Memory can be so fickle. Like some great book that is slowly loosing its pages, you begin with an entire novel full of details and descriptions and, if you're not careful, you end up with nothing more than the cover and the brief synopsis on the back page. My novel on the subject of the end of summer school debate has lost its share of pages but the back-cover synopsis, the essence of the entire …showed first 75 words of 1518 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1518 total…previous encounter. Since then I have gone to national tournaments, become president of the Debate Society and had my share of victories and losses, not bad for a career born in humiliation and a summer off from work. Written on the back of that book cover, long past when all the pages have fallen out, will always be the beginning of an enjoyable activity and one of the most emotionally trying moments of my life.