«O splendide Nouveau Monde/Qui compte de pareils habitants!*»

I went to a dinner hosted by an anti-tobacco group last night. It was associated with a health and wellness conference and I went on behalf of the organization I work for.

The keynote speaker was a gentleman who told us about his personal experiences with the results of smoking, which included getting cancer. He was speaking with the aid of an artificial larynx.

So there's this old gentleman telling his story via an electronic voice so that it can be heard and understood by a woman via an electronic ear.

I guess the strangest thing was that I could understand him perfectly. I would've expected his voice to have been harder for me to understand than someone else's. If anything, the opposite was true. Two robots co-sympatico, I wonder?

He is an Acadian from northern New Brunswick; and he and told his story with frankness and a wry and earthy humour. It was a great privilege to meet him.

ronnie

*La Tempête (Acte V, Scène 1)