On to seconds

The first day was no let down.

Rd 1: This House Believes the US should make all aid to Israel conditional upon freezing settlements. We were closing gov. Took first. I think I got to use an interesting idea of “Imaginability” in this round. The settlements prove a unique problem not only physically but symbolically because peace talks are so impeeded. Harder to imagine a successful peace talk with such blatant negligence on Israel’s side. other args popped in… like this isn’t a chess game. Lives are at stake.

Rd 2: THW create seperate divisions for the openly gay in the US military. We were opening op. We took first. I adored this motion. Korey and I were able to argue a ton! Great matter grab. Korey rocked it in delivery – he shhhed the PM when he spoke out of turn. THAT was awesome! We counter propped (sort of…. perhaps it can be called a hypothesis test) full integration. “Seperation without Stigmatization” and gov couldn’t give us that. But that was my favorite line. I think we  just did really well building solid bricks to make a good wall. I shed a tear when a female from gov worded one of her arguments as anti suffrogettes might have. So… I enjoyed advocating for the Opposition side. OH! Closing op made the best reference to Audre Lorde EVER!

Rd 3: THW ban the US federal government from deficit spending. We were opening gov. We took fourth. I PMed. It is a really tough one for gov but nothing that closing gov said I didn’t already know so I know the next time around I could really make a much better case. I enjoyed this round so much. Partly because it was some old friends from Vermont and Cornell who are phenomenal speakers and, I think, good for debate (the goal is not, fyi, to beat people up and these guys know that). We needed more analysis on China and probably Greece. In the end, Korey and I gave a good go at an econ motion – our weakest link. I learned. 🙂

Now for another day. We are at 6 pts. It’s a safe bet that 12 is needed to break but maybe some 11’s will get in too. Not sure yet. I am so excited!

PS Denver is pretty.