news & notes from the lotos club• kitchen freezer replaced • ballroom and third floor pantry...

from The Lotos Club

News & Notes

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 8

Reminder

Fall Opening Cocktail Party on Wednesday, September 3,

6 to 8 p.m. ($30)

Louis Auchincloss to Be Honored

A highlight of the fall season will be the State Dinner for prolific novelist, historian and essayist Louis Auchincloss on Tuesday, October 7 (cocktails 6:30 p.m., $125). The author of more than sixty books, Mr. Auchincloss will receive the Lotos Medal of Merit. Reservations will be made only on receipt of the reply card, and members may invite only one guest initially.

Special guest speakers will include two longtime Lotos members, artist Everett Raymond Kinstler and novelist Tom Wolfe. Mr. Auchincloss rose to fame when, in 1964, he published The Rector of Justin, a Pulitzer Prize nominee, which was called “[A] certifiable masterpiece …that should sit on the

shelf of any serious reader of American fiction” (Jay Parini, NewYork Observer).

Louis Auchincloss (photo by Gasper Tringale)

at State Dinner on October 7th

Headliners Award. He has also been a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. A reporter at some of the nation’s most prestigious newspapers, Mr. Bissinger also has published his work in Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine and Sports Illustrated. He is the author of three highly acclaimed non-fiction books and a co-producer and writer for “NYPD Blue.” Two of his works have also been made into very successful films; one of them, Friday Night Lights, also served as the inspir-ation for the NBC television series.

(continued on page 6)

The Club’s event committees have scheduled a variety of interesting fall programs.

Sports

On Tuesday, September 16, H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger will talk about “Sports in America: Where do we go from here now that we have screwed it all up?” (cocktails, 6:30 p.m.; $25).

Mr. Bissinger has been the winner of many important awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the Livingston Award, the American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award, and the National

“Dinner Theater” On Thursday, October 30, the Special Events Committee will present an evening of theater featuring the highly acclaimed actress Francis Sternhagen. The Award of Distinction will be presented to Ms. Sternhagen, whose work in theater, film and television has earned her the reputation of being one of the finest actors of our day. John Cunningham, who starred opposite Stockard Channing in Six Degrees of Separation and recently appeared at Second Stage in Some Americans Abroad, will perform opposite Ms. Sternhagen. Two On The Aisle will include short comic scenes by Robert Anderson, Romulus Linney, Dorothy Parker, Shell Silverstein and Oscar Wilde on stage in the Library, followed by dinner with the actors in the Ballroom (cocktails, 6 p.m.; performance, 6:30 p.m. followed by dinner; $125)

Nominated seven times for a Tony award, Francis Sternhagen has received the award twice, for The Good Doctor and The Heiress. Her long list of Off-Broadway and Broadway credits includes Talking Heads, The Exact Center of the Universe, The Old Lady Shows Her

(continued on page 6)

Stars Sternhagen

September Lectures Are Diverse:

Sports, Supreme Court, Technology

5 East 66th Street New York, NY 10065

(212) 737-7100 (212) 737-9188 (fax) www.lotosclub.org

News & Notes

Executive Editor Stephenie Ralston

Design Editor Sharon Situ

Contributing Editors Nancy Johnson

Margaret Diggory

N E W S A N D N O T E S

Page Two The Lotos Club

A Note to Members

by Patrick J. Frawley, President

Labor Day always seems to have a certain effect on people. The day after Labor Day, one of the most frequently asked questions is “How was your summer?” The days before Labor Day are considered by many as a countdown to the end of summer. Certainly, the opening of the school year contributes to the sense that the summer has drawn to a close.

I, for one, do my best to resist the feeling that the summer has ended. Certainly, the calendar supports my desire to keep the summer going, especially in a year when Labor Day is the earliest it can be. And one has to admit that some of the nicest days of the summer, and in fact of the entire year, happen after Labor Day.

Lotos is not any different than our larger society. We view Labor Day as an end to the summer. We will gather on September 3rd, for what we call the Fall Opening Cocktail Party. And, yes, we will ask each other “How was your summer?” But at Lotos, there is something different. That question is not tinged with a degree of sadness that something is over, but rather is asked with an excitement over things about to begin. Even though fall is a few weeks away, the name of the party gives away our mood – it is an opening cocktail party. For us, the quiet of the Club’s summer is in fact over, and our clubhouse is once again filled with the sounds of the varied activities of our active and engaged membership.

I was recently looking at the Club’s August calendar of events in News and Notes, and turned over to look at September. It was really a visual representation of the change pre- and

post-Labor Day. An empty August suddenly is transformed into a full slate of September meetings and events. I counted up the number of entries (perhaps I had too much summer downtime on my hands!) and found that the September calendar records 15 meetings and 9 events – involving literally hundreds of our members.

