FogHorn Aug. 18 2016 Mtg.  Shop Talks - Mary Rogren and Michael Arase-Barham

She married her 100% Swedish husband, Phil, in 1982. He is a Ceramic Engineer from Yakima Washington and graduate of UW. He is a polio survivor. Mary showed a photo of his grandfather on the national winning Tug-of War team. Mary offered this chronological score card for the talk: ’83 - ’86 in Half Moon Bay, ’86 - ’90 in Scottsdale, ’90 - ’91 in Escondido, ’91 - forever? in Half Moon Bay. They have a son Ian, 31, Living in El Granada. He graduated from UC Santa Cruz then went of to the University of Niece for his MBA in Marketing. They have a second son Garret who is 6’6”* and also a Basnana Slug who earned his masters in Material Science and Physics from Columbia University. he is currently on vacation in Zambia.

Mary has held a host of Financial positions beginning with working for Dave Dickson in Half Moon Bay from 1980 to ’86. This was followed by start-ups every year until she joined Thompson Cengage Learning as VP of Global Business Practices. This dealt largely with piracy to which they lost  millions annually. Mary dealt with copyright organization(s) and working groups fighting piracy often serving as an expert witness as she knew their products so well she could ID counterfeits.This work took her to Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, India the UK and Europe. This work included an FBI raid in Chicago too. The intensity and stress of so much pressure (and excitement) caused her to look for a change in occupation and pace. She encountered Dave Dickson at a Christmas party and he mentioned the Water District had an open position she might be interested in. She took the position of Assistant General Manager of CCWP in March 2015.

Q&A    Mary was asked about getting convictions in the piracy cases. She explained that prosecutors found their cases less attractive than drug cases. They got convictions but it was also complicated by some of their big customers also buying pirated books…

* Garret reached the cute young check-out cashier who looked up at him and asked are you six foot six? He answered, "No mam I’m only five foot eighteen!"

Michael Arase - Barham, nee Barham

Michael began by saying a preacher is very accustomed to speaking for 30 minutes. Michael began by thanking the Rotary Club and Community for supporting Holy Family’s Back Pack Drive.
Michael was born in Florida and raised a Methodist. He grew up in Meridian Mississippi and lived for some time on Adak island in Alaska. He attended Meridian high school and was in the Marching Band etc.
He attended Duke University on a 3 year scholarship and earned his masters of divinity. He discovered the Episcopalian church. Coming out as gay and other factors led him to this more accommodating church and embraced their tradition. He worked three years at Saint Mary’s College ion Moraga in student housing…a great training ground for a reverend! He enrolled in the Graduate Theological Union’s Doctor of Divinity of Divinity program there at Northgate Berkeley. His thesis was in Pilgrimage and in 2001 walked the Compostela de Santiago route across the top of Spain. In 2008 he accepted a position as Deacpon/Priest in Hawaii and it was indeed paradise. It was there he met Gino Arase a native of Japan who entered a doctoral program at Rutgers in Community Development. Michael began looking for a position closer to New Jersey than Hawaii. In his search he noticed the position at Holy Family in Half Moon Bay. He noticed Holy Family had extended their deadline so he applied. Just before leaving Hawaii he broke his ankle on a hike to the summit to Ola Mana and kindly marines escorted/rescued him off the Island. By coincidence the vicar of Holy Family had broken her ankle just before she left.

The Anglican church was founded in 43 AD in England. Agustin of Canterberry was sent from Rome. By 1776 it was unpopular to be the "Church of England” and a burden to the missionaries who came with the settlers. And so the title was changed to the Episcopal Church of the United States of America. The word Episcopal has its origin in the Greek for Bishop. It is organized on democratic principals with a bicameral house (Bacterian origin). So what is he called? Basically Father, ordained as a priest, Vicar is the job title through Vicarious, though honorable. Michael splits his time between Holy Family south of town and Good Sheppard, the first church in Belmont (on El Camino by Safeway). Each congregation is around 26. Holy Family, founded in 1972 is a caring and supportive community. They are known for their Ice Cream stand at Pumpkin Festival. His one word summation and conversational gambit is “Faith” meaning both meaning of life and moral compass. He is responding to something much bigger than him and calling for that bigger, higher cause…pilgrimage, also called “Caddy Wumple” - "a purposeful travel toward a vague destination”. This gives him a profound sense of purpose.

His favorite game is “Stump the priest”