1_14_03 Geospeakers Meeting Summary
Notes for Geospeakers Book Club meeting 1/14/03 by Stephanie Ross
President Neil Shapiro opened the meeting and conducted the following business.
CLUB BUSINESS
- Distinguished Club update: We have achieved two goals: a new Competent Leader (Neil) and submitting the annual report and officer lists on time. We have 3 new members since July. One more would give us a third goal and would leave us with just two more before June to get to the magic number of 20. Goals we're closing in on: Cynthia's ATM, Chris' CL, maybe another ATM.
- Officer training: upcoming dates and places include:
- January 16, Thursday, Social Services in San Jose (Neil is going).
- January 29, Wednesday, San Francisco
- February 1, Saturday, Fort Ord
- February 8, Saturday, Xilinx, San Jose (Neil is going to that one, too! What he goes through to represent two clubs!)
- February 12, Wednesday, San Francisco
- February 26, Wednesday, Redwood City City Hall 6:30-8:30
- Most of these are listed at: http://www.d4tm.org/D4_Events/training.html
- Many thanks to Tara for working on our schedule over the holidays! Our next meeting will be a joint meeting with SRI and Sunset on January 28. Tara unfortunately will be out of town, so Neil will be the contact for that. It will probably be held in our regular meeting room because the big conference room is booked. The sergeants at arms will need extra help setting the room up. If you can, show up early (around 11) to help rearrange chairs and tables.
- The next area contest will have the Tall Tales and International Speech competitions. International speeches can be on any topic; the International just means that it's the only competition that goes to an international level. Each club has one contestant in each of the two contests. Start thinking about volunteering for one (or both) competitions. For those who don't compete, there will be plenty of other roles (judging, ballot counting, and just cheering on our contestants).
- Geospeakers' Toastmaster of the Year. If you still want to nominate someone, email Neil by Friday.
- Parking is tight and will only get worse when the USGS vacates building 5 this spring. Carol asked Jorie to look into the possibility of using the Geokids spaces, which are primarily used in the morning and evening for dropoff and pickup.
THEME
This was our annual book club meeting. With so many books to hear about, we dispensed with several of the usual functionaries. We pared it down to timer (Shane), ah counter for the speech only (Tara), speech evaluator (Chris), and master evauluator (me, which is why I'm typing these notes!)
SPEECHES
Sergio Mendoza gave his icebreaker speech "A Walk at Fisherman's Wharf the Morning After a Big Storm". Sergio took a creative approach to the icebreaker by turning it around and including the audience. Through his discussion of other Geospeakers, we learned not only that he's modest, but also what a careful listener he is. Plus, he has a gift for making precise yet poetic descriptions. Great job, Sergio!
TABLE TOPICS
Cynthia led us through table topics, which was the book club portion of the meeting. Everyone (except Cynthia and Sergio) reported on a book or books of their choosing.
Joanna Holmes Dickson -- The Dive from Clausen's Pier, by Ann Packer
This is about a young woman in Madison Wisconsin who is tired of her boring life. She's ready for change and is suddenly faced with a big one when her fiancé dives from a pier, breaks his neck and ends up in a coma. She reinvents herself in New York City, but has to decide whether to go back to Wisconsin. What does she owe her fiancé? What does owe herself?
Tara Kneeshaw -- Bag of Bones, by Stephen King
Tara has loved being scared by Stephen King since she began reading his books in third grade. She gleefully reported that one is very scary and will definitely give you nightmares!
Chris Gutmacher -- Barbara Kingsolver review with emphasis on Animal Dreams comments on High Tide in Tucson, the Bean Trees and Prodigal Summer, but not the Poisonwood Bible.
The protagonist of Animal Dreams is medical student who quits to help her father, a doctor in New Mexico. She comes to terms with who she is and where she needs to go. Chris loves Kingsolver's wonderful descriptions and highly recommends her books.
Rich Israels -- "Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?" by Louis Gerstner, Jr.
The elephant is IBM, and dancing is finding its way through crisis (including a movement to break it up) in the 1990's. A new head was brought in, who instituted new practices including rewarding performance instead of seniority. This book explains what it took to get the elephant dancing again.
Laura Kerr Landerman -- "The Blind Assassin" by Margaret Atwood.
The Blind Assassin has an interesting structure. A lead character is writing her life story by looking at her past. The past, the present, newspaper articles, and fiction from a book written by one of the characters all interplay in unusual and intriguing ways.
