ISSUE NO. 21
DECEMBER 8, 2000
OUR 79th YEAR
http://RotaryClubofSantaMonica.org
If you write something that wins a Pulitzer Prize, it becomes a sort of
tattoo. It puts a stamp on you, like an Oscar or a Heisman Trophy. It stays
for life.
Al Martinez, our speaker this Friday, is the most decorated writer on
the L.A. Times. Among other honors, he has been part of three teams
that brought Pulitzer gold medals to the Times. One, in 1984, was for a
series on Latino community achievements. The others were for coverage of the
1989 earthquake and the 1992 riot.
Al was educated at Cal Berkeley, joined the Marines
at 21, and emerged three years later to launch a long career as a California
newsman – first in Richmond, next in Oakland, since 1972 on the Times.
Its Metro section has featured him on its front page as a columnist for the
past twelve years.
Meanwhile he created three network TV series, earned
writing credits on twenty TV movies (one of which brought an Emmy nomination)
and published seven books. Ten different organizations have singled him out
for “Journalist of the Year” awards and the like.
He usually writes about human relations, often with a Latino angle
since he’s a Latino himself. For his talk he’s chosen the topic, “From
Fact to Fiction”. He comes to us through friendship with our Past President Jack
Siegal, TV owner who was a Marine himself.
December
15 – Christmas Party: families invited
December
22 – DARK (Christmas)
December
29 – DARK (New Year’s)
-- HOW YOU CAN
HELP NOW
California ranks near the bottom of all states in putting worthwhile
books in the hands of young readers. Few develop the habit of reading in spare
time. That’s why Rotary is rounding up children’s books this month.
It’s a major Rotary project – one of the first to result from R.I.
President Frank Devlyn’s push for joint projects in alliance with a few
other organizations. We’re teaming with Goodwill, Salvation Army, and St.
Vincent de Paul on this drive. Los Angeles Club 5 is coordinating it. The
chair in our club is Alonzo Hill. Scholastic Magazine will match every
new book with a donated book.
Here’s what you can do. Buy and donate a new book, or talk to teachers,
principals, or young parents. Tell them, “We’re gathering new or slightly
used hardcover books for children in kindergarten through third grade. Can you
find some, maybe from youngsters who’ve outgrown them? Can I get those books
from you in the next few days?”
You deliver the books to our club meeting this Friday, December 8th, or the
next Friday, the 15th, which would be a particularly good time because it’s
our Christmas party, with flocks of children. Alonzo and his committee will do
the rest.
If you bring an armload or two of books you’ll help a bunch of kids for years to come.
At our club meeting this Friday, December 8th, we’ll elect club officers for
the coming club year, which starts next July.
You were sent the list of nominees in the mail last week, along with Issue 20 of
the Rota-Monica. Ballots will be handed out at this week’s meeting. To vote,
you’ll simply mark your ballot and hand it to one of the collectors, as of
yore.
Votes
will be counted immediately, and the results announced about 1:25 p.m. Past
President Jack L. Siegal, in charge of the proceedings, instructs us:
“Please make clear that a members’ committee will count the votes by hand.
They will discard chads, dimples, and any other signs of voters’ mental
confusion. There will be no polling, no recount, and no appeals.”
For the first 81 years after its beginning in 1905, Rotary was an organization
of men only. But the United States was changing.
More
and more women were entering the business and professional worlds. Naturally
they wanted access to some of the leading organizations of men, such as Rotary.
But Rotary is worldwide. Not all countries were open to the rights of women.
Rotary’s rules can be changed only at its Council on Legislation, held every
three years by Rotary International. I knew the issue of women’s rights would
be on the agenda at the 1986 meeting, but I held little hope for it, because I
believed many countries of the world were not ready for such a step.
I was wrong. The Council passed the measure with a surprising (to me) majority.
As soon as we got the word here in Santa Monica, President Bob Fredricks
and twelve others sponsored our longtime executive secretary as a candidate for
membership. After a little flurry, with one or two members resigning in protest
(and others threatening to resign if Esther’s nomination was rejected) Esther
Johnson made history, becoming Rotary’s “First Lady”. The next year
she made history again, as the first female delegate to a R.I. Convention.
Since then we’ve been enriched by the membership of many outstanding women
who’ve added new vim and vivacity to our club.
--
Bill Fritzsche, Club Historian