WEBVTT 00:00:01.378 --> 00:00:10.123 - It's Mardi Gras today and we have King Cake as one of the selections for dessert, which means it's lent 00:00:10.123 --> 00:00:19.289 - tomorrow and Ash Wednesday to boot. February is the shortest month, but filled with all kinds of interesting 00:00:19.289 --> 00:00:27.614 - occurrences like Groundhog Day to make it pass more quickly. Let's see, we've had Valentine's Day, 00:00:27.842 --> 00:00:35.969 - President's Day, Lincoln's birthday, Washington's birthday, no leap day. But I want to bring something 00:00:35.969 --> 00:00:44.254 - else to your attention this morning. And I asked and was given this privilege of sharing it today. Today 00:00:44.254 --> 00:00:52.303 - is also the first day of Ramadan, if the Muslim clerics read the moon correctly. I assume that we all 00:00:52.303 --> 00:00:56.958 - know that the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah can sometimes 00:00:57.378 --> 00:01:05.554 - come close to Christmas and Passover coincides often with Holy Week. But Ramadan at this time of year 00:01:05.554 --> 00:01:13.650 - coinciding with Lent is very rare. Do you all know where the Muslim mosque is in Bloomington? Let me 00:01:13.650 --> 00:01:19.742 - see your hands. Good. I'm not going to ask how many of you have been there. 00:01:20.130 --> 00:01:27.643 - But when I was teaching at Ivy Tech, I asked my students in philosophy religion to go with me to the 00:01:27.643 --> 00:01:35.528 - mosque for their Friday meeting. Some didn't want to go, but they always came away with a nice impression 00:01:35.528 --> 00:01:43.265 - and improved understanding of the religion of Islam. Ramadan is a month of fasting and prayer, but it's 00:01:43.265 --> 00:01:46.910 - a movable feast since it's different every year. 00:01:47.618 --> 00:01:56.365 - My mother-in-law was raised in Egypt and she said that Ramadan during the summer months was extremely 00:01:56.365 --> 00:02:05.197 - difficult in a hot and dry climate. Catholics used to fast during Lent and many still do, but it's not 00:02:05.197 --> 00:02:14.201 - as important as it once was to the Catholic faith during the season of Lent. So what is the significance 00:02:14.201 --> 00:02:15.230 - of Ramadan? 00:02:17.346 --> 00:02:26.008 - and or lent for those who practice it and for those who just maybe observe it. They are both times of 00:02:26.008 --> 00:02:34.501 - repentance, meditation, and prayer. Repentance sounds like a word from the Southern revival, but it 00:02:34.501 --> 00:02:43.163 - means change of mind from two Greek words. I admit this is a time to change our minds, to think about 00:02:43.163 --> 00:02:44.862 - things differently, 00:02:45.794 --> 00:02:55.741 - This is a hard year for Americans and the world with no peace in Ukraine and in Gaza as well. We have 00:02:55.741 --> 00:03:05.688 - divisions and polarization at a height seldom known in my life. And it stretches into clubs like ours 00:03:05.688 --> 00:03:14.270 - as well. To say the pledge or not to say it, reflection rather than a prayer, politics, 00:03:14.594 --> 00:03:23.417 - and religion are important but often divisive. I have not always been happy with the response of our 00:03:23.417 --> 00:03:32.327 - club to current events, but I'm changing my mind. I plan to do better in the lengthening days of Lent 00:03:32.327 --> 00:03:41.499 - and the approach I hope of an early spring. This morning I heard the news of the death of Jesse Jackson. 00:03:41.499 --> 00:03:44.382 - Anybody not know that until now? 00:03:45.250 --> 00:03:54.785 - Anyhow, appropriate for us to consider in the light of today's program. I'll tell you what I always 00:03:54.785 --> 00:04:04.701 - found interesting about Jesse Jackson. He's my twin. Yes, I was born on the same day and the same year. 00:04:04.701 --> 00:04:13.950 - So what does that remind us of? It reminds me of my mortality. It reminds you of your mortality. 00:04:14.818 --> 00:04:25.866 - We are all going to die when and where and how we do not know. Ash Wednesday reminds us of that. Dust 00:04:25.866 --> 00:04:36.805 - we are and to dust we will all return. At the beginning of two sacred seasons, Lent and Ramadan, let 00:04:36.805 --> 00:04:42.654 - us change our minds to better than we've done before. 00:04:43.522 --> 00:04:58.040 - and look forward to more light, more understanding, and yes, more peace in our little section of the 00:04:58.040 --> 00:05:12.126 - world. Thank you. Tim, thank you. Leslie Kutsenko will introduce our guests today. Hi, everybody. 00:05:12.418 --> 00:05:21.749 - Happy Fat Tuesday. So we have quite a few guests today. We have Alondra, which is an observer from O'Neill. 00:05:21.749 --> 00:05:30.475 - We have Mrs. Bodie, which is guest of Mr. Sims. We have Doris Sims, guest of Jim Sims. And Elizabeth 00:05:30.475 --> 00:05:39.115 - Mitchell, a guest of Jim Sims. Stephanie Daggett, a guest of Jim Sims. Vicki Roberts, not Jim Sims. 00:05:39.115 --> 00:05:40.670 - Audrey McCluskey, 00:05:41.570 --> 00:05:52.285 - Danya from Art Omic, and Becky Wan, Steve Engle, and it says Brad Meyer Campaign. And then Jessica Sims 00:05:52.285 --> 00:06:02.794 - is just a guest of the organization. Do we have any online guests? You're muted. Peggy, you're muted. 00:06:02.794 --> 00:06:08.254 - Muted. I am working on it. Good afternoon, everyone. 00:06:08.482 --> 00:06:23.517 - Is anyone, I just asked, okay, we do have a guest, Audrey Moclosky, who I appear, I'm not sure which 00:06:23.517 --> 00:06:29.918 - one you are, but welcome. Okay, thank you. 00:06:33.890 --> 00:06:41.309 - Thank you, Leslie. For those of you who are guests, if you'd like to learn anything about Rotary, turn 00:06:41.309 --> 00:06:48.800 - to someone at your table and ask away. I also want to mention that longtime club member, Peggy Frisbee, 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:56.219 - is hosting on Zoom for the first time today. So good for her. Rotary birthdays. On the 18th, past club 00:06:56.219 --> 00:07:02.558 - president Jim Cryweigh. Also on the 18th, sitting in the back corner, Kyla Cox Deckard. 