This is my first speech, the Ice Breaker Speech. I gave it on 1/5/05. I think I wrote it during one of those phases where I didn't wish I'd have to work and so I compensated by thinking of what I'd really like to do. Please excuse the cheesiness of some of my lines. I wanted to sound kind of earthy.
Ice Breaker
Do you believe in reincarnation? I don’t, but sometimes I wonder if I had been born two hundred years too late. If I believed in reincarnation, I think I would have been a frontier woman in a past life. There are many reasons why I think this is true.
My family took a trip out west when I was in the 11th grade. My mom is from Minneapolis, MN, and her sister lives in South Dakota. So we traveled from our home in Michigan up through the Upper Peninsula, through northern Wisconsin, and down to Minneapolis. Then we trekked through southern Minnesota to South Dakota, and headed over to Wyoming to see Yellowstone National Park. This trip was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. My family had traveled to South Dakota before when I was a little kid, but as a kid I didn’t quite understand how wonderful the Dakotas are. As a kid, it seemed like just another long car ride. But as a teenager, it was a different experience.
While we were in Southern Minnesota we entered the Great Plains. When we went to Pipestone National Park, I felt as if I were at home. The plains were so beautiful, with the wind whipping through the tall grass. I loved all the flowers and the clay-like soil and the trees. Somehow I felt like I was at home in the plains. When we went to Yellowstone National Park I fell in love with bison. I like the way their bodies have a funny hump on the back, and their big heads and little butts just seem kind of cute to me.
I have seen all sorts of terrain in my life – the pine forests of the Lake States, where I grew up, the mountains of Wyoming and Montana, the temperate rainforest of Alaska. However, the prairie is what I love the most. There’s just something about seeing the wind fly over the grass that makes me feel good.
Another reason I could have been a frontier woman in a past life can be seen in my hobbies. One of my favorite pastimes is cooking and baking. I have heard other women my age say, “I can’t believe you’re so domestic,” like it’s a bad thing. But I truly enjoy preparing food. To me it’s a means of survival.
I like reading books about survival, such as “The Bounty Trilogy,” and a book called “Hatchet,” by Gary Paulsen. “Hatchet” is actually a book for young adults, and I read it in high school. It’s about a 12-year-old boy who is the only passenger in a small-engine airplane flying over Canada. When the pilot has a heart attack during the flight, the boy must land the plane and survive alone in the Canadian wilderness with only his hatchet to help him. This book had a great amount of impact on me, and after I read it I wanted to learn how to survive in the wilderness. I built myself a shelter on my parents’ property by cutting down small trees with a hatchet (like the kid in the book) and I tried making a fire using the spindle method, but all I got was smoke. I hiked 4 miles a day in the woods, did a lot of camping and tried hunting, though I never shot anything.
When I think about these experiences, I make a lot of connections. I love the prairie, I have a passion for cooking, I enjoy the outdoors, and I like to be self-sufficient. I would be content as a woman working to raise and nourish a family.
Right now I am a college graduate working on a master’s degree, and I plan to continue my education with a PhD in forestry. I’m sure there are and have been women out there who would love to have the opportunity to go to college and get a degree and have a career, but who haven’t been able to do so because of extenuating circumstances, such as financial situations, family obligations, and other holdbacks. Maybe their only option was to get married and start a family. And I’m sure they were fine with the direction their life took, but doesn’t everyone deserve a chance to follow their dreams?
I also have a dream. I like what I do at the FPL, and I love math and science, but I’d be happy as a homemaker. It’s kind of ironic, isn’t it? I almost feel bad, like I’m wasting the wonderful opportunities that I’ve had by wanting to do something else. So when I think about the way our society has changed in the last century or so, I think I might have been more content being a woman from 100 years ago, where it was a woman’s duty to raise a family, tend a house, put food away, and keep a garden.
I love the prairie, I love survival, and, as I was discussing my future with my financial advisor the other day, I said I “just want to be a grandma and bake cookies all day.” Does this mean I should have been born in another century? When I think about my future, I also envision the past. I hope I can be like my ancestors, living on a homestead on a wild prairie of waving grass, supporting my family.
