Back in the day when I studied at UTSA, well... suffice to say there was only one campus, no dorms, cows in the road
(leading to where Milo's Backyard used to be), and persnickety police parking patrols that would ticket us for the
grave sin of black rubber on white dividing lines.

So why did I participate in the fantastic experience of Forensics?

Skip begged me.

No, actually, it was an initial groove that occurred when we few individuals (Sharon Wyrick, Ed Conroy, Gary Kitchen,
Sarah DeMarcus, Casey Megan and I) came together to create a synergy and discover what we could offer.
(Others soon followed, of course, but we were the very first group Skip culled together.)

Sharon, Sarah and I had high school experience with UIL, but as for the others, well, I would never presume to speak
for my long-ago friends and put words in their capable mouths...except to offer that we all shared a burning to speak out.

We had a sense of purpose and expectation that we, young scholars, should be heard, but not without reason.
We came to UTSA seeking knowledge with a quest to learn and be better than we were.
Anyone can lip synch, but we wanted to communicate in a genuine, meaningful and informed manner.

I had reservations about time commitments, the costs, and to be truthful, I didn't see a big pay-off at the end of the road.
Every time I said, "Forensics," folks thought I meant I messed with cadavers.
Plus, there are some cultures (cough) where questioning and debating are dimly viewed as rude
...especially when a woman speaks up and one who does may be depicted in a demeaning fashion or shamefully labeled
as an interrogator, instigator or radical. !Que Scandalosa!

Of course those labels can also be mark of honor.

Anyway, I realized somewhere along the line, that my own silence was weapon I wielded against myself.
If you rely on anyone else to do your talking for you -- you will never be truly or fully understood, not even by yourself. 

By abdicating defining who you are -- in your own words and terms -- defunctly authorizes someone else to set your limitations
and draw boundaries! Besides not everything translates well from one tongue to another.

So through Forensics, I found my voice and went places I would have never trekked out to alone, and I was glad for the company. 

Martha E.S. Buchanan

P.S.