00:07:03.106 --> 00:07:10.015 - and on the 24th, past club president, Glenda Murray. We have no anniversaries to celebrate this week. 00:07:10.015 --> 00:07:16.180 - I have just a few announcements. Please join members of the Rotary Book Club following the 00:07:16.180 --> 00:07:23.089 - regular celebration of service today. They will have a brief meetup to field questions that Rotarians 00:07:23.089 --> 00:07:29.118 - might have about their group. They also plan to select their next book and meeting date. 00:07:29.826 --> 00:07:36.467 - For those of you who occasionally experience parking problems here at the IMU, don't forget that during 00:07:36.467 --> 00:07:42.916 - meeting times, club members can also park for free at the Henderson or Atwater garages if you'd like 00:07:42.916 --> 00:07:49.366 - to learn more. I mentioned this last week, but I'll say it again. There are spam emails going around 00:07:49.366 --> 00:07:55.815 - the club. If you receive an email from a club member stating that you've been invited, it's probably 00:07:55.815 --> 00:07:59.710 - a fake. Don't click on the attachment. And finally, a former 00:07:59.938 --> 00:08:06.623 - Rotary Global Scholarship winner Aubrey Cedar, now handling the Bloomington Volunteer Network. Aubrey 00:08:06.623 --> 00:08:13.373 - is the daughter of club members Don and Melinda Cedar, and I'll try to get the link to the Bloomington 00:08:13.373 --> 00:08:19.926 - Volunteer Network included in this week's roundabout. And then finally, happy news. So last week we 00:08:19.926 --> 00:08:26.677 - met new club member Jeremy Graham. I'm proud to announce that late last week Jeremy's wife Anisha gave 00:08:26.677 --> 00:08:28.446 - birth to their second son, 00:08:28.930 --> 00:08:40.948 - Javin, Jacobi Graham, weighed seven pounds and seven ounces, and he is scheduled for his first doctor's 00:08:40.948 --> 00:08:52.736 - visit during today's meeting. And Tyler, yeah. Okay, celebration of service. So this is a celebration 00:08:52.736 --> 00:08:58.398 - of a club member's service. And last Friday, the 00:08:58.626 --> 00:09:05.777 - My sister's closet had their annual gala. And if you remember, they've been at their location on South 00:09:05.777 --> 00:09:12.720 - Walnut for years and years. And due to the growth that includes the convention center, they are now 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:19.663 - moving to a location on Second Street here in a couple of months. They're still raising funds. They 00:09:19.663 --> 00:09:26.398 - need to raise more. But really fun time on Friday. And here's a picture of a number of us there. 00:09:26.786 --> 00:09:33.650 - You'll see club members. You'll see some spouses of club members. There are some rotor actors. What 00:09:33.650 --> 00:09:40.789 - you won't see is Sandy Keller and Marcy Hibbard from my sister's closet because they were working their 00:09:40.789 --> 00:09:48.065 - tails off. Lots of club members were at the gala. Some couldn't make it and so they donated their tickets 00:09:48.065 --> 00:09:53.694 - to the rotor actors. But once again my sister's closet still looking for money so 00:09:53.858 --> 00:10:04.044 - If you've missed the gala, you still have an opportunity to give money. So our Rotary Club, our Rotary 00:10:04.044 --> 00:10:13.934 - Club has many talented singers. And here is a picture of Kanye Chakalas performing Friday at Friday 00:10:13.934 --> 00:10:21.054 - Musical. It was at Beltrace. It was well attended. She did a great job. 00:10:21.314 --> 00:10:30.215 - But staying on the theme of the talented singers in our club, today's membership quiz this week. So 00:10:30.215 --> 00:10:39.117 - which of these Rotarians is not a singer? So if you think of these five, four singers or vocalists, 00:10:39.117 --> 00:10:48.018 - one is not. If you think club member James Wolfe is not the singer, put up your hand. All right, we 00:10:48.018 --> 00:10:49.086 - have a few. 00:10:49.826 --> 00:10:59.002 - If you think club member Tim Jesson, who did our reflection this morning, is not a singer, put up your 00:10:59.002 --> 00:11:08.089 - hand. OK, we have a few. All right, it's pretty close so far. Mark Peterson is sitting kind of in the 00:11:08.089 --> 00:11:16.374 - far back there. And he is our club secretary this year. If you think Mark is not the singer, 00:11:16.374 --> 00:11:18.334 - put up your hand. Ah. 00:11:19.650 --> 00:11:28.123 - So far, we have a three-way tie. And those of you on Zoom, you can raise your hand electronically. Next 00:11:28.123 --> 00:11:36.270 - choice, Amy Osojima. And I saw Amy here. I don't know where she's sitting, but up there she is near 00:11:36.270 --> 00:11:44.498 - the coffee. If you think Amy is not the singer, put up your hand. Oh, no votes for Amy. And finally, 00:11:44.498 --> 00:11:46.942 - last choice, Wilson Shatandi. 00:11:47.490 --> 00:11:58.974 - If you think Wilson is not a singer, put up your hand. All right, no votes for Wilson. So we have a 00:11:58.974 --> 00:12:11.262 - three-way tie, and then Amy and Wilson, no votes. Okay. Okay. Well, if you voted Tim Jessen, you're wrong. 00:12:12.194 --> 00:12:20.447 - Tim is a member of the Choral and Men's Chorus, and here's a picture up there of Tim singing. Okay, 00:12:20.447 --> 00:12:29.112 - Mark Peterson. If you voted for Mark Peterson, you're wrong. Mark is a member of the Celebration Singers 00:12:29.112 --> 00:12:37.613 - of Jasper. Here's a group picture, but Mark is there on the right, kind of in the middle. You can tell 00:12:37.613 --> 00:12:41.822 - that he's really, probably really loud right here. 00:12:44.258 --> 00:12:52.331 - projecting well. OK, if you voted for Amy Osajima, which none of you did, you're correct. Amy sings 00:12:52.331 --> 00:13:00.807 - with Voches Nove. Here's a picture of the Voches Nove altos. You can see Amy on the left and club member 00:13:00.807 --> 00:13:09.122 - Sally Gaskell, another talented singer in the middle. And then if you voted for Wilson Shatandi, which 00:13:09.122 --> 00:13:10.494 - none of you did, 00:13:10.754 --> 00:13:18.071 - Wilson Sings with Voches Nove is a picture of Wilson. It looks like it's taken at the UU church. 00:13:18.071 --> 00:13:25.615 - And finally, if you voted for James Wolf, many of you did. James is a man of many talents, but he's 00:13:25.615 --> 00:13:33.762 - not a singer. And here's a picture of James, I think, during a volunteer assignment at Teacher's Warehouse. 