I did “Original Oratory” a lot, where you write your own speech. And I essentially treated it like stand-up, where I would have a loose theme and then try to tell as many jokes as possible. There was always a moment when you walked into the classroom and saw the titles of the speeches your competitors were going to perform, and you immediately knew when it was gonna suck. You’d see titles like: Come and Get Me, Cancer! My Mom, the Ghost What We Found in Grandpa’s Attic Oops, No Arms and: How My Vacation to Aruba Quickly Descended into Dolphin Rape
