1. If you did forensics, congratulations! You've mastered the psychotic art of animatedly talking to walls.
It’s the morning of a competition. You and your teammates are inside a strange classroom in a strange school, and all thirty of you are placed a few feet apart from each other staring, screaming, and laughing at the wall slightly maniacally. (Don’t worry non-forensicators, we’re not crazy, this is just how we practice!)
2. “I can’t, I have forensics.”
Whether this was after school or on Saturdays, this was a phrase uttered often. From 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Saturdays, you were out competing, occasionally talking to walls, and spending your Saturdays in a way that terrified your peers. Who wants to spend their Saturday at a speech and debate competition!? We did!
3. When I say intimidating French braided low bun, you know what I’m talking about.
If you walked into a classroom for your first round and there was a "forensics famous" girl in a bold colored suit (you wore black) with her hair in a French braided low chignon, you knew it was game on. You were good, but she was probably better. Between the bun, the click of her Mary Jane’s, and the rare red suit, she was intimidating.
4. Your non-forensic friends never really understood what exactly you spent your Saturdays doing…
Trying to explain forensics ten different ways never really helped either because you really had to experience it to know what it was.
5. Giving in to calling it “speech and debate” or “competitive acting” when people asked what teams you were on.
Let’s face it, the first image that comes to mind when you say "forensics" is probably a more scientific one with cadavers and DNA sprawled in there. Over the years you found it easier to call it one of these two even though neither truly encompasses what forensics is.
6. You know the meaning of “Can I have a two down, a one down, and a fist at ten? Oh and a ‘C’ at thirty if I get there???”
Oh time signals, I don’t think I’ll ever forget them. I always thought the “C at thirty” was a bit much, but a forensicator’s gotta do what a forensicator’s gotta do!
7. You were either the kid who said, “Thank you for judging!” at the end of the round, or the kid who scoffed at the idea of doing that.
There’s a thin line between being courteous and pretentious, and this definitely rocked that line.
8. There was at least one time when two of your judges gave you a one or a two, and the third judge gave you a… SIX.
Being one rank away from breaking into finals is terrible, especially when the judge who gave you the six writes something like “Great performance, tough round!” on your ballot… I will never get over this.
9. You spent at least one weekend each year at an away competition at some prestigious university so you could compete and talk to walls some more.
Whether it was the competition at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, or the Villiger tournament, these were always fun times. The competition was tough, but finding the buildings was tougher. Hell yeah we gave up our weekends for this!
10. You made "forensics friends" as a novice.
There’s nothing like someone coming up to you after a round saying “I loved your piece!!” and the friendship blossoming from there. Sure, you might have only see them once a week at competitions, but eventually you became Facebook friends and that counts for something!
11. There are forensics friends, and then there are those people you don’t really know how you know them but somehow you are also Facebook friends…
This happened a lot.
12. You know what a binder is and you know there is an art to using it.
“Binder duo” also frightens you.
13. You know what Forensics Fox is, and you’ve texted your teammates memes at least once over the years.
(In case you couldn't tell, that's what all of these memes are.)
14. You probably experienced anxiety at some point over whether you should write your first or last name on the board.
Being the first one in the room was terrifying enough because of this. “Should I write Elizabeth, or Giannone!?” I would ask myself in a panic, eventually just going for an obvious compromise… writing both down.
16. You probably felt just a little relieved at least once when you didn’t break into finals.
It’s been a long, tiring day and you are not in the mood to recite your speech for a fourth or fifth time so yay for not breaking!
17. The excitement to read your ballots on the long cheese bus ride home isn’t able to be contained… but then trying to read the judge’s handwriting is like trying to decipher hieroglyphics.
But hey at least they actually wrote comments!!
18. You know the meaning of OO, OI, DI, HI, Duo, Extemp, and Congress.
For you non-forensicators wondering what this weird code stands for: Original Oratory, Oral Interpretation, Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Duo (two person performance), Extemporaneous Speaking, and Congress debates.
19. You probably had an awesome coach who it wouldn't have been possible to do without.
Your coach was the one helping you find and cut pieces, helping you make adjustments to your speeches, and who had the most confidence in your abilities.
20. Oddly enough, you miss putting on a suit at 6 a.m. every Saturday.
There was some weird comfort in the ritual of it. And who doesn't love seeing hundreds of mini adults milling around a high school, or the weird looks you'd get from adults if you went into a restaurant after a competition? You'd be like "yeah that's right I'm in a SUIT, cuz I'm a cool forensicator." That's us!
21. When you meet people in college who know what forensics is and you feel an instant bond.
"OMG you did forensics?! I did forensics!!!" You finally found someone who knows what you spent four years of high school doing!!
22. You probably joined because sometime during your freshman year someone told you it would “look good for college”… (and it did, score!) but you actually ended up loving it.
You realized that sacrificing your Saturdays was well worth it not only when you received acceptance letters to multiple colleges, but also when you competed at States for the last time and the bittersweet nostalgia hit you. And somewhere along the way, you realized you wouldn’t have wanted to spend your weekends anywhere else.
