6:10 - Camp One Clap 2024: Day 10
For notes and details about the episode, check out the website here:
https://www.oneclapspeechanddebate.com/post/camp-one-clap-2-episode-10-izzy-garcia-s-activist-s-guide-to-the-clapocalypse-part-2-performing
Can impactful storytelling also be ethical when it involves reliving trauma? Coach Izzy Garcia explores this crucial dilemma in Part Two of the Activist's Guide to the Clapocalypse: Performing Advocacy. Izzy presents a nuanced discussion on the potential harms and benefits of performing traumatic pieces in speech and debate. Through personal anecdotes and expert insights, we confront the pitfalls of shock-value performances and emphasize the importance of authentic representation and self-care for performers. Finding a balance in advocacy is never easy, but it's vital. Izzy emphasizes the need to tell heartfelt stories and acknowledge the positives amidst the negatives.
If you’d like to join the discussion here at One Clap Speech and Debate, shoot me an email at lylewiley@gmail.com or reach out here on the website.
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YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCyvpV56859lLA-X-EvHVYUg
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lyle Wiley (00:10):
Hey campers, don't worry, it's only the
Clapocalypse.
After a little day off fromnapping yesterday, we're
high-stepping into day 10 ofCamp One Clap.
Izzy Garcia is back with parttwo of his activist guide to the
Clapocalypse.
I'm your camp director and hostof the One Clap Speech and
Debate podcast, lyle Wiley.
I hope that this year's campwill usher in the best forensic
(00:32):
season ever.
Quick reminder check the OneClap socials for today's social
media challenge.
I sure have had fun seeing allthe engagement from everyone out
there.
Today Coach Izzy Garcia is backwith his series for camp.
Just in case you missed it lastweek, let's learn a little bit
more about Izzy Cheyenne.
South assistant coach IzzyGarcia cares about delivering
(00:53):
the best Camp One Clapexperience and providing
perspective and thoughts aboutadvocacy and speech and debate.
National qualifier in originaloratory, performer in duo drama,
poi and poetry, and newlyturned coach, izzy is determined
to not only keep you safe inoriginal oratory, performer in
duo drama, poi and poetry andnewly turned coach, izzy is
determined to not only keep yousafe in the clapocalypse, but
wants to ignite thinking in themasses about all things speech
and debate.
Advocacy, education andadvocacy in the world of speech
(01:16):
and debate is paramount and Izzyis here to help.
It's time for Izzy's Activist'sGuide to the Clapocalypse.
Part Two Performing Advocacy.
Izzy Garcia (01:27):
Hello and welcome to the second episode for Izzy's
Activist's Guide to theClapocalypse, part 2, performing
Advocacy tournament.
During the National Drama FinalRound, we were graced with a
wonderful performance calledDreamland.
In this drama we saw a talentedperformer act out a person who
(01:49):
went through the burning ofBlack Wall Street in Tulsa,
oklahoma.
Her performance was so genuineand heartbreaking and taught me
a piece of history that I wasn'tfully aware of.
Performing stories like this isessential to speech and debate.
For Interp, this is thebackbone of a good performance
telling a heartbreaking storywith a message behind it.
But I want to take thisconversation a bit further.
(02:09):
Before I continue, I want tostart with a bit of an
observation.
Talking about advocacy andperformance is a double-edged
sword.
We should be telling storiesthat talk about certain subjects
, because it's the only waythose stories get told.
However, when does it go toofar?
Solomé Scamoroni, in heroratory speech at this year's
Nationals, conducted her ownpersonal research about the
(02:30):
traumas we perform in speech anddebate and the performer's
attitude towards them.
In her study she found that 61%of performers feel as if they
were required to performtraumatic pieces in
interpretation.
She later explains that thisrequirement of traumatic
performance harms advocacy andthe judgment of said performance
acts as allyship, harming theactivist, the advocacy and the
(02:54):
situation that has occurred.
It harms the advocate becauseit places them in a position of
having to relive trauma forjudgment.
Essentially, whose pain is moreworthy of reward.
