August 24, 2016 Newsletter

President Damon started our meeting with this day in History…......  

 

 

 

Cindy (our brand spanking new member) very warmly greeted us this morning and next week Josh will be at the door with a smile  to say good morning.

 

Anwyn Darrow- guest speaker

Amelia Darrow- guest speaker’s mom

Nicholas No Last Name Nephew of Ed Dews

Nicole Barry (aka Nikki)

Debra Rosenweig- prospective member

Cindy Ferrante- Nooner

 

 

Nick DuBois

Mark Ethier

Arden Fagelson

Robert Fagelson

Diane Hashagen

Drew Hazelton

KJ Johnston

Jeff Kelliher

Todd Murchison

Jason Posternak

Valerie Stuart

Jim Verzino

    ……working from memory and that is not exactly as reliable as I’d like to admit.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:  

 

 

 

BIRTHDAYS: No Birthdays today L

CARDS:  10 of Spades..… and the winner is ~  YOU LOSE LOSERS!!!!

 

 

This Rotarian worked for 5 months on remote Pearl Farm and I’m not Jon Secrest…..Jerry was picked to go first and he guessed Will who guessed Tristam who guessed Jim who guessed Josh (who evidently is the only member who believes women can do anything) who guessed Shannon which was the correct choice!!

 

 

Sadie:  Lots to brag for. First wanted to brag from Jim and his Gaye for their performance in Eurydice at Next Stage in Putney. Second brag for mom being town…for the BIG DAY. Third for the wedding gift from the club, she is going to wait to open it until she gets home with John. Fourth for Lisa who helped plan their trip to France and lastly for Dan for fixing her tire.

 

Tristan: Apologized for hiding in the kitchen, promises to join us soon. Also he and Susie celebrated their 1-20 anniversary ( I think it was today??, I missed the date)

 

Lisa: First official brag as a Rotarian…YEAH Just returned from an amazing (totally unplugged) vacation in Jamaica. She also bragged for us for inviting her to join the club, we already know that we are the lucky ones!!

 

Dan: Went to the car show last Saturday that was put on by the noon club. He brought down his old Buick and parked next to an amazing pick up……..he proceeded to tell some wild tale of getting the pick up dusty and the guy making him clean his truck. Anyway, the truck owner turned out to be Shannon’s dad, small world.

 

Jen:  Bragged for Brattleboro School of Dance is having its fall open house this Saturday. Classed start on September 6^th. They will be offering free classes on Saturday…Zumba, theatre jazz, etc…

 

Shannon: Bragged even though Dan hijacked her brag….her father’s truck won “Best Truck in old car party thing” (her words not mine)

 

 

Bethany: Got up to thank us all for including her past year. This will be her last meeting as she is leaving for college early Saturday morning….we expect great things for you missy!!!

 

Ross: Bragged for the importance of practice!!! There was a fire at Thompson House last week were his mother in law resides and the time from the first alarm until the last resident was out was 3.5 minutes!!! Fire trucks weren’t even there yet.

 

Michelle: Bragged for their vacation to Florida….Harry Potter World amazing, Disney not so much. Her husband asked her why they decided to vacation on the sun…a little hot in Florida in August, especially when there is no trees for shade at Disney. Also bragged for her daughter who is starting her first week of law school at Quinnipiac, won’t see her unitl Christmas.

 

Turner: This upcoming Saturday he and Kay will celebrate their 1-51 anniversary….we have to start calling her Saint Kay.

 

Damon- also bragged for his parents who last Saturday celebrated their 1-51 anniversary

 

Kevin:  Believe it or not did not brag this week ;)

 

 

GUEST SPEAKERS:       Anwyn Darrow, a former BUHS student who spent 4 months in Honduras teaching English to students. Anwyn kept a blog while she in Honduras and I pasted some sections below. What an incredible kid…..  https://anwyngrace.wordpress.com

 

                             

San Pedro Sula is the industrial capital of Honduras. A university student I had the awkward pleasure of conversing with told me that the college retention rate in Honduras is 10%. And that out of the eight (almost nine) million people in the country only 1 million have college degrees. The cities are really pretty dangerous. I’ve barely spent any time there, but I hear about deaths frequently. The boys here have spoken to me some about the gangs and their symbols and hand signs and such.

