“Don’t trust your photographs.” – Robin Pecknold
This is a bit of a mantra for me, and a part of why I’ve always disliked photographs. My mind, which holds onto images, information, and thoughts so crisply has, I suppose, very little use for them. And, anyway, something is always left out. Or feels false. Or twists in the faded edges of the frame.
Here are a few. Small memories I’m building, willing to hold onto just a little longer. I don’t keep photos for the most part, and I’ve almost never posted any on this blog in the four years I’ve had it. When I deleted my Facebook I didn’t back up any of my photos, mostly because I didn’t want to be dictated by past images of me. These are just the handful I happen to have on my phone.
This is me, Berkley, and Huy at Northwestern almost two years ago. We look so young, here! That’s the only time I’ve ever been to that tournament. We took a “grown-up” version of this photo early this year.
Me, Heather, and Huy. Heather was the person who really taught me the fundamentals of interp. The three of us have a really special bond.
I grew my hair out for about… 9.5 months? It’s been about 8 in this photo. It got pretty intense. This is one of my favorite photos of Mary Moore, who coached me in collegiate speech for four years. She was/is like a second mother to me.
Gosh, I miss this beard. This is right before I got a trim for AFA.
This one is me and Michelle, one of my first college friends and my roommate for two years. She’s moving out of state to get her PhD this coming week. We took this in Arizona during AFA in April.
I’m not really that into trophies, so these photos are kind of embarrassing in hindsight. But I worked really hard, and even more-so, I was so proud of my friends. The first one is from the day I got to be a two-time national champion with my best-friend. I was the 2014 AFA national champion in Impromptu Speaking and Communication Analysis. Huy won Program Oral Interpretation. The other ones are from the 2014 NFA. Ball State, my college, got 4th as a team. I won Pentathlon, which is basically the cumulative individual award. The photo of me kneeling has all of the awards. The one with me and Huy and our two trophies is from Rhetorical Criticism, I was the national champion and he got 3rd. He did amazing! Berkley got 3rd in ADS, too. What a special year. I was really proud of my success, but to be honest, I was much prouder of my teammates.
Me at graduation with my Mother and Grandmother. This day was super stressful because I don’t like noise or crowds. But it’s pretty remarkable that we’ve got all three generations. I don’t have a lot of family. It’s all in this photo right here. I’m wearing my magna cum laude medal. I was proud to be able to tell my mother that I’d graduated with distinction, and that my success in speech hadn’t overshadowed my devotion to school.
Me and my Dad. There are just a handful of these photos. Almost none of them from past age 7. While I was preparing my Downtown Writer’s Jam performance last week I found this photo in the interp. book I’d used last season while performing the piece about my Dad as a Prose. I wish he was here.
Words From A Room 