12_16_03 Geospeakers Meeting Summary

President Mitch Smith rocked the meeting to order as we gathered for our annual "Holiday Meeting". Joanna led us in a well-chosen quote about the white elephant, a complaint from an Englishman in 1895 who had seen one and described it as a fraud. In actuality it was a somewhat ashy and dust-colored specimen.

Carol Reiss, our Toastmaster, first introduced Chris Gutmacher, our speaker of the day, whose speech was from the Special Occasion Manual, Speech #2, Speaking in Praise. Chris shared with us the eulogy she had delivered at her father's funeral, entitled "I am Ted's Daughter". As Shane noted later during the evaluation of her speech, her simple title was very effective, as Chris and her father's story is one of rediscovering each other in a stronger father-daughter relationship later in life. He evidently redeemed himself of any missing fatherly qualities as he became a grandfather to her daughter and really began to live his life "by heart" when he became attached to a friend's dog. She summed him up as an ordinary man who matured into a wonderful grandpa and playful uncle to his (3rd) wife's numerous nieces and nephews. We all enjoyed her excellent example of this speech of praise.

Stephanie Ross then led us in our annual "White Elephant" Table Topic. Several items made the rounds happily and others became frequent discards. Geospeakers had fun reviewing the rules and planning their strategy. Stephanie's main advice was to always steal a gift from someone else and never to take anything large, for you might end up with something like bright pink flamingo holiday lights. Cecilia stole Fran's "useless" right-handed server, as it matched her kitchen; Ann stole Fran's Snoopy ornament (she had a similar one and needed a match for granddaughter, of course!); someone finally stole Mitch's Tori Amos CD so he could pick something else; and Joanna made out with a Lifesaver's storybook. (Fran did end up with a nice candle.)

Master Evaluator Ann Gunderson asked her team (Cecilia Willer as Timer, Gary Curtis as Wizard of Ahs and Emily Shen-Torbik as Wordmaster/Grammarian) for their reports. Basically, everyone had fun and only a few missed using Emily's Word of the Day: "rummage".

Joanna read us our Last Word: "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give", a good parting thought as we left to enjoy our respective holidays. Mitch reminded us to bring our favorite book for the January 13th Book Club meeting. All guests left with their elephants, white or otherwise.

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