As I mentioned before, I always tell my students to give speeches on things they know and care about. What I failed to mention that sometimes this can be a problem because they know SO much on the topic and care SO much about it, that their ability to explain it in a simple, coherent fashion, can fail.
I think that's where I found myself at in the latter part of this project/video building, because there were so many things I wanted to say and include and talk about, trying to condense that into a video that was under ten minutes felt impossible. When the class would say "but why does that matter?" or "why do we need to talk about why debate is good?" I had a really hard time coming to terms with it, until my teacher said "You're too far in."
He was/is totally right- because when you're a part of a community, especially one that is so insulated and less well known to others, that to explain it to those who aren't in it, is next to impossible. All you can do is try to tell the best you can what you want, and walk away. What I realized was that there were so many stories and elements to what I was talking about, that as much as I want to scream "BUT DEBATE HELPS PEOPLE" I had to recognize that for the sake of the video and it's placement in the larger project we're constructing about the effect of cameras/little glass dots in society and the subsequent videos online, that wasn't as relevant to the end point.
So I have a video (some work is needed to polish it) that explains how our community is a family, that is misunderstood to outsiders, and probably always will be; that got its 15 minutes of fame form a viral video that was not representative of the community, and all we can do is move forward, and know that at least we get each other.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
long time no blog
You'll have to forgive my lack of posting as of late; I've been frantically finishing the final draft of my thesis to submit to my committee, which has sidelined many other obligations I've had for the past week.
That said, the immense relief of turning it in was short-lived at the realization that I have much more to do in regards to my project for debate in such a little amount of time.
The most recent draft focused heavily on the concept of debate as a family; and debate tournaments as family reunions. While I would like to maintain that metaphor in moving forward, I recognized the importance of discussing not only the fight between Bill and Shanara that forced NDT/CEDA into the headlines of CNN and Fox News, but to step back even further, and address the nature of the debate that caused the fight that led to it's placement on YouTube and discovery by the public.
More to come as this process is completed.
That said, the immense relief of turning it in was short-lived at the realization that I have much more to do in regards to my project for debate in such a little amount of time.
The most recent draft focused heavily on the concept of debate as a family; and debate tournaments as family reunions. While I would like to maintain that metaphor in moving forward, I recognized the importance of discussing not only the fight between Bill and Shanara that forced NDT/CEDA into the headlines of CNN and Fox News, but to step back even further, and address the nature of the debate that caused the fight that led to it's placement on YouTube and discovery by the public.
More to come as this process is completed.
Monday, April 12, 2010
flashback
I had my old debate coach send me some copies of debate rounds that I had in undegrad, besides feeling like I look incredibly young, I'm excited to have copies of these videos not only to include in the video I'm working on, but simply because its nice to have them for myself.
I'm also foraying into the world of Skype for the first time ever today for one final interview, wish me luck!
I'm also foraying into the world of Skype for the first time ever today for one final interview, wish me luck!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
End of the Season
I'm long overdue for a post, but between a hectic final tournament, travel home, and getting caught back up on teaching/classes/life in Manhattan, its been a bit hard!
While I was sad to see the season end once again (I don't care what anyone else said, I liked spending the year talking about nuclear weapons!) I was happy to return to a regular(ish) life in Kansas.
I have several hours worth of video footage from the tournaments (nearly every team I judged was nice enough to let me tape them) coupled with a handful of interviews that should keep me very preoccupied in the upcoming weeks.
It was particularly unfortunate however, that some individuals who had agreed to interviews, skirted them and chose to not be involved in the project; I can't say I'm entirely surprised, but I do feel confident that the people I did talk to will do my research justice to explain and confront the role of the cameras and their effect on the NDT/CEDA college debate community.
