
We saw photos of the apartment where Cameron lived with six other young men. It was here that Cameron learned two valuable life lessons. One, having the clothes washer in the kitchen is not a good use of space. Two, you do not have to get along with all your roommates, you just have to not smother them in their sleep.
Cameron had to walk past the Duomo every day to get to and from the Piazza della Republica, where school was held. This isn't quite like having to walk past the Taj Mahal twice a day, but it isn't far off. Cameron loved seeing this beautiful complex and was saddened the day that he realized that he had gotten so used to seeing it that he had almost walked by without noticing. Ed.Note: Cameron owned up to never climbing to the top of the Duomo, the Eifel Tower, or any of the other great European edifices that beg to be topped by most energetic young tourists.
Other notable sights in Florence included the statue of the life-sized and anatomically correct boar that is just there on the street. Also noteworthy to Cameron was Carnivale, which seems to be not one street fair and parade featuring gaudy floats and costumes, drinking and general partying, but a whole bunch of such events that happen every so often for no reason that Cameron could discern (not that he was complaining). One float was a larger-than-life rendition of President Obama in brightly colored suit, tie and top hat with a real live person dressed as Osama bin Laden popping out of the top of the hat.
Oh, remember the Hare Krishnas who used to be so annoying at airports? They have apparently moved to Florence. Cameron reported that they were all over town there, still singing the same song over and over and over. Maybe they blend better in Italy.
And then there was the Ponte Vecchio, or the Old Bridge. It used to be where the butcher shops were. Now it is where the incredibly expensive jewelry shops are.
Cameron also spent a good deal of time traveling to other European cities, both during and after his semester. His wanderings took him to Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague and Monte Carlo for weekend jaunts and Rome, Berlin (again), Munich and Paris for longer periods. To give only a small sampling of what he saw in only one place, he reports that in Berlin he (1) saw a portion of the Berlin Wall that is still standing and is now covered in murals and (2) took part in a pillow fight. Not a spontaneous outburst of youthful hijinks in one apartment, but rather a planned battle royal in a street or square involving dozens, if not hundreds, of Berliners happily swinging pillows at each other. (Hey, that Teutonic energy has to go somewhere and it has far lesser consequences than invading Poland.)
Oh, Cameron managed to be in Rome the weekend that Pope John Paul II was beatified. (Think of sainthood as the major leagues, and beatification as Triple-A, and John Paul II as having a fast-track ticket to The Show.) He was there along with about 1.5 million Poles. Suffice to say, getting close to the proceedings was simply not in the cards, although Cameron did see some of the ceremony on a huge JumboTron monitor installed near the Forum to allow additional hundreds of thousands to see and hear what was going on and be blessed by the Pope.
All of this culture and education should hold Cameron in good stead as he starts the next phase of his life. He has been accepted into UC Davis starting this Fall. This reporter can think of no better preparation for the months of cow-tipping and hay fever to come than seeing David in the flesh (okay, stone) and engaging in pillow fights with Germans.
CALENDAR
Friday, 7/29 - Postino 7am. Can You Canoe? Seeing is believing!
Friday, 7,29 - TGITLFOTM, 5:30 pm. Brad & Carol Davis host.
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