News of The Rotary Club of Portland, Maine
September 29, 2021
Conducting From the Heart
 
Dr. Emily Isaacson is a leader in the arts world and is known for forging a magnetic rapport with audiences and musicians alike. Recognized for her work in arts entrepreneurship, she has been named Artist of the Yearby the Maine Arts Commission, one of the 50 Mainers Leading the State by Maine Magazine, and the 2018 face of Women’s Work edition by Maine Women Magazine. A strong advocate of new music, she helped launch Roomful of Teeth, a vocal ensemble which received the 2014 GRAMMY for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, and whose Partita for 8 Voices was awarded the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music.
Isaacson is the founder and artistic director of Classical Uprising, a performing arts company that believes classical music must rise up, challenge current norms, and re-envision where, how, and for whom we are making music. With over 50 concerts and events year-round, Classical Uprising serves over 6,000 musicians and music lovers through its programs:
 
  • Oratorio Chorale: symphonic chorus 
  • Portland Bach Experience, a series of immersive classical music festivals
  • Horizon Voices: four ensembles for grades k-12 developing the next generation of creative citizens 
 
Committed to bringing music education into underserved communities, Isaacson started the music department for the Cesar Chavez Public Charter Schools in Washington, D.C. Isaacson has taught music composition in the Boston public schools through VSA Massachusetts and conducted through Boston City Singers and was Director of Choral Activities at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. She now serves as a guest conductor and clinician at choral festivals through New England.
 
Isaacson holds a BA in English from Williams College; a MA in musicology from the University of Edinburgh, a master’s degree in conducting from the University of Oregon; and a PHD from the University of Illinois
 
She lives in Portland, ME, with her husband, daughter, and son.
 
 
 
Patty Byers reports that as part of the End Polio Now campaign, The Rotary Club of Portland will plant 400 purple crocus bulbs at Post Office Park on Saturday, October 23.
 
 The purple crocus bulbs were chosen for this project to represent the purple dye that is used to mark the little finger of children who have been vaccinated in endemic countries, which has resulted in saving millions across the world from this crippling and deadly disease.
Polio has now been eradicated from most parts of the world, with cases now occurring only in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
 
"Hopefully in years to come the slogan ‘End Polio Now’ won’t be needed," Patty said.  "But the crocus will remain as the symbol of Rotary’s greatest achievement – the eradication of polio."
Bits & Pieces | by Erik Jorgensen
 
When Portland Rotary’s Zoom meeting of 30 participants got rolling on September 24, Larry Gross was eating a bagel. He was doing so discretely, and this led to a general pre-meeting discussion, of not only an evolving “Zoom etiquette,” but of just how much everything has changed over the past 18 months. It’s been a long time since we’ve all been together for a Friday lunch and in the absence of something better, we are lucky to have Zoom
 
The long slog of the pandemic was a theme that carried into our invocation, in which Charlie Frair offered a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”  He noted that this is indeed a time of challenge and controversy and went on to also quote from a former Football Coach (or maybe a Kennedy): “when the going gets tough – the tough get going.” Amen.
 
Patty Byers on behalf of the Rotary Foundation, reported that World Polio Day is coming up on October 24. During October, our club will be drawing attention to polio eradication.  “Pints for Polio” is happening again – we are looking for a suitable outdoor venue for this event, which we are doing in conjunction with Portland Sunrise – they are hoping the pub will donate a buck for each pint served.  If you have venue suggestions, Mike FortunatoAmy  ChipmanRob Chatfield and Patty want to hear from you. 
 
Polio is a focus at the District Level as well – Anne Lee Hussey, the District polio chair, is coordinating a District zoom event. She is looking for people with polio stories – polio survivors or someone who has a friend or family member who had the disease, who might make a short phone video.
That said, nobody should think of Rotary as just being about polio: Dick Hall remarked that the Rotary Foundation has made major investments in the fight against COVID with $46 million in grants to support global COVID efforts. 
 
Bruce Moore shared information from the Recovery Task Force about a project to join Portland Community Recovery Center to stuff backpacks for people coming out of the correctional system and starting on their journeys toward recovery. He shared a link to materials needed – and if you want to participate go to Sign Up Genius. Cash donations are welcomed as well to purchase items like Hannafordcards and Metro Passes
 
Flags for Heroes 2021 has entered the history books as a great success. This year, says Charlie Frair, the event was promoted by the Maine Mall and was well received by merchants, and the mall has invited us back for next year. He noted a “calm aura of respectfulness among people looking at the flags and spending time with the stories.
 
Ellen Niewoehner announced that the new Rotary Environmental Committee has launched. The Committee will be meeting October 1 at 1PM after the Rotary meeting, and all are invited. Just stay on Zoomafter next Friday’s meeting if you’d like to be part of it.
 
