2022-05 May

May 2022 Rotary Scholars makin an impact page 14 Read people like books at the Human Library page 36 Meetin the moment in Minneapolis page 42 MUSIC FOR THE AGES How melodies can be medicine for memory loss page 28

TDHEIRROTEARCY TFOUHNDUATMIONACRENATIESTCAHARNNIEAL FNOR SUPPORT IN UKRAINE REGION In response to the deepening humanitarian crisis in In addition to providing support through the Disaster Ukraine, The Rotary Foundation has created an official Response Fund, the Foundation is coordinating with channel for Rotary members around the world to partners and regional leaders, exploring effective contribute funds to support the relief efforts underway solutions to the increased humanitarian needs: by Rotary districts and has designated its Disaster Response Fund as the main avenue for contributions: • We are in contact with the International Rescue Committee and UNHCR, the United Nations refugee • Now through 30 June 2022, designated Rotary agency, to prepare our response to the needs of those districts that border Ukraine and the Rotary district in being displaced within Ukraine and to neighboring Ukraine may apply for grants of up to $50,000 each countries. from the Disaster Response Fund. These expedited disaster response grants can be used to provide relief to • ShelterBox, our project partner for disaster response, refugees or other victims of the crisis, including items is in communication with Rotary members in Central such as water, food, shelter, medicine, and clothing. Europe to explore how it can offer assistance with temporary transitional housing and essential supplies. • Also through 30 June, other impacted Rotary districts that wish to offer support to refugees or other victims • The Rotary Action Group for Refugees, Forced of the crisis in their district can apply for $25,000 grants Displacement, and Migration is also mobilizing its from the Disaster Response Fund. resources to assist in this crisis. • Now through 30 April 2022, Rotary districts can Visit My Rotary and follow Rotary on social media to stay transfer unallocated District Designated Funds (DDF) updated on how clubs can get involved. to the Disaster Response Fund, directly supporting these Ukraine-specific humanitarian grants. For more information, please contact the Rotary Support Center at [email protected]. • Contributions to the Disaster Response Fund in support of Ukraine can be made at my.rotary.org/disaster- response-fund. All funds need to be received into the Disaster Response Fund by 30 April 2022 in order to qualify for use in support of the Ukrainian relief efforts. • Although the Disaster Response Fund will be the main avenue for Rotary Foundation support, Rotary and Rotaract clubs are also encouraged to create their own responses to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.

,- , PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE D ue to your positive response to the Each One, In Houston, the final presidential conference, Serve Bring One initiative, I am so happy to see that to Bring Peace, will focus on an area in which Rotary the membership trends in Rotary are looking has long provided leadership. Everything we do in Ro- up. Let us not lose this momentum — keep tary helps create the conditions that foster peace in communities, nations, and ourselves. inviting new members, and also work hard to In March, I was able to see firsthand the tremendous retain every member we attract. I look forward to seeing di erence Rotary is making in Ukraine, as refugees continue to pour into Poland. Donors have contributed you next month in Houston at the 2022 Rotary Interna- millions of dollars to this e ort; our projects are making a tremendous di erence, and there is enormous grati- tional Convention,which I assure you will be a great event. tude for your continued generosity and support. Also in Houston this June, we will be hosting my fi- It is heartbreaking to see up close all the lives that have been uprooted, and the Ukrainian people are nal presidential conference. We have devoted this year not alone. A devastating civil war in Yemen continues. The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is deepening. to conferences built around Rotary’s areas of focus. Armed conflicts a ect nations across Africa, includ- ing Libya, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, They have been a tremendous success, both in terms northern Mozambique, Ethiopia, and Cameroon. And major refugee crises continue in Syria and Venezuela. of attendance and in the ideas that were generated. Rotary will always be on the side of the peaceful Last fall, our conference in the Philippines, which resolution of conflict and providing aid and comfort to people in need. Rotary was there at the end of World focused on protecting the environment and growing War II, promoting the creation of the United Nations and standing up for the cause of peacebuilding world- local economies, attracted 2,200 people online. In wide. It is time to renew our mission and perform our role as one of the world’s great promoters of peace. Brazil, our meeting centered around water, sanitation, There is no better way to Serve to Change Lives than and hygiene and how it relates to disease prevention to serve the cause of peace. and treatment; more than 600 people attended. That President, Rotary International was followed by an event about the environment, economy, and peace in Maputo, Mozambique, which attracted around 400 in-person attendees and an- other 700 virtually. Our conference about keeping the economy and environment in harmony, held in Venice, Italy, had more than 600 in attendance. Through these conferences and my world travels, Sephi Bergerson numerous leaders have met with me and agreed to col- laborate with Rotary. They include the prime minister of Mauritius, the president of Seychelles, the deputy prime minister of Bahrain, and the presidents of Alba- nia and Kosovo. Clearly, Rotary is making an impact, and the world is eager for our leadership. MAY 2022 ROTARY 1

Realy Easy Star / Toni Spagone / Alamy Stock Photo 2  ROTARY  MAY 2022

WELCOME YOU ARE HERE: Potenza, Italy LOCAL GREETING: Ciao! Come andiamo? NATURAL HIGH: At 2,684 feet above sea level, Potenza, the capital of the southern Italian region of Basilicata, is the highest of all the country’s regional capitals. But rather than show you its historic sites or famously long escalators, Marco Faggella, a member of the Rotary Club of Roma Nord-Est, would take you out of town. “Potenza is the gateway to some of the larg- est national parks in Italy,” he says. Faggella loves a trail through a beech forest near Mount Li Foy, with views of the surrounding towns and Mount Vulture, an extinct volcano. BEYONDNATURE: While Potenza may be known to some for its escalators, Faggella con- siders the Musmeci Bridge to be the city’s true engineer- ing marvel. Supported by a single, sinuous structure of reinforced concrete, the sculptural bridge is beautiful as well as functional. Says Faggella, “Sergio Musmeci was a true genius.” THECLUBS: The Rotary Club of Potenza meets Mondays at 8:30 p.m. at the Grande Albergo hotel, and the Ro- tary Club of Potenza Torre Guevara meets Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. at the Grande Albergo. — paula m. bodah MAY 2022  ROTARY  3

ROTARY GENERAL OFFICERS OF ROTARY TRUSTEES OF THE ROTARY INTERNATIONAL, 2021–22 FOUNDATION, 2021–22 May 2022 PRESIDENT CHAIR EDITOR IN CHIEF ART DIRECTORS Shekhar Mehta John F. Germ Wen Huang Dave Allen Calcutta-Mahanagar, India Chattanooga, Jacqueline Cantu Tennessee, USA SENIOR EDITOR PRESIDENT-ELECT Geoffrey Johnson PRODUCTION MANAGER Jennifer E. Jones CHAIR-ELECT Marc Dukes Windsor-Roseland, Ian H.S. Riseley SENIOR STAFF WRITER Ontario, Canada Sandringham, Australia Diana Schoberg SENIOR EDITORIAL COORDINATOR VICE PRESIDENT VICE CHAIR ASSOCIATE EDITOR Cynthia Edbrooke Valarie K. Wafer Sangkoo Yun John M. Cunningham Collingwood- Sae Hanyang, Korea CIRCULATION MANAGER South Georgian Bay, COPY EDITOR Katie McCoy Ontario, Canada TRUSTEES Kristin Morris Jorge Aufranc TREASURER Guatemala Sur, Guatemala CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Virpi Honkala Nat Reade Raahe, Finland Marcelo Demétrio Haick Santos-Praia, Brazil Send ad inquiries and materials to: Marc Dukes, DIRECTORS Rotary magazine, One Rotary Center, 1560 Sherman Jessie Harman Per Høyen Ave., 14th floor, Evanston, IL 60201; phone 847-866- Wendouree Breakfast, Aarup, Denmark 3092; email [email protected] Australia Hsiu-Ming Lin Media kit: rotary.org/mediakit Suzi (Susan C.) Howe Taipei Tungteh, Taiwan Space Center (Houston), To contact us: Rotary magazine, One Rotary Texas, USA Larry A. Lunsford Center, 1560 Sherman Ave., Evanston, IL 60201; Kansas City-Plaza, phone 847-866-3206; email [email protected] Won-Pyo Kim Missouri, USA Gyeongju South, Korea Website: rotary.org/magazines Mark Daniel Maloney Urs Klemm Decatur, Alabama, USA To submit an article: Send stories, queries, tips, Aarau, Switzerland and photographs by mail or email (high-resolution Geeta K. Manek digital images only). We assume no responsibility Mahesh Kotbagi Muthaiga, Kenya for unsolicited materials. Pune Sports City, India Aziz Memon To subscribe: Twelve issues at US$12 a year Aikaterini Kotsali- Karachi, Pakistan (USA, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands); $16 Papadimitriou a year (Canada); $24 a year (elsewhere). Contact Pendeli, Greece Akira Miki the Circulation Department (phone 847-424-5217 Himeji, Japan or -5216; email [email protected]) for details and for Peter R. Kyle airmail rates. Gift subscriptions available at the Capitol Hill (Washington, Barry Rassin same rates. D.C.), District of Columbia, East Nassau, Bahamas USA To send an address change: Enclose old address Dean Rohrs label, postal code, and Rotary club, and send to the Roger Lhors Langley Central, British Circulation Department or email [email protected]. Pont-Audemer, France Columbia, Canada Postmaster: Send all address changes to Circulation Department, Rotary magazine, One Rotary Center, Chi-Tien Liu Gulam A. Vahanvaty 1560 Sherman Ave., Evanston, IL 60201. Yangmei, Taiwan Bombay, India Call the Contact Center: USA, Canada, and Vicki Puliz GENERAL SECRETARY Virgin Islands (toll-free) 866-976-8279. Elsewhere: Sparks, Nevada, USA John Hewko 847-866-3000, ext. 8999. Kyiv, Ukraine Nicki Scott Unless otherwise noted: All images are North Cotswolds, England copyright ©2022 by Rotary International or are used with permission. Julio César A. Silva-Santisteban Published monthly by Rotary International, 1560 Sherman Ave., El Rímac, Peru Evanston, IL 60201. Rotary® is a registered trademark of Rotary International. Copyright ©2022 by Rotary International. All rights Katsuhiko Tatsuno reserved. Periodicals postage paid at Evanston, Illinois, USA, and Tokyo-West, Japan additional mailing offices. Canada Publications Mail Agreement No. 1381644. Canadian return address: MSI, PO Box 2600, Missis- Elizabeth Usovicz sauga, ON L4T 0A8. This is the May 2022 issue, volume 200, Kansas City-Plaza, number 11, of Rotary. Publication number: USPS 548-810. Missouri, USA ISSN 2694-443X (print); ISSN 2694-4448 (online). Ananthanarayanan S. “Venky” Venkatesh Chennai Mambalam, India GENERAL SECRETARY John Hewko Kyiv, Ukraine 4  ROTARY  MAY 2022

DOING GOOD IN THE WORLD Your year-end gift to Rotary’s Annual Fund supports projects that help create lasting change in your community and around the world. GIVE TODAY: rotary.org/donate

CONTENT May 2022 Vol. 200, No. 11 FEATURES 1  President’s message 2 Welcome 28 Melodies and memories CONNECT The good things music does for aging brains 8  Staff corner 9  Letters to the editor By Kate Silver 12  The specialist 36 The library where the A language teacher spreads peace ‘books’ are human beings through understanding With branches in more than 80 13  What would you do? countries, the Human Library allows you to borrow a person — a rugby OUR WORLD player, a refugee, a sex worker — and ask them anything you want 14 Lasting connections By Michaela Haas Grants free up Rotary Scholars to learn and build their networks 42 The business of healing 17 ‘A little bit of salt’ The city of Minneapolis was reeling after George Floyd’s murder. Rotary A surgeon in Spain finds a way to treat clubs helped small businesses recover — and changed themselves in the 18 patients in Nigeria process People of action around the globe By Frank Bures 20 Is it bias or is it bigotry? Photography by Tim Gruber Bias, it turns out, is more complicated than we thought 22 What it’s like to be a radio DJ 24 Recurring generosity Paul Harris Society members take pride in their commitment Illustration  by Zulema Williams On the cover: The 20 OUR CLUBS nonprofit Music Mends Minds 52 Virtual visit provides people with memory loss Rotary Club of Bocas del Toro, Panama an opportunity to reconnect through 55 Calendar the power of song. 56 Dispatches from our sister magazines Photography 58 Logos to go courtesy of Carol Rosenstein How to keep your club’s graphics up-to-date 6  ROTARY  MAY 2022 60 Champions of Girls’ Empowerment honorees 62 Trustee chair’s message 63 2022 convention |  Crossword 64 Found Rotarian magician’s tricks don’t violate The Four-Way Test

