2004 ESU Tour of America Diary New York City (Sept. 12-13) We had one night in New York, as it was merely a lay over. Matt a local debate coach entertained us. We went down to the village, got drunk in a small bar and decided that if Bush lost the election he would mount a coup attempt. We then wandered through some of the historic streets of New York. The next morning, before rushing to the plane, we had a chance to waste some money in the Empire State building and see the true extent of Manhattan. It has to be seen to be believed!
Wabash University, Crawfordsville, Indiana (Sept. 13-15) Our first stop, along with tradition we were told, was Wabash, a small liberal arts college (not dissimilar from a large private school in England only for University level students). The campus was incredibly beautiful, situated in one corner of a small town an hour north of Indianapolis in the wide, well farmed fields of the Hoosiers state. What made Wabash particularly stand out, besides it being our first stop, was the fact that Wabash is one of the last single sex schools in the country, sadly for us it was a boys school. The Tour started with a bit of a blip as we failed to find our lift from Indianapolis Airport for an hour and thought we had been abandoned. We were already quite nervous as we did not know what to expect a stop to be like, but the friendliness of the Little Giants (as their School Mascot is known) put as at ease and was a good introduction to the very warm sense of hospitality that was such constant throughout our trip. When we arrived we were given our first motion over a Mexican meal. It was “This House Would Negotiate with Terrorists�. We were told that Wabash did not have a large debate team at the moment so we would be facing some novices. Nonetheless we were nervous, I had not debated for some time, never with Rob, and I was worried about not having a style an American Audience would appreciate. My final concern was bolstered by the severe questioning we received from the audience after our speeches. But to my surprise we won the audience vote. It was nice to start with a win, especially one that had allowed us to get away with saying that Al Quaeda might have a point! The rest of our time in Wabash was spent meeting many very nice students and lecturers from the College and ticking off the first two items on our American scavenger hunt list; namely seeing guns for sale in Wall-Mart and getting drunk in a fraternity, both of which turned out to be more like the movies teach us than we could believe.
Rio Hondo College, Whittier, California (Sept. 15-18) We could not find our next host at the airport to begin with again and worried that this was some curse of ours until Gil Puga popped up. Gil was a lovely, warm, very energetic Latino debate coach from Rio Hondo College, a large community college with a mainly Latino working class studentship. One of the nicest things about the tour was the constant juxtaposition of different types of schools we visited. Most of the next couple of days were spent racing around the huge arching free ways, that cut across Southern California, linking up the many sprawling cities, which now all 1
overlap and make up the larger LA metropolis, in his jeep from debate to debate. In all we did four debates for Gil. The first was about creative thinking being more important than critical thinking but to add flavour it was in front of several middle school classes of 12 – 14 year olds. Up until that point I had never been so nervous., Kids are much more scary than an audience of adults. Some how we managed to get a win (as in most debates the English accents were no doubt a deciding factor). Later we had a debate about a proposition coming up in the election on DNA databases. If I had thought that the most nerve-wracking debate of the tour had already passed I was wrong. The next day Gil took us to a High school. We thought we were only speaking to one class but, when we arrived late, we were rushed into the Gymnasium to be greeted by the whole school of at least a thousand screaming teenagers. The debate was on globalisation but the audience was raucous in the extreme and the debate turned on our ever so subtle tactic of just calling out their favourite brands and saying they were from abroad. That combined with the English accents turned the audience against our Opponents. We had one more debate that night on the same topic as the night before in front of a small restrained audience. Though it was a good debate it was somewhat eclipsed by its predecessor. Managed to tick another box in the scavenger hunt, by staying in a hotel that had appeared in the movies.
Irvine Valley College, Laguna Beach, Orange County (Sept. 20-21) If the last stop was busy, Gary, the coach at the next stop, gave us a lovely holiday. Having picked us up from Long Beach he deposited us in a little hotel by the beach, with groceries and a large bottle of rum, and left us to tan for a couple days. Every evening our two opponents, Shawn, a hard core, card carrying (quite literally he showed us it the first thing we met) Republican and his partner Rochelle, a bubbly beautiful younger debater, took us out and got us plastered and ended the evening by having long drawn out sodden arguments with us. Having had so much fun for two days meant that turning to the task of the debate on the third day of our stay was a little difficult. However, the task was made somewhat easier when the guest speaker endorsed our side before the debate on Darfur in Sudan began. It was therefore not a surprise when we won. On the scavenger hunt we got to ride in a big red truck and spend time in the” O.C.”
