Defense attorney John Henry Brown spoke at Emerald City Rotary today. He did a great job of compressing an incredible career into 25 minutes. Ranging from his decision (while in jail) to become an attorney, to defending Ted Bundy at the age of 29, to his current project representing Sgt. Bales, he certainly has a great many stories to tell.
It is no wonder that he finds himself in the media as often as he does because he talks in easy to remember quotes that have a lasting resonance. Anyone interesting in cultivating a public image should take note of that tactic. Accordingly, I think the best way to relate the content of his presentation is in those quotes:
- What I do is service work. (Rotary International reference)
- The only reason to be a lawyer is to help people.
- People come together when they need to come together. (9/11 reference)
- Ted Bundy had no concept that we are all connected. (Like all sociopaths)
- My father says we need people that stand between people and power.
- I think everyone should get locked up for no reason. (As a lesson in the value of our constitution)
- A liberal is a police officer that has been charged with a crime.
- I was infused by my father with the concept that you should always give more than you take.
Speaking of quotes, John Henry Brown then relayed his favorite quote that he attributed to Thomas Jefferson: “Once you give up some freedom for more security...soon you will have neither.” I tried to fact check that one and the closest I could get was this quote:
"Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security." which I believe is attributed to Benjamin Franklin. Good point either way.
Here is more on John Henry Brown in a recent article by Seattle Met magazine.
Today at Emerald City Rotary we had a terrific speaker from the Soros Foundation, Camile McDormand.
The Soros Foundation is the work of George Soros, the legendary immigrant from Hungary that became a titan on Wall Street. Famous and now rich for his work in currency trading, Soros was blamed in many south east asian nations as the cause of the 1997 currency crash, also known as the 'Asian Contagion'.
It is particularly ironic therefore that the Soros Foundation has such a soft spot for Burma/Myanmar where Ms. McDormand has been spending the past few years working with refugees on the Burma - Thai border. These refugees number in the hundreds of thousands, many of which have been living in the confines of camps for decades. Truly a problem that I am grateful someone with the resources and resolve of the Soros Foundation is worried about.
Camile McDormand gave us a great overview of the history of the problem, with particular attention to the time starting with the attempted revolution in 1988 and the military government's brutal suppression. Since 1990 Aung San Suu Kyi has been one of world's the most well known political prisoners, under house arrest until earlier this year when she was elected into the lower house of parlament. We were delighted to learn from Ms. McDormand that more progress has been made in this embattled country in the last year than in the prior 50.
The Soros Foundation has been working hard to bring aid to the refugees, but also to assist in the education of a new generation of leaders for the country. Recognizing that the local education system was not teaching critical thinking skills, the Soros Foundation is working to provide educational opportunities for Burmese citizens -- outside of the country.
According to Forbes, Since 1979 the Soros Foundation has contributed 8.5 billion dollars to causes such as this.
Today at Emerald City Rotary, Edie Harding from The Gates Foundation gave an overview of the work she is doing in Education Pathways and her focus on cradle to college educational initiatives. First some numbers though.
Since 1994 the Gates Foundation has contributed $3 Billion in Washington state. Half of that has gone for health initiatives, half for education with the aim of reducing intergenerational poverty. Through their Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) study the Gates Foundation has established that teachers make the biggest difference in educational outcomes, and are investing most heavily in initiatives focused on teachers. They have quantified that a good teacher has 14 times the impact of reducing class size by 5 students.
The Gates Foundation hands out 170 grants, the average of which is $760,000. Those of you with good math skills or a calculator on your phone realize that this is a funding pace of $130 Million - per year. All in Washington state. They are focusing on college ready, but mostly community college ready, and early learning.
Their goals are not for the feint of heart:
- Increase college readiness to 75%
- Double the number of students ready for college in the hardest hit areas
- Eliminate the performance disparity found in low income students
It is safe to say that we are all very fortunate to have The Gates Foundation in our back yard.
Here is the link to the MET Study page on The Gates Foundation website.
Here is a link to Edie Harding's public Linked In page.
