I’m hoping to TVFT tonight. I’m rather curious to hear about TOC. O’C said in a comment that it was an improvement in many ways, and that is good to hear, I guess. At the same time, I wonder how many people who broke in LD at TOC in 2002 would have been able to adjudicate the rounds among people who broke in 2012. Oh, well. The $ircuit is the $ircuit, and either you play the game or you don’t. I’ve discussed this ad nauseum.
The Sailor Speecho-Americans, I’m happy to say, acquitted themselves well at the NYSFL championships. Panivore Junior came in 3rd in his DI division, and one of our sophomores managed to break as well in Oy. (Actually, I think they call it OI, but Oy sounds so much better. “Did you break?” “Oy!”) That’s half the contingent that we sent, so proportionately, who else broke 50%? They’ll spend the rest of the year working toward pieces for next year. Except for next week, when they play Bean Trivia. Best (worst?) crappy first prize ever! But I don’t want to give it away here. I don’t want to frighten anyone away.
I’m working on editing a complex book at the DJ, and after an hour or so of bearing down, my brains start to leak, so I look for ways to take short breaks. Yesterday I was pricing hotels at WDW, doing a little early comparison shopping for the DisAd. The problem is, you can pay way over twice as much for a hotel as we did in the DiDeAd, but you probably won’t get more than twice as much out of it. Let’s face it; most WDW time is not spent in the room, or even in the hotel, for that matter. And if you want to take advantage of something at another hotel, it’s no big deal to truck over there and do so. (There’s a lot of trucking at WDW. Like the doo dah man… Speaking of which, or not, I finally found out why Jimi Hendrix speaks that line about never hearing surf music again, but I won’t explain it here. That’s what Grinwout’s is for.) I can’t believe I’m thinking about this more than a year early, but as I say, complex work requires short breaks for leaky brains. This is how my brain leaks. Could be worse, I guess.
Showing posts with label Speech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Speech. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
New Blogger worse than Old Blogger. Just like New Coke. Feh!
I can’t for the life of me figure out why the posts here, which I write willy-nilly but like to post at 7:30 pm, and therefore schedule for that time, are not being posted automatically, while the Grinwout’s posts, which I set for automatic publication at roughly three-hour intervals during the day, roll out without a hitch. (And yes, I know that the previous sentence would get me in trouble with a lot of present-day English teachers who think that commas are the tool of the devil, but I maintain that each one is in its proper place and that the sentence parses perfectly.) Maybe Google just likes Grinwout’s more than CL. Could be. I guess for the time being I’ll just post the damned things as I write them. There’s no real reason not to.
Speaking of Grinwout’s, if you’re reading this in Lexington because you’re bored because they couldn’t find a round in which you were even remotely preferred, go read that instead. It’ll hold you for a while.
You might have noticed in the comments that the uninymous Glenn explained that in his region, there is little or no difference between the speech and debate experiences. I think that this is widely true. Or at least in many regions, work is done to minimize the differences. I know there are regions where students debate one half of the year and speechify the other half of the year, and the tournaments are designed to make that a reality. I remember talking with a displaced Texan (I think it was a Texan) who said that at his local debate tournaments they worked in extemp somehow, an all-in-one one-day affair, and I really liked that but it would be hard to do the same here. We kicked it around, however, for a possible MHL event some day. I bemoan the lack of a need for debate students, at least LDers, to know what’s going on in the world. If they do, it’s a lagniappe. Even PF only requires that you know about the topic at hand, but at least a little preparedness doesn’t hurt, so that when the new topic is released you are not totally clueless. One of the things I’m working into my new curriculum is not a recommended program for keeping up with the news but a mandate. Anyhow, the idea that one could go to a tournament and do both a debate activity and extemp on the same day is mighty appealing to me. The students might not embrace it so gleefully, however. Or the judges, for that matter. Oh, well. What's the Coachean Life if it isn't full of dreams?
Speaking of Grinwout’s, if you’re reading this in Lexington because you’re bored because they couldn’t find a round in which you were even remotely preferred, go read that instead. It’ll hold you for a while.
You might have noticed in the comments that the uninymous Glenn explained that in his region, there is little or no difference between the speech and debate experiences. I think that this is widely true. Or at least in many regions, work is done to minimize the differences. I know there are regions where students debate one half of the year and speechify the other half of the year, and the tournaments are designed to make that a reality. I remember talking with a displaced Texan (I think it was a Texan) who said that at his local debate tournaments they worked in extemp somehow, an all-in-one one-day affair, and I really liked that but it would be hard to do the same here. We kicked it around, however, for a possible MHL event some day. I bemoan the lack of a need for debate students, at least LDers, to know what’s going on in the world. If they do, it’s a lagniappe. Even PF only requires that you know about the topic at hand, but at least a little preparedness doesn’t hurt, so that when the new topic is released you are not totally clueless. One of the things I’m working into my new curriculum is not a recommended program for keeping up with the news but a mandate. Anyhow, the idea that one could go to a tournament and do both a debate activity and extemp on the same day is mighty appealing to me. The students might not embrace it so gleefully, however. Or the judges, for that matter. Oh, well. What's the Coachean Life if it isn't full of dreams?
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Why PF?
From the comments: “What made you move from ld to pf as opposed to ld to extemp and congress?”
The short answer is that I don’t know much about Extemp and Congress, and I’m very tied into the debate circuit. But there’s also a long answer.
LD and Policy, and now PF, are a way of life, at least around here. After one gets one’s feet wet as a novice (and, for that matter, occasionally even then), tournaments are multiple-day affairs. They require travel, planning and commitment. They are not an extracurricular activity so much as a student’s total non-class life. You can’t do it by popping in now and then, because your competition is way too dedicated and they’ll eat you for breakfast. You’ve got to dig in as much as they do. And you’ve got to do it weekend after weekend, all over the map. This kind of debate will subsume your life. And I consider that a good thing.
Around here, speech is maybe twice a month, one-day affairs within relatively easy driving distance, punctuated by the occasional college event. Debate is every weekend, somewhere, at some level of intensity. Not that everyone does every weekend, but a lot of people come close. They sort of have to.
I’ve always maintained that while the forensics activities themselves certainly have value, all the other things required for getting into those activities also have value. You can’t be a regular participant at debate tournaments without the ability to organize your life to do so. You have to get all your other work done to make it happen. You have to show up when and where you’re supposed to show up, week after week, tournament after tournament, meeting after meeting. This generates life skills that you will have to learn, if you haven’t already acquired them. The intensity of debate, and the frequency, solidifies those skills. Speech, because it is less ubiquitous and simply doesn’t take the time aside from the activity itself (I would imagine the strong extemper spends every bit as much time on prep as the strong LDer), doesn’t have that intensity aside from within the rounds themselves. It’s the travel, the planning, and the resulting competency that I value from committed debate. They’re just not part of speech, at least around here. And Extemp and Congress are lumped in with the speech tournaments, not the debate tournaments; I understand that it’s different elsewhere.
So it’s not the activities themselves, it’s the attending hoo-ha. In fact, I’m rather fond of Extemp and enjoy judging it at the occasional District tournament, but it’s just not where the action is for the debate life in the northeast.
The short answer is that I don’t know much about Extemp and Congress, and I’m very tied into the debate circuit. But there’s also a long answer.
LD and Policy, and now PF, are a way of life, at least around here. After one gets one’s feet wet as a novice (and, for that matter, occasionally even then), tournaments are multiple-day affairs. They require travel, planning and commitment. They are not an extracurricular activity so much as a student’s total non-class life. You can’t do it by popping in now and then, because your competition is way too dedicated and they’ll eat you for breakfast. You’ve got to dig in as much as they do. And you’ve got to do it weekend after weekend, all over the map. This kind of debate will subsume your life. And I consider that a good thing.
Around here, speech is maybe twice a month, one-day affairs within relatively easy driving distance, punctuated by the occasional college event. Debate is every weekend, somewhere, at some level of intensity. Not that everyone does every weekend, but a lot of people come close. They sort of have to.
