partsofspeaking

In my seventh decade I finally got a massage. A full body Swedish one.  I had waited too long. The best part was....well, all of it, but especially the feet and hands. If you've had a massage, you know the drill. It was relaxing, the calm, new-agey, noncatchy but soothing music and quietly running water in the background and the pressure on muscles I didn't know I had. I was warned about some things though.  And they happened. Because toxins are released, I was dizzy and nauseated. I had a splitting headache. I didn't want to drive home, but had to, and opted to shop at Food Lion for a few things rather than the daunting Walmart. I'm resting now, truly. I'm not sure I'll have the stamina for my walk. I was also warned to drink lots of water to make up for the toxin release and dehydration. Oh, and I'm sore. I recommend it (I used Spa at the Barn in Ringgold, GA) and the price was very reasonable. I'll just know to have a ride home next time.

  This word denotes the psychological condition of fear of public speaking. The stem “phobia” is more than just discomfort. It means “a type of anxiety disorder defined by a persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation. Phobias typically, result in a rapid onset of fear and are present for more than six months.” Very few people have real glossophobia. All of us have some level of stress from public speaking because 1.      it’s an unusual and unknown situation for many 2.      we fear failure 3.      we fear lack of acceptance or approval 4.      the stakes are high Short of anxiety-reducing drugs, what can one do about communication apprehension (a generic term for good old stage fright)? You can engage in thought exercises. What is the worst that can happen? This scenario projection can be realistic or silly.   But it often brings one back to perspective. You can eat healthy and avoid caffeine before presenting—or in some cases, don’t eat much (you

I attended a webinar today that purported to give the Six Secrets of Author Success. I won't name names here. I signed up for it to see if it was a scam, actually. And actually, it wasn't, although the presenter did try to sell us a reasonably priced continuing education program.  I gleaned some really good tips. The main one: I need to totally redesign all of my books and titles and marketing in Amazon and start all over again.  I'm not kidding. I've been doing it all wrong if I want to sell books.  Of course, this webinar was geared toward genre fiction, niche genre fiction even--really niche. Romance for vampire cowboys, that kind of thing. Medieval suspense erotica. But there's nothing to say that a more literary writer couldn't make it work.  That said, this article from Christianity Today poses some fascinating questions about fiction writing and the evangelical world, and I would love to talk about it with someone:  https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2

  Fortunately or unfortunately, many people associate public speaking with delivery. As someone who has taught public speaking for 43 years in colleges, I resist that association. Public speaking is about so, so much more. However, if someone doesn’t conquer the “nonverbals”, he/she just isn’t going to get very far as a speaker. Conquering them, though, is not so simple. We’re talking about controlling several parts of the body reacting to social, intellectual, and emotional stress. We’re talking eyes—looking directly at people at the same time you are trying to create full sentences. We’re talking posture—legs, knees, back, feet—and moving around. We’re talking hand gestures—yes, please use them. And then a voice that is fluid, loud, energetic, varied, and expressive.   No manual or set of directions is going to give you good delivery. Only practice, critique, practice, feedback, a few tips, more practice, more critique, recording yourself as much as possible. But . . .

Sebastian Gorka, whoever he is, will do anything for money. Mark Spitz, once a good-looking dude, is an old, old man.  Pat Boone, older than Mark Spitz, comes across more energetic. Is he really making another movie? That one woman wears too much orange eye make-up.  Bull-riding is a really dumb profession. 

Over the last few days, I have posted five times about Toastmasters. There’s a reason all of a sudden I’m writing about something I’ve participated in for almost two years. I’m finishing with this one to explain my “why” and also give some ideas of how Toastmasters could possibly improve its already effective program. Toastmasters has an adult learning program called “Pathways.” There are a number of differently themed pathways. The first one is Presentation Mastery. Others include visionary leadership, persuasion, mentoring, group facilitation, and many more. Each pathway involves five levels and each level involves 2-5 projects, most of which are or conclude with speeches. For example, for the lesson “Dealing with Difficult Audiences,” members of the club play the roles of talkative, disruptive, or argumentative listeners while the pathway learner delivers a twelve-minute talk and has to deal with or pacify the disrupters. Needless to say, the pathways are not a walk in t

