MARCH 8, 2016 ROTARY IN REVIEW:
Stu Wilson

This being the meeting with “assigned seating,” President Carla gave members five minutes at their tables for introductions and fellowship, then she announced guests and visiting Rotarians.

The club was warmly greeted by Mary Britts, YMCA, and  Matt Halley, Cookie Cart.  Michael-jon Pease, Park Square Theatre, served as scribe.

President Carla encouraged members to attend the upcoming District Conference - "Celebrate our Gifts to the World" – on May 12 & 13 at Mystic Lake. Please note that next week’s meeting, March 15, will be held at the DOUBLETREE.

At press time, there was no speaker for THURSDAY’S FELLOWSHIP breakfast. Watch your email for confirmation of whether we’ll meet or not.

Shelly Rucks, Episcopal Homes, encouraged everyone to attend the new member happy hour and mixer Tuesday night from 4:30-6:30 at Wild Thymes, where Ed Coleman’s band would be playing two sets.

Linda Mulhern and Mary Britts spoke about our Youth Exchange program, encouraging members to help find St. Paul families to host inbound exchange students. Students living outside the school district can take the city bus in to school.  These host families, and often the students themselves, become Rotarians. The committee is also looking for extra hands for small tasks like checking in by email with one of our five outbound students once each month and reporting back to the committee on how their exchange experience is going. Please see Linda or Mary with questions and offers of help.

Ed Coleman gave a promo for Rotation Day, coming up on April 15. Three member businesses will be host sites: YMCA Midway, Cookie Cart in Minneapolis, and the St. Paul Armory. Please register online so we know which location to expect you at!

Al Zdrazil (who himself came to Rotary through hosting an exchange student), gave a promo for the program on March 15, which will focus on how employers and those in the work place can respond to and help co-workers facing domestic violence. An important topic!

Nancy McKillips collected happy dollars, starting with $5 from Carolyn Brusseau who is recovering from a successful knee replacement surgery and would appreciate your calls, emails or notes. Doug Hartford thanked the club for arranging for spring to begin just as he and Pat returned from a month in Arizona. Ed Coleman invited everyone to come get their Reggae on with his band and to celebrate his 60^th birthday this Sunday from 2 – 8 at Wild Tymes.

Jay Pfaender introduced our speaker, Stu Wilson, Executive Director of Fitzgerald in St. Paul, a two-year old organization working to maximize St. Paul’s potential for literary tourism and to create an F. Scott Fitzgerald Interpretive Center in downtown. Stu is a member of the City of Lakes Rotary, describing himself as a “metro-Rotarian.”

Fun Fitz facts:

• Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul on Sept. 24, 1896 at 481 Laurel, around the corner from W. A. Frost.
• People come from all over the world to make Fitzgerald pilgrimages, including the writer who translated the Great Gatsby into Mongolian!
• He was named for his relative Francis Scott Key (writer of the national anthem)
• He coined the phrase “The Jazz Age” and the first appearances of the words “t-shirt” and “daiquiri” were in his novels.
• His army training captain was Dwight Eisenhower (WWI)
• He may have been the first person to suggest the two-platoon system of football, adapted after his experience at Princeton
• He crashed a few U of M frat parties in drag and was never detected!

There is significant opportunity to build on literary tourism for St. Paul, home to both Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis. More than 25 milliion copies of the Great Gatsby have been sold since its publication in 1925 – 1 million sold the year the recent film came out. The book has been translated into 42 languages and both the book and the movie are popular in China, Russia and India.

2020 will begin a decade of Fitzgerald Centennials and Fitzgerald in St. Paul will be hosting the international Fitzgerald conference next summer, which will bring at least 150 international scholars to the our city, along with another 150 American scholars. In addition to merging with the International Fitzgerald Society, Fitzgerald in St. Paul is two years ahead of schedule toward their plan of opening a modern, interactive interpretive center. Their vision is a modest, high tech experience where a 17-year old who has never heard of the writer can become immersed and leave inspired to read some of his work. There are many ways to participate, but start by reading a short story or novel if you haven’t read his work since high school!

President Carla adjourned the meeting with the recitation of the Four Way Test.

Respectfully submitted,

Michael-jon Pease