Our insightful President, Kelsey Long, opened this week’s meeting with a reminder that, although public opinion seems to be shifting on the issue of racism, there are still those people who oppose that change, and they often veil their objections, cloaking them in other topics. Kelsey remarked that it is important that we remind ourselves of this effort each week so that when we witness that veiled racism we can address it. She then led us into our usual minute of silence in acknowledgment and support of the Black Lives Matter movement before turning the meeting over to this week’s Toastmaster, Alvin Powell.
Alvin chose “faux pas” as his word of the day, and reminded us throughout the meeting to make sure we show appreciation to the people around us, and not commit the faux pas of allowing our friends and family not to feel fully valued. We had thirteen people in attendance, including twelve members and one guest, Greg Sutton. After a round of introductions, Alvin turned the meeting over to our first speaker of the day, Amelya Black.
Employing her signature descriptive story-telling style, Amelya took us all on a journey through beautiful Green Hill Cemetery in Greensboro. Starting with her tale of learning to drive by winding through the cemetery lanes, and finishing up with her decision to (eventually) make Green Hill Cemetery her final resting place, Amelya shared with us what that peaceful place has meant to her. Amelya left us all smiling as our Friday morning meeting was imbued with a little of that peacefulness from her enchanting presentation. Her evaluator, Tim Murphy commended Amelya on her exceptional vocal variety and imagery and how well she kept her audience engaged throughout her talk. Tim also noted that Amelya managed to talk about the difficult subject of death in a conversational way that made it palatable for her audience.
Our second speaker, John Doggett, gave a presentation titled “Why I Ran for Town Council.” In his talk, John described the series of unfortunate events that led to the demise of his family home in Summerfield, and how that influenced his decision years later to run for the Summerfield Town Council. John’s home had burned down due in large part to the lack of a water source for fire protection close to his home. These many years later the town is still relying on those same water sources. John is hoping to change that by fighting for a more centralized water system to help save homes from the devastation his family experienced. His evaluator, Savannah Murphy, applauded John’s fascinating tale and noted that his clever and descriptive story telling really drove home his reasons for wanting to step in to public office and make changes.
Nereida Sutton served as Table Topics Master, and challenged us to talk about ourselves and things that are important to us. Members shared their reasons for not having heroes, their fear of losing a family member, their struggles with letting people know when they are upset, and their perseverance in the face of “really hard things.” First-time guest, Greg Sutton, also volunteered for a question and shared how his vision of his family’s future helps motivate him to work hard.
Norris Bass served as the General Evaluator, and gave a thorough review of the meeting. Karen Rhodes was the Timer this week, and reported on times for the prepared speeches, Table Topics responses and speech evaluations. Dave Burr, serving as Grammarian, reminded us to try and avoid using clipped words such as ‘gonna’ and ‘kinda’ when we are speaking.
The VP Education, Savannah Murphy, has completed the schedule of roles for the remainder of the year. Please check the schedule so you have time to find a replacement for any scheduling conflicts. Also, note that we will not be meeting the Friday after Thanksgiving.
The next Sunrise Toastmasters meeting will be at 7 am, November 12 EST on Zoom.
The roles for that meeting are as follows:
Toastmaster: Kelsey
Speakers: (1) Summer, (2) Savannah
Table Topics: Nereida
Gen. Evaluator: Alvin
Evaluators: (1) Tim, (2) Karen
Timer: Dave
Grammarian: Amelya
It would be a regrettable faux pas for you not to join us at Sunrise Toastmasters where we are helping each other advance our communication and leadership skills each week.