00:13:33.762 --> 00:13:36.478 - So good job, all of you. Thank you. 00:13:42.658 --> 00:13:50.438 - Rotary International, just remember our seven areas of focus. And February is Peacebuilding and Conflict 00:13:50.438 --> 00:13:57.996 - Prevention Month. And a reminder that Happy Dollars proceeds in January and February will be given to 00:13:57.996 --> 00:14:02.590 - Teachers' Warehouse. And we have some time for Happy Dollars. 00:14:08.642 --> 00:14:16.757 - to have celebrated my mother's 99th birthday this past Saturday on Valentine's Day with six of our family 00:14:16.757 --> 00:14:24.413 - from this area and two of our family from Illinois. I have five happy dollars just thanking all the 00:14:24.413 --> 00:14:32.527 - Rotarians that showed up at the gala on Friday and all the ways that you support us always at my sister's 00:14:32.527 --> 00:14:33.982 - closet. Thank you. 00:14:38.562 --> 00:14:57.565 - some happy dollars. I just paid off my student loan. Good morning. I have happy dollars because my son 00:14:57.565 --> 00:15:06.974 - is here and he had a sunny do list of 20 items and 00:15:07.458 --> 00:15:17.741 - And when I left home, 18 of them were done. So I'm hoping for a total success before the day is over. 00:15:17.741 --> 00:15:28.327 - Thanks. Good afternoon. I have five happy dollars as well because the gala is over. And it was extremely 00:15:28.327 --> 00:15:36.190 - successful. So thank you to everybody who participated. We've got Raj online. 00:15:37.826 --> 00:15:50.173 - Yes, I have $10 in honor of Tim reflection of today. What he covers subject uncovered before and the 00:15:50.173 --> 00:16:02.643 - final message of unity for all of us with different background and thought. Thank you, Tim. I have 20 00:16:02.643 --> 00:16:07.166 - happy dollars in honor of my cousin. 00:16:07.362 --> 00:16:16.219 - Stacey Gaskell, who just finished competing in her second Olympics in the event Snowboard Cross. I have 00:16:16.219 --> 00:16:24.736 - happy dollars for just being here. But I wanted to say I have two tickets that are free if you want 00:16:24.736 --> 00:16:33.593 - them. Wait, wait, don't tell me. So let me know if you would like them. And I have them on me. And I'll 00:16:33.593 --> 00:16:36.574 - give them to you today. Thank you. 00:16:37.090 --> 00:17:05.566 - I have 25 happy wishes for my granddaughter who is a new psychiatrist. 00:17:10.754 --> 00:17:21.455 - I've got some happy dollars here and the rest of my money, actually, because my black eyes almost completely 00:17:21.455 --> 00:17:31.370 - healed. That's it. And I have some happy dollars because Connie Shaquellis' program was wonderful at 00:17:31.370 --> 00:17:33.726 - Bell Trace last Friday. 00:17:39.106 --> 00:17:49.373 - I think that's everybody. Can we have one final round of applause for Art Olmec finally finishing high 00:17:49.373 --> 00:17:59.341 - school after all these years? I had never heard of student loans to finish high school, but there's 00:17:59.341 --> 00:18:07.614 - always a first. OK, junior high. OK. I think we have one more happy dollar online. 00:18:08.354 --> 00:18:18.132 - I don't know how to pronounce first name, but Haoxi Wang, you raised your hand. Haoxi? Oh, no, I was 00:18:18.132 --> 00:18:28.492 - just doing the round of applause. Oh, sorry. Very good. Thank you all for your generosity. Connie Chakales 00:18:28.492 --> 00:18:38.270 - will introduce our guest. Thank you, President Steve. My introduction is long, so I have asked Steve 00:18:38.626 --> 00:18:46.210 - I know it is. I've asked Steve to cut me off because I don't want to run into Audrey's time. Author, 00:18:46.210 --> 00:18:53.793 - editor, and IU professor Emerita Audrey McCluskey grew up in America's Jim Crow South. Her memoir is 00:18:53.793 --> 00:19:01.677 - Girl Child, Growing Up Between the Pines and Palms in Jim Crow, Georgia and Florida. Some of you perhaps 00:19:01.677 --> 00:19:06.558 - bought copies of Audrey's signing in September at Morgenstern's. 00:19:07.458 --> 00:19:14.968 - Jim Crow was that hideous system of laws and practices, especially in the South, from 1877 to the 1960s. 00:19:14.968 --> 00:19:22.192 - The name came from a routine by a white minstrel show entertainer, Daddy Rice, who blacked his face. 00:19:22.192 --> 00:19:29.630 - Jim Crow became synonymous with segregation of African Americans, according to the National Association 00:19:29.630 --> 00:19:35.710 - of Black Journalists. Audrey wrote Girl Child as both a legacy and a history lesson. 00:19:35.906 --> 00:19:42.987 - In the book, she describes her life shaping girlhood, not her adult self. Although she is a scholar, 00:19:42.987 --> 00:19:50.067 - she chose to include neither footnotes nor lectures. She also chose to release her book last year. I 00:19:50.067 --> 00:19:57.709 - felt compelled to write this now, she said, explaining that she wants this history not only to be preserved, 00:19:57.709 --> 00:20:01.214 - but told as our history gets increasingly erased. 00:20:02.242 --> 00:20:08.991 - Audrey's childhood spanned two states, Georgia and Florida, both part of the past US Confederacy. 00:20:08.991 --> 00:20:16.428 - In Georgia, she was the very first black baby born on the all white US Air Force base in Valdosta, Georgia. 00:20:16.428 --> 00:20:18.494 - The Air Force considered this 00:20:18.882 --> 00:20:26.184 - unusual gift and honor, extending it only because Audrey's father had served his country during World 00:20:26.184 --> 00:20:33.343 - War II. Even so, mother and babe were relegated to a hallway hidden from the other women and staff. 00:20:33.343 --> 00:20:40.573 - After all, the McCluskys were part of the Double V campaign, a victory at home and abroad. Double V, 00:20:40.573 --> 00:20:47.803 - a project during World War II, addressed the racism that against Black people who had fought for the 00:20:47.803 --> 00:20:48.734 - US, its goal 00:20:48.866 --> 00:20:56.616 - was to win a double victory over fascism abroad and persistent racism in the US. Waiting for black war 00:20:56.616 --> 00:21:04.216 - participants at home, however, were increased discrimination and low grade jobs. Tuskegee Airmen and 00:21:04.216 --> 00:21:11.741 - all black squadron endured strong prejudice but grew to be some of the war's most revered fighters. 00:21:11.741 --> 00:21:18.814 - Black people realized they had been called to fight and yet now their freedoms were squashed. 00:21:19.682 --> 00:21:27.588 - Audrey writes about her aunt's neighborhood. Euphemistically, she said, they called it urban renewal. 