Tag: debate

  • Mahabharata – Oldest Debate Ever?

    Heard a very good talk today on the Mahabharata. It was delivered by my friend, a professor in the fine arts department, who also happens to have a cubicle, er, office, right across the hall from mine. As a result of this we enjoy chatting and generally procrastinating together from time to time. And Eastern…

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  • Judging at World Schools

    If you are interested in the variety of cultural difference in global debate, the most interesting variance is in how judging is treated. even though I have judged in a number of formats I still enjoy attending training sessions to see the diffences. My assumption is that the judge training will reveal assumptions about debate,…

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  • World Schools Debate Championships

    I’m here for the weekend in Washington D.C. for the World Schools Debate tournament. There are teams from all over the world who went through rigorous selection processes in order to qualify to represent their country at this prestigious tournament. I’m here at the invitation of Professor Tuna Snider who was very gracious to invite…

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  • JDA Final Day

    Yesterday was great – saw a very interesting lecture from David Hingstman on the history of forensics in the law in which he called the current confusion around forensic education (debate and speech) and forensic science a good thing, and something worth preserving a bit of uncertainty about.  Especially within the context of a lay-jury…

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  • The Conference Begins

    Today marks the first day of panels and presentations at the JDA Conference here in Tama. Chuo University is hosting, and the hospitality has been superb.  Last night kicked off with a talk from Takao Tanase on Rhetoric and Justice in Japan.  After that there was a very nice reception at the hotel including wines,…

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  • A Brief Break at Home

    Coming home after 3 weeks away is very nice. I’m sitting here catching up on bad TV and going through some of my mail and stuff like that. The end of a debate workshop is always pretty surreal and somewhat sad, but it’s also a nice marker for me that the next debate season is…

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  • WDI part 2

    The World’s workshop started yesterday and it appears that we have around 25-30 students involved. The first day wasn’t just housekeeping matters and such – we managed to get right into the material and had a very nice practice debate on the motion "This House would ban consumption of tobacco products." The round I saw…

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  • Belgrade, Serbia – Dialogue 08

    We’ve just completed the week or so long workshop in World’s debate here in Belgrade, and I must say that I was very impressed with the whole event. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but if I did have any expectations, they would have been crushed by the amazing quality of the debates, the students,…

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  • Notes from the WDI

    There are a few things I expect to do every summer that I come to the University of Vermont to teach at the World Debate Institute. One is that I’ll eat Ben & Jerry’s. Another is drinks at Red Square.  A trip to the KKD is in order as well as Ali Baba’s, the Red…

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  • World Debate Institute in Burlington, VT

    I’m afraid I’m just not able to keep up a daily posting regimen like I thought I would up here in Burlington. Hopefully that ends today. I am in charge of teaching the teacher’s workshop, which has four very enthusiastic and excited participants, and we are making nice strides into the world of teaching and…

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