As sad as I am to see the summer wind down (I love the beach), that feeling is tempered by the knowledge that many interesting events and good times await as the Lotos season heats up through the fall and winter (no pun intended). And if you are at the Club at the Fall Opening Cocktail Party, and in the days immediately following, don’t forget to ask “How is your summer?”

Gail Furman (Resident), child/adolescent psychologist, New York City. Memberships: Princeton Club, Council on Foreign Relations, Human Rights First, Women’s Commission (International Rescue Committee), Brennan Center for Social Justice. Proposer: Patricia Greenwald; Seconder: Robert M. Morgenthau.

Welcome to the Club

Lotosians in the Spotlight

Belinda Pokorny was featured in an article in The Scarsdale Inquirer/The Westchester News, which noted her role as an artistic docent at the Katonah Museum of Art.

Three important sculptures from the Boca Raton, Florida, collection of Mimi S. Livingston will be exhibited at the opening of the new Museum of Art and Design in New York City. Also on display will be examples from her “Contemporary Jewelry as Sculpture.”

The flagship program of the Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz Foundation, The New York Piano Competition, is going global. Due to the great success the competition has experienced, it now carries the name The New York International Piano Competition. Outstanding young pianists worldwide can now apply as contestants to this highly appraised NYIPC.

Presently, the Foundation offers prize winners, finalists, and previous contestants more than thirty-five opportunities to be heard in concert, with appearances in New York City, Buffalo, Ossining, White Plains and Washington, DC.


The Lotos Club Page Three

General Manager’s Comments

by John J. McGrath • Art restoration (see list below) • A ladies room created in The Grill

Room • Employee restroom renovated • Window replacement (eleven) • Wine storage cooler installed • Simplex Fire System upgraded • Guest elevator, cables re-shackled • Air conditioning cooling tower

replaced • Clubhouse security system

upgraded • Kitchen freezer replaced • Ballroom and third floor pantry

doors restored • Room 507, bathroom renovated • New carpet installed in bedrooms

403, 404 and 509 • Clubhouse rugs cleaned, repaired,

as needed, and fiber-sealed • Sheer curtains replaced • Draperies cleaned • Grand staircase, handrail fabric

replaced • Upholstery and grand staircase

steps shampooed • Chimneys cleaned and windows

washed

Art Restoration • Earthquake by Jon Corbino. The

Tennyson Room. • Portrait of a Woman by J.

Campbell Phillips (being framed). • Safe Harbor by Junas Lie. The

Members’ Lounge. • A Hunting Nymph by Kenyon

Cox. The Grill Room. • Nude au Dos by James M. Flagg.

The Grill Room. • Modern Nymph by Howard

Chandler Christy. The Grill Room. • Portrait of Past President Edward

J. Scheider by Everett Raymond Kinstler. The Directors’ Room. • State Dinner Programs: Joseph

Jefferson, 1896; Lord Herschell, 1898; William T. Evans, 1911; Laurette Taylor, 1923. • Other Works of Art on Paper:

Dinner for the Gridiron Club, March 10, 1900; Yuletide Feast, 1910 and 1912.

The Club will kick off its 138th season on Wednesday, September 3rd with the Fall Opening Cocktail Party. Longtime members may remember that this event actually was an opening, as the Club traditionally closed during the month of August and re-opened after Labor Day. In 1982, a decision to keep the Club’s bedrooms and dining room open throughout the entire summer was made by then Club President Silas Mountsier III. In recent years, additional Club events have been scheduled during the months of July and August. To the surprise of some people, many members do remain in the City. This past summer, the Club hosted three cocktail parties – each attracting more than 100 guests; the Lotos by the Sea reception, with a record audience of 103; a “sold out” cabaret featuring Karen Akers; a Sake Tasting Dinner, which turned out to be a big hit, despite our initial skepticism; and three well-attended film nights.

During the past fiscal year, which ended on June 30, 2008, 118 Club events were held. Many of the events, by their design, accommodated fewer than twenty guests. Of the remaining larger events, only four of these could not accommodate all reservations because of limited seating. Sharon Situ, the manager of Club events, worked diligently to accommodate all requests for reservations. For example, members who could not be accommodated at the spring cabaret with Karen Akers were given preference for the summer performance.

About a year ago, we implemented a new bedroom reservation policy that greatly favors a member’s ability to obtain an overnight room. It also includes blackout periods throughout the year when all of the overnight rooms are available only to members and their guests. The policy has achieved its primary goal of improving member services, but as we anticipated, it has also resulted in a decline in the occupancy rate and a reduction in revenue, and these fiscal challenges will

need to be carefully monitored in the future.

