In which we catch our breath for a minute

I’m beavering away on a new website for NDCA. I’ve cracked most of the learning curve issues, or climbed them or whatever, and now it’s mostly just laying the bricks. And the coaches’ listserver has gone in the direction of creating a Council of Tournament Directors, which I am all in favor of, and having passed some of my documents along to others, I’m happy to let them all percolate as they wish. The idea precedes me; I just want it to come to fruition.

The listserver originated over discussions of the Student Advocate, which quickly veered into discussions of race and privilege and diversity. The SA sort of got lost in the shuffle, but I have some ideas about doing an end run of sorts. No one objects to safety at debate tournaments, but everybody’s got an opinion on everything, and it’s easy to stray into other territory. Threads get tangled. So it goes. Give me a little time on this, and I’ll figure it out. In any case, I really don’t have the energy needed to get involved in everything that’s discussed on the list; it’s a Day Job all its own, and I’ve already got one of those, plus a night job, plus a desire to beat 2048 (thanks for nothing, Bietz). The diversity issues, the more one studies them, become progressively more interesting. I in no way understand the full picture, but I’m plugging away. As are, I think, a lot of other people. But in my day, I'm still limited to a mere 24 hours. I can't do more than that, no matter how much I try.

The immediate plan for the future is: 1) get the NDCA site ready for review, 2) start podcasting TVFTish stuff again, broadcast for live participation, at least via a chat room, 3) stopping debate for a little while to enjoy some other things, like DisAd14 and nice weather. The thing is, the debate season begins in August with the release of the new resolutions, and if you let it, it ends in August with debate camp. Sure, we’ve all drunk the Kool-Aid, but at some point you’ve got to give it a rest. It is, when all is said and done, the bloody high school debate team, for God’s sake! It is not the center of the known universe, or if it is, you should get out of the house and go know something else to go along with it.