I’ve always maintained that while the forensics activities themselves certainly have value, all the other things required for getting into those activities also have value. You can’t be a regular participant at debate tournaments without the ability to organize your life to do so. You have to get all your other work done to make it happen. You have to show up when and where you’re supposed to show up, week after week, tournament after tournament, meeting after meeting. This generates life skills that you will have to learn, if you haven’t already acquired them. The intensity of debate, and the frequency, solidifies those skills. Speech, because it is less ubiquitous and simply doesn’t take the time aside from the activity itself (I would imagine the strong extemper spends every bit as much time on prep as the strong LDer), doesn’t have that intensity aside from within the rounds themselves. It’s the travel, the planning, and the resulting competency that I value from committed debate. They’re just not part of speech, at least around here. And Extemp and Congress are lumped in with the speech tournaments, not the debate tournaments; I understand that it’s different elsewhere.
So it’s not the activities themselves, it’s the attending hoo-ha. In fact, I’m rather fond of Extemp and enjoy judging it at the occasional District tournament, but it’s just not where the action is for the debate life in the northeast.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Pups and cats
I have pretty much abandoned the Coachean Feed, at least for a while. This is because I’m working on a feed for the DJ, and since they pay me for that one, it takes priority. I’m scanning about a thousand pages a day (and finding about five good ones), and that has sucked up all of my internet time. So it goes. I like the CF, both in concept and execution, even though I don’t think many others ever paid it much attention. I had always hoped that it might become some sort of group effort, but no one has ever sallied forth and volunteered, so there you are. Of course, at the moment the DJ blog that I’m trying to feed is totally kerplewie (don’t ask), so there you are there, too.
You’re a lot of places today.
I’m finalizing the team entry for the Pups, meanwhile. CP has cleared off the first rash of waitlisters, but DI seems to be popular beyond its years and I’ve still got a few there that I’ll hope get pushed. Worst case scenario, I can switch a few names on my end, bowing to seniority. I mean, you can’t let your newbies have slots that should go to your seasoned vets, eh?
Of course, I can talk freely here about the Sailor Speecho-Americans because none of them know this blog exists, with the probable exception of Panivore Junior. Getting them signed up for tournaments is always entertaining. Herding cats? I’ve had cats, and they come when you call them and fetch and, in some cases, do pretty good term papers on Proust. Try to get a Speecho-American to come or fetch. Can’t be done. I’d rather a team of cats any day.
Montwegian registration is also open, and I’ve entered the odd name. I always enjoy registering for my hotel room up there in God’s country. Trying to get a room for one night is like trying to herd Speecho-Americans. They just can’t understand why anyone would stay just one night. I mean, it’s Monticello. It’s like Hen Hudville when it comes to tourism. My guess is that they’re simply surprised that anyone wants to stay at all, rather than that someone can absorb all the many local attractions in so short a visit. I think O’C is taking that weekend off to go leaf peeping with the assembled O’Cruzian clan. Maybe they’ll end up in Monticello by choice. No doubt staying two or three days. I always recommend the local Chinese restaurant, mostly because the one time I went there the special of the day was corned beef and cabbage. Make that four or five days…
You’re a lot of places today.
I’m finalizing the team entry for the Pups, meanwhile. CP has cleared off the first rash of waitlisters, but DI seems to be popular beyond its years and I’ve still got a few there that I’ll hope get pushed. Worst case scenario, I can switch a few names on my end, bowing to seniority. I mean, you can’t let your newbies have slots that should go to your seasoned vets, eh?
Of course, I can talk freely here about the Sailor Speecho-Americans because none of them know this blog exists, with the probable exception of Panivore Junior. Getting them signed up for tournaments is always entertaining. Herding cats? I’ve had cats, and they come when you call them and fetch and, in some cases, do pretty good term papers on Proust. Try to get a Speecho-American to come or fetch. Can’t be done. I’d rather a team of cats any day.
Montwegian registration is also open, and I’ve entered the odd name. I always enjoy registering for my hotel room up there in God’s country. Trying to get a room for one night is like trying to herd Speecho-Americans. They just can’t understand why anyone would stay just one night. I mean, it’s Monticello. It’s like Hen Hudville when it comes to tourism. My guess is that they’re simply surprised that anyone wants to stay at all, rather than that someone can absorb all the many local attractions in so short a visit. I think O’C is taking that weekend off to go leaf peeping with the assembled O’Cruzian clan. Maybe they’ll end up in Monticello by choice. No doubt staying two or three days. I always recommend the local Chinese restaurant, mostly because the one time I went there the special of the day was corned beef and cabbage. Make that four or five days…
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
MJP at Bump
For reasons that are not quite clear to me, when I was cleaning out my mother’s apartment I found a bar of soap labeled Bate’s Motel. Is there something going on with the Aged P that I’m not aware of?
Anyhow, the second big change at Bump will be MJP. Again, this is something we’ve discussed at length on TVFT one way or the other. It’s pretty much the norm at $ircuit tournaments, but if you’ll remember, the very first time I ran it was at Ridge a couple of years ago as an experiment. It worked fine with what I would call a normal pool of judges, meaning that the best judges (best as defined by the field of debaters) seemed to be where they belonged when they belonged there. Granted we could do that same in tab by just paying attention, but this puts power into the hands of the people, so to speak. Community rankings, which I’ve done for a few years, come close, but MJP is closer. I realize that there remain some coaches who are not in favor of it, but if a team doesn’t rank, they’ll just get somebody else’s high ranker, meaning that the judge in question will be one considered strong by at least one of the debaters. To presume that this means a bias against the other debater pushes things a bit. And anyhow, those non-rankers are the ones who always say you should be able to pick up any judge, so, well, pick up this one. I’m also recommending MJP for everyone else, including Monticello; I’ve just set it up for RJT on tabroom.
I’m writing a little bit of the invitation every day or two, when I get a chance. I’ll have to trophy up before the end of the summer, but I am thinking of getting some medals, no doubt enlisting O’C in aid of that. You know how Scrooge McDuck has a big pool of money he likes to dive into? O’C has a big pool of medals and trophies for his swimming enjoyment. What can I say?
I’ve got people signed up for Yale and Bronx, and I have to say, getting the Speecho-American Sailors organized was no easy task. Lots of begging them to tell me what activities they’re in, begging them to sign up for activities actually being offered, etc. They’re less than conversant with the team schedule, which always amazes me given that every other team around here knows about it by heart. Must be something Speecho-American about it. They just don’t think like debaters. That may not be a bad thing, mind you. I’m simply pointing it out.
Speaking of schedules, the plan is to publish BFs at 1:30 and blog posts at 7:30, until I run out of ideas for one or the other. Tally-ho!
Anyhow, the second big change at Bump will be MJP. Again, this is something we’ve discussed at length on TVFT one way or the other. It’s pretty much the norm at $ircuit tournaments, but if you’ll remember, the very first time I ran it was at Ridge a couple of years ago as an experiment. It worked fine with what I would call a normal pool of judges, meaning that the best judges (best as defined by the field of debaters) seemed to be where they belonged when they belonged there. Granted we could do that same in tab by just paying attention, but this puts power into the hands of the people, so to speak. Community rankings, which I’ve done for a few years, come close, but MJP is closer. I realize that there remain some coaches who are not in favor of it, but if a team doesn’t rank, they’ll just get somebody else’s high ranker, meaning that the judge in question will be one considered strong by at least one of the debaters. To presume that this means a bias against the other debater pushes things a bit. And anyhow, those non-rankers are the ones who always say you should be able to pick up any judge, so, well, pick up this one. I’m also recommending MJP for everyone else, including Monticello; I’ve just set it up for RJT on tabroom.
I’m writing a little bit of the invitation every day or two, when I get a chance. I’ll have to trophy up before the end of the summer, but I am thinking of getting some medals, no doubt enlisting O’C in aid of that. You know how Scrooge McDuck has a big pool of money he likes to dive into? O’C has a big pool of medals and trophies for his swimming enjoyment. What can I say?