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STAFF CORNE world cinema, and fell even more in love with ilm.  When I returned to Courtesy of Simo EzoubeiriMorocco, I asked to borrow a friend’s camera. I ended up making my very first film, Under the Table. I edited the film in a co ee shop, as I did not have a computer at home. I submitted it to videoart.net, an online video plat- form based in New York, and it was selected as an Editor’s Pick. I wanted to pursue a film career, but it required a lot of resources and I needed to do something tangible to help my family. So in 2003, after grad- uating from college in Morocco with a bachelor’s in hospitality and cultural management,  I went to Dubai and worked for Hyatt International. My next job was at the Sofitel Chicago Water Tower. I moved to the United States in 2008 to become their VIP coordinator, then worked for H&M, where I created corporate video ma- terials and started working earnestly on my own short film projects. Simo Ezoubeiri I wrote and directed Ladder, my first dramatic short film, in 2015. Rotary Support Center adviser Then I directed and was the cinema- tographer for The Final Rite, which my I was born in Marrakech, Morocco, the gateway from Africa to the wife, Megan, wrote. She also wrote our world. I grew up speaking French and hearing English everywhere. 2021 short film, Speck of Dust. I was the director and editor for that. Nationality: My father was a farmer, but in his spare time he was an extra in Moroccan and movies. He was very humble and never talked about his passion for What drives my filmmaking is the (Naturalized) film when I was a kid. It was years later that I learned about my father’s untold stories, the things inside American connection to movies. Growing up, I never thought to wonder where us that we never talk about. Films he learned so much inside information about certain movie scenes or showcase stories and situations so Education: Hollywood actors. that people don’t feel alone. Movies Bachelor’s in have the power to transform people’s hospitality and The first time I saw my father on screen was in 2017, and I was in moods and bring us together. My hotel manage- Hudson, Ohio, at the home of my future in-laws. My father had recently films have been in more than 40 film ment from the passed, and after sharing stories about him, we watched the 2015 film festivals now. Institute of Rock the Kasbah, which was one of the last films he had worked in. I was Hospitality and not prepared for the moment I saw him right there, in full view, next to I joined Rotary in 2019. When I Management of Bill Murray — clear as day. His memory lives on in films like this one. learned about what the organiza- Marrakech, and tion does in the world — how people a certificate in In 2002, I was studying to be a French teacher at Cadi Ayyad Uni- can share values and help each other French literature versity in Marrakech. I didn’t have much money, so my uncle paid to get — I applied to work at Rotary head- and poetry from me access to the library at L’Institut Français de Marrakech. There, I was quarters, and I love it. It feels a lot like the Cadi Ayyad surrounded by a wealth of information and, of course, film literature. being in my community in Marrakech. University in I started reading all the French film magazines and ended up getting a Marrakech scholarship to the La Rochelle Film Festival. At the Rotary Support Center, I answer French and English emails Languages: I went to the festival in France, made new friendships, learned about and phone calls, serving Rotarians English, and helping new hires with transi- French, and tions and training. We’re all people Arabic with big goals and dreams, and I’m all about the vision of Rotary — creating friendships around the world and valuing service over self. 8 ROTARY MAY 2022

Letters community leader.Without nonprofit CONNECT to the editor businesses, including Rotary, our world would be a lesser place. February 2022 Rotary Days of Service worldwide Margi Prueitt, page 14 Wilmington, Delaware The 7 peace centers’ As a nonprofit professional with core curricula more than 30 years in the field, I page 40 read Lisa Greer’s article with inter- est. It is clear to me that nonprofits New report outlines that do not embrace best manage- ecological threats ment practices do not last long. page 48 I recommend two resources for The rapper donors and the general public to Overheard on Follow us to get updates, Phenom mentors use in evaluating the accountability, social media share stories with your a new generation of transparency, and e ectiveness of networks, and tell us what peace ambassadors at specific nonprofits: Charity Navigator In January, we you think. his Chicago academy — and GuideStar. I’m proud to say that shared the story thanks, in part, to The Rotary Foundation has consis- of Ju Eun Seok, Rotary.org support from tently earned the highest rating (four a refugee from Rotary stars) from Charity Navigator and re- North Korea who [email protected] page 28 cently received the Platinum Seal of made a new home Transparency from GuideStar. with the help of @rotary Emcee Skool Rotary. — David Hanzlick, /rotary PHENOMENAL WORK An amazing Overland Park, Kansas story of courage. @rotaryinternational Kudos to Osei David Andrews- Wonderful to have Hutchinson and the Rotary Club POSITIVE POTENTIAL Rotary involve- Rotary magazine of Chicago Southeast for support- ment. One Rotary Center ing the brilliant work of Phenom As a job placement specialist for Gillian Jones 1560 Sherman Ave. and Emcee Skool [“Emcee Skool,” people with disabilities, I was es- Evanston, IL 60201 February]. What a great example pecially delighted to read about via LinkedIn of much-needed role modeling for the Rotary Club of World Disability The editors welcome comments on young folks. We need more such Advocacy, Central MA and Metro The first thing in items published in the magazine but programs. And it looks so fun! West, in the February issue. Thanks life is to conquer reserve the right to edit for style to Maureen Vaught for spotlighting the fear of death, and length. Published letters do — Richard DeBeau, the advocacy work of Club Presi- and then anything not necessarily reflect the views of dent Ken Masson [“Advocacy in Ac- is possible. Ju Eun the editors or Rotary International Northfield, Minnesota tion”] and including resources and Seok dared to at- leadership, nor do the editors take tangible steps to help ensure that all tain freedom, and responsibility for errors of fact that I was thrilled not only to read this Rotary clubs are more inclusive and today she is living may be expressed by the writers. article, which was fantastic, but accessible for people with disabili- a respectful life. also to see a portrait-style photo ties [“Make Everyone Welcome”]. Ashok Kumar MAY 2022 ROTARY 9 of a young Black American on the Sethi cover of Rotary magazine. This was The mission of the nonpro it a very powerful choice. Great job! STAR Center, where I work, is “to via Facebook help any person with any disability — Jamie Textor, to realize their potential.” One of the reasons I joined Rotary is that Martinez, California every member has the opportunity to realize their leadership potential NO NONSENSE NONPROFITS and make a positive impact in the community. Lisa Greer’s article [“It’s All Your Business,” February] resonated with — Wendy Mercer, me as a longtime professional non- profit executive. In my experience, Jackson, Tennessee many for-profit leaders believe that nonpro it businesses (yes, busi- TEXAS REVISITED nesses) are “flu y” and don’t face the same issues as for-profit businesses. I appreciate Esther Landau’s con- cerns [Letters, “State of Concern,” I recall a conversation with a February]. Recent Texas laws do not fellow Rotarian about the impact promote goodwill and better friend- of a tough economy on his busi- ships, nor are those laws beneficial ness. When I agreed with him, his to all concerned. Rotary Interna- response was: “But you just lead a tional provides wonderful service nonprofit.” After I regaled him with to the world, promoting peace. It all the issues I had to deal with as a nonprofit leader, he changed his tune and, I think, became a more informed

verdin would be ideal if the 2022 convention were post clocks in a state that is more in line with Rotary principles. The Perfect Anniversary Gift! — Becky Engel, Official Rotary e purpose of this book is to Licensee assist the reader in choosing Athens, Georgia #03-4B0541 the best method for providing clean water in a developing I was very disappointed that you chose verdin.com country. Various approaches to publish Esther Landau’s letter. The are clearly described, and case strength of Rotary lies in its diversity and Do you need Rotary-branded studies provided, to illustrate its welcoming of members with different merchandise? the importance of matching viewpoints. But we must leave our politi- Then shop with Rotary-licensed need and method when re- cal beliefs at the door before we enter into vendors, many of which are local sources are limited. Rotary. Ms. Landau’s comments would Rotarian-owned businesses. have been inappropriate even if they had Shop now at Dr. John Dracup is a professor promoted a different opinion. Please keep on.rotary.org/shop emeritus from the University politics and polarizing statements out of of California, Berkeley. the pages of the magazine. Learn more or purchase at: — Richard Lemire, cleanwaterbook.com Riverside, California Shop With A Licensed Vendor_EN-20.indd 1 , 56 7/13/20 3:56 PM Esther Landau wrote that she is disap- 6. , 27% %)) pointed that Rotary is investing in Texas. / $' 5($ 52( 85 / Texas is a leader in medicine, science and technology, space exploration, oil and $ 7 ( $ / / '21( 5(2 gas development, agriculture, the fine arts, and military service to our great nation. In %($8 ($51 2$6(6 World War II, more U.S. officers attended Texas A&M University than any of the 6 , ;7 <)2857+6 service academies. Texas has also led the way in the fight for civil rights for African $0285 $ 9 , $ 7 ( Also available in Spanish: Americans: In the 1920s, the Texas Rang- ers were instrumental in the suppression 7 (5525 (6 7 , '$ of the Ku Klux Klan in the state. & , 7 <&2857+286(6 Recently, District 5830 [which includes parts of Texas] raised about $30,000 for a 26+ 5 30 6:$ / ( 6 maternity and obstetrics center at a hospi- tal in Guatemala. Thanks to the efforts of $ / (526 , 1(57 Rotarians, poor pregnant women will have access to proper care for themselves and 0( $ / <028 7 + ( ' their newborn children. So, folks, come on down to Texas! It’s a 5()(5 275$ , 76< great place. You’ll get to experience Texas hospitality: wonderful food, great music, %55 , 07+(5( 9 , ( and above all, friendly people. We’ll have a real good time, y’all! , , , &2( $3% $57 — Bill Paschall, Tyler, Texas ROTARY PRIDE I found the February issue very meaning- ful. As a new member, I am keen to learn about Rotary’s diversified projects, and I feel proud to be a part of it. Emcee Skool, Phenom’s workshop to uplift people through rap technique, is awesome. I am also impressed by Ken Masson, the driving force behind the Ro- tary Club of World Disability Advocacy. These articles prove that Rotary is com- mitted in every community. — Sushma Dharmadhikari, Kolhapur, India *( 1 62' 02% ' ( , 10  ROTARY  MAY 2022

Diversity strengthens our clubs New members from different groups in our communities bring fresh perspectives and ideas to our clubs and expand Rotary’s presence. Invite prospective members from all backgrounds to experience Rotary. REFER A NEW MEMBER my.rotary.org/member-center

THE SPECIALIST “Anyone can learn a language, as long as the les- Learning sons are meaningful and contextualized.” Gear’s the lingo school tends to avoid textbooks, tapes, and vocabu- lary lists made for language classes. Instead, she says, A language teacher spreads peace “We teach you things that are important to you. We through understanding don’t give you a big book and go through chapters. We want to get you to use the language immediately. R otary changed my life,” says Caroline Because if you don’t use it, you lose it.” Gear, who grew up on a farm in Greene, “Listening is key.” Gear learned in Peru to listen New York. “I was going to be a music carefully, and not just flip through a book for transla- tions. “The more you listen, the quicker you’ll speak.” major.” Then, at 18, she applied to be She advises people learning a new language to “go for the gist.” You don’t need to understand every word, or a Youth Exchange student through the speak perfectly. “Aim for the general idea and respond as best you can. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Rotary Club of Greene. She’d studied French in Have fun. Laugh!” high school but ended up spending a year in Piura, “Our school’s mission is very close to Rotary ideals. Peru — with no prior Spanish language experi- Learning other languages and other cultures is ence whatsoever. “It made such an impact,” she Caroline Gear truly peace through understanding.” Part of Gear’s mission includes providing free English classes for re- says. “When you learn about other cultures, you Rotary Club of cent immigrants and refugees. “People who are afraid Northampton, of immigrants like to say, ‘Speak English,’ but what learn more about yourself and your values. I came Massachusetts they don’t know is that there are very few affordable places where people can do that, especially after back and changed my college major to Spanish and Executive work,” she explains. “When you help people learn the director, language, you unlock their path to success.” international relations.” Gear went on to teach Eng- International Language — bob flaherty lish in Mexico and Spain, then became a Spanish Institute of Massachusetts and English instructor at the International Lan- guage Institute in Northampton, Massachusetts. She is now the institute’s executive director. 12  ROTARY  MAY 2022 Photography by Kathya Maria Landeros

