Join active members and guests of the Rotary e-Club Houston on Saturday, March 18th at 11:30 am. Arrive early to order lunch at Caliente restaurant located in Town & Country Shopping Center next to Flemings. Garage parking can be validated - bring your ticket with you into the restaurant. The address is 790 W. Sam Houston Parkway, Suite 112 (Houston, TX 77024). This meeting is for everyone in Houston to meet face-to-face and have great Rotarian fellowship.
Come learn about learning differences with speaker Gayle Fisher. Gayle has a Master's degree in Educational Technology from Texas A&M University, and she has a passion for advocating for the rights of those with learning differences. Her presentation: Self-Directed Learning, Platform Building and Intrinsic Motivation Lead to "In the Flow" of Learning. This same talk was presented at EduCon 2016.
We also need to discuss selling tickets for the Kayak Fundraiser and other Rotary business for the remainder of this year. Hope to see you there! Next month we will have another on-line social/meeting,
Early Irish-American immigrants couldn't foresee the St. Patrick's Day celebrations of today: Hoards of drunken people elbowing their way to the bar for another green Bud Light.
After all, 19th Century immigrants celebrated St. Patrick's Day — always March 17 on the Feast of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland — as a way to honor their heritage while embracing their new homeland. It often came with parades, food and a little bit of partying.
It wasn't until later on that St. Patrick's Day was celebrated in Ireland. There it's a national holiday with schools and government buildings closed. Eamonn McGrath, a native Irishman and executive director of the Irish Cultural Center of New England, equates the day to the Fourth of July, where people spend time with family, attend a special Catholic mass, drink, eat and go to a parade.
McGrath claims St. Patrick's Day is "more raucously and widely" celebrated outside of Ireland than inside, a phenomenon he said makes sense. All people with Irish heritage, he said, long for home."
"Pub culture was never about getting drunk," said Professor Christopher Dowd of the University of New Haven, "It was about socializing, usually around music or storytelling."
That means any St. Patrick's Day revelry should be kept social and celebratory. Here are other ways to celebrate St. Patrick's Day the right way.
Eat Irish -
It's peasant food, but a perfect meat and potato base for your celebration.
Shepherd's Pie is made with beef and vegetables and topped with mashed potatoes. There's colcannon, mashed potatoes mixed with a type of green, often cabbage. Irish soda bread is a simple, dense, not-too-sweet bread that goes well with corned beef and cabbage. That dish, it turns out, may be more American than Irish. McGrath said Irish immigrants ate bacon and cabbage in the homeland. But they couldn't afford bacon in America, so they opted for the cheaper corned beef.
Don't forget about Irish boxty, a potato pancake, and Dublin coddle, a mixture of potatoes, onions and sausage topped with bacon.
Drink Irish
The Irish are known for their Guinness, but there's plenty of other beer options such as Harp, Murphy's, Smithwick's and Beamish & Crawford. If it's in the cards, Irish whiskey is always popular. Try Jameson, Bushmills and Tullamore D.E.W. For those early starters, Bailey's Irish Creme goes well in coffee.
The raucous nature of today's St. Patrick's Day celebrations, McGrath explained, doesn't rattle the Irish.
"I think people want to feel Irish for the day and feel part of the Irish diaspora," he said, but added, "it kind of feeds that old stereotype that the Irish are drunks. That's probably not a good thing."
Jam Irish
Upbeat traditional Irish music is crucial, McGrath said, to a proper St. Patrick's Day. Some Irish classics to consider: "Skibbereen," "Finnegan's Wake," and "The Fields of Athenry." Crank up the Clancy Brothers, The Dubliners and The Wolf Tones. When the fiddle and banjos wear off, there's always other Irish artists Van Morrison, The Pogues, U2 and The Cranberries.
Watch an Irish movie classic
Dowd suggests people pay homage by watching a movie rooted or set in the Emerald Isle, such as The Quiet Man, which according to IMDB, features John Wayne as a boxer who returns home to Ireland, where he falls in love. Dowd, who teaches Irish literature, also recommends The Commitments, about a Dublin soul band, andThe Wind that Shakes the Barley, a story of two brothers during the Irish War of Independence.