I’ve got people signed up for Yale and Bronx, and I have to say, getting the Speecho-American Sailors organized was no easy task. Lots of begging them to tell me what activities they’re in, begging them to sign up for activities actually being offered, etc. They’re less than conversant with the team schedule, which always amazes me given that every other team around here knows about it by heart. Must be something Speecho-American about it. They just don’t think like debaters. That may not be a bad thing, mind you. I’m simply pointing it out.
Speaking of schedules, the plan is to publish BFs at 1:30 and blog posts at 7:30, until I run out of ideas for one or the other. Tally-ho!
Friday, January 07, 2011
Here comes the weekend (not)
We had another speech workshop last night. This is where we go in-depth with people, commenting on just about everything. It was a mixed bag. A plebe introduced a new DI piece that is, well, too good for this year. Better she should work at it long and hard to have it as a winner for the next full season. It’s great material, but it needs a very special voice to put it across, and it’s going to take a while to find that character. That’s exciting. Then we had an old salt breaking in a new DI for the rest of this season for his double entries. The issue here is bringing to life unique surroundings, to make the audience see what he sees. And finally Panivore Junior (yes, the whole family lives on bread alone) worked on some fine tuning of his DI, which I first saw I think over the summer. It’s great fun to watch someone develop a piece from scratch up through solid competitiveness.
I like this speech stuff. In another life…
Anyhow, they’re all heading down to Long Island tomorrow to Chaminade, and I’ve heard from our bus folk that the wheels will roll, so at least somebody will get some forensics in this weekend.
So what else is new? I think I mentioned that the Mark Twain autobiography weighs about two hundred pounds, while the type is so small I have to use binoculars. I haven’t read enough to offer any criticism, other than that I can pretty much read any Mark Twain any time, and that earlier (and according to this volume, scurrilous) versions of the autobio were always on my top MT list. As is Life on the Mississippi, for what it’s worth. If you’re looking for something to do because you too didn’t go to Byram, you could do worse.
My brain is fried a little from creating the new questions for Lexwegian RR Bean Trivia. Some categories are easier than others. I may have to retire a couple, like Distorted Disney and Movie Quotes, but I’ve put in a couple of new ones (e.g. the revived B&W movies category) to cover. I still need to populate science/tech, war and wizards, but they shouldn’t be too hard. Favorite category these days? Royalty, because lots of the answers are of the chicken a la king persuasion. Anyhow, I do a handful a day, and I still have another week. We’re getting there. Of course, with both CP and O’C on hand, the rules will need to change, but who wants to play a game where the rules are static. Maybe I won’t even tell people what the rules are! And then we can change the name of the game to Lincoln-Douglas…
Speaking of which, I think I now understand the removal-of-punishment idea. I think it’s inane, but there’s a certain logic to it. Whatever. You’d think by now that I’d be used to not debating the resolution. The last time a debater debated the resolution was at NatNats in 1953, and he had to get an executive order from Eisenhower to be able to proceed unchallenged. Those were the days.
I like this speech stuff. In another life…
Anyhow, they’re all heading down to Long Island tomorrow to Chaminade, and I’ve heard from our bus folk that the wheels will roll, so at least somebody will get some forensics in this weekend.
So what else is new? I think I mentioned that the Mark Twain autobiography weighs about two hundred pounds, while the type is so small I have to use binoculars. I haven’t read enough to offer any criticism, other than that I can pretty much read any Mark Twain any time, and that earlier (and according to this volume, scurrilous) versions of the autobio were always on my top MT list. As is Life on the Mississippi, for what it’s worth. If you’re looking for something to do because you too didn’t go to Byram, you could do worse.
My brain is fried a little from creating the new questions for Lexwegian RR Bean Trivia. Some categories are easier than others. I may have to retire a couple, like Distorted Disney and Movie Quotes, but I’ve put in a couple of new ones (e.g. the revived B&W movies category) to cover. I still need to populate science/tech, war and wizards, but they shouldn’t be too hard. Favorite category these days? Royalty, because lots of the answers are of the chicken a la king persuasion. Anyhow, I do a handful a day, and I still have another week. We’re getting there. Of course, with both CP and O’C on hand, the rules will need to change, but who wants to play a game where the rules are static. Maybe I won’t even tell people what the rules are! And then we can change the name of the game to Lincoln-Douglas…
Speaking of which, I think I now understand the removal-of-punishment idea. I think it’s inane, but there’s a certain logic to it. Whatever. You’d think by now that I’d be used to not debating the resolution. The last time a debater debated the resolution was at NatNats in 1953, and he had to get an executive order from Eisenhower to be able to proceed unchallenged. Those were the days.
Friday, November 05, 2010
The fleet's in at the end of the day watching movies and studying up on Bumpiana
Kathy, the new Speech Admiral, came over last night to learn this and that. For those of us who’ve been doing this awhile, it’s easy to forget how much of this and that there is. Sign up on this, access to that, buses, custodians, organizations—and somewhere in there, work with students on their pieces. If it were only the latter, this would be a piece of cake. I guess that’s why, as they say, we earn the big bucks.
(And speaking of what they say, I just want to point this out, as a bulletin from the DJ. At some point it will, in fact, be the end of the day. What phrase will you then use over and over again to drive me crazy? Is “at the end of the day” the methadone to the heroin of PowerPoint? You’ve got to wonder. Or maybe teenagers who say “like” every other word grow up to say “at the end of the day” every other sentence. Could be.)
The Panivore is skying out to Minneapolis with the Scarswegians today, while locally we’re prepping for an MHL tomorrow. It’s much smaller than the last couple of adventures. Monticello is about as far away from civilization as you can get, and the idea of driving up there from civilization on a Saturday morning is pretty daunting for most people. The passport control alone is enough to slow them down. At least the weather forecast doesn’t include snow. The Montwegians usually shut down the city early in November and don’t reopen till the Fourth of July. I don’t envy them their weather. The bright side of this is, amazingly, an absolutely free Friday night, the first I’ve had (counting non-debate obligations) since Labor Day. A movie, definitely. Wow. What a thought!
I got the room list for Bump today. It is surprisingly similar to the room lists from 1996-2009. Ain’t life grand?
(And speaking of what they say, I just want to point this out, as a bulletin from the DJ. At some point it will, in fact, be the end of the day. What phrase will you then use over and over again to drive me crazy? Is “at the end of the day” the methadone to the heroin of PowerPoint? You’ve got to wonder. Or maybe teenagers who say “like” every other word grow up to say “at the end of the day” every other sentence. Could be.)
The Panivore is skying out to Minneapolis with the Scarswegians today, while locally we’re prepping for an MHL tomorrow. It’s much smaller than the last couple of adventures. Monticello is about as far away from civilization as you can get, and the idea of driving up there from civilization on a Saturday morning is pretty daunting for most people. The passport control alone is enough to slow them down. At least the weather forecast doesn’t include snow. The Montwegians usually shut down the city early in November and don’t reopen till the Fourth of July. I don’t envy them their weather. The bright side of this is, amazingly, an absolutely free Friday night, the first I’ve had (counting non-debate obligations) since Labor Day. A movie, definitely. Wow. What a thought!
I got the room list for Bump today. It is surprisingly similar to the room lists from 1996-2009. Ain’t life grand?
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Houdini, Speaks and Debuts (plus, The Tournament is Over, Let the Tournament Begin!)
The torch is passed. We have hired a new speech coach. Last night I said the magic word at the meeting of the Speechonauts and then, hey presto! I disappeared. I went home and watched an episode of Star Trek. Life is good. Of course, I will be doing the workshop and helping our new person get settled with the millions of little details, so I haven’t gone away completely, but overall, this is a real load off my mind.
We also TVFTed last night. The microphone cum headphone set that I bought at J&R during the Bronx RR makes me sound as if I’m on a respirator, or maybe like a sort of wimpy Darth Vader. It’s okay for basic Skype calls, but falls down on the higher recording-level standard. The hunt continues. Anyhow, we mostly talked about speaker points and I made a commitment to publish (really publish) a speaker point scale at Bump to help normalize the event. We’ll see how that goes. Offline Bietz and I exchanged lustful thoughts about the new MacAirs. I need one like I need a hole in the head, but that doesn’t make it any less sexy. Bietz figures he’ll have one by Glenbrooks. No surprise there.
