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Curing the Fear of Public Speaking One Speaker at a Time

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt

“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.”  John Quincy Adams

I just typed the word fear into Google.  When the top advertising result was public speaking anxiety, I decided to do this post.

A few months ago, my friend, Tara Joyce, sent me a message through Twitter that she was feeling anxious about speaking at a conference.  As someone who has been a member of Toastmasters for almost eight years, and as someone who has attended Kevin Bracy’s  First Step For Speakers and From The Ground Up conferences, I believed I could offer a few suggestions to Tara. :)  (Tara has a great blog for innerpreneurs, social entrepreneurs, and anyone searching for meaningful capitalism.  Check it out here. )

Tara told me my public speaking tips were very useful to her.  Since then, my Toastmasters friend, Jeff Moring, told me that the “Tara email”  helped him tremendously with a presentation he was going to make at work.  My hope, is that someone else will benefit from this email soon.

Below, is the initial “tweet” from Tara and my entire email response.  

ElasticMind: Bill, I'm speaking about innerpreneuring at a conference next week in Lisbon and I'm feeling anxious about it. Any advice?

Good afternoon Tara,

Thanks for asking me about this!  Suggestions... I just hope I stop writing before I write a textbook length email!  (Is Lisbon, Portugal where you are speaking?)

Before anything else-  Ask yourself, "Why am I anxious about this speech?"  Am I afraid of what the audience will think?  Am I afraid of being rejected?

Am I afraid of a miscommunication due to a difference in language(s)? Keep asking questions until you isolate the source(s) of your anxiety.  When you isolate the source or sources of your anxiety, then you can attack the anxiety monsters with preparation.

1.  I believe that preparation is the key to anxiety.  Here are some things that I have learned about preparation.  (I've learned some of them the hard way.)

a.  What is your audience like? What type of information does the audience want to hear?

Tara, I once attended a conference in California that was about 90% African American.  Well, in my cockiness, I prepared a speech that was funny, but had a very

southern United States type of humor.  Several of my African American friends at the conference said something like this when I gave them an overview of my speech, "I know you are not a racist, but unfortunately, some of that humor can be easily misunderstood..."  Ouch!  I was up until about 4 AM, doing a rewrite.  Here's the feedback I got afterwords. (My speech focused on overcoming depression and some of the other chronic medical conditions I have experienced.) "It took a lot of courage to speak about your personal experience, and I believe everyone in the audience found at least some benefit from your speech.  But... people in California don't care about "Joe Bob."  The humorous portions of your speech would have worked in Georgia, or North Carolina, but not here- this is California!" Ouch, again!  

Here's the moral-  Think very hard about the needs of your specific audience, before you arrive at the conference site.  Do think about culture, race, etc. when you think about your audience's needs.

2.  Once you are 99.9% sure what your audience's needs are, write your speech.  (Draft one, draft two, etc.)  

a.  Only write out things to say that you are comfortable saying.

From reading your blog, I am confident that whatever you want to say will be interesting! :)     

3.  Practice, practice, practice your speech.  But, and this is key-  Don't memorize your speech, know your speech.  In other words, know what concepts and ideas you are going to cover, and then get up and discuss them in your words.  I believe that could stand up from your desk and give a great speech about innerpreneuring right now.  Why? Because you are passionate about it. YOU ALREADY KNOW ABOUT INNERPRENEURING.  If you know your topic, there is no way you can forget your speech.  This approach is much easier than trying to memorize the speech.  This said, you should practice.  When should you practice your speech?  In your mind while exercising, while showering, while.... practice it as much as you can tolerate it.  Do practice the speech out loud for your husband and friends as much as they will tolerate it.  Tape record your speech and listen to it. Now, might be a good time to join a Toastmasters group and practice in front of them. :)

VISUALIZE YOURSELF GIVING A FANTASTIC SPEECH OVER AND OVER. 

