January 21, 2021 - Oak Rowling, The Unlikely Rockstar - Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Posted by Editor: FDBobko

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The FOGHORN

ROTARY CLUB OF HALF MOON BAY

January 21, 2021

Oak Rowling

The Unlikely Rockstar - Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Article by Renee Lewis

Photos by Dianne Bobko

Mary introduced our speaker Oak Rowling. Oak is a retired attorney who teaches courtroom drama in movies and theatre. He has been in Rotary for 44 years in Marin County. The topic of his presentation was"The Unlikely Rockstar - Ruth Bader Ginsburg". Timing is appropriate given the last two weeks.

Her birth name was Joan Ruth Bader, but her teacher called her Ruth because there were too many Joans in the class. She also had the nickname, Kiki, because she kicked off the covers when she was little. She went to Cornell University where she experienced sexual harassment and the "me too" movement when a teacher gave her an edge on retaking a test and expected something in return. She also went to Harvard and was one of 9 women in a class of about 900, but transferred to Columbia University Law School because her husband had become a professor there.

Ruth could not get a job after graduation because she was a woman, Jewish, and a mother. She volunteered at the ACLU and specialized in women's rights cases. Frontiero v Richardson was her first case before the Supreme Court. Women didn't get a housing allowance in the Air Force. Sharon Frontiera was told she was lucky to be able to serve. Ginsberg showed the male members of the court what it was like to be a second class citizen.

Her main legal focus was Gender Equality. One of her more famous cases was reverse discrimination against men. RBG won 5 out of 6 cases she argued before Supreme Court. President Clinton was going to nominate several other people before choosing her, but as soon as she interviewed he chose her within 15 minutes. She was an advocate for abortion rights and a woman's right to choose.

We saw some photos of Ruth and Justice Antonin Scalia on an elephant. They were great friends despite being on opposite sides.

After the speaker finished, Mary presented a Certificate to him with a donation to Rotary's Polio Plus.

Club Meeting - January 21, 2021

Pledge of Allegiance - John Evans led the pledge.

Inspiration Thoughtt - President Mary Rogren read an excerpt from "The Hill We Climb" by the poet Amanda Gorman which she delivered at the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden. Gorman was the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate.

Happy/Crappy News /

John Evans daughter took him to Poppy Hills for his b-day, and he also got his Covid vaccine.

Kevin said that yesterday was Debbie's b-day and the grandkids sent her a card with $20 in it saying they were proud of her.

Mary shared a card from Raffa from Spain with photos of all his HMB memories.

Announcements

EJ and Rose had a date to package the items for Coastside Hope and delivered them today. This was part of a grant we received.
Liz talked about the Little Libraries, They had to shut down the project due to Covid, but they are ready to go now. She needs help picking them up and painting them.

Marble Draw - Dianne drew a green one again 😢. The pot grows and there are not many marbles left!

Buy marble tickets and feed the pig! Mary sends an email with the link prior to each meeting.

PHOTO GALLERY