CONNECT WHAT WOULD YOU DO? Rotaract members in conference breakouts and plenary sessions? The trouble with During my last several conferences, typecasting I learned more from them than from Rotarians. Also, if you do ask their help with registration, let them share the job with Rotarians, so that the Rotarians can learn from them! — Frederick Collignon Rotary Club of Berkeley, California Y ou are part of the plan- behind-the-scenes function. Why not The involvement of Rotaract mem- ning committee for your include them in the organizing com- bers doesn’t have to be limited to one upcoming district con- mittee and ask them for suggestions? form. Given that the conference is to ference, which will fea- be held in-person as well as virtually, — Sofia Sotomayor Magaña they could serve as greeters or ushers ture both in-person and Rotary Club of Tijuana Oeste, Mexico for the people attending in person. Depending on the skills and talents virtual participation. One member At the very least, I would ask the of the Rotaractors concerned, you Rotaractors what they want to do. could involve them as masters of suggests that you leverage Rotarac- I would ask them to join the plan- ceremony to introduce and thank ning committee. speakers, or give them something tors’ technology skills by having them specific to organize. Since Rotarac- — William Rhind tors are now Rotary members, they manage the Zoom registration and Rotary Club of Putney, England could do anything that Rotarians do, given that we all have different skills, provide technical support for virtual Clearly this is a demeaning request talents, and areas of expertise. to Rotaract members unless linked to participants. Another member thinks a larger role in the conference. Why — Merewyn Joy Wright deprive Rotarians of the insights of there are more meaningful ways to en- Watch for Rotary Club of Airlie Beach, other ethical gage Rotaractors.What would you do? dilemmas on Australia the “Rotary Ser- Asking Rotaract members to be in vice in Action” charge of Zoom and other technical blog at rotary aspects is a great idea. However, it’s a serviceblog.org. Illustration by Martín Elfman MAY 2022  ROTARY  13

OUR WORL THE ROTARY FOUNDATION Lasting connections Grants free up Rotary Scholars to learn and build their networks W hen Adrian Faiers ALLISON FURNISS got married last year, among the University of Cape Town, assembled friends South Africa and family were “I think the global north has a lot to Sira Lee and Alizée McLorg, two learn from the global south,” says Allison Furniss, a PhD candidate in young women whose scholarships he anthropology at the University of Cape Town. She knows something of both had coordinated while they pursued north and south: She currently lives and studies in a city at the southern master’s degrees at the London School tip of Africa, but the native Canadian grew up in Whitehorse, Yukon Terri- of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He tory. marvels at the women’s far-flung con- Furniss, 35, had spent four years after college working for nonprofits nection. Although one is from Korea in Tanzania and Namibia. There, she used youth sports as a tool to promote and the other from California, they go gender equality and public health awareness. This experience ignited her to weddings, conferences, and Rotary passion for humanitarian work and for Africa, and after returning to Canada, meetings together. “They have become Furniss applied to a master’s program in political studies at the University of best friends,” Faiers says. Cape Town. She decided to specialize in the area of justice and transforma- Of the 1,300 or so Rotary Founda- tion. tion global grants approved each year, “It was philosophically very im- portant to me to study Africa from about 200 are for scholarships. Global Africa,” Furniss says. Her global grant scholarship paid for her master’s grant scholarships fund graduate-level studies, the centerpiece of which was fieldwork in the North Kivu province studies in one of Rotary’s areas of focus. of the Democratic Republic of Congo. There she learned about the social and Rotary districts can also provide schol- economic lives of women who work as artisanal miners, extracting coltan, arships through district grants. Lee and an ore containing tantalum, which is used in capacitors common in mod- McLorg, whose scholarships are funded ern electronics. She also discovered significant gaps between the experi- by global and district grants, respec- ence of those women and the national and international laws and policies that tively, are taking advantage of one big were designed to improve conditions in Congo’s mineral sector. benefit available to Rotary Scholars: the Despite the unpredictability of con- opportunity to build their networks — ducting fieldwork in that part of the world — there was an active Ebola outbreak with each other, experts in their fields, during her first stint in Congo — Furniss and the broader Rotary world. Particularly in places where a large number of global and district grant scholars study — such as London, which is home to the London School of Economics as well as King’s and University colleges — the scholars 19 have their own niche within the Rotary Italian art enthusiasts sphere. “They become a very, very good 20 Is it bias or bigotry? community together,” says Faiers, a 22 member of the Rotary Club of Dulwich, What it’s like to be a radio DJ Peckham and Crystal Palace, who as 24 chair of District 1130’s scholarship sub- Paul Harris Society committee coordinates the incoming membership scholars in London. 14  ROTARY  MAY 2022 Meet four Rotary Scholars, and find out how the connections they’ve made through Rotary are helping them change the world.

is spending this year in Congo do- African Truth and Reconciliation Clockwise health, and suicide prevention to ing research for her PhD. “Every- Commission established under individual schools. She also con- thing changed for me based on my the presidency of Nelson Mandela. from top left: nects students facing homeless- fieldwork experience,” she says. She “The richness and the contextu- Allison Furniss, ness with housing programs. hopes always to keep one foot in the alization of being here in South Kayla Stovall, practical sphere, such as policy de- Africa was really important to me,” Hannah Her expertise in social- velopment or advocacy. “I don’t want she says. “It brings what you’re Emerson, and emotional learning among grade to keep the knowledge that I gain studying to life.”  Mitchell school students came out of her through this experience in the ivory Paquette research for her master’s degree tower. I really want to disseminate KAYLA STOVALL in public health. As a global that as much as possible,” she says. grant scholar at the University of University of Edinburgh, Scotland Edinburgh, she had selected three Today, Furniss says, South possible topics from a prepared Africa is working to fight against Rotary and the vicissitudes of list of 60 or so, and chose to focus racial and income inequality. She fate brought Kayla Stovall to her on how Scottish students’ rela- points to the Truth and Reconcilia- job as a prevention specialist for tionships with their teachers affect tion Commission of Canada, which Uplift Education, a network of 45 their social-emotional health. aims to repair the relationship schools centered in Dallas. Stovall “This career field chose me be- between the Canadian govern- promotes programs focused on cause of that moment,” she says.  ment and the First Nations — and substance abuse, teen dating vio- which was modeled after the South lence, healthy relationships, sexual It may have determined her professional path, but the catalyst Illustrations by Viktor Miller Gausa MAY 2022  ROTARY  15

OUR WORLD was Rotary. Stovall, 26, first encountered Rotary LLM in international human rights law. In addition Types of while attending a RYLA (Rotary Youth Leader- to his coursework, he volunteered for Amnesty’s Rotary ship Awards) camp between her junior and senior Digital Verification Corps, a network of six universi- Scholarships years of high school. “I had never heard of Rotary ties globally that trains people to sift through the before,” she says. “All I knew was that I would enormous amount of digital content on potential Rotary Peace Fellow- get away from home for a few days.” Among the human rights abuses. After graduation, he segued to ships are offered by camp’s staff members was a global grant scholar his job with Amnesty, where he now supervises DVC The Rotary Foundation — and a few years later, while working on a volunteers. “This space is really exciting,” he says. for college graduates Rotaract project during her senior year of college, and professionals to a mentor reminded her about that possibility of In the future, Paquette hopes to expand the study peace and con- a scholarship. Stovall hadn’t even considered horizons of his position, incorporating more flict resolution. graduate study previously. “I didn’t think it was an in-person, on-the-ground testimony or working option for me, just because I was the first in my more toward legal accountability for human rights Global grant scholar- family to go to college,” she says. violators. At present, he appreciates his proactive ships are for gradu- position in a human rights organization active ate students studying Now she is a member of the Rotary Club of around the globe. “I don’t have to watch the news abroad in one of Rotary’s Plano West, Texas, and is working to promote the and see ‘war in X country’ and feel bad about seven areas of focus. idea of global grant scholarships to local universi- that,” he says. “I can actually engage very immedi- ties. “I’m very grateful to be in this position — [go- ately in doing that work.” District grant scholar- ing] from being a person who didn’t even think this ships can be used to was a spot that I could have, and now being on the HANNAH EMERSON sponsor secondary other end of it,” she says. school, undergraduate, Paris School of International Affairs or graduate students Being a member of Rotary, studying in Scot- studying any subject, land, working at Uplift: All of it, she says, comes Hannah Emerson is 23 years old and has already either in the scholar’s down to forming networks that can help make the lived in seven countries: the United States (her home home country or abroad. world a better place. “One of the most powerful country), Germany, Greece, Russia, Switzerland, Thai- things we have is connection,” she says. “That’s land, and now France while studying on a global grant Stats when bonds are made and peace is created.” scholarship. She clearly has caught the international bug. “Once you get it, it’s hard to give it up,” she says.  $62.9 MITCHELL PAQUETTE million She’s studying environmental policy at Sciences University of Essex, England Po’s Paris School of International Affairs. She plans Funding for global to conduct fieldwork in Kenya (country No. 8) and grant scholarships Mitchell Paquette spends a lot of time online. He then complete her dual degree in England (No. 9), works as an open-source researcher for the Citizen at the London School of Economics. Her focus lies 1,602 Evidence Lab, part of the Crisis Response Programme in climate adaptations and how they can contribute Global grant at Amnesty International. When a crisis emerges, to sustainable development. She’s also studying scholarships awarded such as mass protests, armed conflict, or an environ- ways of standardizing how success is evaluated, so mental disaster, he and his team scour social media that the best adaptations can be scaled up globally. 55 and other publicly available data, and then work to verify it using satellite imagery, heat mapping, and She’s seeking interventions that promote both Countries and other techniques. They are like embedded war report- economic development and a greener world. For geographic areas that ers for potential human rights violations. example, communities that lack access to a power grid could receive solar panels to create a self- have hosted global Paquette, 28, came to Amnesty after a stint sufficient power supply. Her other interests in- grant scholars with the New Media Advocacy Project, a New clude sustainable agriculture, the political ecology York state-based nonprofit, doing video editing of water, and food security. 68 and production for human rights organizations. He was getting restless and hoping for more When she finishes her dual degree, Emerson Countries that proximity to the fight for human rights. “Basically, foresees dividing her time between fieldwork and global grant scholars I wanted to work for the organizations I was mak- working as a consultant. “My vision for this role ing videos for,” he says. would be to make sure to include the interests of are from all,” she says, “and to make sure especially mar- He attended the University of Essex on a global ginalized and disenfranchised communities are All stats since 2014 grant scholarship in 2018 and 2019, attaining an taken into account.” — graham meyer Short The 2021 Interact Awards were won by the In her January address to incoming takes Interact clubs of Valmiki, Nepal (video); district governors, RI President-elect Santa Rosa Science and Technology High Jennifer Jones called on them to School, Philippines (photo); and Balwyn form at least two innovative or cause- High School, Australia (essay). based clubs during their term. 16  ROTARY  MAY 2022 Illustrations by Miguel Porlan

