Kansas City Nationals Playlist

Later tonight, some of the young'uns and I will be going to Kansas City, Kansas to participate in the National Speech and Debate Association National Tournament.. I believe it would be impolite if I were to carry around Thomas Frank's What's the Matter with Kansas, so I decided to pick out a little road trip music with Kansas or Kansas City connections.

Eagles guitar player Joe Walsh is a Kansas native. The guitar solo on "Hotel California" is still one of the best I've ever .



Yeah, it's cheap but Kerry Livgren, the lead singer for Kansas is actually from Kansas. Besides, Mother Plainsman prays for peace for her wayward son every night.



Martina McBride is a Kansas native. Although this song is not one of her country classics, most debaters have "Suspicious Minds."


Jennifer Knapp recorded an album entitled Kansas. This is one of my favorite songs from that album.

What I Learned At Debate Camp 2013

I spent the past week helping out at a debate camp on a campus in the 5th most livable small town in the country. The campus may lead the nation in construction activity. I should also note that the Twins lost every time I saw an  advertisement featuring a certain blogger while a game was being telecast. I know correlation doesn't equal causation, but the trend was troubling. I should also add that the sample size is pretty small, I saw only parts of two games.

The dozen policy debaters spent time working out positions to affirm and negate "Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its economic engagement toward Cuba, Mexico, or Venezuela." The bakers dozen Lincoln Douglas debaters spent most of their time dealing with "Resolved: Compulsory inclusion of non-felons' DNA in any government database is just."

Listening in on a few lectures and talking with the young'uns about their cases reaffirmed the principle "simple ain't easy."

More importantly, it history has a long arm. The U.S.'s relationships with Cuba and Mexico have unresolved issues that go back more than 50 years.

Finally, an excellent lecture about performance debate, a form that most South Dakota coaches find anathema, provided an important reminder that passion, art, and literature speak in ways that statistics cannot.

Regular blogging to resume shortly

Tony Martinet Resigns: South Dakota Debate Loses

Josh Verges gives an objective take on Tony Martinet's decision to leave Lincoln High School and return to Colorado. I'm not a reporter, so I don't have have to be objective.

Tony coached Sioux Falls Lincoln "debate team powerhouse" with skill and passion that few can match.  He replaced Kim Maass, a South Dakota forensics legend, and elegantly dealt with the baggage, both positive and negative, that comes with that sort of situation.  Because he developed great competitors, Tony made every other debater and extemper in South Dakota better. Coaching against Tony frequently made me feel as if the only things I had to offer were the nostalgia of a faded Mr. Rogers sweater and a good head of hair.

Verges mentions that Tony testified against HB 1234.  I don't know what role, if any, the legislation or South Dakota's political climate played in Tony's decision.  I do know that Tony is young, enthusiastic, talented, and intelligent; he has the qualities every teacher needs, and South Dakota is worse off because he's leaving.

A Political Debate I'd Like To See

The December 27 potential debacle hosted by Donald Trump is now thankfully down to two people:  Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich.  If one is too chose leaders on their judgement, prudence, or discretion, the fact that Gingrich and Santorum are still considering attending indicates that both men lack the judicious nature the Presidency demands.  By calling those who decline to attend an event hosted by a blowhard with an ego worthy of a Homeric epic, albeit a comic one, Santorum shows himself to be totally unsuited to any executive office.

Conversely, Gary Gutting describes an event that I'd like see:

The best evidence of how capable candidates are of fruitfully interacting with intellectuals would be to see them doing just this. Concretely, I make the follow suggestion for the coming presidential election: Gather small but diverse panels of eminent, politically uncommitted experts on, say, unemployment, the history of the Middle East, and climate science, and have each candidate lead an hour-long televised discussion with each panel. The candidates would not be mere moderators but would be expected to ask questions, probe disagreements, express their own ideas or concerns, and periodically summarize the state of discussion. Such engagements would provide some of the best information possible for judging candidates, while also enormously improving the quality of our political discourse.

I suspect that both political parties will do everything in their power to prevent such an event from happening, but one can always hope