Resolutions: Mostly from the State of the Union Address
Posted: Fri - Jan 29, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Friends,
As has frequently been our practice in years past, we are planning on abiding by the recommendations that many of the resolutions should come from current events; and what could be more current than last night’s State of the Union Address? Okay, maybe tomorrow night’s Doll House finale, but you know what I mean. We will once again be committing to drawing many, though not necessarily all, of our topics for the Round Robin and the Sunset Cliffs Classic from the State of the Union Address. Thought you might appreciate some links to the Address and the response (Thanks Caitlyn).
Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kYW_fgaDDM
Link to text: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/27/state-of-the-union-2010-full-text-transcript_n_439459.html
Republican response text: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/us/politics/28mcdonnell.text.html
I can’t imagine anyone objecting that this declaration narrows the field down too much for impromptu or extemporaneous debate, since the President spoke for over an hour. But it does provide a list of things with which to gain greater familiarity if one is fairly new to the activity, while still providing lots of room for greater depth by the more knowledgeable and experienced members of our community. Hope that helps at least a little.
Please also consider playing with the wording and crafting what you think might be very good debatable resolutions, as opposed to one that just invites a pet case, though they certainly may be the same in some cases. Good resolutions are welcome, regardless of whether they are Fact, Value, Policy, Quasi Policy, Metaphor, etc. In fact efforts are made to include various types of resolutions so as to expand the type of debating and not to advantage any particular type of debater who may prefer one style to another, as NPDA has attempted to do in past years. These submissions are welcome from coaches, judges or competitors. Please do not be disappointed if your resolution is not selected, as many are being submitted. Those that serve on the committee selecting the resolutions used will agree not to coach their own teams to avoid any chance of gaining an advantage, and every effort will be made to have the resolutions completed for each given tournament before that tournament begins.
Please send me your resolution ideas ASAP as I would like to get to work on this over the weekend if possible, though fine tuning can take place through to Wednesday.
Skip Rutledge, Ph. D. Voice 619.849.2391
Director of Forensics Fax 619.849.7015
Professor Communication and Theatre
Point Loma Nazarene University
e mail: skiprutledge@pointloma.edu
http://www.pointloma.edu/CommunicationTheatre/FacultyStaff/SkipRutledge.htm
"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education." Martin Luther King, Jr.