It harms the message because itcommodifies it and eliminates
the authenticity behind it andthe source the actual traumatic
event, is left as a vehicle forsomeone who didn't experience
(03:17):
the trauma.
Now, that was intense and thisbreakdown of performing intense
stories isn't always the case.
More times than not, whenpeople perform these stories, it
comes from a place of personalexperience.
Take 2022 Poi National ChampionJade Ismail on her personal
experience during Poi.
She performed a topic on transidentity and found success and
(03:40):
peace in her performance,leading her to the national
championship.
Performing these messages andthe ethics around all of this is
very intense and shaky.
I cannot touch every corner ofthe conversation, but what we
can do is talk about the good,the bad and the ugly.
I'm going to rip the band-aidoff and talk about the bad and
ugly culture when it comes toperforming certain stories.
(04:02):
To limit the scope here, I wantto talk about my personal
experiences with what I believeis a bad use of advocacy in
performance.
What I don't want to do ispoint fingers and say this
interpretation is bad justbecause it's a traumatic story.
I have personally seenperformances in both high school
and college that were used forshock value.
(04:22):
This is what I want to talkabout and nothing more.
The first time I saw what I calla shock value piece was during
my first year of speech anddebate, watching a performance
of A Child Called it.
If you're not aware of thematerial, a Child Called it is a
story of a child who goesthrough some pretty intense
abuse.
There are many graphic scenesand it's a very tough read.
(04:44):
Intense abuse there are manygraphic scenes and it's a very
tough read.
In my first year in Speech andDebate and watching this
performer's interpretation ofthe piece was nothing short of
traumatic.
Some of the worst scenes wereperformed and after there was an
uncomfortable air in the room.
A lot of people praised thatperformance for its shock value,
but in conversations with thisperformer I saw that this person
(05:06):
was pretty unaware of howshocking the performance was.
At some point they told me thatthe performance was autopilot.
At that point it was secondnature that they celebrated the
fact that it was autopilotbecause it helped them with the
performance.
The issue with the concept ofautopilot during a performance
this traumatic is we fullydetach ourselves from the
(05:27):
message that we're trying toconvey.
While I do agree some elementsof performance should be second
nature, running on autopilot forsuch an intense performance is
not good for anyone who watchesor experiences this performance.
Another performance that sticksout to me was one of mine During
my senior year.
I was in a duo performance ofthe Other Room by Airden Blaine.
(05:50):
This play was about a studentwho was on the spectrum of
autism and had a potential loveinterest that met him during his
usual studies autism and had apotential love interest that met
him during his usual studies.
The entire play was really wellwritten and had a great story,
but in hindsight I feltuncomfortable playing the role
of Austin.
I'm not on the spectrum ofautism, nor do I believe I had
(06:14):
the agency talking about thesubject.
This was a piece that wassuggested by my coach after a
host of misses that me and myduo partner were facing.
It was at the point of theseason where we really wanted to
take things seriously, With theclock running out for us to
have a great start of the season.
We took this suggestion fromour coach and it led us to some
pretty successful performances.
It was only after the smoke hadcleared did I realize how
(06:34):
uncomfortable that wholesituation made me.
For the longest time, evenincluding this year, I tried to
shy away from the conversationaround that piece.
I was too ashamed to talk aboutit, because I have a completely
different mindset aboutperformance now than I did back
in the day.
I guess that's why I'm talkingabout this now, Not only to get
rid of the shame for me, but togive you guys a very important
(06:57):
lesson.
There is a right way to do ashocking piece Nowadays.
I think if you're performing avery shocking piece, there
should be something in yourintro that alludes to it,
whether it's a very directtrigger warning or just an
explanation of the story.
At the end of the day it ispersonal how you want to deliver
that message.
Just a piece of advice, I guessIf you plan on doing a shocking
(07:21):
piece, please make sure thatyour head and your heart are in
the right place for it.
I can understand that we wantto tell the most dramatic
stories, to set ourselves apartfrom the rest of the world.
But if you're performing thepiece for strictly shock value,
it detracts from the person'sstory and experience.
You are essentially using thatperson as a platform for your
success.