The effect of the constitutional limit of 400 resident members on the Club’s operation is a perennial topic. Should the membership be increased in order to spread the expenses over a broader base? Should fees continue to be increased to fund operating increases? Should expenses be reduced, resulting in a decrease in member services? Ultimately, the membership will have to determine the best long-term strategy to follow.

One alternative to these options is to increase members’ use of the Club, especially for private events. In addition to hosting their own events, members may sponsor events hosted by their friends and colleagues. To begin this procedure, a member simply needs to inform the private dining staff of his/her willingness to sponsor an event, and the staff and the host take over the planning details. Our new private dining manager, Maureen Farley Schilling, and her assistant, Janet Kim, both formerly from Café Gray, have a wealth of experience in planning elegant events and unique dining experiences.

During the past nine weeks, I have been working with the operations staff to ready the clubhouse for the new season (see the list of completed summer projects in the left column on this page); Executive Chef Christopher Landi, Sous Chef Ryan Germain and the kitchen staff are enthusiastically preparing new and creative menus; and the 2008-2009 Club events schedule, a challenging task, is well underway.

Lotos continues many of the traditions that have established its distinguished reputation, but we also strive to address the changing needs of members. I welcome your comments and suggestions: (212) 737-7100, or e-mail [email protected].

I send my best wishes to you for an enjoyable and productive autumn season.

Summer Projects


Page Four The Lotos Club

Jane Marks Hart Is Talk Table Guest Lotos member Jane Marks Hart will address the Literary Table at 12 noon on Wednesday, October 15 in a talk about her moving book, The Hidden Children: The Secret Survivors of the Holocaust. Ms. Hart was nominated in 1993 for a Pulitzer Prize for a work that has been called “an unparalleled document of witness, discovery and the miracle of human courage.” Her book contains the wartime experiences, the legacy – and the ultimate healing – of twenty-three adult survivors. For decades, the subjects of Ms. Hart’s work suppressed painful memories of forced separation, living

for months or years in constant fear of capture and moving into early adulthood by using their new identities to survive with their brave rescuers. For decades after the end of the Holocaust, they hid their survivor stories even from family members. But in 1991, Ms. Hart wrote a story about six hidden children for New York Magazine, and became what ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman called “the keeper of the stories.” Currently, Ms. Hart is facilitating artistic self-expression for adults and children who are facing catastrophic illness, family problems, loss and bereavement.

Associated Press have formed a consortium that sends representatives to randomly selected polling places around the country to interview voters throughout the day as they leave the polls. At NBC News, Mr. McCormick has served also as an executive producer and as bureau chief in both London and Frankfurt.

Role of Media in Election Polls

A timely lecture – before the upcoming Presidential election – by David McCormick , vice president of NBC News, is certain to provoke a lively discussion (Monday, October 27; cocktails, 6:30 p.m.; lecture, 7 p.m.; $25). Mr. McCormick will explain how television networks project election winners before all the votes have been counted. The five major television networks and the

Library Talk Rediscovers NYC Author/photographer Chester Burger will give a slide presentation about his fascinating book, Unexpected New York, on Wednesday, October 29 (12 noon; $25). Among Mr. Burger’s more than eighty discoveries are the code that identifies manhole covers; the Village Public Library modeled on Bavaria’s King Ludwig’s castle; the Hudson River’s Little Red Lighthouse; and the world’s oldest railroad tunnel under a Brooklyn Street, found by a 19-year-old.

Mr. Burger spent most of his 48-year career working in the communica-tions field. During his tenure at Columbia Broadcasting Company, he rose from page boy in 1941 to national manager of television news in 1955. He produced the Army’s first TV broadcasts, and in 1946 became the first television news reporter in the U.S. He is also the author of six books on management subjects, and his lifetime work in photography was acquired for the permanent collections of the New York Historical Society and the New

Lecture Focus Is Antiques

Leigh and Leslie Keno, experts in fine 18th and 19th century American antiques, will give a talk on October 15th (cocktails, 6:30 p.m.; lecture, 7 p.m.; $25). With their combined experience of working in the arena of antiques auctions and purchasing directly from private collections, the Keno brothers have established an enviable reputation in the field. They have been featured often as regular appraisers in the long-running public television program Antiques Roadshow. Since founding his own company in 1986, Leigh Keno has specialized in acquiring the highest quality early American antiques for his clients. Leslie Keno is senior vice president and senior specialist in American furniture and decorative arts at Sotheby’s New York. The twin brothers (with Joan Barzilay Freund) published Hidden Treasures: Searching for Masterpieces of American Furniture in 2000. From 2001 to 2005, they wrote monthly furniture and design columns for House Beautiful and This Old House. Since 2003, they also have co-hosted the WBGH program Find!, which celebrates the world of design, style, antiques and furnishings.

