Story teller, screen writer and television producer Linda Bergman told Westport Sunrise Rotary this morning “every single one of you has a story… not your autobiography, but a big, fat juicy slice of life… with an arc – a beginning, a middle and an end.”

She started by telling the audience of about 40 club members and guests about her Rotarian father, who in 1955 received a Paul Harris award for 25 years of perfect attendance. Ms. Bergman described parties he threw for his club – a Hawaiian night and a western night at which members tossed off a mechanical bull were fine based on how long they hung on.

To her father this “entertainment was a form of service and a gift to the club for a year of hard work.” And she learned “what it takes to put on a good show.”

She described one of her current productions, Toot Toot Tootsie Goodbye, a story about an aging sportscaster. She had talked about the importance of research in developing an idea. For this one she spent an evening with Vin Scully at Dodger Stadium. This was a true labor of love as her older brother introduced her to baseball on the radio and the Dodgers as a young girl.

She marveled at the view Scully has, high above the field and directly behind home plate, and was taken by his ability to tell a story while he keeps the thread of the game moving.

The evening ended with a “guess where I am” phone call from the booth to her brother that drew an unprintable response when she told him.

She told stories of two other productions, weaving them into other “how-to” tips from her recently published book So You Think Your Life’s a Movie? – Ten Steps to a Script That Sells, before getting to her real and poignant story.

Linda Bergman is a cancer survivor. Some ten years ago she was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. After almost dieing from a combination of her disease and its treatment she was admitted into an experimental program for a drug developed during AIDS-related research. Five months later she was in remission.

Soon thereafter she began what turned into four years of volunteering at City of Hope, a cancer care facility in Los Angeles, where she counseled patients and families who cannot afford the prescribed treatment.

Some of Ms. Bergman’s credits as a writer and producer of TV feature movies include stories about Michael Landon, Barbara Mandrell and Jessica Savitch. In 1991 she received a Screen Writers Guild nomination for her two hour TV production Matters of the Heart.

Ms. Bergman is a friend of Steve and Nancy Violette. She has come east to participate in a week long seminar at Yale sponsored by the International Women’s Writing Guild, where she will teach from her book, focusing on how everyone from a beginning memoirist to a practiced screenwriter can “find their stories and their arcs, create credible protagonists, write believable dialogue, research their projects, and, most importantly, create the structure of a saleable script.”

Westporter Bob Stokes, a Job Development Director with ReEntry Works in Bridgeport, talked to Westport Sunrise Rotary on Friday, June 17, about his work, helping non-violent ex-offenders find employment.

He began with a few statistics to frame the issue.

“25% of the world’s incarcerated population is in the US,” Stokes told the audience of about 50 members and guests (though we have only 5% of the world’s population).

“85% of Connecticut’s prison population is imprisoned for drug sale or possession… two-thirds are minorities, 70% come from the state’s five largest cities.”

He continued, “We spend $700 million annually on incarceration, about $40,000 per inmate, and we are one of five states that spends more on incarceration than on education.”

Yet we get a poor return on that money. Stokes said “decent work is at the heart remaining in society, and without a job the former prisoner feels reduced self-esteem.”

“If you think it was tough on the inside, wait until you get out,” he said was a common line.

Employers see the a check mark next to “Have you ever been arrested?” or a similar question and lose interest.

Stokes said he asks prospective employers to “put aside their stereotypes of offenders,” grant his client an interview and let him sell himself.

ReEntry Works’ program helps offenders “win the interview.” It begins with referrals from the Department of Corrections shortly before a prisoner is released. They put everyone accepted through a 12 hour introduction. They are given a white shirt and tie. They are taught about the interview, about the world of work, and how to respond to what may be, for some, a first chance.

He said 85 people have participated since the program began last June. 72% were hired by area companies, and the program has a 92% retention rate – higher than most companies’ other employees.

They want a second chance, and when they get it, they use it to the fullest.

Stokes told a moving story of how he came to his current “calling.” After checking into a hotel in St. Louis five years ago, he was followed to his room and robbed at gun point by a man who asked only for $500 to get himself off the street. Stokes had only $120 and was forced to drive to a nearby bank and withdraw the difference.

