Sunday, September 13, 2009

It’s That Time of Year!

High School is back in session.....

....and that means Speech Meets will be coming up.

I’ve had a LOT of fun being a ‘critic’, i.e., judge, at such competitions. And I’ve learned a lot too.

One of the things I’ve learned is that there are a lot of intelligent and articulate people coming down the pike, in the form of the next generation. More than I had hoped, based on all the reports of behaving badly we keep getting from the ‘media’. Another thing learned is what the schools are teaching. Some of that is not as good as I had hoped. But that’s another topic.

What I’d like to do here is offer the opportunity to everyone who reads this to join a group of people interested in (1) helping the coming generation, (2) learning about history and current events, (3) humor and drama, (4) logical, civil discussion, (5) possiblly politics and (6) fun.

What does it take? Well. There are requirements. Some are specified. Others are implied. Here are a few:

• An ability to write plainly. The critique sheets require you state your judgment of each contestant.
• An unbiased observation. You need to set aside your political and moral judgments and just listen to what is being said and how it is said in order to evaluate a competition as fairly as possible.
• A stop watch or other timer.
• 3x5 cards with numbers to show the contestant how much time they have remaining.
• Understanding the ‘Rules’. Which can be downloaded from CHSAA’s Speech Web-Site.
• Time to spend on Saturdays and some occasional Fridays. The Fridays come in later in the season for the state championships and national qualifications events.

Events are held all over the state by just about every district. Some driving may be required. For example, if you want to judge an event in Colorado Springs ore the state championships, which frequently occur in northern Colorado. [Note: The location of this year’s state championship is yet to be determined.]

If you enjoy good acting you’ll love the interpretive events of humor and drama.

If you like to follow current events, you’ll get a kick out of extemporaneous speech, which comes in two flavors national and international.

If you like the cut and thrust of a head-to-head competition of wills, you’ll be blown away by debate. REM’s famous It’s the End of the World As We Know It was based on watching a Cross-Examination Competition. The speed at which the verses are sung is indicative of how fast some of the debaters in Cross-X present. But don’t be intimidated. There are also Public Forum and Lincoln-Douglas debate forms as well. But they’re all interesting.

If you want more information, drop me a line by clicking on my name.

By the way.....

.....one of the things I bring away from judging debate is a sharpened wit useful in discussion of political issues with people from ‘across the aisle’.

Next entry: Preparing for Economic 'Collapse'???!?! Previous entry: Another Ken Gordonism

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