Pledge & Prayer: Pres. Gerri Lewis FROM PRESIDENT GERRI: Last Wednesday, in honor of Black History Month, our speaker was a most extraordinary woman, among other "titles" a poet, Marilyn Nelson. Her father was a Tuskegee airman. If you don't know about the Tuskegee Airman, Google it. Wow....she was fabulous and read her poetry and while prefacing what she was about to read, made you anxious to hear her next reading. Thanks, Glen, for bringing Marilyn to us. Next Wednesday, our program will be Heather Asch. She is, among other things, a freelance puppetry artist. Sounds interesting? ...well she is! She comes from a very creative and talented family. Her father is Barry Asch of Capella Cantorum and her mother Wilma Asch was the Economic Development Director for OS for many years and is very involved with The Kate and "Opera In The Park". I'm sure Heather will be very entertaining and you'll not want to miss this one. Our March 5th meeting will be Chris Cryder from The Trust for Public Land and he will talk about "The Preserve." Please note that guests are always welcome to Rotary especially if there is a program that you know they would like to attend. All I ask is that you let me know of your guests (even if it's 1 or 2), so that I can give a count to the kitchen. Thanks. Our March 12th meeting is, of course, Student of the Month. Our District Governor and Assistant District Governor will be in attendance to install our newest member, Charlie Renshaw, sponsored by Bill McLaughlin. Rick Beck has offered to be "stand in" for Bill. Charlie's background is "education" so what better meeting than SOM to install Charlie?! Soon our "Next Generation" (formerly known as Whitewater) students will be attending their conference in Wisconsin this Summer. Glen is working on getting a decent airfare for them. We will then have them and their parents come and tell us all about it. Bob Antoniac and Bill McLaughlin, we hope you're enjoying the warm weather and look forward to seeing you back soon. Andy, we hope to see you at another meeting as well. We miss you. Take care all. Be safe and be well. THINK GOLF!!!!!! Gerri Lewis, President Rotary Club of Old Saybrook FAR District 7980
Song: Paul Moore
Brents Card Game Winner: Ed Pinn
Sergeants Report: Kathy Calinan
Raffle Winners: Glen Anderson, Gerri Lewis, John Donnelly
Happy Bucks: David: police passed zoning last night, JD was happy his daughter was joining him and happy for our guest, Paul: going to Florida a week from today, ditto for Rick, happy bucks for our guests.
Meals on Wheels: Brent scheduled, Ken taking it
Scholarship committee and Foundation Board meetings following the regular meeting
Letters of thanks were read by David from two of our scholarship winners, Ian Graham and Diana Fairbank. Ian graduated with a 3.97 from Johns Hopkins where he studied biomedical engineering. He will continue on while working for a medical device manufacturer. His hope is that the club continues to support students in this way. Diana transferred from Avery Point to the flagship and much larger UCONN Storrs campus. She is graduating early and did very well academically. She said she grew as a person and never envisioned who she is today from her high school days.
Program: Glen Anderson
Glen gave a long resume of Marilyn Nelson (pictured below). She holds a PhD from the University of Minnesota and is currently Professor Emeritus at UCONN. She is a Poet Laureate and Chancellor of American Poets. Her father was a Tuskegee Airman who fought in WWII and much of her poetry was about his service and her life growing up in the 50's as a child of a military family. They travelled a lot. Life on the base for children was hierarchal like the adults - children of officers did not interact much with children of the enlisted. The club was treated to several selections from her books. Her mother taught second grade in an air force base. 1954 was the year of the historic Supreme Court decision Brown vs. Board of Education.
Marilyn read poems about Venture Smith, a former slave (in RI, MA, CT) who bought his and his family's freedom. He published a book in 1798. Pestilence is a poem about the politics of the slave trade. Farm Gardening was about his life, blessings and freedom. Marilyn ended with a poem about a friend who served in Vietnam. 
Good day everyone. Go away snow!!