Jorie Schulz -- Anger, Wisdom for Cooling the Flames by Thich Nhat Hanh
Jorie doesn't trust herself with novels very often (she doesn't want to put them down), so she often reports on non-fiction books. This one, written by a Buddhist monk, changed her paradigm about anger. If your house is burning, do you put out the fire or chase the arsonist who set it? If you are angry, do you deal with the problem or spend your energy chasing after what got you heated?
Carol Reiss -- Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks, and Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson.
The first book is about the plague. It has such graphic descriptions that Carol could only handle it in small doses, and the ending is bizarre. The second book is about a Japanese American living in Washington around the time of World War II, and his life before and after. Although the characters resonated with Carol, much of the book centered around a murder trial that she didn't find compelling. Carol doesn't recommend either book but did find these two worthwhile quotes in Snow Falling on Cedars:
- To persevere was always a reflection of the state of one's inner life, one's philosophy, and one's perspective.
- Behave with dignity no matter what the circumstances.
Gretchen Luepke Bynum -- Cities of Gold, by William K. Hartmann
Gretchen knows this scientist/environmentalist author, who's also written on astronomy, and she had to have this book! A development is proposed for land that may be on the trail of Father Marcos DeNiza, the most famous unknown explorer. He is said to have discovered the Zuni 7 cities of Cibola, but he's also been accused of fraud. It's an exciting mystery, ends with an interesting twist, and you'll learn something from it.
Fran Hostettler -- Books 4-6 in the "Mitford" series: "Out to Canaan", "A New Song", and "A Common Life, The Wedding Story" by Jan Karon.
Fran spent her holidays decorating, undecorating, and eating chocolates while reading these books. She loves them; they are in her heart. They are love stories set in a small town, revolving around interesting characters like an aging minister. That one deals not only with his romance, but also the love he has for his community. These are healing stories, but not Pollyana-like because the people are believably flawed. These books make you feel good about human beings!
Stephanie Ross -- The Golden Gate: a novel in verse by Vikram Seth
I rudely went way over time to read a few passages from this novel novel, written entirely in verse (even the acknowledgements and table of contents!) It's about the various relationships of several people in their late 20's, all living, working and playing in the San Francisco Bay Area. Although it was written in the early to mid-1980's, the politics resonate today. And even though it discusses politics, it's mostly about relationships. It's funny, touching, fun, and has surprise twists. The well-crafted poetry made me think in verse for several days. Highly recommended!
Shane Detweiler -- The Harlot by the Side of the Road: Forbidden Tales from the Bible by Jonathan Kirsch.
Shane has had a rough year and has been searching for answers to age-old questions about God and religion. This book explains how morality is different today than it was in Biblical times. For example, Lot and David were flawed individuals who did many bad things. Why are they portrayed as Godly in the Bible? This book answers many questions about the Bible. It's very interesting, and Shane didn't choose it just because it has "Harlot" in the title!
Neil Shapiro -- Footsteps in the Fog by Jeff Kraft and Aaron Leventhal
Footsteps in the Fog is a detailed account of three Alfred Hitchcock movies filmed in the area: Shadow of a Doubt, The Birds, and Vertigo. It's packed with fun details and has scene by scene photos showing the locations then and now. If you're a Hitchcock fan, a film buff, interested in local history, or just love the Bay area, this book is for you!
EVALUATIONS
Chris gave an insightful and supportive evaluation of Sergio's speech. To make time for the book reports, Tara only officially counted ah's during Sergio's speech, but did notice that EVERYONE had some ahs. Shane reported that everyone was within time, except me.
WELCOME
... to our guest Meredith Schneider from Smith Barney.
There was no last word, but here are two quotes from Jorie:
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.
-- Mark Twain
The great tragedy of science -- the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.
-- Thomas Huxley
NEXT MEETING
January 28, ANNUAL JOINT MEETING WITH SRI AND SUNSET!
Our usual conference room?
Toastmaster: Stephanie Ross
Galvanizer/Last Word: Phil Cosby (SRI)
Master Evaluator: someone from SUNSET
Timer: Leslie Bevington (SRI)
Ah Counter: someone from SUNSET
Wordmaster/Grammarian: JoAnna Dickson
Table Topics: Fran Hostettler, Naomi Levinson (SRI), someone from SUNSET
Last Word: Phil Cosby (SRI)
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