00:21:27.588 --> 00:21:35.494 - But black people referred to it as urban removal or simply black removal. Am I going too long, Steve? 00:21:35.494 --> 00:21:43.478 - One more minute. OK, let me. This is long. OK, let me get to her good qualities. OK, there was so much 00:21:43.478 --> 00:21:49.214 - I wanted to say. I'm sorry. Audrey edited a book of interviews with South 00:21:49.602 --> 00:21:56.170 - African filmmakers and has written articles and book reviews. She served as a panelist in the city of 00:21:56.170 --> 00:22:02.673 - Bloomington's women of color in the workplace roundtable discussion, and was a guest on WFHB's Bring 00:22:02.673 --> 00:22:04.734 - It On. She spoke about her book 00:22:05.090 --> 00:22:13.024 - Imaging Blackness, Race and Racial Representation in Film Poster Art at IU's Neomarshall Black Culture 00:22:13.024 --> 00:22:20.958 - Center Library's 10th Annual Library Evening Extravaganza and Reviewed Black Women in the Ivory Tower, 00:22:20.958 --> 00:22:28.661 - 1850 to 1954, and Intellectual History by Stephanie Y. Evans. This is my last paragraph. Audrey and 00:22:28.661 --> 00:22:31.742 - her husband, John, were honored in 2016 00:22:31.874 --> 00:22:38.386 - with the Black History Month Living Legend Award by the Bloomington Black History Month Committee. She 00:22:38.386 --> 00:22:45.214 - served on the city's commission on the status of women and helped with a group that tutored and volunteered 00:22:45.214 --> 00:22:51.599 - at Fairview Elementary School, among many other endeavors that I could go on for an hour. And I give 00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:52.990 - you Audrey McCluskey. 00:23:00.770 --> 00:23:08.753 - Maybe we can go home now, because she has wrapped it up, hasn't she? Well, first of all, I'm very delighted 00:23:08.753 --> 00:23:16.144 - to be here with you Rotarians. And so shout out to the Rotarians. I know about the good work you do 00:23:16.144 --> 00:23:23.683 - in the community. I know about the good work you do nationally. And you are a factor in the health of 00:23:23.683 --> 00:23:28.414 - our community. So keep on keeping on. I really appreciate that. 00:23:30.434 --> 00:23:38.004 - I'm really excited to have this close encounter, though, with the Rotarians. And as Connie has really 00:23:38.004 --> 00:23:45.648 - set up a lot of things that I was going to say, I want to begin really by thanking Connie and thanking 00:23:45.648 --> 00:23:53.366 - Jim Sims, my good friend, and all the people who have helped to put this program together. I think they 00:23:53.366 --> 00:23:55.518 - deserve a round of applause. 00:24:00.834 --> 00:24:08.210 - want to also mention that although I didn't bring books to sell, I do know and I want you to know that 00:24:08.210 --> 00:24:15.372 - I have a website where you could buy this book. It's at Audrey T. McCluskey dot com and not only do 00:24:15.372 --> 00:24:22.462 - I have that book, I have all my five other books there as well as some blogs. People always ask me 00:24:23.138 --> 00:24:30.090 - How did I come to write this, and what does it mean at this particular juncture in our history? So I've 00:24:30.090 --> 00:24:37.041 - written blogs, and they're all on the website that you don't have to buy anything to go and see. I also 00:24:37.041 --> 00:24:43.726 - brought with me a poster of Jim Crow in America. A lot of people think that Jim Crow was a southern 00:24:43.726 --> 00:24:47.870 - phenomenon, but actually it was American, American phenomena. 00:24:48.002 --> 00:24:57.062 - If you have the time, you can just peruse the chapter. I mean, the poster that I have here. I also have 00:24:57.062 --> 00:25:05.861 - bookmarks that have, and these are just for you can pick one of these up. It has some of the reviews 00:25:05.861 --> 00:25:14.833 - and comments about the book. So with that, I want you now to engage in a little going back. I want you 00:25:14.833 --> 00:25:17.534 - to think about your childhood. 00:25:20.034 --> 00:25:27.863 - Now, what images? I don't need you to tell me, but I'm sure images come into your mind when you think 00:25:27.863 --> 00:25:35.769 - about your childhood. It could be positive. It could be negative. But they are there. Although we grow 00:25:35.769 --> 00:25:43.521 - up, do we really leave our childhood behind? William Faulkner said that the past is never dead. It's 00:25:43.521 --> 00:25:48.894 - not even the past. It's in our ringing consciousness. And he grew up. 00:25:49.346 --> 00:25:58.535 - in the Confederate state of Mississippi. And he had lots of memories that he wrote about. So thinking 00:25:58.535 --> 00:26:07.903 - of that childhood, your childhood, I think can help you now come to my presentation about my childhood, 00:26:07.903 --> 00:26:17.182 - because it still resonates with me. But I titled this Capturing Joy, because oftentimes we think about 00:26:17.442 --> 00:26:25.534 - Jim Crow, we think about all the terrible policies and acts and lynchings and all of doing Jim Crow. 00:26:25.534 --> 00:26:33.626 - But I'm more interested in how my family and other families responded to this. And that's why I call 00:26:33.626 --> 00:26:41.719 - it capturing joy, resilience, resistance, and family in Jim Crow America. So with that in mind, Girl 00:26:41.719 --> 00:26:46.686 - Child is something that I would like for you to all consider. 00:26:47.682 --> 00:26:58.903 - And if I were Oprah, I would say, you get a copy and you get a copy. But you can get a copy on my website. 00:26:58.903 --> 00:27:09.809 - So Jim Crow is actually rather recent in our history, less than a half century ago. But this historical 00:27:09.809 --> 00:27:17.150 - context, this dreadful long practice that began after Reconstruction, 00:27:17.986 --> 00:27:26.221 - Reconstruction was after the Civil War, but it only lasted 11 years. And after that, the South was going 00:27:26.221 --> 00:27:34.141 - to rise again. And how did they rise again? With the Klan, the whites, Camellia, all of those really 00:27:34.141 --> 00:27:42.768 - repressive groups. And even before that, discrimination against African-American was a long institutionalized 00:27:42.768 --> 00:27:46.846 - practice in our Supreme Court. Some of you may know 00:27:47.874 --> 00:27:59.079 - Dred Scott decision. In that chief justice writing for the majority, Roger Taney wrote that, quote, 00:27:59.079 --> 00:28:10.283 - blacks have no rights that white men need to honor or recognize. Supreme Court, 1896, Plessy versus 00:28:10.283 --> 00:28:16.670 - Ferguson. That established the separate but equal clause 00:28:17.442 --> 00:28:27.882 - that I grew up under. But separate was never what? Equal. It never was. And that was the policy of the 00:28:27.882 --> 00:28:38.221 - United States until Brown versus the Board of Education, 1954-55. And Jim Crow, as I said before, was 00:28:38.221 --> 00:28:40.958 - not confined to the South. 