His ATM card didn’t work. Despite the robber’s threat to kill him, he didn’t, and ultimately broke down and told the story of his difficulties after leaving prison.

In the end, the robber walked away. But Stokes, who never learned the man’s name, took up the cause.

He ended his talk by saying that the drug culture is so endemic to job deprived inner cities that we may want to ask what the alternatives are to the human and economic costs of four years in prison for the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Two talented Staples seniors, Timothy Yang and Madeline Mafilios, won awards Saturday, June 18 in a poster contest sponsored by Westport Sunrise Rotary and the Westport Library.

Eleven posters were entered, ten created by Staples students in an honors Graphic Arts class taught by Paula Anderson, the other by two middle school students.

The Library displayed the eleven posters entered in the contest near the Library’s McManus Room on June 1st.

Westport graphic designer Miggs Burroughs, author-blogger-Staples coach Dan Woog and Christ & Holy Trinity Pastor John Branson judged the posters. There was also an award determined by the public.

Timothy Yang won Sunrise Rotary’s $250 first prize, Madeline Mafilios took the second prize of $150. Eighth graders Nicho Ader of Coleytown Middle School and Louie Mason of Bedford Middle School took third place. Their poster was also picked for the People’s Choice Award by the public, and earned them a $100 prize.

In addition to their cash prizes, Burroughs will also offer two one hour group sessions for the winners.

Three other Staples students – Erkina Sartbaeve, Nate Rosen and Kristyn Palumbo were awarded certificates in a contest that drew 11 entrants in its initial year.

The theme of the contest was the Four Way Test, ethical guideposts embraced by the 1.2 million Rotarians worldwide: Is it the TRUTH? Is it FAIR to all concerned? Will it build GOOD WILL and better FRIENDSHIPS? Will it be BENEFICAL to all concerned?

Students were asked to create graphic representations of one or more of these tenets. The winners each captured all four in a single striking poster. Yang’s is a high colored geometric piece, Ms. Mafilios’ a depiction of hands together supporting the tenets of the test.

Yang will enroll this fall at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he will study Computer Science. Another of his signal achievements at Staples was participating in the team that won the FIRST Tech Challenge World championship robotics competition in St. Louis, MO last month.

Ms. Mafilios will attend Syracuse University’s School of Visual and Performing Arts , where she plans to major in Communications Design.

The Four Way Test is the core of what Rotary International is, and is a part of the message they spread in their hands-on and charitable community service projects.

One important outreach effort is to high school students, for whom Rotary clubs around the world sponsor annual Four Way Speech contests. Students are invited to write and present an original five minute speech applying the Four Way Test to a personal, local or societal issue. Winners receive financial awards and can progress through multiple levels of competition.

Sunrise Rotary and its sister club, Westport Rotary, introduced the speech contest last year, saw it gain more contestants this year, and look toward continued growth for what is an increasingly timely topic.

The poster contest was created by Sunrise Rotary club Youth Activities Co-Chair Dennis Wong to provide another means for students to express what the Four Way Test means to them. . Wong hopes its initial success will make it a part of the Staples calendar.

Bill Hughes, Executive Director of the Army Aviation Association of America and a Sunrise Rotary club member, gave the club a brief introduction to Army Aviation at the meeting on June 3.

He opened by asking “what is Monday,” to which the answer is “D-Day – June 6, 1944,” and followed by noting that two years to the day earlier Army Aviation was born (reborn?)

He told a group of about 40 people that “Organic Army Aviation is distinct from what became the Army Air Corps, then the Air Force.”

Army Aviation has its roots in the Civil War, when professor Thaddeus Lowe became the Chief Aeronaut of Union Army Balloon Corps. The Corps served as reconnaissance for a short while, before being disbanded in 1863.

Modern Army Aviation as a part of Army Ground Forces began in 1942, in Europe, using light, radio-equipped fixed wing aircraft, again for reconnaissance.

In Korea Army Aviation acquired its first helicopters and began performing medical evacuation to Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals the movie and TV series MASH made famous.