University of Southern California, Los Angeles (Sept. 21 –22) Our final stop in the LA region was in Los Angles proper. USC Trojans are currently the best football team in the country (some might debate that) and USC itself is one of the largest private school right in the heart of the Ghetto of LA. It is sometimes known affectionately as the University of Spoilt Children. To get from one side of the greater LA regionto the other takes hours and so we had to get up early to get from Laguna Beach to USC. We arrived really tired and were told what our debate was that night. It was “This House believes that the stereotypes created by the media are beneficial to democracy” and to our surprise we were put on the Opposition. It was not hard to attack stereotypes and we won comfortably as a result. Afterwards we went out in LA, which was certainly a memorable night, seeing the stars in the pavement, the Chinese Theatre and the Hollywood sign. The movies have so much of LA in them and LA itself has been so shaped by those movies that it is a city of illusion and the dreams of those that have come here searching for it. Everything is
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new, everyone knows a movie star and every place has been in a film at some point or other. LA is just a crazy place to be, so soaked in sun and fantasy that the dye of reality seems to run.
Northwest College, Kirkland, Washington (Sept. 22-26) From the sun of California we flew North to the near English greyness of Seattle, home to Frasier (though all the shows get filmed in California), the first Starbucks and Bill Gates. Northwest College, a small evangelic Christian college just out side Seattle. The next day Gary (the softly spoken debate coach) and Muxs (a student deeply committed to the army and God) took us on a hectic tour around Seattle and we somehow managed to see all the major tourist sights in Seattle in one day. Not sure how it was accomplished but much enjoyed. The next day we went to Chapel in the morning, which is compulsory for all students. It was certainly a lot more energetic than a Church of England village service. We did a couple of debates that day in one of which we had to attack Bush whilst in the other we had to attack the war in Iraq. These were the first debates that had anything explicitly to do with the election that went on around us through out the Tour. It was the single narrative that carried us throughout as we experienced the build up, election itself and then the weeks of fallout afterwards. It was always present as all the TV station were full of it in the Hotels and most conversation turned sooner or later to it. Being an Evangelical College most of the campus, especially Gary, were staunch Republicans and these two debates were interesting, as we had to convince very sceptical audiences. The next evening four debaters from the University of British Columbia came south of the border and had an ill mannered scrap of a debate with us about the Queen being the head of State of Canada, with us obviously defending the Queen’s honour. Sadly we lost by a tiny minority in the audience vote which was disappointing, but the disappointment was somewhat lessened by the facts that the judges gave us the win and that, as they were Canadian, we still had a 100% record against American teams.
University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida (Sept. 26 – 29) We flew in to Miami on the wings of one storm and in anticipation of another. We had a hell of a day getting there, as a Hurricane had just hit, and we arrived very late and very tired. The whole campus was buzzing in busy anticipation of the first of the traditional televised presidential debates, which was to be held on campus in a few days. Our two debates were part of a series of events in the run up to the Presidential debate. In the first debate we had to propose “This House believes that Political Adverts are bad for Democracy” it was a hard fought victory. The next day we had a debate in a bar on campus with the WWE wrestling star Chris Nowinski as the moderator, who was anything but a moderating influence, threatening me with a chair when I suggested that the debate was as fixed as a wrestling match. To add to the surreality of the event the UM coach, Dave Steinberg, announced that the motion we had been told to defend (This House Would Ban the Presidential Debates) was too one sided and that therefore his team in opposition would definitely win. We were quite proud of our (tarnished) 100% record and fought tooth and nail to somehow get the audience on side and win. We did not get to see much of Miami, as it was still raining the whole time we were there, though we did get to see a little of the drinking
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culture that is so associated with large private universities like UM. Ticked off “see a beer bong” from the scavenger list.