York Public Library.

Innumerable awards citing Mr. Burger’s outstanding service include those presented to him from the United States Information Agency, the Telephone Pioneers of America, the Public Relations Society of America, the United States Marine Corp., the Black Executive Exchange Program, and the United Negro College Fund. In 1995, the U.S. Government presented him with the Medal “For Outstanding Service to the United States.”

`

C L U B D I N I N G

The Lotos Club Page Five

Table Talk Thursday, 4th 66th Street Salon, 6 p.m. Lotos member Fortuna Calvo-Roth will moderate a discussion on the political novel.

Tuesday, 23rd History Talk Table, 11:30 a.m. Lotos member David N. Schwartz will lead a discussion on A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin.

Autumn 2008 Menu at Lotos

Toward the end of September, menu items with delectable hints of autumn will replace summer dishes. Executive Chef Landi finds that seasonal produce always has more vibrant flavors than the

warehouse-ripened vegetables that are available all year around. Among the treats of autumn on the Club menu are the following:

Wild Mushroom Soup

Farmers Harvest Romaine Chop Salad Haricots Verts, Tomatoes, Gorgonzola Cheese, Prosciutto, Golden Beets, and Italian Dressing

Sweet Potato and Fig Ravioli Cranberry Walnut Compote and Mornay Nutmeg Sauce

Sautéed Hudson Valley Fois Gras Black Cherry Confit, Braised Baby Apples and Micro Greens

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pepper-Crusted Filet Mignon with Black Truffle Butt er and Classic Bordelaise Sauce Sweet Potato Spring Roll and Mixed Baby Vegetables

Pan-Seared Arctic Char with Saffron Sauce Oven-Roasted Tomatoes, White and Wild Rice and Sautéed Sliced Brussel Sprouts

Roasted French Breast of Chicken with Brandy Sauce Dried Fruit, Quinoa Stuffing, Glazed Carrots and Steamed Asparagus

The menu will also include the Lotos classics. For reservations, call (212) 737-7100.

in September

Save the Date

Tuesday, November 11, 2008 Veterans’ Dinner

in the Grill

OKTOBERFEST

September 29-October 3, 2008

The first in the series of the new season’s theme dinners in the Grill will be an

Oktoberfest, featuring German cuisine.

Sample Appetizers Salmon Gravlax with German Potato Salad

Crispy Potato Pancakes with Sour Cream and Applesauce White Wine-Pickled Herring with Grainy Mustard Sauce

Sample Entrées

Sauerbraten with Red Cabbage Weinerschnitzel with Spaetzle Dumplings

Schlachtplatte (traditional broiled German sausages) with Sauerkraut

Join us and toast the German heritage with a specially-brewed, rich, frothy German beer.

The regular fall à la carte menu will be available.


Page Six The Lotos Club

Literary Group

The Library and Art committees are co-sponsoring a tour of Moore in America: Monumental Sculpture at The New York Botanical Garden on Thursday, September 25. This is the largest outdoor exhibit of Henry Moore’s sculpture ever presented in a single venue in the U.S. The twenty colossal works are displayed throughout the Garden’s 250 acres, among its fifty gardens and plant collections, providing an impressive interaction of nature and art such as Moore envisioned. There will be a two-hour narrated tram tour, with Alex Rosenberg as the onsite leader.

Committees Plan Trip to View The group will also visit the LuEsther T. Mertz Library, one of the world’s largest and most important botanical and horticultural research libraries. It contains more than one million accessioned items (books, journals, original art and illustrations, seed and nursery catalogs, architectural plans of glass houses, scientific reprints and photographs), and more than 4,500 linear feet of archival material.

Participants will lunch at the Club at 12 noon and then be transported to the exhibit. For reservations and information, call the Club office.

The 66th Street Salon will convene on Thursday, October 2, 2008, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. ($15). The discussion, on the topic “Second-Wave Feminist Fiction Revisited,” will be moderated by Elyse Bloom Greenfield, Salon co-chair with John Sussek III. Participants are encouraged to review the feminist literary voices that emerged during the 1960s and 1970s, to reflect on the social and literary traditions they challenged, and to consider whether their influence is detectable in contemporary writing by women.

Suggested readings are the following works of that period: Fear of Flying by Erica Jong; The Women’s Room by Marilyn French; The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing; Surfacing by Margaret Atwood; any work by Fay Weldon; Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch and Kate Millett’s Sexual Politics.