The level of competition and emotion that exists within the last tournament of the season is unquantifiable- at times I felt wrong having a camera capturing these intensely personal, emotional and for some teams, very sad moments as their season, their career, their life as a debater ends. I do think though, that after taping and talking to so many people about the community, watching such a wide variety of rounds over the course of time I was at the NDT and CEDA Nationals- that I'm more certain than ever that the debate community is one that should be proud of all that they do and will continue to do, regardless of some bad press/public opinion.
Back to thesis writing, I promise not to take so long before writing again.
While I was sad to see the season end once again (I don't care what anyone else said, I liked spending the year talking about nuclear weapons!) I was happy to return to a regular(ish) life in Kansas.
I have several hours worth of video footage from the tournaments (nearly every team I judged was nice enough to let me tape them) coupled with a handful of interviews that should keep me very preoccupied in the upcoming weeks.
It was particularly unfortunate however, that some individuals who had agreed to interviews, skirted them and chose to not be involved in the project; I can't say I'm entirely surprised, but I do feel confident that the people I did talk to will do my research justice to explain and confront the role of the cameras and their effect on the NDT/CEDA college debate community.
The level of competition and emotion that exists within the last tournament of the season is unquantifiable- at times I felt wrong having a camera capturing these intensely personal, emotional and for some teams, very sad moments as their season, their career, their life as a debater ends. I do think though, that after taping and talking to so many people about the community, watching such a wide variety of rounds over the course of time I was at the NDT and CEDA Nationals- that I'm more certain than ever that the debate community is one that should be proud of all that they do and will continue to do, regardless of some bad press/public opinion.
Back to thesis writing, I promise not to take so long before writing again.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Half way through the NDT, CEDA to come
I'm sneaking time in to update during prep time of the round I'm judging at the NDT. Things have been going great in California (if for no other reason than I missed the snow that apparently hit Kansas!) as I've been taping rounds and talking to people about my research about the community. I also got two more people to agree to interviews, most of which will happen on the day off between the NDT and CEDA, or at CEDA.
Why not at the NDT? Teams that are competing at the NDT generally have one thing on their mind: winning. Talking to coaches or debaters at all right now is slim, so I've mostly just been shooting rounds and the time off in between debates for the past few days. While the winning mentality can certainly be true of CEDA as well, the NDT is, in my opinion, significantly more competitive, and a totally different environment in and of itself.
I'm working on grabbing snapshots at the NDT, and a then a few at CEDA, and I will post again in a couple days to hopefully help you visual the differences in the two tournaments, while I add a little information/background on the events of the two tournaments.
Back to judging!
Why not at the NDT? Teams that are competing at the NDT generally have one thing on their mind: winning. Talking to coaches or debaters at all right now is slim, so I've mostly just been shooting rounds and the time off in between debates for the past few days. While the winning mentality can certainly be true of CEDA as well, the NDT is, in my opinion, significantly more competitive, and a totally different environment in and of itself.
I'm working on grabbing snapshots at the NDT, and a then a few at CEDA, and I will post again in a couple days to hopefully help you visual the differences in the two tournaments, while I add a little information/background on the events of the two tournaments.
Back to judging!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
very little free time
What little free time I've been given at the NDT and CEDA nationals, will now be devoted to a slew of interviews that I've managed to acquire.
I now have 8 confirmed interviews (two of which are debaters from the CEDA/Wichita debate, a third of which was a judge in the debate) that are set to happen over the 10 days that I will be in California.
I'd like to take the focus largely off the debate itself/post-round discussion, and turn it instead to what it represents, that is to say, the resulting lack of cameras, behavioral/communicative changes in the debate community.
It isn't my intention to take on the entire debate community and question our habits, or to place blame or fault on anyone involved in the video, but rather, that I'd like to be able to move past that- to show that we as a community have learned, have grown, and are actively engaging technology and what it stands for to question and understand the role it plays in debate.
In the meantime, its back to reading about nuclear weapons, RevCon, and cutting politics updates about health care and job reform.
I now have 8 confirmed interviews (two of which are debaters from the CEDA/Wichita debate, a third of which was a judge in the debate) that are set to happen over the 10 days that I will be in California.