4.  Get away move around the podium or get away from the lectern.  If you are more comfortable standing at the lectern where your notes are that is fine-  But, do maintain eye contact with your audience 99%+ of the time.  

5.  Use humor, but... think through in advance whether your humor will be culturally appropriate. (I have found that opening with a joke or story can be very effective.)

6. VIDEO TAPE YOUR SPEECH AND WATCH IT BEFORE YOU LEAVE.  In my opinion, this is the "legal steroids" of public speaking.  If possible, video tape the presentation you make in Lisbon.  You can sell copies of your speech on your website.  You can use the speech for marketing.  If nothing else, you can study your speech and decide what you want to keep and what you want to change in your speech.    

7.  If you can, do the thing that you find the most anxiety reducing before you walk out to give your speech.  Meditate, go in a stairwell and yell, exercise etc.  Please take a quick shower if you exercise. LOL!

8.  Dive into your presentation, and let yourself become absorbed in your message.  Be energetic in a way that is comfortable for you.   As you do this, you will achieve a "flow state" and will feel very connected to your audience.

If you begin to feel anxious during your presentation:

a.  Realize that there is about a 98% probability that the audience can't tell.

b.  Begin to take very deep breaths.  This works very well!  It's almost like you are meditating during the presentation

Tara, I am confident that you will do a great job on this!  If you have any questions, please let me know.  Thanks again for DM'ing me about your presentation.

I hope my information is useful to you.  I know this-  I have enough info here to break into several blog posts.  It's amazing how the law of reciprocity works isn't it?

Before I forget, please give me a report about how things go in Lisbon.

Hope you are having a great day!

Bill

I hope that you found this post useful! Please leave your comments below, or contact me directly.  (My contact info is in the sidebar.)

I appreciate your stopping by!  Bill

MLK, RFK, and The Greatest 48 Hours of Communication in the 20th Century (48 Hours Of Speech As Art With Lessons For Today)

“And another reason that I'm happy to live in this period is that we have been forced to a point where we are going to have to grapple with the problems that men have been trying to grapple with through history, but the demands didn't force them to do it. Survival demands that we grapple with them. Men, for years now, have been talking about war and peace. But now, no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence. That is where we are today...”

Martin Luther King Jr.- April 3, 1968- “I’ve Been To The Mountaintop” Speech

“For those of you who are black and are tempted to fill with -- be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.

But we have to make an effort in the United States. We have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond, or go beyond these rather difficult times...

...What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.” Robert F. Kennedy-  Indianapolis, Indiana April 4, 1968- “On The Death Of Martin Luther King” Speech

On Saturday, April 9, 1988, I impulsively went into The Book Rack near my home in Irving, Texas so that I could add the dust from a plethora of old books to the ragweed clogging my nose.  As I walked around a corner of the bookstore, I noticed a book called To Seek a Newer World , by Robert F. Kennedy.  I guess all those episodes of The Wonder Years were getting to me, because I took this forgotten piece of my childhood from the shelf and immediately purchased it.  It’s one of the best purchases I ever made. To Seek a Newer World was my door to the events of April 3-5, 1968. I believe that April 3rd through April 5th, 1968 were the greatest 48 hours of public speaking in the 20th century.

My Favorite Quotes From RFK’S To Seek A Newer World

“The first task of leadership, the first task of concerned people, is not to condemn or castigate or deplore, it is to seek out the reason for disillusionment and alienation, the rationale of protest and dissent- perhaps indeed to learn from it.”

“Our answer is the world’s hope; it is to rely on youth- not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.” 

“Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.” 

Stephen Sondheim

“Minor art expresses only the specifics of reality; each day is different, & so is each artwork. Great art, however, expresses fundamental reality through its specific manifestations. This gives the work of the great artist a continuity which that of a minor artist lacks.” Peter Roberts

The April 3rd-4th Speeches of MLK and RFK as Art

I believe that real art does not care about political party, income level, race, religion, or any of the myriad ways that we sometimes choose to divide our world.  Real art breaks down and transcends every vestige of separation that divides us.  If my definition of art is correct, then the speeches that Martin Luther King, Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy gave on April 3rd and April 4th, 1968 qualify as works of art.  

