And the Panic Begins to Set In

So, Saturday is the final novice speech competition. I've worked with all my "mentees," so I think they are all ready. And I get to go judge. Only thing I am starting to worry about is my piece. I have seven characters, and each has a different voice. Most are variations on a British accent, but then there is the one that is giving me the most grief. A male Italian accent. I've been working so hard on it, but I just can't seem to get it. And then there is the issue of memorization. I keep reading over it again and again, but somehow I just haven't been able to memorize it. And that poses the biggest problem of all. Until I memorize it, I can't work on pops, I can't work on pantomime, I can't work on timing. And it has to be good enough for competition by the 4th. Yes, next Saturday. This is the first year I've had doubts about being ready. I think it has to do with having so many novices that I am helping. Once again I am putting others before myself. And right now, I have a lot of work to do...

The Chilling Possibilities of the Future

I just found a new author to go on my favorites list. Scott Westerfeld is amazing. And when I say amazing, I mean truly and utterly remarkable. He wrote a trilogy that includes Uglies, Pretties, and Specials. The Uglies Trilogy examines our society, not as it is now, but what it has the possibilities to become. Okay, it is Sci-Fi, but it is really startling how much he is satirizing and warning us about.

These books take place in the future, only a century or two away from today. While they are still very young, the children of this society are brainwashed into believing that they are all Ugly until they turn sixteen and they have a special surgery to make them Pretties. The Uglies are treated as sub-humans; they have very few rights and are always seen as trouble makers. This is the basis for the story of Tally Youngblood, a girl who has been waiting for her sixteenth birthday all of her life so that she could be pretty and perfect, just like everybody else. Suddenly, however, she meets Shay. Shay despises the practices of the pretty surgery, and intends to run away, bringing Tally with her. And that is only part of the first book.

These books are truly eye-opening. They take the issues we, as a society, are dealing with today and project the possible consequences our actions may have if we don't change soon. Westerfeld attacks anything from war and conflict to self esteem and the "ideal" image that is forced upon us by the media. He even criticizes the idea if "peace" and what it truly means.

I highly recommend these books. While reading them, I kept noticing the cause and effects that we may not have seen before. And, yes, I do realize that they are fiction, but that doesn't mean we have to write them off as totally pointless. As we all know, the main goal of satire is to bring about change...