Friday Forum

As part of my program to change my stripes, I went to the City Club's lunch at the Governor Hotel yesterday. I talked briefly with an older man before the lunch. He told me he comes to these things when there is a good speaker, and he expected today's speaker to be one. The speaker was M. Lee Pelton, the President of Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. He is black, which makes him the third black person I have seen in Oregon. Okay, I exaggerate a bit, but I would not be surprised if blacks (or African-Americans, if you prefer. "Blacks" has fewer letters, making it easier to type.) were the smallest non-white racial group in Oregon. Mexicans, Vietnamese and Koreans we have in plenty. But I hardly ever see any blacks.

His engagement was obviously planned to coincide with President Barrack's inauguration. His speech was well done, though I think he might have been reading it. But his casual remarks before the speech, and his responses to questions afterward were riddled with "uh"s and "um"s.

I don't know if other people notice this sort of thing, or not. I was in Toastmasters for a year and during my first speech I was shocked to hear that I had uttered a plethora of "um"s. My second speech was much better in that respect. All it took for me was to be made aware of it.

If I go back to another City Club function, perhaps I should wear a coat and tie. I caught a couple of strange looks from people there, though now that I think about it, it might have been my hair. I had walked two miles in freezing weather with a knit cap on my head and we all know what those can do for your hair style. There were no mirrors in evidence, at least to Mr. Oblivious, and I did not think to look for one.

On the other hand, I may not be going back to City Club for another reason. Friday's speech was very nice, but it seemed rather vague and empty. It was more of a congratulatory speech: look how far we have come, look what we have achieved, but press onward, we still have a long way to go. I guess maybe I was expecting something more dynamic, but maybe that's not what the City Club is about. I am thinking that perhaps the Club is more about cooperation between disparate groups, and that is something that is very hard to achieve even in the best circumstances. You certainly don't need some rabble rouser yelling "charge".