President's
Message: Empire Statesmen's History of Leadership Excellence
| Mary Lynn Vierling at the Lingering Gardens during her trip to China | Mary
Lynn Vierling
Empire Statesmen has been a member of Toastmasters
International since 1954.
Initially, the club was called G.E. Electronic Speaker's Bureau.
In its 54 years, Empire Statesmen has had 8 District Governors - four
have been
distinguished. Members of the Empire Statesmen Toastmasters Club have
received
six Pat Panfil / Ben Luce awards, four Toastmaster of the Year awards,
two
Presidential Citations and two Governors Sponsor awards. One Empire
Statesmen
member even served as the Toastmasters International Director.
Empire Statesmen members have achieved the President's Distinguished
Status
numerous times. They have been Area Governors and have sponsored many
new clubs
in the area. We pride ourselves in being active in all Area &
District
contests.
We conduct our business meetings according to Robert's Rules. We enjoy
our
meetings at Weber's Restaurant every Thursday at 6:30 pm. We
traditionally hold
an annual Christmas party and a summer picnic.
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Empire
Statesmen Club Toasts Carlotta Brown!
Carlotta Brown represented our club and won at the Area 7 International
Speech
Contest. We asked Carlotta to share her thoughts...
I
was very pleased to represent Empire Statesmen in the Area 7
contest.
My speech topic, I Can Do
That, is a universal topic that most of
the listeners connected with and enjoyed. I am inspired to
talk about this
topic because so many people hold themselves back because they are
afraid to
make a change.
It felt great giving the speech at the Bellevue Country Club.
I learned a
lot in the process. I practiced my speech at least 100 times,
in the car,
at work, at home, sleeping. It was very, very
helpful to have the
group critique in my club because everyone put in their constructive
criticism
on the same speech.
From now on, my process of learning a new speech, especially for
contests will
always be different. I was proud to represent Empire
Statesmen and
continue their legacy of excellent speech makers.
- Carlotta
Brown
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Meet Pat Costello
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Pat joined Empire
Statesmen in November 2007. Her ice breaker speech was titled, “Born in
the U.S.A.” Pat, her husband Mark, and daughter Maria moved to the
Syracuse area from Rome four years ago.
Self-improvement is what
led her to become a member of Toastmasters. The friendliness and
diversity of the chapter is what attracted her to Empire Statesmen. |
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Friendship
Day Quotes
Carlotta
Brown
As
a recent Toastmaster, Carlotta shared the following Friendship Quotes
with
us:
"Your friend is the man who
knows all about you, and still likes you." - Elbert Hubard
"A
real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out."
- Walter Winchell
"A friend is someone who knows
the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have
forgotten the words." - Unknown
"Friends are the most important ingredient
in this recipe of life." - Unknown
"One's best friend is oneself." - Unknown
"Anybody can sympathise with the sufferings of a
friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathise with a
friend's success."
- Oscar Wilde
"Friendship is like a perennial
river which flows forever. It may change its path but will never ever
dry up." -
Pinaki Prasad Mohanty
Additional
Friendship Day Quotes may be found at
http://friendshipday.org
Yellow
rose is the bright warm symbol of joy and friendship.
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Toastmasters
Skills Help Touch People's Lives
Jim
McEntire
It was a
Tuesday morning and I had just left the office for the 15 minute ride
to the funeral home. It feels so uncomfortable to me,
attending funerals,
yet my wife reminds me that you go to support the grieving
family.
The minister did not know the deceased, Doris. She had been a
dear friend
of our family for over 50 years. What if no one said anything
kind or
thoughtful about Doris? I have been to funerals where no one
says a word
about the deceased and this always bothers me. The 15 minute
drive would
be used to put together a short speech about how Doris
positively affected
peoples lives. But what would I say? I put my mind
into gear and
thought up the speech. At the services, the pastor referred
to Doris as
"Dorothy." When he asked if anyone would like to say a few
words about
"Dorothy," no one stood up, so I did.
After the burial we returned to Doris' home for lunch and to spend time
together
with her family. Each of Doris' four children came up to me
and made a big
deal about how much they appreciated the kind words I used to show how
Doris
touched our lives. As I drove home, it struck me how
fortunate I am to be
in Toastmasters and able to put together a meaningful five minute
speech in only
15 minutes. When I shared this with my wife who could not
leave work for
the funeral, she cried, saying Doris would really have liked
that. Having
the ability to speak on a moment's notice is a true life asset.
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| Meet Pedro Tichauer |
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Pedro joined Empire
Statesmen in April 2008, after a long period of courtship by Susana
Marcela Del Granado Peñaranda.
About himself, he says
that his picture speaks for itself. He enjoys nature and simple things
including friends and riding his mountain bike. He started a business
last year and he is studying for an MBA at Whitman School of Management
at Syracuse University. |
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Spread
the Word
Kanat
Bolazar
Match each adjective on the left with its description. These were the
words of the day in some of our recent meetings.
1. recalcitrant
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a.
impervious to pleas, appeals, and reason; stubbornly unyielding.
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2. pugnacious
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b.
stubbornly resistant to authority.
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3. adamant
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c.
strengthening; restoring vigor; tonic.
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4. roborant
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d.
inclined to fight; combative; quarrelsome
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A Latin idiom: "Recti Cultus Pectora Roborant". How
many words can you guess?
For
solutions and examples, see the last page.
