Diane Willcox is Wharton Center’s Director of Marketing and Communications. She has a degree in theatre performance from Occidental College, Los Angeles. After realizing that performing was not for her, she decided to find a way to stay involved in the performing arts. After working in ticketing, technical direction, stage management and all things backstage, she moved into administration and marketing at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego before joining Broadway/San Diego in 2000, eventually becoming general manager of the company. At Broadway/San Diego, she initiated regular American Sign Language Interpretation, Open Captioning and Audio-Description of all events.
Diane had heard of Wharton Center by reputation and was looking for an opportunity to move to a more family-oriented community and lifestyle. She’s been in her position for the last six years, and is delighted to be working with this world-class performing arts center.
Diane has personal experience with family members who are developmentally disabled and living with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Knowing firsthand their experiences with live theatre, she has been especially motivated to create and advance a series of Sensory-Friendly Performances at Wharton Center as part of their many accessibility programs.
In the Rotogram’s continuing effort to make Rotary relevant, the powers that be were approached by one Mark Hooper (you know, the guy who can count, sing and who introduced spooning to Rotary) with an interesting idea. Mark heard an editarian tell some tall tales one Friday and suggested, “Hey, what about a Mystery Rotarian story where a Rotarian’s story is written up in the Rotogram and people have to guess who the Rotarian is?” I thought the idea had merit and if it didn’t I could throw Hooper under the bus (win!).
So, here’s how it works: you all have interesting stories that none of us know, but that could possibly shed light on who you are and help the rest of us get to know you better. Since most of us live lives of quiet misery, I’ll of course juice up your story a bit, adding just enough flavor to make your life sound interesting (with your permission and final edit sayso). Stories would be one paragraph long (just a bit longer than this blurb), published in the Rotogram and then let the guessing games begin! Guessing would be conducted online through the Lansing Rotary FaceBook page, with the Rotarian who correctly identifies the Mystery Rotarian winning something, I don’t know, maybe a gallon of paint from O’Leary or a spoon from Hooper. “What can my story be about?” you ask? How should I know, they’re your stories. But, suggested story lines could include: working on mysteries without any clues; road trips; my dinner with Salvador Dali; my life as a Tibetan Monk. Anyway, if interested, contact schumacher@glassenrhead.com we’ll write one up and see if there’s any interest. If this falls flat, we’ll know who to blame (Hooper).
For our January/February service project we are going to help restock Cristo-Rey food panty and other necessary items they need following the holidays. There will be a "Drop Off" bin at our meetings and this Friday, January 26th is the last one so we can deliver to Cristo-Rey early February. All food items must be unopened, unused and not expired.
Some of the needed items include:
Dishware: Silverware (any kind)
Paper Products: Ziploc Bags, Brown Lunch Bags, Plastic Forks/Knives/Spoons, Napkins
The following proposed member has emailed their application to the office. If anyone has a comment on this proposed member please forward it in writing within ten days to the Rotary office, before approval by the board of directors. Thank you
Barbara Whitney, Executive Director of Lansing Art Gallery, sponsored by Jack Davis
Everybody thinks John Dale is just over there in the corner, quietly and unassumingly doing his Schoeder thing on the piano as we ready ourselves for our weekly meeting. Little did any of you know, he occasionally sneeks in subliminal cues as to the day’s meeting. Last week, all the songs he played were a prelude to the television themed speaker. JDS treated us to the Dick Van Dyke, Everybody Loves Raymond, Rockford Files (my favorite 70's show) and Muppet Show theme songs. I just thought you ought to know that sometimes there’s another level to the weekly musical meanderings of John Dale Smith.
The fun part about meeting at the U-Club is you never know where the speaker is. President Darwin Brewster called our meeting to order. Glenn Granger’s invocation courageously took addiction out of the shadows, celebrating his daughter’s one year of sobriety and demonstrating the point that we can’t deal with issues unless we talk about them openly. We sang America the Beautiful in between tasty morsels of pizza and cheesecake. We had guests from California to Jackson but you could only see them by bobbing, weaving and craning your neck around the support posts as they were introduced. Surgeon General Dick Ammonds announced the health of the club was good, which since we’re mostly Americans, probably means we’re overweight, with high cholesterol and heart disease. Melissa Nay announced that Lisa Smith (the Burcham Hills one) won the Social Media Posting prize of the week (#LansingRotary’s theme for this week is “what Rotary means to me). We were reminded again to check the list of what Cristo Rey needs and bring items to next week’s meeting. The list is in the Rotogram.
We had no special music this week, no Jimmy Buffet A1A, so no musical critic’s corner. We were, however, treated to, wait wait...don’t tell me... a high spirited and fast paced introduction to WKAR. Susi Elkins, Director of Broadcast and GM at WKAR, fresh off the red eye from California was our speaker of the day. Imagine being challenged by the opportunity to sell your soul for tens of millions of dollars, or to maintain the essence of your being in the public interest. WKAR was given the opportunity to sell its public airwave rights in 2016 and after conducting public forums decided to remain a faithful public steward. WKAR is one of 350 public TV stations across the nation, 110 of those being university licensees. WKAR’s broadcast history includes a national reputation for excellence in children’s programming and culture. The station is renewing its dedication to those principles and is raising the bar on quality, bringing back broadcasts from The Metropolitan Opera (ask Beachler for broadcast times) and introducing 24/7 children’s programming. The latter in large part is a recognition of how life has changed and that family time happens at different hours of the day for parents working the second and third shifts.
Children’s content is tightly configured to provide social, emotional and STEM components. The goal is to promote resilient, lifelong learners. We were treated to a number of short videos highlighting what WKAR does in our community. One of the videos featured the Playtime Pads (Ipads for 5 year olds) that were purchased with a substantial grant from our Rotary Foundation (your generosity at work). Evidence based educational content is pre-loaded on the Playtime Pads and then researchers track usage of the Playtime Pads by the children and their families to further refine and improve the electronic delivery of educational tools. WKAR is gearing up for the future, which includes programming for media consumption in autonomous vehicles (hit the recline button and listen to new episodes of Car Talk? while you’re driven to work). All things considered, President Brewster thanked our speaker in the usual fashion for her comments on the media, we tucked them away in our hidden brain and then stepped outside to enjoy the fresh air on our way back to work. (Spot all the references WKAR radio programs hidden in the Rotogram and win an insignificant prize of inconsequential value).
Diane Willcox is Wharton Center’s Director of Marketing and Communications. She has a degree in theatre performance from Occidental College, Los Angeles. After realizing that performing was not for her, she decided to find a way to stay involved in the performing arts. After working in ticketing, technical direction, stage management and all things backstage, she moved into administration and marketing at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego before joining Broadway/San Diego in 2000, eventually becoming general manager of the company. At Broadway/San Diego, she initiated regular American Sign Language Interpretation, Open Captioning and Audio-Description of all events.
Hooper (you know, the guy who can count, sing and who introduced spooning to Rotary) with an interesting idea. Mark heard an editarian tell some tall tales one Friday and suggested, “Hey, what about a Mystery Rotarian story where a Rotarian’s story is written up in the Rotogram and people have to guess who the Rotarian is?” I thought the idea had merit and if it didn’t I could throw Hooper under the bus (win!).