Portsmouth Rotary invites golfers to a tournament on Friday, October 8th at Pease Golf Course. “We would like to invite your club’s golfers to attend and challenge our Rotary golfers for our prestigious Trophy. Have your club’s name permanently engraved on this coveted cup! Also have the chance for a Hole in One at Hole # 11 to win a $64,000 2021 Nissan Titan.  We hope your club’s golfers will join us for a tremendous day of golf, fellowship and helping the Portsmouth community.” Cost is $175 per golfer, which includes 18 holes of golf, golf cart, lunch and prizes.
Rotary at Work Tee Shirts
 
Thanks to Paul Gore and Dick Hall, we now have official Rotary at Work tee shirts for members to wear while performing service projects—like planting crocus bulbs in front of the main Post Office. The shirts are $15 each for men’s and women’s sizes small to X-large; and $19 each for larger sizes. Order at this link, then connect with Alice Alexander to pay.
 
Wearing these shirts on our service projects lets the world know what we do. In this picture, Dick Hall sports one of these shirts while he helps with the ocean cleanup.
 
The back of the shirt carries the "Rotarian at Work" imprint, and the front of the shirt is embroidered with the Club's name and the Rotary logo. Order now to have your shirt in time for the crocus planting event on October 23.
Join the Empanada Club!
 
Adrian Espinosa, one of the New Mainer entrepreneurs mentored by the Club’s New Mainer Task Force last year, is featured in this month’s edition of Edible Maine. His empanadas are now available in several markets in the frozen foods section, at several farmers markets and breweries. Our mentoring efforts helped him secure growth capital from CEI.
Helping the Environment
 
Ellen Niewoehner reports the September 16 ocean clean-up effort was a great success.
The big group picture includes members of Portland Rotary, Portland Sunrise, Wayfair, and UBS.  Thanks to Kath Hall of Portland Sunrise for organizing the event!
Cookies, Phishing, & Privacy… 
 
By Juliana L’Heureux
 
Rita Heimes, chief privacy officer and counsel for the International Association of Privacy Professionals(IAPP) provided an expert view on September 24, 2021 about what is happening with electronic data and detailed some of the laws designed to protect users against the risk of being a victim of stolen personal information in the era of increasing online usage.
Ms. Heimes noted that there are 31 billion connected devices in the world today. People are connected all the time. The rate of adoption of new technologies has enabled the creation of data at a rapid pace. Companies have embraced electronic information for both business and to support operational efficiencies. All the data accumulates. Also, data is interconnected with navigation partners. Every minute when people voluntarily create information, which is also shared. 
 
In 2019, 91 percent of US companies reported they used social media to reach their customers.
Meanwhile, privacy legislation continues to evolve. From a legal perspective, 60 jurisdictions around the world have enacted privacy and data protection laws. In the US, 80 percent of companies support federal data privacy legislation, which has not been enacted.
 
Consumers are tracked across the Internet and we hardly realize how much is known about us.
California has modeled its privacy laws after the General Data Protection Regulations used in Europe which protects citizens’ data privacy. These laws provide consumers with the right to have their personal data erased. Ms. Heimes said that by the year 2023, over 65 percent of the world’s population will have personal information covered by modern privacy regulation.
Privacy practices are linked with data breaches. Identify the methods used to access personal data: (1) Spam wants to sell something and (2) Phishing is a type of social engineering where an attacker sends a fraudulent message designed to trick a victim into revealing sensitive information to the attacker or to deploy malicious software, like ransomware. 
Europe is forcing us to take power over privacy. Those “cookie” notices we see on some pages are from Europe where the user is given the option to provide or decline consent to accept cookies that share personal information. 
 
At the federal level, there are some specific privacy laws in the US. For example, student privacy is protected; there are laws to protect the privacy of children, health information protection laws like HIPPA and financial information used by banks.
 
One way to try and prevent our electronic privacy is to use a password manager and always update software when cued to do so. 
Moment of Reflection
 
Evening
 
By H. D.
 
The light passes 
from ridge to ridge, 
from flower to flower— 
the hepaticas, wide-spread 
under the light 
grow faint— 
the petals reach inward, 
the blue tips bend 
toward the bluer heart 
and the flowers are lost. 
 
The cornel-buds are still white, 
but shadows dart 
from the cornel-roots— 
black creeps from root to root, 
each leaf 
cuts another leaf on the grass, 
shadow seeks shadow, 
then both leaf 
and leaf-shadow are lost.
 
 
On September 10, 135 years ago, the poet H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) was born.
 
Source: Collected Poems 1912-1944 ( New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1982 )
Speaker Schedule

October 1 | Emily Isaacson, conductor
October 8 |Dick Hall, District Governor
October 15 | Henry Beck, Maine Treasurer
October 22 |Dan Brennan, Maine Housing
October 29 | Dana Eidsness, Director, North Atlantic Development Organization
November 5 | Leigh Saufley, Dean, Maine Law
November 19 | Sue Inches, author of Advocating for the Environment
December 10 | Paul Mayewski, Climate Change Institute, University of Maine
January 21 | Rick Schneider, CEO, Maine Public
The Windjammer
is published online by
The Rotary Club of Portland, Maine.
 
Contributing Editors
Jake Bourdeau
Dick Hall
Erik Jorgensen
Julie L’Heureux
Ben Lowry
Tom Talbott
 
Managing Editor
Bob Martin
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