ROTARY CLUB OF BAKERSFIELD

NEXT MEETING: JANUARY 30TH, 2014OFFSITE MEETING – RABOBANK ARENA – 1001 Truxtun Avenue

Last week the Bakersfield Condors of the ECHL were purchased by the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers in what many hope will be a long-term relationship that will bring Bakersfield into the “elite hockey development cyclone”, according to Oilers President & COO Patrick LaForge. The Rotary Club of Bakersfield meeting will take place offsite at the Rabobank Arena, where we will enjoy lunch and a “behind the scenes” look at the Condors operation. Bakersfield Condors President Matt Riley will host our meeting.

UPCOMING PROGRAMSFebruary 6, 2014 Alan Tandy / City of Bakersfield UpdateFebruary 13, 2014 Offsite at Starz Dinner Theater for Valentine’s Spouses lunchFebruary 20, 2014 Thomas Roads Improvement Program (TRIP) Update

ROTARY HAPPENINGS• Welcome to Dave Hepburn, General Manager of the Historic Union Cemetery,

who was welcomed as a new member of our Club, sponsored by Brad Barnes.• Please sign up for Rolling Readers. This wonderful program, spearheaded by

Teri Bjorn, brings Rotarians to the Downtown Elementary School to read to the kindergarten class each Wednesday.

• A reminder to sign up for the Rotary Business & Ethics Conference, which will take place on Tuesday, March 11th at the downtown Marriott. Contact Larry Reider for details.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS FROM JAN. 23RD PROGRAMPresentation: “The World on a String – Alan Cook1. Alan Cook highlighted the exhibition, “The World on a String: Puppets from

the Alan Cook Collection,” that will be showcased at the Bakersfield Museum of Art from January 23-April 27, 2014. The 100-puppet display, on loan from the International Puppetry Museum and Alan Cook, features a broad array of puppets from varied time periods and around the world, including shadow puppets from Indonesia, Thailand and Turkey, hand puppets from Mexico, Japanese bunraku, African rod puppets, and Sicilian marionettes.

2. Cook, founder and director of the International Puppetry Museum in Pasadena, has had a lifelong interest in puppetry. He has been collecting puppets for over seven decades, with over 5,000 puppets in his collection. Cook was initially inspired by a puppetry class he took as a second-grader. He reminisced about enjoying puppet shows in department stores, such as J.W. Robinson.

3. Cook noted that nearly every major culture has a puppetry tradition. Puppets

THE SPOKE

ROTARY CLUB OF BAKERSFIELD

JANUARY 23, 2014Karen Goh, Editor

OFFICERSSteve Sanders .................................... PresidentJeff Pickering .................................... SecretaryJim Cordle ......................................... TreasurerDave Morton ................................ Sgt.-at-Arms

BOARD OF DIRECTORS1 Year Jeff Green Justin Leland Steve Roach Ray W. Watson2 Years Brooke Antonioni Bryan Burrow Jack Gotcher Larry ReiderPast President Paul Sheldon, Jr.President Elect 2014-2015 Steve Williford

R.I. PRESIDENTRon D. Burton ........Norman, Oklahoma, USA

DISTRICT 5240 GOVERNORJack McClenahan...Rotary Club of Ojai-West

GROUP REPRESENTATIVERicki Foster ........................... Bakersfield West

ROTARY OFFICEP.O. Box 1628, Bakersfield, CA 93302(661) 325-0696 • FAX: (661) 322-2311staff@bakersfield-rotary.comwww.bakersfield-rotary.com

AREA MEETINGSMonday @ noon................... Bakersfield South

at the Petroleum ClubTuesday @ noon .................. Bakersfield North

at the Petroleum ClubWednesday @ noon................ Bakersfield West

at the Stockdale Country ClubWednesday @ 6:45 am .............. Bak. Breakfast

at the Petroleum ClubWednesday @ 6 pm ..................... Bak. Twilight

at the Bell Tower ClubThursday @ noon ...................Bak. Downtown

at the Museum of ArtFriday @ noon ....................... Bakersfield East

at Stars Theater

DID YOU KNOW?In 1922 Rotary Club of Bakersfield President Carlos Newbery and a group of Bakersfield Rotarians repre-sented the Club at the Rotary Interna-tional Convention at the Philharmon-ic Auditorium in Los Angeles. The group occupied a six room cottage at the Hotel Maryland in Pasadena, which was the closest to Los Angeles where reservations could be obtained.

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ROTARY CLUB OF BAKERSFIELD

(Did You Know continued)

This coming June, President Elect Steve Williford will represent our Club at the Rotary International Convention in Sydney, Australia. Over 20,000 Rotarians from all over the world are expected to be in attendance.

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have power to communicate on many levels. They have been used to entertain children, teach literacy and hygiene, for political campaigns, political criticism, and miniature opera, and to provide a sense of roots for inner-city children.

4. Cook has worked with renowned puppeteers, including Frank Paris, creator of the Howdy Doody puppet; Muppets creator Jim Henson; Bob Baker of LA’s longest-running children’s theater, and Sid and Marty Krofft, whose life-size puppets captured children’s television in the 1970s and ’80s. Cook manipulated an 18-foot cat puppet in Steven Spielberg’s “An American Tail.” He worked on a Las Vegas act that included dancing puppets that opened for Raquel Welch.

5. During the Middle Ages, churches often used marionette stringed figures to teach their illiterate congregants. The word marionette, “little Mary,” is a reference to the Virgin Mary.

ROLLING READER CORNERTeri Bjorn, Rolling Reader Chair

A Big Shout-Out by the Ks to the 2013 Rolling Readers: Bernie Barmann, Joe Ziemann, Bob Sheldon, Beth Pandol, Diane Duquette, Ken Secor, and the Santa team of Sheryl Barbich and Dick Porter.

Of note, Ken presented a book that he wrote, The Mystery Rescuer. The book, illustrated with beautiful photos, was presented on a Power Point, much advanced from us Old Schoolers who read from… books.

Sheryl, aka Mrs. Claus was, as always, young, beautiful and thin (a far cry from what they’ve seen in their books, they remarked). Dick actually dug into his potato sack for the cause and sprang for a real Santa Suit. And Mr. Claus was exactly what they had pictured: old and fat.

And then there is the whole class, saying thanks and come again soon!

You can be part of this fun and fantasy: please sign up at the front desk for open spots in 2014!