One of the many challenging things about living with me, for the few who’ve made the attempt, is that I am something of a packrat. Hoarder is the term of art these days, although in its true sense, this term…
Category: The Agony of the Wait is the Agony of Debate
A More Accurate Look at 2020 Primary Polls
With the first round of Democratic primary debates behind us and the next about to be announced, the 2020 campaign is in full swing. More than twenty candidates are elbowing for the right to take on Donald Trump as a…
Barely South Review Publishes “Cars with Strangers”
Barely South Review, the literary journal of Old Dominion University’s Creative Writing program, recently published Storey Clayton’s “Cars with Strangers,” an excerpt from his ridesharing memoir Driving for U: Behind the Wheel of a New Orleans Uber. While the print copy of the…
APDA Nationals 2017: A Debate Odyssey
It is three-thirty in the afternoon on a Thursday, the day before the first American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA) Championships to ever be held at Rutgers University will commence. I am in a grungy but comfortable New Brunswick apartment just…
School Protection in Out-Rounds at NPDA Nationals 2017: an analysis
While my overall interaction with 2017 NPDA Nationals was overwhelmingly wonderful, some of the joy was marred at times by confusion over a very strange tab policy that was included in this tournament. The tab policy was to protect schools…
Tulane Debate Reaches NPDA Nationals Quarterfinals in Historic Upset
The Tulane University Debate Team reached the quarterfinals of the National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA) National Championships last Sunday at the Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The partnership of Claire Kueffner ’18 and Khristyan Trejo ’19 finished in the…
Our Need for an Enemy: America’s Adversarial Obsession
“Down the corner by the hotdog stand I seen a man I said ‘Howdy friend, I guess it’s just us two’ He screamed a bit and away he flew Thought I was a Communist” -Bob Dylan, “Talking World War III…
A Life Lived Out Loud: Remembering Jonathan Bernbaum (1982-2016)
On Saturday morning, I woke up late, as I usually do these days. I’d been out driving till about 3:00 AM, wrapping up Friday night much earlier than normal. I was feeling a little sick. That night, I had nightmares,…
The Putin Playbook
“I always felt fine about Putin. I think that he’s a strong leader. He’s a powerful leader. … He’s actually got a popularity within his country. They respect him as a leader. … I would talk to him, I would…
I Find Your Lack of Amy Sherman-Palladino Disturbing
You get bullet points today. Because I’m overdue to post, but nothing stays in my head longer than a paragraph in the morning these days. Just pretend Introspection is back. -I think I may be the person in the world…