In Vietnam Army Aviation “changed the face of modern warfare” by adding air assault to its longer standing roles of reconnaissance and medevac.

Carl Clausewitz’ theory of war holds, Harris said, that “mass, maneuver and firepower” are the three important considerations of the tactician. With the helicopter as its primary weapon, Army Aviation changed the way the US fought by bringing greater mass and firepower to bear faster than ever before possible.

Our military came up short in the failed attempt to rescue American hostages in our embassy in Iran in 1980. This led President Carter to order the creation of what became the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment that brought helicopters into stealth, short notice special operations missions.

This unit became the Night Stalkers and “Night Stalkers Don’t Quit” became their motto, with a watchword of “train as you fight, fight as you train.”

Harris told the group that this unit is “the most in demand highest operations tempo shortest boots on the ground dwell time unit, yet it continues to exceed all readiness standards.”

Most recently, Army Aviation added Raven, a small, hand launched unmanned aircraft for short duration real time reconnaissance operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, Harris said.

Harris responded to a question about enlistments by saying that Army Aviation enjoys high enlistment rates and exceptional reenlistment rates, even in the face (or because) of the fact an enlistee knows he will see combat.”

From its modern rebirth in 1942 as a reconnaissance element, Army Aviation has evolved into a rapid deployment helicopter-based reconnaissance, assault and medical evacuation arm closely supporting the Army’s ground-based missions.

Westport Sunrise Rotary member Jeffrey Mayer talked on Friday morning about the Civil War and its meaning in a broad American context and, more narrowly, to Westport.

He began by reminding members and our many guests about the meaning of Memorial Day.

Shortly after the Civil War families began to decorate graves of the dead. In 1871 Decoration Day became a holiday in Michigan. In 1882 the name was changed to Memorial Day to remember the dead of all wars. By 1890 it was celebrated in every northern state, and 25 years later in every state.

Mayer suggested that at the parade on Monday we “shake a hand of those in uniform to thank them for their service.”

He said the Civil War – the War Between the States or the War of Northern Aggression in the south – “cemented many values” we take for granted today. Among them, “these United States,” a holdover from the revolutionary period, became “the United States.”

Mayer said the war was fought for different reasons in the two regions. To the south it was a “freedom fight, a defense of a way of life jeopardized by the north.” Unsaid, but implied is that it was a defense of states’ rights, for their right to make their own decisions about matters that affected their lives.

In the north it was to “preserve the union, the last, best hope to realize the principles of freedom, and of the virtues of paid labor.” Freeing the slaves was not a goal, though stopping its spread was. Slavery implied that labor was valueless. To the urbanizing and industrializing north, labor had an economic value.

While President Lincoln “abhorred slavery,” he wrote to Horace Greely in 1862 “If I could save the Union without freeing a slave I would do it.”

Mayer asked for a show of hands of those whose forebears fought in the war. Seven Rotarians knew of relatives who had.

Mayer told the audience of over 50 that victory for the north was not pre-ordained. Assuredly the north had greater numbers and more industry, but the south had, at the outset, better generals.

Had some battles turned out differently the north would have been doomed. Had the Union lost at Antietam there would have been no Emancipation Proclamation. Had General Robert E. Lee’s two incursions into Pennsylvania, the second to Gettysburg – to “turn public opinion in the north” – not been disastrous, the war’s result may have been different.

Had Sherman not taken Atlanta in September,1864, George McClellan, a general fired by Lincoln, and the Democrats’ presidential candidate, may have defeated Lincoln, and, in line with his party’s objective, made peace with the Confederacy at any cost.

Ultimately the war swung toward the more populous north – 22 million, compared with the south’s six million, one-third of whom were slaves.

Mayer then brought in a Fairfield county unit, Company E of the 17th Regiment. It was formed in the summer of 1862, based in Bridgeport, and included some familiar Westport names – Wakeman, Nash, Burr, Hoyt and Lockwood.

These volunteers left Bridgeport by train on September 3 – the draft did not begin until July, 1863 – for what many thought would be a brief sojourn.