Participants may wish to make separate dinner reservations to continue the conversation.

Henry Moore Sculpture Exhibit

Supreme Court

On Monday, September 22, a Program Lecture on “The Struggle for the Supreme Court” will be given by A.E. Dick Howard, the White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public Affairs at the University of Virginia (cocktails, 6:30 p.m.; $35).

Professor Howard was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo L. Black. He also was executive director of the commission that wrote Virginia’s new Constitution, and directed the successful campaign for its ratification. An authority on constitutional law, Professor Howard is often consulted by constitutional draftsmen in other states and abroad. In 2007, the Library of Virginia and the Richmond Times-Dispatch included him on their list of the “greatest and most influential Virginians” of the 20th century.

Technology

On Wednesday, September 24, Sree Sreenivasan will offer attendees an informative talk on “10 New Tech Things to Try Today,” including new ideas, a useful handout and a whole new outlook on technology (cocktails, 6 p.m.; $25).

A journalism educator, technology expert and freelance journalist and blogger, Mr. Sreenivasan is dean of student affairs at Columbia University’s journalism school. He also serves as technology reporter for WNBC-TV in New York City. His work explaining technology has appeared in The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Rolling Stone and Popular Science. Professor Sreenivasan is a co-founder of SAJA, a group of more than 1,000 journalists across the U.S. and Canada. He was named one of Newsweek’s “20 most influential South Asians in the Nation” (2004) and India Abroad’s “50 most influential Indians in the U.S.” (2007).

September Lectures Are Diverse (continued from page 1)

Sets Meeting

Medals, Edward Albee’s Seascape, Steel Magnolias, The Foreigner, Mornings at Seven, On Golden Pond (Drama League Medal), Long Day’s Journey Into Night and Driving Miss Daisy. She is often recognized on the streets of Manhattan for her role as Bunny MacDougal on the HBO television series “Sex and the City.”

Early reservations are recommended since space is limited.

“Dinner Theater” (continued from page 1)

Club Holiday

In observance of Labor Day, The Lotos Club will be closed

on Monday, September 1. Bedrooms are open

every day of the year.


The Lotos Club Page Seven

One of the most perplexing and confusing political issues we all face today is the role of Islam in our modern western world. The recommendations given to us by our government as to how we are to respond to the Muslim community are not at all clear. What I hear constantly when discussing the issue of Islam and our modern world is the question “Where are the moderate voices?” But it becomes clear the more one learns about Islam, as the national and international discussions go on, is that there are lots of moderate voices out there. And it becomes clearer, as time marches on, that Islam, like every other civilization, will either turn in substantive ways to some form of democracy (not necessarily on the model of the Midwestern USA version) or in time their world will perish, too. Think of the Third Reich, which was scheduled by its leaders to endure for 1,000 years, and Soviet-style communism, which many (in the USA, too) thought would provide the political Arcadia for the future. Neither of these hostile, non-democratic regimes survived into the 21st century. A history lesson there.

And perhaps we need another history lesson as we ponder the future of Islam. One way to begin might be to look at the historical origins of Islam and the Muslim community. A recent book, The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In by the distinguished Scottish historian, Professor Hugh Kennedy, is for me (and I encourage it for you as well) the best book on the subject “Where in the world did the Muslims come from?”

The prophet Muhammad lived (probably) between the years AD 570-632. Supposedly, when he was 40 years old, the angel Gabriel appeared

Literary Suggestion for Lotosians – A Review

The Great Arab Conquests by Hugh Kennedy

by William A. Johnson, moderator of the Great Thinkers Seminar

Roman Empire and they succeeded in just about one-half of the time. Within 100 years, the Arab/Muslim armies were on the frontier of China in the East (thereby setting the scene for the Taliban Muslims in our day to destroy the sacred statues of the Buddha). Five thousand miles away they charged triumphantly and mercilessly across Spain to battle the Merovingian princes in what is now France.

In those 100 years, the cultural contours of the world changed radically. For the first time ever, an empire was created that was based upon faith in Allah (who was for the Muslim the only god – who, interestingly, spoke only Arabic). It destroyed the 1,000-year-old world with its commerce culture, politics and religion. It transformed Arabic from a desert language into an international lingua franca supplanting Greek and Latin, and became for the next 1,000 years the primary medium of human knowledge. The point being, as affirmed by Professor Kennedy, that the military conquest was united with a cultural and intellectual transformation that changed the world forever.

