I have become such a harlot lately. No, I am not selling my body.

Someone would have to be both deaf, blind and have an odd sense of touch to

pay for that. No, I have sold myself for school levies. Anyone calls and I

am out the door. I will speak anywhere, anytime. I guess it is closer to

missionary work, but I still feel tawdry.

I used to have a great fear of speaking in front of people. My knees

would turn to pudding and my voice would shake. I would obsess about my

topic for days before hand and spend at least two days slapping my forehead

and saying “doh, I should have said …

” afterwards. Not anymore. I am done slapping myself. Nothing like

giving 19 speeches in as many days to crush that fear right out of a body. Now I

do not obsess because I can barely remember where I was last night

or whom I was with … there goes that harlot comparison again.

My fear stems from high school. My parents have a rule. In high

school you must take debate. It hones your research skills and teaches you

how to speak in public. That is all true. What they forgot is that it also

provides ample opportunity for public humiliation. Like the time I

tripped and fell on the way to the podium. In a dress. That ended up

wrapped around my neck. That kind of public humiliation.

The other scary part of public speaking are screamers. When

you have a topic that people feel strongly about, you get people screaming

at you. Your face all of a sudden will represent everything these people

hate. They are going to get two inches from your nose and clearly state at the

top of their lungs why you and everything you stand for is wrong, wrong,

wrong. Screamers make me cry. Every time I panic and cry. I don’t know why. I

am smart enough and loud enough to yell right back. I can’t because I am

too busy sobbing. Something in my subconscious makes me cry. Go

figure. Needless to say, I usually try to avoid screamers.

Usually. Then I go and volunteer for something that takes a lot of

public speaking and brings out the emotions in people. Schools and

taxes. Both have got to be in the top 10 of screamer topics. The only thing

I missed is politics.

Guess what? All the public speaking, it has been a ball. People have

not screamed at me. Not once. They have been kind and welcoming.

Even people who still are mad because the high school is in Duvall have

been nice. I have spoken to seniors and students, union members and

environmentalists. I have visited food banks and chambers of commerce. They

all have taken time from their busy agendas to allow me to bellow for five

or 10 minutes about the levies.

The people I have spoken to have been kind and respectful. Folks

have asked lots of great questions; I hope my answers were at least half as

good. I thought I would spend a lot of time rehashing old issues. For the most

part, people have moved on. I thank everyone for their kind welcome and

focus on the issues at hand.

With the election only a few days away, you know I cannot stop

myself from nagging. Remember our last levy lost by 158 votes. Not a huge

number, more people stayed awake through all of President Clinton’s State of

the Union address.

Please remember to vote Feb. 29. If you vote in favor of all three

levies, it will only cost you $8 a year more than you are paying today based on

a home worth 200K. Two cents a day more gets you the Maintenance

and Operations Levy, The Technology Levy and the Performing Arts

Levy. And maybe, just maybe, you can get me to stop talking.

Kate Russell lives between Duvall and Carnation. You

can reach her at Katemo1@msn.com.