PROFILE community of doctors has different specialties,” he explains. “We have ‘A little bit of salt’ a cardiologist who can help if there is heart pain, a radiologist who can A surgeon in Spain finds a way to treat patients in Nigeria read X-rays and scans. Our core group consists of 11 doctors, but E ven as a child growing With his family’s support, each of us has our own network we up in Owerri, Nigeria, Elenwoke, 39, attended medi- can reach out to.” Dr. Nnamdi Elenwoke cal school and now works as a had a penchant for neurosurgeon in Barcelona, Spain. Elenwoke’s devotion to service He still goes back to Nigeria to dates back to his teenage years in surgery. “I remember perform surgeries when he can, Nigeria, where he joined Interact, but his desire to help patients and following in the footsteps of his my mom would buy a chicken for doctors in his homeland prompted brother-in-law, a longtime Rotar- Elenwoke in 2016 to help launch ian. Rotary and Docotal recently us to eat, and she would ask me to Docotal Health, which uses an collaborated on a campaign to pro- international community of doc- vide personal protective equipment prepare it for cooking,” he says. “I tors to remotely help patients in for health workers in Nigeria, and underserved parts of the world. future projects are in the works. would cut into the bird very careful- Sometimes, this consists of “To be successful,” Elenwoke ly, trying to understand its insides. Elenwoke dispensing medical says, “you have to surround your- advice directly to a patient via self with a team that helps you My mom got mad at me for wasting email or video chats. Just as often, succeed. You also need ‘a little bit Docotal offers support to health of salt,’ which means a little bit of time, but gradually she realized that professionals on the ground. “Our luck. For me, finding Rotary, hav- ing them as part of my team, has I was doing this for a reason.” As been that little bit of salt.” a teenager, Elenwoke was taken to — steve almond a nearby hospital to visit a family Dr. Nnamdi Elenwoke friend. He promptly wandered away Rotary Club of Barcelona- from his mother to see patients on Pedralbes, Spain a nearby ward, feeling an instinctual desire to heal them. Applications for the 2023- Rotaractors in the Asia Pacific region Through 30 June, Rotary district 24 Rotary Peace Fellowship will host a virtual conference from leaders can apply for disaster re- program are due 15 May. Manila, Philippines, 21 May; European sponse grants to support victims Learn more at rotary.org/ Rotaractors will hold an in-person of the war in Ukraine, including peace-fellowships. convention in Riga, Latvia, 25-29 May. refugees, in their district. Photography by Benedicte Desrus MAY 2022  ROTARY  17

OUR WORLD Belize In 1991, a year after the Rotary Club of People of action Three Rivers, Michigan, signed on to around the globe the District 6360 “Belizerve” project, member Larry Campbell packed his By BRAD WEBBER bags for his first trip to a foreign country. He delivered books to a United States primary school in Libertad, in northern The Rotary Club of Collierville, Tennessee, Belize on the Yucatán Peninsula. The treated hundreds of children with special years passed, and Campbell kept needs and their families to a complimentary returning, participating in projects evening of hot-air balloon rides, food, and that supplied communities with used activities. The event, held on the eve of school buses, ambulances, and trucks, the Bluff City Balloon Jamboree, had 80 as well as medical equipment. In 1995 helpers across seven clubs in District 6800 the club raised $20,000 for a five-room (Tennessee and Mississippi). The clubs schoolhouse, built with the assistance generated $30,000 in donations to cover of several Rotarians; by the end of the the expense. “This was a once-in-a-lifetime decade, a British charity had added a event for a special-needs child,” says Dave second floor, doubling the space which Rhylander, a member of the Collierville club. currently serves about 100 students. “Just how many children in general have By mid-2021 the club, with donations been on a tethered balloon from a Three Rivers church and private ride? Roughly 300 kids got an individuals, had given the school opportunity to do that.” For $132,000, much of it to pay high school September, the club is planning tuition for graduates. “Many students a riff on a TV show about high with scholarships have done well: one school football as another event doctor, three teachers, one banker, a for children with special needs. store manager, just to name a few,” “We’re having our own Friday says Campbell. Night Lights for them this year,” Rhylander says. % Club of FCploubfpoof Three Rivers Club of FCploubfpoof Collierville PORTION OF BELIZE’S GDP FIRST RECORDED UNMANNED SPENT ON EDUCATION BALLOON FLIGHT OF 10 MINUTES 18 ROTARY MAY 2022

Italy When it comes to celebrating Italy’s cultural heritage, the Rotary Club of Catania Ovest has become a bit of a treasure itself. In February, the club joined the Rotary Club of million Palermo-Est in welcoming to Catania a 17th- INFRASTRUCTURE AND AGRICULTURE century Flemish tapestry based on Raphael’s DAMAGE FROM TYPHOON RAI The Death of Ananias. The Catania Ovest club sponsored its two-month showing at the Ursino Castle, spending about $625 to insure and transport the work. Club member Filippo Pappalardo, an art enthusiast, secured sponsors for the $4,500 needed for lighting, videography, and signage for the project, one of several the club has undertaken supporting the arts. “Our club strongly believes that the preservation and promotion of our city’s Club of FCploubfpoof historic heritage is a great factor in generating Catania Ovest economic development,” says Club President Alberto Lunetta. “Art can also play an essential role in creating social cohesion.” . million AUCTION PRICE FOR A RAPHAEL DRAWING IN 2012 Rwanda 38% Philippines Dismayed by images of children On 16 and 17 December, Odette, completing their schoolwork PERCENTAGE OF a Category 5 typhoon known alongside perilous roads to take RWANDANS WHO HAVE internationally as Typhoon Rai, advantage of street lighting, ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY slashed through 11 of 17 regions of the Rotaract Club of Kigali City the Philippines, affecting at least embarked on a $5,000 project to 11 million people. Rotary members equip 15 households with solar across the country rallied to render home systems. The project, Murikira assistance. Districts 3850 and Umwana — Light for a Child — 3860 worked to serve some of the began in late 2020. By November hardest-hit areas. “The primary 2021, the systems were powering effort was to provide much-needed as many as three lights in each water and food, as everything was home and charging cellphones and cut off for several days,” says Maria radios. The Rotaractors enlisted Ester Espina of the Rotary Club the Development Bank of Rwanda of Bacolod Central. District 3850 as a key sponsor. Club members focused on two major cities, Sipalay sold T-shirts and conducted other and Kabankalan, the latter of which fundraisers to expand the campaign was 70 percent underwater after to include school supplies, books, the storm. Rotary members rushed and, for the girls, hygiene products, in with a power generator, water, says Rogers Nsubaga, the club’s water purification equipment, food, president. medicine, clothing, mattresses, toys, and more. The Bacolod Central Club of Fpo Cfpluobfpoof club has inaugurated a districtwide Kigali City initiative to build homes for displaced families. CluDbisotfriFcpt o38fp5o0 District 3860 MAY 2022 ROTARY 19

OUR WORLD BIG PICTURE Is it bias or is it bigotry? Bias, it turns out, is more complicated than we thought M ost of us associate the word “bias” with bad things like racism, sexism, and homophobia. To social scientists, however, those things go beyond bias; they’re big- otry. Social scientists define bias as a preference, and without it, well, imagine how long it’d take you to place an order in a restaurant. Psychologist Matt Grawitch, director of strategic research at Saint Louis University’s School for Professional Studies, says our brains evolved to make decisions quickly, based on small amounts of information. And in prehistoric times, experts believe that the more someone seemed like us, the less dangerous we assumed them to be, whether or not this was true. But many of our prehistoric tendencies aren’t necessarily good for us today. Studies have shown that the most diverse companies are more likely to outperform their competitors. And you may have a bias toward burgers and against vegetables, but that doesn’t mean you should only eat burgers or hate TIPS TO ELIMINATE HARMFUL BIAS vegetables. Part of being a modern, evolved human or organization might Recognize that it’s hard. We above average. “Almost everyone is are largely unaware of our own bi- a six or above,” Clark says. Then she mean avoiding some of the things ases, even when they are brought shows them the results and points to our attention, says Cory Clark, out that it’s impossible for 100 per- we’re biased toward and seeking Learn more a psychologist at the University cent to be in the top half on each about uncover- of Pennsylvania. Clark often asks trait. Having revealed their bias, out alternatives. ing unconscious a classroom of students to rate she asks them to rate themselves bias in the diver- themselves relative to the others again. The vast majority still rate While we are often bad at spot- sity, equity, and in the room on friendliness, attrac- themselves as better than average. inclusion cours- tiveness, sense of humor, and other “Everyone is on board with the idea ting our own biases, we can learn es in the Rotary factors, and it invariably turns out that people are biased,” says Clark. Learning Center. that they all consider themselves “But it’s always the other group!” to distinguish bias from bigotry Find them at my.rotary.org/ and keep it from negatively affect- learning- reference. ing our decisions. Here are some tips for keeping bias from becoming a detriment. — louis greenstein 20  ROTARY  MAY 2022 Illustration by Zulema Williams

“Everyone is on board with the idea that people are biased. But it’s always the other group!” — Cory Clark, executive director of the Adversarial Collaboration Project at the University of Pennsylvania THE COST OF BIAS Employer bias drives employee disen- gagement, which costs U.S. companies an estimated $550 billion per year.  20 percent vs. 7 percent. Employees at large companies who perceive that their companies are unfairly biased are nearly three times as likely to be disen- gaged at work.  31 percent vs. 10 percent. People who perceive unfair employer bias are more than three times as likely to say that they’re planning to leave their current jobs within the year.  34 percent vs. 13 percent. Those who perceive unfair bias are 2.6 times more likely to say that they’ve withheld ideas and solutions over the previous six months. Sources: Gallup, Coqual Beware of group-think. Psychologist don’t see things as we do. versity isn’t just identity,” she says. “Deci- Matt Grawitch says the risk of bigotry Consider whether the bias is good for sion-makers must have diverse thinking.” grows when our circle is made up of people This is especially true for hiring decisions. who look, think, and sound too much alike. you, or for the group. Bias may have fa- A diverse group of interviewers can help “When everyone has the same bias,” he vored evolution, but not necessarily the put unconscious bias to the side. says, “you’ve created an echo chamber.” individual. Squirrels are biased, says Clark, “to think everything is a predator.” So while Encourage robust discussion. “Organi- Ask yourself: Is it true — or safe? Clark fear of predators may promote the survival zations need to cultivate a culture that en- says that earlier in our history, our bias- of the species, it might make an individual courages and even celebrates construc- es tied us to our clan, our tribe, or what squirrel disadvantage itself by staying tive debate,” says Michael Diaz, founder of psychologists call our “ingroup.” And away from a human who’s trying to help it. Delco Business Solutions, in Folsom, Penn- disagreeing with your ingroup could get sylvania. “If an organization’s culture em- you cast out — or worse. Today, that bias Set policies. “We can’t rely on our self- powers team members to question each toward our ingroup creates the potential awareness,” says Gail Tolstoi-Miller, found- other’s assumptions, regardless of where for us to distort the information we pro- er of a staffing-strategy firm. One way to they fall on the organization chart, the cess and to feel frustrated when others combat unconscious bias is to follow pro- negative impact of bias will be minimized.” cesses developed by a diverse group. “Di- MAY 2022  ROTARY  21

