Minutes from Friday, September 5, 2025
Sunrise Toastmasters
This week’s meeting started with a warm welcome from our President, Toastmaster Abdulrahaman Albazie. He discussed numbers he had researched this week which demonstrated lower incidence of home ownership and generational wealth among Black members of society which presented barriers to opportunity, and led us into our moment of silence in recognition of the Black Lives Matter movement and the ongoing struggle for racial equality. The introduction was concluded with reminders such as use of the bias flag as a tool toward becoming more conscientious speakers before turning the meeting over to our Toastmaster of the Day, Toastmaster Savannah Murphy. Savvy led us through a round of introductions for our guests Betty Fulk, Richard Gary, and Robert Shephard before introducing the word of the day “nostalgia” meaning a sentimental longing or affection for the past.
Toastmaster Dave Burr introduced our first speaker, Toastmaster Kendra Hiatt who spoke on the topic “Message from a conflicted UNC Fan (or how do I root for my beloved Tar Heels and not Bill Belichick?!?).” Kendra spoke about growing up watching Sunday NFL (American) football with her parents, but gravitating to supporting college sports as an adult. She had attended the University of North Carolina and is a great supporter of the Tar Heels. Kendra relayed her consternation upon realizing the hiring of former New England Patriots head coach, Bill Bellichick, for the open UNC head coach position was not an internet joke but instead a fact. There has been a great hullabaloo and celebration ever since and it has been hard for her to wrap her head around this. She concluded by surmising that she is not close to resolving this internal struggle because she had a good laugh after the Tar Heels lost their season opener last weekend!
Toastmaster Norris Bass introduced our second speaker, Toastmaster Melissa Dunmers who was presenting her ice breaker speech, “Oh honey, it was a lot worse than we thought.” Melissa spoke of a horse riding accident she had in the past which left her with a shattered back and needing to undergo surgery and a long recovery which she achieved through setting daily goals. She learned that the only way forward was to acknowledge her vulnerability and anxiety, and related this to same she feels when having to speak in front of others at work. She uses EMDR therapy, practicing mindfulness, and joined Toastmasters all as tools to achieve success and overcome this obstacle. Melissa concluded by stating that true growth only comes when you allow yourself to experience discomfort. Bravo for an excellent ice breaker!
Table Topics was led by Toastmaster Kehinde Eniola andfocused on our word of the day. Toastmaster Matthew Choate found that video games and times with friends evoked wisps of nostalgia from his youth, yet is never quite the same. Toastmaster Dave Burr experienced nostalgia from childhood summer experiences, arriving at camp and recalling the excitement of seeing campers and counselors from previous summers. Toastmaster Tim Murphy had fond memories of the song “Don’t You Forget About Me” by Simple Minds from his second date with Summer. Toastmaster Kerstin Haase felt the best piece of advice she had received and passed onto her kids was for them to “own their shit.” She had come from a large family where there was no choice but to manage yourself and had been a great life lesson for her to share with her own children. Returning guest Toastmaster Yuko Honda shared that a recent return to her Junior High School and seeing the students and teachers had evoked cherished memories of her own time there. Savvy felt nostalgia was more about unexpected moments that trigger a nostalgic recollection of a past time, more than certain individuals or places do. Norris expressed nostalgic memories of weekly Sunday gatherings at his grandmother’s home and playing with his cousins as cherished family tradition from his youth.
We then moved onto the Breakfast of Champions, speech and meeting evaluations. Toastmaster Lucrecia Abasto served as our General Evaluator, turning it over to Dave to complete Speaker 1 evaluation and then to Norris to complete Speaker 2 evaluation. Toastmaster Summer Murphy filled the Timer role.
Food for thought:
There is always a bit of sadness to go along with nostalgia.
I’m here, and I’m uncomfortable.
Roles for Friday, September 12 are as follows:
Toastmaster: Stiles
Speaker 1: Tina Joe
Speaker 2: Matthew
Table Topics: Chang
Gen Evaluator: Kendra
Evaluator 1: Savvy
Evaluator 2: Kerstin
Timer: Dave
Grammarian: Melissa