University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi (Sept. 29 – Oct. 1) Only had one full day in Mississippi but it was definitely a memorable one. Spent the day visiting classes and in the evening had the public debate. There has not been a debate program in Hattiesburg for many years and so we debated three novices on the Iraq War. There was a large interested audience and we had a lot of fun really rubbishing the Bush Administration. Afterwards we were taken out to a country club for dinner and to watch the first presidential debate. It was a lovely evening and the debate was the icing on the cake. The first thing to note is that these encounters are very far from true debates. They take the form of a question (often just one for any given election issue), then one candidate gives an answer, the other answers the answer and then there is another question. It is closer to a parallel press conference but it is the only time the two candidates stand face to face and have anything close to a confrontation. Kerry did very well, really hitting at the surging Bush and closed the gap in the polls that had opened up between the two men since the Republican Convention. I am afraid I may have slightly annoyed our hosts by whooping when Kerry put the boot in but I honestly could not help myself. Afterwards one of the Students, Sarah, took us out to a really dirty rock bar in town. We got very drunk and got into several arguments with people about God and Politics. We had a really crazy night and somehow got home.
Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee (Oct. 1 – 6) On our arrival Greg, the debate coach here, assured us that this was planned as a rest stop. However we found little chance to rest in between all the debauchery as we crawled the bars of Nashville (the home of Country Music, for its sins!). In fact we were so hung over that we failed to make it to the main local attraction, namely the Jack Daniels Distillery (which bizarrely is in a dry county meaning you can make alcohol you just can’t drink it!). We were ably assisted in all the drinking by the debate team, a close nit group who couldn’t have been more different. From Dudley (3rd cousin of the infamous Senator Trent Lott) who in his own words hated liberals, to Courtney a liberal feminist. In many ways the group was a beautiful microcosm of the whole country in the home of “country”, deeply divided by ideology and yet united. The most bizarre addition to the mix was the fact that our hotel was hosting a Scottish games and so most of the guests were dressed in kilts for the whole time we were there. It is funny that Americans still identify so closely with their heritage. Many told us of their Scottish heritage, before saying they were American, never mind the fact that none of them had ever been to Scotland. Rob did a good line in pretending to actually be Scottish, which scared them a fair bit. The debate was on America as a world Police but since neither side could agree on any definitions it went down hill fast with me having no notes for the entirety of my speech. Managed to tick another item off the scavenger hunt list; meeting a red neck.
Webster University, St. Louis, MO (Oct. 6 – 11) 4
We actually did not spend much time in St. Louis for this stop. On our first morning we had a debate on the Quad of the lovely Webster campus under a small marquee. The motion was “This House Would Put More money in Public Schools” and we were put opposing. Difficult as it is to argue giving less money to children, we did our best in a really raucous debate and got a draw. Afterwards we visited the three sights of St. Louis, the large Arch, the Cardinal’s Stadium (the baseball team we started supporting as of then) and the City Museum. The final item on this list should be explained is very far from a traditional Museum. It is rather a three story interactive art installation made up of tunnels, gantries and slides, which spills outside and is made entirely of recycled materials. It is best described as an amusement park for grown ups and comes highly recommended. Saw the great Mississippi river in St. Louis, tick. The next day we were off on a road trip south on Route 66 to Springfield MO for a debate competition at which the Gorlocks (the pet name for Webster) were competing and we were judging. It was really nice to be part of the team helping people prep and generally getting in to the spirit of things. American competitions differ from IVs at home for two reasons. Firstly there are many different events, from poetry reading to at least two kinds of debate. Secondly they are very serious events. There are no gaps between events and no drinking (damn that 21 age limit) and so are much more business like.
Texas State University San Marcos, San Marcos, Texas (Oct. 11 – 13) The coach at Texas State is Wayne, a handlebar moustachioed cowboy from Louisiana with a penchant for telling fibs. San Marcos is a beautiful little town situated halfway between Austin and San Antonio. We spent a lovely sodden night in each. San Antonio is one of America’s hidden gems, a largely Hispanic city, home to the Alamo and the River Walk, a bar and restaurant quarter lining either side of a beautiful tree lined canal in the Heart of the city. Austin, the state capital, on the other hand is a liberal oasis and the self-proclaimed live music capital of the world. The two sights are the State capital building, a giant pink monstrosity worthy of the British Raj (it is slightly taller than the capital building in Washington DC proving that everything is bigger in Texas!) and 6th Street, home to hundreds of bars and small venues and the South by South West Music festival. Besides getting a skin full we also managed to fit in two Texan past times. We visited the Salt lick, a Texan BBQ where they smoke all the meat for ages and have an eat as much as you can policy. We also got to shoot guns with a SWAT team trainer. Having never handled a gun this was definitely a highlight. The rush one gets when handling a dangerous weapon is immense and I turned out to be a good shot. We fired both a handgun and an automatic used by the SAS apparently! We did two debates here, firstly in a middle school on global warming that was memorable for the lack of interest of the audience. The second debate was for the University and pitted us against Matt, a local student who Rob had met when he had come on the reciprocal tour of the UK the year before and his brother. The motion was “This house believes that America’s influence around the world has resurrected the concept of the Ugly American” and all went well until Matt’s final (and unanswerable) speech in which he went on a rampage and won the debate 29-30. So close but our 100% (ish) record was broken!