OUR WORLD WHAT IT’S LIKE TO... Be a radio DJ Bruce Goldsen, Rotary Club of Passport to Service, District 6400 (Michigan and Ontario) I t was Connecticut, and it was cold. At picture a listener in their mind. I loved music, but 5:30 a.m., I would scrape the ice off myyellow that wasn’t my passion. My passion was radio and Toyota Camry that my friends dubbed the connecting with listeners. “mustard mobile.” I’d stop at Dunkin’ Donuts for a doughnut and coffee. I would get to the I prerecorded my interviews because I didn’t want radio station and do show prep. to call the mayor or a local businessperson at six in the morning. I would spend a half hour on the In Danbury, Connecticut, there was only so much interview and then edit the tape. I used a razor stuff to talk about, and sometimes it was a challenge blade and splicing block to edit. Then it’d be ready to come up with material. So I’d read the teletype from for playback the next morning. the Associated Press that conveyed the news, lifestyle features, and the latest from the entertainment world. I wasn’t a shock jock. No Howard Stern-type inter- views, but at my college radio station I worked with “Good morning,” I’d say at 6 a.m., and play our first Earth Dog Fred, or Fred Norris as he is known on The songs.This was 1989.You woke up to a clock radio to Howard Stern Show. Our station’s FM morning show get weather, traffic, and news that you needed to start once hosted Jay Leno in-studio to promote his stand- your day. A huge listener draw for us was school clos- up show in nearby Norwalk. He was pretty funny ing announcements. It’s all automated now, but back — much funnier than he was on The Tonight Show. then, between records, I would answer the phone and talk to the superintendents who called in snow days. When I started in the 70s, we played albums or 45 records. We’d use tapes for commercials. Then There was always audio, whether it was you talking, there was a transition from albums and 45s to CDs. or you talking over the beginning of music, or you That didn’t last too long. All of a sudden all the music hitting the beginning of a commercial. There was no was stored on hard drives. Now you can record your room for what we call “dead air.” As DJs, we prided breaks and insert them into the computer playlist in ourselves on being tight, meaning you didn’t have a half hour for a four- or five-hour shift. any dead air at all.We had news for 10 minutes every half hour until 9 o’clock. Along with the weather and Most DJs make subsistence wages. After three or traffic, we had local sports and local news. four years, I realized I was great with people but I was going to be starving, so my attitude changed Sitting on the other side of the glass from me was to making a good living, providing for my family, Mike Allen, a great investigative journalist and one and funding my retirement. of my best friends. His newscasts were like an early version of podcasts. We moved to Michigan, and I pretty much stopped being on the air. Together my wife, Sue, and I man- Sometimes Mike would think he was on air, but aged stations, then eventually purchased stations he had forgotten to throw his mic on — “You’re of our own. Purchasing a radio station is a big deal. muted!” in today’s terms. There were other times Most of the financing came from a local bank. The when he left his mic on, and we’d leave it up because down payment came from family, friends, and our it was funny or we forgot. humble savings. In most stations you wanted a line of sight with the In my years of radio, the technology and the econom- person you’re interacting with.You’d be animated with ics have changed. The industry has shrunk. There your hands, making signals and cueing. That was a were parts of being a DJ that I loved and parts that big deal for us because the show was live. frustrated me. Everything I’ve done in my life has given me the experience to then do the next thing. I always loved radio. I grew up an hour from New York City listening to DJs on WABC. These people It was a great ride. were fun, and the music — to me — was just an- cillary. Great DJs are master storytellers, able to — as told to j ezra mccoy 22  ROTARY  MAY 2022 Illustration by Richard Mia

YSOHUARRE STORY If you’re a member of Rotary with a great story – or if you know someone connected with Rotary who’s got a fantastic tale to tell – we want to hear it. Share your story with us at [email protected]. Include “What It’s Like” in the subject line of your email. And look for the best stories in future issues of Rotary magazine. OCTOMBEAYR 20220   RROOTTAARRYY   2531

OUR WORLD GOODWILL district projects. Another 47.5 percent is directed to the World Recurring generosity Fund to be spent where the need is greatest. Paul Harris Society members take pride in their commitment You don’t have to give it all R otary members are to the Annual Fund. In 2020-21, in one lump sum. big believers in giving. nearly 18 percent of total Annual You have an entire year to fulfill They regularly give Fund contributions — $24.8 mil- your intent to give $1,000. Memo- their time, expertise, lion — came from society mem- rial and tribute gifts to an ap- bers. Society members can also proved fund also count. “It may and money to create a give to PolioPlus, disaster response, be difficult to sit down and write or an approved global grant.  a $1,000 check. But $85 a month better world. One could argue that — a lot of people won’t miss that,” Because the society is a district- says Salter. Rotary is the ultimate “giving so- led program, everyone celebrates their Paul Harris Society members You can use Rotary Direct ciety.” But in the nonprofit world, differently. Many districts present a certificate and Paul Harris Soci- to set up recurring giving. that term has its own designation. ety chevron pin at a district or club You can choose to donate monthly, event. quarterly, or annually using Rotary Nonprofits such as Rotary use Direct. It’s easy, fast, and secure. “There is a lot of pride in being a giving societies to recognize the Paul Harris Society member,” says You can split your $1,000 Ellen Young, president of the Rota- generosity of their supporters, ry Club of Northeast Chicagoland donation among different Passport, who has contributed at build donor loyalty, and encourage the Paul Harris Society level since funds. 2007. “I wear my pin so people can You don’t have to choose between continued giving. see it. And when people ask, I say it the Annual Fund or another ap- means I’ve made a commitment to proved fund. Plus, you can change In return, giving society mem- funding the Foundation.” how you designate your donation year to year. bers receive certain benefits. They Young says she joined the soci- ety after years of being a Paul Har- You can skip a year — or two — may be invited to an exclusive ris Fellow. Unlike the yearly com- mitment of the society, Paul Harris if your situation changes. event or receive a framed certifi- Fellow recognition is achieved Life can be unpredictable. You can when $1,000 is donated over any join again when you’re able. cate or pin. But for many, the true period of time. It’s a stepping stone to growing benefit comes from the sense of Becoming a member in the Paul Harris Society is easy. You can do it your giving and recognition. pride and achievement in knowing online at rotary.org/phs, complete The same gifts that help you a brochure, or call the Rotary Sup- maintain membership in the Paul they’re committed to helping orga- port Center at +1-866-976-8279. Harris Society also help build your cumulative giving toward nizations, like Rotary, do good. Here are some more reasons to other Rotary Foundation recogni- make your commitment today. tion, such as Rotary Foundation Rotary’s giving society is called Sustaining Member (Annual Fund You can do more good work contributions only), Paul Harris the Paul Harris Society, and it’s Fellow, multiple Paul Harris Fel- through your clubs. low, Major Donor, and the Arch an ongoing commitment that de- When you give to Annual Fund- Klumph Society. SHARE, 47.5 percent of your fines membership. By contributing donation becomes District Des- “Your Paul Harris Society ignated Funds (DDF), which can members become your Major $1,000 or more every year to The be directed by district leaders Donors,” says Young. “Maybe to pay for Foundation, club, and because they want to do more or Rotary Foundation, Paul Harris So- there are more projects on their horizon. They begin to give more ciety members are helping to end than the $1,000 a year. And as it goes up, the more excited they get polio, provide disaster relief, and about what they’re doing.” fund projects and scholarships in — maureen vaught their district and around the world. “For me, the biggest benefit is 151 knowing that I’m making huge Countries with Paul Harris changes in the world through my Society members membership in the Paul Harris So- 2013 ciety,” says John Salter of the Ro- Year the Paul tary Club of Johns Creek, Georgia, Harris Society who has been a member of the so- became an official Rotary ciety since 2017, the year before he Foundation became a Paul Harris Society coor- program dinator for District 6910. Jamie Revord, senior manager for the Foundation’s Annual Fund and Leadership Giving, says most Paul Harris Society members give 24  ROTARY  MAY 2022

CREATE. LIDERANÇA. LEADERSHIP. LEADERSHIP. SHARE. VOYAGE. ITNRSAPVIREAL.ÇÃO. ITNRSAPVIRELA.TION. INSPIRATION. CONNECT. 学奉海び外仕。。体験DFVO。ÉIARCMOJEUASVT. EIORNTSALE.LTSEEC.EREARTARAVDIOVRVIECNEENRE.L..SD..GLHSIERVIEAPOER.RRWVNTDSIR.C.IÃSAEOCV..OEVLSALLSTE.EECEREARRTARAVDYIVRVO.IENEECNR.LE..S..FLGHUSERIENAPOR.R.WVNTDI.R.CISAECV.OEASLVLEE.ECARRTVDIYO.IECNRE.S.FHUINP.. AVENTURAS. FRIENFUDNS.HIP. FRIENFUDNS.HIP. TRAVEL. DISCOVERY. FUN. DIVERSIÓN. FUN. FUN. Descubra um mundo novo fora da sala de aula. Discover a world outside the classroom through Discover a world outside the classroom through Participe de um programa intensivo de liderança que an intensive leadership experience that builds an intensive leadership experience that builds ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE lspuerLRLgoobOaObnarNlTesgmAeGm-itRea-ealTYrhsemEomeYRr.eOmMtxéUcachTnnaHeicniraEgasXes dsCdebeHucAtiorlNadmnGpuseEfnoaicrcmaeçaoãrnooe, solução de cysoooLRLolmuOOvnriNnmTsgeAgG-ult,fRn-eaTbYricnmEuadYRtteOitMcohxhUnceahTslwalHkenionlEglrgslXe,desCt.sebHyauoAciuhlNdetGspoeEccarhecaaentoigvneeepnyroootubonlengmlyp-erson communication skills, teaches creative problem- LONG-TERM mundo num solving, and challenges you to change not only Long-term exchanges build peace one young person yourself but the world. young person 目新標世を代も交って換海を渡り、異aaao国ntcfaoamでdttheoiのmmerer奉eicct.huy仕Salettnuua活rdr1.ee動0B,n0eaにtcnscodo参lemulai加nevrentしariwaeg、siln短t.ohebwhalolcasitntigfJltazeaoouceamitnandPSNdiog.ireEelEtoineSverhRWf,steseetVadloisofrngIGisotspCbilcryooEiEunooinabNnivulEaoandEferlXlnuorRdacmelCvlAoeabHovmTteveiAIvtmelOetoNmeNupsGrenmoSwEniltuetyontoroaaaiatolftcndfnwnaoy.amdsdoitEttheomtuhxiommercneoarhgteibhcactp.hilunelueySialzgearttwnepuueadordre1y.iedrseor0B,lesednu0ea:at’trscnasUscofdkmonlrwemiiuineloaviinevntgesrhenttdrarssiwaiegtysilnt.ohebwhalolcasitntigfatlJzeaoocueamiSNPtnanddiroEg.iEeoeltnRieSWvrhfees,tVsetasldoiIoGfsnrgCiotipsboElEycroiunnNoiobanEiauvlEaondlXferRlnuodrCacmelAveloHavbTomteAeIvilOvtmeoNetmNpeGusrmSenoEwnieltutnyototraoaaiaolfcntwdfnnaoy.amdisdtotEhtheomtuxiommercnaoerhgteibphcact.iuhluneleySiralzgeattpwneuueadoordrey1si.edreore0lB,sedn:u0eaat’tUrscnasscfonkmdolrwemiiivuneolaiienntgevsrrhenttdsarisiwtaegysilnt.ohebwhalolcasitntigflaJtzeaoouceamitnanddiog.ieeltnieSvrhe,stesetadloiofrngiotspblcyroiunooibanivuloandferlnuoracmelvloabomtevivtmeetmeusrenowniltutyotoriaolfdnn.ydsoEmtuxocnohgtbhailneleizgaweedoeyidrorlsdeua’trsasfkmrwiineoingtshtds 期間の滞在で新しいスキルを学びたいと思う大学生やフ prehsssktusuiilmndlsge,annlcetioatsamrarninmaadnolynasoencurghvnuiacgalelgepdenrou,gfraeeinnss.dgsiotsahnkoaelrsta-ltceetariormnn,ntcRSheuHOwrsoOtTuoARgmRThi-YzTaEYbROleMUTH EpXrCeshsktsHuusilmAidlnseN,agnnlGectiastoEarmarninamadnolyasnoenurgcvnhuicgaaelglpedernou, gfraeinnssdgs.iotsahnkoaelrsta-ltceetariormnn,ntcheRSuwrsHOotuoOTgmARhRiTz-YaTbEYleROMUTH EpXrCesHsiAnNg GcoEmmon challenges. ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE レッシュ社会人にとって、この上ない特別な経験ができる Take action, bSuhildoritn-tteerrmnaetixocnhaalnugnedseexirmcshtmaannedrgsienesg.y,oung people in Take action, bSuhilodrtin-tteerrmnaetxiocnhaalnugneds eimrsmtaenrdsiengyo, ung people in SHORT-TERM でしょう。 Short-term exchanges immerse young pe Toma acción, promueve la comprenseióxcnhianntegrensa. cional and make newanforitehnedrscaurlotuurned. Stohme we olivrled.wDitehvheloospt families for aunpd make newanforitehnedrscuarltouurne.dStohme ewloivreldw. Dithevheolospt families for up another culture. Some live with host fam y forja nuevas amistades alrededor del mundo. your leadershitpostkhilrlesewmhoilentyhosu, wdihsciloevoetrhtehres epmowbaerrk on a tour oyor ur leadershtipo stkhirlelsewmhoilnetyhos,uwdhisicleovoetrhethrseepmobwaerrk on a tour or to three months, while others embark on Desarrolla tus aptitudes de liderazgo mientras of Service Abogvoe tSoelcfaamnpd ffoinrdaofeuwt hwoweekses.riGouoson an adventureofinService AbogvoetSoeclfamanpdffoinr da ofeuwt hwoeweksse.riGoouson an adventure in go to camp for a few weeks. Go on an a descubres el poder de Dar de Sí antes de Pensar en Sí leadership canobnee soefrmiouosrelytfhuann! 100 countries. leadership canonbee osef rmioourselythfuann!100 countries. one of more than 100 countries. y cuan divertido es el verdadero liderazgo. Create your own promotional cards to showcase your youth activities. Available now in Rotary’s Brand Center. YouthProgramsCard_RotarianAD_halfpage.indd 1 2/6/17 2:32 PM

The ROTARY ACTION PLAN INCREASE OUR IMPACT A CONVERSATION WITH TUSU TUSUBIRA “A good project is a catalyst for sustainable change.”

