Minutes of the March 15, 2018 Meeting
The Rotary Club of Mobile
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by John Dukes at 12:15 PM. Sumter McGowin offered the invocation. Tommy Blankenship led the club in song and the Pledge of Allegiance. Tommy also welcomed members’ guests and visiting Rotarians.
Announcements:
• John Dukes announced that the Board meeting has been rescheduled until next week, March 22.
• John Dukes notified everyone there will be a dine out at El Papi April 17 from 5-7pm.
• John Dukes reminded everyone of the District Conference June 7-10 at the Beau Rivage. The club will pay for a limited number of registrations.
• John Dukes notified everyone of the upcoming golf tournament.
Program: Lynn Oldsue, Founder, The Southern Rambler, as well as, Author, Our Southern Souls
Tom McGhee introduced the speaker.
Lynn Oldshue grew up on a catfish farm in Yazoo City, MS. After graduating from Mississippi State University, her first job was working at the Saenger Theatre in downtown Mobile. She is married with two boys and lives on a farm in Fairhope. She started The Southern Rambler magazine five years ago to tell the stories of artists and musicians on the Gulf Coast. This year The Southern Rambler won the Nappie for Best Blog/Website from Lagniappe. Oldshue has written features on editorial cartoonist J.D. Crowe, columnist John Archibald, artists Tut Riddick and Bruce Larsen as well as musicians Emmylou Harris, St. Paul and the Broken Bones and The Revivalists.
An interview with photographer Vincent Lawson about his pictures of the homeless in Mobile, and a story about the city’s bus riders, changed her direction. She started the vignette series Our Southern Souls after telling the stories of people who take the bus for hours every day to get to minimum wage jobs, school, medical appointments and grocery shopping. Almost 850 stories over two years include people who survive cancer, flee from war and persecution, take care of spouses with Alzheimer’s, wait for acceptance letters into graduate schools and serve hot dogs to the homeless. She has interviewed flood victims in Louisiana, parents grieving of the death of a child, and nomads living in caves in Morocco. This summer, her stories and pictures from Havana, Cuba hung on the walls of the Alabama Contemporary Art Center in their “Sister Shores” exhibit.
John Dukes thanked Mrs. Oldsue for sharing her experiences with the club and noted that in her honor a donation has been made to the Rotary Children’s Foundation
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 12:57 PM.
Rob Diehl