JAMES D. HARTNETT

September 7, 1931 – June 28,2023

One of the founders of the Miracle Mile Toastmasters Club remained our leader, mentor, friend, and coach for more than sixty years. When a guest at a meeting encountered Jim, the guest was told, “If you come here three times a month for six months, you will become a different person as well as an excellent speaker.” And he was right. We all changed and grew one meeting at a time.

Usually, the first to arrive, he’d welcome a visitor, then invite them to help him set up for the meeting. Members would appear, finding a guest placing Table Topics ballots out or hanging a “meeting in progress” sign on the door. Jim was already extending a welcome to someone new and getting them involved.

One of our members recalled that when he first came to a meeting, he knew he wanted to learn about public speaking, become a better communicator, and an overall better person. Jim took him under his wing, made him feel comfortable, and helped him expand his business horizons. With an engaging smile and a self-effacing wit, Jim encouraged members to grow and stretch their sphere of influence.

Jim encouraged us to find our voices, and several have done that. He coached one member as she prepared for a Ted Talk, encouraged others to start a gavel club at the Everglades Correctional Institution, and another used her voice to assist the community in improving mental health awareness and assistance.

One of our members noticed that a gentleman would show up and sit with Jim for some time. After several visits, she asked Jim who the man was. Jim brushed it off, saying, “He needed some help, and I’m working with him through my church.” He didn’t go into details … he was supporting someone who needed help.

Another member lost her job several years ago. Jim casually asked her, “Have you ever worked in politics?” She had. The next thing she knew, she was the Campaign Coordinator for someone running for the state legislature.

Our past President remarked, “The number of Toastmasters who have come through Miracle Mile over the past sixty years is tremendous. I am not sure our founder Jim Hartnett knew what a service he was doing for the Coral Gables and Miami communities when he and a few others founded our club, but an incredible service was provided.” After sixty years of being a Toastmaster, Jim, with his usual wit, said, “I had to stay because I was a slow learner.”

Robert Whittington wrote of Sir Thomas More in 1520:

“More is a man of angel’s wit and singular learning; I know not his fellow. For where is the man of that gentleness, lowliness, and affability? And as time requireth, a man of marvelous mirth and pastimes; and sometimes of as sad a gravity; a man for all seasons.”

Most Miracle Mile Toastmasters would agree. The same could be said of Jim. For many of us, he was “Our Man for all seasons.”

Picture this: You’re Jerry Bailey. It’s Wednesday night, and you think, “I haven’t seen any information about tomorrow’s meeting, and I wonder if I have a role.”

He checks our webpage and discovers, “YOU, Jerry, are the Toastmaster.” His mind races into overdrive. “I have to contact the speakers and functionaries and put this meeting together.”

Fortunately, most of the functionaries were available. Unfortunately, the speakers were not. Yikes! What’s a guy going to do?

Jerry figured it was unfair to pass on the vacant speaker slot and decided to present a speech about living on a plant-based diet. His Pathways Project was about dealing with a difficult audience. He opened his speech inviting the audience to jump in with questions and comments regardless of whether they agreed with his views.

Jerry explained he has lived for years on a plant-based diet…and that’s when it happened. Enter, “Howard the Heckler.” Suddenly, we heard Howard speaking with someone on the phone about generators. The audience was confused and tried to get Howard’s attention. “You have to mute yourself.”    

Jerry continued with how he first started eliminating red meat from his diet. After a year of eating chicken, he decided to eliminate that. At which point, Howard responded with, “Hey, you know chicken is meat too…why don’t you ask a chicken if they’re meat. I mean, chickens have faces – right?”

Jerry dodged the question, moving on to the effects on the environment. He pointed out that waste passing gasses from cattle put more methane into the air. Our “Green Queen,” Leisha pointed out that the methane is caused by burping, not passing gas from the other end.

Jerry’s speech produced quite a few giggles and engaging questions about reducing the amount of meat in the diet and responsibly sourcing other foods. Wanda stated it takes 600 gallons of water to produce one pound of almonds; consider they are being harvested in a drought-affected area of the United States.   Susan Racher suggested watching a documentary titled “What the Health,” examining what non-plant-based foods do to our bodies.  

And it was finally time for Jerry to drop the mic!

Our Table Topics Master, Phil Hayden, is planning a vacation, and he needs some help. He asked our members several questions about favorite and worst vacations, best location vacations, relaxing or active vacations, and even best vacation memory. Our audience provided Phil with several ideas.