(07:41):
This is why I ask, as a coachwhy are you doing this piece?
If you ask yourself the samequestion and reach a wall on the
reasoning why, I would refrainon using that piece.
There is a real situation whereyou could perform the piece for
shock and win and be verysuccessful.
But I would argue that if youfind the right piece that you
(08:02):
want to talk about and performit well, you'll have a better
time with the entire performance.
Dramatic performances in speechand debate are one of the most
emotionally taxing forms ofinterpretation.
To perform a dramatic pieceover and over again for months
at a time with little to nobreaks, it takes something out
of you after a while.
Take it from me.
(08:24):
I have performed some reallyintense pieces that have stuck
with me to this day.
I do tend to be a bit dramatic,but the impact of what we
perform does take a toll on usand the audience we perform into
.
If we're going to put ourselvesand others under so much
pressure, we have to do our partand make sure that we're
telling stories for the rightreasons and that the stories
(08:44):
that we are telling aresomething that we can stomach
for the entire season.
I think, as speech and debateis so competitive and requires
so much from us, we lose a lotof what we should be talking
about, and how we perform makeslasting impressions in the
entire circuit.
One final point before we moveon here is a concept that I've
(09:06):
seen more and more around thecircuit and I want to give my
two cents on.
I understand, especially in theWyoming circuit, that there's a
lack of representation in somany minority groups.
However, what doesn't helprepresentation is if we choose
to throw performances ontoperformers because they fit a
certain identity.
(09:26):
When I was competing in highschool, the one type of piece
that I wanted to stick away fromwas a gay piece.
I wanted to perform pieces thattold more of a story than just
one part of my identity.
I wanted to perform storiesthat I wanted to tell, stories
that fit my experience.
My entire speech and debatecareer in high school was a bit
(09:46):
shaky.
I came from a school that isfairly young and that was trying
to establish their ownfoundations in the world of
speech and debate.
Sometimes corners were cut.
When I qualified for nationals,I was entered in two
supplemental events prose andpoetry.
I already had a poetry program,so that was no problem.
However, the prose that I wasgiven was a story about someone
(10:08):
who was dealing with their ownstruggles of being gay.
I protested so hard againstthis piece to no avail.
I ended up going to those proserounds reading from a script
and nearly running out of theroom out of embarrassment
because it was something Ididn't want to perform.
But according to the person whogave it to me, it would be a
good representation and it wouldwork for me because I'm gay.
(10:32):
Tokenism usually ignores thestories that want to be told by
the performer, commodifiesactual stories and
representation and does nothingfor the nuance and advocacy of
the story.
There was something prettyprofound that was said by
another one of my creativefriends when it comes to this
topic, as we were brainstormingthis episode.
He said Reducing someone totheir one singular traumatic
(10:57):
experience reduces that personto the people who help
performers gather script or wantto help their performers be the
most successful.
Don't fill a quota, don't pusha story just because it fits a
person's identity, or they canpromote some quote-unquote good
(11:17):
representation.
We should stick away from usingmarginalized communities for
just their experiences in thatcommunity, we reduce them to
that experience.
These performers have so muchmore that they could talk about
rather than their identity.
I hate having to talk aboutthese parts of speech and debate
sometimes.
I have devoted nine years of mylife to this program and I
(11:40):
believe all of the good thatcomes from this.
I truly do believe that speechand debate gives young people so
many valuable skills that theycan take into their careers and
into their lives.
However, it is necessary thatwe talk about this so we can
prevent this space becomingsomething we don't want to see.
I want to talk about thenational champion of dramatic
(12:03):
interp in 2023, kylan Williams.
Kylan Williams performed apiece called Miseducated, a
piece about a Black educator andhow society and the people
around him believed that hecould be nothing more than the
stereotypes that plagued hiscommunity.
There was a moment in the introwhere Williams dedicated that
performance to his coach, to theone person that believed in him
(12:25):
that he could be as successfulas anyone else.
It was a touching and powerfulmoment.
After that dedication andpowerful performance, he went
and took the whole round andstood as the national champion.
That night was filled with alot of tears.
