Sharing our Northern Marianas Islands Connections

Our thanks to Nick Adams for this summary of the presentation Bill and I gave to the Glenwood Springs Colorado Rotarians at our August 2023 meeting.

The club welcomed 4 guests this week, including Bill Flood who presented with his wife of 60 years and Rotarian, Nancy Bo Flood.

Nancy and Bill recently returned from Saipan where Nancy was doing an educational trip to Northern Marianas College. The focus of the trip was to educate educators on the history of Saipan.  This trip was a return to the island for Bill and Nancy. In the short time we were blessed to here from these two passionate speakers, there was much to learn about the history and importance of the Northern Mariana Islands. From the early days of Magellan to the current days of the United States, and everything in between, there is a lot of significance and history to the islands. Nancy has written several books (5) on the islands from the vantage point of the locals.  While she shared an excerpt from her book Warriors in the Crossfire and several stories, there is so much more to the islands. Bill shared a story of his 500 mile journey via a canoe and spoke of coconut shavings and the refreshing ocean water (you had to be there).  Nancy left us with a visual and a statement.  Holding a beach ball that resembled the globe she reminded us that 30% of the Earth is the Pacific Ocean (the largest water mass on the planet) and that 71% of the Earth’s surface is water covered. She then told us of a quote, “The ocean does not divide us, it connects us.”