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.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
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.
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