Rotary International

From the August 2016 issue of The Rotarian
Often called a city of transplants, Atlanta has a food scene that’s suitably eclectic. Sure, you can find your share of traditional Southern fare. But the eateries that locals flock to put creative twists on the classics. For example, if you’re looking for straight-up barbecue when you’re in town for the 2017 Rotary International Convention, 10-14 June, local standbys D.B.A. and Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q – each just a short car ride away – have got you covered. Heirloom Market BBQ offers a marriage of Southern and Korean flavors like a spicy Korean pork…

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From the August 2016 issue of The Rotarian
Four hundred years ago, the invention of the microscope gave us a glimpse into an aspect of the world too tiny to be seen by the human eye. The microscope works by capturing light shone on or through an object observed through lenses, which magnify the resulting image so we can see it. But a microscope has its limits. In 1873, German physicist Ernst Abbe discovered that the ability of a microscope to see past a certain size was limited not by the quality of its lens, but by the wavelength of light shining into it. And since the wavelength of visible…

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From the August 2016 issue of The Rotarian
Reasons to love Rotary right now
1. Because we are about to eradicate a disease, and you can be a part of it
We are 99.9 percent of the way toward ending polio. As of early June, there were only 16 cases of wild poliovirus in the world, and many think this could be the year we see the last naturally occurring case of polio.
As Rotary and our partners work to eradicate the poliovirus in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the remaining endemic countries, we also continue immunization campaigns in other high-risk countries to ensure that the disease remains gone…

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From the August 2016 issue of The Rotarian
Many people don’t know much about Rotary. Together, we can change that
Despite more than a century of Rotarians creating change in communities around the globe, many people don’t understand what Rotary is, how we’re different, and why they should engage with us. To thrive in the 21st century, Rotary needs a strong identity. And while every Rotarian’s experience is unique, how we tell Rotary’s story should be consistent. You can help by following these simple steps.
Celebrate our new look and feel
How can you help keep Rotary’s identity strong?
Around…

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From the August 2016 issue of The Rotarian
We stood in a circle in a forest preserve on Chicago’s Northwest Side and got our marching, or chopping, orders: We were to chop down only those shrubs which were marked with orange, to make sure we didn’t take down vegetation being saved for birds. Then off we went, saws and loppers in hand, to spend the morning helping return a piece of woodland to its wildflower-carpeted glory.
Welcome to a habitat restoration workday.
How to explain the appeal of such an event, which is, after all, work? Think of it as a little like gardening. Then add in a field…

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From the August 2016 issue of The Rotarian
When I tell people I grew up in Palo Alto, Calif. – the epicenter of Silicon Valley – they tend to assume that I was born with a silver iPod in my mouth.
But back in the 1970s, Palo Alto was a sleepy college town. The big innovation of my boyhood was a gizmo that Alissa Fox once brought in for show and tell. It performed four basic math functions and displayed the result on a tiny LCD screen. We regarded the calculator as nothing short of a miracle.
When I tell my own kids about the devices I used throughout childhood – the phones bolted to the wall…

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From the August 2016 issue of The Rotarian
Quilts may be utilitarian objects, but Rod Buffington’s “quilt paintings” – watercolors on paper that are then covered with small bits of fabric – are geometrics where mathematics and whimsy intersect. Buffington, a member of the Rotary Club of Springfield, Ill., didn’t come up with this unusual method overnight. His voilà moment came as he beheld the mesmerizing quilts made by his grandmother, who lived to 104 and continued her craft until she was 98. To create his works, Buffington lays cotton fabric over paintings he has created, then hand-…

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From the September 2016 issue of The Rotarian
Unlike some parts of the American South (looking at you, Lone Star State), Atlanta doesn’t often boast about size. But insiders know about its intense heat, enormous airport, deeply layered history, and big heart when it comes to showing visitors a good time.
As a native son who committed the yet-to-be-forgiven sin (by my family, anyway) of trucking among the Yankees, I still feel it within my rights to gush over the city I left behind – and to pass along some of its secrets, as well as showstopper sights. The good news is that much of Atlanta’s “…

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Legendary singer and polio survivor Donovan Leitch, better known simply as Donovan, has joined Rotary in its fight to eradicate the paralyzing disease that afflicted him during much of his childhood.
Donovan contracted polio at age three in Glasgow, Scotland. The disease weakened his right leg and left it thinner and shorter than the other. Confined to his bed for much of his childhood, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer said his father would read him poetry.
In a recent interview with the Daily Express, Donovan said that listening to poetry piqued his interest in creative writing. “If I…

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Rotary’s fourth World Polio Day celebration, on 24 October, will highlight extraordinary progress in the eradication campaign and emphasize the work that remains before we wipe out the virus for good. With the number of new cases worldwide nearly halved from this time last year, we have the opportunity to rally our resources and see the last case of polio this year.
Health officials and Rotary’s celebrity polio ambassadors will head to Atlanta, Georgia, USA, for the event, the first to be held at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It will be streamed live and then will…

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