Tess Chakkalakal [pronounced “Chah-KAHL-ickle”] is the Peter M. Small Associate Professor of Africana Studies and English at Bowdoin College. She has published widely on nineteenth-century African American and American literature. She is the author of Novel Bondage: Slavery, Marriage, and Freedom in Nineteenth-Century America (Illinois, 2011) which earned the Robert K. Martin Prize for best book on American literature and “a must read” title by Choice.  

Her book, Novel Bondage, takes apart the interconnections between marriage, slavery, and freedom, as conveyed in nineteenth-century novels and short stories by black and white authors. She examines how these early novels established literary conventions for describing the domestic lives of American slaves and their search to fulfill their aspirations for personal and civic freedom. Her work also focuses on Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a book that was written in the shadow of Bowdoin College. Prof. Chakkalakal’s writings challenge readers to reconsider the “marital work” of nineteenth-century fiction and its historical role in shaping our understanding of the literary and political meaning of marriage.

She is co-editor of Jim Crow, Literature, and the Legacy of Sutton E. Griggs (Georgia, 2013). Professor Chakkalakal has earned fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Social Science and Humanities Research Council, Duke University, Emory University, and the Mellon Foundation. Before coming to Bowdoin in 2008, Professor Chakkalakal taught at Williams College and Bowling Green State University.
 

Mark Roberts, a police officer for 18 years and now a Senior Fire Investigator with the State Fire Marshal’s Office (SFMO) along with his Accelerant Detection K9 partner Deacon, gave a fascinating talk about their work.

Deacon is a 4-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, who works with Mark as part of the investigation in the State of ME Fire Marshall’s Office. Maine has 500 fires annually, and with 12 investigators, reviews 150-200 possible arsons. Maine typically has 11-21 fire-related fatalities per year. Investigations often focus on accelerants, and K9s are trained and certified for 50-60 different accelerants. After the dog detects, confirmations of the chemical are done by the Maine lab. The dogs provide evidence in the investigation and can quickly work a large area in 2-3 minutes.

We were surprised to learn that Deacon is trained using his basic hunting instinct. He finds accelerants and earns his food doing so. His only food is given when he works. This means he  trains every day, when not actually working a fire scene. He is a very happy dog, as dogs love to work.

Science has demonstrated that dogs have 220 million olfactory sensors while humans have only 5 million. 1/8 of a dog’s brain is dedicated to scent determination and scent discrimination. Dogs smell things independently and can keep the layers separate. Deacon does not smell pizza, he independently smells crust, sauce, cheese, meat etc. Dogs are entirely unbiased, so he makes objective decisions all the time. People are more trusting of the investigations by dogs than by people. 

State Farm Insurance pays for the Arson Dog Program which was established with the Maine State Police under the guidelines of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy. The Maine program is the longest running and one of only two arson training programs in the country. All dogs are second chance, second career. Deacon failed as a disability dog as he was too high energy, but that made him well suited as an arson dog.

Labrador retrievers are used as there is no worry about dog bites, people are comfortable with Labs, and Labs can scent the crowd to detect bystanders who may have accelerants. There is still no technology yet to replace dogs.

For more information, go to: https://www.maine.gov/dps/fmo/investigations/index.html

(Photo L-R: PP Bob Traill, President John Curran, Officer Mark Roberts and his K-9 partner, Deacon.)

President John Curran opened the Rotary meeting at the Clarion by welcoming 45 members, 1 visiting Rotarian and 2 guests. Charlie Frair presented the invocation, recalling the wise words from his recently-deceased father, given when he was in need of inspiration. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going,” led Charlie to become a high school varsity athlete. “Our world is round, so what seems like the end, is really just a beginning,” are words that consoled Charlie at a time when he had experienced a personal loss. Our patriotic song, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” was led by PP Bill Blount.

President John introduced Rotary guests and described how our club is reaching out to collaborate with community organizations. He welcomed Alain J. Nahimana, the Executive Director​ of the Immigrant Welcome Center in Portland and Merissa Fortier, who is the associate director of the Michael Phelps Foundation, with a mission to improve education about children and water safety, located in Portland. Also, he reminded the club about the contact for Crutches4Africa being Roger Fagan. Long Creek Development Center's game night is on Tuesday, Sep. 18th.

PP Bill Blount and assisted chorus, led a singing of the “Grand State of Maine” song. (Photo at right: PP Bill, Gracie Johnston, Erik Jorgensen, Dave Putnam and Nan Heald.)

Visiting Rotarian from Tampa, Florida-  Larry Vickman exchanged Rotary banners with President John.

(Photo at left L-R: Larry Vickman and President John Curran.)

Thanks to Gracie Johnston (On left side of photo at right), the Community Service chair, for organizing the Preble Street Rotary volunteers. Ali Brauner (On right side of photo at right), volunteer manager at Preble Street was with us to tell how the program was going. She thanked the Rotarians for their volunteer services and described the essential volunteer work needed to help with the meal services for the hundreds of people who are served at the Preble Street Resource Center Soup Kitchen on Oxford Street. “The need for volunteers continues to grow.” she said, "The Resource Center is extending the services for all three meals served each day. Portland Rotary volunteers at the kitchen from 3:30-6:30, on the last Wednesday of the month. Every day, Preble Street serves 1,000 meals, seating 350 people at each meal. Over the past six years, Portland Rotary has provided 1, 500 hours of volunteer help. Volunteers should sign up in advance of the 4th Wednesday or any day when they can work, so the Preble Street staff can organize their schedules accordingly. Email: volunteer@preblestreet.org or check the logon at portlandrotary.preblestreet.volunteerhub.com 

Paul Tully reported updates to the Second Annual Veterans' Appreciation Lunch to be held on  November 9, 2018, at the Holiday Inn on Spring Street, at 12 noon. A committee made contact with several military leaders and they have confirmed the speakers for this year’s program who are Major General John W. Libby, retired adjutant General of the Maine Army National Guard and Captain Jonathan D. Bratten, Command Historian, of the Maine Army National Guard. Captain Bratten will speak about World War I history. Publicity has been offered by Maine Today. The goal is to exceed 300 veteran guest participants.

1st  Vice President Amy Chipman introduced Francine Laporte (On right side in photo at right) as the newest Portland Rotarian. In fact, Amy and Francine first met at a Rotary social program hosted by Charlie Frair. Francine grew up in Brooklyn and has traveled across the United States, Canada, Japan, Europe, Central and South America, before finding her second home in Oaxaca, Mexico. She volunteers as an English language tutor, and is a fund raiser for economically disadvantaged students and an immigrant advocate. We cordially welcome Francine to the Rotary Club of Portland!

With Bruce Jones conducting the weekly raffle, that has reached $1,010, Meredith Small got an opportunity to try and find the Queen of Hearts, but the elusive queen just did not want to be found and the pot continues to grow.
 

Game Night             3rd Tuesday ea month
Long Creek              Mike Fortunato
Youth Center           michael.k.fortunato@gmail.com
                              or Jim Willey
                              jimandbarbarawilley@gmail.com