There was much banter and some fresh faces in the June 24 meeting. We were happy to welcome back Doug Freeth from sweltering Arizona. John Ackenhusen joined us from Washington State. Yolanda Whiten joined in the gaiety, remarking that Doug looks just the same was when she first met and worked with him. Joe Fitzsimmons told Bob Buchanan to move his camera just a touch to the right so he could see Joe and Beth’s house.
President Rosemarie rang the bell to bring the meeting to order. Executive Director Lori Walters gave the Zoom etiquette tips. She also urged us to reach out to members we haven’t seen on Zoom, as well as guests and prospective members, to share the Zoom experience. This is a good recruiting tool to help get our membership replenished with new and enthusiastic people.
Tom Strode played America the Beautiful and some of us warbled along.
Dennis Powers’ Inspiration focused on the importance of the arts. He quoted Kamand Kojouri who was born in Tehran, raised in Dubai and Toronto, and currently teaches creative writing seminars as a doctoral candidate at Swansea University in Wales. She has observed the importance of the arts in our common life: “Art doesn’t give rise to anything in us that isn’t already there. It simply stirs our curious consciousness and sparks a fire that illuminates who we have always wanted to be.” Be it the performing arts, cinema, or street performance art, our experience of the arts leads us to a better understanding of ourselves and the world around us. The arts enrich and deepen our lives. “Logic will get you from A to B,” Albert Einstein famously said. “Imagination will take you everywhere.”
John Ackenhusen took over the singing. He played a clip of Rotarians singing The Happy Wanderer. The group is the IFRM Rotary Virtual World Choir (IFRM stands for International Fellowship of Rotarian Musicians). There were smiles and giggles all the way around. John sent a link to four or five pieces that the group put together that are being presented (virtually) at the Rotary International (virtual) Convention in Honolulu this week. The singers come from all corners of the globe, a truly international choir.
sweetheart Lynn when they were in 6th and 7th grade. They were married in 1962. They lived in Wisconsin a while but Dick was too lonesome for Michigan football … and hockey … and basketball … etc. He missed football so much that he rented an airplane, leveled off 8000 feet in Wisconsin skies, and circled so he could pick up the radio broadcast of a game. Dick participated in sports in high school and college and is still an adventurer. He and Lynn are sailors, scuba divers and zip liners. They have traveled the world, visiting 107 countries on all seven continents. They have one daughter and one granddaughter.
Mike Michelon, Executive Director of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, addressed us on how the Summer Festival is coping with the pandemic. He recognized the arts as an expression of community, and that all organizations are struggling and learning. Problems within organizations and among relationships that predate this epidemic are now visible. This is true of all arts organizations across the country as Mike learned in New York in January when he attended a conference that emphasized risk and resilience in the organizations. The Summer Festival, founded in 1984, has undertaken a brand overhaul and revised its strategic plan, struggling to accept and weather this situation.