Our winners were: 3rd place, Heloisa, who told us about the most harrowing vacation she ever had; 2nd place, Leisha, who is planning a trip to Italy and hopes to incorporate an archaeological dig in Tuscany while there; and, our winner, Susan Racher, who along with her husband has taken up camping during the last 12 months. Hopefully, Phil got some awesome ideas for his vacation this year.

We always learn something at our meetings – and here is what we learned today.  

Use visuals when you can.  

We try to make eye contact with the audience when appearing in person. To achieve the same effect using Zoom, look directly at the camera.

Don’t be afraid to try something new — like an open mic meeting!

While we may not have joined Toastmasters to learn how to be comfortable, relaxed, and poised in front of an audience, coming to meetings and trying something new can get us there.

We jumped from “TRAINS, PLANES AND, AUTOMOBILES” to the importance of learning from Lola!

Our first speaker, Jerry Bailey, gave us a gentleman’s sartorial view of travel in his speech, “Five Degrees of Post Covid Travel.” His first point applies to any travel: don’t take things you will miss if lost — an homage to his favorite hat almost lost on a train in Germany. 

The second point is to understand that travel classes (i.e., coach, first-class) are not the same from country to country. In retrieving his favorite hat from the train in Germany, he discovered his first-class accommodations were not as comfortable as second class. 

Moving on to men’s attire, Jerry noted that many guys lean toward comfort — baggy pants and much-used running shoes. Running shoes are out, and stylish shoes (he mentioned Cole Hahn) are in. Pants with pleats are entirely out of fashion; however, nice non-pleated slacks or jeans with appropriate shoes are in style.

Whether a man or a woman, FANNY PACKS ARE OUT! Backpacks are clumsy, and it’s easy to bump into people in a crowd. Jerry recommends a small bag, which you can wear with a strap over your shoulder or across the front of your body. 

Even post-covid, Jerry recommends wearing a mask, particularly when flying. And finally, Jerry takes a tiny can of non-aerosol Lysol spray. If someone is sneezing, you can spray it in the air to take care of circulating germs. He admonished, “Do not spray it AT someone — just in the air.”

Our second speaker, Howard Barouxis, told us he’d learned a lot from his little dog. Lola is a small Bichon puppy, and she lights up Howard’s life. She’s taught him many lessons — like “being in the now.” She seems to know what happened yesterday is over, and there is no guarantee of tomorrow. So Lola loves today! 

There are three languages spoken in Howard’s world — English, French, and Spanish. Little Lola loves attention in any language — perhaps she’s multi-lingual. 

If Lola could show displeasure, she doesn’t. All she wants to do is make everyone happy. Lola loves without expectation, and she shows her gratitude. 

Howard admits that he is not the most patient person in the world, but Lola constantly demonstrates that patience is a virtue. 

While cheese is one of her favorite foods, little Lola isn’t a picky eater, and she’ll even eat lettuce on occasion. 

“Begging gets you anywhere,” is her mantra. It’s worked in getting Howard to look forward to their walks, and Howard has even joined the 10,000 step club. 

Little Lola is Howard’s superhero. She’s demonstrated to him he should live in the now and while walking, to take time to smell the roses. What an education! World leaders could learn from Lola.

Alberto Gonzalez, our Table Topics Master, presented the questions. How would you answer the following:

1, What’s a downside of the modern world?

2. What simple fact do you think most people don’t understand?

3. If you could do it all over again, what would your do-over be?

4. Describe your future in three words?

5. What do you think about when your drive home?

6. What can someone do to grab your attention?

7. What is the most insensitive thing a person could do?

The winners of Table Topics were: 3rd place, Jerry Bailey, 2nd place, Howard Barouxis, and the winner was: Wanda Bee!

Our Master Evaluator, Sharon Patish, and her team, Wanda Bee and Alex Vorbe gave everyone some things to think about before presenting another speech. Here are some things we learned:

1. Use props when appropriate — they add to your story.
2. In addition to tempo, a pause adds emphasis to a statement.

On August 4, several club officers attended the Toastmasters Leadership Institute at Keiser University in Miami.

This training session helps officers become more effective leaders and helps our club earn DCP requirements.

I had the pleasure of serving as facilitator for the District’s new Public Relations Manager, Linda Chapman, who provided the group with valuable tools to more effectively perform our roles as VPPR.