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Welcome
Next Meeting:
When:   Friday, January 27th, 2017
Where:   The Crowne Plaza, 925 S. Creyts Road
Speaker:   Joseph Yang, Director of Operations
Topic:   "Being Hmong in America"
Chair of the Day:   Carmen Turner
Greeter:   Jeff Crippen
Invocator:   Bob Hoffman
Chair of the Month:   Manny Garcia
Remembrance:   Maureen Hirten
Editarian:   Julie Pingston
 
Biography for Joseph Yang, Director of Operations
Joseph Yang is currently the Director of Operations at the Boys & Girls Club of Lansing.  Born and raised right here in Lansing, Michigan, Joseph is first generation Hmong-American, and is the father of 3.
 
Joseph graduated from Everett High School in 2000, attended Michigan State University until 2003, where he graduated with a BA in Telecommunications and graduated from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 2013 with his JD and in 2015 with his LLM in Insurance Law.
 
In 2004, Joseph returned to the south side of Lansing, to join the Boys & Girls Club of Lansing as the Educational Services Director.  A year later he was promoted to the Director of Operations, where he currently oversees Finance, Human Resources, and Technology.
 
Joseph opened his Solo practice in 2014, and focuses primarily on Criminal defense, and Estate Planning services.
 
Joseph is an active member in the local community.  He is currently the President of the Hmong American Community of Lansing, and sits on the committee that plans the annual Hmong Michigan New Year celebration.
South Lansing/Holt Rotary Texas Roadhouse Luncheon
The South Lansing/Holt Rotary Club has held a Texas Roadhouse Celebrity Server Luncheon for the past 13 years.  All money raised by this event goes to scholarships for Holt and Lansing Everett Seniors.  Over $182,000.00 has been raised.  This year the event will be held Thursday, February 23rd at Texas Roadhouse, 280 E. Edgewood Boulevard, Lansing.  Seating time is from 11:10 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.
Tickets are only $20.00, contact:  Neil Osoff for tickets at:  nosoff@aol.com if you are interested.
Editarian Report for January 20, 2017
INVOCATION AND PATRIOTIC SONG
 
Today’s meeting was held at the University Club on a dreary, damp day that doubled as the Inauguration Day for President Donald J. Trump. The meeting was called to order by President Jack Davis at precisely 12:30 pm. The invocation was delivered by Sue Hansen and focused on the many gifts of Rotarians. The club then joined together to sing The Star Spangled Banner.
 
INTRODUCTIONS
 
Craig Stiles introduced today’s guests. Missy Lilje brought Kobra Eghetedary to the meeting. Kobra is a nationally sought speaker about public health and families. Meanwhile, Lisa Smith brought Jon Kolbasa, owner of HIP Homes who is considering joining Rotary. Last, Terry Hart, who is thinking about rejoining Rotary, attended today’s meeting.
 
REMEMBRANCE REPORT
 
Maureen Hirten delivered the Remembrance Report, stating that “the health of the club is very good.” Maureen went on to explain her absence from Rotary in recent weeks. She has been busy helping the family of her new grandson who was born nine weeks premature in Florida and whose mother had to stay in the hospital for three weeks as well. Everybody is now well and Maureen has just returned to Lansing.
 
ANNOUNCEMENTS
 
Announcements began with Kurt Guter who presented a Rotary flag from the Kahili Club in Uganda. He was there just last week and has already received a grant request for the Lansing Rotary. While in Uganda, Kurt visited Jackson Cougar ’s AIDS project in Nyaka, Uganda. He also visited two grade schools with 400-500 children each and a high school. A highlight of his trip was meeting two young women whose schooling he has sponsored for the last four years. They are doing so well that he is considering sponsoring additional students. It sounds like a successful trip! Jack brought flyers about Jackson National Life, that is presently sponsoring a Rolling Stones exhibit in New York City. Given Danielle Robinson’s presentation to the club last week, and Jackson’s big presence in Lansing, Jack tied the JNL sponsored Rolling Stones exhibit to Lansing’s recent place making endeavors. Jack also talked about all the music and theatre events that are happening around town and which we are so fortunate to have so nearby. For example, the Prague Philharmonic put on a great program at the Wharton Center. The Carole King musical, Beautiful, was also terrific. Last, the Broad Art Museum is just opening a new exhibit about the Flint Water Crisis. Jack then announced two new membership co-chairs, Laurie Baumer and Sue Hansen. It is time to get back on track with our membership efforts and this is going to help. There was also a reminder that next week’s Rotary meeting will be held at the Crowne Plaza on Creyts Road. Last, those with January birthdays were reminded to send their checks to Cathy. Chris Holman is the birthday chair who will be announcing next week.
 
SPECIAL MUSIC
 
Today’s special music was introduced by Ken Beachler. Ken jokingly noted the fact that President Jack is now as much a promoter of the arts in Lansing as is he. Jack soon interrupted, claiming that nobody could ever fill Ken’s shoes in this regard. He then pointed out that Ken is an institution of his own—having planned, designed, and raised money for what became the Wharton Center. Ken even named the Wharton Center. How lucky we are to have both men in the club! Ken then introduced Connor Ralph, a vocalist who first performed at Rotary while in high school and who was making an encore appearance today. Conner recently graduated from MSU where he studied with tenor Richard Fracker. Connor performed two selections for us—Oh What a Beautiful Morning and Impossible Dream (from Man of La Mancha). He sang these songs in memory of his grandparents who were founding members of the University Club at MSU. Prior to the start of today’s program, John Dale Smith played his usual wonderful music for us as we dined.
 