Professor Kennedy writes his history with great clarity. He reminds us that the early Muslim leaders were not illiterate Bedouin nomads, but urban people and competent military leaders. And once the tribal factions realized that they were fighting for a common cause, they united under the all-mighty power of Allah, encouraged by the Koranic doctrine of the jihad, the teaching that the enemies of Islam must be annihilated; those who performed that service would be handsomely rewarded in paradise. And so the cult of Muslim martyr was born.

So now again we hear the common human plea: “Where are the voices of the moderates?”

to him on Mount Hora, close to the city of Mecca. Gabriel told Muhammad to come forward as a prophet to tell the people in the city of Mecca the meaning of what was to become for them “the true religion.” According to the legends of that time, God revealed to Muhammad the teachings of a true religion as dictated to him by God (Allah) and written down in the Koran (Qur’an). Muhammad attacked superstition and exhorted the people to a pious, moral life, and belief in an all-powerful, all-just and merciful God, who has chosen Muhammad as his prophet. God’s mercy was obtained by prayer, fasting and alms-giving.

His teachings were not immediately accepted by the people in Mecca, and Muhammad fled to Medina in 622 (which scholars date as the beginning of the Muslim era). In 630, Muhammad led an army that conquered Mecca. He was then recognized as the true prophet of the true new religion of Islam (which means simply submission to the will of Allah). Muhammad’s pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca in 632, became the prototype for all future Muslim pilgrimages. All Muslims, if they are able, must make hajj once in their lives.

There have been few events in the long history of the world that have had such an impact as the arrival of Islam. In a little more than 100 years after the death of Muhammad in 632, the Arab followers of the prophet conquered all of the centers of Near- Eastern civilization. They erased the great power of Persia, their chief competition for rule of the Near East, reduced Byzantium, another rival, to a small city-state centered around the city of Constantinople, and also destroyed the Visigoth kingdom of Spain.

The east-west expanse of the Arab empire was greater than that of the


Page Eight The Lotos Club

LOTOS EVENTS AT A GLANCE For reservations, please call (212) 737-7100

SEPTEMBER Monday, 1st Labor Day. Club closed, bedrooms open Wednesday, 3rd Fall Opening Cocktail Party Thursday, 4th 66th Street Salon, literary roundtable, the political

novel with Lotos member Fortuna Calvo-Roth Monday, 8th Musically Speaking, Daniel Palumbo (Metropolitan

Opera) Thursday, 11th Library Reading with Lotos member Rita Jacobs Tuesday, 16th Literary Lecture, H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger (Friday

Night Lights) Saturday, 20th Great Thinkers Seminar with William A. Johnson,

Look Howard Angel or You Can’t Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe

Monday, 22nd Program Lecture, A. E. Dick Howard (Supreme Court)

Tuesday, 23rd History Talk Table with David N. Schwartz, A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin

Wednesday, 24th Science and Technology Lecture, Sree Sreenivasan (new media program, Columbia School of Journalism)

OCTOBER Wednesday. 1st Lotos Conversation, Glenn Kramon (N.Y. Times) Thursday, 2nd Afternoon Book Discussion with Jacqueline S.

Aronson Thursday, 2nd 66th Street Salon, literary roundtable in the Grill Friday, 3rd Opera Table with Robert W. Gutman Saturday, 4th Great Thinkers Seminar with William A. Johnson Tuesday, 7th STATE DINNER, LOUIS AUCHINCLOSS Monday, 13th Columbus Day. Club closed, bedrooms open Tuesday, 14th Evening Book Discussion with Jacqueline S. Aronson Wednesday, 15th Literary Talk Table with Jane Marks Hart Wednesday, 15th Art Lecture, Leigh and Leslie Keno (antiques) Tuesday, 21st History Talk Table with David N. Schwartz Tuesday, 21st Lotos Foundation Gala Thursday, 23rd Poetry Talk Table with Belinda Pokorny Saturday, 25th Great Thinkers Seminar with William A. Johnson Monday, 27th Program Lecture, David McCormick (broadcasting