Learn what your club can do at MEET FRANCIS “TUSU” TUSUBIRA. A founding partner of an information rotary.org / ac tionplan and communications technology consulting firm, Tusubira is a member of the Rotary Q. The Action Plan asks us to increase our impact. Club of Kampala-North, Uganda, and How should we think about doing that? served on Rotary’s Strategic Planning TUSU: Here’s an analogy: When your children Committee when our Action Plan was are in school, it’s easy to get excited about a developed. He’s also a member of great grade or test result — the success of that The Rotary Foundation Cadre immediate moment. But as parents, we know of Technical Advisers. we also need to take the long view. What kind of people are our children becoming? What will There’s greater support for clubs to focus their they do for the world after we’re gone? efforts on a few key areas, rather than trying to do too many projects. Instead of starting Real impact is something that resonates well by asking “What are the deficits here?” clubs beyond the work we do on a project. It’s are learning how to build on a community’s sustainable long after we have left the scene. strengths and seeking out what I call the “pressure points” — areas where targeted, This definition of impact requires us to think concentrated work can set in motion a cascade about service in a different way. It is not what we of change. give to communities that creates sustainability. It’s whether the project enables communities to I’m also excited by the new Programs of Scale take ownership and drive the transformation on initiative. These projects have the longer their own after we are gone. A good project is a time frame necessary to make a sustainable catalyst for sustainable change. difference. Most important, Programs of Scale incentivize clubs to work together and Q. Why is it important to measure our impact? recognize them for doing that. If you want to provide clean water sources, why would you TUSU: So we can be smarter about what we want 50 clubs doing 50 different projects? need to start doing, what we need to continue We united against polio. Let’s unite to solve doing, and what we need to stop doing. It’s other challenges facing our world. essential to the future of our organization. Major funding agencies demand evidence of Q. What makes you feel optimistic? impact. Young people — the future of Rotary — have grown up asking institutions and TUSU: Our work eradicating polio proves we organizations for greater accountability and are an organization capable of genuine and transparency. lasting impact. And I’m excited about the rising generation of Rotarians and Rotaractors who Q. What changes are you already seeing in Rotary? are bringing their commitment to sustainable solutions. We can do this. TUSU: I’m heartened that Rotary is identifying consistent ways to assess and measure results. Besides that, my name, Tusubira, literally means This way, we’ll all be on the same page when “we hope”! it comes to planning projects and identifying impact. I’m also seeing a greater appetite for risk. Less proscriptive funding will promote smart risk-taking and will encourage people to learn from — rather than fear — setbacks.

MELODIES AND The good things music does for aging brains MEMORIES arol Rosenstein was watching her husband, Irwin, slip away inch by inch. At one time he had been a brilliant lawyer, a lover of Broadway musicals, a world traveler. But after his diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease in 2006, he developed dementia, and slowly everything changed. His gait flattened to a shuffle. The sparkle in his eyes turned into a blank stare. His mood soured. Worsening matters, the medications he took caused hallucinations and extreme agitation. As communication grew more challenging, Carol felt the distance between them growing. Then, in 2014, something happened. Irwin, who had been a gifted pianist since childhood,sat down at the piano and began to play. As his fingers floated through American classics like “Fly Me to the Moon,” “What a Wonderful World,” and “Try to Remember,” Carol saw his posture straighten. The sparkle returned to his eyes. The husband she once knew came back, bit by bit, if only briefly. “I could see this human being resurrect and start to reconnect with his environment,” she says, “just like I had given him a dose of medication.” Mystified, she called his neurologist and asked what was happening. “He said, ‘Carol, you are watching the power of music, changing brain chemistry.’” That statement would go on to change not only their lives but the lives of countless others. Music, it turns out, is medicine for the mind. BY KATE SILVER Photography courtesy of Carol Rosenstein Carol Rosenstein performs with her husband, Irwin, at the keyboard. 28  ROTARY  MAY 2022

MAY 2022  ROTARY  29

Research shows that rhythm and resonance are fundamental to who we are. 30  ROTARY  MAY 2022

W hile it’s tempting to search for a woo-woo reason why says they’re ingrained in the more fundamental mechanisms of music resonates with us so deeply, it’s not necessary. brain processing. In other words, the music that we love actually For people like Concetta Tomaino, the effects can be becomes a part of who we are. explained by science and logic — even if there’s still a lot to learn. “I think I went past that magical, mysterious piece a long time Because of that, when we hear those old, meaningful tunes ago,” she laughs. Tomaino is one of the pioneers in this area; she even a half-century later,  they stimulate multiple areas and has been researching how music affects all aspects of neurologic networks of the brain — including areas that are relatively function for more than 40 years. To her, the impact of music on the unharmed by a disease like dementia — and those long- mind and body demonstrates how much of our makeup as human ago memories resurface. That’s why a person with memory beings is based on rhythm, resonance, and perception, all of which impairment may not recall their daughter’s name but may connect us in a fundamental way to who we are. “Everything in the remember all the lyrics to her favorite lullaby. “It’s pulling world is a vibration of some kind,” she says. “Music is an extension from emotions, it’s pulling from feelings, it’s pulling from of who we are, and that’s why it helps us reach people who seem interpersonal associations, it’s pulling from a date or time or to be disconnected because of illness or a traumatic brain injury.” period of one’s life — historical things,” Tomaino says. Music serves as a clue, coaxing the brain to fill in the blanks. Tomaino spent decades as a music therapist, pursuing evidence- based research around music and the brain before volumes of such A fter her call with the neurologist, Carol Rosenstein began literature existed. In 1980, she began working at Beth Abraham to wonder: If music could help her husband return Hospital (now Beth Abraham Center) in the Bronx, New York, to himself, even briefly, what could it do for others? A where she first met the consulting neurologist Oliver Sacks. By septuagenarian go-getter with a flair for the dramatic who belongs then Sacks had already written Awakenings, an autobiographical to the Rotary Club of Westwood Village (Los Angeles), Carol is a book (and later a movie) about a group of encephalitis lethargica retired chiropractor and nutritionist with a master’s degree in patients frozen in trancelike states, whom he “awakened” using a psychology and a keen interest in the mind-body connection. She new drug, along with music. grabbed her Rolodex, told Irwin’s story to her friends in L.A., and invited other “like-minded” people to a night of making music Like Tomaino, Sacks was extremely interested in understanding together at a studio space in a private school. more about the potential impact of music on patients. In 1995, The soundtracks of our lives resonate even more deeply because of the feelings that attach to certain music. Perhaps you associate a Beyoncé song with your first love, or Stevie Wonder with your wedding day. the two co-founded the Institute for Music and Neurologic About 30 people showed up. While most of them made small Function, where Tomaino remains the executive director, to better talk, Irwin and three other men, all of whom had neurological understand the ways that music helps people with neurological conditions, made a beeline for different instruments. A man with problems to move better and remember more. Parkinson’s sat at the drums. Another, with Alzheimer’s, settled in at the piano. A third, who no longer spoke, pulled a harmonica Sacks, a legend who wrote many books on his patients’ out of the breast pocket of his jacket. Irwin gravitated toward the neurological experiences, including Musicophilia, which delves into saxophone, an instrument he had played in his college marching the effects of music, passed away in 2015. His words on the topic band. They didn’t converse, and they didn’t need to. As they started remain as evocative and poetic today as when he spoke them in 1991 to play, music became their shared language. before the U.S. Senate’s Special Committee on Aging: “Though the nervous system is sometimes compared to a computer, I think it is “These four strangers became like soulmates in a sandbox,” much more like an orchestra or a symphony. I think we are musical Carol recalls. “Instead of buckets, shovels, and spades, they had through and through, from the lowest levels of rhythm in our nerve musical instruments, and this was their second childhood. They cells to the highest levels. There is a vast range of neurological found each other, they used the music, they bonded.” disorders in which this inner music is impaired, and all of these can be transformed by the healing power of music.” Carol was so eager to keep the quartet’s energy going that she formed a band, called The 5th Dementia, and launched a nonprofit Music has a way of worming into the brain, whether it’s called Music Mends Minds. The band’s “core four” grew to jingles you can’t forget or songs that really resonate. Many of us more than two dozen members and met regularly at Brentwood know exactly which insurance company is “on your side” and Presbyterian Church. Local and then national media got wind that “nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee,” thanks to catchy tunes. The of it, and, in 2015, a story about The 5th Dementia aired on PBS soundtracks of our lives resonate even more deeply because of NewsHour. the feelings that attach to certain music. Perhaps you associate a Beyoncé song with your first love, or Stevie Wonder with your At her home near Seattle, Amy Huggins, 65, a member of the wedding day. Maybe your grandma danced with you to Kenny Rotary Club of Vashon Island, tuned in. Wholesome, earthy, with Rogers, or your mom loved singing Aretha Franklin. Those songs natural gray hair, Huggins is a gentle but fierce advocate for her aren’t just fleeting memories. They’re tied to strong, emotional husband, Alan, who had been diagnosed with early cognitive moments and experiences in your own autobiography. And impairment at age 59. As she watched the segment, she thought they’re not just stored in one area of the brain. Rather, Tomaino about Alan’s love of music, and how every Christmas he would make CDs for her and their daughter. On the television, she heard MAY 2022  ROTARY  31

Irwin Rosenstein talk about how music had brought meaning Huggins also traveled with Carol Rosenstein to Rotary back to his life: “I have a purpose,” he said. “I’m not sure what the conventions, where they established formal partnerships with the purpose is. It’s just that having something to do that is valuable is Alzheimer’s/Dementia Rotary Action Group (ADRAG) and the important.” She knew she needed to meet him and Carol. International Fellowship of Rotarian Musicians (IFRM). Since its humble beginnings in 2014, Music Mends Minds has expanded Huggins booked two plane tickets to Los Angeles so that she with more than 20 bands around the globe, many of which are and Alan could see The 5th Dementia in action. What she saw gave tied to Rotary clubs. (Most of the bands are now meeting virtually her hope. Alan, a microbiologist, had been depressed because he because of the pandemic, and are led by a music therapist.) In 2018, couldn’t figure out what was going on in his own brain. There in the CNN named Carol one of its CNN Heroes. church, he met people like him. Some could no longer speak, but they could still express themselves and find joy in music. Amy, in David Clifton, a past governor of Rotary District 7950 (Rhode turn, talked with caregivers like herself, who shared stories of how Island and parts of Massachusetts) as well as a founder and past music had elevated their loved ones’ spirits. “I got this very clear chair of ADRAG, says that Music Mends Minds offers hope to message,” she says. “This is what you need to do.” people who need it most. “This is something we need to spread around the world,” says Clifton. “It does, indeed, restore the rhythm When she returned to Washington, Huggins asked her Rotary of life, and becomes a way for people to communicate.” club to make Music Mends Minds a service project. In September 2015, 75 people showed up to the launch, and a new band called the C arol Rosenstein saw more and more scenes that reinforced Island Rockers was born. the power of music: people who couldn’t remember their own names crooning Frank Sinatra; men and women who Alan passed away in 2016, and Huggins fell into a deep funk. In barely talked, playing instruments; older adults pushing aside their time, it was Music Mends Minds that brought her back. “I realized walkers to dance. She also learned more about the science behind Music Mends Minds was the way forward,” she says. “Because it, thanks to such academics as Michael Thaut, a professor of music it had helped Alan, it would help other people.” She became an and neuroscience at the University of Toronto who is now on the ambassador for the nonprofit, traveling to Rotary clubs in the advisory board of Music Mends Minds.Thaut has been researching region and giving presentations about what Music Mends Minds how music affects the brains of people with Alzheimer’s in hopes could do for people with dementia, Parkinson’s, stroke, and post- of pinpointing ways to improve their lives. He says that scientists traumatic stress disorder. A number of those clubs started their own bands. 32  ROTARY  MAY 2022

