Saturday, March 08, 2003
at 10:18 PMThere Is No Excuse For Syphilis
None of the oratories at the NFL tournament, I felt, particularly meant anything. A partial overview:Sandeep: Alison and the other debator kids know Sandeep as an extemper and a debator. He spoke well, except his eyes rarely met mine directly. His oratory, entitled "The Voices", discussed following one's instincts, "inner voice", et cetera, but not strongly enough to affect me. By the accounts of everyone who knows him, Sandeep is a spendidly nice guy. The humour in his oratory kicks it up above the rest; otherwise, the topic is quite boring. Anyhow, he qualified for nationals with it.
Justin: His oratory, to quote Bryan Tyler, was "polished". He paces himself well and enunciates clearly (without sounding too unnatural). However, he did not appear sincere; I felt he acted rather than spoke. Alison informed me this Justin fellow is quite arrogant (other members of his team affirmed this view), but he did behave kindly toward me. He placed first in finals.
These two contributed to my regret that I never practiced and never cared to improve my speaking skills, because my oratory is better than theirs. They go to Nationals, and I do not. But oh, well.Deepah: She speaks very well, but on a boring topic (time constraints). In the fifth round she nearly went over her time; she had to cut short her conclusion, which contributed to her loss in that room.
Adrienne: She loved my oratory. I admit I zoned out during parts of hers. However, she connected in an amusing manner the contraction of syphilis with human ignorance.
Peter: Adrienne's boyfriend. His oratory is funny, but I think he grew more tired in the later rounds and did not perform as well.
Me: Out of seven total rounds, I placed in the bottom half of two, which knocked me out (as it did anyone else). I placed fifth in my first round, but remained up until the sixth. In the sixth round I placed third out of four. That room consisted of me, Justin, Sandeep, and an interper kid (who placed fourth). Sandeep made several fluency breaks, and I thought I beat him legitimately that round. However, Han (one of the judges) pointed out I lacked adequate pacing for my points and correct enunciation (I never did bother to correct my Texas slurs). Han always knows what she's talking about, and I trust her judgement.
Justin offered some comfort, pointing out that Sandeep's speech never truly concluded anything. I felt similarly.
At least Alison qualified for Nationals, though she stipulated this was partially due to her blind luck in not hitting anyone at her level until the later rounds. She mentioned a couple of the best people, who deserved to go to Nationals, lost on technicalities or bad judgements. But she did not complain too much.
More later. I am tired and must sleep, for tomorrow is another day of unproductive toil.