Do you agree that these speeches qualify as works of art?

“...We don't have to argue with anybody. We don't have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don't need any bricks and bottles. We don't need any Molotov cocktails. We just need to go around to these stores, and to these massive industries in our country, and say, "God sent us by here, to say to you that you're not treating his children right. And we've come by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda fair treatment, where God's children are concerned. Now, if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you.”  Martin Luther King Jr.- Speaking to striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee on April 3, 1968- “I’ve Been To The Mountaintop” Speech

“Some look for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, but this much is clear: violence breeds violence, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul.

For there is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the violence of institutions; indifference and inaction and slow decay.  This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. This is the slow destruction of a child by hunger, and schools without books and homes without heat in the winter.

This is the breaking of a man’s spirit by denying him the chance to stand as a father and as a man among other men. And this too afflicts us all.” Robert F. Kennedy- April 5, 1968-Cleveland Club, Cleveland, Ohio “Mindless Menace Of Violence” Speech

Expanded Definitions Of Poverty and Violence

Dr. King and RFK both expanded my definitions of poverty and violence.  While many of us may have never experienced poverty, violence on the streets, or even racial discrimination, I believe that all of us have experienced poverty and violence in some form. 

A friend of mine, who has been wealthy her entire life, describes the environment she grew up in as emotional poverty.  She says that she would gladly have traded away her families material wealth for the attention from her parents that she witnessed many of her middle-class and working-class friends receiving. 

“Students learn that positive thoughts lead to positive actions, which lead to positive feelings about yourself, which then lead back to positive thoughts. They also learn that negative thoughts, actions, and feelings follow the same cycle to make them feel bad about themselves. This Thoughts-Actions-Feelings Circle is the basis upon which students learn positive behaviors for the physical, intellectual, social, and emotional domains.” (Positive Action website, “Violence and Bullying Booklet.”)

Research by UW-Madison psychologist , Dr. Richard Madison suggests that emotion regulation deficits may be a smoking gun in impulsive violence. So, violent internal thoughts may not only damage us, but may lead to acts of violence against others.   

What is your definition of violence?  What is your definition of poverty?

It will be a great day when the words that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy spoke on April 3rd and 4th, 1968 are no longer relevant.  Unfortunately, that day may not come in the lifetimes of any of us reading these words.

QUESTIONS FOR TODAY

“Ah Wolfe can't see
Ah that's no good
He can't see the tree
For the wood”  (Steve Kilbey)

1. Am I seeing the full picture?  Am I seeing the world as it really is? 

Martin Luther King went to Memphis to speak, despite the death threats he received.  Robert F. Kennedy was warned by then Mayor, Richard Lugar, that it was too dangerous  to speak in the African American part of town after King’s assassination because of the potential for a riot-  Kennedy spoke on the night of April 3, 1968 anyway. 

2.  Will I do what is right even if there is the threat of injury or death?

I think that King’s and Kennedy’s speeches are timeless.

3.  Will what I am doing with my life add meaning to the world in 40 years?

Dr. King’s Christian faith was prevalent in his message in Memphis. (I believe Senator Kennedy’s Christian faith was present in his speeches also, even if he did not explicitly make a statement of faith.)

4.  Do I take my faith into every situation I encounter in life?

LINKS

Three minute video clip of Dr. King’s “I’ve Been To The Mountaintop.”

The first ten minutes of Martin Luther King Jr.’s last speech. (Photos, but no video.)

Text of MLK’s last speech.

RFK’s “On The Death Of Martin Luther King” video.

Text of RFK’s “On The Death Of Martin Luther King.”

Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s “Mindless Menace Of Violence” speech set to the tragic events of 4/16/07 at Virginia Tech, University.

