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Bloomington Rotary Club's weekly newsletter. 

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Our 2020-2021 Rotary International motto: Rotary Opens Opportunities!
December 3, 2020
Dear <<First Name>>,
Next week's program

Ross Gay is the author of the poetry collections Be Holding and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, and the collection of essays, The Book of Delights.  He teaches at Indiana University and has been involved with the Bloomington Community Orchard for many years. He will be reading from The Book of Delights. Join us on Zoom.

THIS WEEK'S NEWS

Rotarians in the News
 
Trent Deckard is one of 17 people who have been named to the newly formed Waldron Recommendation Task Force to help determine the future of the John Waldron Arts Center, which will revert from Ivy Tech Community College ownership to the city of Bloomington in January. 
 
Chris Michael-Morrison and Wheeler Mission were featured in the Sunday Herald-Times article about the demand for shelter as temperatures drop. Wheeler Mission will open a 2,100-square-foot facility in a week or so that will serve as a day facility for women experiencing homelessness. See wheelermission.org for more information on the donations needed and the volunteer opportunities available.
 
Connie Shakalis, Tim Jessen, and Byron Bangert all had articles in the Herald-Times this week. 
 
 
Scholarship Deadline Approaching
 
The deadline to apply for the 2021-2022 District Global Grant Scholarship is Dec. 18.  Think of people you know who might be interested and invite them to apply. Jim Bright is the Global Grant Scholarship co-chair. More information can be found at www.rotary6580.org.
 

Rotarians Needed to Ring Bells
 
Bloomington Rotarians will ring the bells again this year for the Salvation Army, at new locations, the eastside and south Kroger stores. Volunteer at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b094ba9ae2fa64-rotarysalvation.  The remaining dates are Dec. 5, 12 and 19.  The need this year is greater because so many parents have been furloughed or laid off and can't provide their children with toys and warm clothing. Some Rotarians can't ring bells this year because of underlying conditions, so if you are able, please consider signing up for two slots. Thanks to the members who have already done this. Thanks to Steve Moberly for coordinating our annual support.

THIS WEEK'S SPEAKER:
Holly Hays

Holly Hays, who is a reporter for the Indianapolis Star, spoke to us about “The Meaning of Indiana Names.” Holly studied with Owen Johnson, who introduced her. After George Floyd’s murder this summer, the Indianapolis Star realized it needed to improve its coverage of communities of color. Indianapolis is 28 percent black, but coverage in the Star does not reflect that. Holly is trying to explore Indiana’s history and to write stories that celebrate the work and lives of Black and brown people.
 
As a part of her efforts, Holly began to explore places in Indiana named for people who were racist. She noted IU’s decision to change the names of places that had been named for former IU president David Starr Jordan, who was a proponent of eugenics. She looked at the William Henry Harrison statue on Monument Circle. Harrison was pro-slavery and promoted treaties that were detrimental to the Native American people. Most of Indiana’s counties were named in the early 1800s, and about one-third of the counties are named for people who enslaved others or who supported racist policies. These include Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, Francis Marion, Daniel Morgan, James Monroe, and Patrick Henry.
 
Holly talked to IU professor Rasul Mowatt, who noted that public memory and history are not the same. He urged people to think about what we choose to remember and what we choose to forget. That representation creates a new reality. Inequity, inequality, and racism are deeply entrenched in American society and culture as well as in Hoosier history.
 
The Star is working on diversity. Its employees are 78 percent white and 13 percent Black, with other minority representation. Holly is co-chair of the newsroom’s diversity team. She said they are working on new ways to source news and creating a larger database of contacts so as not to call the same small handful of people for comment and information. Holly noted every newsroom needs to tackle racism and white supremacy. Newspapers need to tell more stories of different populations.
 
Holly encouraged us to share more history with students, look critically at the texts, use newer resources, such as the 1619 Project for Black history in the United States, and be more conscious of the angles we take in stories and history.     

DECEMBER 1
This Week's Meeting

Martha Wailes led our reflection, quoting to us from Winnie the Pooh’s friend Eeyore and from Yogi Berra, in a quote explaining jazz. Martha’s goal, which she accomplished, was to bring a smile to our faces.
 
Rotarians gave Happy Dollars to celebrate of a client who is doing well, Giving Tuesday, and the community Thanksgiving Service Nov. 24, at which our own Charlotte Zietlow read from the Psalms.
 
Our guests today were Edie McNelly Henderson, guest of Owen Johnson and mother of our speaker; Susan Adams from the New Albany Rotary Club; and Bob Walker from the Fort Myers (Fla.) Rotary Club.
 
Membership anniversaries:
  • Kay Leach, 32 years
  • Past President Keith Klein, 35 years
  • Past President Scott Walters, 32 years
  • Past President Bryan Price, 30 years
  • Jim Harvey, 45 years; 14 years in our club this time around
Over 50 people attended today. If you missed the meeting, you can see it via the club’s YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9apIEQDUbx7V4oPH-FWEkg.  
 
President Ashley Wesley presided at the Zoom meeting. Producers were Sally GaskillMichael ShermisEaron Davis, and Natalie Blais.
 
Reporter: Glenda Murray
BLOOMINGTON ROTARY CLUB | #3430
Board Members
Committees
UPCOMING MEETINGS
Noon on Tuesdays in the Memorial Union

(Currently held on Zoom):
 
Dec 15 Radhika Parameswaran and Pallavi Rao from Media School: Vice President Kamala Devi Harris: The Significance of Her Biracial, Bicultural, and Immigrant Identities.  Zoom.

Dec 22 No meeting

Dec 29 No meeting

Jan 5 Club Forum.  Zoom.

Jan 12 TBD.  Zoom.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
 
Teachers Warehouse  
Beginning November 30, shopping days will be reduced from five days per week to three, while opportunities for making donations are being expanded to three days each week:

Shoppers & Donations:

Monday & Wednesday
3:30 - 6:00 p.m.

Saturday:
9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

For more information, reach out to our club’s contact, Marilyn Wood (marilyndswood@gmail.com) or TW volunteer coordinator, Sue Cull (skcull52@gmail.com).

CLUB LOCATIONS
for Meeting Make-ups
 
Bloomington Sunrise Rotary meets on Wednesday at 7 a.m. at Village Deli on Kirkwood Ave.
 
Bloomington North Rotary meets on Thursday at noon in the IMU Tudor Room.

Both clubs are currently meeting on the same days and times on Zoom.  If interested in attending,
email Natalie at jennerblais@gmail.com for the Zoom link.
UPCOMING ROTARY EVENTS

2021

JAN 19 (TUES)
District Grant Seminar
5:30-6:30 p.m.

FEB 20 (SAT)
District Leadership Meeting

MAR 20-21 (SAT-SUN)
PETS

APR 17-18 (TUES-WED)
District Conference
Embassy Suites, Plainfield
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Bloomington Rotary
P.O. Box 2026
Bloomington, IN 47402

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Bloomington Rotary · P.O. Box 2026 · Bloomington, IN 47402 · USA

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