Thursday, 8 October 2015

Rotary Club of Oak Bay Meeting 22 September 2015 - Professor Kerry Mason on the Poles of the Coast Salish

Reporter: Jana Gisler 

Visiting Rotarians and Guests:
Harry Roy, a lawyer from Hamilton Place Rotary in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Helen Duff, a retiree, formerly of the Ottawa Club (she’s looking to join our club)
Kerry Mason, speaker, and guest of Naida Hyde
Creole Carmichael, guest of Renate Gibbs
Lesley Ockermueller, guest of Rod Sim

We did a banner exchange with Harry from Chattanooga.  He said he hadn’t heard about banner exchanges until he got here, so we gave him one of ours and he’ll get one back to us.

President Heather recognised the following members and presented them with Gift to the World pins:
Don O'Coffey for cooking burgers for the ALS Walk
Pablo for donating concert funds back to our club regularly

Health of the club:
Mary Canty has a staph infection in her knee.  She’s on IV antibiotics at hospital. Send her messages to get well soon!

Announcements:
  • Jim Force announced our monthly Club-in-a-Pub this Thursday at 5 pm at the Penny Farthing
  • There will be a Youth Services meeting next Tuesday, September 29th at  4 pm at the Youth Centre in the new high school
  • Sanjay reminded us of lunch next week, September 29th at 11:45 AM at the Old Spaghetti Factory, followed by gold exhibition tour at the museum
  • Jack commented that our museum was recently voted Best in Canada for the 3rd year in a row!
  • President Heather mentioned that tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 at the Rec Centre there will be a Merrython board meeting for anyone who is interested.
Celebrations Master (Joan Firkins):
We are celebrating that the flags are correct this week: everyone put in $1
No rotary pin? $1
World Polio Day is October 24th
How many cases of Polio this year? 41
No cases of Polio in Nigeria this year!
This year's rotary theme is: Be a gift to the world
How many Interact students in the world? 423,499
How many Rotaract students in the world? 187,000

Birthdays, Wedding Anniversaries, and Club Anniversaries:
Wedding anniversaries for Tom Croft and Ron Beyer
No club anniversaries or birthdays
Happy and Sad Dollars:
Rod Sim had a happy dollar because the Pole job is almost over
Joan Peggs had a happy dollar to thank all who had flags and also the installers of the flags.  She also thanked her neighbors who gave her things to donate to Rotaract
Jack Petrie gave a happy dollar so that he could sing to our guest from Chattanooga.  Also noted that our Rotary International President next year is from Chattanooga
Naida had a happy dollar because she was at the symphony and the program recognised Perry Bamji and his wife for being superheroes with their donations
Pete Lawrie gave $10 sad dollars and $2 happy dollars: happy dollars for his great Europe trip, and sad dollars because he watched refugees walk through Denmark.  It struck Pete that it's a world problem and he came back committed to doing something about it.

50/50:
Jim Laing was the winner of $12.50.  He didn’t get the right marble for the $115.50 pot.

Guest Speaker:
Naida introduced our guest speaker, Professor Kerry Mason, from UVic.  She gave an interesting talk on Coast Salish monumental carvings, and showed a beautiful slide show of different paintings, silk-screens, and carvings.

Some notes from the presentation:
  • We no longer say totem poles; they are just called poles and there are different kinds.  For example, a welcome pole, house frontal pole, memorial pole. Shapes of nature are recurring in poles: dorsal fin of whales, mountains, waves on the ocean, etc.
  • Poles are often made of cedar, which is the tree of life.
  • The idea of a house frontal pole is to make one think about entering a house. The entrance to the house is through the bottom of the pole.
  • Poles are historical documents: ways to present and preserve the past.  They are a way to ensure the continuation of  stories  and the achievements/knowledge/status of a family and a vehicle through which the youth will understand the values of a cultural group.

Phil Neroutsos thanked our speaker and presented her with a mug.

The meeting was closed with the national anthem of Israel for David and Batya Westler. 

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