This weekend we have the MHL First-Timers’ Event. Last year we made it the Sort of First-Timers’ Event, which really undermined the point, and which got a lot of bad reactions. The point of first-timing is to get your feet wet, to learn to stand in the front of the room, to get your cases written on time, all the sort of stuff that goes with overcoming the internal butterflies and not much about actual debating. Leveling the playing field helps; unleveling it makes it more of a competitive (and losing) proposition when that’s really not what it’s all about. Once again I will quote Soddie addressing his team about first-timing. “Did you have fun, and did you enjoy yourself?” Answer yes to both, and you’re a debater for life. Keeping it first-time helps insure the fun part. We have roughly a bazillion and a half people signed up in all the divisions, but we’re used to that. The only problem is that we’re at Byram Hills, which eats the bars on your phone the way [insert your hungry beast metaphor here]. That also means no 3G, hence no MiFi, hence no Sporcle. No Sporcle? What kind of party is this?
And if you were wondering, O’C has begun hiring judges for next year’s Jake. I think he’s also started delivering the food. Thousand year old eggs that are really a thousand years old. There’s a taste of the world for you.
We also TVFTed last night. The microphone cum headphone set that I bought at J&R during the Bronx RR makes me sound as if I’m on a respirator, or maybe like a sort of wimpy Darth Vader. It’s okay for basic Skype calls, but falls down on the higher recording-level standard. The hunt continues. Anyhow, we mostly talked about speaker points and I made a commitment to publish (really publish) a speaker point scale at Bump to help normalize the event. We’ll see how that goes. Offline Bietz and I exchanged lustful thoughts about the new MacAirs. I need one like I need a hole in the head, but that doesn’t make it any less sexy. Bietz figures he’ll have one by Glenbrooks. No surprise there.
This weekend we have the MHL First-Timers’ Event. Last year we made it the Sort of First-Timers’ Event, which really undermined the point, and which got a lot of bad reactions. The point of first-timing is to get your feet wet, to learn to stand in the front of the room, to get your cases written on time, all the sort of stuff that goes with overcoming the internal butterflies and not much about actual debating. Leveling the playing field helps; unleveling it makes it more of a competitive (and losing) proposition when that’s really not what it’s all about. Once again I will quote Soddie addressing his team about first-timing. “Did you have fun, and did you enjoy yourself?” Answer yes to both, and you’re a debater for life. Keeping it first-time helps insure the fun part. We have roughly a bazillion and a half people signed up in all the divisions, but we’re used to that. The only problem is that we’re at Byram Hills, which eats the bars on your phone the way [insert your hungry beast metaphor here]. That also means no 3G, hence no MiFi, hence no Sporcle. No Sporcle? What kind of party is this?
And if you were wondering, O’C has begun hiring judges for next year’s Jake. I think he’s also started delivering the food. Thousand year old eggs that are really a thousand years old. There’s a taste of the world for you.
Thursday, October 07, 2010
My petition for more time
I’m going crazy lately.
First of all, I’m up to my eyeballs in DJ, which seriously impinges my ability to do almost anything else. After all, these are the folks who pay the bills, and they get first crack at me. In a way, this is good (it means I’m still gainfully employed) but it also means that my energies get sapped from the night job. Most of the time I can keep the balance pretty well, but, as I say, lately not so well. But wait, there’s more.
On top of running the debate team, I have seconded myself over to Speech for a while as we seek a new coach for the Speechonauts. Not only does this add the time of the Wednesday night meeting to my schedule, but also the planning of the meeting, and the thinking about the meeting, and the next thing you know, I’ve created another gap in my existence. I love the Speechonauts like Elmo loves Katy Perry, but as I told the Commander at the Hud, I just don’t have the time. With luck, this will be resolved shortly, and in a couple of weeks I can, at the very least, have my Wednesdays back.
Speech is fun, though. Last night we concluded that the Speechoplebes should start with OI because they don’t have to memorize, and we brainstormed some authors. I also watched a Speechonaut I had only previously watched doing a somber OI as this time he did a hilarious Duo. (All right, half a hilarious Duo.) Hidden depths! That’s why it’s so much fun. Anyhow, next week the Speechoplebes have to bring some pieces to the meeting to start work on. They’re targeting liftoff on 10/23. Not far away at all…
Meanwhile, tonight is Parent Night at the naval academy, postponed from last week (because of tornados or earthquakes or monsoons or potato blight or some damned thing). Yet another night out of the house. Oy.
And tomorrow, Monticello. I need a tournament to catch a break from everything else. I have a ton of stuff to do for NYSDCA, worked out with O’C last Saturday at the workshop, and finally I’ll get a chance. I don’t even remember what it was that I was supposed to do, but I wrote it down, hopefully clearly enough to actually do it.
Of course, we can’t misunderestimate the existence of Bump in all of this sapping of the Menickean strength. Registration opened Friday, and I didn’t look at it until Sunday, at which point it was virtually closed. I remarked to CP about the swiftness with which tournaments fill up these days, and he suggests that the ease of the software alleviates all the hoo-ha we used to have when it was every man for himself. Could be. In any case, I managed to carve out some extra rooms, which meant that I was able to open up the Novice PF (fully subscribed) a little bit without impinging on VPF. I am happy that NPF caught on so quickly. I just sent out a message telling people which of the 500 possible scenarios I’ll be using as the PF resolution (FYI, the official NFL one). Makes me glad, for the moment, I’m in the LD universe.
Anyhow, that's what I'm up to, if you're wondering. Et voila! Back to it.
First of all, I’m up to my eyeballs in DJ, which seriously impinges my ability to do almost anything else. After all, these are the folks who pay the bills, and they get first crack at me. In a way, this is good (it means I’m still gainfully employed) but it also means that my energies get sapped from the night job. Most of the time I can keep the balance pretty well, but, as I say, lately not so well. But wait, there’s more.
On top of running the debate team, I have seconded myself over to Speech for a while as we seek a new coach for the Speechonauts. Not only does this add the time of the Wednesday night meeting to my schedule, but also the planning of the meeting, and the thinking about the meeting, and the next thing you know, I’ve created another gap in my existence. I love the Speechonauts like Elmo loves Katy Perry, but as I told the Commander at the Hud, I just don’t have the time. With luck, this will be resolved shortly, and in a couple of weeks I can, at the very least, have my Wednesdays back.
Speech is fun, though. Last night we concluded that the Speechoplebes should start with OI because they don’t have to memorize, and we brainstormed some authors. I also watched a Speechonaut I had only previously watched doing a somber OI as this time he did a hilarious Duo. (All right, half a hilarious Duo.) Hidden depths! That’s why it’s so much fun. Anyhow, next week the Speechoplebes have to bring some pieces to the meeting to start work on. They’re targeting liftoff on 10/23. Not far away at all…
Meanwhile, tonight is Parent Night at the naval academy, postponed from last week (because of tornados or earthquakes or monsoons or potato blight or some damned thing). Yet another night out of the house. Oy.
And tomorrow, Monticello. I need a tournament to catch a break from everything else. I have a ton of stuff to do for NYSDCA, worked out with O’C last Saturday at the workshop, and finally I’ll get a chance. I don’t even remember what it was that I was supposed to do, but I wrote it down, hopefully clearly enough to actually do it.
Of course, we can’t misunderestimate the existence of Bump in all of this sapping of the Menickean strength. Registration opened Friday, and I didn’t look at it until Sunday, at which point it was virtually closed. I remarked to CP about the swiftness with which tournaments fill up these days, and he suggests that the ease of the software alleviates all the hoo-ha we used to have when it was every man for himself. Could be. In any case, I managed to carve out some extra rooms, which meant that I was able to open up the Novice PF (fully subscribed) a little bit without impinging on VPF. I am happy that NPF caught on so quickly. I just sent out a message telling people which of the 500 possible scenarios I’ll be using as the PF resolution (FYI, the official NFL one). Makes me glad, for the moment, I’m in the LD universe.
