August 9, 2021
Competitive High School Speech with Shweta
Description
Shweta Balakrishnan, voted most likely to be the next Oprah in high school, drops by to reminisce about our wild days of competitive speech, and Jason discovers the dark underbelly of speech tournaments.
Episode
Bio
Shweta Balakrishnan is Director of Operations at Cityblock Health. She holds a degree in Psychiobiology / Neuroscience from UCLA and a Masters of Public Health from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. She’s been a research scholar at the University of Oxford, a field hockey star, and a proud member of Naya Zamaana UCLA's award-winning premier South Asian a cappella team. More importantly, in high school, she was voted most likely to be the next Oprah.
Images

What Jason Learned
There are only three types of deadly spiders in the United States, and only one type in California (the black widow).
What Kelcey Learned
Ng Man Tat, one of Hong Kong's most famous comedic actors and Stephen Chow's sidekick, passed away in 2021 (rest in peace).
Top Five Tips for Overcoming Stage Fright

  1. Alcohol

  2. Deep breathing exercises

  3. Practice

  4. Perform with a partner, ideally someone you enjoy working with

  5. Get enough sleep

Fact or Fiction: Competitive speech

  1. Tom Hanks competed in Dramatic Interpretation in high school and described it as a “formative experience” - FICTION (Jason made this up)

  2. Actor Josh Gad won Nationals in Original Oratory in 1998 and then won Nationals in Original Oratory and Humorous Interpretation the next year - FACT

  3. Jason met his wedding officiant at debate camp - FACT

  4. The first high school speech competition took place in Illinois in 1947 at the University of Evanston - FICTION (there is no University of Evanston)

  5. Jason competed in Expository with the topic of drumming and a large portion of his speech was just him drumming - FACT

Won't You, Haiku?
High School

High school nerds unite
It was an experience
Debate kids do drugs