When I was in college, I had theamazing opportunity to tell a
(12:47):
very personal story in prose,far different from my first
experience.
I performed a podcast episodecalled Brown Bad Boy.
In the podcast, two Latin menwere discussing the struggles of
identity as Latino.
A lot of representation thatthey saw in media was bad boys,
people on television who hadthis bravado that was unmatched.
(13:10):
But still, even though they hadsome representation, the pieces
of the puzzle never fit right.
I never related to a piece morein my life For years.
Growing up in a place that haslittle diversity, I was always
confused on where I fit in andwhere the people that looked
like me were.
There is a recorded version ofthis performance that exists out
(13:34):
there.
When I look back on it, it wasone of the times on this
platform that I felt that I wasspeaking about what I wanted to
and could potentially helpothers who were feeling the same
.
In speech and debate, we performadvocacy in ways that could
help and harm certaincommunities.
It is our responsibility to beon the right side of that
(13:55):
spectrum.
When we tell stories that aretrue to us.
Not only will we find success,but we heal some wounds in our
society that only few can heal.
There is good here.
There are a lot of really goodmemories and stories and good
representation.
Not all of this conversation Iwant to focus on should be about
the bad.
(14:15):
We should be reminded thatsometimes in the good there is
some bad.
Remember always tell storiesfrom your heart, tell them
because they mean something toyou, and remember that
throughout all the trauma thatwe see in speech and debate,
there is so much good thatexists.
Ugh Okay, another week of heavyconversation and a real
(14:35):
heart-to-heart.
There's so much good thatexists.
Ugh Okay, another week of heavyconversation and a real
heart-to-heart.
Thank you for tuning in to thesecond episode of Izzy's
Activist Guide to theClapocalypse, where I not only
teach you how to be a goodperformer, but a good person as
well, and do something nice foryourself today.
You've earned it.
Remember that your refrigeratoris running and you should
(14:56):
probably go catch it and, asalways, stay awesome.
Lyle Wiley (15:00):
Thank you so much to Izzy for more of his thoughts
on advocacy and speech anddebate.
Izzy will be back next week atcamp.
What's going on in theclapocalypse tomorrow?
Well, bailey Patterson andMarcus Viney are back with part
one of their two-part series,chronicles from the Crypt.
You're not going to want tomiss that.
Remember to check the socialmedia challenges on our socials
(15:20):
every day of camp and we'll seeyou tomorrow, campers.
Oh golly, though.
I'm so tired of my neighbor'shorse talking about the
apocalypse.
He keeps saying that the end ofthe world is nay For Camp One
Clap.
This is Camp Director Wileysigning off.
Hey campers, don't worry, it's only the
Clapocalypse.
After a little day off fromnapping yesterday, we're
high-stepping into day 10 ofCamp One Clap.
Izzy Garcia is back with parttwo of his activist guide to the
Clapocalypse.
I'm your camp director and hostof the One Clap Speech and
Debate podcast, lyle Wiley.
I hope that this year's campwill usher in the best forensic
(00:32):
season ever.
Quick reminder check the OneClap socials for today's social
media challenge.
I sure have had fun seeing allthe engagement from everyone out
there.
Today Coach Izzy Garcia is backwith his series for camp.
Just in case you missed it lastweek, let's learn a little bit
more about Izzy Cheyenne.
South assistant coach IzzyGarcia cares about delivering
(00:53):
the best Camp One Clapexperience and providing
perspective and thoughts aboutadvocacy and speech and debate.
National qualifier in originaloratory, performer in duo drama,
poi and poetry, and newlyturned coach, izzy is determined
to not only keep you safe inoriginal oratory, performer in
duo drama, poi and poetry andnewly turned coach, izzy is
determined to not only keep yousafe in the clapocalypse, but
wants to ignite thinking in themasses about all things speech
and debate.
Advocacy, education andadvocacy in the world of speech
(01:16):
and debate is paramount and Izzyis here to help.
It's time for Izzy's Activist'sGuide to the Clapocalypse.
Part Two Performing Advocacy.
