Ces Butner, President of Rotary Club of Oakland
Call to Order – Ces Butner
President Ces Butner called our Civic Thursday Zoom meeting to order at 12:30 p.m. noting this is the 5,331st meeting in our 111-year-old Club.
Lewis Griggs
Thought for the Day – Lewis Griggs
Lewis Griggs gave us the thought of the day. In honor of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, he presented three quotes:
- Malcolm X – “You can’t teach what you don’t know. You can’t take people where you won’t go.”
- James Baldwin – “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
- Angela Davis – “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.”
Visiting Rotarians and Guests
Past President Ed Jellen welcomed San Leandro Rotarian Dianne Dorn, guest of Jesse Bowdle.
Daniel Freeman
Self-Introduction – Daniel Freeman
Daniel Freeman got his blue badge and made his three-minute introduction. Daniel would sum up his life by the word “adventure”. He’s been a kayaker, scuba diver, backpacker and marathoner; has been charged by a bear, chased by a moose plus encounters by too many other animals to count, including an angry beaver. Daniel has been married 32 years and lived in 15 different cities. He has three daughters who live in Alaska, Washington and Oregon. As a leader in the Salvation Army, he has served others in a myriad of ways, currently at the Salvation Army Adult Rehab Center in Oakland.
Nik Dehejia
New Member Induction – Nik Dehejia
Joel Parrott sponsored and introduced our newest member Nik Dehejia. They have worked together at the Oakland Zoo for over 15 years beginning when Nik was the California Trails Project Manager. Joel announced that Nik would be taking over as CEO of the Oakland Zoo in early April. Nik is a community minded and focused individual who also enjoys riding his bike. Welcome Nik!
High Adventure Committee
Mark Rosen, co-chair of the High Adventure Committee, announced that today is National Johnny Appleseed Day. Johnny Appleseed was a real person and to celebrate him, we can eat fruit or plant a fruit tree. He planted apples to make hard cider and apple jack. Apple jack is a strong alcoholic drink which happened to be “America’s First Spirit”, but has since lost most all of its popularity. Currently Laird’s Apple Jack is a leading brand. Mark offered a recipe for Apple Jack Crumb Pie. Email him at mrosen@info-gate.com for the recipe.
Breakout Session
President Ces sent everyone to breakout rooms to enjoy fellowship and discuss the positives and negatives of the last year during the COVID shelter-in-place order. Earlier in the meeting we learned that a committee is at work on how Oakland Rotary will return to in-person meetings as soon as it is safe to do so with Pres. Ces at the podium in the California Ballroom.
Michael Tchong
Speaker for the Day – Michael Tchong
Allison Bliss announced today’s speaker, Michael Tchong. His most recent book Uber Trends was extremely popular and is currently working on a 4th book about the COVID lockdowns. Michael is a futurist who says forecasting the future can be extremely difficult. Who could have guessed a worldwide pandemic would happen in 2020? The past year has been crazy and very few could have predicted the COVID pandemic, transition to Zoom or the necessity of wearing masks. Michael rattled off dozens of upcoming trends including a new social medial platform, Clubhouse. Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) are digital tokens of art or even sports experiences.
Food takeout is booming and expected to maintain its market share of food purchases in the future. Restaurants and kitchens are becoming decentralized where you order via an app and the food is delivered without being tied to any specific kitchen/restaurant. Green energy and the electrification of automobiles will further change our makeup of energy use. Michael then went on to discuss how all businesses are tech companies these days and the future of business is online and through apps. Startups operating in the cloud will also change the way we work. Michael answered questions about the impact to certain industries and what might revert to previous patterns.
See Michael's video segment here: https://youtu.be/bZD81-Ljugw
Bellringers
Executive Administrator Jesse Bowdle announced the following bellringers:
Ruth Stroup rang the bell twice: once for Daniel Freeman and the work he does in the community and again for Nik Dehejia.
Isaac Kos-Read and Mike Bruck rang the bell for Nik Dehejia.
Adjournment
President Ces closed the meeting a few minutes after 1:30 p.m. by ringing the bell with his closing adage “and that’s the way it went” plus the reminder that Rotary Opens Opportunity for Service Above Self.
Birthday Greetings
Happy Birthday! Celebrating between March 14 and 22 are:
14 – Merlin Edwards
17 – Roberta Abel
20 – Ryan Spink
– Suzie Yokomizo
21 – Gio Tanzillo
22 – Garrett Dailey
Note: This birthday list is based on membership information in ClubRunner. Please update your ClubRunner account to help us keep this information current. If you need help with ClubRunner, please contact our Executive Administrator.
Membership Anniversaries in March
Thank you for your years of service to the Rotary Club of Oakland and the community!
- Tom Love – 49 years
- Jeff Allen – 36 years
- Mike Bruck – 30 years
- Randy Reed – 30 years
- Barbara Beery – 27 years
- Elida Scola – 15 years
- Jill Loh Kearns – 14 years
- Ana-Marie Jones – 13 years
- Matt Ching – 9 years
- Ken Kawaichi – 9 years
- Betsy Biern – 7 years
- Mark Epstein – 4 years
- Kim Johnson – 4 years
- Siddhi Saraiya – 4 years
- Jason Dreisbach – 3 years
- Kevin Kelley – 3 years
- Sonja Malaga – 3 years
- Reenie Raschke – 3 years
- Amani Soliman – 3 years
- Julayne Virgil – 3 years
- Marilyn Galiothe – 2 years
- Georgia Richardson – 2 years
- Kathleen Sims – 2 years
Eric Foner
Next Meeting, March 18 – Eric Foner – The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution
Robert Kidd announced our next speaker will be American Historian Eric Foner. He will examine the three constitutional amendments that followed the Civil War (the 13th, 14th, and 15th) including what they were trying to accomplish, how the Supreme Court eviscerated and, more recently, resurrected them, and their relevance to the struggle for racial justice today.
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