Day 1 = Exhaustion

I sit here tonight with writer’s block trying to figure out where to begin explaining to capture what went on this day. I didn’t realize it was possible to fit that many activities in one day. To the left you see the ton of materials they gave us upon arrival. It’s obvious that I will be shipping a box home on my return flight since these materials alone would put me over my limit.

“There’s a spark in each of us, and if struck at just the right moment it will illuminate the rest of our lives.”

- Ronald Reagan

We started the day out with a prayer and the pledge. We then recited the American’s Creed:

The American’s Creed

Adopted by Congress, April 13, 1918

“I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed, a democracy in a republic, a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.

“I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support is Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.”

After our initial introductions it was time for our communications section. We are required to speak a lot this month. Our coach Dr. Mike Giuliano uses the concept of ‘the hot seat.’ This is a red stool that we are required to sit on when randomly called upon for an impromptu speech. He has a tailor made curriculum for each one of us based upon our initial testing and our ongoing speech presentations. Some will have longer exercises for homework than others will. We also have two non-negotiable requirements. 1) We must give honest but civil critiques of our colleagues and 2) our critiques are non-negotiable. We must listen, consider, and then apply. This will give us quite an edge over those without this training. I will have a room of 25 others helping me reach my speaking goals. At the end of this week we will be giving our first formal speech entitled “What I believe.” This speech will be videotaped. We will give this speech from different angles throughout the month and the last three days we will compare our finial speech to our first videotaped one. I am both excited and terrified by this concept. However this is a beast I will tame. We will be far better speakers when the month is over.

Coach Giuliano proceeded to stomp on my toes with the following statement. A few years ago he was the coach of a debate team and his students were getting very good at winning arguments however they were not changing minds towards the truth. In fact, their opponents were leaving more opposed to their ideas than they initially were. I am guilty of this. I love stinging someone on an online debate, and really haven’t cared about the end result. I need to work on not only winning a debate but winning others to my side of thinking.

I will detail our time with Dr. Devine, our second speaker on a future date since it is almost midnight and I have a ton of reading due for tomorrow.

We finished the night out with a dinner honoring actress Norma Zimdahl. She had financially contributed to the Reagan Ranch Center and has a classroom and museum named after her inside. She had a television contract with CBS, toured with the Fred Waring Orchestra, and partnered with Sid Caesar. I have never seen a more animated speaker. Her speech patterns were that out of the golden age of Hollywood. I would love to retell the stories she shared with us tonight, but sadly I lack the flair she had for spinning a yarn.

My mountain of books await …