00:28:43.330 --> 00:28:50.369 - in law or indeed in every part of America, right here in Indiana, in Bloomington, Indiana. You all know 00:28:50.369 --> 00:28:57.137 - of the Monroe County History Center. It was the site, the Carnegie School, the Negro or the colored 00:28:57.137 --> 00:29:04.041 - school it was called. There's a historical marker that people like Liz Mitchell and myself and others 00:29:04.041 --> 00:29:11.486 - helped to establish so that history wouldn't be forgotten. So this book celebrates how my family captured joy 00:29:12.130 --> 00:29:22.236 - but then a confining and a sometimes very, very destructive environment. I will now use my PowerPoint 00:29:22.236 --> 00:29:32.144 - slides to illustrate those. And it's a kind of a precognition about some of the things I'm going to 00:29:32.144 --> 00:29:38.782 - talk about. So I'm going to introduce you to my great-grandmother. 00:29:41.218 --> 00:29:50.283 - And one of the things she always said was, I was born in freedom. I didn't know what that meant. I was 00:29:50.283 --> 00:29:59.173 - born in freedom. But her parents were enslaved. And from her, I learned independence and discipline. 00:29:59.173 --> 00:30:09.118 - This is my mother and father, Eva Mae West Thomas and my father. They co-founded My Night Out Cafe and Barbecue. 00:30:10.530 --> 00:30:19.959 - and they were high school sweethearts. This is my father in front of his cab company. He was an entrepreneur, 00:30:19.959 --> 00:30:28.617 - a business owner, a World War II veteran, an American Legion and veterans of the foreign war leader. 00:30:28.617 --> 00:30:36.418 - He was a commander of the Colt VFW. And I will talk more about him after I go through this 00:30:36.418 --> 00:30:40.190 - slide presentation. So what does resilience 00:30:40.610 --> 00:30:48.566 - and resistance look like in pre-civil rights movement America? What does it look like? Well, not knowing, 00:30:48.566 --> 00:30:56.072 - but these are the words that I heard from people around me. My mother, Eva Thomas, she told me, and 00:30:56.072 --> 00:31:03.428 - not just to me, this is things that she just said, she wasn't really lecturing, she just said it. 00:31:03.428 --> 00:31:10.334 - She said, white folks are not as smart as they think they are. My father, the entrepreneur, 00:31:11.170 --> 00:31:21.504 - He told us to buy some land. Land is the source of all wealth. Work for yourself, not the white man. 00:31:21.504 --> 00:31:31.941 - And then he went on to say, I pay cash. I don't know. I don't owe nobody. Baby, he told me at the age 00:31:31.941 --> 00:31:40.126 - of 14, take my car keys. You're smart. You'll figure it out. And then he added, 00:31:40.386 --> 00:31:49.474 - just stay on the colored side of time. My grandma, Georgia, the opposite of my great-grandmother, who 00:31:49.474 --> 00:31:58.563 - was all stern and disciplined, she said, come here, baby, and give me some sugar. And my grandfather, 00:31:58.563 --> 00:32:08.542 - Cap, Joyce Thomas, senior, get your education, baby. They can't take that away from you. So those are the words 00:32:09.186 --> 00:32:20.589 - that I grew up around. And now, military service was very, very important to my family. Three generations 00:32:20.589 --> 00:32:31.670 - of military service. My grandfather served in World War I in Europe. My maternal grandfather, that is. 00:32:31.670 --> 00:32:38.878 - My father and uncle served in World War II. My brother in Vietnam. 00:32:39.042 --> 00:32:47.654 - And writing this book, a historian, I didn't want the footnotes and all, but I do want to know to broaden 00:32:47.654 --> 00:32:55.941 - it out. And so I looked at how black soldiers were treated in World War II. And that is the origin of 00:32:55.941 --> 00:33:04.229 - the Double V, Double V campaign. And this is a scene from Harlem. And they thought they were fighting 00:33:04.229 --> 00:33:07.966 - for their freedom, not just American freedom. 00:33:08.514 --> 00:33:21.934 - And you see the large turnout. And the next is a photo. He served as an honor guard at JFK's memorial 00:33:21.934 --> 00:33:35.486 - site in Arlington. And you had to be of a certain height and build in order to do that. So that is the 00:33:35.486 --> 00:33:37.854 - background. Also, 00:33:38.914 --> 00:33:47.611 - That's me. I jumped to me. Booker T. Washington High School sophomore. I was on the yearbook staff at 00:33:47.611 --> 00:33:56.222 - Booker T. Washington High. And I really, really, really honor Ms. Dorothy Shannon and Ms. Menci, who 00:33:56.222 --> 00:34:05.004 - tutored me and guided me in my writing skills. And this last slide is my ride and die. I'll talk about 00:34:05.004 --> 00:34:08.414 - them later. My ride and die girl squad. 00:34:08.866 --> 00:34:17.669 - We called ourselves the CLAD. We thought it was so inventive to take the first letter of each of our 00:34:17.669 --> 00:34:26.559 - names. So you have, going from the right to left, you have Katherine, Laura, Audrey, and Delores. And 00:34:26.559 --> 00:34:35.710 - we were our right of die. Now, just to show you how Jim Crow was an impediment, but it wasn't a stopper. 00:34:35.710 --> 00:34:38.238 - Katherine became a diplomat. 00:34:39.906 --> 00:34:48.610 - at the State Department. Laura became a grade school teacher. I became a professor. And Delores became 00:34:48.610 --> 00:34:57.315 - an attorney in Philadelphia. So that is the background that I want to begin to talk about for my story 00:34:57.315 --> 00:35:06.273 - going forward. So I was born in post-World War II in that southern town, Valdosta, which is on the border 00:35:06.273 --> 00:35:09.822 - of the Florida state line. A baby sister. 