Scranton Central HS 1958 Yearbook (Scranton, PA) - Guest Access

The Shortest Way With Speakers How to d eal w ith that outca t among teen-age ocie ly: the (lu blic Stleaker Lacer H'altl'l. '58 0 E of the neme e of modern life i the o-ue t peaker. The victim i expo ed to him at chool a - semblie . club get-together . chool graduation . and program of very ort. Mo t of the member of thi pecie have taken it upon them– elve to b come orator : friend hav tactfully tried to di courage them. but they ha,·e per i ted in fol– lowing their elf-appointed calling. Of th many and varied typ of p aker . I hould like to cite a few. Fir t, there i the ,·ery netTou fel– low, who continually adju t hi tie. fu c with hi note . roll hi c ·e heavemvard. tumble over hi en– ten e . and in general fidget o much that he mak hi audience extremely uncomfortable. Next, there i the peakcr who ha not looked at hi di cour e ince he fir t wrote it down and who deli,·er it with hi eye glued to the paper, not once glancing at hi audience. Or per– haps he may b a head-bobber, who r ad along. look up for a word or two, and th n look back again. Thi go on ince antly until the audience ha become practically ea ick. Then there i a mumbler who. unlike the Greek orator Demo thene . peak a if he ha forgotten to remo,·e from hi mouth the pebble which he put there to help him peak clearly. :lvio t of what he ay i lo t omewhere b tween him and the li t ner. La t. but not lea t, there i the peaker. who, beli ving that he i a lark Anthony or a Daniel Web ter. throw him elf heartily into e,·ery peech. He get o carried away that in hi excitement h may knock 0\·er the water or even the lectern with his weepino- ge ture . Enthu ia m i 4 fine. but i not uch \·ehemence mi - placed in a lecture about the plant– ing and care of begonia ? uch a man ma) al o be o com·inced of hi ability a a comedian that he in– flict hi humor on hi. un u pecting audience. It i true that many peaker ar excellent. Don't mi under tand me. A fot tho e un ucce ful one who do not fall into any of the categoric I ha,·e mentioned. perhap their audience ju t aren't recepti,·e: in orne ca e they would ha,·e to turn hand pring or pull rabbit out of a hat to gain attention. Or it may be that tho e blank. leepy look on the face of the li tener are imply cau ed by the tuffine of the room. orne of the speaker who are try– in!!' to infu ·e our nation with •· ul– ture" go about it in the wrong: way. \\'hen they are talking about paint– ing. the) do not hO\\ u 10\·ely rna terpicce . They talk about per- pecti,·e. technique. line tructure, et cetera. in technical term which mean nothing to mo t of u . \\' hen the) lectur on poetry. do they read u line of powerful. beautiful ,·ere? -o! They talk of blank ver e iambic p ntameter. the metaphor, the Alex– andrine. and th like. o what? ociety ~ e peciallr that of the younger generation ) ha develop d variou mean of dealing with thi blight on mankind. Manr a gue t peak r may find him elf confronted with a front ection of gum-chewin!!' (and loudly gum-cracking, or bub– ble-blowing ) loquaciou youth. He al o i annoyed by the dropping of fairly large item here and there in the room. ometime two young boy will start a fight in the back of an auditorium. creatin!!' quite a rucku , until they are finally remO\·ed forci– bly. I know of an incident in which a bombing raid of paper airplane wa directed ao-ain t the poor peakcr from the balcony and other trategic ,·antage place . There i al o at th light control panel the mi chie,·ou tage crew. who alternately turn the peaker hade of purple. orange, green. and ometime red, white. and blue at the arne time. With uch oppo ition . I do not ee ho\\ o many peaker have un·i,·ed. They mu t be made of iron. But many ha,· uccumbed . and ha\'e lunk off to another prof ion- per– hap the writing of book . ad,·ocating a return to the old-fa hioned meth– od of di cipline for today' children. This I Know Theodore Rodf!l'TJ, 58 Thi I know: There i one God. One winter, ummer. pring and fall: A time of peace. A time of fear for each and all, A time when man mu t meet hi fate: He can't turn back, or even wait; He mu t go forth and eek a way To li,·e a ju t life day by day. To try as only a ju t man can. To li,·e and befriend hi fellow man; And when hi worldly life i through, Hi oul will go on and tart anew In a paradise made for men who . hO\\' That they have earned it. Thi I know. IMPRE SION