Until the Fall!

The 2007 Workshop wrapped up today with the conclusion of the tournament and good-byes. Tyler advanced to the semifinal round where he was defeated by Arti Bhatia. The past two weeks have been a lot of fun and I feel our lab has grown very close to the point that we will be friends for quite a time to come. We spent some final time together at Katz's Hamburgers for a mid-afternoon meal and ice cream. I look forward to seeing all of the ten students debating next year throughout Texas and the country. Congrats once again to Adrienne, Tyler, Ben, and Megan for winning 4 of 5 preliminary rounds.

I lost another bet

Congratulations to Adrienne and Tyler for clearing to elimination rounds of the Workshop tournament. We are very proud of you. Also, big congratulations to Megan and Ben who were both 4-1, but did not have high enough speaker points to advance. I think our lab put up a tremendously good showing in the tournament. Other than the two top labs, the JB lab had the strongest showing by far, so that's something that we are proud of the entire lab for because the group really bonded especially in the past week and owe their successes to each other in some way because of the group effort of writing blocks, sharing case positions, and supporting each other. Hopefully, we will keep up the winning streak tomorrow for elimination rounds.

Taco Cabana Day

Today our lab went to my favorite place on Earth - Taco Cabana. While some of the lab who isn't from Texas never had Taco Cabana before, I think it was a wholesome Texas experience. Even Jason who only eats Chinese and Italian food (apparently) ate at Taco Cabana. Although he was not as thrilled as I typically am. Our lab is doing very well in the tournament so far. Semmey is debating very well and has won some rounds thusfar. Tyler has won both of his rounds. And the rest of the lab is debating well. We are proud. I'm confident that our lab will continue to win the remaining three preliminary rounds and advance to elimination rounds.

Almost the Big Show

Lab met this morning where the students showed Perry and Gary their revised cases. All of the students have had their cases read over on multiple occasions with many new revisions. Ben started working a new negative case today that he may run in the workshop tournament. Sushi made use of the blocks she wrote yesterday during lab today. Most of the lab worked on revising their cases, preflowing for practice rounds, and writing out extensions. Every single person had their extensions written out before they debated practice rounds in order to make their rebuttals easier, more word economical, and smarter. The afternoon was spent debating practice rounds against the AM lab. Megan did a very good job explaining why her argument that the US should not protect worker welfare through trade policy effectively took out her opponent's arguments.
We had some more rounds in the evening and I'm confident we're ready for the tournament tomorrow.

We will defy the odds

Our lab began this morning debating the Alston/Mullins lab. Almost everyone debated a round before lunch and got feedback and constructive criticism from the 4 critics of Beard, Johnson, Alston, and Mullins. I'd like to think we held it down against the AM lab, but the rounds were definitely close and competitive. The afternoon began with the remaining debaters running a round with the rest of the group observing one of four rounds that didn't fit into the morning schedule. Afterwards, our lab met for 2 hours and worked on blocks. We stressed cutting evidence from JSTOR and Lexis to block out evidence. We found answers to sweatshops are bad, child labor is bad, the race to the bottom is a huge problem, and the government's first obligation is to its own citizens. Megan found really good evidence in this blocking session about how child labor is actually necessary and informal education is better than depriving children of the ability to work and instead forcing them to attend a school. The night ended with our lab signing up for the 4th elective and attending a lecture on prepping for the TOURNAMENT EXPERIENCE.

If you got beef, we can cook it

Perry and Gary saw less of the lab today than they had for the previous week, partially because we didn't start rolling until 1pm and partially because electives began today. The students began the day with an elective choice. Shout-out to Tyler for choosing the lecture given by Gary (narratives). After the elective, the students had a practice round against the MTA lab where everyone got to debate once and spent the rest of the time flowing the other flight. I'd like to think that our lab "won" most of the rounds, but I'm a little biased and the rounds aren't meant to be competitive... yet. After a dinner of pizza (a Sunday evening tradition at UNT because the cafeteria is closed), the students attended another elective. The choices are pretty varied so there is an elective for everyone. In our last lab meeting, we joined forces with the MTA lab, and had a demo debate between Tyler and Michael of MTA. Everyone observed and in a split decision our lab decided that Tyler was the winner. I'm sure the MTA lab thought the opposite.

Gary gets a haircut

The time: Saturday, June 30th

The place: Language Building Room 305

The bet: The students must write a topicality standard that meets Gary’s high standards (means it would have to beat Liz Mullins) and Gary will shave his head.

The outcome: To be determined later….

Besides the bet, the students have done an AWESOME job being prepared for rounds. After a scintillating RANT…er, um…I mean lecture on presentation skills by Beard and Gary, the lab took the opportunity to improve their delivery by engaging in that which is most evil and despicable…THE PEN DRILL! After gobs of spit puddle in front of them as they read their firs cases in front of the labs with a pen in their mouth, they left for lunch and prepared for afternoon practice rounds. Tyler and Adrienne were the first up in an epic showdown that featured the Pride of Salado vs. the Terror of Sin City. Tyler’s took the opportunity to redo his 2AR, which improved it greatly. The next round featured our resident Southlake Carroll Dragon, Cameron, against Bronx Science’s own Sushi (no, not the fish…I kill myself…). A great round was had, with Sushi learning she needs to be a bulldog in CX since she is 3 foot, 4 inches tall. After debriefing the rounds, Gary threw down the gauntlet: Write a real, viable, and solid Topicality violation and he will shave his head!

Rounds continue tonight with Megan vs. Ben, Andrea vs. Jason, and Semmey vs. Jesse. An excellent time should be had by all.