00:35:11.138 --> 00:35:21.034 - in a family of five, plus our great grandmother, whom I've mentioned before. In the Good War, and that's 00:35:21.034 --> 00:35:30.741 - what World War II was called, the Good War, Daddy served in the Quartermaster Corps, a segregated unit 00:35:30.741 --> 00:35:40.542 - in the army that supplied the troops in Europe. In my expanded research, I found that the Quartermaster 00:35:41.410 --> 00:35:53.268 - Battalion 4009 was an all-black truck unit that withstood enemy fire to supply fighting units in Normandy. 00:35:53.268 --> 00:36:04.350 - Tuskegee Airmen that Connie has mentioned, who like the 4009 brothers, fought and served honorably. 00:36:04.350 --> 00:36:10.334 - Black and white leaders on the home front saw that as 00:36:10.626 --> 00:36:18.761 - an opportunity with the Double V campaign. And some of the people who were involved in it, some of them 00:36:18.761 --> 00:36:26.818 - you may know and some of you not, were people like Mary McLeod Bethune, who I've written a book about. 00:36:26.818 --> 00:36:35.109 - Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, and Roy Wilkins, the president of National 00:36:35.109 --> 00:36:40.350 - Association of Colored People. It was their belief that once Black 00:36:40.514 --> 00:36:50.049 - soldiers proved themselves on the battleground, black Americans in general, they thought, would be welcome 00:36:50.049 --> 00:36:58.961 - home with full citizenship rights. Didn't happen. My dad, whose job in the quartermaster battalion, 00:36:58.961 --> 00:37:08.140 - along with other support tasks, was peeling potatoes. It inspired him, however, I surmise, to open his 00:37:08.140 --> 00:37:09.566 - own restaurant. 00:37:11.266 --> 00:37:22.116 - With his army pay and the money he earned in the barracks with his poker skills, he sent it back home 00:37:22.116 --> 00:37:32.967 - to our mother and told her to save everything you can. He returned and with mom's help and land owned 00:37:32.967 --> 00:37:40.094 - by his parents, he built, along with my mom, his first restaurant. 00:37:40.418 --> 00:37:49.650 - My night out, cafe and barbecue. He was a successful self-made businessman in that small Jim Crow town 00:37:49.650 --> 00:37:58.612 - without the benefit of the GI Bill. The GI Bill was passed in 1944 in the Roosevelt administration, 00:37:58.612 --> 00:38:07.844 - but it was denied black soldiers, black returning soldiers all over, but especially in the South, well 00:38:07.844 --> 00:38:09.726 - into the late 1960s. 00:38:12.418 --> 00:38:22.000 - Paul Thomas Sr., however, persevered. Along with my mother, he opened several other businesses. A motel, 00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:31.400 - a cab company. You saw him standing in front of the Owl Cab Company. A place that I consider the first 00:38:31.400 --> 00:38:41.438 - generation arcade. It had pinball machines and pool tables. It sold snacks, all the while abiding by Jim Crow 00:38:43.554 --> 00:38:53.137 - restrictions that with my child eyes, I watched him navigate. An example, cops, all white, would stop 00:38:53.137 --> 00:39:02.719 - by periodically at his restaurant to see if they can find an infraction to cite him harassment. Daddy 00:39:02.719 --> 00:39:11.550 - plied the cops with his famous barbecue ribs from the pit that he built adjacent to the cafe. 00:39:12.930 --> 00:39:20.951 - And he watched them smacking their lips with barbecue sauce on their uniforms. After they left, Dad 00:39:20.951 --> 00:39:29.052 - made this a teachable moment for his children as he cursed the departing grifters. He lectured us on 00:39:29.052 --> 00:39:37.394 - owning your own land and businesses. You don't have to work for them, he said. And then my grandfather, 00:39:37.394 --> 00:39:41.886 - who was a laundry worker standing nearby, he would add, 00:39:41.986 --> 00:39:50.654 - Get your education, baby. Nobody can take that away from you. Similarly, although he could afford a 00:39:50.654 --> 00:39:59.582 - Cadillac, which was the most prestigious car you could own, but in the black community, only preachers 00:39:59.582 --> 00:40:08.596 - drove Cadillacs because they would not be harassed. So what my father did was every two years, he would 00:40:08.596 --> 00:40:10.590 - buy a brand new Buick. 00:40:11.138 --> 00:40:18.867 - And that became, you know, the Buick is a good solid car, but it's not flashy. He understood that under 00:40:18.867 --> 00:40:27.043 - Jim Crow, owning a Cadillac would invite envy and jealousy and close scrutiny from the white power structure. 00:40:27.043 --> 00:40:35.069 - I learned that by watching him. So Capturing Joy shows how my family and many others, despite the confining 00:40:35.069 --> 00:40:39.454 - practices of Jim Crow and some personal family disruption, 00:40:40.066 --> 00:40:49.012 - how we often survived and even persevered. There was joy in our lives. And I want to read just a part 00:40:49.012 --> 00:40:58.133 - of the philosophy that I inherited. And this is directly from Girl Child. To wave off fits of nostalgia 00:40:58.133 --> 00:41:06.991 - that too often prevail in writings that look backwards to halikon days of yore, I labor to show that 00:41:06.991 --> 00:41:09.534 - no such days existed. Still, 00:41:09.634 --> 00:41:18.575 - In most instances of both family and societal disruptions, I witnessed pride and faith that were never 00:41:18.575 --> 00:41:28.123 - surrendered. It was as if people in this orbit of history, aware of the confining weight of white supremacist 00:41:28.123 --> 00:41:36.891 - policies, deign to treat the inferiority negatives always flooding in our ears like puddles of water 00:41:36.891 --> 00:41:38.974 - after a drenching rain. 00:41:39.650 --> 00:41:50.351 - They tried to high step over it, living lives that focused on who they believe themselves to be within 00:41:50.351 --> 00:42:00.844 - their own communities. They conveyed a sense of self-worth that repelled all notions of inferiority. 00:42:00.844 --> 00:42:06.558 - So in living close to my grandparents was another joy. 00:42:08.418 --> 00:42:15.592 - Grandparents on both sides of the family made us feel loved and protected. The most precious and cherished 00:42:15.592 --> 00:42:22.430 - gift before adulthood that I remember, just like you probably remembered something very specific, was 00:42:22.430 --> 00:42:29.135 - the orange and white bike with the white wall tires and orange tassel that my grandfather rode from 00:42:29.135 --> 00:42:36.376 - his house across the street to surprise me one Christmas. At seven, I had just learned to ride my brother's 00:42:36.376 --> 00:42:37.918 - high-seated boy's bike 00:42:39.394 --> 00:42:48.657 - and was delighted to now have my own. I often sat with my grandfather on his front porch, listening 00:42:48.657 --> 00:42:57.920 - as he told gripping stories about his younger life, working near the alligator infested swamps near 00:42:57.920 --> 00:43:04.126 - Miami to make it what it did become, the global city of the South. 