The Foghorn
Guest Editor Pat Boy
Photographer Bruce Smith
The Editor is on vacation. President Bruce Zahn
called the meeting to order today at the Michigan City Yacht
Club. Pat Boy gave the invocation. Lunch was fried chicken,
mashed potatoes, stuffing, veggies, salad – and dessert
– yum! At last week’s meeting, Pat Boy claimed her
hot dog certificate from the previous Foghorn, but Pat Harris
missed hers. There was no backwards name in last week’s
Foghorn, so that’s why you can’t find it.
Bruce reminded us that Saturday is cleanup day
at the Gardens. Show up if you can, please! The GSE team is
here, and apparently having a great time.
Dale Engquist was Sarge for the day. There were no visiting
Rotarians (except the GSE team). Student guests from Marquette
High School were Nathan Gmyrek and Amber Manns. Nathan, who
will be attending Sacred Heart in Detroit. He plans to become
a priest. He recently appeared in the school production of Arsenic
and Old Lace. Amber has been a member of CYO Band since 4th
grade. She plays the flute and six other instruments, and plans
to attend St. Mary’s College. She hopes to teach band
after graduation.
Other guests were Senator Anita Bowser and Mario
Rosa, coordinator of the ESL program for MCAS.
Dale promptly announced that in honor of our GSE
guests, anyone of Brazilian or Swedish ancestry would be exempt
from fines. Unfortunately, that eliminated everyone but the
GSE team, Dale, and Terri Sammann.
Ed Lysaught gave $1 for Nathan and his goal of priesthood. Steve
Hornyak gave for Amber and her musical goals.
John Lake (welcome back!) gave for Nathan as well.
Last time John was at a meeting, President Bruce gave him a
hard time about being a visitor. John commented on that to his
wife Mary, saying that he had paid his dues. Mary reminded him
that his dues were still sitting there, waiting to be taken
to a meeting. John turned them over to Bob Rose.
John also asked us all to keep his son William in our prayers,
as William will be having some surgery soon.
Dennis commented that Bruce had just finished
paying his dues, so Dale fined him $1.
John Wendel gave for the GSE team and our participation in the
District Conference.
John White gave for the team from “the land down under,”
and also for Anita Bowser. He said that at 80, it’s a
daily pleasure just to be walking around.
Ed Lysaught gave for Anita as well, and reminded
us to vote on May 2. He suggested we all ask for a Republican
ballot and vote for John Lake.
Dale Engquist countered with “vote for John,
but otherwise get a Democratic ballot.”
Dolly Marshall gave for John Lake and for the GSE team.
Maggi Spartz gave $5 – first for the GSE
team and Mario Rosa, then for the Unity Foundation’s appearance
in the newspaper Coastal Times, where she noticed a very nice
office in a photo, and then realized that it was Unity’s
offices. She also announced that Leadership LaPorte County is
sponsoring a Cinco de Mayo special along with Hacienda Restaurant
(which will be reopening soon). For $10 you can have chips and
salsa delivered to your office, and all the money will be profit
for the Leadership programs.
Rick Reed was fined for the Priebe award, but
Ed Merrion ‘fessed up that he was really the Priebe today.
Ed Lysaught reminded us that STRIVE’s next
meeting will be the annual picnic at International Friendship
Gardens, Monday, May 22 at 5:00 p.m. All Rotarians are welcome.
Please let Ed know if you plan to attend. Dennis advises not
to wear cologne perfume, aftershave, etc. He did last year,
and found out it attracts bees.
Julie Wozniak announced that Lubeznik Art Center
will be celebrating “First Fridays” in May, June,
and July, with three different exhibits.
Ed Merrion accompanied GSE Marcelo to the News-Dispatch
today. Ed went on to talk about learning a little of the language
before you travel. The GSE team has done quite well with this,
but when Ed traveled to Korea to pick up his son, he was told
not to worry, lots of people there speak English. He told us
about the bus trip and the wrong directions, and the fact that
almost NO ONE spoke English. Unfortunately, Ed spoke no Korean,
and the rest of the trip was not much better.
Pat Boy announced that the Michigan City Youth
Council would be having a formative meeting at the Senior Center
tonight (April 20th) at 6:00 p.m. Michigan City Area School
parents and students, from 8th to 12th grade, are welcome.
John Lake announced that on May 1 in Superior
1 at Michigan City’s County Courthouse, they would celebrate
“Law Day” and the separation of powers in government.
Rod Bensz won the drawing with ticket 759, but
only pulled the Ace of diamonds. Better luck next time!