Anyhow, that's what I'm up to, if you're wondering. Et voila! Back to it.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Yin and yang visit Sailorland
We don’t seem to be able to get rid of the Speechonauts. Although most of them remain stolidly unsigned up, they persist in showing up at meetings. I would like to take anyone who believes that “kids nowadays are all about computers” and take them by the hand and introduce them to some kids nowadays. The youth of America, as I have maintained often, are no more adept at computers than the fogies of America. Computism is not a skill inborn since 1995 or so. On the other hand, they can text in their sleep, but part of being able to text is having someone to text to, and there are a lot of teenagers out there sleeping with their cell phones, just waiting for someone to send them a text message. Adults, on the other hand, just sit around cradling shotguns in their crooked arms, rocking on their porches and waiting for kids nowadays to appear on their lawns. Thus the difference between myth and reality.
What I do detect, however, is that we have reached the full swing of the nautical pendulum from debate back to speech. Historically the ship of Hud has had either a dynamic speech team or a dynamic debate team, but seldom both simultaneously. I maintain this has something to do with the particular brand of nuclear fuel they’re burning at nearby Indian Point during the moment of conception. At the moment, the Speechonauts are a young team, and there’s some real talent there. They’ll be fun to watch over the coming years. Too bad I won’t be staying with them, although I’m toying with some ways of keeping my hand in a little bit. We’re hoping for a new coach for them by mid-October. We’re starting the interviews this weekend.
I have a vision of a one-person debate team next year. That doesn’t seem right.
After last night’s meeting I managed to get the latest Nostrum recorded, and, of course, I monitored the Pups for a while, but all there seems to be going as smooth as the proverbial goat. I’ve recharged my little MiFi for the journey, I’ve recharged my Starbucks card, I’ve recharged the iPad, I’ve tested the printer, I’ve drunk the Kool-Aid, I’ve seen the elephant, I’ve said yes to the panda, I’ve caught up on OKGO videos, I’ve packed my galoshes—in short, I am ready for the weekend in New Haven.
Do I sound eager for the season to begin?
What I do detect, however, is that we have reached the full swing of the nautical pendulum from debate back to speech. Historically the ship of Hud has had either a dynamic speech team or a dynamic debate team, but seldom both simultaneously. I maintain this has something to do with the particular brand of nuclear fuel they’re burning at nearby Indian Point during the moment of conception. At the moment, the Speechonauts are a young team, and there’s some real talent there. They’ll be fun to watch over the coming years. Too bad I won’t be staying with them, although I’m toying with some ways of keeping my hand in a little bit. We’re hoping for a new coach for them by mid-October. We’re starting the interviews this weekend.
I have a vision of a one-person debate team next year. That doesn’t seem right.
After last night’s meeting I managed to get the latest Nostrum recorded, and, of course, I monitored the Pups for a while, but all there seems to be going as smooth as the proverbial goat. I’ve recharged my little MiFi for the journey, I’ve recharged my Starbucks card, I’ve recharged the iPad, I’ve tested the printer, I’ve drunk the Kool-Aid, I’ve seen the elephant, I’ve said yes to the panda, I’ve caught up on OKGO videos, I’ve packed my galoshes—in short, I am ready for the weekend in New Haven.
Do I sound eager for the season to begin?
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Just call me Mary Sunshine
We TVFTed last night, talking about MJP in general, and specifically how we’d do it at Yale. Check it out, if you’re interested. JV joined us for the first time, using his iPhone. So, so moderne.
Speaking of which, the rankings at the Pups go live tonight at 7:00. No judges are double-entered. All the hireds are in a row. I’ve asked a couple of people to post philosophy wikis. I’ve marked up any conflicts I know about. There isn’t much left to do until we arrive there on Friday. I’ll be picking up the Sailors bright and early, so I’ll be there for all of registration, plenty of time to upload, prune and generally be prepared. And thus will the competitive season begin, at least for me. Lovely.
Tonight we try again to have a debate team at El Huddo. I’m trusting that new recruits have been found under the various nautical rocks in the place, otherwise the ship of Hud will officially be renamed the Flying Dutchman. (Cue the Wagner!) Maybe it’s me. Maybe the students at the school take umbrage at the cut of my jib. Confound it, I’ve tried cutting my jib other ways, but this is the only one that works. Maybe they don’t like my jokes. Actually, maybe they realize that I never joke. As members of the VCA know, nothing on this page is ever intended as humor. I say what I mean and I mean what I say. I yam what I yam. Or maybe it’s just debate in general. Maybe the freshmen heard the latest Harvard-Westlake disad and didn’t want any part of it. Maybe the Hud freshmen simply don’t believe that nuclear weapons exist, although, remarkably, two thirds of them believe that we are visited regularly by extraterrestrials in interstellar vehicles because aliens wish they had Justin Bieber just like humans. I don’t know. I don’t try to analyze it. I just hope tonight is different. We’ll see. For that matter, although as I mentioned last week we reckoned Speecho-Americans by the dozens, only one of them has actually officially joined the team. My fallback position is always, well, maybe O’C will hire me as an assistant coach in charge of morale. I’d hate to give up now once I’ve finally become a member of the National Debate Coaches Association.
Meanwhile, as I read pieces from the Speechonauts, I wonder if I am dysfunctional enough to work with these people. These folks eat despair for breakfast. I gather they think that the more gloom they can instill in their judges, the higher their ranks. Even their HIs make you want to slash your wrists. I’m talking to some potential coaches over the next couple of weekends. Anyone with rose-colored glasses need not apply.
Speaking of which, the rankings at the Pups go live tonight at 7:00. No judges are double-entered. All the hireds are in a row. I’ve asked a couple of people to post philosophy wikis. I’ve marked up any conflicts I know about. There isn’t much left to do until we arrive there on Friday. I’ll be picking up the Sailors bright and early, so I’ll be there for all of registration, plenty of time to upload, prune and generally be prepared. And thus will the competitive season begin, at least for me. Lovely.
Tonight we try again to have a debate team at El Huddo. I’m trusting that new recruits have been found under the various nautical rocks in the place, otherwise the ship of Hud will officially be renamed the Flying Dutchman. (Cue the Wagner!) Maybe it’s me. Maybe the students at the school take umbrage at the cut of my jib. Confound it, I’ve tried cutting my jib other ways, but this is the only one that works. Maybe they don’t like my jokes. Actually, maybe they realize that I never joke. As members of the VCA know, nothing on this page is ever intended as humor. I say what I mean and I mean what I say. I yam what I yam. Or maybe it’s just debate in general. Maybe the freshmen heard the latest Harvard-Westlake disad and didn’t want any part of it. Maybe the Hud freshmen simply don’t believe that nuclear weapons exist, although, remarkably, two thirds of them believe that we are visited regularly by extraterrestrials in interstellar vehicles because aliens wish they had Justin Bieber just like humans. I don’t know. I don’t try to analyze it. I just hope tonight is different. We’ll see. For that matter, although as I mentioned last week we reckoned Speecho-Americans by the dozens, only one of them has actually officially joined the team. My fallback position is always, well, maybe O’C will hire me as an assistant coach in charge of morale. I’d hate to give up now once I’ve finally become a member of the National Debate Coaches Association.
