Rotateller
Rotary Club of Owego, NY
Gary Williams, Editor
Rotateller Rotary Club of Owego, NY |
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Tuesday, February 5, 2008 Gary Williams, Editor |
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What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us, what we have done for other and the world remains and is immortal. Albert Pike
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BETTY RICHARDS AND MIKE EBBERS
The Wrights took Mati to see the History of the US at the Cider Mill and enjoyed it
Judy announced that the dinner will be $15 per person. It sounds like fun.
Merl (and John’s store) got into this Sunday’s NY Times
Barb Fink is in the hospital and Paul is still recovering. Our thoughts are with them.
Binghamton University Game: February 17, Sunday, 2:00 PM
Joao got to tour NYC and DC with his sister and he got to see a professional basketball game at Madison Square Garden
Mati enjoyed going to the Cider Mill
Jessica reported on Interact. They had a spaghetti dinner to raise money for the post-prom party and are having a stay-awake party with the Key Club.
Steve introduced Vince Sequelia who has been the county court judge for 15 years. He will have to retire at the end of his term when he is 70. He spoke about the “Drug Treatment Court”. It is wonderful to see someone who is so enthused about what he does and positive. Vince shared that ~70% of crimes are drug or alcohol related. About 1/3 will not re-offend. He explained how the court works. At the end, Vince spoke about the current societal influences on those in the developmental stages of life. He spoke about what happens to brains which have been so over-stimulated.
I haven’t troubled you with books for awhile, but Vince’s comments made me think of Strangers to Ourselves: Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious by Timothy D. Wilson. The following excerpt applies to what Vince was talking about with drug use and other stimulations in our fast culture.
One such mechanism occurs at the physiological, neurochemical level, in response to internal changes that cause affective responses. According to opponent process theory, physical events that cause extreme affective responses are disruptive, and the body must have some means of restoring equilibrium. It does so by initiating an “opponent process,” which produces the opposite affective response. The ingestion of cocaine, for example, triggers negative, opponent processes to neutralize the positive feelings caused by the drug….
Opponent process theory has become a popular way of accounting for responses to physical stimuli such as drugs. One interesting feature of the theory is the idea that over time, with repeated exposure to a stimulus, the opponent process becomes stronger and longer in duration. A stimulus that initially causes a great deal of pleasure, such as cocaine, causes less and less pleasure over time, because the opponent process it triggers grows in strength.
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R. I. President: Wilf Wilkinson District 7170 Governor: Dave Reynolds |
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President: Matt Adler President-elect: Annette Schweiger Vice-President: Maria Dixson Secretary: Orv Wright Treasurer: Jan Rathke Past President: Al Bingley |
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Sgt. At Arms: Paul Stear |
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Board of Directors: 2006-2008: Laura Costello, Judy Kip, Ann Loudermilk 2007-2009: Carolyn Galatzan, Merlin Lessler, Jody Rose |