greetings from NFL Nationals

We're "Jazzin' it up in KC" at the NFL National Tournament, waiting for the second flight of the first round of Public Forum to commence. How'd we get here? By surviving...

* Construction-based traffic delay in Lakewood, WA that nearly made us miss our flight out of SeaTac. Luckily, at 11:15 p.m., you can breeze through security in five minutes.

* Thunderstorms. Like last year's trek to Birmingham, we were greeted with flash flood-bearing fireworks shows. We missed the ones that delayed a few flights on Sunday morning, and then tried, and failed, to sleep through the one that lit up and drowned the city last night. But no floods in our neighborhood, this time, at least.

* Free hotel breakfast. It is, in fact, possible to screw up cranberry juice.

* Google Maps' directions. Exit on the left? Exit on the left!

Flight B starts in 13 minutes. It's gonna be great.

NFL debate finals: taking the good with the bad

First, the really good: I have a lot more hope for Public Forum as an event. I think the 2-minute summary speech is a travesty, but the top two teams at NFL Finals today acquitted themselves well in a lively and very close round. I would have voted Con because the Pro team appeared to lose a little composure, dropping the ball on the Con's objection that the hardline regime would get most of the benefits of a financial influx. (Pro didn't extend the impacts of soft power, either, or fully rebut the charge that the Castro regime is inimical to any sort of cooperation with the U.S.)

Second, the good: the LD round, in which the right to life (or, as was ceded in cross-ex, autonomy) clashed with the balance of rights and responsibilities. (The resolution: military conscription is unjust.) It was a thought-provoking examination of the claims the state has--or doesn't--on the lives of its citizens. I was edging Aff, but without flowing, and since the round was so tight, I'm not sure who would've ended up with my vote.

Third, the surprising: not one speaker mentioned the importance of Birmingham to the civil rights struggle, either in a speech or an introduction.

Fourth, the surprisingly bad: the policy final was a huge letdown. My PuFo team wanted to see what the event was like, and I don't think they got the best representative round. There were lots of zingers, but the quantity of wit didn't match the quality of argumentation. The Negative's reliance on "political capital" insolvency and the standby nuke war disadvantage, as well as their apparent ignorance of some basic biological concepts, matched up with the Aff's underdefended salmon depletion claim and altogether too narrow approach to the benefits of "VIVACE" power, made for an unnecessarily murky round. I'd have voted Affirmative for not insulting my intelligence.

Coming soon: the results!

Update: Since the official word's not in yet, I'm going with Victory Briefs' reportage.

Policy: Damien HS's Hernandez and Quinn (on the Neg)
LD: Shivani Vohra - Hockaday (on the Neg)
PuFo: Robert Kindman & Josh Zoffer from Durham, NC (on the Neg--see a pattern?)

three rounds of debate in one glorious day

Today, my sophomore PuFo team and I will watch the final rounds of Policy, PuFo, and LD debate at the madhouse that is the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center. (I figure if they're gluttons for Policy punishment, might as well show them the best.)

I'm mostly interested in the LD round, since I haven't gotten to watch any debates on the conscription topic, which I thought was a good one. The PuFo Cuba resolution, on the other hand, wore me out in the twelve flights I judged. I'm praying either team has a fresh approach--maybe that now's the time to normalize, because Fidel wants to join an over-fifty softball league in the DC area?

six and done

My sophomore Public Forum team didn't break. I'm proud of them, though, for merely getting this far--especially for sophomores with fewer than 20 PuFo rounds between 'em, and despite having debated only five rounds together before Nationals. Next year they'll be back, more confident, better prepared, and better versed in the event. They've already seen ten times the competition that we have back home, and they're wiser for it.

Their tournament is done. As for me, I have judging obligations through Thursday's semifinal round. Which means that tomorrow, I'll...

1. Wake up at six, clean up, eat breakfast.
2. Drive over to Spain Park HS to judge the 8:00 PuFo round.
3. Pick up tickets to Alabama Adventures for some of the the Western WA crew.
4. Drive back to the hotel to deliver tickets, and then shuttle students to Alabama Adventures.
5. Leave students there, since my day of judging isn't done.
6. Drive back to Spain Park to judge the 2:00 round.
7. Drive back to the hotel.
8. Try not to be jealous.

Somewhere in that time, the Cuban embargo will have been lifted, diplomatic relations restored, the Cubans freed, and the Castro regime exiled in embarrassment.

Or vice versa.

a tie made out of cake

The last day of school--for me, at least, because of the trip to Birmingham--was Friday the 12th. To celebrate a crazy, wonderful year, one of the students in my 4th period class really wanted to bring in a dessert. Thursday she asked me if I enjoyed cake. "Of course," I said, having no idea that the cake was bound to bear my name and a likeness of my hallmark.

Twenty-eight slices of heaven: a tacky tie with raspberry filling.

[Cross-posted, of course, at the delectable tie blog.]

add a little storm to your life

Since the Residence Inn Birmingham Hoover's internet is slower than a drunken golfer*, I won't be photoblogging this trip to the National Forensic League speech and debate tournament. I'll have to paint pictures with words instead.




All my memories of the South came flooding back: the swamp water in the shower and the coffee, the stilted pines, the sweet, sticky scent of crushing humidity.

And the storms.

We drove into one this morning, two coaches and two students on the way to registration. Forks and sheets of lightning crashed all around. Blinding rain pelted the windshield, forcing me to slow down to about 30 on the freeway--and then I pulled over entirely when my passengers got a little antsy.

I pulled up to some kind of auto detailing place, figuring on parking until the deluge abated. The nearby intersection began to flood, cars crashing through red plumes of raging water. All of a sudden the other coach in the car said, "Jim, you might want to move the car." A river of swirling detritus was headed right at us--milk crates, cardboard boxes, PVC pipes hoping to block the nearest drain or swallow up the nearest rental car.

We made it out in time, though, and drove to higher ground, watching in awe as the storm raged away.

Ever since my undergraduate days in Texas, I've had at least one or two "storm dreams" each year.

It was nice to make it through a real one, for a change.






*Though this may be redundant.

Birmingham bound: for reals

Tomorrow I'm headed to Birmingham, Alabama for the "Stars Fell on Alabama" National Forensic League tournament. Two of Capital's stars, Vamsi Chunduru and Cameron Seib, will compete in Public Forum debate. They're sophomores, so I'm floored that they're even going. It's gonna be fun.

So far, it's been a crazy day of preparation. After a school day full of presentations, songs, tacky ties, and heartfelt goodbyes, I spent four hours prepping my sub plans and writing exams, interrupted by the news that one Western WA school had dropped, and messed up our hotel arrangements. It made for a rather frantic series of emails and phone calls--but at least it's fixed.

Right now I'm printing out itineraries and maps and boarding passes, and hoping for a relatively boring travel day.

See you in Birmingham.