"Helping YOU Take Center Stage"!

Turn your SPEECHLESS experiences into SPEECHES to help others…. Yesterday I received some news that took me COMPLETELY by surprise – I WAS… SPEECHLESS!! I really was not prepared for what was being said to me on the phone and it came from an unlikely source. I will not reveal the contents of the discussion just yet as it is just TOO personal and TOO painful at this time. AND I decided that I would refrain from really stating how I feel to the person delivering the news... at least for now…because I am not really sure what my plan of action is yet “I AM STILL SPEECHLESS”… Have you ever become speechless when news was delivered to you that you were not expecting, not ready to hear, and more importantly from a least unlikely source? I have but it is not the first time…it reminded me of the time my hair stylist informed that clumps of my hair were coming out while she was washing it at the sink. She then asked me if I had been eating. WOW…I was caught by my hair stylist...a most unlike...

“SHE MAKES ME LAUGH”!! “Comedy Is Acting Out Optimism.” Robin Williams – Actor/Comedian I went to the Kowloon Restaurant http://www.kowloonrestaurant.com/ on Route One North, Saugus, Massachusetts for dinner and then upstairs to the "Comedy Connection" Club for some laughs Friday night. The performers were OK - I did laugh but kept thinking to myself how much I wish I could be doing that!! Stand-up is something I did try in the late 80’s early 90’s when I went to Emerson College and just after graduating. Some places I did open mic nights in Boston were Dad’s Dinner (now closed), Nick’s Comedy Stop, Stitches (now closed), and Dick Doherty’s Comedy Vault downstairs at Remington’s. For my last semester at Emerson College I attended the Emerson’s Los Angeles Program http://www.emerson.edu/la_center/ and worked as an intern at Entertainment Tonight. I stayed at the Oakwood Apartments http://emerson.oakwood.com/ where many entertainers also stayed. I along with the ...

"FROM EVALUATOR TO GUEST CRITIC" !! I always love attending productions of the North Shore Music Theatre (NSMT) I just have to share that for me - being a Toastmaster is very useful in learning how to write evaluations for other people's speeches and presentations. AND in this case, it helped me to become a "Guest Critic" for one of the largest non-profit theatres in New England !! Perhaps YOU too can learn to listen, speak, evaluate and even write a review for your local theatre company. I encourage you to join a Toastmasters Club near you! http:///www.nsmt.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=643&Itemid=1745 BIO FOR GUEST CRITIC SHERRI RAFTERY Sherri Raftery turned 41 on January 9th and is a PTO mom at St. Pius V. School in Lynn, where her nine-year-old daughter Sabrina attends third grade. Sherri is also a soccer mom and team parent for the Saugus "Dynamites", a performer with the Theatre Co. of Saugus and...