Past Speakers - 2005

The dream of Virginia, 86 years young, who hadn't played violin since high school, but her love for symphony had always been strong. She dreamed of conducting a symphony, and that is what she did! -- There's Flossie, Born to be Wild, and just one month shy of her 100th birthday, acted wild. Ready for her first motorcycle ride, in a pink leather jacket she rode first in the sidecar but wasn't satisfied there. She wanted to be on the motorcycle with the engine running - and the smile said it all! -- and there was the time Catherine, at 99 years young, dreaded the fact that she didn't graduate from Emory where she had begun in 1927. She's now the newest graduate.

Maybe the dream is to fly in a biplane - it happened. Or maybe even to perform in a circus - it's happened. There's Gracie, 100 years young, remembering the days of the horse and buggy. Her dream was again to ride; she had the Buggy Ride of Dreams at the First Annual Celebration of Dreams. There was William who changed the perception of aging showing what an 88 year old can do. He entertained the crowed by singing with the jazz band, and Everett, with his sunglasses on, with dreams of catching the big one - and he may just do it! The smell of the salt water and the mist in his face took him back to his younger years and all his fishing skills came right back.

Our speaker, Jan Nelson, will tell us about Second Wind Dreams which makes individual dreams come true.

Our speaker will be Sadie Holt, 73 years young, President of the Georgia Chapter of Rosie the Riveter Association. As we recently celebrated the 63rd anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the organization is now honoring those American Women who "pitched in" while the men were at war, a wartime effort which changed history.

Randy Dean was deep in conversation with a group that meets regularly at Athens Pizza in Decatur; no one within ear shot could possibly understand anything that they said. Between mouthfuls of Greek salad and fried potato, they relish the words that come tripping off their tongue.

They were speaking a strangely musical language made up of gutturals and trills, of hard rat-a-tat-tat consonants and abundant syllable-stretching vowels. The language sounds seem to have bubbled forth, fully formed from an odd corner of the world that doesn't exist. Which, in fact, is the case with this language - this is Esperanto.

Esperanto was created by a Polish oculist in the late 1800's to serve as an international language. He derived the name from the Latin word "hope" - and the language may be somewhat similar to Latin in that it is an unspoken language, partially forgotten.

But it is not unspoken. There is a very active neighborhood of some 20,000 Esperantists in the United States, a country that has never been quick to cotton to new languages. And, once a month here in Atlanta, there is a group that meets for lunch to spend their time, rain or shine, speaking Esperanto.

And when our speaker finishes you can say to him "Gis la revido!" - Goodbye.

A typical story is that of Eloise Strom, a young mother of two young boys, who rose every morning before dawn and rode one and a half hours in a carpool with five other women to work at the aircraft plant in Marietta - it was World War II. Food was rationed, first come, first served. Get there late and there would be no flour, no sugar, no milk, no coffee no hamburger for dinner tonight. "It seemed like everything was hard in those days," recalled Strom, a spry 90 year old who lives in Buckhead and worked at the old Bell Bomber plant. Six million American women worked in war factories and, regardless of what their specific jobs might have been, they became known as Rosie the Riveters. The national movement to remember the riveters happens to be based in Georgia, home of the 1,400-member American Rosie the Riveters Association.

Our speaker will be Sadie Holt, 73 years young, President of the Georgia Chapter of Rosie the Riveter Association. As we recently celebrated the 63rd anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the organization is now honoring those American Women who "pitched in" while the men were at war, a wartime effort which changed history.

Clarence Harrison stood in front of a bank of cameras on the steps of the DeKalb County Courthouse almost five months ago - he was a free man, having been free for just a few minutes after seventeen years in Georgia prisons. DNA testing proved that he did not commit the rape for which he was convicted. Clarence now speaks to many groups telling them of the cold horrors of prison life, but even more importantly, telling them his story. He recounted his life of petty juvenile offences, stealing clothes and beer, smoking a reefer from age 12 on, skipping school to gamble, and fighting, always fighting - and when someone pointed the finger at him, no one would believe him when he told the truth.

Now out of prison, married to a woman who befriended him by phone and mail while in prison, he is trying today to tell his story to others so that they will not fall into the same trap trying to tell young people how they can - how they must avoid a similar trap.

This will be a wonderful, inspirational program that we all will enjoy. This probably is a program that we will want to share with many of our youngsters.

Do you know people who have a fear of heights, possibly a fear of flying or are you afraid to stand in front of a group to speak? The world of science - may even seem like science fiction - is here with a new form of treatment. Our speaker, who directs the Trauma and Anxiety Recovery Program at Emory's School of Medicine, in conjunction with a Georgia Tech computer scientist, developed software and technology (hardware as well) as a means of treating fears through virtual reality.

This idea for treatment of psychiatric problems, psychological disorders and other problems was developed by Dr. Rothbaum. As is obviously, it is difficult to take a person to a 44 story building and try to cure his fears; there are many potential problems that exist. And the guy or gal who is afraid to board that flight - it certainly would take hours and hours and a great deal of expense to take someone on flights to cure a fear of flying. But, with virtual reality, the patient is in the office with a virtual airplane which takes off and lands within a regular thirty-five minute therapy session. There is even a virtual audience for public speaking fears.

Get your science fiction books out, read Michael Crichton and other science fiction authors, then come to Kiwanis and see the same virtual reality at Kiwanis and find out how, with a virtual environment, a patient is taken to the source of his fears in a realistic "believed" environment. All you need is a virtual reality headset and software and a cure is underway.

