She Speaks in the Mirror. by Tina Tarighian

Ralph Nader, an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney, said that state legislatures are the laboratories of democracy. For me, my state local tournaments were experiments conducted to test different styles for the national circuit. The main variable? My appearance.

Unfortunately, my performance in terms of judge ranks were pretty consistent across my locals this year. So in terms of raw ranks, I can’t prove that anything I did actually had an effect on how others perceived me. But rather, the way my appearance took a toll on me. My apologies to my chem teacher for disappointing you once again with faulty lab work!

So let’s start from the beginning, all the way to the end.

For those of you who don’t know me, I have naturally wavy hair, terrible eyesight, and a very plain, generic face with an occasional breakout. My usual routine for school just consists of pulling my tangled hair back, throwing on a hoodie, brush my teeth, and wearing my glasses (charming, I know). I learned the hard way after trying to pull off this look with a suit at my first tournament that it isn’t well-received. So, my debate routine is a little different. I painstakingly wake up at 4am, gloss over some articles for prep, wash my face, moisturize, pop in some contacts, brush my teeth, do simple eyeliner, concealer, mascara, eyeshadow, and lipstick, and most importantly, skip breakfast so that I can get there on time. I’ve swapped my pant-suits and short heels for skirt-suits and heels no shorter than 4-inches.

Maybe I’m just lazy, but honestly just writing that out made me tired. I was not going to continue this trend every Saturday for the third year in a row. Which brings me to the experiment:

October 2018

Left: Catholic Forensics League Qualifying Tournament 1 (me on the far right!)

This was the first time since my first ever tournament that I wore my hair wavy and my glasses to a tournament. I still wore makeup and still wore my heels. It was difficult acclimating to my new hand motion: pushing my glasses up mid-sentence.

Result: 2nd place

Right: Phillipsburg Invitational (I’m on the left)

This tournament is admittedly a lot less competitive than the CFL tournaments. I took the opportunity to really go all out. Blue quarter-zip, blue suit pants, a pair of sperry’s, glasses, my hair in a ponytail. While I was comfortable in the clothes, I wasn’t really comfortable having judges see me looking so relaxed. It saved me so much time in the morning and actually facilitated +1.5 hours of sleeping. Is this how guys feel?

Result: 1st place.

November 2018

Glenbrooks (right)

Glasses, but everything else is the same.

Doesn’t seem too daring, especially when you compare it to last months adventures, but this was a national tournament where the stakes were much higher. People who didn’t even know I had glasses in the first place asked me if I was wearing them to just appear smarter. As dumb as it may seem, I remember feeling so ugly. I didn’t wear my glasses at a national again.

Result: Semifinals

January 2018

Took a brief break from the experiment in December, as I only went to two national tournaments that month. But it was back on in January!

Emory (no picture:( )

Tried to take the opposite approach. For prelims, I got extra glammed up, but less professional. I wore a sleeveless dress with 5 inch heels. I had my hair straightened and did my face fully, even attempting to pull off a winged eyeliner (poorly). I felt pretty, but I felt out of place. I was also nearly tardy for round and found myself constantly worried about how my face was wearing through the day.

Result: won my prelim where I dressed like this.

February 2018

Catholic Forensics League Qualifying Tournament 5

Wavy hair, makeup, contacts, heels, skirt.

Again, doesn’t seem like much of a change from my original routine, but hear me out.

At my very first tournament, I wore my hair naturally but was told it was distracting and unprofessional. During my sophomore year, I would spend so much time trying to get my hair perfectly straightened that I actually ended up damaging it really badly. Now, I’ve stopped doing that entirely. It gives me so much more time to prep and sleep and eat-- all things that have helped my success probably more than straight hair.

Result: 1st

This actually kind of ends the experiment. Afterwards, I stopped caring so much. I realized how much free time not caring would grant me. I wear all the colors I want. Blazer or no blazer, pants or skirt, straight hair or wavy hair, I realized everything on the outside only mattered when it affected how I felt on the inside.

As an update, this year I’ve rocked everything from neutral tones with braids and glasses, to wearing a casual turtleneck and skirt in round.

Be comfortable in your own skin, and have fun experimenting what that really means! Happy shopping!