Read like the Irish
Dig up some Irish poetry or gothic literature. There's always James Joyce, the author of great Irish novels such as Dubliners and Finnegans Wake. There's also Bram Stoker, who brought us Dracula.
Watch Gaelic hurling and football
The two sports unique to Ireland, Gaelic hurling and Gaelic football, host championship games on St. Patrick's Day.
LA TORETTA LAKE RESORT AND SPA (www.latorrettalakeresort.com)
47 MINUTES FROM 610 NORTH TO THE FACILITY
OUSTANDING ROOM RATE – ALL SUITES MAIN TOWER @ $139 OR LAKE VILLAS @ $159 / NIGHT (LAKE VILLAS CONSIST OF 2 ROOMS, $159 EACH). GOLF COTTAGES (2 ROOMS IN EACH) ALSO AVAILABLE AT $139 PER ROOM PER NIGHT.
MAKE CAREFUL NOTE THAT WE HAVE ONLY 32 GOLF COTTAGES AND 10 LAKE VILLAS AVAILABLE. WE HAVE 288 ROOMS IN THE MAIN TOWER. TOWER, ROOMS ARE ALL SUITES, 2 X QUEEN OR 1 X KING BED ROOMS. BOOK EARLY!!!!
45 YD. COVERED WALKWAY FROM HOTEL FRONT DOOR TO CONVENTION CENTER DOORS!!
ALL CONFERENCE FACILITIES IN ONE CONCISE AREA, REGISTRATION, MEALS, MEETINGS AND HALL OF FRIENDSHIP. ALL MEALS INCULDED FROM THURSDAY PM THRU SATURDAY PM.
MAXIMUM TIME TO ENJOY THE FACILITY WILL BE BUILT INTO OUR AGENDA. MAJOR SPOUCES PROGRAM UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!! FIRST TIME ATTENDEES SPECIAL CHECK IN AND ASSISTED THROUGHOUT CONFERENCE.
GOLF COURSE ONSITE, PROBABLE FISHING COMPETITION!! NO NEED TO LEAVE THE FACILITY.
This is a Rotary fundraiser event open to the public to be held on Saturday, May 20th, from 3:00 pm until 5:00 pm at the Riva Row Boat House (2101 Riva Row, Spring, Texas).
Single Kayak
$37.92 each
Tandem two person
$43.19 each
Paddle Board
$43.19 each
Tickets will not be available the day of the event so purchase your tickets today! Bring your favorite snack. Dogs are welcome in kayaks too! (space permitting) A valid ID is required for participation and participants will need to sign a liability waiver. The Rotary Foundation transforms your gifts into projects that change lives both close to home and around the world. As the charitable arm of Rotary, we tap into a global network of Rotarians who invest their time, money, and expertise into our priorities, such as eradicating polio and promoting peace. Foundation grants empower Rotarians to approach challenges such as poverty, illiteracy, and malnutrition with sustainable solutions that leave a lasting impact. Strong financial oversight, a stellar charity, and a unique funding model mean that we make the very most of your contribution. Give and become a part of Rotary’s life-changing work!
This is what one of our most recent members Marcio de Assis did. Marcio lives in Brazil, and he is the brother of our member Marcia Allgayer and son of our member Margareth Natali who live in South Carolina. We are so happy many of our members are families that are part of a bigger family: Rotary. Yesterday a friend posted on Facebook about an elderly lady, Mrs. Zamboni, who is in the ICU at a hospital in Brazil with a life threatening condition. She had a serious complication and needed urgent donation of platelets. Adriane Miller tagged Marcio and his sister in that post because he lives near the town where Mrs. Zamboni was, and Adriane hopped he would share the post further to get donors from their city. But Marcio did made more than that. He took action. He actually went all the way to the hospital himself and donated blood. This is what Rotarians do. They see a need and they act. How are you serving humanity as a Rotarian? Please let us know so we can show examples of service to humanity and inspire others in creating a better world for all. Please send your story to newsletter editor Robin Charlesworth. Thank you Marcio and thanks to all of you who donate blood to save lives.
English is fast becoming the world's universal language, and instant translation technology is improving every year. So why bother learning a foreign language? Linguist and Columbia professor John McWhorter shares four alluring benefits of learning an unfamiliar tongue.