Graphoanalysis can be defined in several ways - just as can psychology or intelligence. It's a tool that can be used successfully for assessment of personality traits; increasingly a great number of companies are utilizing graphoanalysis as an additional tool. Personnel directors and supervisors have found graphoanalysis to be a valuable tool for personal selection and placement - would you like to learn about yourself - it might be surprising.

Nanotechnology is the brave new world of atomic-scale engineering in which the ability to assemble individual atoms like Lego blocks will transform science, medicine and even your golf game. Futurists envision a world of individually customized cars assembled molecule by molecule, surgery performed by cell-sized robot. Nanotechnology will let us make super computers to fit on the head of a pin - a fleet and fleets of medical nanobots, smaller than a human cell, able to eliminate cancer, infections, clogged arteries and even old age - hey, this sounds great!

Is this some Buck Rogers futuristic nonsense? - No, this is present and existing - technology and research that is taking place here at Georgia Tech., in its new Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology - you think it's all something of the future and not reality? At less exotic levels, Nanotechnology has already wormed its way quietly into some aspects of our daily lives. Chips for computers and cell phones contain nanoscale circuits. Stain resistant cotton kakis are impregnated with Nanosized particles which cause liquids to roll off. Nanoparticles and fibers not only are found in your new Mercedes, but also give that extra bounce to your tennis balls and more power to your golf clubs in the trunk of your car. Again, science fiction becomes reality. Nanotechnology could be the next industrial revolution!

Once a week, Reading Mentors and students share conversation and good books, one-on-one, over school lunch in a reading and mentoring program named Power Lunch. Many pairs read together developing strong friendships and mentoring relationships. Volunteers come from a variety of public and private sector organizations throughout the city.

Our speaker, Luís Perez-Eguiarte, is an attorney actively involved in an immigration practice in Atlanta, Georgia. Luís is the immediate past president of the Mexican-American Chamber of Commerce here in the city. He will brief us on what is happening in the "immigration world", what has changed in the last few years, and what was proposed prior to the last election and now seems to have been forgotten subsequent to the election. You will be quite surprised to learn how significant the impact of the Hispanic community is in Georgia's industry and commerce.

-- But liver transplant - this is a major medical breakthrough. Our speaker, a new resident to Atlanta, is the new director of that department at Piedmont Hospital. Under his direction (and steady hand) Piedmont Hospital had its first live liver transplant just last month - live liver tissue transplants may be the life saver to those certain death situations of the past. This will be a fascinating program.

The I-Team's in-depth investigations have sent people to jail, recovered more than a million tax dollars, changed laws and protected countless consumers from scams. Dale is the I-Team's government watchdog. His stories focus on fraud in government, criminal wrongdoing, and ethical violations by public officials. Dale, a former magazine writer and radio reporter, has spent 15 years investigating some of Atlanta's biggest stories for FOX5. His stories have changed laws, resulted in arrests and prompt government action - Dale has broken important stories covering some of the nation's high profile crimes from Atlanta's Missing and Murdered Children, the Olympic Park bombing, to terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center.

Our speaker, Al Lostocco, is President of Internships for America; he founded the Atlanta-based company in 1998. The company brings students and young professionals from Europe, Asia and South America and places them as interns in U.S. businesses. There are currently 40 to 50 interns, most work in metropolitan Atlanta, who are now being placed throughout the southeast and as far west as Texas. Al has expanded the organization's activities with a new book on the topic "U.S. Internship" for international students and young professionals. It includes tips on the U.S. work environment and even offers a guide for common American slang terms.

Employers include hotels, resort companies, law firms, management firms, restaurants and businesses in the technology field. Interns are placed with companies where their skills will be most useful.

We'll hear about some of the fun things that happen and some of the unusual experiences which are the result of the clash of cultures. This should be a fascinating program and it may be of interest to some of your businesses.

Angel Flight started in 1983 as a loosely organized group of volunteer pilots that helped out patients whenever they could. Due to increased media coverage in 1990 and an alliance with several other similar organizations, Angel Flight has taken off. Since 1990, Angel Flight of Georgia has tripled in volunteers and more than tripled in yearly missions flown.

Our speaker will be Mack Secord - a fellow Kiwanian - a volunteer pilot. He will be with us to explain who they are, what they do and how they do it. This group of volunteer pilots fly so that no one is denied potentially life-saving medical treatment simply because they cannot afford the travel costs. Truly, they are a group of Angels!

Whether you're 4 or 84 or anywhere in between there may be a place for you at center stage. This will be a fascinating program - who knows, we may even find an outlet for our own Macbeth, Hamlet or King Lear.

Heck, what is a "negogiant" - come on the 15th of November and you will find out.

Tom's presentation is going to tell us what caused the "perfect" hurricane - Hurricane Katrina, and why its and Hurricane Rita's devastation was so severe.

Do you have a plan? This isn't something you see in a sci-fi movie; if you think so, check with the New Yorkers who remember 9/11 and New Orleaners who still can't get to their homes.

Do you have a survival plan?

Let's suppose that you are a CEO and you want to attract, keep, or close that big deal that will take your company from one level to the next, you may well turn to an executive coach. Our speaker was quoted in a recent article in the Atlanta Business Chronicle as saying, "One purpose of coaching is to impact the executives' performance by increasing their insight and improving their executive decision making; it's an ongoing experimental process. Advise giving isn't coaching, it doesn't allow the executive to "own" their performance. It's only by taking ownership that allows the executive to maintain that performance." - that's the aim of the Stein Group Model of executive coaching.