(5/12) “On the bus to Harvard we were cutting ass. Maybe a couple of the seniors were stressed
(5/12) “On the bus to Harvard we were cutting ass. Maybe a couple of the seniors were stressed. But the rest of us were laughing and making clown faces. That’s one beautiful thing I’ve learned in life: if your expectations are low enough, you can be completely free. I went into every tournament thinking: ‘This is impossible.’ We knew we were never going to beat these rich kids. As soon as we stepped off the bus, everyone was looking at us. It’s not every day you see a transgender teacher with all these big ass black kids. And it was very obvious that we poor. Everyone else was wearing ironed dress shirts and khakis. We’ve got plain white tees and sandals. DiCo’s trying to help us tie our ties. It was embarrassing. It’s like, c’mon DiCo. You just became a guy. Now you’re tying our ties in front of all these white people. The first place we went was the cafeteria for lunch. All these other kids were looking at their notes, and talking about their topics. We’re giving piggy-back rides and talking about Lebron. DiCo tried his best to make us focus. He’d be like: ‘C’mon guys, this is serious stuff.’ But we weren’t hearing it. On the first day DiCo was mainly watching the older kids. I was in in there all by myself, but I’m killing it. There was nothing too special about my speech. Everyone had been studying the same articles, so we were using the same facts. But at the end of every round there’s this thing called ‘Cross X,’ when you get to ask your opponent questions. And that’s when I shined. I’d talk about Koreh. I never said his name, because you can’t use names. But I’d ask if they knew what it was like to grow up without a mom or dad. Or if they’d ever eaten potato chips for dinner. I’d say: ‘‘Do you know anyone who’s been personally affected by the justice system?’’ And when they said ‘no,’ I’d be like: ‘Maybe you’re not the best one to be making this argument.’ I ended up making it past the first round. Then the second. I’m still thinking that I don’t have a chance. But after the third round, one of the judges pulled me aside. He was like: ‘You need to slow down. And have a bit more sportsmanship. But if you don’t win, this tournament is rigged.’” -- source link