Speaking Tips

 

Granny Throw

Oscar Wilde famously said that “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.”  We enjoyed the TV series Running Point with Kate Hudson about the life of pro basketballers. A young player, Dyson Gibbs has trouble making free-throw shots, so the team brings in...

No Need for Speed

On a dawn hike, we took time to breathe in the fresh air and scenery in Santa Fe. Scanning arroyos, mountain ranges and miles of open space took us back in time, imagining when dinosaurs fed on grasses from the inland seas. Being in the...

Peel the onion

We took a break from airports and client gigs and booked a stay at Vermejo, one of Ted Turner’s ranches in northern New Mexico.  Covering 550,000 acres, the ranch is a jewel, with herds of elk and bison, hiking, horseback riding, hunting and fishing.One of...

Aardvark Porcupine

AARDVARK PORCUPINEThe writing skills of Americans are on the wane. But judging by the verbal skills of current public figures, the decline is not limited to the written word. Reading great authors informs your writing, which strengthens your speaking. But there are also techniques that...

Cash Cow

Author and illustrator David Macaulay published The Way Things Work in 1998. It was a book about everyday machines and the scientific principles behind how they operate. How did Macaulay manage to sell over two million copies? To explain levers, he drew a mammoth on...

BRAVE AMAZONS

Highly decorated Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn’s career was over in 2019… Or was it? Vonn missed competing, so after a partial knee replacement, she trained like mad and is now back on the World Cup circuit, recently placing 4th. And she is 40. Mikaela Shiffrin, recognized...

Wild and Uninhibited

Hank Azaria, an actor known for many Simpsons’ character voices, wrote a piece in the NY Times about his creative process. Azaria also touched upon what makes a quality TV show. His statement directly relates to how you can make your own “show” better.Azaria said...

Unstoppable

Anthony Robles will surprise you. Born without a right leg, he decided to compete in NCAA wrestling. Wrestling is an extreme sport, even with four limbs. Watch the film Unstoppable to see Robles’ skills and drive in a league of his own. Like Robles, many of...

Atomic Oppenheimer

We took an adventure day and drove to the Los Alamos National Laboratory where the atomic bomb was developed. After viewing the film Oppenheimer, we wanted to learn more.The Historical Museum featured the human story of the lab-- how General Groves and Lab Director Oppenheimer...

See Spot Run

A few weeks ago, we wrote about Max, the wonder kid who at 8 yrs old was lecturing on bioluminescent dinoflagellates. Sadly, Max is an anomaly. The U.S. ranks 36th in literacy and even more alarming is that 54% of our population reads below a...