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West Texas A&M University, Amarillo, Texas (Oct. 13 – 15) We arrived in Bush country on the eve of the final presidential debate and, having been late, were rushed to a small party where we were to watch it. The local newspaper was present to hear our after debate analysis. After a resounding Kerry win we consciously tried to keep our comments noncommittal but the press always hears what it wants and the next morning Rob was attributed as saying “If Bush stood for election in Britain with his common-man approach, he would never get elected. We want that kind of person running a bar!” followed by where we could be found! Not the best start…The next day we went for lunch at the infamous Big Texan, famed for its free* 72 oz steak (*free if eaten along with several sides in under one hour). Needless to say we kept to more normal sized portions. After this we went to visit the one sight in Amarillo, the Cadillac Ranch. This is a modern art installation put up by an eccentric local millionaire which consists of 12 up turned Cadillac chassis half buried, nose down in a deserted field on the edge of town. This line of modern monoliths was covered in graffiti and we added our names just for posterity. The University is situated on the edge of the second largest canyon in America (thereby disproving that everything is bigger in Texas!) and has a large agriculture faculty (the A in A&M) meaning the whole campus had the deep musk of cow manure. The debate that night was “This house would allow schools to ban books” and, as the debate team was away at the time, we were separated and given a novice each. The round was very competitive but the natural aversion to banning books (not to mention Rob’s accusation of nazism) meant it went Rob’s way, much to his delight! Afterwards we had a mercifully alcohol free evening of parlour games.
University of Louisiana Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana (Oct. 15 – 17) Louisiana is arguably the most interesting of the all the states in the Union. It has a French heritage, which means that its legal system is continental rather than common law like in the rest of America and a large proportion of the population speak French as their first language. It is also famed for its Creole and Cajun cultures, which have gained fame through their party life style, so often associated with New Orleans. We certainly got to sample this. We debated cannabis in the morning to a small audience and then spent the afternoon prepping for the evening’s entertainments. First of all the communication faculty had a Cajun feast. We drank beer, filled our tummies and listened to zydico music whilst watching the sun’s rays stream and slowly fade through the leaves of an ancient tree. As the sun went down the Cajuns got going and we were rushed around the high street of Lafayette, ducking in and out of bars with our hosts, until we were finally thrown out of a club and made our way home. Due to a lack of taxis we squeezed in a taxi with some locals. Rob started to chat up a girl, only to find out that she was married, so we had to walk the rest of the way home!
Baylor University, Waco, Texas (Oct. 17 – 19) Waco is famous for three things, David Kuresh, George Bush (his Crawford Ranch is nearby) and Baylor. Baylor is a large, famous Baptist school. We visited George Bush’s favourite restaurant, George’s, a small greasy diner with pictures of the great man and his associates adorning the walls. The motion for that night was on Stem Cell 6
research and, as we were proposing it to a Baptist audience, we were rightly worried. For the first time since Wabash we got worried about a debate and did a fair bit of prep. However, this was largely wasted as our opponents missed the point and focussed on eugenics. After the debate we went to a beautiful dive called Scruffy’s and played pool in a dingy graffiti covered pool hall.
University Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas (Oct. 19 – 21) One thing that one quickly realises is that every American hates every other State and the Federal government, almost as much as he loves his own. However as we travelled around and people inspected our itinerary the state that always brought a flinch was Arkansas. It is a very rural state but it is also home to Wal-Mart. In spite of the warnings we found this to be among the best stops on the tour. Our primary host was Ryan, a merry American, and most evenings were spent in his father’s Middle Eastearn Restaurant, drinking the bar dry. In many ways this was one of the most polarised places we visited in the run up to the election. Not only because Arkansas has its Liberal democrat tradition (which spawned Clinton), which rubs against, its traditional rural conservative streak but also because our hosts were fairly evenly divided. In honour of this we decided to visit the local campaign head quarters for the two parties to pick up campaign memorabilia. Rather bizarrely Rob was offered a vote by a Republican party official. The Debate that night was “This House Believes that Tony Blair is George Bush’s lap dog”. We opposed and won.