election results) Wednesday, 29th Library Lecture, Chester Burger (New York City

treasures) Thursday, 30th Special Event, Dinner Theater with Frances

Sternhagen and John Cunningham

Conversations Glenn Kramon, assistant managing editor at The New York Times, will commence the Lotos Conversation fall semester on Wednesday, October 1st. Mr. Kramon is perhaps best known within the industry for establishing a system for Times editors to become as skilled as managers are they already were as journalists. His accolades include the first Gerald Loeb/Lawrence Minard award for outstanding work as an editor. His extensive knowledge of the inner workings of a major newspaper is sure to elicit an enlightening discussion. Diana Taylor, former superintendent of banks for the State of New York, will speak at the November 6th Conversation. Ms. Taylor, who began her career at Lehman Brothers (now Smith Barney), then later moved to Donaldson Luftkin & Jenrette, is adept to discuss the numerous issues facing the current economic climate. She has more than twenty years of experience in both the public and private sector of banking. Her avocational activities include service on the boards of Sotheby’s, the New York Woman’s Foundation and ACCION International. Simone Genatt, president of Broadway Asia, will speak on December 3rd at the final fall Conversation. A graduate of Stanford University and l’Universite de Nice, Ms. Genatt later apprenticed at the Shubert Organization under the tutelage of Gerald Schoenfield and thereafter worked with Roger Berlind. She is a recipient of the Robert M. Golden Award, is fluent in six languages, and has degrees in theater production and direction, sociolinguistics and musical theater.

Reciprocal Clubs Update As of September 1, 2008, The Lotos Club no longer has reciprocal arrangements with either the Coffee House in New York City or the St. Botolph Club in Boston. The decision to end these affiliations was based on the infrequent use of these clubs by Lotos members.

Reserve Early for Thanksgiving

Seatings:

1 p.m. and 4 p.m. in Ballroom and Library 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. in Grill Room

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16

17

18

19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28

29

30

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR OCTOBER

Wednesday, 1st Lotos Conversation with Glenn Kramon Tuesday, 7th STATE DINNER WITH LOUIS AUCHINCLOSS Wednesday, 15th Art Lecture with Leigh and Leslie Keno Monday, 27th Program Lecture with David McCormick Wednesday, 29th Library Lecture with Chester Burger Thursday, 30th Special Event with Frances Sternhagen and John Cunningham

Public Affairs Committee, 6 p.m.

Beef Wellington & Bordeaux

THE LOTOS CLUB CALENDAR

SEPTEMBER 2008 Reservations Are Important Call 737-7100

The Lotos Club Five East Sixty-sixth Street New York City 10065

DINING HOURS: Monday through Friday Luncheon 12 to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday

Dinner 6 to 9 p.m.

Reservations Call (212) 737-7100

Archives Committee, 6 p.m.

Special Events Committee, 6 p.m.


Lobster Night (Reserve your lobsters)

House Committee, 6 p.m.

Science and Technology Lecture,

Sree Sreenivasan, 6 p.m.


Committee on Admissions

6 p.m.


Program Committee, 6 p.m.

Science & Technology Committee

6 p.m.

Club Night

Literary Lecture, H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger

6:30 p.m.

Dover Sole Night

Great Thinkers Seminar (1 of 5)

9 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

Governance Committee, 6 p.m.

Foundation Board, 6 p.m.

Library Reading, Rita D. Jacobs, 6:30 p.m.


Art Committee 6 p.m.

Musically Speaking, Donald Palumbo

6:30 p.m.

Club Night

Music Committee

6 p.m.

Dover Sole Night

Program Lecture, A.E. Dick Howard

6:30 p.m.

Club Night

Monday-Friday Prix Fixe Dinner $44.00 and

Regular à la carte menu

Club Night Dover Sole Night

Labor Day Club closed

bedrooms open

Fall Opening Cocktail Party

6-8 p.m.


State Dinner Committee

6 p.m.

The 66th Street Salon 6-7:30 p.m.


History Talk Table, David N. Schwartz

11:30 a.m.

Finance Committee 6 p.m.

Dover Sole Night

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR NOVEMBER

Monday, 3rd Opening Reception, Art Exhibition, Loretta H. Cooper Thursday, 6th Lotos Conversation with Diana Taylor Tuesday, 11th Veterans’ Day Dinner in the Grill Wednesday, 12th Mark Twain Dinner (members only) Wednesday, 19th Science and Technology Evening with Sylvia Earle Thursday, 27th Thanksgiving Buffet Dinner

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THE LOTOS CLUB CALENDAR

OCTOBER 2008 Reservations Are Important Call 737-7100

The Lotos Club Five East Sixty-sixth Street New York City 10065

Literary Talk Table, Jane M. Hart, 12 noon

Membership Committee 6 p.m.

Art Lecture, Leslie and Leigh Keno, 6:30 p.m.


Library Committee, 6 p.m.



Poetry Talk Table, Belinda Pokorny

11:30 a.m.

Committee on Admissions, 6 p.m.


Columbus Day Club closed

Bedroom open Book Discussion,

(1 of 4) 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Dover Sole Night


9 a.m.-2:30 p.m.


9 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

Saturday Night Dining in the Grill

Club Night

STATE DINNER, LOUIS

AUCHINCLOSS 6:30 p.m.

Club closed after breakfast

Foundation Board 6 p.m.