Izzy Garcia (01:27):
Hello and welcome to the second episode for Izzy's
Activist's Guide to theClapocalypse, part 2, performing
Advocacy tournament.
During the National Drama FinalRound, we were graced with a
wonderful performance calledDreamland.
In this drama we saw a talentedperformer act out a person who
(01:49):
went through the burning ofBlack Wall Street in Tulsa,
oklahoma.
Her performance was so genuineand heartbreaking and taught me
a piece of history that I wasn'tfully aware of.
Performing stories like this isessential to speech and debate.
For Interp, this is thebackbone of a good performance
telling a heartbreaking storywith a message behind it.
But I want to take thisconversation a bit further.
(02:09):
Before I continue, I want tostart with a bit of an
observation.
Talking about advocacy andperformance is a double-edged
sword.
We should be telling storiesthat talk about certain subjects
, because it's the only waythose stories get told.
However, when does it go toofar?
Solomé Scamoroni, in heroratory speech at this year's
Nationals, conducted her ownpersonal research about the
(02:30):
traumas we perform in speech anddebate and the performer's
attitude towards them.
In her study she found that 61%of performers feel as if they
were required to performtraumatic pieces in
interpretation.
She later explains that thisrequirement of traumatic
performance harms advocacy andthe judgment of said performance
acts as allyship, harming theactivist, the advocacy and the
(02:54):
situation that has occurred.
It harms the advocate becauseit places them in a position of
having to relive trauma forjudgment.
Essentially, whose pain is moreworthy of reward.
It harms the message because itcommodifies it and eliminates
the authenticity behind it andthe source the actual traumatic
event, is left as a vehicle forsomeone who didn't experience
(03:17):
the trauma.
Now, that was intense and thisbreakdown of performing intense
stories isn't always the case.
More times than not, whenpeople perform these stories, it
comes from a place of personalexperience.
Take 2022 Poi National ChampionJade Ismail on her personal
experience during Poi.
She performed a topic on transidentity and found success and
(03:40):
peace in her performance,leading her to the national
championship.
Performing these messages andthe ethics around all of this is
very intense and shaky.
I cannot touch every corner ofthe conversation, but what we
can do is talk about the good,the bad and the ugly.
I'm going to rip the band-aidoff and talk about the bad and
ugly culture when it comes toperforming certain stories.
(04:02):
To limit the scope here, I wantto talk about my personal
experiences with what I believeis a bad use of advocacy in
performance.
What I don't want to do ispoint fingers and say this
interpretation is bad justbecause it's a traumatic story.
I have personally seenperformances in both high school
and college that were used forshock value.
(04:22):
This is what I want to talkabout and nothing more.
The first time I saw what I calla shock value piece was during
my first year of speech anddebate, watching a performance
of A Child Called it.
If you're not aware of thematerial, a Child Called it is a
story of a child who goesthrough some pretty intense
abuse.
There are many graphic scenesand it's a very tough read.
(04:44):
Intense abuse there are manygraphic scenes and it's a very
tough read.
In my first year in Speech andDebate and watching this
performer's interpretation ofthe piece was nothing short of
traumatic.
Some of the worst scenes wereperformed and after there was an
uncomfortable air in the room.
A lot of people praised thatperformance for its shock value,
but in conversations with thisperformer I saw that this person
(05:06):
was pretty unaware of howshocking the performance was.
At some point they told me thatthe performance was autopilot.
At that point it was secondnature that they celebrated the
fact that it was autopilotbecause it helped them with the
performance.
The issue with the concept ofautopilot during a performance
this traumatic is we fullydetach ourselves from the
(05:27):
message that we're trying toconvey.
While I do agree some elementsof performance should be second
nature, running on autopilot forsuch an intense performance is
not good for anyone who watchesor experiences this performance.
Another performance that sticksout to me was one of mine During
my senior year.
I was in a duo performance ofthe Other Room by Airden Blaine.
(05:50):
This play was about a studentwho was on the spectrum of
autism and had a potential loveinterest that met him during his
usual studies autism and had apotential love interest that met
him during his usual studies.
The entire play was really wellwritten and had a great story,
but in hindsight I feltuncomfortable playing the role
of Austin.