University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa (Oct. 21 – 23) The first thing we did on arrival in Cedar Falls was to get Jacob to take us to a sports bar to watch the final game of the World Series semi-final between our Cardinals and the Astros. The omen of them winning was somewhat misplaced as, after a very messy night of drink, bowling and a run in with the police, as our driver was over the limit, I contracted food poisoning. This meant that I missed the next day’s debate on drinking age reduction, though I am informed that I was used as an example of what could go wrong more than once. Having somewhat recovered we decided that a more sober night was called for and went to the cinema to see “Team America” a strange movie with marionettes, only not doing what one would expect of puppets. The next day Jacob and his wife were kind enough to drive us south to Iowa City. This was one of the rare occasions that we actually travelled by car and it was lovely to ride past the never ending corn fields and small farmsteads that cover Iowa’s rolling prairies.
University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa (Oct. 23 – 26) The University of Iowa is situated in the old capital of Iowa, which has now moved to Des Moines. It is a beautiful town much more to European tastes. Most American towns have a real sense of urban sprawl and shapelessness. This is because there are rarely centres; rather most of the commercial centres are situated in sprawling business parks on the edges of town. Iowa City is however made up of a definite centre with several small shopping streets near the historic State capitol of Iowa (stolen by Des Moines). We had a lovely time here. We had a couple rowdy evenings out on the town with the debate team. According to Jack Karouac and Bill Bryson Iowa has the most beautiful women in the Union and on the evidence of "The 7
Summit" I would say they are right. Paul Bellus, the debate coach at Iowa, was so welcoming that he even threatened to take us to a strip joint but we managed to avoid that! The debate program here is very successful and is run by the amiable Dr. Dave, a quiet man who whenever brought up in conversation with anyone, was described as the most intelligent man they had ever met. We had the privilege of listening to some Policy style debate from Dr. Dave’s huge recording library of debates. Policy is the most widespread and competitive style of debate in America, of which there are many. The closest to the style practised in England is what they call Parli though it only has two teams. While it was Parli that we used in all the public debates we had heard a lot about Policy. There is a small animosity between proponents of either side. Policy is largely prepared, as the same motion is used in all the rounds in a season. It is therefore much more research heavy and the teams often carry round several large crates of notes. It is also very very fast. The aim of the game is to say as much as is physically possible in the allotted time. And it is fair to say that American debaters push right up to that physical limit. What results is an almost indecipherable (to all but the most experienced) blur of words, punctuated but huge gulps of air, not dissimilar to some sort of demonic possession with more academic references! We did two debates at Iowa, thankfully not in Policy though. The first was on sanctions for Iran, which we proposed, and the next evening we had a more relaxed debate on the nature of Bush and Blair's relationship.
Drake University, DesMoines, Iowa (Oct. 26 – 28) For a State that prides itself on having more pigs than people, Des Moines, the Sate Capital, is a very modern city with what has to be the campest State Capitol in America. Sadly by the time we got to Drake we were really beginning to tire. This might sound a little lazy, as our life was simply flying, debating and being entertained, however the tour is definitely an exhausting experience. The constant travel, change and drinking make for some tired tourists. We spent the first night in the mall and losing our car in the car park. The next evening we spoke at the inauguration of the Drake debating society. Sadly the debate did not go too well. We were once again split up with novices and the audience and style of debate did not go well with the complex motion, which was on how best to spend the money made available to African countries by cancelling their debts. Rob won again which was upsetting That night we went out to some bars and watched the Cardinals, who we had been following since St. Louis, lose the final game of the World Series (incidentally it is known as the World Series not because of American chauvinism but because the first sponsor was the World News Paper).
