Edgar Allan Poe was born on this day 193 years ago.
The mention of Poe always brings to mind my pathetic foray into the world of junior high speech competitions.
When I was in thirteen and in the eighth grade, I fancied myself a public speaker. I was loud and therefore, I assumed, an asset to my tiny parochial school's speech team.
Of course, anyone can be loud. But not everyone can be expressive, compelling and accurate.
I wasn't any of those things.
Regardless, I signed-up to participate in a speech meet that was to be held at a high school in the next county over. Perhaps, by the time of the meet, I would have acquired the skills needed to kick some oral interpretation butt.
And what did I pick to recite? Edgar Allan Poe's, The Raven.
In addition to not being expressive, compelling nor accurate, I was also lazy -- so lazy that I waited until the night before the tournament to start memorizing the eighteen-stanza poem.
This is all a recipe for a predictable eighth grade disaster, so I think I can refrain from describing all the humiliating details.
A quick summary involves forgotten words, panicked revisions of a 150 year-old poem and a very traumatized kid sitting in the losers room watching the other kids perform the routines that brought them to the semi-finals.
Luckily, an original expository speech about baseball cards -- complete with poster board visual aids -- given by a kid from another school made me forget about my own personal humiliation.
This kid was bad -- perhaps not as bad as me for he at least took the time to memorize his material. But my gosh, he was dull -- an example of what a public speaker shouldn't be.
I'm sure that during the carpool ride home, I took great delight in impersonating this kid's performance. After all, humor at another kid's expense is always the best way to get a mini-van of thirteen year-olds laughing.
And, I like to think that it was this boy's performance which kept me from ever participating in a speech meet again.
Imagine the laugh I had when, five years later, I discovered just who this pathetic kid really was.
It was none other than my own Ben.
Of course, since he does most everything else perfectly, I take great pleasure in bringing up this story and reminding him how much of an impression he made on me -- all those years before we'd actually meet.
Oh my goodness, what a lovely, sweet story. I'm a-smilin' from ear to ear. :)
Posted by: jlee | January 19, 2002 at 11:21 PM
That's quite possibly the cutest story ever. I'm so glad that adolescent awkwardness ages so well.
Posted by: Anil | January 20, 2002 at 01:31 AM
Very nice story :o).
(am I wrong for having laughed out loud? *g*)
Posted by: mark | January 20, 2002 at 06:29 AM
[cockles sufficiently warmed] Awwww.
So sweet. :-)
Posted by: Paula | January 20, 2002 at 10:21 AM
Ok, Mena, spill the beans: how did you and Ben reconnect? As my wife would say, "what's your love story?"
And, how long did it take for both of you to realize that he was the baseball card kid??
Posted by: Jeff | January 20, 2002 at 12:33 PM
It's been a wonderful visit, thanks!
Posted by: Me | January 20, 2002 at 04:15 PM
Well, we started dating three months before graduating from high school -- I had transferred to his high school as a junior but we hadn't talked until right before I asked him to prom.
I discovered that he was the baseball card kid within the first or second year of dating -- we were talking about past speech debates and I think I said something like "There was this kid who did some horrible speech on baseball cards." OF course I should have known it was him because Ben has like 5,000 baseball cards.
Posted by: Mena | January 20, 2002 at 06:26 PM
Ha! I can completely relate to the speech/debate competition - I was supposed to tell a story, and I read the story from the book while others in my division gesticulated and used funny voices.
Fortunately, I had (and still have) a sense of humor, so it didn't scar me much.
I'm glad you ended up with Ben. (When it comes to guys, I'm a real fan of the gawky, nerdy-but-smart ones.)
Posted by: Helen | January 20, 2002 at 08:17 PM
Wow, Mena, great story.
That would be an excellent opening chapter to the your autobiography.
Posted by: Ryan | January 21, 2002 at 06:47 AM
Hey, Mena! Congratulations for being a Weblog Category Finalist in the 2002 SXSW Website Competition. Woohoo!!!
Posted by: Joy | January 21, 2002 at 02:58 PM
Thanks Joy! I'm happy because I've never been nominated for anything in my life. But it's bittersweet since I think a lot of 2001 weblogs deserve to be there -- namely Brushstroke.tv or Dooce or the Hoopla 500.
But I am happy to be nominated -- I don't want to sound like an ingrate.
Posted by: Mena | January 21, 2002 at 03:03 PM
Oh, what a wonderful story, Mena!! That gave me such a giggle and a warm feeling that you met him so long before you actual MET him! :)
Posted by: kristine | January 22, 2002 at 07:45 AM