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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jdeleski" data-source="post: 2540253" data-attributes="member: 33307">The Mayor's AddressTen minutes after James Starkweather and Professor Moore arrive, the hotel waiters and waitresses begin moving through the crowd asking everyone to please be seated so that the event may begin.  The music dies down and the crowd of well over one hundred guests begin to disperse to all ends of the room, settling into their chairs and politely greeting newly-noticed tablemates.  The Mayor walks down an aisle to the front of the room, waving to a number of guests and stopping momentarily to say a few words to folks who say hello to him along his way. Upon reaching the front, he steps onto a slightly raised platform to the left of the band and takes his place at a podium outfitted with a Western Electric microphone. James Starkweather and Professor Moore are finding their seats at a table close to the podium area.  “Testing…  Testing… ” booms the Mayor’s voice from the public address system, followed by an earsplitting, discordant shriek.  The mayor winces and looks over in the corner at an attendant who is busily adjusting knobs on a large metal box.  After a short time, the shriek subsides.“Good Evening!” the Mayor announces, smiling broadly, this time his voice is at a tolerable volume and without the accompaniment of the unearthly screech.  He gives a nod of thanks to the gentleman working the knobs.  “Ladies and gentleman, thank you all for joining me tonight, here at the magnificent Amherst Hotel, to hear from the leaders of the Starkweather-Moore Expedition.  Let me first thank Misters Starkweather and Moore for allowing me the priviledge of providing a few opening remarks at this august event, in such admirable company.  I’m surrounded by captains of industry, elite members of academia, and intrepid explorers, one and all;  truly a wondrous gathering!"“I first met James Starkweather long ago in England while he was attending Oxford University.  One day I joined a colleague to watch a rugby game and spied one particular player who stood out, seeming to blast through his opposition over and over.  Here was a player who excelled at a tough, brutal game, and I decided to talk to him afterwards.  When he had showered and dressed, I asked him why he would choose to play such a vicious game and why he thought that he was so good at it.  His face and hands were covered with bandages, and he responded in trademark Starkweather fashion:  while wiping a spot of blood from his nose, he stared at me for a moment with his blue-grey eyes, and said that he “loved a challenge and would go to hell itself before he’d let anyone keep him from his goal!” The Mayor gave the crowd a few moments to quiet down.  “I’m sure that our expedition leaders will regale us with tales of courage and bravery in the face of terrible danger, and of the extent of monumental risks and challenges that they will face.  What you won’t hear from them is talk of failure.  Or excuses.  Or of a lack of will or confidence.  We are amongst giants, ladies and gentleman, giants of science and exploration.”Here the mayor here diverges into political rhetoric about his opponents and their lack of courage and foresight …blah, blah, blah…At one point, you tune back in to hear him say “And this is not just a daring undertaking, but also a magnificent accomplishment of engineering.  This effort can be compared to building our incredible Empire State Building … at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro!  And the pay is terrible!”  Here the Mayor launches into fairly detailed descriptions of the expedition costs and the fact that most of the team members are volunteers, then his tone of voice signals that he’s getting ready to wrap up his speech.“It’s up to we in this room to ensure that this expedition has the opportunity to make history.  Up until this point, both James Starkweather and Doctor Moore have shouldered the burden of collecting and paying for this expedition from their own resources.  It is now time for us, the community, to show our support.  I ask that you dig deep and provide them with whatever means you are able.  This is surely a worthy endeavor, one which won’t soon be forgotten.Thank you."</blockquote>

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