The 5th Dementia showed a small but statistically significant improvement in flagship band memory — something that is extremely unusual in people with Alzheimer’s or any type of dementia. Close examination of the brain scans revealed visible changes. Most notably, Thaut saw that measurable new connections had formed between different regions of the brain — highways, if you will, that actually changed brain plasticity and also improved function in relaying information. Thaut says the research shows that while music is in no way a cure for Alzheimer’s, it can provide a “cognitive boost.” But not all music has the same impact.In another study published in 2020, Thaut and his colleagues compared brain activation when study participants listened to two different types of music: music that dated back at least 25 years, and music that was new to them. What they found was that the different types of music activated different parts of the brain. With new music, brain activity appears limited to  mostly auditory processing, but not deep processing. Familiar music, however, stimulated more regions more significantly in a way that is deeply encoded in the brain. Those  regions are associated with emotion, cognition, and autobiographical memory, and are minimally affected by early-stage Alzheimer’s. “This is one of the reasons, possibly, that some musical memories are preserved, because they’re encoded in such widely distributed regions,” Thaut says. “So the chance that some of the regions associated with music- based memories are preserved is just higher.” While the “why” of it all isn’t yet fully known, Thaut says that mood and memory are closely connected, and networks of memories can become connected to mood “nodes.” He describes it as a kind of classical conditioning: You hear a certain song that was important in your past and you automatically think of a certain time or event connected to the music. When you listen to that music more frequently, it’s like a cognitive workout for the brain. “When you drive these networks on a regular basis,” Thaut says, “you exercise those networks, and then the connectivity within these networks becomes stronger again.” Alan, a microbiologist, had been depressed because he couldn’t figure out what was going on in his own brain. There in the church, he met people like him. Some could no longer speak, but they could still express themselves and find joy in music. aren’t sure what causes Alzheimer’s, which is the most common W hen those who live with and care for people with type of dementia, and that while medications may treat some diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s seek symptoms, there is no cure. When a person has Alzheimer’s, the out music and musical groups to help their loved proteins in their brain don’t function normally, and that leads to ones, they often find the experience benefits them, too. And the death of brain cells. A person in the early stages of Alzheimer’s there’s research to support that. may forget words or repeat questions. In the end stages, they may experience delusions and forget how to do even the most basic For decades, Mary Mittelman, an epidemiologist who works tasks, like eating or walking. According to the U.S. Centers for at New York University as a researcher in the department Disease Control and Prevention, as many as 5.8 million Americans of psychiatry, has been developing and studying social and have Alzheimer’s. By 2060, that number is expected to nearly triple. psychological methods to help people with cognitive impairment and their family members. In 2011, curious about the impact of In a study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease in music, she started her own chorus, called The Unforgettables, to 2021, Thaut and other researchers set out to see what happens in investigate what rehearsing and performing in a concert could the brain when a person with mild cognitive impairment or early do for participants. The initial chorus consisted of 22 people — Alzheimer’s disease listens to their favorite playlist for an hour 11 had memory impairment and 11 were their family caregivers. every day for three weeks. At the beginning and end of the study, Mittelman’s published findings documented improvements in the 14 participants had brain scans and took neuropsychological quality of life and communication not just for those with memory tests that involved memory exercises. impairment but also for caregivers, who reported improved social support and self-esteem thanks to the chorus. To Thaut’s surprise, at the end of the trial the participants MAY 2022  ROTARY  33

Carol Rosenstein believes that music can mend the minds not only of patients but of caregivers. 34  ROTARY  MAY 2022

Anecdotes shared by the choral conductors stand out in 5 ways Mittelman’s report. They saw couples holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes, “as though they were first dating.” They to make the would joke around. Song lyrics would bring back memories and most of music spark conversations. Beyond those observations, Mittelman remembers watching transformations among participants: Some It’s never too soon to start thinking about how music would arrive grunting, agitated. They would leave speaking in full sentences, calm. could help your brain — or your loved ones’. Concetta She believes that the improvement is rooted in their rehearsals Tomaino, co-founder and executive director of the and performances — but it’s more than that. People with dementia Institute for Music and Neurologic Function in Mount and their partners tend to withdraw socially for a number of Vernon, New York, shares advice on how to create and use reasons, one of which is the stigma around dementia: People don’t a beneficial playlist. want to talk about their illness, and they may lose friends because of it. In the chorus, however, everyone feels valued. They’re Make your own mix. Consider the songs you love respected. They’re enjoying themselves and bringing joy to others the most and know the best. Create a playlist as they prepare for a concert. “Here in the chorus,” Mittelman says, and share it with family and friends, along with “there’s no stigma.” the request that they play it for you at times when it might help, whether you’re having surgery, transitioning For Mittelman, who is also on the advisory board of Music to a nursing home, or experiencing neurological or other Mends Minds, this study is just the beginning. She’s applying for health problems. more funding so that she can conduct larger studies of the benefits of making music. “I don’t think we know exactly what’s going on in Make a mix for your loved ones. If you know their brains that they can learn new songs when they’re forgetting someone experiencing cognitive impairment, to brush their teeth,” she says. “We would like to find out.” create a playlist of songs that you think will resonate. If you’re not sure of their personal favorites, In the meantime, she wants more people to understand that health look for music that was popular during their teenage care for a person with dementia must include more than medical care, years to early 20s, which tend to “have strong emotional and that their quality of life can improve without medication. One way ties to people’s early identities, when they’re beginning to make that happen is well within reach of all: music. “It’s a language to figure out who they are,” Tomaino says. People also that everyone speaks on some level or another,” Mittelman says. “You tend to respond strongly to the songs their parents or don’t need to be a trained singer to get pleasure out of singing. You grandparents loved. don’t need to be a trained musician to get pleasure out of making music.And having music in your life can bring you pleasure regardless Use mnemonic devices. Create your own jingles to of whether you have dementia or not.” help loved ones who are struggling to remember important things. For example, set phone numbers I rwin Rosenstein passed away in January 2021, 15 years after and addresses to a tune. Tomaino says that people in the his diagnosis and seven years after rediscovering music. In early stages of Alzheimer’s will recall information more those final days, Carol recalls, he could no longer speak and successfully if it has been paired with a melody. could not leave his bed or a wheelchair. His smile was a memory. He would look at his wife with a gaze that she refers to as the Match a song to each family member. If a loved “Parkinson’s stare.” one is in the early stages of dementia, take the time to select a song for yourself, and ask Unless, that is, there was music. other family members to do the same. Play that song All the way until the end, Carol made rhythm a part of their lives. every time you visit with the person. It could pay off as As Irwin lay in bed, she would pick up two little egg-shaped shakers they decline. “Even when somebody stops recognizing and play music and dance in front of him. “He was like a corpse somebody’s face,” Tomaino says, “if they associate a under his blankets. Then his arms would start to come out of the song with that person, they’ll remember who the person covers, his knees would start to lift, and before you knew it, he was is through that song.” dancing with me,” she says, smiling through her tears. “That’s how we said goodbye, because his brain was so connected to the rhythm Use music to change the mood. If a person is of the music when everything else was gone.” agitated, songs that they enjoy may help them Music could bring Irwin back to the moment, back to himself. It relax. Tomaino says that agitation is often a result also brought him back to Carol. “It is painful to watch your beloved of discomfort or a fight-or-flight response, and music can slip away inch by inch,” she says. “And if it weren’t for the music, soothe. “Music, especially personally important music, I wouldn’t be sitting here today. As a caregiver and first responder, provides a sense of connection and safety.” I can tell you, I would have never survived the journey.” ■ MAY 2022  ROTARY  35 Kate Silver is a freelance writer based in Chicago. To learn more about Music Mends Minds, or to participate in a virtual singalong led by a board-certified music therapist, visit www.musicmendsminds.org. If you’re interested in learning how to bring Music Mends Minds to your Rotary club, email [email protected].

The library where the With branches in more than 80 countries, the Human Library allows you to borrow a person — a rugby player, a refugee, a sex worker — a‘broeohkus’manandaskthemanythingyouwant beings “DON’TJUDGEABOOKBYITSCOVER” is the kind of advice most people forget when they meet Joel Hartgrove. Maori tattoos cover his neck, ears, and shaved skull, and written across his forehead are the Joker-esque letters HAHAHA. “A lot of people actively avoid me,” the Indigenous Australian says. “Families with children will grab their kids and push them away from me.” Until a few years ago, he was a proud, untattooed soldier, but after an injury left him with chronic pain and depression, Hartgrove began to get tattoos “as a mechanism to deter people from me.” Now he is training to become a first responder, and the tattoos impact his life “greatly on a daily basis.” He wants to laser them away, so he doesn’t scare his patients.  Hartgrove is an open book. You can borrow him for 20 minutes and talk to him about his time in the Australian army, his Indigenous roots, his tattoos, anything you’d like. You’ll find you’re speaking with a deep thinker who answers nosy questions with humor and heart — a common trait among the “books” available for loan in Ronni Abergel’s library. “They are stigmatized,” Abergel says of his collection, “maybe because of their weight; their looks; their profession; their religious, sexual, by Michaela Haas Photography courtesy of the Human Library 36  ROTARY  MAY 2022



or political orientation; or because they’ve survived abuse and traumas. We can’t just judge someone on face value.” Abergel, 49, is the director of the biggest and most beautiful library in the world: the Human Library, where you borrow people instead of books and speak with them about their lives. The Danish journalist and activist started the Human Library 22 years ago, when organizers of the Danish Roskilde music festival asked him to coordinate interactive encounters with strangers. “What if we invited some of the most unpopular people to tell us their story, so we could understand them better and give them a chance to move out of the box we put them in?” he asked his friends in Copenhagen. “Like a library?” one of his friends replied. It was an epiphany for Abergel. “A library is one of the few institutions in our culture that really embraces, or at least accommodates, everyone and treats everyone as equal,” he says. “You can be old or young, able or disabled, blind or deaf. You can be whatever you want to be.”  His library rules are simple: Treat the books respectfully; bring them back on My vision is that one day we don’t need the library anymore because we have the courage again to talk to the people around us. - ronni abergeL time and in the same shape you borrowed them; don’t take them home. “They will answer any question you have the courage to ask,” Abergel promises. The Human Library is now active in more than 80 countries, with branches in Texas and Tokyo, Bangladesh and Berlin. Every reader who visits, virtually or in-person, chooses two or three topics that interest them: rugby, depression, refugees, sex work, cancer, grief. The choices are nearly endless. “There is a great book hidden in all of us, and most of us would be bestsellers,” Abergel believes. “Take the bodybuilder, the Roma, the Muslim, the Jew, the hippie, the street artist. Everybody has a unique story.” To be honest, I was skeptical. As a reporter, I speak with fascinating people almost every day. But right away, my first human book was a page-turner: Alma Faham, a warm, witty architect and abstract artist who lives in Connecticut. Born in Kuwait to a Syrian father and a Jordanian mother, Faham moved to Syria during the Persian Gulf War, then to Greece. It was hard to choose which aspect of her life was the most fascinating: her expressive art, her religion, her world travels. She answered all of my questions without hesitation, including the one about her personal reasons for participating in the library. “The problem was always the prejudgment,” she shares. “Once you say you’re from the Middle East, people put you in a certain category. The sad part is that I am considered a foreigner in my own hometown because I have lived elsewhere for so long.” My second book, a gay Canadian who identifies as being on the autism spectrum and has a rare blood disorder, was also heartbreakingly open. This is what makes these encounters unique: They’re not interviews, but intimate, honest, private conversations. The books invite you with an unusual openness: “Ask me anything!”  38  ROTARY  MAY 2022

