President Chris Krueger opened the meeting with Bert Millett offering the invocation and Polly Cady leading the Pledge of Allegiance. She thanked Bob Jensen for greeting members and guests as they arrived for the meeting. Ray Smith led everyone in singing "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" to start celebrating Valentine's week!Guests
Visiting Rotarians, Erwin and Joan Reiman from Rapid City, South Dakota were present. Dil Brinton from the Mesa Club was present and introduced our soon-to-be-member, Lola McClane. Bert Millett introduced his guest, Tony Caliendo, who recently joined Bert's practice, Orangewood Law Group, as a partner. Bruce Dransfeldt, from Chandler Horizon Rotary, was back as a visitor. Dick Myren introduced Tom Mellen, visiting from Farmington Maine Rotary. Rik Bucy was visiting from the Soldotna, Alaska club. PDG Lloyd Gnirk from District 5650 was visiting from Omaha, Nebraska.
Drawings
Jim McGown won $10 in the weekly attendance drawing, since $5 had rolled over unclaimed from the January 31 meeting. Dr. Ron Thompson handled the weekly raffle. He announced that the lucky ticket holder would win $37.00, and if they were lucky, and drew the ace of clubs from the remaining cards in the deck, they would win $447.00. Having pooled their money to purchase raffle tickets, the three musketeers, Jack Rosenberg, John Benedict, and Steve Ross held the winning ticket. They appointed John to attempt to draw, but he drew the wrong ace - the ace of spades.
Happy Bucks
John Benedict reported that while caring for his daughter's dog, he took the dog on a walk and tripped over a speed bump and sustained an injury requiring stitches, but not a cast. Dick Myren paid his traditional Rod Daniels tribute $1 - happy to be a member of Mesa West Rotary. He paid an additional $1 because he was going to have to leave the meeting early. Penny May was happy to be back at Mesa West Rotary, although she clearly wished she was still on her recent island vacation to the Cook Islands. Penny explained that one of the major differences in meeting places for Rotary between Alaska and Arizona, is that in Arizona there are no coat and hat racks. John Pennypacker was happy to be heading to his niece's rehearsal dinner later and would be enjoying her wedding on Friday. Bruce Dransfeldt paid to promoting their annual hole-in-one fundraising competition. CLICK HERE to see a You-tube video about the event. He also announced that he is preparing tax returns for AARP at the Chandler Library. Allan Cady was happy that Larry Fitzgerald will be coming back to the Cardinals. Polly Cady was happy to be a Rotarian and had enjoyed their recent visit to the Verrado Rotary Club. Donna Goetzenberger announced that even though her Short Term Youth Exchange Chair and Inbound Chair had both resigned their positions, she was happy to have recruited Machel Considine from Tempe Kyrene Rotary to fill one of those positions and was very thankful that Dan Coons had attended her recent Youth Exchange Committee meeting. Donna is trying to expand her committee to a larger number of working members, so the volume of tasks involved in managing Youth Exchange can be accomplished by a broader number of Rotarian volunteers. The additional workers will make the program much more manageable and sustainable. Donna also reminded members that Colton Cagle, the current Interact District Governor, and a member of Westwood High School Interact Club (which is sponsored by Mesa West) will be an outbound Rotary Youth Exchange Student next year. One of his obligations for being selected is to come up with three host families to house an inbound student next year. They do not need to be in the Westwood High School district. Interested members were urged to contact Donna. Rotarians were urged to spread this opportunity to others outside Rotary. Lucinda was happy to have recognized her 2005-6 District Governor classmate, Lloyd Gnirk from Omaha, visiting our meeting. Dil Brinton with the Mesa Club announced that their club would be celebrating their 97th birthday soon and hoped many Mesa West Rotarians would celebrate with them. Chris Krueger was happy that one of her employees was going to receive the Chairman's Award from her bank that afternoon, and she might have to leave before the meeting was over to be there for the occasion.
Announcements
- Allan Cady announced that the Sponsorship Campaign is just over half way to our goal of raising $40,000. Allan really believes we could raise $50,000 if members were to really get behind the program this year. He had a progress thermometer prepared by Paige Goetzenberger to illustrate our progress. He said there were brochures on the table, and Dan Coons had printed an additional supply for the meeting, and he was happy to report there is some action starting to happen.
- Dick Myren announced that he had thank-you notes to hand out from Rod Daniels, who had prepared notes for those Rotarians who had reached out to him recently following the loss of his wife.
