Checking Out A Billion Books At The Library Because One Of Them Might Make A Good Interp

I click on the link to my library's website. I type in my 13-digit library card number and 4-digit PIN from memory. I click "My Account." I click "Renew materials/manage holds." And there it is: the list of the five books all containing numerous potential interps. Novels, award winners, collections of plays, scripts, skits, short stories: books. All waiting for my ready fingers to pick them up off the shelf and lovingly stroke their worn, plastic-covered spines and place them in a pile in my room next to the other five I already have and where the five I've heartlessly rejected and returned used to be. I can't wait to go get them. Because one of those books could hold my next interp. <3

As I've mentioned, finding speeches is a great feeling. Checking out a ton of books from my library to see if one of them could make an interp is one of my methods. Does it work? Eh, not very well so far. As of right now, all of my interps have been on books I had already read or owned or was somewhat familiar with. But I'm determined. That library holds a vast wealth of knowledge exceeding my own. It holds the perfect interp for me, waiting to be checked out. Someday, I will find it. And all of those late fees will be worth it.

You're homeschooled, and a book worm.

Calling TP "Policy"

When I first heard about speech and debate, I thought I might want to join debate. Then I found out that speech was actually a separate component involving interps and decided to join speech and debate. Then I found out that debate looks hard and is a lot of work and decided to join speech and join debate later. And by debate I meant Team Policy. I don't know when I found out there was another kind of debate in Stoa, but it probably took a while. So at first, I referred to Team Policy debate as "debate." Then I discovered the existence of Lincoln-Douglas debate (though I wouldn't realize its wonderfulness for several months) and began to refer to Team Policy as most people do: TP.  As a soon to be TP-er, occasional half-member of the LD Secret Society, and just CHSADK in general, I've noticed an odd trend about TP: some people don't call it that. They simply refer to Team Policy as "Policy." Crazy, right? Or is it...

Here is a list of 5 reasons that I think calling Team Policy "Policy" is a cool idea:

1. It won't get lost in a sea of terminology.
OO? OI? Expos? Extemp? What does it all mean?? Too much confusing terminology is not a good idea. Eventually, it's destined to all be meaningless. Probably. Policy solves that problem.

2. No confusion with toilet paper results.
You know you're a debate nerd when someone suggests you go TP a house and you assume that means "team-policy" a house. And what's sad/funny is that this actually happens.

3. We've already started to form new shortcuts elsewhere.
Some cool HI people call their speeches their "Humorous." What? It's true! We don't quite have Dramatics and we don't quite have Opens, and we certainly don't have Humorouses, but A Humorous in the singular form? Sure.

4. The LDer's do it.
Most, if not all, of the people I've heard call TP "Policy" are LDer's. And the LDer's know where it's at. Trust me, they have a secret society. They know stuff.

5. It just sounds cooler.
Ok, admit it. If you, like me, have not spent the last bajillion weeks of your life researching the United States foreign policy toward Russia, TP is not that fun to watch, because I have no idea what you're talking about. But somehow Policy seems more doable. I'd be pretty willing to watch a Policy round.

So TP? Policy? What's your stance? One thing I like about Policy is that you can't just call LD "Douglas" or "Lincoln." It's either LD or the whole mouthful. And it isn't like we can call it "Values" or something, so as to contrast Policy. But unlike LD, with Policy, TP gets two nicknames! Win.

You're homeschooled, so the fact that referring to a kind of debate a specific way might sound cooler to you is laughably nerdy. And awesome.

Finding Amazing Impromptu Examples

My uncle is very good at impromptu examples. He doesn't really know this, or know that I know this, but it's true. And I know because he's my pastor. Pastors love examples and use them in sermons all the time. My uncle loves historical examples. In fact, one of his best ones is... wait a second! I'm not going to tell you! You'll steal it! Anyway, unfortunately I didn't realize his knack for amazing impromptu examples until my impromptu career ended for the season. Darn. But now I know. So there.