Left, Right, And Center Video Of Mindless Menace Of Violence-

 To quote RFK, “This is not a day for politics...”  The author of this video, does an excellent job of presenting all sides of the political spectrum in a positive manner to the words of “The Mindless Menace Of Violence.”

“Mindless Menace Of Violence Unplugged.”

  I love Emilio Estevez movie “Bobby.”  I’m not sure why Mr. Estevez, chose to “pump up” one of the greatest speeches ever, by amping RFK’s voice and adding strings to his speech at the end of “Bobby” though.  I like the “raw version” of the speech better. (This link is the full speech, audio only.) 

ON A LIGHTER NOTE-

The Top 15 singles from the first week of April 1968:

“(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay” by Otis Redding

“Young Girl” by the Union Gap featuring Gary Puckett

“Valleri” by the Monkees

“La-La Means I Love You” by the Delfonics

“(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You’ve Been Gone” by Aretha Franklin

“Cry Like A Baby” by the Box Tops

“Lady Madonna” by the Beatles

“The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde” by Georgie Fame

“Love is Blue” by Paul Mauriat and His Orchestra

“Honey” by Bobby Goldsboro

“Might Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)” by Manfred Mann

“Simon Says” by the 1910 Fruitgum Co.

“Scarborough Fair/Canticle” by Simon & Garfunkel

“Dance To The Music” by Sly & the Family Stone

“Kiss Me Goodbye” by Petula Clark

The Top 10 albums from the first week of April 1968:

The Graduate by Simon & Garfunkel/Soundtrack

Blooming Hits by Paul Mauriat and His Orchestra

Aretha: Lady Soul by Aretha Franklin

The Dock Of The Bay by Otis Redding

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme by Simon & Garfunkel

Valley of the Dolls by Dionne Warwick

John Wesley Harding by Bob Dylan

Disraeli Gears by Cream

Axis: Bold As Love by the Jimi Hendrix Experience

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly soundtrack

I hope that this post is useful to everyone who reads it.  Please leave your comments below, or contact me directly.  (My contact info is in the sidebar.)

Thanks for stopping by!  Bill

Rock and Roll Made Me Very Literate (The drug free way that Led Zeppelin expanded my brain.)

 

"Don't join the book burners. Don't think you're going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book...." President Dwight D. Eishenhower

In the 1980’s, January nights in Auburn, Alabama were a nice hybrid of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Panama City, Florida.  Each January night had the “advantage” of the chill of Minneapolis with the bonus “advantage” of the humidity of Panama City.   One way to stay warm, was to go to a bar that managed to crowd about half the normal attendees of The Bonnarroo Festival into a space as big as a convenience store.  It was on one of these January evenings that my friend Wes and I decided to go see a band called The Cartoons rip through a set of covers by U2, The Cure, and The Vapors.

Seven hours of drinking beer and staying warm were all we could handle, so we decided to walk back to the home that Wes was sharing with 20 other people. (The home was as big as two convenience stores.)  We immediately began missing the tropical air and cacophonous sounds of the bar, so we put a scratched copy of Led Zeppelin IV on the turntable, turned the volume to ten, and then used gasoline to get some wet logs burning in the fireplace.  By now, we were also thirsty, so we popped open a couple of beers.   During, Misty Mountain Hop, I yelled at Wes, “WASN’T THIS SONG INFLUENCED BY J.R.R. TOLKIEN ?”  Wes turned down the music, walked over to the group bookshelf,  grabbed a paperback book with a sky blue cover, and said, “Bill I want you to read this book, the author of this book was great friends with J.R.R. Tolkien.” 

For those of you in sales, who don’t know the close Wes just used, it’s called- The Rock and Roll Zeppelin to Tolkien to Lewis, non-devout literary Christian friend close, and it works 99% of the time!   I read C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, and several of Lewis other books.  Wes, I’m sure you are still a great salesperson!