Bruce introduce the GSE team as our speakers for
the day. The first speaker was Nalini Indira da Costa from District
4710 in Brazil. Nalini is Director of the English Institute
in Arapongas, the next state south of Sao Paolo. Her first comment
was to Ed Merrion – if you ever travel to Brazil, learn
Portuguese. She explained that the purpose of the Group Study
Exchange (GSE) is to connect countries and build bridges for
communication.
Nalini teaches English as a second language (ESL). Her district,
4710, was established in 1988 when the former district 4630
divided. There are 53 clubs in the district, most with 30-50
members. She became involved with us when John Wendel began
his project to get a blood-collecting vehicle for the area (the
Red Cross doesn’t do that there).
Marcelo Ferraz Arruda, from Londrina, owns a Video
Rental business. He spoke about economics, politics, culture,
food, and beaches. He is currently studying journalism and would
like to work in television. He said Brazil was “founded”
in 1889 and has a political structure very similar to our own.
Brazil has 190 million people and is the world’s fifth
largest country. It has 20% of the world’s ground water.
The economic base is agriculture and service.
Fabio Benito Pozza, also from Londrina, is a Marketing
Manager for a health insurance company. He told us that Brazil
is primarily made up of people from four groups: Europeans,
Africans, Asians, and native peoples. Approximately 50% of the
population is white, and up to 40% is of mixed races. The two
major immigrant groups are from Italy and Japan. Brazil is among
the top 10 in the world for their GNP, $1.6 trillion a year
in services and industry, joining the US, Europe, China, and
Argentina. Brazil is one of the highest producers of protein
in the world. Products include soybeans, beef, pork, and chicken.
Brazilian cars are designed to burn gas or varying
mixtures of gas and ethanol, without being reset for different
fuels. Gas currently costs them the equivalent of $4.70 per
gallon (and we thought we had it bad). They are very big on
recycling. Their main energy source is electricity, from hydroelectric
power, and although they import no energy, they export a lot
of it. Their election system is by computer, and they’ve
been doing it that way for ten years with no problem. A new
term, BRIC, refers to the growing production of Brazil, Russia,
India, and China.
Fernanda Valone Gorini, from Londrina, is a pediatric
dentist. She spoke about natural resources. Brazil has 7,000
km (11,000 miles) of beaches, 275 waterfalls, and 25 National
Parks. Some of the waterfalls in Iguacu Falls Park are up to
83 meters high.
Caroline Dario, from Arapongas, is an architect.
She has been fighting a cold, and was not feeling well enough
to participate in the day’s activities, so we didn’t
get to meet her. Nalini gave her report. The biggest party in
Brazil is Carnival, especially in Rio, but celebrated all across
the country as well. It began as a religious festival, 40 days
before Easter, but has evolved into one enormous party that
lasts for days.
Brazil’s food is interesting. One very heavy
dish of black beans, pork, and spices, is called Sygad Atir.
The national drink, which I can’t pronounce or spell,
is much like tequila, made from sugar cane, and is served with
lime, sugar, and ice. The population of Brazil is about 80%
Roman Catholic.
Jim Bell asked about their relations with other
countries like Venezuela. They don’t trade much with them,
but they do maintain “good relations.”
The thing that surprised them the most was the
“warmness” they felt from those they met. There
are many similarities between our state and theirs, more than
there are between our nations as a whole. Their flag has the
words for “Order and Progress.” The green represents
the forest; yellow, the natural resources (including gold);
blue, the sky; and the white stripe, peace. There are 27 stars
representing the 26 states and the capital, Brasilia.
When asked what they got from the Portuguese founders,
they said “language, religion, and political system.”
Dennis Boy asked about the car engines and how
they run on different fuels. Fabio said they put in whatever
fuel is available and the engine determines how to run based
on what’s in the fuel line. Mileage and power are lower
when burning ethanol, but their ethanol is made from sugar cane
and is cheaper to produce than that made from corn in the US.
They are working on a car that can run on any of those and diesel
fuel as well. If they can do it, why can’t (or don’t)
we?
Jim Bell said he hopes to see Brazil in Germany
for the Soccer World Cup.
Bruce adjourned the meeting. Next week (Bruce
was looking at the wrong date when he made an announcement)
Steve Hornyak will give the invocation and John Wendel will
be Sarge. The program will be the Rotary Scholarship winners.
And finally, the Board voted to approve Tim Gartland for membership.
He belongs to the LaPorte club and is Deb Koller’s replacement
at Edward Jones. If anyone has an objection to Tim becoming
a member of our club, contact President Bruce.
See you next week.
Pat
