Page 28 - july 2022
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GLEANINGS FROM THE GROVE











       Your Adventure Begins Now!



       Paul C. Fanning, DTM








      Imagine that you are about to play an online  members at the college. I sat and listened, but                              At the lectern, he proceeded to lambast my  and months. At the end of three months, I found

      role-playing game—an RPG. There would be  was that a bead of sweat forming on my brow?                                 speech, pointing out that the examples I used  myself in a wheelchair due to a massive foot
      flashing lights, great graphics, and of course  Were my 3x5 cards with my notes written in                             were people unpopular with native peoples, and  infection attributed to where I worked and being
      the ever-present, modulated voice-over found  large letters actually readable on the lectern?                          how insensitive I was to the native local culture  in wet boots and socks most of the time. The
      in many of these types of games. That voice— Was that butterflies in my stomach or a greasy                            on the reservation. You could have knocked  doctor gave me an ultimatum—change jobs or

      dramatic, somewhat menacing (but not too Darth  lunch rebelling? And then I heard my name, my                          me over with a (prayer) feather! Not only was I  plan to remain in the chair without my foot and
      Vader-like) but oh so "Hollywood” intones, “Your  speech title, and the evaluator’s name as I was                      disappointed in his evaluation of me, but I felt  possibly even more missing parts as they were
      Adventure Begins Now.”                                 invited to address the club. “Your adventure is                 betrayed and embarrassed to be called a racist,  unable to halt the infection. I was lucky (due to
          That was how I felt almost two decades ago  now in progress.”                                                      per se, by someone who I considered a friend.  my Toastmasters connections) to get a position

      in Eastern Oregon as I waited for my name                  Now in a perfect world, or the perfect                      After all, I had spent over five years collaborating  with BMCC soon afterwards with the English as
      to be introduced by the Toastmaster in the  Hollywood movie, I would have dazzled my                                   with various native peoples in Alaska and had left  a Second Language, Adult Basic Education and
      Blue Mountain Community College (BMCC) fellow Toastmasters with my witty repartee,                                     there with many friends and elders I respected  GED programs which lasted until 2013 when
      classroom. My adventure was to begin. It indeed  my eloquent use of the English language, and                          among the three major tribal groups.                   I returned to the green trees and non-desert

      was my first “public” Toastmasters speech, out  obviously have it well received, and my topic                              The room remained silent after he strode  lands of Western Washington County. That soon
      of the small green workbooks of the era. Time  fully understood by the admiring audience. Yet                          off at his conclusion. They sat just as stunned  freed me up to attend Toastmasters often, be
      seemed to stand still. In my opinion, it was  the reality was somewhat different and a difficult                       as I was by what had been said. Sadly, for me,  shown what an evaluation should be like by the
      like watching an old Sci-Fi or war movie with  teacher, and upon conclusion, a polite response                         that was Chief’s last Toastmasters meeting, and  Washington club. The main lesson I learned was

      the beeping green radar screen showing the  from the Toastmaster until the evaluator was                               we drifted apart. He had said that my speech  to “know thy audience before thou opened thy
      blips—me the speaker, the evaluator, and the  called forward to ply his craft. Drum roll, please!                      confirmed the gulf, the “Grand Canyon” chasm  mouth and inserted thy foot” mode of speaking
      Toastmaster-friends and foes —converging upon              Up strode the evaluator to the lectern. He was              between the white culture and his native culture.  and preparing a speech.
      each other in that sense of impending doom.            a neighbor of mine, and I was always mindful                    I was hurt inside, and we never reconciled, nor            This adventure was to bring me to the

          No, it was not my first Toastmasters speech as  that he resembled Graham Greene of the movie                       did he allow me to discuss it further with him.  point of becoming a club officer many times
      I had already given my Icebreaker and perhaps  Dances with Wolves fame. We all called him                              What was my speech about, you ask? Hopi  over, multiple Triple Crown and Distinguished
      another one or two, but this was a combined  “Chief'” He stood well over six feet, large frame                         Kachina Dolls, and those who collected them,  Toastmaster Awards, Area and Division Director
      meeting of three Toastmasters clubs—one from  with hair braids and was a Lakota-Sioux from                             i.e., Senator Barry Goldwater and John Wayne.  positions and culminating with my term as

      across the river in Washington’s Tri-Cities,  the Dakotas. He might as well have worn deer                             (See my Voices! “Reflections” column from the  District 7’s Administration Manager. It truly has
      not even in our area or district, the original  skin clothing and carried a pipe bag. He was                           September 2019 issue.)                                 been a great adventure, a journey, a sojourn, and
      sponsoring club from whom the BMCC instructor  serious, business-like, and stern faced. I do not                           I discovered a lot about myself and  service to others through Toastmasters—which
      was a member, and us, the “new” club of fledgling  know where he kept his horse!                                       Toastmasters that day and the following weeks  I have never regretted beginning nor wished to




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