I'm not on the spectrum ofautism, nor do I believe I had
(06:14):
the agency talking about thesubject.
This was a piece that wassuggested by my coach after a
host of misses that me and myduo partner were facing.
It was at the point of theseason where we really wanted to
take things seriously, With theclock running out for us to
have a great start of the season.
We took this suggestion fromour coach and it led us to some
pretty successful performances.
It was only after the smoke hadcleared did I realize how
(06:34):
uncomfortable that wholesituation made me.
For the longest time, evenincluding this year, I tried to
shy away from the conversationaround that piece.
I was too ashamed to talk aboutit, because I have a completely
different mindset aboutperformance now than I did back
in the day.
I guess that's why I'm talkingabout this now, Not only to get
rid of the shame for me, but togive you guys a very important
(06:57):
lesson.
There is a right way to do ashocking piece Nowadays.
I think if you're performing avery shocking piece, there
should be something in yourintro that alludes to it,
whether it's a very directtrigger warning or just an
explanation of the story.
At the end of the day it ispersonal how you want to deliver
that message.
Just a piece of advice, I guessIf you plan on doing a shocking
(07:21):
piece, please make sure thatyour head and your heart are in
the right place for it.
I can understand that we wantto tell the most dramatic
stories, to set ourselves apartfrom the rest of the world.
But if you're performing thepiece for strictly shock value,
it detracts from the person'sstory and experience.
You are essentially using thatperson as a platform for your
success.
(07:41):
This is why I ask, as a coachwhy are you doing this piece?
If you ask yourself the samequestion and reach a wall on the
reasoning why, I would refrainon using that piece.
There is a real situation whereyou could perform the piece for
shock and win and be verysuccessful.
But I would argue that if youfind the right piece that you
(08:02):
want to talk about and performit well, you'll have a better
time with the entire performance.
Dramatic performances in speechand debate are one of the most
emotionally taxing forms ofinterpretation.
To perform a dramatic pieceover and over again for months
at a time with little to nobreaks, it takes something out
of you after a while.
Take it from me.
(08:24):
I have performed some reallyintense pieces that have stuck
with me to this day.
I do tend to be a bit dramatic,but the impact of what we
perform does take a toll on usand the audience we perform into
.
If we're going to put ourselvesand others under so much
pressure, we have to do our partand make sure that we're
telling stories for the rightreasons and that the stories
(08:44):
that we are telling aresomething that we can stomach
for the entire season.
I think, as speech and debateis so competitive and requires
so much from us, we lose a lotof what we should be talking
about, and how we perform makeslasting impressions in the
entire circuit.
One final point before we moveon here is a concept that I've
(09:06):
seen more and more around thecircuit and I want to give my
two cents on.
I understand, especially in theWyoming circuit, that there's a
lack of representation in somany minority groups.
However, what doesn't helprepresentation is if we choose
to throw performances ontoperformers because they fit a
certain identity.
(09:26):
When I was competing in highschool, the one type of piece
that I wanted to stick away fromwas a gay piece.
I wanted to perform pieces thattold more of a story than just
one part of my identity.
I wanted to perform storiesthat I wanted to tell, stories
that fit my experience.
My entire speech and debatecareer in high school was a bit
(09:46):
shaky.
I came from a school that isfairly young and that was trying
to establish their ownfoundations in the world of
speech and debate.
Sometimes corners were cut.
When I qualified for nationals,I was entered in two
supplemental events prose andpoetry.
I already had a poetry program,so that was no problem.
However, the prose that I wasgiven was a story about someone
(10:08):
who was dealing with their ownstruggles of being gay.
I protested so hard againstthis piece to no avail.
I ended up going to those proserounds reading from a script
and nearly running out of theroom out of embarrassment
because it was something Ididn't want to perform.
But according to the person whogave it to me, it would be a
good representation and it wouldwork for me because I'm gay.
(10:32):
Tokenism usually ignores thestories that want to be told by
the performer, commodifiesactual stories and
representation and does nothingfor the nuance and advocacy of
the story.