Before the library, in 1993, a 20-year-old Abergel, his Top: A book with her readers at a Human Library event. brother, and two friends co-founded the Stop the Violence Left: A Human Library reading garden in Belgium. organization, after a friend was stabbed at a nightclub in Right: Human Library founder Ronni Abergel, who is now a Copenhagen. The idea was to train youths to resolve conflicts book himself. peacefully. “After one is stabbed to death, the others become fearful and will also take a knife with them the next time they MAY 2022  ROTARY  39 go out,” he says.  Federal funding for Stop the Violence had ended by 2000. When the organizers of Roskilde, one of the largest music festivals in Europe, invited Abergel to plan an interactive element, the budget was next to nothing. And Abergel was worried nobody would show up to the Human Library. “Who wants to speak with a policeman or a Muslim or a transgender person?” he thought. Turns out, if the framework feels right, many do. The very first book at Roskilde, a police officer named Erik, was immediately surrounded by three anti-fascists who previously had bad experiences with the police at protests. They wanted to know why he had become a cop. Erik was delighted to finally have a chance to explain his perspective. “After an hour, an antifa friend arrived, drunk and full of rage, to insult and verbally attack the policeman,” Abergel remembers. “And do you know who protected the cop? Before Erik could even react, the three protesters came to his aid and told their friend: ‘You don’t know this man, but we do.’ After an hour!” That was when Abergel knew: It worked. Abergel himself is now a book, after his 37-year-old wife died unexpectedly, leaving him with two small children. “That was my Ground Zero,” he says. “The stigma was enormous. People didn’t know what to say to me, so they said nothing. It

was horrible. I felt like it was my responsibility to make them feel comfortable, but I was in shambles myself.” Like any good librarian, Abergel takes measures to ensure that his books are treated well. All human books are trained to answer challenging questions, set boundaries, and retreat if they become overwhelmed. Trained “librarians,” 25 full-time staff and countless volunteers around the globe, speak with readers and books before a “reading” to take the temperature. A psychologist is on call, even after hours, so a book can call anytime if a reading gets under their skin.  Often, a topic attracts readers who have a very personal interest — for instance, a mother whose daughter was diagnosed with anorexia and now wants to ask a book with an eating disorder all the questions she does not dare ask her teenager.  Abergel only excludes readers who are aggressive, have an agenda, or mistake the library for psychotherapy. “If you’re on a vengeance mission and spend all the time finger-pointing and blaming others, there are 844 other platforms out there for you, but not ours.”  This sets the tone for respectful encounters and honest exchanges about human experiences. “We don’t talk to each other anymore,” Abergel says. “My vision is that one day we don’t need the library anymore, because we have the courage again to talk to the people around us. But in our daily grind, we don’t have the time and opportunity.”  Abergel recalls the shock when all in-person events shut down in March 2020 and the library suddenly had to go virtual. But there was a silver lining: readership doubled, and geographic proximity became irrelevant — the plumber from Kenya is now friends with the artist from Bangladesh. Some local Human Libraries continued in person, such as in Copenhagen, where books and readers were able to meet outside in a park, wearing masks and with space between them. And now, as the world reopens, the Human Libraries offer a safe, approachable framework for many who are working to find their way back to in-person social interaction. “I feel the same way,” Abergel admits. Despite being a born communicator who astonishes his 10-year-old son with his ability “to talk to everyone everywhere,” Abergel found that he needed to step out of a crowded birthday party to gather himself. All Human Library readings are free, and while host schools and facilities We publish people as open books. We create a safe space for dialogue, a space to ask questions about difficult issues, an opportunity to challenge the stereotypes and a chance to unjudge someone. often pay for travel costs, the books are unpaid volunteers and the project receives no federal funding. Abergel recently started financing the library by organizing readings for companies like Microsoft or Amazon. When asked which book he remembers best, Abergel recalls an incest survivor. One of her readers was a pedophile. “I understand if you don’t want to speak with me,” the man started out, “but I want to understand how I can mitigate the suffering I have caused my own child.” The book decided to continue the reading, spoke openly about the grave physical and emotional consequences of her abuse, and helped the reader to better understand a survivor’s perspective. He had a very specific reason to visit the Human Library: “I am here because I have no one else I can ask for advice.” ■ This article was originally published by Reasons to be Cheerful, which was founded by artist and musician David Byrne. He believes in the power of approaching the world with curiosity — in art, in music, in collaboration, and in life. Under the banner of Byrne’s nonprofit organization, Arbutus, Reasons to be Cheerful embodies this sensibility, applying it now to the future of our world. Through stories of hope, rooted in evidence, Reasons to be Cheerful aims to inspire us all to be curious about how the world can be better, and to ask ourselves how we can be part of that change. Learn more at reasonstobecheerful.world. 40  ROTARY  MAY 2022

Top: A music and reading event at the Human Library. Left: Don’t judge a book by its cover. Right: Two people listen in on a book. MAY 2022  ROTARY  41

the BUSINESS Vanessa Machuca’s clothing store was one of several small businesses that Rotary clubs helped recover from riot damage following the murder of George Floyd.

by Frank Bures Photography by Tim Gruber of HEALINGMAY2022 ROTARY 43

For as long as most people T he day the video went pub- in Minneapolis can remember, lic of George Floyd pleading Lake Street has been a kind for his life as officer Derek of melting pot in an otherwise Chauvin kneeled on his Scandinavian-hued city. The neck and the life ebbed out 6-mile stretch is full of Mexican of him, peaceful protests against police markets, African goods stores, brutality and racial inequality occurred halal butchers, South American across Minneapolis. That night, public restaurants, theaters, libraries, outrage quickly boiled over into vio- pawn shops, boutiques, and lence as thousands of people marched fine dining establishments. from the site of Floyd’s death to the Driving down the street, to police station on Lake Street where all a motorist with the windows four police officers involved were based. open it usually smelled like the world had come to Minnesota. Amina Osman watched the crowd build all day from the windows of her But in late May 2020, it smelled family’s business near Lake Street, a like smoke, as the rage over small retail shipping store called Post the murder of George Floyd by Plus. By late afternoon, when more Minneapolis police boiled over people began to congregrate in front of into a full-scale riot. the police station, she had a feeling they should close early. So she locked the 44  ROTARY  MAY 2022 doors at 5 p.m. On her way out, Osman, a young woman who had immigrated from So- malia when she was in middle school, stopped to talk to one of the protest- ers, and she found out about the video. When Osman got home, she turned on the television and watched as her city imploded. She saw that the doors of the Target across the parking lot from Post Plus had been smashed open, the store emptied and ransacked. Then she watched some looters move on to other buildings in the shopping complex. One by one, the buildings around hers were looted and burned. Early the next morning, she and her employees rushed back to Lake Street. In addition to Post Plus, her family owned a home health care business two doors down. After seeing the looting, she knew they had to save their pa- tients’ medical information. “It was really chaotic,” Osman re- calls. “There were gunshots. We want- ed to evacuate our client files, because they contained HIPAA information, so I wasn’t concentrating on Post Plus so much. But when I went over to look at it, the doors and windows were broken. People were just running in and out, looting and destroying things. I was shocked. It was difficult to even pro- cess what was going on. I was like, ‘Am I sleeping? Is this a nightmare that I’m going to wake up from?’ But it was real.”

Amina Osman is the manager of Post Plus, a retail packing and shipping business on Lake Street in Minneapolis. MAY 2022  ROTARY  45

THAT SAME DAY, Suzanne Kochevar Nonetheless, the council liked Koche- was sitting at home in the town of Ex- var’s idea and told her to check back later celsior, outside Minneapolis. On the — what they needed immediately was television in her living room, she, too, a list of commercial cleaners and glass was watching the city in flames. One of vendors. her brothers lived near the Lake Street police station, and she knew the area Kochevar compiled a list and sent it well. A retired commercial designer along. and a member of the Rotary Club of Lake Minnetonka-Excelsior, Kochevar knew that something had to change. “Lake Street has always been a special place,” she says. “There are so many immigrants and so many immi- grant businesses. And to watch all that happening, I can’t even tell you the emotions I went through. That whole night, I just kept thinking, ‘What can we do? What can I do?’” In the days after Floyd’s murder, rioting continued and large swaths of the city burned, and the air was thick with smoke. Broken glass littered all 6 miles of Lake Street. Graffiti covered the walls and storefronts. Eventually the National Guard was called in and order was slowly restored, but not be- fore some 1,500 businesses were dam- aged and dozens were burned to the ground. The damage on Lake Street alone was estimated at $250 million. Taking all this in, Kochevar had an idea. If there’s one thing many Rotary members know, it’s business. Perhaps there was a way they could help some of these businesses recover. Kochevar, who can run a meeting with military efficiency, contacted the staff at Lake Street Council, an organization that supports businesses along Lake Street, and told them that members of local clubs could use their business acumen to help. At the time, the council was overwhelmed with its newfound responsibility. “We were a four-person staff,” says ZoeAna Martinez, the council’s senior community engagement manager. “We were a business association that became a disaster relief organization.” 46  ROTARY  MAY 2022

L ike so many other members of calls “creating a better story.” They “When George Floyd Rotary, Tom Gump was hav- looked at America’s history, its 246 ing a moment of doubt. For years he had been focused on years of slavery — about nine genera- was murdered, that growing Rotary’s member- tions — and how even after the Civil ship. As the incoming governor of District 5950, he had a list of things he was plan- War, systems of racial oppression changed everything. ning to work on, such as raising money remained technically legal. It wasn’t for The Rotary Foundation to fight polio. Suddenly it seemed clear that, right now, until 1954 that segregation in public And we figured that something else was needed. schools was ruled unconstitutional, “Real leaders are made when you have and until 1964 that the Civil Rights Act if Rotary is going to tough times,” says Gump, a former pros- became law. It took until 1967 for the ecutor turned real estate lawyer and bro- ker. “When George Floyd was murdered, Supreme Court to rule that the consti- be a leader, we need that changed everything. And we figured tutional right to equal protection ap- that if Rotary is going to be a leader, we need to be a leader in the equity portion plied to interracial marriage. to be a leader in the of our existence. Because if we don’t, “My parents didn’t have all of the nothing else is going to work.” assurances of being able to vote, and equity portion of our The district had some money left over of equal access,” says White, a Black from a conference that had been can- celed because of COVID-19, so Gump man who was born in 1961. “My chil- existence. Because and other Rotary members looked for dren are the first ones in our family a group that might help them begin the difficult conversations they wanted to born into real freedom.” if we don’t, nothing have. The district chose the YMCA of the For many members of Rotary, this North’s Equity Innovation Center of Ex- cellence to facilitate three “learning jour- history, and these perspectives, were else is going to ney” sessions for anyone who wanted to seldom taught in school. For Gump, take part. YMCA executive James White conducted the sessions for around 150 who is white, it cast his own history in work.” Rotarians, many of them club presidents a new light. and presidents-elect. “My first job out of law school was “The Rotarians were incredible,” White says. “I was surprised at their as assistant district attorney,” he says. receptivity. With George Floyd, with the unrest and the protests, as well as “The first case I argued in front of the COVID, we were all experiencing a col- lective trauma, so I think there was a vul- Georgia Supreme Court dealt with a nerability to learn.” law in which two convictions of sell- The sessions centered on what White ing cocaine or possessing it with the intent to distribute would get you a life sentence. Well, that has been challenged, because 98 percent of the people who were similarly sentenced were Black, even though whites also sold co- caine and similar drugs like methamphetamines. I never realized that I, a young guy trying to do the right thing out of law school — trying to do my job — was helping a system that was racist.” The idea of the sessions was not to inculcate a revisionist version of history. It was to show it from a different perspective and have open discus- sions about what that meant. “In reality, all we are trying to do is learn how we can become better humans,” says White. “And as better humans, we’re going to be more in- clusive, and Rotary will be a place where everyone comes in and feels like they belong.” Opposite: Suzanne Kochevar of the Rotary Club of Lake Minnetonka- Excelsior worked with the Lake Street Council, a local non- profit, to spearhead the project. Left: Colorful murals adorn businesses in the Lake Street business district. MAY 2022  ROTARY  47

From left: Christian Quito, Victor Pacheco, and Lisa Quito are owners and employees of Los Andes Latin Bistro.