"Battling Bipolar Disorder - My Brain’s Invisible War"
Maj. Gen. Martin wishes to raise awareness about bipolar disorder and brain health in general.
His latent genetic predisposition for bipolar disorder was triggered by the intense stress of combat in Iraq; manic insanity, hopeless depression and terrifying delusions nearly ruined his career, marriage, family, health and life.
He is a Bipolar Survivor; our program will be his story!
His forthcoming book will tell his story in depth and in detail. Its contents will include deep examinations of his Army experience, family, religious faith, and bipolar disorder—all of which are interconnected and inseparable. The book will also seek to give hope, encouragement and wisdom from a combat veteran whose toughest battles were not with enemy combatants, but with the vicious, grueling and destructive effects of bipolar disorder. His goal is to better inform Rotarians about what bipolar disorder is, how it manifests itself, spread bipolar awareness, and help abolish the stigma surrounding mental health and illness.
You can also watch the short 7-minute Youtube video entitled: "Bipolar disorder (depression & mania) - causes, symptoms, treatment & pathology”…
In the pages of the attached PDF, you will find a précis, his book’s table of contents, its introduction by General Martin Dempsey (the 18th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), prologue and a biographical sketch of the author, a few summaries of my story of varying length for sharing purposes, some “Advanced Praise” for his coming book: “Battling Bipolar Disorder – My Brain’s Invisible War.” He has given us peremission to post this and for us to read more about his story.
Dennis Shoemaker and Ron Rubin are organizing an in-person Rotary lunch on March 19th for those who have had both of their COVID-19 shots and wish to attend the Rotary meeting around computers for the formal meeting that day!
If you feel comfortable in the presence of others who have been inoculated twice, please feel free to join us at noon. There are other Rotarians who go to Sportivo, where we will also be meeting, on Fridays and we can have some great Rotary fellowship with them, as well. Jordan Davis organizes that group. We would suggest wearing masks except when actually eating, please.
No need to "sign up" anywhere but we think Sportivo will be able to accommodate us around a table or two.
We are looking forward to seeing you there and resuming a kind of fellowship of Rotarians with whom we can hold an informal lunch. We will order off their menu for those who wish to eat.
Only inoculated Rotarians and their inoculated guests, spouses, please. Others of you who wish to join us can join Jordan and Rotarians at their table(s).
We hope to see many of you there and to celebrate Rotary together, again!
Dick Harwood, a true advocate for allowing women in to our club wrote the following, VERY interesting timeline and justification by the courts and how it finally passed. (Thank you, Dick!) So fitting for Women's History Month!
In 1977, the Rotary Club of Duarte, California (a struggling club in a relatively small suburb of Los Angeles) admitted three women as members. That violated Rotary International’s constitution that stated only men could be Rotarians, and R.I. revoked the charter for the Duarte club. The club sued R.I. for reinstatement, claiming that R.I.’s constitution violated a California law (the Unruh Act) that prohibited gender discrimination in “business establishments”. A lower court ruled in favor of R.I., holding that the Duarte Rotary club was not a “business establishment”. The Duarte club appealed the decision. The California Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s decision and ordered R.I. to reinstate the Duarte club. R.I. then appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
All of this took several years to make its way through the judicial system. The Supreme Court finally ruled on the case (Board of Directors ofRotary International v. Rotary Club of Duarte) in May, 1987. In a 7-0 decision (two justices recused themselves), the Court ruled in favor of the Duarte club, and ordered R.I. to reinstate that club’s charter.
In writing the Court’s opinion, Justice Lewis Powell held that the Duarte club (and, by extension, every Rotary club) was a “business establishment” under California’s Unruh Act and therefore could not discriminate against anyone based on his or her gender. In addition, Powell ruled that Rotary clubs are not “private associations”, and that each club is instructed to include in its membership "all fully qualified prospective members located within its territory".
Following the decision, R.I. changed its constitution to say that no Rotary club in the United States could refuse membership to a woman based solely on her gender. Interestingly, the change applied only to clubs in the United States. The decision whether or not to allow women as members in clubs outside the U.S. was (and I think still is) left to those individual clubs. I think there are still some clubs in a small handful of countries that don’t accept women members, but that number is rapidly evaporating even in the most fundamentalist countries.
Rotary of Colorado Springs was the first Rotary club in the Pikes Peak Region to accept women members … and may have been the first of any local service club to do so. Without question, the best thing that ever happened to our Club or to Rotary in general.
During March, Rotary Water and Sanitation Month, take action to provide clean water and sanitation in your communities: Improve sanitation facilities by providing toilets and latrines that flush into a sewer or safe enclosure. Promote good hygiene habits through education.
Clean water, sanitation, and hygiene education are basic necessities for a healthy environment and a productive life.
When people have access to clean water and sanitation, waterborne diseases decrease, children stay healthier and attend school more regularly, and mothers can spend less time carrying water and more time helping their families.
HOW ROTARY MAKES HELP HAPPEN
Through water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs, Rotary’s people of action mobilize resources, form partnerships, and invest in infrastructure and training that yield long-term change.
