Relaxing at home today since the Uni is closed and thinking about doing some work but probably won’t get around to it. Today’s Kelly’s birthday so that’s the focus of the day.
I liked the tournament at Cornell – really well run and I feel like it was the most competitive tournament we’ve had in the east in BP format (so far). I think it’s going to get tougher as we go on.
The tournament didn’t give me my usual great feelings mostly because I was doing some stuff with the tournament that I haven’t done before like helping to pick the topics, set up judging panels and stuff like that. It just reconfirmed by dislike for the running of a tournament, and how appreciative I am that there are people who like to do that sort of thing. I reconfirmed my belief that I am not one of them. I’m happy to help out the running of a tournament, but I think where I’m best at that is in the low rooms judging, helping people get a bit better at argumenting. Yes, new word, jot it down.
I spent some of the bus ride home re-connecting wtih my students who I didn’t really have much of a chance to talk to during the weekend, which is, as everyone knows, the best part of a tournament.
Here’s a list format of the things about the Cornell tournament that were great. Marked with positives for your ease-of reading:
+ I came up with some new teaching ideas though after talking to a few friends about BP teaching methods.
+Saw some freinds from California who came out for the tournament. I hope this means that more Cali BP teams will travel east more frequently. There’s a lot to learn from eachother.
+ Connecting with old friends and catching up as well as sharing some great stories.
+ Watching some really amazing students make arguments that I would never think of in years, much less 20 minutes.
+ Ate 3 blueberry bagels. So rare. To get anything other than onion or Pumpernickle is super rare for me, so to get three over 2 days is out of this world.
Negatives:
– Having real responsibilities connected to the running of a tournament.
– Feeling disconnected from my students for most of the weekend.
– Having to vote against three of my most favorite teams, sometimes more than once
– Being away on Valentine’s weekend
– My new video camera doesn’t have the stamina of my older video camera.
I think the positives outweigh, kind of. They are of a different quality.
I’ll post what videos of the tournament I have later on. Some of them crapped out I think. It’s too bad.