Bethany Lutheran University, Mankato, Minnesota (Oct. 28 – 31) Bethany is a tiny Christian college of less than 500 students, located a couple hours south of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Pauls). Minnesota is a vast farming state with little on the drive from the airport but the occasional farmstead and drive through tractor shop to keep you company. It is known as the state of one thousand lakes and it is certainly wet, cold and windy in the winter. Our host was the lovely Jon, ex-navy now debate and communication lecturer. On our first full day we went to
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chapel, did a short tour of the college and spoke to a couple of classes. We did this at a few stops and it was always a lot of fun. It generally involved sitting up in front of a class and fielding questions about who you are, what you are doing and England. It almost always quickly degenerated into silly chat, which was nice. The debate that evening had us split again and, as Rob was 2-0 up, I took it very seriously. The motion was on the value of State lotteries, not exciting stuff but our partners were both excellent and the whole debate was really competitive. I only just took it. The next day we had a day out with Jon and his girl friend. We visited Rob’s partner’s (from the night before) farm. Stacey’s brother kept exotic birds in a giant avairy out side. There was everything imaginable from the tropics including an Emu, all beautiful plumage in the absolute freezing Minnesota wind. Afterwards we visited the largest mall in America (formally the largest in the world until the Canadians did one better), the Mall of America (original name!). The Mall, like its namesake, is so much larger than one can imagine. It is basically a large city centre, entirely indoors, with a ten-screen cinema, huge arcade and theme park. We spent four hours shopping and just about managed to get around the whole place. Everything is so cheap here that one inevitably ends up spending money.
Randolph Macon College, Ashland, Virginia (Oct. 31 – Nov. 2) We enjoyed a seven-hour lay over in Atlanta (an airport we had become very familiar with by now) and so sadly arrived really late on Halloween night. Had a greasy dinner at Waffle House (unarguably the best restaurant in America!). Virginia is home to Richmond, the capital of the confederacy, and so we spent the next day on a civil war learning extravaganza, visiting the civil war museum and the White House of the Confederacy. In England I don’t think we are aware of how deep the war still goes in the American consciousness. People still fly the flag of the Confederacy in the South and call the civil war the “War of Northern Aggression”. That evening we had a donor’s dinner to attend. The benefactors who fund the debate program here along with the debate squad sat down to a lovely dinner. We had an excellent evening. After all the civility we had our last debate before the election and fittingly it had all the hallmarks of an election rally. The audience was too big for the small debate chamber so we spoke on the steps outside to a large rowdy crowd and the debates was equally ill tempered. It was nice to have some bite in the debate and Rob gave a virtuoso performance to win it for us. Managed to finally tick “meet a man named Hank” off the scavenger hunt list
Mary Washington University, Fredericksburg, Virginia (Nov. 2 – 4) We arrived in Mary Washington late on Election Day just as the first returns were being slowly returned. We watched all night, moving from election party to election party. Sadly the initial optimistic returns and exit polls went down hill, as did our sobriety. We eventually went to bed, just before the point of no return, depressed. We awoke the next morning, hung over, and turned on CNN in bed just in time to catch Kerry concede. Was despondent most of the day, which was not helped by the fact that that night we had defined America’s choice of president in front of a large Democrat audience. The audience was deeply sceptical but some how we won them 9
over and actually won. This was definitely the hardest debate and the victory I am most proud of in the tour. It proved the old adage about how debate teaches us to understand both sides of an argument. Having been so against Bush I came out of the debate not wanting to vote for him but understanding why someone might. I have not spoken much about the election but there can be no doubt that it was the single most amazing part of the trip. Staying in hotels in every stop we watched hours of CNN and Fox, watching the news cycles spiral out on the different news stations with their different spins. Everywhere the election was going on around you, saturating the media world. In the breaks between innings in the World Series there were party political ads. American TV shows are already ad heavy and in key swing states there was a message from both sides nearly every break, often answering the last ad. The news channels had to work hard to fill the day with new trivial information and so even the new ad being brought out this week was newsworthy. It was very strange for it to be finally over and the last couple of weeks of the tour felt slightly empty with out the daily election news cycle to keep you company!
College of Notre Dame, Baltimore, Maryland (Nov. 4) Got lost on the trains coming north on the surprisingly short hop from the heart of the Confederacy and the capital of the North. We arrived late and had to change into the suits in the train station when our host for the next two stops, Marlene Cohen, met us. Marlene is a lovely, chatty, tiny woman who was like a mom for a few days. We rushed off to Notre Dame, a Catholic all girls’ college in Baltimore. We had a weird class in front of a largely Asian group. Afterwards we had a one on one debate on the Iraq war. Rob out argued me but I won over the audience vote making it tied at 2-2. After the Q and A session turned in to a long chat about the election until we were eventually thrown out of the auditorium. That evening Marlene took us out to a lovely seafood restaurant in the docks of old Baltimore.