All 24 of Lebanon’s Rotary clubs came together — overcoming religious, cultural, and political divisions — to form partnerships with the government, World Vision, UNICEF, and the Red Cross. Together the groups developed a program that delivers clean water to every public school in the country.
1. Where were you born and where did you grow up? I was born and raised in Lima, Peru', South America
2. Have you lived outside the US? If so, where and for how long? Yes, my childhood until I escaped at the age of 12
3. Coffee or tea? Coffee, I wanted to become very Americanized 😁
4. Do you currently or have you ever played a musical instrument? When I was a child I played the piano - another lifetime ago 😉
5. Favorite sport to watch? Favorite sport to play? Favorite sports teams? In High School I was a spring board diver and I do enjoy watching it still, along with gymnastics, ice skating, dancing and skiing.
6. Who would you consider to be your “hero” or “mentor” and why? I really love and respect President Ronald Reagan, a funny, gentle soul that got a lot of good done in America and Internationally by bringing people together.
7. Do you speak any languages besides English? I am proud of how well I speak English😁, my mother tongue is Spanish.
8. What is one thing from your Bucket List? Reading and finishing studying the Bible... the whole thing!
9. Do you collect anything? HUGS 🤗 - that is until COVID ... but I trust it will change in time.
10. What is one thing you’ve done that you never want to do again? Cliff Diving
11. What was your first job? Dairy Queen serving ice cream... I used to have banana splits for Breakfast
12. How long have you been in Rotary? Have you ever been a Rotarian in another club? If so, where? I started in Rotary in the year 1990, one of the first female Rotarians, a friend told me I was now the longest tenured female Rotarian in CS, I like that! 31 years Baby!
13. What is your favorite community service activity that our club has participated in? For me it was MEXAM and the deparisitation effort that we were involved with in Mexico City - I was involved with that for over 8 years. I also liked serving as the Chair-person for the Artist of the west show, I did that for 2 years, and then there was the Raffle for the motorcycle that was donated to us and all the proceeds went to the Pikes Peak Mental Health Center. And, finally I love that we recognize and encourage our teachers, I know they made a difference in my life!
14. What board positions have you held in our club or in prior clubs? I have chaired various things and donated/participated in various more over the years. Although I must admit, I have taken a back seat these last years for many reasons, my heart is still in Rotary!
15. We do a lot of good things in our club. In your opinion, where is an area that we could do better and how? Appreciating our Police, Firefighters and Military.
16. What is something else that other Rotarians would find interesting about you that you'd like to share? That I was forced to escape a dictator because I was half American (and half Peruvian) and he hated Americans, I am a child of civil war and lived through 3 years of violence before escaping by myself. I love the USA because of all the opportunities that women enjoy in this amazing country!
Thank you to our volunteers who helped with Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity. We will be looking at other dates to volunteer again in the future.
Think ahead to April and start saving your plastics to Recycle Beyond the Bag! We will be supporting Trex’s Earth-friendly composite decking and railing and encourage all Rotarians to save their plastic and donate them to Trex in the month of April.
Trex will accept Produce Bags, Store Bags, Ice Bags, Ziploc & other reclosable bags, Cereal box liners, Case overwrap, Bread Bags, Bubble Wrap and other types of plastic sheeting detailed below.
Are you missing seeing your other Rotarians in person? Feel free to join Jordan Davis and Kay Rendleman with some of your other fellow Rotarians on Fridays over at Sportivos inside the Antlers hotel. Arrive starting at 11:30 for socially distanced socializing and bring your laptops and headphones to participate in the meeting on Zoom at 12:15! Questions? Contact Jordan or Kay."
If you have makeups you would like to turn in to be counted for your attendance, please email me with the date and purpose of the meetings! KSaltmarshVoss@yahoo.com
If you have bulletin announcements, please email the EXACT WORDING of your announcement to KSaltmarshVoss@yahoo.com by Wednesday at 5 pm. I don't write your announcements but I do make them nice 'n' fancy!
As you're doing your shopping online, did you know that you can support our Rotary Club with every Amazon purchase? Here’s how:
Go to smile.amazon.com (not amazon.com). Amazon Smile is the same company, same account, same password, but the Amazon Smile program gives one half of one percent of every purchase to charity. No, it’s not a lot, but it’s also not nuthin’ (to be exact: about $150 for the Club so far). So again, go to smile.amazon.com
Sign into your Amazon account as you normally would
On the very top left of the page, next to the AmazonSmile logo, are three horizontal bars. Click there for the drop-down menu.
Scroll ALL the way down to “Your AmazonSmile”; it should be the last option right before “Sign Out”; Click on “Your AmazonSmile”
On the right side of the page, click on the “change charity” box under Your current charity (Note: If you are currently supporting another charity, that’s awesome! These instructions are for those who are not doing so. Also, if you have not previously selected a charity, your default option will be St. Judge Children’s Research Hospital.)
Type in Community Service Fund of the Rotary Club of Colorado Springs; click Select
That’s it. You’re all set. Just remember to go to Smile.Amazon.com when you shop from now on.