There was something prettyprofound that was said by
another one of my creativefriends when it comes to this
topic, as we were brainstormingthis episode.
He said Reducing someone totheir one singular traumatic
(10:57):
experience reduces that personto the people who help
performers gather script or wantto help their performers be the
most successful.
Don't fill a quota, don't pusha story just because it fits a
person's identity, or they canpromote some quote-unquote good
(11:17):
representation.
We should stick away from usingmarginalized communities for
just their experiences in thatcommunity, we reduce them to
that experience.
These performers have so muchmore that they could talk about
rather than their identity.
I hate having to talk aboutthese parts of speech and debate
sometimes.
I have devoted nine years of mylife to this program and I
(11:40):
believe all of the good thatcomes from this.
I truly do believe that speechand debate gives young people so
many valuable skills that theycan take into their careers and
into their lives.
However, it is necessary thatwe talk about this so we can
prevent this space becomingsomething we don't want to see.
I want to talk about thenational champion of dramatic
(12:03):
interp in 2023, kylan Williams.
Kylan Williams performed apiece called Miseducated, a
piece about a Black educator andhow society and the people
around him believed that hecould be nothing more than the
stereotypes that plagued hiscommunity.
There was a moment in the introwhere Williams dedicated that
performance to his coach, to theone person that believed in him
(12:25):
that he could be as successfulas anyone else.
It was a touching and powerfulmoment.
After that dedication andpowerful performance, he went
and took the whole round andstood as the national champion.
That night was filled with alot of tears.
When I was in college, I had theamazing opportunity to tell a
(12:47):
very personal story in prose,far different from my first
experience.
I performed a podcast episodecalled Brown Bad Boy.
In the podcast, two Latin menwere discussing the struggles of
identity as Latino.
A lot of representation thatthey saw in media was bad boys,
people on television who hadthis bravado that was unmatched.
(13:10):
But still, even though they hadsome representation, the pieces
of the puzzle never fit right.
I never related to a piece morein my life For years.
Growing up in a place that haslittle diversity, I was always
confused on where I fit in andwhere the people that looked
like me were.
There is a recorded version ofthis performance that exists out
(13:34):
there.
When I look back on it, it wasone of the times on this
platform that I felt that I wasspeaking about what I wanted to
and could potentially helpothers who were feeling the same
.
In speech and debate, we performadvocacy in ways that could
help and harm certaincommunities.
It is our responsibility to beon the right side of that
(13:55):
spectrum.
When we tell stories that aretrue to us.
Not only will we find success,but we heal some wounds in our
society that only few can heal.
There is good here.
There are a lot of really goodmemories and stories and good
representation.
Not all of this conversation Iwant to focus on should be about
the bad.
(14:15):
We should be reminded thatsometimes in the good there is
some bad.
Remember always tell storiesfrom your heart, tell them
because they mean something toyou, and remember that
throughout all the trauma thatwe see in speech and debate,
there is so much good thatexists.
Ugh Okay, another week of heavyconversation and a real
(14:35):
heart-to-heart.
There's so much good thatexists.
Ugh Okay, another week of heavyconversation and a real
heart-to-heart.
Thank you for tuning in to thesecond episode of Izzy's
Activist Guide to theClapocalypse, where I not only
teach you how to be a goodperformer, but a good person as
well, and do something nice foryourself today.
You've earned it.
Remember that your refrigeratoris running and you should
(14:56):
probably go catch it and, asalways, stay awesome.
Lyle Wiley (15:00):
Thank you so much to Izzy for more of his thoughts
on advocacy and speech anddebate.
Izzy will be back next week atcamp.
What's going on in theclapocalypse tomorrow?
Well, bailey Patterson andMarcus Viney are back with part
one of their two-part series,chronicles from the Crypt.
You're not going to want tomiss that.
Remember to check the socialmedia challenges on our socials
(15:20):
every day of camp and we'll seeyou tomorrow, campers.
Oh golly, though.
I'm so tired of my neighbor'shorse talking about the
apocalypse.
He keeps saying that the end ofthe world is nay For Camp One
Clap.
This is Camp Director Wileysigning off.
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