00:43:05.890 --> 00:43:14.224 - He told stories about people working with him. They lived in tents and getting too close and the alligator 00:43:14.224 --> 00:43:22.091 - would come up and pop one. So it wasn't funny, but it was something that he liked to really spice it 00:43:22.091 --> 00:43:30.036 - up when he told these stories. The radio broadcast of the Brooklyn Dodgers game was turned down until 00:43:30.036 --> 00:43:32.606 - Jackie Robinson came to the bat. 00:43:34.050 --> 00:43:41.956 - full blast by the whole neighborhood. Those episodes taught me a lot. It taught me the value of listening. 00:43:41.956 --> 00:43:49.715 - You can learn more listening than talking. Another joy was from my grandmother, Grandma Georgia, sending 00:43:49.715 --> 00:43:57.178 - me to the neighborhood store to buy her a raw crown cola. Anybody remember raw crown cola? Raw crown 00:43:57.178 --> 00:44:03.902 - cola, it was a competitor to Coke, but of course Coke won out. And then she would tell me, 00:44:05.762 --> 00:44:14.783 - Honey, you keep the change and buy something for yourself. And my great grandmother, who was born in 00:44:14.783 --> 00:44:23.358 - Freedom in 1873, was a stern disciplinarian. I watched her wring the neck of backyard chickens, 00:44:23.358 --> 00:44:32.290 - pluck it, and fry it up for dinner. She also made her own soap and jam from our grapevine. We had a 00:44:32.290 --> 00:44:33.630 - tree of three, 00:44:33.890 --> 00:44:40.996 - pecan trees and they were high quality pecan trees. And my dad who was always saying, you know, 00:44:40.996 --> 00:44:48.768 - be independent and get your own money. I would gather the pecans and take them across the railroad track 00:44:48.768 --> 00:44:56.466 - in my red wagon and sell them to the pecan factory for 50 cents a pound. And my brother had a shoeshine 00:44:56.466 --> 00:45:02.462 - stand and my sister did our job. So we all, you know, had to work. So I remember 00:45:03.234 --> 00:45:11.302 - women like that being surrounded, including my own mother, who soon was to strike out on her own. I 00:45:11.302 --> 00:45:19.854 - also remember the confusion of attending movies with my big sister and neighborhood friends. And I recall 00:45:19.854 --> 00:45:25.502 - this in a poem that I wrote that's in the book. And I will read that. 00:46:36.450 --> 00:46:47.423 - was named. Our joy came from people who loved us and plied us with shiny coins to go to the show. After 00:46:47.423 --> 00:46:57.973 - chores were done, Saturday matinee at the Dosta Theater in downtown Val Dosta, our entrance via the 00:46:57.973 --> 00:47:05.886 - side door led to the balcony. The downstairs entrance through glass plated 00:47:06.114 --> 00:47:14.702 - double doors was reserved for children of a different skin tone. Known by nicknames, CC, Junebug, 00:47:14.702 --> 00:47:23.729 - Little Man, Weezy, Black Boy, I was called Baby Sister. And I was lifted to the ticket booth by my big 00:47:23.729 --> 00:47:32.580 - sister, Sweet Pea. With a performance of thumb sucking and cooing, my fare was waived, and I used it 00:47:32.580 --> 00:47:33.982 - to buy popcorn. 00:47:37.346 --> 00:47:50.257 - Lights down, movie starts. Was the movie Tarzan Conquers the Jungle? Or was it Cowboys Tame the Indians? 00:47:50.257 --> 00:48:03.292 - As the action stalled, popcorn and spitballs rained down on the favorite ones below. Revenge? Resistance? 00:48:03.292 --> 00:48:06.366 - The walk home was quiet. 00:48:07.298 --> 00:48:17.812 - Lost in our thoughts, we wondered, are we the Cowboys or the Indians? Are we Tarzan or those of our 00:48:17.812 --> 00:48:28.537 - skin tone who he so easily conquered? As we approach South Lee Street, our home, we put such thoughts 00:48:28.537 --> 00:48:36.318 - aside for now until next Saturday when the balcony beckons us once again. 00:48:39.554 --> 00:48:47.525 - out leaving the cocoon of a nuclear and extended family was disruptive, yet I experienced joy in having 00:48:47.525 --> 00:48:55.650 - better educational resources. Never equal, but good teachers, as I've mentioned, and the taste of teenage 00:48:55.650 --> 00:49:03.392 - life and possibilities, friendship, dating, proms, et cetera. So I will read just a little more from 00:49:03.392 --> 00:49:07.454 - that high school experience at Boogatee, Washington. 00:49:10.114 --> 00:49:17.781 - We took it for granted that black people owned property and stuff. We knew people who owned their own 00:49:17.781 --> 00:49:25.598 - homes as well as renters and vagrants. The range, the full range of financial circumstances was normal. 00:49:25.598 --> 00:49:33.641 - But business owners were special to me because of my daddy's example. I later learned that black ownership 00:49:33.641 --> 00:49:40.030 - was not expected in the broader society. As students, we did not take note of it all 00:49:40.162 --> 00:49:47.591 - until it was mostly gone. There was so much more that we didn't know or comprehend. We did not know 00:49:47.591 --> 00:49:55.169 - the history of our community. We did not know the history of our school because it was not taught. We 00:49:55.169 --> 00:50:02.598 - did not know that Booker T. Washington opened its doors in 1927 as the first high school for blacks 00:50:02.598 --> 00:50:08.318 - in South Florida. It drew students from as far away as Key West to the South 00:50:09.378 --> 00:50:17.999 - and West Palm Beach to the north. We did not know that the vigilantes, the white vigilantes who tried 00:50:17.999 --> 00:50:26.620 - to smash the dream of education for blacks and had firebombed the original building, it was inspiring 00:50:26.620 --> 00:50:35.241 - to learn that the community rose up and protected the building of the school with night vigils around 00:50:35.241 --> 00:50:38.622 - the clock. We did not know any of this. 00:50:40.002 --> 00:50:49.096 - Our teachers focused on the positive and stressed how we are getting a good education at Booker 00:50:49.096 --> 00:50:58.853 - T. Washington. My close friends, my writer, Dr. N, and I exemplified that message and won their favor. 