  There are a lot of reasons why you might not want to compete in Toastmasters. To be honest, after a few outings where I lost pretty handily, I was unmotivated to every do it again. That doesn’t mean I won’t; I’ll just have to think about it. So, considering my reluctance, why am I writing this blog post about competing?   First, you can use the speech as one of your pathway assignments.   You’ll have a different audience than your club. Consequently, you’ll have a larger and more diverse audience than your club. You’ll spend more time in practicing and perfecting your speech, and that will pay off in your next presentations. You will meet new people and extend your network You will hear quality speeches from other clubs. Last, if you move forward, you will have a line item for your resume or CV.   Granted, competing is somewhat time consuming and not a little nerve wracking. And you have no promise of winning and moving on in the competition. You might, li

I would lay money on this statement: Many people who come to Toastmasters really want to improve their communication skills, but one thing daunts them: What do I speak about? If I have to do this pathways thing, how am I going to come up with all those subjects?   There are three ways to think about this big question. 1.      Start with a personal inventory. You know far more about a range of subjects than you might think, and you are an expert in at least one thing, if not more. That “one thing” is your position, your career. So let’s start there. What have you learned in that job about people? About skills? About how to improve in one’s position? What do you wish other people knew about the daily work life of …. (your position)? What daily or regular tasks do you do that might improve the work or personal life of another person? Beyond your work life, where are you an expert in hobbies, family, household tasks, sports, home maintenance, gardening, pets? 2.      A second way

I'm getting a lot of traffic here. Just a reminder, I have lots of books on Amazon. And they are good, folks. I'm reading some more current fiction (will write upon that later) and mine is in the same range, although not quite as appealing to some demographics. If you're looking for the F-word, it won't be there, and I use damn but keep God out of it, as we used to say.  That of course, I only say for those who want "clean" writing. Otherwise, it deals with the messiness of life. My job as a professor might lead someone to think I'm in an ivory tower--what the heck is an ivory tower? There aren't enough elephants to build a tower--but let me tell you, I've cleaned toilets, waited tables, flipped burgers, and worked a lot of retail, for years, to get an education. I hope to put even more of that in my writing going forward, because I do tend to write about uptight people.  Check me out on, I apologize, Amazon and other online booksellers, www.barbar

 This song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqpNGYbcy3U It's very "catchy" and emotional. But.  . . the words. . .  I keep hearing voice in my mind that tell me I'm not enough Every single lie that says that I don't measure up.... Well, folks, that voice is right! Christian theology frees us by convincing us that we are not enough and we don't measure up, and IT DOESN'T MATTER TO GOD! He's Okay with you being not enough and too "short." The hidden message in these lines are "those voices are wrong, you are enough, you do measure up." And we don't.  After years of trying to measure up and be enough, I am happy to say dependence on Christ after full realization of my not-enough-ness and perennially short stature  is something to celebrate.  More on this later.

 "Theology is not merely stated but lived." I've been meditating on a theology of creation. We should have a theology of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. A theology that embraces all four and doesn't privilege one.  But without real living in a messy world, they devolve into academic discussions. This article explores it. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/september-web-only/pastors-leaders-false-teachers-beware-bad-ethics.html

Was that the beautiful dress she wore, which actually looked like a wedding dress, was ruined with those stupid words sprawled across her hiney.  I could say a lot more about the politics. I hope she gets slapped with an ethics violation. But the worst part was the aesthetic crime.  Some wags said it looked like a Chic-Fil-A sack that the cows wrote on.

Wow, my posts have been whiney lately! Especially the last one.  What is saddest about "pet death" is that we are in a place in our culture where the death of a pet is even a matter of great concern to adults. No generation prior to the '60s would consider greeting cards and condolences over a pet's death remotely appropriate.  But. . . it still hurts. Of course. Just don't compare it to a human. Most of us will put you in the category of insensitive. 

