Newsletter of the Needham Rotary Club for November 2nd, 2021
Mark Your Calendar: Upcoming Community Service and Social Activities:
- Delivering Thanksgiving Dinner to folks that are shut-in: Sandy Robinson of the Needham Community Council tells us: "we will once again use a professional kitchen to prepare the meals (The Needham Golf Club). The plan will be to deliver the meals with reheating instructions the day before Thanksgiving, Wednesday, November 24th. Volunteers will pick the meals and deliver them between 11:00 and 12:15 on that day. Last year we delivered 252 dinners to 167 households. Here's the link to sign up:
- Salvation Army Bell-Ringing at Sudbury Farms, Needham on December 4th from 8am-5pm The link to sign up: https://admin.clubrunner.ca/3694/Volunteer/ManageVolunteerContacts?VolunteerSignUpId=180f3e6e-15b2-48e2-8cd2-cd57122595bb.
- Needham Rotary Club Virtual Holiday Party: Tuesday December 14th at 6:30pm. (There will be no regular meeting that day).
Our Speaker: Janika LeMaitre (she/her), The Better Professional, "Handling Gender-Neutral Pronouns with Style"
Jan is the founder of a business and personal brand consultancy, "The Better Professional". She is a certified etiquette and protocol specialist with the Protocol School of Washington and the British School of Etiquette. She grew up in Australia, currently lives in Weston and is a member of the Weston-Wayland Rotary Club. She and Bill Paulson work together on Rotary's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Team.
The Better Professional provides consulting, coaching and speaking services to help a client's business, brand or reputation evolve successfully. She offers training modules addressing: branding, professional soft skills, international etiquette, event preparation and how to set up a business in digital space. She caters to the following industries: hospitality, fashion, retail, travel, salons, food & beverage and information technology.
We use pronouns to refer to a person without using their name. The most common pronouns, he/she, specifically refer to a person's gender. For queer, gender non-conforming, non-binary or transgender people these labels may not fit, causing stress and anxiety. Proper pronoun etiquette demonstrates your acceptance of persons displaying these characteristics.
| Examples: | Subject | Object | Possessive Adjective | Possessive Pronoun | Reflexive |
| Female | She | Her | Her | Hers | Herself |
| Male | He | Him | His | His | Himself |
| Gender Neutral | Ze | Hir | Hir | Hirs | Hirself |
| Gender Neutral Pronunciation | zee | here | here | heres | hereself |
If you interact with someone who discloses themself as gender-neutral, ask them what pronouns they would prefer to be known by. When you are introducing them or making a reference about them, be sure to insert the proper pronoun. Here's an example of an introduction of Shannon: "Hello James, this is Shannon. Ze (pronounced "zee") is interested in Rotary. I went with hir (pronounced "here") to the last meeting." There are other, alternative pronouns that a person may specify that didn't fit in my simplified chart above. If you don't know a person's pronouns, just ask!
For more information, you can contact Jan at her email address: janika@better-professional.com.
Our Next Meeting: Tuesday November 9th at noon. Our Speaker will be: Sarah Winig, Needham Education Foundation