They missed Antietam in September as well as the north’s misadventure at Fredericksburg. They finally saw combat at Chancellorsville in May, 1863, then again, two months later at Gettysburg, where they were instrumental in the victory at Cemetery Hill.

After a futile pursuit of the retreating Lee, they were sent to Charleston, SC, where they prepared to take part in the battle for Fort Wagner – the final battle depicted in the movie Glory, about the black 54th Massachusetts’ – until the Confederates surrendered it.

They then entrained to Florida and remained there repairing railroad tracks until they returned home and were mustered out in July, 1865 – three years after enlisting for what most thought would be 90 days of hostilities.

Mayer stated that the success of the north forestalled a potential apartheid in which it “could have been swallowed up by Canada” and the south “broken into a loose confederation of weak agricultural states, not unlike Mexico.”

Likewise, the flood of immigrants to this country would have been unlikely as a victory by the south would have been seen as a “failed experiment in social planning” rather than the creation of a land of opportunity.

Mayer summed up, reciting the final portion of the few words uttered by President Lincoln at the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on November 19, 1863, four and one half months following the three days of what may have been the tipping point battles of the war:

“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

He Makes the Music

John Franklin was honored on Friday morning by Westport Sunrise Rotary – and a who’s who in Westport’s arts and humanitarian communities.

Sunrise Rotary sponsored a breakfast attended by 100 members and guests at Birchwood Country Club that saw a full list of community leaders thank John for his long and untiring work helping make Westport the attractive community it is.

Master of ceremonies John Branson introduced each speaker.

The most touching was his son Jim, who said his dad “acted like a Rotarian well ahead of his time.”

Reading a message from his brother Jeff, Jim talked about the importance of community and humanitarian values they grew up surrounded by.

This was reinforced by Saul Hafner, president of Westport’s Congregation of Humanistic Judaism. He offered a humorous thank you to John and his wife Jean as founders of the second such congregation in the US. John served as president of this congregation and of the Humanistic Judaism’s national organization.

Hafner set what became a theme – involvement that began many years ago and includes active participation, leadership and continued commitment to a multitude of organizations.

David Rogers thanked him for being active in establishing the Theater Artists’ Workshop.

John Vacarro for taking the lead – and the shots – heading up the Westport Arts Center’s move from Greens Farms School to their current home on Riverside Avenue.

Peter Powell and Audrey Sparre for his role in the early stages of Interfaith Housing, and for his continuing work for Homes With Hope.

Sunrise Rotarian Jane Ross mentioned his “wonderful and rare quality” as a champion helping grow an organization she heads, Smart Kids With Learning Disabilities.

Franklin remains a loyal and active alumnus of Northwestern University. Sanford and Susan Sacks, who have been friendly with the Franklins for more than 50 years, offered a long list of his activities, from president of the area Alumni Association to having been the producer of the association’s holiday show for over 15 years. “Thanks for all you do for Northwestern and for being a wonderful friend.”

Sunrise Rotary club president Arlo Ellison told John that “more than any member, you have been at the middle and set the tone for what we do.”

Then Ellison presented John with one of Rotary’s most significant honors. He received its important Paul Harris award years ago. So it was only fitting that the club say thank you by presenting him with an honorary Paul Harris award for his continuing service to Sunrise Rotary, most recently as producer of his third Forbidden Westport, a musical review and fund raiser for Homes With Hope.

State Representative Jonathan Steinberg presented a certificate from the General Assembly, and told the guest of honor “ you make Westport an even better place.”

First Selectman Gordon Joseloff, Second Selectman Shelly Kassen and Third Selectman Charlie Haberstroh read a town proclamation and, again, thanked him for all he does for the community.

Jean, at last, took her turn to share some thoughts.

She began, “You write our music, you write our songs.”

Then she solved a mystery behind his other persona – “Frog.’ She told us that her mother told her “when you find your prince, kiss him.” “I did, and he became a frog.”

John closed the meeting by telling everyone “there’s no way I can thank all of you personally. But pretend I have… and when you make the whole world your neighborhood you’re blessed.”

Thank you, John for all you’ve done for Sunrise Rotary, for Westport, for the arts and for the many other communities and organizations you’ve touched through the years.