Prince George’s Community College, Largo, Maryland (Nov. 4 – Nov 7) We stayed with Marlene’s family, which was a nice change from impersonal hotels and motels. We felt like part of the family. We had one debate at Prince George’s, Marelen’s college, a largely African-American school at the edge of DC. Washington DC is not part of any state it is the strongest Democrat stronghold in the country and is largely populated by government officials and poor African-Americans living on the edge of town. The debate was the same as the day before but I had to defend Bush to a large angry Democrat audience and in spite of one of the best speeches of the tour Rob won! I had to deny the point of view I defended in the debate in the following Q and A session numerous times to avoid getting killed. We got in to a great debate with some Black Islamic Marxists (a weird combo) who really knew their stuff. Later we had an explore of the Capital. Got in too late to get into any of the museums so we just wandered around the mall, paid a visit on Mr. Bush and though he was home he was too tired after the election to see us. Next day spent the day seeing the art museums, which are very good, and all close together and then in the evening met Marlene and her son, Alex, to go and see the first home game of the season for the Washington Wizards (formally the Washington Bullets, but with the highest murder rate in the country the name was changed). To add to the spectacle they were playing the Miami Heat with their new signing, Shaq O’Neil, a monster of a player and one of
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the most famous in the game. American sports events are very different from those in England, firstly they only cheer when they are winning. Secondly there are constant breaks in the game for adverts, dancing girls and boy bands. Sadly the Wizards lost but it was a great game.
Depauw University, Greencastle, Indiana (Nov. 7 – 9) Our visit stop was Wabash in Indiana and Depauw’s sworn enemies. Were picked up by Jeff, the local, softly spoken but very kind coach. He showed us around Indianapolis. We then drove a couple hours west to Greencastle, out in the endless cornfield of rural Indiana. Depauw, like Wabash, is a small expensive liberal arts college but they have girls and the second highest population of Greeks (the name for the members of fraternities and sororities because of the Greek letter system used to name the houses) in the country. The next day we had a debate on the motion “This house believes it ain't easy being green” in front of a class which was very silly and good fun and then in the evening on the Iraq War. We knew this one pretty well by now and mauled a very good team. It is amazing how your debating improves with the constant practise that the tour involves. It is strange to have that as your focus and not as a sideline to academic study.
Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois (Nov. 9 – 11) Northwestern is a huge private university in North Chicago, on Lake Michigan, with the most successful debate squad on the policy circuit for the last decade or so (winning six out of the eleven last national competitions we were told). This success is largely because of a fearsome coach, Scott Detheridge, or the Duck, as he is affectionately known. We were put in a very fancy hotel and then taken out to a gorgeous, gourmet Japanese restaurant called Yoshi's. For dessert Scott kindly took us to a bar he owns. Northwestern looks likely to make it seven out of twelve this year. Their top partnership looks likely to win the national competition again this year, and in policy debate it is much easier to predict. Northwestern has therefore a rather fearful reputation of which we had been made aware on our travels. As a result we were extremely excited about the debate. In a reversal of the Mary Washington debate we were to defend Kerry. Sadly the Northwestern debaters realised they could not win in Chicago, defending Bush and sidestepped the election debate. The audience none the less went our way.
Perdue Calumet City, Calumet City, Indiana (Nov. 11 – 12) We were meant to stay in Chicago up until the National Communications Association Convention on the weekend. So we were none to pleased when we were informed that we had to be out of bed at five in the morning to get a train south just over the border into Indiana. As a reward for our sacrifice we were duly awarded with one of the best stops on the trip. Calumet City is a rust belt town on the border of Indiana and Illinois, which has been absorbed into the sprawling suburbs of Chicago. Perdue is a large famous football playing university and Perdue Calumet City is a new satellite campus. The debate was the same morning we arrived. The motion was on Iraq and for the last time it pitted Rob and me against each other. The Calumet City campus is a relatively 11
new and small affair so were not expecting a large crowd or much fuss. We could not have been further from the truth. There were at least four hundred people and as much pomp and ceremony as you like. The Dean, who guided us to our places, was in full academic regalia and the town bugelar did both national anthems before we started. The Mayor of Calumet city even named the day as British Debate Day (not veterans or armistice day) in our honour. The debate was a lot of fun. Rob and I, having done this debate a few times before, were able to relax and focus on playing with each other and the crowd. It was a close run but Rob took it, making it all square at 3-3. Had the afternoon off and in the evening we were taken off to a Japanese restaurant where they cook the food in front of you. The whole evening was great but the drive to the restaurant is perhaps the most memorable part. I found myself in a dirty, smelly truck with a cowgirl on either side singing along to country music classics like “Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy” and Rob’s personal favourite “I’m a Red Neck Woman”.
