Thursday, February 6, 2025

Lunch Buffet

At

 

Director of Corporate Affairs

 

As the head of Corporate Affairs for Cirrus, Dante plans and execute appropriate strategies to propel Cirrus and General Aviation into the future leveraging his experience and ability to execute on stakeholder needs.

 

 

Kitchi Gammi Club

February 6 

1:00 p.m.

Greg Hansen, co-chair(GHansen@hansenhouseco.com).

 

Duluth Playhouse

February 6

7:30 p.m.

Renee Burns (renee@trinitycreekllc.com)

 

Kitchi Gammi Club

February 14

7:30 a.m.

President Elizabeth Simonson (esimonso@umn.edu)
 

 

 

By Al Makynen

 

Everyone in the room seemed to enjoy our January thaw!  With temperatures approaching 40 degrees it felt like a cool summer day!  A reminder that Rotary is the place to be on Thursday (11:30 Fellowship and Food with a 12:00 Noon Meeting Start)!   President Elizabeth Simonson called upon Rob Hofmann for the Rotary Reflection comprised of the top ten fun facts about photography.  Number (1) some people believed having their picture taken would steal their soul.  Number (6) “Cheese” was not always the go to word.  To make sure your lips did NOT move during exposure, “prune” was the word!  Number (7) the camera used by Apollo 11 in 1969 had to be left behind because of its weight to provide capacity to take back moon rocks.  Number (10) photos of kittens dressed in tiny outfits in not a recent internet invention.  The first series of such photos appeared in 1906.

 

Rob Hofmann posing for his picture as he delivers the Rotary Reflection

 

Not everyone was shy, and a few came up to self-report events in their lives both personal and professional.  The first one up to feed the Golden Can, was Jerry Thoreson with a $100 fine for a recent article about Destination Duluth.  It would appear the site is so popular and so effective in promoting why one should live in Duluth, that it has been deemed a “Glow-Up”.  A new word for many.  Discussion surrounded how to spell it.  Superintendent of Schools John Magas declared it was hyphenated.  That makes it official.  Sheryl Homan came up as a proud parent to announce that her daughter, Courtney, who is with the State Department will now be in Washington, D.C.  Her son, Todd, who also works for the State Department will now be in Hong Kong.  Past Assistant Governor, Phil Strom spoke to the concept of bringing back to the Gimlet a feature we used to run entitled “Know Your Fellow Rotarian”.  His comments and fine paid on this day were about and in honor of our President Elect, Zach Walters, who Mayor Don Ness declared January 21, 2010 in Duluth as “Zack Walters Day”. Zach Walters, alias Jungle Boy, boxed professionally from 2002 to 2009 holding the light heavyweight titles.  His career record was 24-5 with 19 wins by knockout.  He now owns and operates Jungle Boy Boxing Gym a non-profit organization.   President Elizabeth Simonson paid a work zone fine for her work associated with the announcement of a strengthened partnership between Essentia Health and the University of Minnesota to best serve the healthcare needs of all Minnesotans.

 

President Elect and professional boxer, Zach Walters, a.k.a Jungle Boy, taking a bow as part of “Know Your Fellow Rotarian” announcement

 

Superintendent John Magas describing the correct spelling of the word “Glow-Up”

 

As the Rotary International Youth Exchange Officer, Rob Hofmann, brought forward Bergen a student at Harbor City High School who will be traveling to Belgium in August of 2025 to study for a year.  Her mother, Cameron, was also present.  Cameron had been a Rotary International Exchange Student 27 years ago studying in Finland.  Our club is providing Bergen a stipend of $200 per month.

 

Phil Strom, Chair of the Rotary International Foundation Committee, awarded two Paul Harris Fellowships. The first was to District Governor Elect Elaine Hansen – Level Three (total cumulative giving of $3,000). The second was to Jon Ohman – Level Seven (Total cumulative giving of $7,000).

 

Jon Ohman receiving a Paul Harris Fellowship (Level Seven) being congratulated by Phil Strom

 

Elaine Hansen receiving a Paul Harris Fellowship (Level Three) from Phil Strom with Elizabeth Simonson looking on. 

 

Past President Dean Casperson announced that the Board of Directors has selected Neighborhood Youth Services to receive a $15,000 grant in support of direct psychological services to youth.  Neighborhood Health Services is a local 501(c)(3) that operates out of its home at First Presbyterian Church, 300 East Second Street, to provide services to school aged children (6 to 18) after school and during the summer.  The funds are from last year’s CHILD Campaign (Youth Mental Health Services).  In previous years funds had been directed to the Boys and Girls Club.  However, they no longer provide direct, on-site, psychological services.  

 

President Elizabeth Simonson announced the death of former club member Jack Bowman. 

 

It was also announced by Superintendent John Magas that President Elizabeth Simonson will be handing out the awards in the 14 categories of competition at the 64^th Annual Denfeld High School Duluth Rotary Club Speech Tournament on Saturday, February 1.   Our club committed $2,500 for this year’s event.

 

Chair of the Day Sandy Hoff introduced Allen Anway, one of our own, to give us his presentation of “A Walk in the Park” (The adventures of lugging a 45lb camera through Jay Cooke State Park).

 

Chair of the Day, Sandy Hoff, enjoying his very brief introduction of our speaker Allen Anway

 

Our speaker, as he is famous for doing, launched into his remarks with scientific precision about the science of large format photography.  The first was the Scheimpflug principle named for an Austrian captain who corrected perspective distortion in aerial photography through geometric rules applied to orientation of the lens, image planes and focus.  You get the idea.  This reporter stopped taking detailed notes and sat back to enjoy a pictorial tour of just some of the 8,800 acres of Jay Cooke never seen by anyone else in the room.

 

Our speaker, Allen Anway, with his faithful camera

 

Imagine using a heavy camera and tripod that takes 15 minutes to set up and then using 5”x7” photographic plates (more pixels than any similar digital camera – or any cell phone) and one of a dozen lenses, some state of art and others antiques, to photograph landscape, waterfall, and river scenes in all types of temperature, sun angle, and the varied conditions of nature.    This was a visual presentation with a running commentary by a passionate photographer.  Writing a description for you to have an appreciation for the sum total of the presentation is beyond the capacity of this reporter.

 

Our presenter did provide some guidance to the photographers in the room.  Take pictures of people.  People change with time.  Photographs capture that change.  When it comes to photographic effect, nature often works to your benefit.  The challenge is to capture the image because conditions can change quickly.  A particular shot may never present again.  Composition is the challenge.  What works?  What does not work?  The answer, as in other endeavors, is simple but not easy.  You must see the beauty.