00:50:58.853 --> 00:51:08.894 - So as I conclude, the story of my childhood is unique in special ways, I know, but emblematic of America. 00:51:09.442 --> 00:51:18.462 - at large at this time. For all Americans, this is not just black history, it is American history. Yet 00:51:18.462 --> 00:51:27.305 - for all the negativity, it did not supplant our spirit, our creativity, or our joy. Jim Crow was an 00:51:27.305 --> 00:51:36.236 - assault on humanity and should have been vanished, but it lasted over 100 years. A whitewash history 00:51:36.236 --> 00:51:38.270 - that we are now seeing 00:51:38.882 --> 00:51:48.953 - corrupted form of this historical presentation is surely taking us back to reignite the embers of white 00:51:48.953 --> 00:51:59.122 - supremacy. What makes America great is not an abstract slogan. Its greatness lies in the will, strength, 00:51:59.122 --> 00:52:07.934 - and resilience of its people, like my family, who never surrendered their joy, their hope, 00:52:08.610 --> 00:52:21.194 - or belief in themselves. I want to end with another line from the book. On graduation day, graduation 00:52:21.194 --> 00:52:33.778 - from high school. My family, my whole family was there to celebrate with me. Daddy, mama, Georgia Ann 00:52:33.778 --> 00:52:38.590 - Sweet Pea, Paul Jr., my older brother, 00:52:38.978 --> 00:52:49.279 - A graduate of Pinevale High in Valdosta was there too. Graduation gifts poured in. Cash, checks, gaily 00:52:49.279 --> 00:52:59.981 - wrapped boxes, money, a Polaroid camera, which was all the thing then, and a shoe box full of high quality 00:52:59.981 --> 00:53:08.382 - pecans that my father had brought. After all, I was an honored graduate of historic 00:53:08.610 --> 00:53:17.229 - Booker T. Washington Junior Senior High School, soon off to college on an academic scholarship. And 00:53:17.229 --> 00:53:23.262 - four years later, the first college graduate in my family. Thank you. 00:53:38.466 --> 00:53:51.047 - I understand that you do questions or comments. Does that happen? Or do you? Any online? Thank you, 00:53:51.047 --> 00:54:03.754 - Audrey and everyone here. I just want to reiterate what Audrey said. Jim Crow was everywhere. I grew 00:54:03.754 --> 00:54:06.270 - up in Indianapolis. 00:54:07.202 --> 00:54:19.132 - And Audrey's story is my story. Luckily for us, we had a strong family that believed in entrepreneurship 00:54:19.132 --> 00:54:30.381 - and said, buy land and get an education. Not everybody had families like ours. So we were blessed, 00:54:30.381 --> 00:54:36.062 - weren't we? Thank you. Audrey, thank you so much. 00:54:36.898 --> 00:54:50.180 - really appreciate your willingness to do what it takes to write the book. And I know what book I'm going 00:54:50.180 --> 00:55:03.208 - to be recommending to the Rotary Book Club for our next selection. This is an opinion question. Do you 00:55:03.208 --> 00:55:06.750 - really think Jim Crow ended 00:55:06.882 --> 00:55:14.042 - Or did it just kind of become more subtle and whatever? That sounds like a trick question. Because it 00:55:14.042 --> 00:55:21.272 - never ended. It went underground. It went underground. White supremacy has never been defeated. It has 00:55:21.272 --> 00:55:28.291 - been suppressed. And now it's reemerging. So it was never, never, ever. I mean, America was born in 00:55:28.291 --> 00:55:35.521 - white supremacist notions. Even though we had the Declaration of Independence that said all people are 00:55:35.521 --> 00:55:36.574 - created equal, 00:55:37.346 --> 00:55:44.350 - Jefferson owned slaves. And so that contradiction in America theory and principle versus its policies 00:55:44.350 --> 00:55:51.217 - is always at agitation point. But we do have the principles. And that's what I think we focused on, 00:55:51.217 --> 00:55:58.290 - like my schooling focused on the principles. Even though I think in the civil rights movement, I think 00:55:58.290 --> 00:56:05.501 - those principles went to a broader kind of appreciation among Americans when they saw what was happening 00:56:05.501 --> 00:56:06.462 - in the South. 00:56:08.578 --> 00:56:29.441 - Now, I can't say that is happening. Perhaps it will. But to answer your question directly, it's still 00:56:29.441 --> 00:56:37.214 - here. Thank you. Thank you very much. 00:56:38.370 --> 00:56:46.639 - fascinating presentation, happy things, sad things. On a less serious note, when she was talking about 00:56:46.639 --> 00:56:54.747 - the barbecue, it made me think of the scene and fried green tomatoes in the Whistletop Cafe. And I'm 00:56:54.747 --> 00:57:00.126 - sure your dad's barbecue was much better than that. Yeah, exactly. 00:57:00.802 --> 00:57:07.511 - On a more serious note, my father was a World War II bomber pilot, and after the war, he, like many 00:57:07.511 --> 00:57:14.354 - other young veterans, started families and moved to the growing Levittown area in Long Island. Blacks 00:57:14.354 --> 00:57:21.465 - were not welcome in Levittown. In honor of your presentation, a donation we made this quarter to Amethyst 00:57:21.465 --> 00:57:28.375 - House, so thank you. I'd like to thank today's volunteers, Leanne Radcliffe, who greeted for the first 00:57:28.375 --> 00:57:29.918 - time, Leslie Kutsenko, 00:57:30.338 --> 00:57:36.989 - Connie Chakalas, Peggy Frisbee, Tim Jessen, Elan Barker, Michael Shermas. And I'd also like to point 00:57:36.989 --> 00:57:43.838 - out Tyler, who did, once again, quick on his feet with the technology. So our next regular meeting will 00:57:43.838 --> 00:57:50.555 - be next week, February 24th. We're here in the Georgian Room. Club member Cindy Brumbarger will speak 00:57:50.555 --> 00:57:56.350 - to us about community health centers, the Lifeline, and the Canary of Indiana's Health. 00:57:57.282 --> 00:58:06.288 - So Tyler, if you please share the graphic for the four way test and please stand if you are able. Of 00:58:06.288 --> 00:58:15.204 - the things we think, say or do. First, is it the truth? Second, is it fair to all concerned? Third, 00:58:15.204 --> 00:58:23.764 - will it build good will and better friendships? Fourth, will it be beneficial to all concerned? 00:58:23.764 --> 00:58:25.726 - And fifth, is it fun?