I'd like to take the focus largely off the debate itself/post-round discussion, and turn it instead to what it represents, that is to say, the resulting lack of cameras, behavioral/communicative changes in the debate community.
It isn't my intention to take on the entire debate community and question our habits, or to place blame or fault on anyone involved in the video, but rather, that I'd like to be able to move past that- to show that we as a community have learned, have grown, and are actively engaging technology and what it stands for to question and understand the role it plays in debate.
In the meantime, its back to reading about nuclear weapons, RevCon, and cutting politics updates about health care and job reform.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Well Worded
I've been struggling to perfectly phrase where I stand/how I feel about this whole situation, and no matter how many times I've watched this debate, I never really felt like I was getting across what I think. However, I find this to be a close fit:
"Who knows if what happened following the quarters of CEDA was reasonable or inappropriate on either side, but POSTING that we should encourage the community to write to universities seeking someone's termination is cruel and antithetical to anything this debate community has ever stood for. Moreover, the idea that someone would garner enjoyment or thrill from this conflict is disheartening. Given some of the behavior the debate community finds acceptable or at a minimum forgivable, we find it strange that this is the instance that starts the battle cries for the end to someone's presence in the community. We encourage everyone to put down your arguments about debate for just one moment and realize that, at times, actions about our community have very radical effects on someone's livelihood and that of their family."
So, thank you to Brent Culpepper & Michael Greenstein for saying what I couldn't figure out to say.
http://www.ndtceda.com/pipermail/edebate/2008-August/075509.html
Edit:
I also think this is a good defense of what they said:
"First, good people do bad things sometimes. I have friends who are homeless, friends who have done the worst drugs, friends who got in violent altercations and hurt other people, people who have been hurt badly by other people. As some of you might know, I have a temper myself......I often wonder if there are people in prison right now who made one terrible mistake and every other thing they ever did was good....Its a hard world....people make terrible choices. What we should do sometimes is find it in ourselves to care about all the people we encounter not just the perfect ones. I mean we should certainly not excuse the terrible things people do...but we also have to consider that all of us have, at times, been less than our best selves. And that good people do bad things. Lets also be honest NOBODY was acting at their best in that room from what I saw."
So, thank you Josh Hoe.
http://www.ndtceda.com/pipermail/edebate/2008-August/075489.html
"Who knows if what happened following the quarters of CEDA was reasonable or inappropriate on either side, but POSTING that we should encourage the community to write to universities seeking someone's termination is cruel and antithetical to anything this debate community has ever stood for. Moreover, the idea that someone would garner enjoyment or thrill from this conflict is disheartening. Given some of the behavior the debate community finds acceptable or at a minimum forgivable, we find it strange that this is the instance that starts the battle cries for the end to someone's presence in the community. We encourage everyone to put down your arguments about debate for just one moment and realize that, at times, actions about our community have very radical effects on someone's livelihood and that of their family."
So, thank you to Brent Culpepper & Michael Greenstein for saying what I couldn't figure out to say.
http://www.ndtceda.com/pipermail/edebate/2008-August/075509.html
Edit:
I also think this is a good defense of what they said:
"First, good people do bad things sometimes. I have friends who are homeless, friends who have done the worst drugs, friends who got in violent altercations and hurt other people, people who have been hurt badly by other people. As some of you might know, I have a temper myself......I often wonder if there are people in prison right now who made one terrible mistake and every other thing they ever did was good....Its a hard world....people make terrible choices. What we should do sometimes is find it in ourselves to care about all the people we encounter not just the perfect ones. I mean we should certainly not excuse the terrible things people do...but we also have to consider that all of us have, at times, been less than our best selves. And that good people do bad things. Lets also be honest NOBODY was acting at their best in that room from what I saw."
So, thank you Josh Hoe.
http://www.ndtceda.com/pipermail/edebate/2008-August/075489.html
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