From: SMDebate@aol.com
To: Multiple recipients of list <cx-l@debate.net>
Subject: Senior Speaker's Address--1997
A lot (more than 10) of people have asked me to post a transcript of the
Senor Speaker's Address at St. Mark's. Here it is. It is possible that
this will be published in a few other places sometime later. The Senior
Speaker is asked to speak for the senior class of debaters at the Senior
Speaker's Breakfast prior to the quarterfinals at St. Mark's. The simple
notion is to give the students a voice and give one student the
opportunity to make a significant speech. This address was given in the
Whispering Oaks room of the Harvey Hotel on Sunday morning, October 26th.
The audience included all of the CX and LD quarterfinalists and their
coaches along with a number of special guests. A large number (75 ish) of
students came in after breakfast just to hear the speech. In all, about
200 people (including the Speaker's parents) were there. Enjoy.
Senior Speaker's Breakfast
Keynote Address
Alex Berger, GDSDebate@aol.com, -- Georgetown Day High School
I would like to take this opportunity to apologize in advance if this
isn't all that innovative. Usually, I have the benefit of Matt writing
out all my speeches before I give them, so you'll have to bear with me.
When Mr. Baker talked to me about giving this speech, I asked him what he
wanted me to talk about. "Anything," was his only response. Anything.
That's a lot of stuff. I wrote many drafts, all of which I threw away.
None of them seemed just right. Then it dawned on me that I all really
needed to talk about was what debate has meant to me over the last three
years. And as I thought about that, I thought about why I debate. What
has drawn me to stay in an activity that is so demanding and so
frustrating at times. Is it the competition? The intellectual challenge?
The missing school? No, the answer much more simple. Two words: Jim
Stories.
Of course, I am referring to my debate coach, Jim Gentile. Over the last
few years, Jim has been many things to me: a coach, a mentor, a friend. I
feel incredibly fortunate to have gotten to know him. I also feel
incredibly fortunate to be around him, for he is the subject of many of my
stories.
For example, on the way back from the Bronx tournament last week, while
stopped at a Bob's Big boy, we were complaining to Jim about how he never
arranges for us to stay at a hotel. "Dudes," he said. "You know nothing
about bad arrangements. When I went to St. Marx a couple of years ago, we
got to the tournament at 1:30 AM. " We asked him why he didn't just go to
his room. "Well, we didn't really arrange to have a room per se. We were
just going to find someone to stay with. So the debaters found their
friends to stay with but I couldn't find anyone, and I wasn't going to pay
$100 dollars for four hours of sleep. So I slept in the car."
When we expressed amazement, he told us that was nothing. "Dude. When
the Greenhill Round Robin rolled around that Monday, I still didn't have a
place to stay. Well, the tab room for the tournament was in the hotel,
and it had a couch in it, and they had donuts, so I just sort of stayed
there." When the first judge entered the tab room in the morning, he was
greeted with the sight of Jim drying himself with the ballots.
But seriously, why do I debate? It is an interesting question to ask
yourself. Debate is an incredibly trying activity. Few other high school
endeavors require year round commitment, travel across the country, a
sacrifice of a normal social life and about three times as much work as is
required in school. As Mr. Baker called it, debate is "full contact
social studies." So why? I have been searching for a satisfactory answer
to that question. I have come up with a few ideas.
One of the more obvious answers is the learning experience, both in terms
of amounts of knowledge and in the skills we learn. What other activity
yields in-depth understanding about crime one year and climate the next,
and still gives a broad knowledge of current events like a Ballistic
Missile Defense system and Clinton's fast track treaty authority? But
also, it has taught me skills like time management, research, and
discipline. I don't think that upon entering high school I ever imagined
myself staying up until 6 am on a summer night completing a file on the
benefits an evils of nuclear power. It may be slightly crazy, but it is
clear that debate has taught me a lot.
I don't think that's really the answer though. After all, why not just
read the newspaper every morning but not have to search frantically for
scissors and tape every time you see the words warming and Clinton in a
title.
Perhaps the answer to the question, why I debate, is that it has made me
more socially conscious Debate is an activity full of discouraging
hierarchies. It very economically demanding. Money is required for entry
fees, plane fare, car rental, hotel rooms, and other costs. I am
incredibly lucky that my parents have been able and willing to pay for
those costs and support me through the years. Unfortunately, the
necessary capital is enough to drive many teams out. Yes, I know there
are some teams from poorer schools who are able to overcome these
obstacles, and deserve great credit.
But those teams are too few and far between. At Georgetown Day we are
working with two debaters from a city school who are very eager to learn
about debate and very smart kids. But as I sit in our debate meetings and
look at the two of them, I realize that they simply have very little
chance of being competitive nationally in the next few years. Their
school simply does not support the debate team with any money. And in a
world where it costs $500 plus to go to one debate tournament, the small
schools usually cannot make it.