 

On Sunday morning we sat in dark wooden pews and sweated through a nice church service. As we were leaving a small man came in asking for money. He was walking like he wore a high heel on one foot, limping hard, and I saw that the flesh was completely falling off his battered up leg in a really gross open wound. I’m not sure if it was a disease or his leg got run over by a car and he couldn’t pay for medical help but it was really bad. I’ve never seen something like that. My stomach turned and heart broke at the same time.

 

You know how you’re young and insecure and you wonder when you’ll stop feeling insecure and second guessing your every move? Well one day you lift your head up and look out at the Honduran scenery and you don’t know when it happened but you left that self behind long ago.

 

At this point living Central America is so normal to me. It doesn’t feel like I’m really traveling, I’m just living, nothing different.

I’ve taken a nice trip outside my comfort zone. It seems at this point I’ve misplaced it, but I’m happier without it.

Something that has returned to me many times is the feeling of missing going out to dinner or tea with my friends and family. Of course I miss my friends, family, and sitting in the daylilies and eating black raspberries a hundred times more than the actual going out to lunch part, but I miss the luxuries.

 

It’s that feeling of sitting at a nice cafe and feeling like my whole life is ahead of me, unending opportunities, romance, travel, adventure. But it’s all because I have money. I’m so privileged. I get to live a movie-like life. And most of the people around me in the U.S. do as well. And I can’t even imagine the millions of lives of suffering. But we also rarely think about the lives of so many kids, so much like me, who just don’t have the money, the opportunities, and their lives aren’t like the movies. They don’t get a car when they turn sixteen, they don’t get to hang out with their friends after school or go on spring break. They don’t go out to cafes and sit and feel all fancy and talk about the opportunities they have in their privileged lives. They’ve just been dealt a different hand. Their culture is different, their families different, everything around them is built differently. It’s just crazy all the stuff we take for granted.

 

On Thursday night they threw me a surprise party. I wasn’t completely surprised because I saw them decorating and all, but it was a complete surprise how special and meaningful it would be.

 

They dedicated the whole evening to me, made a video of pictures of my time here and just filled me with love and gratitude. They performed traditional dances, songs, gave me gifts and invited all the parents and teachers too. I am so thankful. I have never ever, ever had something so amazing done for me. They made me feel like the most special person to ever walk on the earth.

I can not describe it to you fully because what made it absolutely incredible was every single person here who loves me and the connection we share. Some connections are small, some are loud, some are based on smiles, some are based on swear words. Some connections are deep like a ravine that has been carved with incredible conversation and laughter. Some are light and small like the wind. But whatever kind of connection it is, every single one is special and absolutely bursting at the seams with love.

Jesus Cristo I cant even put it into words. Out of everything they did for me I will never, ever in my life or afterlife forget what one of my friends did for me.

 

This fifteen year old boy who I’ve known for less than 3 months, performed out loud— in front of everyone (students, teachers, parents)— a poem written by him, about me, and then proceeded to perform a dance to Lady Gaga’s Alejandro. At which point I got up and danced with him— just the two of us dancing to a lady gaga pop song in front of everyone. It was f***ing great. He even made a shirt to go along with the presentation that said “We love you Any.” This is a fifteen year old boy who fools around in class, loves soccer and Jennifer Lawrence and is a complete goofball of charisma. How is it that I got so lucky? I am head over heels in love with all of the students here. I can say with confidence that overall, the people here are more openly loving and more generous than generally people are in the United States.

 

Now that I know that someone I just recently met loves me enough to do that, I don’t think I could ever give myself to someone romantically who wouldn’t do the same.

 

And to top it all off, the earth new it was a day for me and gave me a sunset unlike one I’d ever seen. I knew it would. Clouds outlined in tiny intricate gold pink in a sunset better than The Lion King. In honor of me.