“Never waste a good pandemic.” I heard UNMC’s Vice Chancellor of Finance attribute that quote to Dr. Gold this week. With Unicameral action on funding for the UNMC NExT Project headed to the final round as of this writing, I think Dr. Gold’s message is resounding throughout the state.
Your Rotary Club is not standing still, either. We’re meeting. We’re serving. And we’re building for the future. Why? Because Rotary creates “social capital” – “connections among individuals, social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them.” This concept was cited recently in an op-ed by community advocate Elexis Martinez, 2015 Central High School class president and a graduate student at Bellevue University.
She went on to say …”…when I’m looking for somebody to have my back, I can look to my friends in West, North and South Omaha and know that because we came together and worked for a common goal, understood one another and developed a relationship, I trust them to be by my side.”
That’s the next generation talking and it sounds a lot like Rotary. The world needs more and better Rotarians. I’m grateful that Membership Chair, Phil Taylor, and his team are on the hunt.
Oops, we missed an August birthday at our last meeting.
It’s us!
The Rotary Club of Omaha was founded on August 4, 1911 and affiliated with the National Association of Rotary Clubs in March of 1912. As Rotary Club #37, our club has the distinction of being one of the first hundred Rotary clubs.
See you on August 19th at noon as we welcome business leader Carmen Tapio to the microphone.
We might have suspected that Lloyd Meyer had an adventurous career as v.p. and managing principal at Leo A. Daly Company, but who knew he was designing a $20 million home for our closest relatives, a bunch of Bonobos.
Now bearded in retirement like a jungle explorer, Lloyd treated us to his experiences with Kanzi, the offspring of a Bonobo named Natasha who was being taught sign language in the project Lloyd guided architecturally in Des Moines. Young Kanzi learned to communicate through icons just by sitting in on momma's lessons.
Lloyd introduced the ape with a Smithsonian magazine cover with Kanzi's face and the headline, "What Does a Bonobo Have to Say?", and described why we might want to listen: Kanzi weighed 325 pounds, was four feet tall and "very strong." You can see a Bonobo skeleton at the zoo next to skeletons of a gorilla and a chimp. Gorillas and chimps, Meyer noted, kill their offspring but Bonobos don't.
Our fellow Rotarian,Dr. Lee Simmons, told him Bonobos are hippies and that was one reason Doc didn't want them at the zoo. He didn't want to get a lot of letters from irate mothers who had to explain their "free life-style" to 7-year-olds. Lee defines free life-style as "full of sex." (This writer recalls taking his two children to Brookfield Zoo in Chicago when the wild arboreal chase involving two monkeys ended in an embrace that saw blushing parents pulling kids away to the next exhibit.)
The Bonobos also have a sense of humor. They fear only man and gorillas, and one day Kanzi put on a gorilla mask and sent the other Bonobos scattering before taking off the mask and rolling on the floor laughing. Sue Savageumbaugh, the woman behind the Bonobo project, lived with them for 20 years and treated themas sons and daughters.
Her research project eventually lost financial support partly due to her closeness to the research subjects. But Lloyd was able to provide an 18-room, two-towered home while the work lasted, a home that even included land for nature hikes. That posed containment issues, especially when someone suggested a moat. Nope, said Doc Simmons. They're too heavy and would drown and during the winter there would be visions of them ice-skating to freedom.
Looking for volunteers to fill Project Hope Packs on Saturday, August 22nd from 10 am - 12 pm. We have over 300 packs to fill.
The shift will take place in the parking lot at CASA at 2412 St Mary's Ave with Super Hero mural in the background! We will require all volunteers to wear masks, wear gloves (we will provide), and practice safe social distancing.
Families are welcome. There is not an age requirement but they will need to be tall enough to grab items out of bins on top of tables. (as few hands as possible on the actual bins)
Thanks everyone who came out and or supported the 14th Annual Nebraska Balloon & Wine Festival. It was so much fun night and again one of the Best Events of the Year!
From Lisa Tonjes Moritz: One Vote is now streaming on iTunes, Amazon, Vudu and Google Play!
Filmed in five locations on a single day, One Vote captures the compelling stories of diverse American voters on Election Day 2016.
You may see several familiar faces during the Omaha footage.
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