What is the solution to this problem? How can we make debate more
inclusive? I'm not really sure. Part of the answer lies in encouraging
more participation. Melissa Wade, who most of you know is the director of
debate at Emory University, has been instrumental in the startup of the
Urban Debate League in Atlanta which now currently serves over 300
inner-city Atlanta students. Similar programs exist in Detroit, New York,
Chicago, and Kansas City, with leagues to come in seven more cities in the
next few years. So part of what we can do is encourage or help in those
programs and participate in their running.
But there are more simple ways to help than that. Most of us don't live
near an Urban Debate League and/or don't have the time to commit to one.
Really, all we need to do is, as Mrs. Wade says, "be the best we can be."
In other words, we are sitting here, about to enter the late out rounds at
one of the most competitive tournaments in the country. We serve as a
model for many of the younger debaters. If we treat them with respect,
they will want to continue on in the activity and will be excited about
doing so. It's as simple as that.
But I don't think that's really the answer to the question I've been
asking myself. Don't get me wrong. I think things like the Urban Debate
League are immensely important. And perhaps it's my obligation to give
back to debate what debate has given to me by trying to break down some of
these hierarchies. But I don't think that's really why I debate. As I
have pondered the question, why do I debate, over that last couple of
months, one overwhelming answer has come to me: the friends.
Mr. Baker delivered the keynote address about six weeks ago at the
final dinner of the Greenhill Round Robin about what friendships have
meant to him. In his address to the debaters, he said, "if you cultivate
the friendships that you make in debate, your reward will be much greater
and last much longer than the fleeting glory that your debate talents will
earn." What he said could not be more true. In twenty years, we won't
remember how we did at a given tournament, but we will always remember the
people we spent time with.
To return to my theme of "Jim stories", I should tell you another one.
As I was struggling to think of what to say today, I asked Jim if he had
any suggestions. He said he would think about it. And that he did.
About a month later, on the way back from the New Trier tournament, Jim
sat next to me on the plane. "Dude," he said. "I've done a lot of
thinking, and I have decided what you should talk about at St. Marx. I
have the PERFECT format.... [pause] Top Ten List!! Top ten things you like
about debate! You could say, like, 'number 10, Ken Strange's Laugh. Number
9. I get to perfect my Adam Goldstein impression.'"
Well, it may not have been the greatest idea. But as I thought about it,
I realized that the reason I couldn't do that is that so many of the small
things in debate have meant so much to me. Staying up until 6 AM at
Dartmouth Juniors talking about. . . well, maybe I shouldn't say. I don't
want to be the first and last senior speaker. Driving seven people and
luggage to and from the Edison tournament with a completely fogged up
windshield screaming "I can't see! We're gonna crash!" Drop kicking a
box of graham crackers in the Cohen-Bissel lounge and hoping afterwards
that I did not get work detail so I wouldn't have to clean it up. Hearing
Sister Hazel on infinite repeat on my dorm floor in the summer. Hearing
Brad Wenban "goof" on the staff at the cafeteria by pretending he had
never heard of "gum". Seeing Ken Strange finally succumb to pressure and
make animal noises in lab. All of these have meant so much to me, too
many to count only the top ten.
But one memory does stand out in my mind, a memory that illustrates the
power of friendship. It was the last night of the Dartmouth Debate
Institute this summer. The last night of DDI is usually the most fun of
all. There is no lights out policy and basically we are all allowed to
roam around like we were coo-coo for cocoa puffs the whole night. Well, I
called home around 11 to make sure my plane ticket logistics were all
worked out, looking forward to the night of fun in front of me. It was
then that my mother informed me that Ben Cooper, my friend since the
fourth grade, had been hit by a truck while waiting at a stoplight that
day and killed instantly.
I cried that night for a while. But after that I just sort of walked
around in a combination of shock and grief. I wandered into the common
lounge between the two dorms, not knowing what to expect. When I entered,
my friends immediately knew something was wrong, and helped me through the
night. Over the next six or seven hours, I received constant offers of
comfort, consolation and understanding. It was then that I realized I
have a great group of friends.
Attitudes about debate are ever-changing. So often, we become frustrated
with the activity, frustrated with everything from the large amounts of
work to the school absences to the arbitrary nature of decisions (Jigar).
But the one constant is the bonds we share. I have thought on occasions
about quitting debate. But I never would. There is no other activity
where friends live together for the summer and then keep in contact during
the year despite living great distances apart. There is no other activity
where a group of people can be in constant competition and yet never break
their ties of friendship. It is the magical quality of debate that out of
argument can come understanding; out of exhaustion, exhilaration; out of
conflict, camaraderie. There is no other activity that demands so much
and yet gives so much back.
Thank you.
|