- Dan Coons announced that he had visited the Westwood High School Interact Club. They were selling stickers to raise money for Crutches 4 Africa. Dan brought some of the stickers to the meeting to sell for $3 each. Members said it would be easier and faster to buy them for $5 each. Dan sold all the stickers he had brought to the meeting plus some invisible stickers at that price. Crutches 4 Africa is an Interact District 5495 service project. All Interact clubs have worked to collect mobility devices and raise money for them to be transported to Kenya to be delivered by a team of Interact Ambassadors and adult chaperones who will travel to Kenya this coming summer. The mission is coordinated with a partnership of Kenyan Rotarians and Rotaractors and Crutches 4 Africa, a US non-profit which strives to fill mobility needs in deprived communities of Africa.
- Melody Jackson announced a grand opening of a new revolutionary skin care business one of her friends was starting.
Program
Pam Cohen introduced our guest speaker - Shamus the Insulter - from the Renaissance Festival. She reminded members that the renaissance was a period from the 14th to 17th centuries which marked a cultural awakening in Europe which was rich with transformations in language, art and music.
Shamus is a street act at the Arizona Renaissance Festival which will be open Saturdays and Sundays February 9 - March 31, 2019 during the hours of 10am to 6pm. Shamus gets paid to insult or compliment people for others. The Arizona festival is one of 61 across our country. Other festivals run from two weekends to two months in length. The local festival is run by a for-profit organization.
Shamus and his wife are full-time "renies" - modern nomads. During the week to supplement his insulting income, he teaches self-defense. He is a registered "Officiate" and over the years has officiated at 108 weddings at the renaissance festivals where he has worked. He has done this for twenty-seven years. He and his wife live in a yurt.
Renaissance performers and workers are not part of a troupe that picks up and moves from one festival to another. They are all independent. About half of the performers at the Arizona festival are local actors. About half of the vendors are on the road full time. He says it is a 24/7 lifestyle. They will be here in Arizona for two months for this festival. They do five festivals each year. They see a lot of the same people at the festivals they participate in and they have become a very tight and generous community which is there for each other when needed. The festivals he and his wife participate in are Arizona, Muskogee OK, Colorado, Minnesota, and North Carolina.
Shamus' wife is not a performer but has jewelry that she offers for sale at the festivals. His mission is to make people laugh and provide others with tools to be able to defend themselves. They have been married for eight years.
One of the things he prides himself in is that he is willing to answer any question. Taking him up on that challenge, Lolita Weisner asked him to tell her the meaning of life. In very flowery language, Shamus finally summed it up with "curiosity and kindness."
The site where the Arizona festival is held is owned privately. It was purchased over thirty years ago. The parcel contains almost 300 acres with the festival itself covering an enclosed 32 acres of the site.
Shamus said you cannot see the entire festival in one day. You can get a good flavor for it in one day - but won't see it all. It really has something for everyone and is very family friendly. The more adult themed "loose cannon" entertainment is found furthest from the admission gate.
Attending the festival is a great way to walk away from the stress of life for a day. They actually have added something similar to the "escape rooms" people pay dearly to spend an hour in. The festival's escape rooms provide only 15-minutes of relief.
The oldest festival in the United States started more than 50- years ago in southern California. In the mid to late 60's, they started trending to be more professional and more successful.
Dr. Ron finally couldn't stand it any longer. He wanted to hear Shamus ply his trade. He volunteered Greg Okonowski to be the recipient of a professionally delivered insult. Later in the meeting, Dr. Ron was the recipient of Shamus' talent.
Once in the festival, most acts are free, but tips are gladly accepted. Shamus has a square will gladly electronically process tips to insult or compliment people. Festival goers should expect to pay for food, rides and items purchased from vendors. An additional service he offers is setting the mood for a marriage proposal. So far, the success rate is 18/18.
One of the Rotarians noticed a unique mug hanging from Shamus' belt. Shamus explained that it has lasted him a very long time. He crushes metal mugs, breaks ceramic mugs, and plastic just doesn't fit his persona. The wooden mug seems to be nearly indestructible. Similar mugs are available at Mug O' The Woods.
In answer to a question, Shamus explained that jousting is kind of like football where the participants are frequently sidelined from injuries, but said the horses do not get injured. He offered cards good for a free insult or compliment at the festival.
Jim Schmidt wanted to hear one of Shamus' compliments and suggested he compliment Jeanie Morgan. It was the best compliment Jeanie remembered ever receiving. It was priceless.