Meeting Recap April 16

There were 37 members in attendance on April 16! Tim McCabe brought John Zeddies of 22^nd Century Media, which is responsible for publishing the Winnetka Current.  Also our speaker brought a guest, Harmony Hughes, the daughter of a former Winnetka Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar Lyric Hughes.

 

President Bob Baker announced that Austin Welch who is currently finishing up at West Point will be a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar representing our district, 6440.  This scholarship program is for non-Rotarians to pursue a Masters Degree or a Doctorate in one of several approved areas of study in a foreign country.  The scholars are obligated to speak to Rotary Clubs in their host country as well as the country they are representing.  This serves as a reminder that we must all support Rotary International with our gifts to Every Rotarian-Every Year.”

 

John Thomas, our incoming president plugged our May 16^th benefit.  He said that tickets were priced to make it easier to bring guests to the event.  This year the musical entertainment will be provided by “Keith Reed and his Royal Rotarians” and feature Chicago’s renowned jazz vocalist Frieda Lee.  Mark the date on your calendar and start inviting guests.  Tim McCabe said the Benefit Committee is still looking for attractive auction items.

 

Jeanne Beckman informed the Club that former member ArLynn Presser has written and is directing a play called “Remembrance” that will be performed at the Community House on April 24, 25 and 26.  Details are in the next story in this bulletin.

 

The Club celebrated the birthdays of Denny Lauer and Tom Nash as well as Denny’s 40^th Rotary anniversary.

 

This week’s Happy Buck$ came from Ned Meisner, Kristen Leahy and Marie Kuipers.

 

This week’s speaker was Jian Ping who was born in China and immigrated to the U.S. for graduate work while leaving her 15-month-old daughter in China while she was working on advanced degrees.  Eventually her husband, and then her daughter joined her in the States.  She wrote a memoir of her life that she titled Mulberry Child.  The book was developed into an award-winning documentary by the same title. 

 

Jian basically told her life story of growing up in China during Mao’s Cultural Revolution, how her father, a high ranking government official was imprisoned on trumped up charges of treason by the Red Guard and how the entire family was publicly humiliated.  Jian’s mother, a school administrator was also imprisoned.  The family was then forced to live in a mud house without heat, running water or a toilet.  

 

A major part of her story was how Jian’s daughter Lisa grew distant to her.  When her daughter came to the U.S. as a five-year old she had great difficulty adjusting to America as she spoke no English and at school she was thought to be of low intelligence due to not understanding what the teacher and other children were saying.  Lisa was constantly teased.  Lisa set out to become an American and shed her Chinese past.  Difficulties arose as Jian tried to instill her with some of the basic Chinese values and they became more distant, not surprisingly the teenage years were especially rough on mother and daughter.  Jian felt a need to reveal her past under Mao and share Chinese roots with her daughter and began writing her memoir.  Unfortunately Lisa showed no interest in her mother’s writings and did not even read it for quite some time.

 

When Jian and Lisa returned to China in 2008 for a visit with her mother and four sisters, Lisa finally agreed to read the manuscript.  Tracing her family’s history Lisa began to see her mother in a different light and to accept her own heritage.

 

Jian is a contributing writer for a major wire service in China and a monthly magazine Asian Wiscnozine.  She also works for the US importer of Tsingtao Beer, which enables her to make several trips to China each year.  She lives in Naperville with her family.