My Speech Evaluation
Oct. 10th, 2024 10:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ndrosenAfter donating blood this morning, I went back to my office, did some regular work, and then attended a special meeting of USPTO Toastmasters, dedicated to Tall Tales. Yesterday, or possibly the day before, I had signed up for a meeting role, and one thing we do in Toastmasters is to evaluate each other’s speeches, saying what was done well, and what could be improved. Only one person was signed up to give a full speech, and one had signed up to evaluate the first speaker; I chose to be second evaluator, and emailed the club president and a couple of other people that, in accordance with the spirit of the occasion, I would evaluate the second speech whether or not there was one.
Came the day, and I evaluated the funeral oration delivered by our exceptionally distinguished guest, Pericles son of Xanthippos. I said that the many club members who were fluent in Ancient Greek would surely agree that Pericles’ actual speech was even better than the version given in Thucydides’ history, and praised the sentiments set forth, although I did have some criticisms of Athens’s imperfect democracy, which did not extend isonomy to slaves or women.
One member of the club commented that there was a lot of history, and she was a bit at sea. What, doesn’t everyone read Thucydides’ history of the Peloponnesian War as a teenager in his father’s study?
Despite the blood donation, for which I’m allowed to write off four hours, the Toastmasters meeting, and another staff meeting, I did put in multiple hours of actual examining today. Rest easy, taxpayers.
Came the day, and I evaluated the funeral oration delivered by our exceptionally distinguished guest, Pericles son of Xanthippos. I said that the many club members who were fluent in Ancient Greek would surely agree that Pericles’ actual speech was even better than the version given in Thucydides’ history, and praised the sentiments set forth, although I did have some criticisms of Athens’s imperfect democracy, which did not extend isonomy to slaves or women.
One member of the club commented that there was a lot of history, and she was a bit at sea. What, doesn’t everyone read Thucydides’ history of the Peloponnesian War as a teenager in his father’s study?
Despite the blood donation, for which I’m allowed to write off four hours, the Toastmasters meeting, and another staff meeting, I did put in multiple hours of actual examining today. Rest easy, taxpayers.
