THEATRE MSU

Mississippi State University's drama program is today’s topic for Wayne Durst, associate professor and theatre concentration coordinator in the Department of Communication.

CULTURAL AMBASSADOR

Jarred Reneau is the latest Rotary Cultural Ambassadorial Scholar sponsored by our Club. Recently returned  from Japan, he will report on his studies next week.

LAST WEEK

Invocation and Pledge: Bryce Griffis
Attendance: There were 106 members (35 exempt, 1 honorary) present and 85 (14 exempt, 11 honorary) absent.
Guests and visitors: Eddie Longstreet of  West Point was our visiting Rotarian with guest Peggy Johnson. Members’ guests were Anna Spivey of Scott Dodd, James Hicks of Mark Guyton, and Jerry and Susan Linhares of Carey Hardin. Club guests were Kim Stevens, and Youth Exchange Students Kasper Eriksen and Francesa Scaravelli.
Makeups: Maridith Geuder, Amy Tuck and Charlie Guest made-up at West Point.
Kudos: President Martha complimented Rotarians recognized at the Greater Starkville Development Partnership’s annual banquet. The R. Clay Simmons Exemplary Enterprise Award went to Judy Webb and Melanie Mitchell. Carolyn Jackson was named Ambassador of the Year. And, one of our Paul Harris Community leaders, Jeremiah Dumas, received the T. E. Veitch Community Service Award.

NEW MEMBER

Sunnyside native John Frasier introduced himself as one of our newest members. He and wife Jenny have four grown children.
   In 1942, at age 16, he entered State College, but left the next year to become a B-24 top turret gunner in the Army Air Corps. He flew over southern Europe in the 455th Bomber Group featured in Stephen Ambrose’s The Wild Blue.
   Following World War II, he entered “that school up north” to earn a law degree, so he could “get out and fleece people.” After practicing law, serving as county prosecutor, and serving in the state senate in Greenwood for 42 years, he became a magistrate to the Mississippi Supreme Court. Three-and-a-half years later, he became the first chief judge of the new state court of appeals.
   When he and his wife retired, they moved to Starkville to become “monitors of all the Mississippi State sports.” However, although he is retired, he stresses that he is “now caretaker and foot servant of Roy Ruby.”

COTTON DISTRICT ARTS FESTIVAL

Past-president Chip Templeton accepted the Club’s donation for the Cotton District Arts Festival. As current president of the Starkville Area Arts Council,  he reported that nearly 30,000 people attended last year’s event. This year’s edition is April 17.

ROTARY CLASSIC RODEO

The fourth annual Rotary Classic Rodeo is this Friday and Saturday at the Mississippi Horse Park. This year’s beneficiary is the SOAR tuition guarantee program at East Mississippi Community College.

AMBASSADORIAL ADVENTURES IN ISRAEL

Allison Noffsinger spent an action-packed year as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar at the University of Tel Aviv.  The Starkville High School and Western Kentucky University graduate now is Study Abroad Coordinator for MSU International Programs.
    Including her year as a Rotary Youth Exchange student in Peru she has visited 25 countries.
    She explained that Ambassadorial Scholars have three basic responsibilities while abroad: 1) dedicate about 30 percent of their time to studies; 2) conduct a service project in their host communities; and, 3) dedicate time to Rotary and Rotary events.      
    “One of the  responsibilities, really a joy, is if anyone invites you to go somewhere, you have to go,” said Alli. “If I had to weigh Hebrew studies against a trip to Jaffa, guess which won.”
    Usually, applicants choose five cities in one country or one area of the world. Alli’s choices were much broader. She chose India, Egypt, Israel, Hong Kong and Singapore to get out of the western hemisphere and Europe where she already had been.
    Initially, she aimed for a service project that would use her professional media education to explain a misunderstood local culture. However, she felt unable to describe something she did not understand.
    “I feel like now if I go back, I will be more or less qualified to explain what’s going on,” she said.
    At a loss to find a picture to represent Israel, she chose an aerial photograph to introduce her topic.
    “I feel like it’s my responsibility to equally reflect on each part of society that I lived in, whether Jewish or Arab” she said. “I couldn’t find one picture that didn’t reflect only one demographic or one part of society; there are just so many sides you have to look at when it comes to Israel.”
    Upon her arrival in July of 2008, Alli went straight into an ulpan or institute for intensive Hebrew language studies at Tel Aviv University. Later, she studied Arabic. She said the street signs were easy to read because they were in English as well as both local languages.
    The dorms were “miserably hot”; however, she has learned that they now are air conditioned. On the other hand, the university was a very beautiful and secure place.
    Her month of intensive language study was followed by a month off for the high holidays. Her greatest lesson was to  learn how to get around when public transit was closed for holy days. Making the best of the vacation time, she travelled extensively.
    Jerusalem was just an hour away from Tel Aviv, so it was “just like taking a trip to Tupelo from Starkville.” She noted that the “whole city smelled of spices” and was really quite safe unless protests were going on.
    “We played a game on the bus, counting the guns that people had,” she said. “Any group of more than ten people had to be accompanied by an armed guard no matter where you went in Israel.”             
    Israeli Rotary Clubs are smaller than in the U.S. and most meet at night. Alli visited a number of clubs and eventually moved to the Jaffa club’s area where she ended up doing her service project.
    She taught classes at the Arab youth community center.  Many of her activities introduced American cultural practices to the children.

WHO IS ISREALI?

Illustrating the complex territory that is Israel, Alli said that the “dagger-shaped” country is one of the world’s most difficult places to explain. The 8,000 square mile territory has an extremely varied population of 7,515,400. The Palestinian Territories comprising the West Bank and Gaza Strip are nearing 4 million inhabitants (Not including about 160,000 Israeli settlers).

• 75.5% Jewish (Ashkenazi vs. Sephardic vs. Mizrahi; Ultra Orthodox, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, etc.; Ethiopian Jews)
• 20.3% Arab (Muslim vs. Christian; Arab Israeli vs. Palestinian; Sunni vs. Other; Catholic vs. Greek Orthodox vs. Armenian…)
• 4.2% Other