Whew! | Steph Lewis Blog

I recently finished cutting 13 speech pieces for the Centennial High speech team. I’m amazed at how much of my time it took. Josh kept wondering why I said I’d do it, and I guess I wondered a few times too. But, when I was in high school, Speech had such a huge impact on my life that I just want to give back to the program. Obviously, I can’t coach from here, so all I can really do is cut pieces for kids. It’s getting harder now though because I don’t know most of the kids on the team.
Anyway, it’s one of those programs that I don’t miss much because it took up so much of my time (my evenings and weekends), but I do miss a lot because I just loved doing it. I love seeing kids improve their skills & grow & have fun. And I really thought I was a pretty good coach because I could actually cut good scripts, and give kids critiques that were constructive, and be consistent at the tournaments and whatnot.
I suppose I should explain that there are two major areas in speech: interpretational and public address. Public address would be a speech that is given to persuade, inform, etc. Probably like most speeches you have seen. Interpretive is a cutting from a book or play that is interpreted (not acted). It could be serious or humorous in nature and often included playing multiple characters. I coached both areas, but my high point was interpretation pieces. It’s cool.
Were any of you ever in Speech?

6 thoughts on “Whew!”

Speech was probably my favorite extra-curricular activity. My senior year was the best though. I wasn’t going to enter that year because of a crazy schedule but a friend of mine cut together a bunch of clips from Monty Python and the Holy Grail and so we entered group interpretation about a week before competition and basically did the piece from our memory of the movie. Every single round we did was different – basically ad-libbed the whole thing and had a blast. Yep, speech was great.

I think I told you this before, but all the people in speecha and debate at my high school were REALLY weird, and the teacher that was in charge of it wasn’t all that great (she was the “creative” writing teacher at my school, and almost killed my desire to write: that’s how bad she was).
Heh, I always hated speech season somewhat, as it stressed you out and made you overly sleepy, which made hanging out with you and Josh more sticky than I wanted it to be. On the other hand, I really enjoy judging Speech (and getting a couple of extra bucks). I’m helping Centennial judge in Duluth next Saturday (now that I know the way, I won’t be late!).

Neal, “speecha?”
Are you talking like Jar-Jar Binks again?

Nah, that’s good ‘ole Mr. Typo, so fix it rather than being a smarty pants you!

I went to one speech meet in high school. I worked after school pretty much every night, so I didn’t have the same level of flexability in choosing extra-curriculars. However, as a senior, I took the Speech class, and one way to get credit in the class was to attend a speech meet and give a speech.
I picked an except from James Thurber’s short story “The Catbird Seat” – and although I had pretty much memorized it, I took second to last place in my catagory, as I had no idea exactly what sort of thing that the judges were looking for.
I certainly enjoyed the opportunity and the participation in speech competition. Just like anything in life that has an “elite” class, there were some pretty “funny” characters that participated in speech. It takes a unique blend of voice, mind, and facial expression to present anything face to face. Some folks have all three, and it is reflected in their day to day character. It was a pleasure to experience these unique personalities.

I competed in Creative Expression, Drama, Prose, and Humorous Interpretation. I never did any public address stuff though. I asked my coach once if I could do a public address event and she was like, “You can act, I’m not putting you in P.A.” It bothered me because I just wanted to try it out. I was interested in doing Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking. I think she just thought I wasn’t smart enough or something. Oh well. I’m not bitter about it or anything. My last speech season was so fun. Good times.

abby on January 24, 2004 at 11:02 pm said:

Speech was probably my favorite extra-curricular activity. My senior year was the best though. I wasn’t going to enter that year because of a crazy schedule but a friend of mine cut together a bunch of clips from Monty Python and the Holy Grail and so we entered group interpretation about a week before competition and basically did the piece from our memory of the movie. Every single round we did was different – basically ad-libbed the whole thing and had a blast. Yep, speech was great.
Neal on January 25, 2004 at 11:53 am said:

I think I told you this before, but all the people in speecha and debate at my high school were REALLY weird, and the teacher that was in charge of it wasn’t all that great (she was the “creative” writing teacher at my school, and almost killed my desire to write: that’s how bad she was).
Heh, I always hated speech season somewhat, as it stressed you out and made you overly sleepy, which made hanging out with you and Josh more sticky than I wanted it to be. On the other hand, I really enjoy judging Speech (and getting a couple of extra bucks). I’m helping Centennial judge in Duluth next Saturday (now that I know the way, I won’t be late!).
JL! on January 25, 2004 at 1:45 pm said:

Neal, “speecha?”
Are you talking like Jar-Jar Binks again?
Neal on January 25, 2004 at 5:58 pm said:

Nah, that’s good ‘ole Mr. Typo, so fix it rather than being a smarty pants you!
Ted Rattei on January 26, 2004 at 11:46 pm said:

I went to one speech meet in high school. I worked after school pretty much every night, so I didn’t have the same level of flexability in choosing extra-curriculars. However, as a senior, I took the Speech class, and one way to get credit in the class was to attend a speech meet and give a speech.
I picked an except from James Thurber’s short story “The Catbird Seat” – and although I had pretty much memorized it, I took second to last place in my catagory, as I had no idea exactly what sort of thing that the judges were looking for.
I certainly enjoyed the opportunity and the participation in speech competition. Just like anything in life that has an “elite” class, there were some pretty “funny” characters that participated in speech. It takes a unique blend of voice, mind, and facial expression to present anything face to face. Some folks have all three, and it is reflected in their day to day character. It was a pleasure to experience these unique personalities.
Steph on January 28, 2004 at 8:34 pm said:

I competed in Creative Expression, Drama, Prose, and Humorous Interpretation. I never did any public address stuff though. I asked my coach once if I could do a public address event and she was like, “You can act, I’m not putting you in P.A.” It bothered me because I just wanted to try it out. I was interested in doing Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking. I think she just thought I wasn’t smart enough or something. Oh well. I’m not bitter about it or anything. My last speech season was so fun. Good times.