Bailey Oratorical Reflection
On March 3rd, I attended the 110th Bailey Oratorical at Juniata College. I was excited to attend, having enjoyed it last year, I was eager to see how these new seven speakers would approach this year’s prompt.
It was a great night, and overall, I was especially interested in all of the different takes that each finalist presented to the audience. Everyone took the prompt in a completely different direction, while still remaining true to the prompt. This made for a really entertaining night.
I thought it was extremely clever how some topics were ones that you wouldn’t initially associate with “being counted”, such as Taylor’s topic of making mistakes count, or Cat’s about how women need to be able to count themselves as sexual beings. Even though I didn’t initially see how these topics fit in with the prompt, I thought that their messages were carefully crafted and tailored to the audience in such a way that made it clear how they fit. Both speeches were filled with humor in ways that made their speeches engaging and memorable.
I also enjoyed the speeches that followed the prompt in a more literal sense. Logan’s speech directly addressed the Census and spoke to how important it is to make sure that elderly citizens are counted in a census that will be predominantly filled out online. Logan explained how ensuring that the elderly are accounted for, will help to make sure that different regions get the proper funding for resources that will benefit these demographics.
Madison also talked about representation, but in a slightly different light. Her speech argued how incarcerated citizens should not be stripped of their right to vote, and therefore that their voice should still count. She mentioned how giving prisoners a voice was an important step in keeping their humanity and still treating them as citizens.
I think that both Logan and Madison’s speeches were very powerful, specifically because they addressed issues that many people may not automatically think about. For people whose lives have not been affected by the American prison system, the question of whether or not prisoners should still have the right to vote may never come up. However, Madison framed the problem in a way that made it accessible to everyone, and even if she didn’t change anyone’s mind, she still got the audience to think more about a topic that she is clearly passionate about.
The Census being filled out mainly online may not be a problem for most people, but for particular groups it can prove devastating, because it may result in them not being counted or not having the proper funding. For those who do not have a lot of elderly people in their lives, they may not think about this issue. The problem did not immediately come to my mind at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized the possible consequences of an online census. I think it was really important for both Logan and Madison to bring these issues to the front of people’s minds.
Still, the speech that’s stood out to me the most was Rachel’s. Her speech centered around the metaphor about how we must look past the boxes into the spaces in between when we talk about identity was very powerful. She had an important message about letting the way that you identify yourself count.
Rachel’s speech was unique and had a lot of interesting personal experience tied in with her message and call to action. I think her use of narrative was really compelling and definitely succeeded in capturing the audience’s attention. She blended her experience and the central message seamlessly, letting her words have an impact long after she finished.
I was shocked to hear about how those who fill in other as their ethnicity are not counted in Juniata’s (as well as other institutions) demographic data. However, I realized after Rachel said this, that this was sadly true. Listening to Rachel’s speech, I realized how I had been living a life of privilege in which I never had to take too much time to think about my racial identity.
I really appreciated how Rachel’s speech could open up my eyes (along with probably a lot of other people in the audience) to others’ experiences. Part of the beauty of the Bailey lies in the fact that we can hear so many different stories from students across a range of POEs. It is very fascinating to hear what is important to others as they encourage us to consider the issues that they are presenting to the audience.
While the prompt may have seemed a little narrow or confusing this year to some, I think that every finalist did an incredible job of relating it to places and topics that many people might never have considered. It demonstrated a real talent of shaping information to fit a specific prompt.
The prompt was important and timely one, because it led each of the finalists to talk about issues and injustices that they saw in the world and gave them all a platform to advocate for challenging and changing these issues.
Every finalist gave specific calls to action, which gave an interactive quality to the speeches. After each speaker finished, they left the audience with more information on a topic, challenging them to think about something a little more in depth and to consider ways in which they can improve the situation or the steps that they can take to ensure a more direct route of social change.
Every speech was all equally relevant to the times we are living in, as well as properly addressing the prompt. It made for some tough competition, and I think that each finalist rose to the occasion.
While I have never participated in the preliminary round of the Bailey, seeing and listening to the speeches last night inspired me a lot to consider trying out next year. I think that supporting traditions such as this one (Juniata’s oldest academic tradition) are an important part in keeping up with the Juniata spirit. They keep us unique and highlight the talents that Juniata students have!