Meanwhile, as I read pieces from the Speechonauts, I wonder if I am dysfunctional enough to work with these people. These folks eat despair for breakfast. I gather they think that the more gloom they can instill in their judges, the higher their ranks. Even their HIs make you want to slash your wrists. I’m talking to some potential coaches over the next couple of weekends. Anyone with rose-colored glasses need not apply.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Not the DiDeAd, for which the VCA breathes a sigh of relief
The discussion of case disclosure is not completely ended by any means, but I think that it has been dealt with fairly definitively for the time being, if you take the last TVFT into consideration. Much of the discussion has been an education process, at least for me. I absolutely began with an idea that case disclosure was X, and it turns out that case disclosure is actually Y. The reasons for my misconceptions don’t matter, because it seems other people have/had other misconceptions. While the idea is not set in stone at this point, and it is unclear where it will be or how it will affect the activity five years hence, we can make some general statements now. First, it is not onerous. I grabbed some instructions from Bill Batterman that I put into the Feed, if you need them. Provided that you have wireless at the venue, you’re fine. Second, it is not working as a wedge for big schools to trump little schools, but by the same token, it is not working as a shield for little schools against the prodigious abilities of big schools. It just changes things a little. Why? Because: three, it is disclosure of what you’ve done, not what you’re necessarily going to do. It captures for the record the case that is in the so-called public domain after you’ve run it. Which means that, four, it is really more a collection of strategically useful data than a tool of tactical useful data. In the real world, it is not turning debaters into the puppets of their aggressive assistant coaches, making them little preset response machines to preset cases. And to protect ourselves and our students from what we might call the misappropriation or at best the misunderstanding of this data, five, we will in the future lock it down from the outside world. The best thing we can do now is watch the experiment as it continues at Big Jake. It is another potential change in an activity that is constantly changing, another piece of the dialectic. Where it will go, no one knows. It might improve things, it might not, it might not even be much of an issue as time passes. As Jedi Master Bietz advises, one must wait and see.
Of course, over the last few days I’ve been debriefing the VCA on the DiDeAd more than addressing any debate issues, but then again, there haven’t been that many debate issues. Or in my case these days, speech and debate issues, until we get a new speech coach in. As is my wont, I’ve written up some elementary how-to material for my Speecho-Americans that I’m still polishing, but I would like to see them up the ante a bit on their choice of material. Also I’d like to see a little less death and destruction. What a gloomy bunch! Anyhow, I had hoped for inauguration of all of this year’s Plebes last night, but it turned out it was Open House at the Naval Academy, so tonight is the night. Which is not a bad thing actually, because it gives the Sailors another day to recruit after last week’s one-day-in two-days-out shortie. I love inauguration night. Sometimes we get newbies that we reckon by the dozens and sometimes we get two poor schlubs with dazed expressions that are never heard from again. Only time will tell.
Things will heat up next week for the Pups, none of whom read this blog, which means that only CP will be annoyed when I once again whine about their not entering judge names yet. The rest of you don’t have to read that previous sentence, but I guess it’s too late for that now. More importantly to all and sundry is the issue of judge rank assignments at the Pups in the world of MJP. If you haven’t done so already, read the take from Greenhill on the TVFT blog to see what they said they were going to do (which I presume they did). There’s lots of issues there, and we’ll be discussing it next week on the podcast. I think JV, who will be tabbing with me there as usual, will be joining us in the discussion. Needless to say, he brings a great numbers mind to the whole proceedings; he does teach physics after all.
So, wish us luck tonight at the inaugural. I wish you luck with your inaugurals too. May we all have more novices than we know what to do with!
And in a minute, a new DiDeAd posting. You didn’t think you’d get out of it that easily, did you?
Of course, over the last few days I’ve been debriefing the VCA on the DiDeAd more than addressing any debate issues, but then again, there haven’t been that many debate issues. Or in my case these days, speech and debate issues, until we get a new speech coach in. As is my wont, I’ve written up some elementary how-to material for my Speecho-Americans that I’m still polishing, but I would like to see them up the ante a bit on their choice of material. Also I’d like to see a little less death and destruction. What a gloomy bunch! Anyhow, I had hoped for inauguration of all of this year’s Plebes last night, but it turned out it was Open House at the Naval Academy, so tonight is the night. Which is not a bad thing actually, because it gives the Sailors another day to recruit after last week’s one-day-in two-days-out shortie. I love inauguration night. Sometimes we get newbies that we reckon by the dozens and sometimes we get two poor schlubs with dazed expressions that are never heard from again. Only time will tell.
Things will heat up next week for the Pups, none of whom read this blog, which means that only CP will be annoyed when I once again whine about their not entering judge names yet. The rest of you don’t have to read that previous sentence, but I guess it’s too late for that now. More importantly to all and sundry is the issue of judge rank assignments at the Pups in the world of MJP. If you haven’t done so already, read the take from Greenhill on the TVFT blog to see what they said they were going to do (which I presume they did). There’s lots of issues there, and we’ll be discussing it next week on the podcast. I think JV, who will be tabbing with me there as usual, will be joining us in the discussion. Needless to say, he brings a great numbers mind to the whole proceedings; he does teach physics after all.
So, wish us luck tonight at the inaugural. I wish you luck with your inaugurals too. May we all have more novices than we know what to do with!
And in a minute, a new DiDeAd posting. You didn’t think you’d get out of it that easily, did you?
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Like a cicada, seventeen years later
I feel about one step away from being back in the middle of things. The Sailors start school tomorrow. Then, they have Thursday and Friday off. Not like when I was a kid. Then again, I went to Catholic schools, few of which observed the Jewish holidays. It was shortsighted on their part, granted, but not unexpected. These kids nowadays, however—bah! Get off my lawn!
Although many schools have been in operation for weeks now, the northeast is only just emerging. But I am not alone in my feeling that things are about to settle in. I’ve gotten emails from CP showing that he’s back at the helm of tabroom.com, keeping an eye on things. O’C has his finger on the trigger of some NYSDCA stuff, and I too want to dig in a little more there after an abortive early start on the website with WordPress, which did not play nicely with me. Catholic Charlie has scheduled the annual NYCFL directors’ meeting for this Saturday. I’ve sent out a tentative curriculum for the MHL workshop to the usual suspects, and we should finalize it over the next week or so, filling in the names of instructors. Where new coaches are starting, connections have been made, but there’s always a surprise or two that pops up early in the season. The Panivore’s already been to a tournament, the Vassar Babycakes RR, which ran much earlier than usual this year because, for some reason, O’C did not appreciate my idea that he run it on Yom Kippur and call it the Non-Jewish Vassar Babycakes RR. (The guy has no creativity!)
I updated some of our signup sheets, and while the Panivore and the People’s Champion seem to be gallivanting across the country for the next six months nonstop, already registered for just about everything up through graduation, the rest of the schedule seemed rather light. But putting in the MHL events filled in the gaps. And, after the meeting with the NYCFL folks this Saturday, adding in the local CFL events as well will seal the deal, eliminating any free weekend between now and kingdom come.
Tonight I meet with the Speecho-Americans again. Last time all I did was yak at them about various pieces/authors/ideas floating around in my own mind; tonight they perform their Pups pieces for me for the first time. So different from LD, sitting there watching someone not speak entirely in acronyms… Speaking of the Pups, they’re booked up the wazoo, a very large tournament, although I’m still waiting for them to add in the VLD judges, which of course need to be entered by the same deadline as the participants. I always fret about colleges and their judges. It’s just the way I am. Shockingly enough, the Tigers have already reached out to ensure that JV and I are on hand to do our usual in December. Of course, we responded. We’ve already got our meals all planned out! I suffer at Princeton from the proximity of Starbucks, where I start buying a series of triple-shot lattes one after the other with seemingly no effect other than the diminishing of my wallet. Go figure.
As I write this, the plan is tonight to start TVFT up again for the new season. Right after the speech meeting, to be precise. I’m looking forward to it. We had a lot of fun last year, and I think this year we’ll be adding a lot more independent voices to the mix. Skype makes it pretty easy for anyone to chime in; let us know if you wish to be among them. Anyhow, as I’ve mentioned before, the topic will be case disclosure here on the eve of Greenhill. And on the other podcast front, Jules has sent me an email saying that he wants to get started going again, but the Nostrumite is sort of busy with the opening of school so it may be another week or two. Whatever. It’s not as if I need something to do to fill the empty hours.