National Communication Association Convention, Chicago, Illinois (Nov. 12 – 15) The National Communication Association Conference is an annual convention for all the communication professors around America. Communication is not a subject we have in England and to be honest I am still a little confused as to what it is about, but basically it is the study of different forms of communication and persuasion (not very helpful I know). We had been looking forward to the convention as all the coaches we had met had planned to meet at the convention. As it was we flaked and only ran into a couple people, namely Greg from Nashville and Matt from New York. It was lovely to catch up with them but it did bring home how long we had been on the road. Scott Detheridge very kindly looked after us while we were here. He put us up in The Hard Rock Hotel, a very swanky hotel that knew it. Eddy Izzard was staying,’ nough said! The first night Scott, having heard that I liked Blues, took us to the infamous Buddy Guy’s Legends, one of the most famous blues bars in Chicago. The music was amazing and Rob played pool with pool sharks all carefully playing badly. The only reason we were here for the NCA was to help in the selection of the return tour to the UK (and the fact that every communication professor in the country was here). As a result there were a number of candidates. Rob had a life and went out but I spent the next couple of days hanging around with the nervous applicants. We also met Marilyn Young, the tour organiser, who had been Charley to our Angels, calling us up when ever something went wrong or there was a change of plan.
Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio (Nov. 15 – 17) Our host here was John, a lovely guy who did everything possible to make us feel at home. He admitted, rather sheepishly, at dinner on the first night to having come fourth in a national student presidential trivia competition. This was clearly a mistake as the rest of the evening I endeavoured to find holes in his knowledge, but to his credit I never did manage to do so. Kenton is a small liberal arts college in the middle of the vast nothingness of rural Ohio. We had a relaxed morning wandering around the beautiful small campus, decked in autumnal reds. In the afternoon, after a long discussion with our opposition for that night’s debate, we finally arrived at a motion that seemed as fair as it was boring, namely “This House would give incentives for voting”. This was the last public
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debate of the tour and it went very well. The audience was large and enthusiastic; John acted as compere and was a lot of fun. The debate was rowdy and I actually managed to be funny, which surprised everyone not least myself. The judges pronounced a split decision and turned it over to the floor. Although we got more votes the opposition’s friends shouted louder and were pronounced the winners. I am still bitter. After the debate we went back to John’s house for a big end of tour party. The most memorable event of the evening, mainly because all that followed it is shrouded in mist, was me and Rob playing Beer Pong. This is basically an elaborate drinking game in which nine pints of beer are placed in a triangular formation at either end of a table tennis table. The four contestants play tennis table but the aim is to land the ball in the opposing team’s pints. The result of succeeding in getting the ball in the glass is that the opposition team has to down the pint. This it seems is the way that people amuse themselves in deepest darkest Ohio, though to be fair it was a lot of fun and gets you very drunk.
Colgate University, Hamilton, New York (Nov. 17 – 19) We had been looking forward to Colgate since day one. Partly because it was the final stop but mainly because the new coach at Colgate was Miranda Weigler, an old friend of Rob and me. We flew in to freezing Syracuse and had a lovely drive south catching up with Miranda. We spent the evening playing Ping-Pong at Miranda’s house, along with her debate team. I am afraid we may have not been good company. The tour is exhausting, mainly because of the constant extroversion required when meeting new people. Now with an old friend we relaxed and quietly played Ping-Pong till late. Miranda’s position as debate coach brought home the difference between English and American debate programs. Miranda had a huge budget to lavish on her teams and to spend on travel to competitions. The debaters seemed to see it more as a class than a hobby. We didn’t have a public debate here but we did have a practise British parliamentary style debate. It was nice to go back to the British style. We spent the last night of the tour playing “free-form” table tennis and working out debate cases. Rather anticlimatic but after so long away from friends and family I think we both had our minds on the future. Next morning we were up bright and early for the long drive south to New York City and JFK international airport. On the way through the lush fields of rural New York State we passed through Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which took our total to 19 States visited. What had started early turned in to a mad rush as time started to ebb away. We then got stuck in New York traffic. Had we arrived five minutes later we would not have been allowed on the plane and we had to run through security to get on the plane. We stepped on to our thirty-third flight in ten weeks, relieved that we were going home and had not been left behind.
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