Category Archives: Vancore General
Meet Your Executive
As this week’s meeting wound up and another VanCore election was in the books, our fearless new leader Katherine (Kate) Hallanzy announced she was heading over to Murchie’s for tea and who would like to join her? “Looks like the … Continue reading
Don’t Miss It: June 19 is VanCore Election Day
Folks, it’s time for the annual election of VanCore directors. Here’s your chance to put your stamp on the club’s leadership team. As per Toastmaster International rules, the past president – in our case, that’s Susan – drew up the … Continue reading
Let Your Life Speak
Sometimes, sitting in the audience at VanCore meetings, you can tell something big is taking shape. What Niki has going on at the moment is more than a series of related stories. In installments, Niki is telling a coming-of-age tale … Continue reading
Ummmmmm….
Don’t quite know how to say this but, um, we’re backsliding. Or it could just have been one of those days for the good burghers of VanCore, a generally linguistically careful bunch. “It was very ‘um’-y and ‘ah’-y today,” said … Continue reading
Shape Up
A good rule of thumb at VanCore is: when you see Kate is signed up as Table Topics Master at the next meeting, be there. Kate is a teacher, and teachers (the good ones, anyway) are always stretching to get … Continue reading
Mentor Telepathy
You don’t see many people learning to shoe horses at their daddy’s knee these days, or to can peaches in granny’s parlour. We used to be a culture of apprenticeship. Now we just watch The Apprentice on TV. (How did … Continue reading
Two Words: Stage Time
From the department of mixed metaphors: This week Megan knocked her “Icebreaker” out of the park. Megan’s a new-ish member but not a new member. She’s been in the club for a few months. Many of us were eagerly awaiting … Continue reading
Freedom Fighters
There are many teachers among the VanCore member pool, and Kate’s one of them. Lately Kate has been teaching the British philosopher John Stuart Mill, who has strong opinions on liberty. Mill raises fascinating questions about how much freedom the … Continue reading
Note: This Week We Meet Down the Street
VanCore members, guests and assorted curious looky-loos are reminded that we’re meeting in a temporary location this week. It’s the Eclipse Boardroom, on the 2nd floor of 1055 W. Hastings Street. That’s about two blocks northwest of our usual digs. … Continue reading
L’chaim! (“To life!”)
We all have our crutches — all of us, no matter how experienced a speaker we are. Past-president Susan’s crutch is a sometimes overdependence on notes. But Susan didn’t look at her notes even once during this week’s great speech. … Continue reading
VanCore Toastmasters 