Although many schools have been in operation for weeks now, the northeast is only just emerging. But I am not alone in my feeling that things are about to settle in. I’ve gotten emails from CP showing that he’s back at the helm of tabroom.com, keeping an eye on things. O’C has his finger on the trigger of some NYSDCA stuff, and I too want to dig in a little more there after an abortive early start on the website with WordPress, which did not play nicely with me. Catholic Charlie has scheduled the annual NYCFL directors’ meeting for this Saturday. I’ve sent out a tentative curriculum for the MHL workshop to the usual suspects, and we should finalize it over the next week or so, filling in the names of instructors. Where new coaches are starting, connections have been made, but there’s always a surprise or two that pops up early in the season. The Panivore’s already been to a tournament, the Vassar Babycakes RR, which ran much earlier than usual this year because, for some reason, O’C did not appreciate my idea that he run it on Yom Kippur and call it the Non-Jewish Vassar Babycakes RR. (The guy has no creativity!)
I updated some of our signup sheets, and while the Panivore and the People’s Champion seem to be gallivanting across the country for the next six months nonstop, already registered for just about everything up through graduation, the rest of the schedule seemed rather light. But putting in the MHL events filled in the gaps. And, after the meeting with the NYCFL folks this Saturday, adding in the local CFL events as well will seal the deal, eliminating any free weekend between now and kingdom come.
Tonight I meet with the Speecho-Americans again. Last time all I did was yak at them about various pieces/authors/ideas floating around in my own mind; tonight they perform their Pups pieces for me for the first time. So different from LD, sitting there watching someone not speak entirely in acronyms… Speaking of the Pups, they’re booked up the wazoo, a very large tournament, although I’m still waiting for them to add in the VLD judges, which of course need to be entered by the same deadline as the participants. I always fret about colleges and their judges. It’s just the way I am. Shockingly enough, the Tigers have already reached out to ensure that JV and I are on hand to do our usual in December. Of course, we responded. We’ve already got our meals all planned out! I suffer at Princeton from the proximity of Starbucks, where I start buying a series of triple-shot lattes one after the other with seemingly no effect other than the diminishing of my wallet. Go figure.
As I write this, the plan is tonight to start TVFT up again for the new season. Right after the speech meeting, to be precise. I’m looking forward to it. We had a lot of fun last year, and I think this year we’ll be adding a lot more independent voices to the mix. Skype makes it pretty easy for anyone to chime in; let us know if you wish to be among them. Anyhow, as I’ve mentioned before, the topic will be case disclosure here on the eve of Greenhill. And on the other podcast front, Jules has sent me an email saying that he wants to get started going again, but the Nostrumite is sort of busy with the opening of school so it may be another week or two. Whatever. It’s not as if I need something to do to fill the empty hours.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Viva la difference!
I don’t get sick very often, but when I do, it’s a doozy. Yesterday was my doozy day. But the good news is that I recover from my bouts of doozitis within 24 hours, returning to my usual, tottering at death’s door self, so here I am.
Apparently among the few things I was able to do yesterday in my delirium was add articles to the Feed (thank you, iPad). Which brought up that point about my not particularly supporting the things I put up. If you’ve been following the Feed, you would have seen good arguments in favor of SCOTUS putting a gun in each of our pockets, for instance, which I think is about as far from what the framers would do today as [enter your own metaphor here, preferably humorous, for some really unlikely occurrence; I’m still recuperating]. Some principles are timeless, like freedom of speech. Some principles are not timeless, like slaves are equal to three fifths of free persons for legislative purposes. Although I guess one could make the argument that, if we don’t want everybody carrying heat, we could put together an amendment to overturn #4. Sigh. Sometimes law is so…law-ish. It manages to evade common sense on all fronts. Anyhow, the article that got me posting this apologia was about gay marriage, where the argument was that it evaded the role of gender, and that gender is meaningful in the raising of children. The thing is, gender is a very interesting subject, and one that has scientifically been redefined in my lifetime. Historically there was always a belief or set of beliefs that men are different from women beyond obvious physicality. Feminism in its earliest stages was a rebellion against these beliefs, stating that women were entitled to the same treatment as men because they were no different from men. Aside from not being a guy, in other words, women were exactly the same. Their minds were the same, and any differences from men were from enculturation. This is a pretty strong argument for feminism, and was embraced, as I say, by early feminists. It was certainly the rallying thought of the 60s and 70s, and it was certainly what I believed. The problem is, it turns out not to be true. There is strong science that men and women are, indeed, different, and their minds work differently. This is not some sort of evidence that women can’t do math or something idiotic like that, but simply that our minds don’t work the same way. The problem with contemporary feminism then becomes not to believe in gender equality because of the lack of differences between the genders, but regardless of them. After all, they are not hierarchal, I’m better than you differences. They’re just differences. It is a lot more complicated to accept someone as an equal who is different than someone who is the same. The article I cited made an argument that the raising of children requires the balance of the differences of gender. You can read the article yourself if you want, and you might detect the central flaw in the argument, or not, but it is certainly well argued. The thing is, all of the articles in the Feed are, at least, thought-provoking. Some of them are very resolution specific (or potentially resolution specific, like the postings on net neutrality vis-Ã -vis the Google-Verizon proposal), some of them are philosophical, some of them are just bloody interesting pieces on items of current interest. If you scan no other articles on the net to keep your mind sharp as a debater, you could do worse… But don’t confuse them with my own opinions. My opinions are what I say here, not there. Those are just the fodder that my opinions feed on.
Meanwhile, I did crawl out from under yesterday late in the day to meet with the Sailor Speechies, who will be under my care for a while. My IE background is a little spotty, but, let’s see, I’ve been a book editor and book cutter for a bazillion years, and I sort of know a little bit about literature and drama and the like, so that should help. I’m not up on the latest trends, of course—do they have piece disclosure in Duo?—but I can pick that up. We are looking for someone who does know what to do; if you’re interested, give me a poke. In the interim I’ll be both hither and thither, for a while. I mean, I did have all this spare time I didn’t know what to do with…
And I have to admit that I’m disappointed that O’C doesn’t wish to embrace Princess Sarah. Then again, maybe he sees her more as a Disney Villain, a Maleficent for the new millennium. I could live with that. Come to think of it, I’ve heard rumors of a live action Cinderella coming down the pike from the Disney folks. They might want to take this casting tip. It is, so come full circle, a doozy.
Apparently among the few things I was able to do yesterday in my delirium was add articles to the Feed (thank you, iPad). Which brought up that point about my not particularly supporting the things I put up. If you’ve been following the Feed, you would have seen good arguments in favor of SCOTUS putting a gun in each of our pockets, for instance, which I think is about as far from what the framers would do today as [enter your own metaphor here, preferably humorous, for some really unlikely occurrence; I’m still recuperating]. Some principles are timeless, like freedom of speech. Some principles are not timeless, like slaves are equal to three fifths of free persons for legislative purposes. Although I guess one could make the argument that, if we don’t want everybody carrying heat, we could put together an amendment to overturn #4. Sigh. Sometimes law is so…law-ish. It manages to evade common sense on all fronts. Anyhow, the article that got me posting this apologia was about gay marriage, where the argument was that it evaded the role of gender, and that gender is meaningful in the raising of children. The thing is, gender is a very interesting subject, and one that has scientifically been redefined in my lifetime. Historically there was always a belief or set of beliefs that men are different from women beyond obvious physicality. Feminism in its earliest stages was a rebellion against these beliefs, stating that women were entitled to the same treatment as men because they were no different from men. Aside from not being a guy, in other words, women were exactly the same. Their minds were the same, and any differences from men were from enculturation. This is a pretty strong argument for feminism, and was embraced, as I say, by early feminists. It was certainly the rallying thought of the 60s and 70s, and it was certainly what I believed. The problem is, it turns out not to be true. There is strong science that men and women are, indeed, different, and their minds work differently. This is not some sort of evidence that women can’t do math or something idiotic like that, but simply that our minds don’t work the same way. The problem with contemporary feminism then becomes not to believe in gender equality because of the lack of differences between the genders, but regardless of them. After all, they are not hierarchal, I’m better than you differences. They’re just differences. It is a lot more complicated to accept someone as an equal who is different than someone who is the same. The article I cited made an argument that the raising of children requires the balance of the differences of gender. You can read the article yourself if you want, and you might detect the central flaw in the argument, or not, but it is certainly well argued. The thing is, all of the articles in the Feed are, at least, thought-provoking. Some of them are very resolution specific (or potentially resolution specific, like the postings on net neutrality vis-Ã -vis the Google-Verizon proposal), some of them are philosophical, some of them are just bloody interesting pieces on items of current interest. If you scan no other articles on the net to keep your mind sharp as a debater, you could do worse… But don’t confuse them with my own opinions. My opinions are what I say here, not there. Those are just the fodder that my opinions feed on.