Since that night in Auburn, there have been a plethora of other occasions that my love of Rock and Roll has made me a more literate person.  I think, listening to Rock and Roll is like a party in a rustic stately old home with hardwood floors. Inside this cool house, there is a branch of the main party in each room.   The entire home is filled with bookcases, and each mini party has books on the shelves that are appropriate for that mini party.   Below, I’ve listed a minute sample of some of the books I’ve learned about through the time I’ve spent in the various rooms of rock and roll.  

A Brief Overview of My Rock and Roll Inspired Literacy

The Secret Sharer, by Joseph Conrad-  The Who (I read in a magazine article that Pete Townshend was a fan of Conrad’s.)

Anthem, by Ayn Rand - Rush 

The Complete Poems Of William Blake - The Doors

The Lord Of The Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien- Led Zeppelin

Memories, Dreams, and Reflections, by Carl Jung- The Police

The Power Of Myth, by Joseph Campbell- The Doors

The Pilgrim’s Regress, by C.S. Lewis- Led Zeppelin to Tolkien to Lewis :) 

Some Books I am Going to Read Soon Because of a Rock and Roll Influence 

The Sacred and The Profane: The Nature of Religion, by Mircae Eliade- The Doors

Alice In Wonderland , by Lewis Carroll- The Beatles (John Lennon) 

A Collection Of Scriptures, Prayers, & Poems, by Thomas Dekker- The Beatles (I can’t find this book, if anyone knows where to get it, please let me know.  Thanks!)

Consider the Lobster: And Other Essays, by David Foster Wallace- Ambulance Ltd.

Some Rock and Roll Literature Links

Found In The Margins

Artists For Literacy

Rock 'n' Roll Finds Its Place in Literature 

"Listen, real poetry doesn't say anything; it just ticks off the possibilities. Opens all doors. You can walk through anyone that suits you."  Jim Morrison

It’s too bad the Doors, Jim Morrison, never knew President Eisenhower.  Both were men who were not afraid of books.  They would have had a great conversation!

What books have you read because of a Rock and Roll influence?  Please leave your comments below, or contact me directly.  My contact info is in the sidebar.

Thanks for stopping by!  Bill

Three Lessons And Three Questions From The Bruce Springsteen And Robert F. Kennedy School Of Communication

A few minutes ago, I surfed by the official Springsteen site, to check out the bosses 2009 tour schedule.  Surprise!  He’s not scheduled to play Huntsville, Alabama.  Well, bonnaroo  is close...

As I scrolled through the Springsteen site, I thought about a phrase that I have heard frequently: “I didn’t really like Bruce Springsteen, but my (buddy, wife, husband, girlfriend, etc.) had an extra ticket, and after I saw Springsteen live, I loved him!  These sentiments about Bruce Springsteen, remind me of what I recently read about Senator Robert F. Kennedy in communication expert Bert Decker’s  excellent book,  You’ve Got to be Believed to Be Heard.   Decker says, “I have to confess that I wasn’t a big RFK fan at first.  But as I watched him-in closed door meetings, before the press, grabbing a few moments of rest, delivering his stump speech, shaking who know how many outstretched hands,- I became intrigued with him...I’m convinced that if it were not for that bullet, the history of our nation would have been written very differently.”  There are three communication lessons that we can learn from RFK and Springsteen:  1.  Speak From The Heart  2.  Tap Into Every Ounce Of Energy In Our Minds And Bodies  3.  Smile!

What is uttered from the heart alone,
Will win the hearts of others to your own.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe    

1.  Speak From The Heart 

On April 4, 1968 Robert F. Kennedy  gave what is considered one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century from the back of a flatbed truck.  Kennedy had received word a few hours earlier that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated.  Against the advice of everyone, Kennedy decided to go ahead and give a planned speech in a predominantly African American neighborhood at the corner of Seventeenth and Broadway in Indianapolis, Indiana.