House Committee 6 p.m.

Club Night

Monday-Friday

Prix Fixe Dinner $44.00 and Regular à la carte menu

Book Discussion 12:30-2:30 p.m.

The 66th Street Salon 6-7:30 p.m.

Young Leadership Committee, 7 p.m.


History Talk Table, David N. Schwartz

11:30 a.m.

Finance Committee 6 p.m.

Dover Sole Night

Program Lecture David McCormick

6:30 p.m.

Club Night

Meeting of the Directory

6 p.m.

Dover Sole Night

Opera Talk Table, Robert W. Gutman

12 noon

Lotos Conversation, Glenn Kramon

6:30 p.m.


Saturday Night Dining in the Grill Resumes

Library Lecture, Chester Burger

12 noon


Special Events Evening,

Two on the Aisle 6 p.m.



Club closed Bedroom open

DINING HOURS: Monday through Friday Luncheon 12 to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday

Dinner 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday Dinner 6:30-9 p.m.

Reservations Call (212) 737-7100

Camilo Moronta, music teacher at the Margaret Douglas School (P.S. 36) in Manhattan, and Cynthia Mullins-Smith, principal, received the Louis Padovano Scholarship in the Arts to provide students with the realistic training needed to enable them to excel in the area of music.

THE LOTOS FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT

The Lotos Foundation — 2008

The Lotos Foundation, established in 2000, as a tax-exempt 501 (c)(3) organization, is beginning its ninth year. The Foundation supports and encourages writers, artists, musicians, architects, journalists, educators, scientists, members of the dramatic and learned professions, and students in those fields. At its 2008 Awards Ceremony held at the Club on May 22, the Foundation presented scholarships and awards totaling $58,000. Pictured below are some of the recipients. All the photographs were taken by R. Andrew Lepley. Identifications of people in the photos are from left to right.

John Sussek, retiring president of The Lotos Foundation, Patrick J. Frawley, president of The Lotos Club, and Melvin Stecher, incoming president of The Lotos Foundation, during the Foundation’s Awards Ceremony.

Ellen Weinstein, artistic director of The National Dance Institute, accepts the Louis Padovano Scholarship in the Arts from John Sussek and Melvin Stecher. Founded by New York City Ballet principal dancer Jacque d’Amboise, the Institute strives to reach every child, transcending barriers of language, culture and physical challenges.

Gregory Amenoff, chair of the Visual Arts Division, School of the Arts, Columbia University; Melvin Stecher; and Benjamin Schore, member of the Board of Managers of The Lotos Foundation, congratulate Martin Jefferson Basher, recipient of The Lotos Prize in the Arts for his outstanding work as an emerging artist in the Visual Arts Division at The Columbia University School of the Arts.

THE LOTOS FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT

Other recipients selected by the Programs and Awards Committee were the following: The Future Filmmakers Program at The Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Selected are applicants that are traditionally underrepresented in the film industry. Fifteen are chosen to attend thirteen all-day Saturday sessions.

LOVE (Leave Out Violence) is an after-school program for high school students dedicated to encouraging expression through writing and photography.

Girls Write Now provides a safe and supportive environment where girls can expand their natural writing talents, develop independent, creative voices, and make healthy choices in school, career and life.

The Community Word Project an Arts-in-Education organization, seeks to increase the literacy and leadership of at-risk public school youth by integrating creative expression and community building into their classrooms.

Kristine Moran, an emerging artist in the Master of Fine Arts Program at Hunter College, received the Lotos Prize in the Arts for her outstanding talent and accomplishments.

The Foundation made a special gift to the Lotos Club, for the publication of a book, The Members of the Lotos Club 1870-2007. This book will be given to each member of Lotos and placed in libraries throughout the United States and abroad.

The Lotos Foundation invites members of The Lotos Club to recommend specific non-profit organizations that are worthy of consideration

and whose guidelines are commensurate with that of The Lotos Foundation.

Save the Date

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 The Lotos Foundation Gala

at The Lotos Club

Michelle Aragon and Tachrina Ahmed, winners of Louis Padovano Scholarships in the Arts, will attend Columbia University’s Summer High School Writing Program. Selected by The Teacher s and Writers Collaborative, both students attend the Bronx Academy of Letters.

Pictured with Burt Stern (center) are award recipients John Seward (Pratt Institute), David Elzer (Cooper Union), Youliya Ilizarov (CCNY School of Architecture) and Chitanzo Lamba (CCNY School of Architecture). The Burt L. Stern Architectural Award rewards talent and encourages further education in architecture.

news & notes from the lotos club• kitchen freezer replaced • ballroom and third floor pantry...

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