In the Beginning...
The persistent gloom of June was broken by the warm camaraderie of the coterie of Rotary kin which clocked in at St. Thomas Aquinas on or about noontide. It was the best of times, at worst the middling of times.
Extracting lucre with his usual gusto and bonhomie was Dave Brubaker (or was it Fess Parker’s ghost?). Suzanne Scar welcoming us warmly into a well-appointed room due to the ministrations of Bret (Jr.) Nighman and crew. Ren Adam led us through the Pledge, while our inspirational moment was a poem about leadership from Cindy Frings.
Visiting Rotarians and Guests included:
- For the final time as a Guest, Christopher Williams
- Daylin Westin, introduced around by the inimitable Greg Webster.
-Zoomers included Dr. Bob Skankey and co-pres to be Bill Prather.
After the bell dinging and such forth, our guests were led through the chow line for the delicious repast of fettuccine Alfredo from Jayne Cruz and her crew.
Carl set the tone for the meeting with the following anecdote:
An old farmer writes to his son in prison;
Dear son, this year I wont be able to plant potatoes because i can't dig the field by myself, I know if you were here, you would help me.
The son writes back; dad don't even think of digging the field because that's where I buried the money i stole.
The police read the letter and the next day the whole field was dug by police looking for the money but nothing was found.
The following day the son wrote again....
Now plant your potatoes dad … Its the best I can do from here...
Heading up the lively assemblage was the other co-president to be, Dr. Carl Gross, who updated us on present president Marty Babayco’s condition: he had been admitted to the ICU at CMH for a downturn in his condition but according to partner-in-presidenting Kay Bliss, had been released to the regular hospital bed. He has since been discharged home.
Announcements:
Letter from Rylee Pupa, recipient of Rotary Scholarship
With my time at UCSB coming to an end, I wanted to give you all an update regarding my academic progress in my final year of college. I spent the fall semester in an exchange program at Lund University in Sweden. While in Sweden I studied Geographic Information Systems (GIS) full time, and upon my return have been collaborating on two GIS related research projects at UCSB. I finished off the winter quarter at UCSB with a 4.0 GPA, and I am close to finishing my last spring quarter. I will be graduating from UCSB in the next few weeks, and I have accepted an internship position working on the GIS team at a renewable energy company in Santa Barbara. I'm thrilled to have been offered this position and to get to stay in Santa Barbara after graduation. All of the incredible opportunities both in my academics and in my everyday life at UCSB would not have been possible without the continual support from the Rotary Club of Oja Education Foundation. I am eternally grateful for the college experience I have had ad the career path that my education at UCSB is leading me towards. I have included my transcript and spring class schedule with this letter to provide proof of enrollment for my senior year. Thank you so much for everything!
Sincerely,
Rylee Pupa
It is so heartening to see our students' academic and personal growth, aided by our support.
Remember, we are not meeting 6/23 (Demotion Party Cancelled) and 6/30 (Dark for 4th of July). The next meeting will be 7/7, the start of our new Rotary year.
Cluff Vista Cleanup on June 25th from 8:30 to 11 a.m. Christine Golden urged us to show up to take care of this neglected Ojai treasure, bringing our gloves, knee pads, hats and tools.
• Blue Badge Presentations: Deirdre Daly brought forth Dr. Jerry Maryniuk and Bob Eisler, who both had completed their tasks for becoming full-fledged members of the club, after attending various committee meetings and helping with set up and club services.
• New Member Induction: Deirdre Daly and Greg Webster brought forth Chris Williams for his induction into the club. Chris is a fifth-generation Ojaian with a degree in psychology and has served as treasurer of the local Young Professionals chapter. She essayed forth on the honor and traditions of the life “of service about self.” And welcoming him to 1.4 million worldwide member fold. His sponsor was Rod Owen and mentor Dave Watson.
Bret brought up Jerry Dunn with the following introduction:
"Our speaker today is Jerry Dunn, an award-winning travel writer who worked with the National Geographic Society for 35 years.
He was both writer and editor at their Traveler magazine, then went on to write books for Nat Geo and the Smithsonian.
As a freelancer, he’s the author of hundreds of magazine and newspaper stories.
His eleven books include My Favorite Place on Earth, where 75 remarkable people -- from the Dalai Lama and Jane Goodall to Jerry Seinfeld – reveal the places they love most in the world.
Jerry's travel stories have won three Lowell Thomas Awards, the "Oscars" of the field, from the Society of American Travel Writers.
He and his family have lived in Ojai for 36 years. Please welcome . . . my friend and mentor, JERRY DUNN.”
Jerry started us with a reminder of what a rare privilege it is to live during an age when we can jet around the world in hours what could previously take months. He said a key to rewarding travel was to tear ourselves away from the electronic distractions so ubiquitous these days. “I’m a fan of the non-virtual reality,” he said.
His career began as a Stanford Law School dropout who spent a “year traveling the world as a vagabond.” Among the experiences was earning $4 a day as an extra on Bolllywood film sets. By getting off the beaten tracks and forging his own travel experiences, he witnessed many sights and experiences that many tourists never see.
Travel Tip One: “Try to see the world through other people’s eyes.” For example a British aristocrat, a tuk tuk driver in Bangkok or a fisherman in Sri Lanka. Jerry and family were touring the Tower of London’s Crown Jewels when his six-year-old son said to squint your eyes when you look at them. When he did, the collection of precious stones and jewelry refracted through the squint into an explosion of light rays, entirely transforming the experience into something transcendent.
National Geographic Traveler sent him to Kenya to visit with a top bush guide when they spotted an enormous footprint in the mud, and observed a fresh zebra carcass. The guide Galla Galla explained that particular lion was the largest in the entire country. His powers of observation were so keen that Dunn described them as “almost supernatural.” He could smell a leopard in a tree a quarter-mile away. So during his days on the safari Jerry was able to develop his own senses to deepen his experience and take him outside the ordinary.
Renee Hallbrook came forward as Jerry played a little game. He flipped through 50 or more travel destinations and told Renee to focus on one of them as he studied her face, trying to sync up with her thoughts. He took out his sketchpad and drew the Eiffel Tower, guessing correctly that Renee was thinking of Paris. Minds positively blown 🤯.
He also talked about funny translations of signs in foreign countries, such as the hotel in Germany that told people to “leave their values at the desk” or that the “Waiter has passed all the water.” These are the delights that close observation brings.
Travel Tip Two: Don’t go with the guidebooks! In Florence, Italy he stumbled across the Ferragamo museum and learned about the history of shoes, and the famous shoemaker Salvatore Ferragamo would make 100 pairs of shoes each year for an Indian princess, and she would send bags of precious jewels like rubies and sapphires with which to adorn them. He also got to learn that Marilyn Monroe based her poses on famous paintings, like the Botticelli “Venus on the Half Shell.” Her diary entries also show her vibrant wit and intelligence, which he would never have learned through the standard tours.
Travel Tip Three: Don’t treat travel as a product. “My favorite places have all been surprises.”
Travel Tip Four: “Have a positive effect wherever you go,” he said. He mentioned that excursion on a boat up a river in Sri Lanka which led to a lake with an island on which monks were drying their saffron robes. A sign said “No foreigners,” because, he learned, that a group of German backpackers had skinny-dipped in the lake, which caused great consternation among the monks and broke their meditative focus. Don’t be those guys was the lesson.
The fascinating and fast-paced talk took us around the world through the eyes of one of our foremost travel writers.
Prez Carl closed us out with a life hack:
“When taking a picture, squint your eyes to make your smile look much more genuine.”
Final Thought
Nelson Mandela: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."
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