Why you should listen
John McWhorter is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, teaching linguistics, Western Civilization and music history. He is a regular columnist on language matters and race issues for Time and CNN, writes for the Wall Street Journal "Taste" page, and writes a regular column on language for The Atlantic. His work also appears in the Washington Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Aeon magazine, The American Interest and other outlets. He was Contributing Editor at The New Republic from 2001 until 2014.
Beyond his work in linguistics, McWhorter is the author of Losing the Race and other books on race. He has appeared regularly on Bloggingheads.TV since 2006, and he produces and plays piano for a group cabaret show, New Faces, at the Cornelia Street Cafe in New York City.
Read on to learn about her trip and how Paula Schwartz and her fellow Rotarians are making a difference in the world.
"My husband and I joined 8 other Rotarians on a 12 day trip to Tanzania in January. Part of this trip was a safari and part of the trip was Rotary service. I could go on for days about the safari, but to suffice it to say we saw some amazing animals in their own environments. As me later about the elephant and the tent story! Everyone should put a safari on their bucket list.
Wanzita is the scholarship exchange student from Tanzania who is currently staying in Northfield and having a wonderful exchange year. We visited her mother and family on their rural "farm" in Tanzania. The extended family of 10 lives in a 8 x 12 hut without running water or electricity. Can you all imagine the culture shock Wanzita went through coming to the United States? She plans on returning to her village and studying to become a nurse.
We spent four days in various service opportunities. Edina Morningside has participated in a small international grant funding Project Zawadi and the bunkbeds. PROJECT ZAWADI’s mission is to provide educational opportunities within a nurturing environment to orphaned and other vulnerable children in Tanzania, so that they become self-reliant and active members of their communities. Children were walking miles to get to school, so the building of a dormitory has made it possible for them to stay at the school during the week. Our traveling team spent a day handing out shoes, school uniforms and school supplies to the 250 children that Project Zawadi supports...... in addition to visiting 3 of the schools.
The women of our traveling team also spent one day teaching the young girls of ProjectZawadi how to sew their own menstrual kits. This is a project initiated by Districts 5950 and 5960. Being that there was no electricity, the sewing machines were the old treadle machines but our mission was successful!
We attended the Rotary meeting of Tanzania. We spent the day visiting the three projects that that club is involved in.
1. This project is a school for Albino children. Apparently Albino'ism is very prevalent in Africa and not surprisingly, these children are ostracized.
2. We visited a school run by Catholic nuns for young girls running away from genital mutilization..... which is still common in Africa. The Rotarians provided a fish pond for tilapia to help feed the girls.
3. The Rotary Club of Tanzania also has a micro economics program where they give about $300.00 US each month to several Albino adults. This money is used to fund a business such as basket weaving. Each month the business owner pays Rotary back from the proceeds of their business and lives off the other profits. This business model provides an opportunity for self reliance to individuals not otherwise able to support themselves and their families."
At RI President's recent visit to Houston, he shared with PDG Ed Charlesworth some interesting stats on Rotary e-clubs. There are currently 358 e-clubs worldwide with 7,251 Rotarian active members in e-clubs. SOOOOO- buy your tickets to our party or you may not get in as it should be SOLD OUT before your arrival in Atlanta.
Your ticket includes appetizers, entree, dessert and beer or wine.
Hosted by the Rotary E-Club 9920 Francophone and the Rotary E-Club of Houston D5890, Texas USA.
Location: Der Biergarten 300 Marietta St. SW (walking distance from Convention center).
Great! Now click on the Membership Application in the bar above which is a Word document. Complete the application and email it to our club Membership Chairman as shown below. On the membership application you will be asked if you have attended two Rotary e-Club of Houston meetings on-line. Look for the Weekly Program and either view the video or read the article, then go to the tab for Weekly Meeting beneath the banner of the page and submit the attendance form to receive credit. If you have any questions, please email Barbara Conway at bconway@neuhaus.org. We look forward to getting to know you and working together on service projects wolrdwide as we live our Rotary Motto of "Service Above Self".
Barbara Conway
Membership Chair 2016-2017
Rotary e-Club of Houston, Texas, USA
Please mail your dues to: Michael Miller, 11 Beebrush Pl, The Woodlands TX, 77389,
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