Death of a long-term animal companion is very painful. It's even worse when it's sudden, when one morning a dog we thought was generally healthy but aging wakes up unable to walk and within 24 to 48 hours has to be euthanized. (I realize this happens with cats as well. I will reserve my thoughts to dogs and cats, knowing there are other species.) I grieve with friends in this situation, because in 2013 it happened to us and it's still a bitter memory. I had no idea what it was like to watch one's little dog die after the injection. It still hurts.  But there is, for me, another side of this sadness for many. I explain with this website's words: "For the elderly, and for those whom have chosen not to have a human family, a pet is their 'child.' It is often their only companion. Their pet is their joy and when humans are not present, it is their pet that they communicate with. Their life revolves around the care and love, devoted to their pet." (

Are we wasting God-given time longing for God's presence in heaven when we can know His presence now and still be useful to His body and Himself?

 https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/september-web-only/robert-e-lee-statue-confederacy-good-riddance.html Russell Moore is "my man," I often say. I read him whenever I get a chance. He had an essay yesterday on CT, where he is directing the "public theology" project (I haven't figured that one out yet).  I'm not quite sure about this one.  Maybe it's a Kentucky thing, but did he really need to invoke Wendell Berry to explain why Lee's statue should come down in Richmond?  It led me to think about, well, thinking, and conscience. Where does our conscience come from? Conscience is a "guiding light" but it's an awfully dim one, often. We have another light, Christ. We also have a "light unto our feet and a lamp unto our path." Those are much brighter and subsume the light of conscience.  So where would those lights shine our thinking and paths about confederate statues? Or really, our thinking about them as Christians?  Mo

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 An evangelical senior citizen in the Bible Belt rethinks everything she ever thought and learned about women and the Bible.  Not women in the Bible, although that's a subset.  Chapters: Lying. Violence. Marriage. Motherhood. Leadership. Submission. Bodies.  Expectations.  Character. Aging.  Career. Caregiving. Service. Ministry. I was listening to a podcast tonight on Viral Jesus. (Interesting podcast, odd name.) Kat Armas in an astounding interview, spoke of Tabitha/Dorcas in Acts 9. She is dead, Peter arrives, is prevailed upon to do something, and "the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them." What we know of Dorcas/Tabitha is "I n Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor." A woman is a disciple, she has a reputation for service, her absence meant a hole in the community, and God saw fit to rev

 1. Become president of the U.S. 2. Screw up a military withdrawal from a country by taking the military out before the civilians.  3. Get on TV and tell us you are going to make us get a shot, fine us for not wearing a mask, and lecture us that it's not respectful to be rude to flight attendants. I'm fully vaccinated and don't get the resistance. I wear a mask all the time. I think the way people are acting is horrid. But....if he thinks that his scolding is going to make us rush out and obey him, give me a break.

 Next week I am supposed to teach the first lesson in the new "quarterly." It's about the creation. Whoever wrote the lesson did a wonderful job, and I've been full of thoughts about Creation.  I don't think we have a theology of Creation. We have instead a theology of the Fall.  And when I say that, I don't mean "a theology" of one thing versus others. I mean our whole theology is not about the Creation, but is about the Fall. Instead of our theology being about what God intended, it ends up being about what God had to do because of our mistakes.  Now, I know that I am oversimplifying and overlooking, among other matters, the sovereignty and foreknowledge and omisicience of God. I'm just talking about it from our perspective. What is Genesis 1 and 2 really teaching us, before we get to Genesis 3? Why is it there? God didn't have to have Moses put that as the first segment. He could have started "in media res" and put the creation s

 I taught on the seven churches of Revelation three weeks ago. I posted my outline here then.  These were messages for real churches in real cities, not metaphorical problems and not, though some smart people will disagree with me, the universal church at different eras during the last two millenia.  I've been thinking about what the eighth letter, to us today, would be like. Or maybe I should say the eighth and ninth letter. One would be to the American and perhaps Western church, and one would be to the church in the 40/40 window, the Southern Hemisphere, or the developing world. The church in Afghanistan, Iraq, China, Viet Nam, Iran, India, and so on.  The one for us: “To the angel of the church in the United States write: These are the words of him who was, is, and will be. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being generous, but you are tight-fisted. You have a reputation for being leaders, yet you follow the world like sheep. You have a reputation for loving, but put l