Fast Forward/ Rewind 4-16-21

President Tim Murphy opened the early morning Sunrise Toastmasters meeting on April 16, 2021. Sunrise takes a minute each meeting to bear witness for the individuals tirelessly working to address peace, justice, and racism in our world. Tim stated, “there was too much in the news to turn our backs.” How special to be involved with a group of people making time for this kind of awareness. Speaking of awareness, this was the word of the day from our first time Toastmaster Dustin Johnson. Dustin led the group through a round of introductions as three guests were in attendance. The first speaker, Anu Parvaneni, began with a speech titled, A Place Called Home. She described her life in India drawing attention to the complex relationship India has with women but also her privelaged upbringing in the upper cast. Her life in America showed to be much different than India with Anu describing the feeling as being on an “island”. She ended her speech by saying,” I am a bunch of things but above all I am human.” Summer Murphy, second speaker of the meeting, shared a speech about leadership styles. Summer drew the audience in to her talk by sharing personal moments where she seized opportunities to be an example to her community. By bringing a voice to an elderly neighbor and by taking a stand on a remark made in a group of people, Summer demonstrated exactly what great leaders are made of in our world. She added, “In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. “ These were two very strong speeches, especially appropriate for a meeting centered around awareness. Toastmaster Dustin continued to drop little nuggets of inspiration throughout the meeting. Dave Burr led the group in the Table Topics portion. Dave began with the famous line, April showers bring May flowers, and created a table topics focused on adding water to things. The participants added water to water bottles, alcohol, yeast, balloons, and sea monkeys! What interesting fun! Angela Marsh led evaluations as the General Evaluator and joining her was Norris Bass and Savannah Murphy as Speaker Evaluators, Grammarian Karen Rhodes and Timer Amelya Black. Please join Sunrise Toastmasters at their next meeting on April 23, 2021 via Zoom. Guests are encouraged and always welcomed!


