Rollback

It was about this time last year when I purchased The United States of Walmart from the clearance rack at Half-Priced Books (yes, I am a two-fold cheapster).  It discussed the general silliness that comes with being the force Walmart has grown to be and summoned the angry Janis Joplin inside of me.  I became disgusted, fascinated, but mostly amused with Walmart and all the horrendous trivia it has to offer.  
A little later, I attended my first day of summer school.  


I am a big fan of summer school.  Don't get me wrong- I'm a total school-loving geek.  It's just that I'm a pretty fast learner.  If I can get the knowledge (as Arizona schools define (settle down Janis!)) down in a few weeks, it would be more efficient to leave my schedule open for electives, like band and theatre, that require extended time with a team.  Fast-paced interactive approach to American History > short, daily amount of time filled with busy work... longing for improv.  Of course, this is all up for debate.
So, this particular year, I was taking American History and P.E.
Fun-in-the-sun with strangers for a few weeks > walking around the school once a day with an occasional basketball/trying to justify online bowling. When I showed up, I came across none other than my two good pals who were, at the time, only slightly familiar peers that I recognized as being in Speech & Debate.  





Somewhere, between surprisingly intense volleyball/basketball games, that one girl always fainting, or the free thanks-for-offering-but-we're-only-going-to-pretend-to-eat-it lunches from the neighboring elementary school, I spoke with these two new pals about all I had learned about Walmart.  


Either because they were interested or because they were trying to find a polite way to ask me to shut up already,  they suggested that I join Speech & Debate, because everything I was saying would make a good "Expos", whatever that meant. They then proceeded to explain to me all the glory and adventure of high school forensics.  


I had almost joined the team since freshman year and often helped practice with team members.  I even went to a competition my junior year, pleasantly surprised at the lack of reverence and the surplus or organic snack foods.  


I decided I would drop theatre and officially do the whole Speech & Debate thing in an effort to not have any high school regrets. (hah!)
I ended up doing (and only doing...) a poetry program based on Walmart.  It was pretty difficult trying to force myself to make time for the tournaments and I only went to 4 of them.  But! I managed to scrape up third place in my first competition.  The first effect being a happy-skipping time in on and around Applebee's- the second being an even further lack of interest in practicing or pantsuit-buying.  


When I say I loved Speech and Debate, for truly I did, I think I mostly loved watching.  
I loved being surrounded by incredible talent and seeing my friends completely open up.  A big bonus was the tender totally-inappropriate way one of the coaches, Tracy, would sooth my furrowed brow and comb my hair for me.  I had other people tell me stories.  I also loved sixth-hour at school with our other coach Meg. Though we would mostly always sort of get things done, we would primarily provoke, return and absorb Meg's stupendous laughter.


As I aimlessly stalk through Walmarts in late-night hours with obligatory things in my cart, I am reminded, not only of the marketing-loserishness I feed, but of the sort of not-loserishness that is Speech & Debate.  


P.S. The night shift is starting to recognize me at the Neighborhood Market Walmart.  How bad it this?  Am I right for sort of justifying myself in the fact that it's a neighborhood market?