Do you believe in reincarnation? I don’t, but sometimes I wonder if I had been born two hundred years too late. If I believed in reincarnation, I think I would have been a frontier woman in a past life. There are many reasons why I think this is true.
My family took a trip out west when I was in the 11th grade. My mom is from Minneapolis, MN, and her sister lives in South Dakota. So we traveled from our home in Michigan up through the Upper Peninsula, through northern Wisconsin, and down to Minneapolis. Then we trekked through southern Minnesota to South Dakota, and headed over to Wyoming to see Yellowstone National Park. This trip was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. My family had traveled to South Dakota before when I was a little kid, but as a kid I didn’t quite understand how wonderful the Dakotas are. As a kid, it seemed like just another long car ride. But as a teenager, it was a different experience.
While we were in Southern Minnesota we entered the Great Plains. When we went to Pipestone National Park, I felt as if I were at home. The plains were so beautiful, with the wind whipping through the tall grass. I loved all the flowers and the clay-like soil and the trees. Somehow I felt like I was at home in the plains. When we went to Yellowstone National Park I fell in love with bison. I like the way their bodies have a funny hump on the back, and their big heads and little butts just seem kind of cute to me.
I have seen all sorts of terrain in my life – the pine forests of the Lake States, where I grew up, the mountains of Wyoming and Montana, the temperate rainforest of Alaska. However, the prairie is what I love the most. There’s just something about seeing the wind fly over the grass that makes me feel good.
Another reason I could have been a frontier woman in a past life can be seen in my hobbies. One of my favorite pastimes is cooking and baking. I have heard other women my age say, “I can’t believe you’re so domestic,” like it’s a bad thing. But I truly enjoy preparing food. To me it’s a means of survival.
I like reading books about survival, such as “The Bounty Trilogy,” and a book called “Hatchet,” by Gary Paulsen. “Hatchet” is actually a book for young adults, and I read it in high school. It’s about a 12-year-old boy who is the only passenger in a small-engine airplane flying over Canada. When the pilot has a heart attack during the flight, the boy must land the plane and survive alone in the Canadian wilderness with only his hatchet to help him. This book had a great amount of impact on me, and after I read it I wanted to learn how to survive in the wilderness. I built myself a shelter on my parents’ property by cutting down small trees with a hatchet (like the kid in the book) and I tried making a fire using the spindle method, but all I got was smoke. I hiked 4 miles a day in the woods, did a lot of camping and tried hunting, though I never shot anything.
When I think about these experiences, I make a lot of connections. I love the prairie, I have a passion for cooking, I enjoy the outdoors, and I like to be self-sufficient. I would be content as a woman working to raise and nourish a family.
Right now I am a college graduate working on a master’s degree, and I plan to continue my education with a PhD in forestry. I’m sure there are and have been women out there who would love to have the opportunity to go to college and get a degree and have a career, but who haven’t been able to do so because of extenuating circumstances, such as financial situations, family obligations, and other holdbacks. Maybe their only option was to get married and start a family. And I’m sure they were fine with the direction their life took, but doesn’t everyone deserve a chance to follow their dreams?
I also have a dream. I like what I do at the FPL, and I love math and science, but I’d be happy as a homemaker. It’s kind of ironic, isn’t it? I almost feel bad, like I’m wasting the wonderful opportunities that I’ve had by wanting to do something else. So when I think about the way our society has changed in the last century or so, I think I might have been more content being a woman from 100 years ago, where it was a woman’s duty to raise a family, tend a house, put food away, and keep a garden.
I love the prairie, I love survival, and, as I was discussing my future with my financial advisor the other day, I said I “just want to be a grandma and bake cookies all day.” Does this mean I should have been born in another century? When I think about my future, I also envision the past. I hope I can be like my ancestors, living on a homestead on a wild prairie of waving grass, supporting my family.
Now, when I look back on my speech, I realize I probably wouldn't have been happy 100 years ago because I'd have to answer to a man for my whole life. Plus I wouldn't have the rights that women have today. But still, the fundamental idea is clear.
Today's Lunch:
Honey-ham sandwich with romaine lettuce and yellow mustard on whole wheat bread
Spinach salad with Newman's Own Balsamic Vinaigrette
Watermelon