NEW MEMBERS
 
Wayne Sieloff and Annie Rzepecki both received their red badges from President Jack today.
 
SPEAKER OF THE DAY
 
Fellow Rotarian and chair of the day Manny Garcia introduced today’s guest speaker, Dr. Susan Maples, whose topic was “Declining Health in America. Who’s to Blame?” Dr. Maples is a successful dentist from Holt, Michigan and the author of Blabbermouth: 77 Secrets Only Your Mouth Can Tell You. Prior to the start of her speech, Dr. Maples was asked which superhero she would most like to be. Dr. Maples said she would like to be Hermione Granger, particularly because of her ability to be in two places at once.
 
Highlights of Dr. Maples’ Speech:
 
Dr. Maples began her talk by noting how significant an influence both her mother and grandmother have been in her life. Her mother was a sex therapist while her grandmother was humorous beyond belief. She is glad to have inherited the humor that has been such a part of her family’s heritage.
More seriously, Dr. Maples noted that we have a public health catastrophe on our hands that is only going to get worse. By 2050, our nation’s obesity rate will be at 42%, with one in three Americans dying of heart disease, one in three being diabetic, and cancer showing no signs of abatement.
 
In the next 48 hours, President Trump will rescind the first attempt at a single payer health care system. Regardless, it’s impossible to come up with a good solution for people who are getting sicker and who cannot then work to support themselves. When those who are sick stop working, the dollars for their care dry up. Most importantly, according to Dr. Maples, the health care crisis will be solved by only individuals in their homes, NOT by government.
 
Dr. Maples stated that we are all to blame for our present state of health. ‘Sick care’ is a more apt description of our situation than ‘health care’.
 
She then went on to cite a number of dire statistics, including the fact that in 2000, there were six million obese children. That number is now at 18 million nationwide. Across the most industrialized nations, the US is seventeenth out of seventeen in terms of how healthy its people are yet we pay twice as much annually for health care. There are four times as many opioid deaths today than sixteen years ago, with too many kids having their first exposure to opioids at the time of their wisdom teeth removal—when they could just as easily rely on Advil or hot/cold compresses.
 
We should all be moving ourselves to a plant-based diet. This diet would leave a better footprint on the planet while enabling all of us to lose weight. If we insist on eating animal flesh, we should eat no more meat than the size of a box of playing cards per day. The rest of our food intake should be green.
 
For a long time, researchers thought it was the fat in our diet that was contributing to heart disease. The government then did a good job taking fat out of our diet and putting in lots of sugar. That’s when obesity really took off. The daily individual intake of sugar is now at 20-40 grams. This is what a typical individual consumed in a year in 1800! All this excess sugar is converted to fat, particularly organ fat that is a major cause of many diseases. Very simply, sugar disrupts our metabolism, particularly liptin, in turn triggering hunger such that we are eating 250 calories more per day now than in the past.
 
More interesting facts: there is more sugar in a container of Yoplait yogurt than in a can of coca cola. One soda exceeds our recommended daily allowance of sugar. One 12-ounce sweet beverage increases our risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attack by 20%. This number is even higher for diet soda although the reason why this is so is not yet known.
 
God has given us plenty of sugar in fruits and vegetables, all built it in with the perfect antidote—fiber. Since fiber slows absorption, the best way to lose weight is to drastically increase fiber. Best of all would be to eat a basketball size amount of fruits and veggies every day to lose weight. Meat and cheese should never be more than a garnish.
 
Dr. Maples also discussed the importance of oral health and its connection to the rest of the body. Seven hundred different bugs live in the human mouth and so many medications lead to mouth problems. Our goal should be to do whatever it takes to make ourselves healthy on our own, limiting the number of medications we take since they can have many unintended consequences. A diet of fruits and vegetables can bring all of this about.
 
Dr. Maples concluded with a personal story. She moved to East Lansing at the age of twelve. Both parents were smokers and she was sick—and hospitalized—a lot while growing up. Eventually, she visited a doctor at the College of Osteopathic Medicine who asked her what she would be willing to do to get rid of all the drugs she was on to maintain her health. At that point, she participated in no physical exercise and thought she would never be able to do so. Despite being overweight and on lots of medicines, this doctor convinced her of the importance of serious aerobic activity thirty minutes per day, to expand the capacity of her lungs. The doctor worked closely with her and she ended up a competitive swimmer. She got rid of all the drugs she was on, eventually began to eat differently, and now shares her story with others.
 
This talk was a tough pill for many Rotarians to swallow today—but one we should all heed carefully.
Speakers
Feb 03, 2017
We will be meeting at The University Club
Feb 10, 2017
at the University Club
Feb 17, 2017
Practiced in Togo, Africa, Meeting at the Lansing Center
Feb 24, 2017
at the Lansing Center
Mar 03, 2017
American Red Cross at the Lansing Center
Mar 10, 2017
at the Lansing Center
Mar 17, 2017
WILX Media at the Country Club
Mar 24, 2017
at the Lansing Center
View entire list
Rotary Club of Lansing
P. O. Box 13156
Lansing, MI   48901-3156
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Children's Safe Water project