Meanwhile, I did crawl out from under yesterday late in the day to meet with the Sailor Speechies, who will be under my care for a while. My IE background is a little spotty, but, let’s see, I’ve been a book editor and book cutter for a bazillion years, and I sort of know a little bit about literature and drama and the like, so that should help. I’m not up on the latest trends, of course—do they have piece disclosure in Duo?—but I can pick that up. We are looking for someone who does know what to do; if you’re interested, give me a poke. In the interim I’ll be both hither and thither, for a while. I mean, I did have all this spare time I didn’t know what to do with…
And I have to admit that I’m disappointed that O’C doesn’t wish to embrace Princess Sarah. Then again, maybe he sees her more as a Disney Villain, a Maleficent for the new millennium. I could live with that. Come to think of it, I’ve heard rumors of a live action Cinderella coming down the pike from the Disney folks. They might want to take this casting tip. It is, so come full circle, a doozy.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Thank God they don't do Declamation!
Last weekend was our District tournament, where I got to do my annual visit to the world of the Speecho-Americans. It was actually quite enjoyable.
First up was a USX round, on foreign policy. Straightforward enough. A couple of folks bunched at the top, how will US do in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Texastan and whatnot. People either knew what they were talking about or they didn’t. Then it was FX, an African section. Oy. “Will things in X get even worse?” was the topic 6 times in a row. The answer was always yes, because the government is corrupt, the government is getting more corrupt, and no one outside of the country cares. That’s three areas of analysis, with the extemp two-step for each one, plus the summary. Tough to do well, actually, because you would have to have actual insight and evidence about this vague continent that we, as Americans, like to pretend doesn’t exist. I applaud those who did well (since they were double-entered, as often as not it was the same ones who did well in USX). I remain a fan of extemp, although when it comes to ultimately separating out the top performers I don’t necessarily trust myself. It’s a long time between Number 1 and Number 6 if those two are the ones battling it out. Maybe CP can explain how to judge this to me.
Saturday, since Sailors were all over the LD map, I was seconded to OO finals. Normally this would have had me slashing my wrists, but it was pretty good. I was happy to see that my first choice won at the end of the day. My criteria for judging were a combination of performance and content, which for some reason seemed an easier call than whatever criteria I was using for Extemp. Go figure. I guess there should also be a phogna bologna criterion: the more you sound like the sort of person who makes me want to go slash my wrists rather than listen to you (the down side of OO), the lower I rank you. If your sincerity act isn’t working, in other words, you’re screwed.
After that it was on to Duo finals. Saw one guy who blew me away with a partner who was pretty good; no one else came close to this guy. But that didn’t necessarily add up to a winning pairing (although, in the event, I ultimately felt that it did). Let me tell you, LD judging by comparison to speech judging is about as much fun as having a hundred Hottentots banging on your head with frying pans during a hurricane. LDers have so lost the art of speaking as anything other than shoveling in a lot of evidence that I am, momentarily, brought back to the good old days of bemoaning that loss. I hadn’t thought about it for a while, to tell you the truth. (Shades of the Legion of Doom!) And I don’t think that LD loses value as it reaches Policy speed any more than I think Policy lacks value because of its speed, but of course, that value has almost nothing to do with public speaking aside from the act of literally doing it (having the courage to stand up and speak, that is).
The day wrapped up with a round of PF. It was an unclear debate, with lots of hassling over one piece of evidence, and in some ways an example of experienced debating versus intuitive debating. Experience knows enough to cover everything while intuition points you to that one thing that you think you’re obviously winning. The flaw in that intuitive approach is that putting all your eggs in one basket is a cliché indicating potential problems for a reason. Unless your basket is made of cement or something. Anyhow, Mother Ruff and I split on this one, and she demonstrated what I consider the bottom line requirement for any judge: she stuck to her decision and felt that she was right, period. Not that I thought she was wrong. It was a round that could have been evaluated either way, which is too bad when it comes to sending people to Kansas City. (Or really good, depending on your position about sending people to Kansas City.)
At the end of the day, speaking of KC, we will be sending the Panivore. She says she can’t wait to sample all the different kinds of barbecue, not to mention the—Wait a minute! That’s not the Panivore. Wait till she tastes what they call bagels in the Midwest. I’ve got a feeling she’s not going to want to go to Kansas anymore.
First up was a USX round, on foreign policy. Straightforward enough. A couple of folks bunched at the top, how will US do in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Texastan and whatnot. People either knew what they were talking about or they didn’t. Then it was FX, an African section. Oy. “Will things in X get even worse?” was the topic 6 times in a row. The answer was always yes, because the government is corrupt, the government is getting more corrupt, and no one outside of the country cares. That’s three areas of analysis, with the extemp two-step for each one, plus the summary. Tough to do well, actually, because you would have to have actual insight and evidence about this vague continent that we, as Americans, like to pretend doesn’t exist. I applaud those who did well (since they were double-entered, as often as not it was the same ones who did well in USX). I remain a fan of extemp, although when it comes to ultimately separating out the top performers I don’t necessarily trust myself. It’s a long time between Number 1 and Number 6 if those two are the ones battling it out. Maybe CP can explain how to judge this to me.
Saturday, since Sailors were all over the LD map, I was seconded to OO finals. Normally this would have had me slashing my wrists, but it was pretty good. I was happy to see that my first choice won at the end of the day. My criteria for judging were a combination of performance and content, which for some reason seemed an easier call than whatever criteria I was using for Extemp. Go figure. I guess there should also be a phogna bologna criterion: the more you sound like the sort of person who makes me want to go slash my wrists rather than listen to you (the down side of OO), the lower I rank you. If your sincerity act isn’t working, in other words, you’re screwed.
After that it was on to Duo finals. Saw one guy who blew me away with a partner who was pretty good; no one else came close to this guy. But that didn’t necessarily add up to a winning pairing (although, in the event, I ultimately felt that it did). Let me tell you, LD judging by comparison to speech judging is about as much fun as having a hundred Hottentots banging on your head with frying pans during a hurricane. LDers have so lost the art of speaking as anything other than shoveling in a lot of evidence that I am, momentarily, brought back to the good old days of bemoaning that loss. I hadn’t thought about it for a while, to tell you the truth. (Shades of the Legion of Doom!) And I don’t think that LD loses value as it reaches Policy speed any more than I think Policy lacks value because of its speed, but of course, that value has almost nothing to do with public speaking aside from the act of literally doing it (having the courage to stand up and speak, that is).
The day wrapped up with a round of PF. It was an unclear debate, with lots of hassling over one piece of evidence, and in some ways an example of experienced debating versus intuitive debating. Experience knows enough to cover everything while intuition points you to that one thing that you think you’re obviously winning. The flaw in that intuitive approach is that putting all your eggs in one basket is a cliché indicating potential problems for a reason. Unless your basket is made of cement or something. Anyhow, Mother Ruff and I split on this one, and she demonstrated what I consider the bottom line requirement for any judge: she stuck to her decision and felt that she was right, period. Not that I thought she was wrong. It was a round that could have been evaluated either way, which is too bad when it comes to sending people to Kansas City. (Or really good, depending on your position about sending people to Kansas City.)
At the end of the day, speaking of KC, we will be sending the Panivore. She says she can’t wait to sample all the different kinds of barbecue, not to mention the—Wait a minute! That’s not the Panivore. Wait till she tastes what they call bagels in the Midwest. I’ve got a feeling she’s not going to want to go to Kansas anymore.
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