At five o’clock in the morning, I sit in the darkness of my room as the pale blue light from my computer screen mocks my inability to write. You see, I have been faced with making a decision between two very difficult, very unique options. Never in my ideas of a formal writing workshop did I ever imagine that I would be writing about things like leapfrog. More importantly, I never imagined that such a topic would be so difficult. My difficult decision is in choosing between two pictures to post—one of myself and group of friends leapfrogging in business suits at the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire or a group of my friends from Arizona State University leapfrogging outside of their apartment in Phoenix. In realizing the class goal of building community, each picture offers two very different and unique perspectives.

However, both pictures are related in a way. In college, I participate in an activity called forensics (not the science). It’s basically an intercollegiate competition similar to debate, which involves performing different speeches, or interpretation of play scripts, short stories, poems, etc. Both of these pictures are of friends that I have made through the activity. Both pictures are a testament to relationships that I have built through forensics in the past year.

Recently, ISU went to a tournament at UW Eau Claire. On our lunch break, I asked a few of the people in the cafeteria from different teams if they would like to help me out with a class project. A few of them didn’t even ask what it was that they would be doing before they happily agreed to participate. As we started leapfrogging, a few of the other people from the tournament joined in. When I had chosen the picture that I had wanted, I noticed that a few of the people in the picture, I had only talked to once or twice but seemed overjoyed to help me complete a class project, and likewise, I would be willing to do the same for any of them.

The Arizona picture, however, was a little different, and seemed significantly warmer. Andy is one of my best friends through forensics, though because of the distance, I rarely get to see him through the year, so I use any excuse I can to call him. Most recently, I used leapfrogging. Andy’s two roommates also do forensics, so I asked if the three of them could leapfrog and take a picture of it (preferably in front of a palm tree or some warm looking thing). Surprisingly they agreed without very much of an explanation. In reflecting on this picture, as I had to do for my class, I realized that I had only really known Andy for about a year. However, with only the short amount of time that I have known him, after one phone call, he was still happy, even excited to help me when he and his roommates receive no direct advantage from doing so. As I said earlier, this picture is a testament to the relationships that I have built through forensics, and it makes me extremely happy to have friends from across the country that are willing to help me with a simple phone call.