American Bee: The National Spelling Bee and the Culture of Word Nerds

392 Pages·2006·1.38 MB·English

by  James Maguire

For anyone who grapples with the spelling of the English language—but who
loves the language nonetheless
“In a perfect language, every simple sound would be expressed by a
distinct character; and no character would have more than one sound. But
languages are not thus perfect; and the English Language, in particular, is,
in these respects, extremely irregular.”
—Noah Webster
Contents
P
ROLOGUE
PART 1: L B : T 2004 N S B , W , DC
IFE AT THE EE HE ATIONAL PELLING EE ASHINGTON
1. The Pressure
2. The Field Narrows
3. “Is This as Good as Hollywood Can Make It?”
PART 2: T F T : T A S B , P
HE OLK RADITION HE MERICAN PELLING EE FROM LYMOUTH
R C T
OCK TO ABLE ELEVISION
4. A Fine Amusement
5. The Birth of the Modern Bee
6. The Media Age
PART 3: C ’ P
HAMPIONS ROFILES
7. David Tidmarsh (’04)
8. Nupur Lala (’99)
9. Wendy Guey (’96)
10. Ned Andrews (’94)
11. Paige Kimble (’81)
12. Jacques Bailly (’80)
13. Katie Kerwin McCrimmon (’79)
14. Barrie Trinkle (’73)
15. Henry Feldman (’60)
PART 4: T S H E S (O , W I ’ S D )
HE TRANGE ISTORY OF NGLISH PELLING R HY T S O IFFICULT
16. A Great Darkness
17. The New American Vernacular
18. Science Fiction: The Future of Spelling
PART 5: F T S C G F
IVE OP PELLERS OMPETE FOR LORY AND AME
19. Preface to a Competition
20. Marshall Winchester
21. Katharine “Kerry” Close
22. Samir Patel
23. Jamie Ding
24. Aliya Deri
25. The Annual Ritual: Word List Creation
PART 6: T S : T 2005 N S B , W , DC
HE HOWDOWN HE ATIONAL PELLING EE ASHINGTON
26. The Tribe Gathers
27. The Spellers Step Up
28. The Heart Pounds
E
PILOGUE
N
OTES
S
OURCES
B
IBLIOGRAPHY
A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
Prologue
As I traveled around the country, talking with the many people I spoke with to
report the story of the National Bee, I was often asked: “What made you want to
write a book about the spelling bee?” The question was usually asked with great
politeness, but with no small wonder, as if to inquire: That’s an odd topic you
have there, fellow. What gives?
It’s a reasonable question, and it certainly deserves an answer. I have to
confess, though, that I usually gave an abbreviated version of what drew me to
the story. To give a full account would have required me to hold forth for several
minutes. And at the end of such a lengthy monologue, I feared, some of the
questioners might have suggested I sit quietly while they fetch a cool drink of
water.
Still, the query calls for a full response, and now is the time. So if you’ll grant
me just a few minutes—and yes, I have a glass of cool water at hand—I’ll tell
you why I feel it’s important that there be a book about the Bee.
The story of the National Spelling Bee is many stories in one.
It’s a sports story of sorts, with all the drama of a high-stakes athletic contest.
(In fact, the cable TV channel ESPN broadcasts the Bee alongside sporting
events like boxing and basketball.) The contestants win or lose—no second
chance—in real time, onstage in front of a live audience. Each year, from a
starting pool of ten million kids, spellers compete their way upward in city and
regional bees, hoping to become one of the 275 or so who makes it to
Washington. The story of how these 275 finalists find one champion has as much
narrative drive, as much sweat and tears and joy, as any football or baseball
game. (More so, actually—but that’s just my personal opinion.)
It’s a story of pure Americana, part Norman Rockwell, part Horatio Alger. The
Bee is an egalitarian gathering in which kids from every social class compete in
a true meritocracy. A window washer’s daughter competes with a banker’s son; a
first-generation Korean goes toe-to-toe with a Mayflower descendant. Give me
your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free: Every year,
the audience is sprinkled with immigrant parents, mothers and fathers who speak
in a thick accent, watching their children compete in a second language—the
event, like the arms of Lady Liberty, is open to all. In the most idealistic
American tradition, the Bee offers a level playing field, in which color of skin
and your last name mean nothing, but hard work and belief in self mean
everything.
It’s a language story, in which that cultural sponge known as the English
language plays a starring role. The top spellers are obsessive etymologists. They
are language detectives, exploring lingual patterns, digging into Latin and Greek
and French, looking for clues to help them decipher obscure polysyllabics.
Spelling, at this level, is about far more than recitation. It’s about understanding
how the language is built, and how the history of English created this eccentric
patchwork called modern spelling. It’s about all the skills that further literacy:
voracious reading, a sprawling vocabulary, even knowledge of grammar. The
Bee is like a yearly Woodstock for the language arts crowd.
First and foremost—and here we get to the heart of the Bee—it’s a story about
kids, about how the Bee’s challenges transform them. Or, more accurately, how
the kids transform themselves. For these top spellers, the Bee is an odyssey that
includes the smaller bees they must win, countless hours of study and drill, and a
semi-Olympian process of psych-up. The nerves can be fearsome. Finally, they
step to the microphone in front of a mass audience (including parents and
television cameras) to face an unknown challenge. They’re out there all alone,
forced to rely upon only their own resources. These moments are like a little
pressure cooker. This is necessarily a growth experience, whether or not they
spell correctly. And that, really, is what the Bee is all about: young people
growing, within the context of a high-profile educational environment. That’s a
beautiful thing.
As icing on the cake, it’s the story of a big party, a yearly gathering of like-
minded souls—young souls—who, in between competing with each other, share
a subculture with its own idiosyncrasies and status symbols. They are word
nerds. They study Latin and play video games. They have fantasies of spelling
the perfect eight-syllable word. Many of them stop reading only long enough to
drill lunarlike morphemes, carrying their laptops outside to play, lugging their
dictionaries on family vacations. They are a strange bunch, which makes them
an interesting bunch.
In short, the Bee is an invaluable nugget of American life. Despite the odd
niche it occupies, it says a lot about who we are, our oddness, our strengths.
And, after enduring for hundreds of years, it’s a folk tradition that can safely
claim to be a permanent part of the American scene. The Bee is a story that
deserves to be told.
One more thing, on a personal note. As I got to know the spellers and their
families I profiled in this book, I had a wonderful time. Having dinner with the
families, talking with the spellers, learning about their hopes and their worries,
being at the Bee in Washington—it was a rich experience. I consider myself
lucky for having been able to report this story.
If you enjoy reading this book even a fraction as much as I enjoyed writing it,
I’ll feel as if I’ve just spelled rijsttafel in the final rounds of the National Bee. In
other words, pretty darn good.
And now, let the spelling begin . . .
James Maguire
Part1
Life at the Bee: The 2004 National Spelling
Bee, Washington, DC
“There are killer words flying around you all the time, the person on your left or
your right takes a bullet, and you get an easy one . . .”
—Henry Feldman, 1960 Bee champion