On this beautiful sunshiny Friday, President Dennis Fliehman called the meeting of the Rotary Club of Lansing to order at 12:24pm. Amazing what a little sunshine can do. After announcing that Saturday is the 114th birthday of Rotary International, the meeting moved forward, but first it seems only fitting to say…Happy Birthday Rotary!!
The invocation was presented by Hari Kern followed by a rousing rendition of ‘My Country Tis of Thee’. Lisa Smith delivered the Rotary microphone to our visiting Rotarians and guests. Sue Mills declared the health of the club good, but then we learned from John Grettenberger Jr. that his dad and fellow Rotarian John Sr. had a stroke earlier this week. This news took our collective breaths away. John shared John Sr. is doing better at Sparrow but is not accepting visitors. Our prayers for a full recovery are all with John Sr.
Special Music was moved up on the agenda and on cue, Ken Beachler introduced Blue Light Players member Catherine McCauley who entertained us with wonderful songs from Jersey Boys and Newsies. John Dale Smith let us know that his 5- piece band will be playing all the music for the upcoming play Newsies. He then gave us all a preview of upcoming plays that just by chance, his band will be supporting. Sure is nice having all this talent in our community!
February birthdays were celebrated with Nancy Yeadon sharing responses to her question “how can I tell someone is a nerd?” The responses left us all chuckling. February birthday Rotarians donated $700 with 70% participation. Expectations are high for the rest of our February birthday Rotarians to contribute.
President Dennis reminded Rotarians that there will be a dinner at St. John Catholic Church & Student Center for MSU Rotaract on March 14. Tickets can be purchased on line or contact Cathy. Dennis next introduced not one but two Lansing Rotary Club Heroes. With the intent of recognizing a member of the club who exemplifies our moto – service above self, excellent nominations were received and taken to the Board. Two deserving Rotarians were identified, and the Board determined that they would become our Lansing Rotary Heroes for this year and next. This year’s Hero is Helen Mickens, the first woman president of our club and a role model and hero for us all. Next year’s Hero will be Mark Hooper, a Rotarian for more than 40 years, serving in many leadership roles within our club. Both of our Heroes are excellent examples of the Rotary moto. Congrats to you both and thanks for all you do.
Chair of the Month and Chair of the Day Barb Whitney than stepped to the podium to introduce our guest speaker. A writer, poet, instructor and academic, Barb shared that meeting our speaker was a dream come true for her. Our speaker, Lansing Poet Laureate Dennis Hinrichsen than stepped forward and began his talk.
Beginning with a history of poet laureates, Dennis spoke of past laureates for our state and some of the municipalities. The nomination of Dennis to step into the state position never moved forward in the State legislature. Grand Rapids, the Upper Peninsula and Detroit all have poet laureates, but our State does not. So, with the help of LEAP, Dennis became the first Poet Laureate of our city. Serving a two- year term in this role, our speaker shared stories of his visits to schools, workshops, libraries and more, all creating in his words, “an amazing adventure.” Why do we have a poet laureate? In his own words, he is “affordable” and “portable”. Dennis assured us that we all already have so much poetry within us. Music, nursery rhymes, Dr. Seuss all prepare us for poetry. Sharing narratives of his interactions with area children, we began to understand the role of the poet laureate. Poetry creates openness and curiosity, synthesizing all the craziness in our lives. Poetry allows us to listen, speak to and hear each other. Poetry also has the power of healing. Concluding his remarks with comments about his role in the inauguration of Mayor Schor and the process to develop his inaugural poem, Dennis shared that poetry allows us to explore who we are, where we are and where we are going. It can uplift our lives. He then shared a poem from one of his student interactions. Questions and comments were then shared with Lansing’s Poet Laureate, Dennis Hinrichsen. We were left with a better feeling of the ability of poetry to be transformative. We also learned that President Dennis is named after Dennis the Menace. Yes, this was truly an informative meeting for all Lansing Rotarians.
We meet next week back at the Lansing Center where our speaker will be Andre Hutson, Founder and President of Conquest Fitness.
Joe Wald's email is: jwald71@gmail.com