Saturday, July 23, 2022
By: W Todd MillerOn July 20, 2022, the Rotary Club of Washington, D.C. held its weekly meeting and welcomed guest speaker Andy Yarrow, author, former NY Times Reporter, and Speechwriter.On July 20, 2022, the Rotary Club of Washington, DC, held its regular weekly meeting in person and via Zoom.
President Marilyn Nevy Cruz called the meeting to order at 12:30 PM.
Sergeant-at-Arms Lola Perez recognized birthdays and anniversaries for the week and offered words of wisdom.
Secretary Todd Miller led the introduction of guests and visiting Rotarians and Rotaractors.
President Marilyn inducted new member Ervin Owens who then provided the Member Moment. He explained how he has been dedicated to bringing financial literacy to economically challenged communities and looks forward to continuing his service with Rotary. President Marilyn noted that Ervin has already agreed to co-chair the Career Fair.
Monica Smith provided a History Moment. She shared a presentation on the Inventive Queens of Ices. She noted the achievements of several women in the development of ice cream and other iced desserts, including the filing of the patent in 1843 by Nancy Johnson for an ice cream maker and the publication in the late 1800s by Almeda Lambert of a nut cookbook. That cookbook contained the first recipes for non-dairy frozen dessert like ice cream.
Sheldon Ray gave a brief report on the upcoming activities by the Committee for the Equality of Black People, including an opportunity to attend American Prophet at Arena Stage and a weekly radio program by Kenny Barnes.
Sterling Hoffman presented Paul Harris pins to Steve Liston, Lisa McCurdy, Monica Smith, and PE Lisa Cohen (whose pin was not available).
PP Lynn Holec, acting on behalf of and reading from a script provided by Jeanne Shen, introduced the speaker Andrew L. Yarrow. Mr. Yarrow is a former New York Times reporter and author of six books and more than 1,000 articles. He has served as a speechwriter for the U.S. Department of Labor and the Export-Import Bank of the United States, writing on economic policy issues. In addition, he has worked for the Brookings Institution, Public Agenda, and Oxfam, and has consulted for international organizations, think tanks, and foundations, including the World Bank, UNICEF, the U.S. Department of Education, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kettering Foundation, the Aspen Institute, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the Progressive Policy Institute.
Yarrow has a Ph.D. in U.S. history and has taught at American University and George Mason University. He has written on a wide range of topics including: U.S. history and politics; work, inequality, and poverty; federal finances; the visual and performing arts; the media and media history; education and child policy; and French society and politics.
Yarrow received his B.A. from UCLA, Master's degrees from both Princeton University and the Harvard Kennedy School, and his Ph.D. from George Mason University.
He spoke about his book: Look: How a Highly Influential Magazine Helped Define Mid-Twenthieth-Century America. He provided a brief history of the founding of Look as a biweekly magazine and its influence on civil rights, social movements, and foreign policy. He pointed out the many iconic stories and photographs published in Look including the story of Emmett Till, Jackie Robinson’s announcement of his retirement, and the photograph of John Kennedy Jr. under his father’s desk in the Oval Office. He also explained how Look published many Norman Rockwell paintings after Rockwell left the Saturday Evening Post in search of greater artistic freedom. He summarized Look as spanning from visionary to bits of bad taste.
President Marilyn presented Mr. Yarrow with a certificate for a planting of a tree under the Club’s Trees for the Capital program.
Sterling Hoffman conducted the raffle, which was won by Max Salas. Alas, Max did not draw the Ace of Spades.
President Marilyn reminded everyone of the Rotary Baseball Night on August 20 and said that twenty-one people had signed up thus far. All are welcome to join.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 PM. Sarah Ross was the producer at the University Club and Pamela Stern-Green was the producer on Zoom.
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