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Toastmasters
Take a Trip to China
Sam Mehta, Mary Lynn
Vierling
Sam Mehta, Mary Lynn Vierling and Glenn Allen of the Empire Statesmen
Toastmasters
Club recently visited China. Sam Mehta tells the story while his and
Mary Lynn
Vierling's photos illustrate the sites they have visited.
Sam
Mehta:
On
March 30, 2008, my wife Gool and I were part of the Syracuse Chamber of
Commerce delegation to China. We visited four major cities (Beijing,
Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Shanghai), ate at a dozen ethnic restaurants,
visited Jade factory, Pearl farm, Embroidery Institute, Pharmaceuticals
Clinic, Cloisonne workshop, Tea plantation, Silk Rug factory etc.
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| The
Great Wall of China, one of the greatest
wonders of the world winds up and down across deserts,
grasslands, mountains and plateaus, stretching
approximately 4,100 miles from East to West of
China, with a history of more than 2000 years. Sam and Gool and Mary
Lynn's family are seen with replicas of Terracotta Warriors on the
Great Wall of China. |
In
addition, we climbed a part of the "Great Wall" of China, visited the
Forbidden City (with 9,999 rooms), toured various Buddhist temples
(including 65 ft. tall camphor-wood carved statue of Buddha) and
Pagodas, Ming tombs, Lingering gardens, Tea-houses, Tian An Men Square
(largest in the world), history museums, and took a cruise on the West
Lake.
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| Ming
Tombs,
the mausoleums of 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), 50
kilometers
northwest from Beijing City. The mausoleums have been perfectly
preserved, as
has the necropolis of each of the many emperors. This picture is of The
Hall of
Prayer for Good Harvest, Temple of Heaven, is where the emperors
offered
sacrifice to the Heaven. |
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| Tiananmen Square at the
center of Beijing City, where you can
visit the Tiananmen Tower, Monument to the People's Heroes, Great Hall
of the
People, Mao Zedong Memorial Hall and see the national flag raising
ceremony.
Thousands of people come to the Square every day. There are usually
people
selling kites and enjoying themselves, alongside the state police, who
frequently march through in
formation. |
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| The Forbidden City,
located at the exact center of the ancient
city of Beijing, was the home and center of power for 24 emperors
during the mid
to latter Ming and Qing dynasties. Now officially renamed as the
'Palace Museum'
('GuGong' in Chinese, meaning simply 'old palace'), the extensive
grounds of the
Forbidden City cover 720,000 square meters. There are 800 buildings
that have in
total 9,999 rooms. The Forbidden City is the world's largest
palace
complex. |
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Traveling
at more than 270 mph in a Maglev train in Shanghai was an exhilarating
experience. We also visited the Olympic village and the new
100,000-people main stadium built in shape of a 'birds nest.'
The nine-day trip can be described in two words - simply amazing!
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| Laughing Buddha |
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| Shanghai's Maglev Train is
the fastest railway system in
commercial operation in the world. The 30-km line runs between
Pudong
Shanghai International Airport and the Shanghai Lujiazui financial
district. An
end-to-end ride takes about eight minutes. A five-section
train can achieve
a top speed of 501 km/h (311
mph). |
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Mary
Lynn Vierling took shots of various other sites and scenes in China,
some of which are shown here with short captions.
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| Summer Palace Gardens |
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| Woman gathering tea leaves |
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| A temple |
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Joke
Master's Corner
The Helicopter
Ride
-
Mary Lynn Vierling
Morris
and his wife Esther went to the state fair every year, and every year
Morris
would say, "Esther,
I'd like to ride in that helicopter." Esther
always
replied, "I know
Morris, but that helicopter ride is 50 dollars, and 50 dollars
is 50
dollars." Then
one year Esther and Morris went to the fair, and Morris said, "Esther, I'm 85
years old. If I don't ride that helicopter, I might never get another
chance."
Esther replied, "Morris
that helicopter ride is 50 dollars, and 50 dollars is 50
dollars."
The pilot overheard the couple and
said, "Folks I'll
make you a
deal. I'll take the both of you for a ride. If you can stay quiet for
the entire
ride and not say a word I won't charge you a penny. But if you say one
word,
it's 50 dollars."
Morris and Esther
agreed and up they went. The pilot did all kinds of fancy maneuvers,
but not a word was heard. He did his daredevil tricks over and over
again, but still not a word. When they landed, the pilot turned to
Morris and said, "By
golly, I did everything I could to get you to yell out, but you didn't
-- I'm impressed!"
Morris replied, "Well, to tell you the truth,
I almost said something when Esther fell out, but you know -- 50
dollars is 50 dollars!"
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| Meet Judi Dixon |
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Judi joined Empire Statesmen in October 2007, after visiting as a guest
Toastmaster from another local club. She likes the food and
company so much at Weber's that she decided to stay!
Judi lives in Memphis, New York (yes, there is a Memphis in New York)
with her husband Dan and their cat, Shadow.
She is utilizing Toastmasters, along with obtaining her
Bachelor's Degree, to improve her professional leadership skills.
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Spread the
Word Solutions
Solutions: 1b 2d
3a 4c "Recti Cultus Pectora Roborant"
- "Right education strengthens the heart"
Examples of word usage:
- In a famous photo, an
unidentified Tiananmen Square protester stood recalcitrant in front of
four tanks.
- Oppressive regimes
often depict critics, dissidents and peaceful protesters as pugnacious
troublemakers.
- I pretended that nothing had
happened, so adamant in
my denial that my memory gradually underwent a revision.
-- Chu T'ien-wen,
Notes of a Desolate
Man
- Spring has a roborant
effect on my soul.
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