Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The Follow Up's Follow Up... right?

Ha. So, yesterday's post was fun. Eh?

I totally twisted the post to double as a challenge entry for the Crusade. It was tricky because there were "rules."  One rule was to bury a lie within the post. Now, I *never* said the lie was within the dialogue. Many of you assumed it was. Now... you know what assuming can do... ha. JK

The lie was actually the word count. Since the post was limited to 300 words or less, I really had to pare it down. That was hard! So, I barely made it under the wire, and lied that the post was only 251 words. In case that wasn't a *good enough* lie (ha),I could also argue that I actually am a pretty good judge, and I do my best to judge everyone fairly and give them the benefit of the doubt. :) But, no one guessed either of these. So, I win. Right?

Anyhow, I wanted to let you know, that yes those two BOYS were judges. There are often a lot of YOUNG judges at these competitions. I can only assume (there's that word again) it is because the organizers can't find enough older people to volunteer, and they cannot afford to hire judges, especially with all of the budget cuts.

And, yes, that was the most interesting conversation I eavesdropped on... it was actually much longer, but I chopped out the middle where they went on and on about their "hot" debate and speech partners from their senior year in HS and how none of those relationships ever worked out for the long term, but they were great while they lasted.

Another conversation I eavesdropped on, this girl (probably 19 or 20) went on and on about how she was so upset for forking out $7 WHOLE dollars to send off a transcript to another college. Oh my! If that's her biggest problem... *head shudder*

The creepiest thing of the day was when a beautiful young woman performed a first person point of view interpretation of a book written by a serial killer. It was as though Satan had taken over her body. I wanted to cry and shake her at the same time. She describe in awful detail the first murder she ever committed. And, I read HORROR all the time. You'd think it wouldn't have bothered me. But it did. Because it felt so *wrong* for THOSE words to come out of her mouth.

Where is the teacher who approved that content?

Where is the mother?

... Okay ... maybe I am an unfair judge! Good thing I lied about the word count yesterday.

This young woman made it to the finals. My judging placed her third after her performance in the finals, but there were two other judges on the panel as well, and I don't know how they voted. We didn't attend the ending ceremony, so I don't know if she qualified for Nationals or not.

I thought the content was totally inappropriate. And, based on the instructions for judges, for that category (Dramatic Interpretation) we were supposed to judge the content for literary value as well as the delivery by the competitor.

Do you know what books your kids are reading? Do you know what they're turning in as schoolwork? Do you think it matters? 

9 comments:

  1. Not a mother but I so agree with content and age. Desensitization is a huge problem for our youth.
    Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

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  2. I make a point of getting nosy with my kids' schoolwork. My 15-year-old is taking AP Euro, and the teacher just loves talking about sex. My daughter points out that it's a college-level course with college textbooks, but come on. I realize that's it's important to certain aspects of history, but when she came home telling us that they talked about beastiality among certain royals I just...I wasn't that happy.

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  3. Oh yes it matters. My daughter and I share books when she reads. She takes spells where she reads a lot then not at all. An aunt of hers bought her a few of those House of Night books for Christmas. She handed them over to me on her own accord. I haven't read them, but she told me that after the first two chapters, she didn't find them appropriate for her age. She's 16, so I was proud of her to say the least. They might be great reads, I'll get to them eventually. I think its important for parents to be all up in their kids business. You never know whats going on if you're not. We have family meetings. I cannot stress how cool and important those meetings are. Good times. Really.

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  4. Indeed, sneaky sneaky on the word count, but very well done! I don't have any kids, I'm still a baby myself I've been told, but I do agree that desensitization is a problem among today's youth. Those younger than me, that is. I was actually talking to my younger sister the other day about what happened to the generations that followed ours. We're 24 and 26 respectively, by the way.

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  5. Clever lie. :)

    I was creeped out by a presentation at our writers guild about a seriel killer. Would be creepier by a kid.

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  6. I'm a teacher and mother. I keep up with my kids' assignments, books they read, and video games they play.

    Nice lie trick!

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  7. Though neither mother nor teacher, I still kind of question that content. From a literary standpoint, there is something artistic about a *female serial killer*. However, we had to read a short story for class about a serial killer in the 1960s and it creeped me (and the rest of the class) out. ("Where are you Going? Where have you Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates) So I can agree that it'll probably be the creepiest thing you've ever seen.

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