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From: Jim Abbott
Date: 10/8/01
Time: 5:16:59 PM
Remote Name: 209.14.92.29
Chris and Steve - Until meeting our (meaning the Royal Oak, MI NSA chapter) resident "queen" of the covert stutterer's, and then of course, attending your covert stutterer workshop in Boston, the concept of being a "covert" stutterer was foreign to me. I never dreamed that a stutterer could pass themselves's off as a "fluenter." Don't get me wrong, I used all of the standard tricks, but at no time did I ever feel that I could effectively hide my stuttering. One trick I discovered, and it's something that I've never heard anyone else talk about (perhaps Steve has),was whenever I felt a block coming on, I would yawn. I would hold the yawn untill I felt as if I could say the troubling word. It did work, at least at times, but when I miscalculated, ended my fake yawn, only to block once more, well there I would be, having to begin yawning once again. People would often tell me that I needed to get so more sleep. It sounds so silly to me now, but at that time in my life, I guess I felt it was better to be known as a insomniac than as a stutterer. What's that old saying, "If only I knew then what I know now."