Reflection

Fellow Rhetoricians,

The last few weeks have been quite busy and the next few look to be the same. In these times, I find it important to look back at something important, especially when all the business has been from forensics. So, I shall present my Top 5 Most Important Speeches of my Collegiate Career. Each of these meant something different to me, so I guess they won't really be in a ranked order, but a chronological order.

1) Sophomore Duo - Sports Night w/Surdo. This piece was my first success in college forensics. It was also my first experience with how fun and different College is from High School. We transcribed a few different episodes of one of our favorite shows and put together a program which was both funny and significant. To top it off, we managed to qualify it and I got a trip all the way to Long Beach with just half a slot -- where we did not go straight 5s.

2) Junior Duo - Garden State w/Collie. This duo was great for my soul. It was great to get to put a duo together with one of my best friends. We started out wanting to make a program about Father/Son relationships, but after transcribing Garden State we determined we had more than enough there. We came quite close to qualifying it in just one semester, but some silly old judges kept us from AFA. But, it was much more important to me because every time we performed the duo, it helped me cope with the loss of my mother.

3) THBT Parli Debate Tournament - Final Round w/Lindsey. Debate is one of my strongest passions, it takes a lot of skill and is really intense. At this really long tournament against some of the best teams in the region, our 3-year partnership finally capped with a championship. We lost just one round of the nine -- a complete reversal from the one round won the year previous. I think that final round was just awesome, we were on our game and taking down a team obviously canning a case, in front of the entire tournament.

4) Senior Duo - Alcohol Ads w/Kofoed. My most successful duo and probably the most fun to perform every time -- and we didn't have to transcribe anything! We rocked this thing out all season and all the way to Nationals. Even though we didn't get to put a ton of prep into it before AFA, we were still quite close to making quarter-finals. Then, at NFA, thinking my last prelim would be my last round ever, I opted to do the duo second in that round over impromptu (even though I shouldn't have), so it would be my last performance ever.

5) Senior ADS - Fat ADS. The only speech on this list which doesn't have a partner! What can I say, the best speech of my tenure on the team. This was really the capstone of my talents as a speaker and a writer. I was a rank out of quarter-finals at AFA, but the best performance I even had of it was at State. Everything just clicked, the jokes landed precisely, and I walked away with the championship. It was a fine day.

So, that's my list. If you were/are a fellow speechie, why not make a list of your own? This activity is about so much more than just getting trophies, it's about the connections we make and the work we put in. Reflect on something, it feels nice.