I have a couple of go-to examples that I try really hard to avoid, because I love them, and they would be in every speech. Now I just try to have go-to categories of examples, and that's a lot better. But I can't say what those are, because you'll steal them. But I really like finding new good examples, because then each speech is brand new and feels good. Something else interesting to consider: finding amazing personal examples. This might sound kind of weird because, hello? they're personal. You shouldn't have to find them. I'm not a big fan of personal examples, but I get excited when I realize something that just happened to me could be used in a speech later. Recently I found a good one that could double as maybe an opener, but I can't tell you what it is because you'll steal it. Or try to. Or something.

Whether you're stalking the children's biography section at the library, taking particularly detailed notes from your history book or in a sermon, or just actually paying attention to the world around you, finding amazing impromptu examples is superfun. Of course, my favorite/best speeches are the crazy ones where I don't use any examples at all. (gasp!)

You're homeschooled, and you're probably not as paranoid as I am about people stealing your amazing examples.

The NITOC Invite

The other day I was clearing out my inbox when a certain starred email caught my eye. It's one I just can't seem to delete or even archive. The subject line reads:  

Congratulations! You are invited... 

and it opens by saying:

Dear Chandler Lasch,

Congratulations on qualifying to the 2011 Stoa National Invitational Tournament of Champions, aka NITOC!

And if that's not a great way to start an email, I don't what is. This little email is what we strive to receive all year long, and if you do get one, it's super exciting. Even if you already knew you qualified, it's still exciting and reassuring even to see one of these things pop up on your screen. I mean, you know you have the required number of green checkmarks, but the invite is what makes it official.  And if you didn't qualify, well, hopefully you still have next year to work hard, have fun, and maybe receive your invite to NITOC. 

What is the actual receiving of the email like? Well, picture this: It's late April or early May. You stumble out of bed and head straight to the computer. You squint really hard at the screen because you haven't bothered to put your contacts in yet. (At least that's what I do.) You open the page with your inbox and hit refresh. Something pops up. You see the sender and subject line and smile really big like this:

:D

but not sideways, and probably bigger than Blogger allows you to type, and possibly in a serif font. You have just received an invitation to the National Invitational Tournament of Champions.

:D

You scan the email that you're too excited to read completely but will go back and read ten times later. You see the event(s) you qualified in. Your fingers get kind of tingly as you think about how fantastic you're going to be. Or hope to be. Or something. You immediately post on Google Buzz or Facebook or something that that you got your NITOC invite and everyone screams and goes crazy in the comment box and likes your post. Several months later you write a blog post about that experience and everyone loves it.

You're homeschooled. Check your email. :D

Being a Sibling at a Tournament- Regan Lasch

(This is SCHSADKL's first ever guest post written by my very own sister, Regan Lasch! Enjoy!)

Being the sibling of a competitor at a competition is quite an interesting experience. At my first competition I went to, I was determined to stay right by my sister and watch all of her speeches, because I didn't feel like getting lost on the campus by myself. Plus, I really knew nothing about speech. But then I realized that I couldn't watch all of the speeches she had told me were amazing if I stayed with her the whole time. Ok, ok, so she kind of gave me a long list of speeches I NEEDED to see and wouldn't let me follow her around... But anyway, I had just found out what "pattern", "round", and "apologetics" meant and now I was off by myself on a campus I knew nothing about with a bunch of kids in suits that I didn't know. That competition, I stayed in the buildings really close to where I knew my sister would be, but I really enjoyed watching speeches.

I have still only been to three competitions, but I now love running off and watching whatever speeches I choose (or Chandler chooses for me). Also, her speech friends have been very kind and inclusive to me. And it is great to watch your sister win medals and trophies and other cool stuff onstage. You're homeschooled and your siblings love tournaments.

Crazy Impromptus

The kids who do crazy things in impromptu are not always the ones who win tournaments. But they probably have more fun. A crazy impromptu is defined as follows: a five minute speech on a topic given to the speaker, who is allowed two minutes of preparation, and which contains something out of the ordinary, memorable, and super cool. This may be opening by singing Justin Bieber. This could be jumping on top of a table after asking if the judges and timer are ready. Whatever it is, it's awesome.

I've never given any super crazy impromptus, but I intend to. I have opened with Jonas Brothers lyrics, Coldplay lyrics, by pretending to be eating something with a fork, and even cried in an impromptu before. But knowing me and my mind, I could probably come up with something exceedingly more ridiculous.

You're homeschooled, and I hope you do something ridiculous too.