Speakers

Invited by Steven Weiner

Invited by Steven Weiner

 

American Disruptor is the untold story of Leland Stanford – from his birth in a backwoods bar to the founding of the world-class university that became and remains the nucleus of Silicon Valley. The life of this robber baron, politician, and historic influencer is the astonishing tale of how one supremely ambitious man became this country's original "disruptor" – reshaping industry and engineering one of the greatest raids on the public treasury for America’s transcontinental railroad, all while living more opulently than maharajas, kings, and emperors.

It is also the saga of how Stanford, once a serial failure, overcame all obstacles to become one of America’s most powerful and wealthiest men, using his high elective office to enrich himself before losing the one thing that mattered most to him – his only child and son. Scandal and intrigue would follow Stanford through his life, and even after his death, when his widow was murdered in a Honolulu hotel – a crime quickly covered up by the almost stillborn university she had saved.  Richly detailed and deeply researched, American Disruptor restores Leland Stanford’s rightful place as a revolutionary force and architect of modern America.

Speaker recommended by Sandy Crittenden, arranged Steven Weiner.

Thomas Foon Chew arrived in San Francisco from China in 1897, when Thomas was 8. His father had a small cannery that was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, but he rebuilt the cannery in Alviso, and at that time brought Thomas into the business. They canned tomatoes, apricots, peaches, plums and more -- and added plants in Mayfield (now Palo Alto) and along the Delta. Local papers dubbed him “The Asparagus King” for perfecting the canning of green asparagus. By the 1920s, Bayside had become the third-largest canning business in the country.

Although his life was short, thomas Foon Chew left a legacy of values. All seven of his children graduated from college, despite the Great Depression. Forty years later, many of his workers said his kindness had changed their lives. Alviso salutes him today with a street named in his honor and with four historical plaques. One is on Hope Street – a fitting place to mark the memory of this optimistic and inventive Californian.

 

Speaker invited by Steven Weiner

 

Zoom presentation

Monique has spoken to over 100 Rotary Clubs as well as over 140 other groups - to over 5000 members of the public and also to over 2500 employees at Special Employee Safety Meetings. Monique got into safety work after she went deaf in her left ear (due to an extremely loud band at a church fundraiser of all places!). She had to quit her job as a Hospital Pharmacist. Monique then studied, wrote the book: What Did You Say? and was appointed by the governor to the Commission of Deaf, Deaf-Blind and Hard of Hearing Minnesotans (MCDHH). In her presentation, Monique discusses various aspects of hearing and stresses that hearing loss is permanent and not only for older people anymore. Monique also discusses how to prevent hearing loss and ways to better cope with it. 

Host: Amy Boggs

Ross Hammond, contact. mnbry2@gmail.com

Katharina Powers (owner of Art Ventures Gallery) offered her gallery as the venue for this evening's members' reception. The artist Jim Caldwell has an exhibit in the gallery this  month, and will speak briefly about his work.

 

Organized by Steven Weiner