According to author Thurston Clarke, as RFK climbed onto the back of the truck, his aide, Frank Mankiewicz, handed him  a sheet of paper with some ideas for the speech.  Kennedy immediately put the notes in his pocket without looking at them.  Clarke says, “After asking the dignitaries on the platform not to introduce him, he (RFK) stood alone at the platform, looking drawn and shaken.”  Moments later, in a voice close to breaking, and with tears welling up his eyes, Kennedy delivered his impromptu speech.   Kennedy gave the crowd the news that Dr. King had been assassinated, and then spoke as only he could about a life that has been cut short by a political assassination- “For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.  But, we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond these rather difficult times.”  RFK never spoke about the death of his brother,  but he spoke from the heart about his brother’s assassination that night.    There were 119 riots in the United States on April 4, 1968 but there were no riots in Indianapolis. 

When Bruce Springsteen introduces “The River,” he begins with a story about his relationship with his father.  The cultural divide of the 1960’s is brought to life by Springsteen’s words.   The boss draws the story so clearly that the scene is as vivid as a Scorsese movie.  When the Springsteen story concludes with his father’s acceptance, the crowd cheers for a father and son’s restored relationship.

The examples above are what I call “Life Preparation Speeches.” Both Kennedy and Springsteen’s stories are from very personal experiences, that each thought about for years before sharing his emotions in front of an audience.   Each of us has a personal story that can move a crowd if spoken from our hearts.  1. We should ask-  “What is the message that my life has been preparing me to give?”

“Failure is more frequently from want of energy than want of capital.”  Daniel Webster

2.  Tap Into Every Ounce Of Energy In Our Minds And Bodies

“As our camera’s rolled, I thought, Look at him!  There’s no way he can make it!  He can barely stand on his feet!  But, as soon as he was introduced, he seemed to spring forward, evoking the image of a runner sprinting from the blocks or a fighter coming out of his corner...”  Author, Bert Decker, speaking about Senator Robert F. Kennedy 

“I witnessed a band who took to the stage like twenty-year-old kids hungry for their shot at the title. They jumped in the ring and gave it their all. I've rarely witnessed such ambition, fortitude, and pure unbridled elation on display.” Writer, Anthony Kuzminski, discussing a recent Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Show 

Do you believe you have energy when you speak?  Are you sure you do?  There is only one way to find out- Videotape yourself making a presentation.  After the watching the video, you will find out that like the “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” your energy level is either to cold, to hot, or “just right.”   In videos of Bruce Springsteen and the late Senator Kennedy, you will notice that both men often speak in a conversational style.  But,... it is a conversational voice filled with passion and energy.  I have been advised by friends who are also experienced speakers, that I am at my best when I speak with passion in a conversational style.  Until I began videotaping my presentations, I did not know what my friends were talking about.  2. We should ask-  “Will I pay the price of a video camera and videotape to become a great speaker?”  

“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”  Mother Teresa

3.  Smile   

How many pictures have you seen of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Bruce Springsteen smiling?  I have seen many pictures of them smiling!  Speech coach, Bert Decker, says that the smile is one top six ways to improve your personal impact! (If you can’t tell yet, I highly recommend Bert’s book You’ve Got To Be Believed To Be Heard . :) )   Is smiling easy or what?  Do I smile?  Do you smile?  There is one way to know... see question two- after reading question two, please begin videotaping yourself when you make a presentation.    

When we smile, we should give everyone a big smile from the heart!  When I’m not in the mood to smile, thinking about something happy, is normally enough to get a smile out.  I have found that it helps my presentations if I arrive at the site of my speech a few minutes early to find out who the “smilers” are.  Focusing on the smilers in an audience helps me smile, and it gives me extra energy during my presentation.  3. We should ask- “Do I smile enough during my presentations?” 

What other communication lessons have you learned from Bruce Springsteen and Robert F. Kennedy?  Please leave your comments below, or contact me directly.  My contact info is in the sidebar.

Thanks for stopping by!  Bill