Great as Westport’s schools are, School Superintendent Elliott Landon is aiming higher.

To the relief of many – perhaps himself the most – he said he would not talk about the budget.

Rather, he started, “We are an excellent school system, but I’m not sure that’s enough in the world our kids are entering.”

Westport’s schools already meet state graduation standards set to take effect in 2014, and its curriculum meets the national Common Core State Standards that will drive our requirements.

He told about 50 members of Westport Sunrise Rotary and their guests that we, as a nation “have not made the commitment to compete at the highest level.”

He recognized that Westport can do what others can’t, but asked, rhetorically, “what happens if we don’t meet the need?”

He used a video to set the stage in which the presenter, Hans Rosling, uses a graphic model of global “health-wealth” as it has evolved over the last 150 years. (http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/01/12/rosling.converging.world/index.html?iref=allsearch).

In 1860 the US had among the highest average incomes in the world and one of the longest life spans. China and India were inconsequential in both regards.

As the graphic fast forwards, the US gains. But over the last 50 years China and India progress faster. Projecting 20 years out, we’re about even.

But the future, Landon said, favors China and India, in part because both are larger than the US, and in part they have a stronger commitment to education as the key to both health and wealth.

In a graphically engaging second video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U), the presenter, Sir Ken Robinson, calls today’s education model a relic of the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution in which academic knowledge – chiefly the classics and deductive reasoning – are taught to students working individually in a highly structured factory-like environment.

Robinson’s new model encourages what he calls “divergent thinking,” a skill he believes underlies and enables creativity, but that seems to erode as students make their way through school. He talks to curiosity, creativity, collaboration and the ability to handle ambiguity as keys to competing successfully in the emerging global environment.

Dr. Landon picked up this thread and talked about a program our schools are undertaking to “look at best practices and rethink what we do in our schools.”

Almost 40 Westport teachers are working with educators from Harvard’s School of Education and Columbia Teachers College to create a a post-NCLB paradigm for primary and secondary education.

Students will gain a “deep conceptual understanding of mathematics” at an early age, a middle school drama presentation will become an opportunity to develop oral presentation skills, and all students will learn to think critically and work collaboratively to solve problems.

The committee is bench marking this model against the best educational systems in the world, as they prepare it for implementation across the system.

Westporters owe Dr. Landon and his staff a thank you for making our schools a leader in hands-on research, and for developing a curriculum that will play a role in reshaping public education to prepare students for a world unimaginable even 25 years ago.

Heads up, teens in Grades 6 & up who live or attend school in Westport or Weston! Westport Library and Westport Sunrise Rotary are co-sponsoring a poster-design contest involving Rotary’s “4-Way Test” of ethical behavior:

1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOOD WILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

This contest invites teens to design a poster using the words or ideas of one or more of these questions.

The deadline for entries will be Wednesday, May 25.

Westport graphic designer Miggs Burroughs will be one of three contest jurors. Prizes for the four winners will total $600 and include two one-hour group sessions on graphic design with Burroughs.

Full contest guidelines and an entry form can be found at westportsunriserotary.com.

Burroughs will talk to interested students on Thursday, April 28, at 7 pm in the Library’s McManus Room, about approaches to designing a poster and will offer tips for handling graphic design.

Entries should be left at the Library’s 1st-Floor A/V Desk. Every entry will be displayed on the Library’s Riverwalk Level from June 1-30.

The four winners will be announced on Saturday, June 18, in a family event from 2-4 pm in the McManus Room. The winning entries will include a Peoples’ Choice Award selected by the public during the first three weeks of the exhibit.

This poster-design contest is a visual complement to the annual speech competition for high school students co-sponsored each fall by Westport Sunrise Rotary and Rotary Club of Westport. The speech contest invites students to present a five to seven minute speech applying one or more elements of the 4-Way Test to an issue of the student’s choice.

For more information about Westport Sunrise Rotary, visit westportsunriserotary.com. For more information about events at Westport Library, visit westportlibrary.org. For information about this contest contact Joan Hume – jhume@westportlibrary.org.