i have a spam filter

~Bill

http://www.midwestairlines.com/MAWeb/travelDeals/dealDisplay.aspx?id=234

Also, you get a free companion ticket.
http://www.midwestairlines.com/MAWeb/travelDeals/dealDisplay.aspx?id=230

Best,

Candace

Additionally, I must defend two personal attacks made of me as “ad hominem.” Mr. Krokosky made a connection between my reference to elitist mentality and his post. That wasn’t the intention, and when I re-read my original post, I was clearly asking rhetorical questions for the sake of discussion, not attacking him directly. Moreover, my reference to “mature” was exactly as Mrs. Wisniewski interpreted it: I was simply referring to the need to “take out” every argument as something not often done in real-world decision-making.

I’m sorry this discussion took such a sour turn, and it’s disappointing that several of the posters (I’m not singling anyone out individually) seem to have trouble distancing their arguments from personal integrity. Again, after re-reading my comments, I stand by my record of not making any direct “against the person” attacks. If those are inferred, that’s unfortunate.

I think there were some great compromises proposed, particularly by Bill. As stated so succinctly by Mrs. Wisniewski, there are no winners and losers here, because there are no absolutes in real-world decision-making. Compromises to polarized positions are what makes for progress. Patience to see compromise move toward a particular position is the next step.

also on a side note i do not understand why at the Appleton east challenge they gave no oral kritiks or discloser of LD out rounds (at least the ones i saw) yet they were given in VSS rounds. I think receiving oral kritiks from judges is very helpful (and every one wants to know how they do) so i was curious as to why they were not being given at all in LD (except a few of my prelim rounds) i understand that Tab Rooms want ballots, but why not give orals more often in LD, they are done in VSS where rounds are 2X longer?

I’ll start with one observation that I feel I need to repeat.
When Neal writes of the poor debate,- insulting the efforts of children – he is just calling it as he sees it. Yet, when I say his response is HSD, I am crossing some kind of line and deserve to be strung up. It does amuse me in small part however, that so many people have decided that HSD is a the most terrible of insults. As I mentioned in my second post, it was meant to be tongue – in – cheek (hence the “forgive me” that preceded it in the post.) And I apologized to Mr. Krokosky in my second post, saying that I didn’t intend to seriously offend him. And here we are, numerous posts later, and some people can’t let it go. That seems to be the only thing that was gleaned from my posts. Aren’t we all – at least in part – high school debaters at heart? Didn’t I, in the first paragraph of my first post identify myself as a former high school debater? Have we no sense of humor here? I can tell when I go into HSD mode, and when I do, I know that content is sometime sacrificed over form, technicalities, and speed. My brother used to call me on it all the time. Here, I was bothered that some serious concerns were raised, but lost in claims of conceded arguments and oversimplifications. So one final time – and I promise to let it go.

1. Please let me clarify a point both Neal and Emily seemed to have missed. I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THE ONE BIG TOURNAMENT A MONTH IDEA. I am tempted to retype that for emphasis. I indicate this in both the 2nd and 5th paragraphs of my response. In the second paragraph I call it a reasonable compromise. In the 5th paragraph I say it is silly and unreasonable for Neal to assume that I would somehow block the idea. I will repeat, my comments were written to address the one tournament a weekend idea, not the one big tournament per month idea. For all of the numbered and sub-pointed responses that were suppose to add clarity, many people seemed to have missed that.

2. It is also unreasonable and truly unfair to assume that I am somehow wanting to avoid good competition for my team. (Post 43 2D) I reread my posts, and I’m still not seeing from where that conclusion came. A few of you who know me know that when my daughter was her entire forensic team in 2006, I worked hard to support her and help her while she rebuilt the team. Due mostly to her efforts, we fielded a small team and attended most of the big forensic meets last Spring (and I personally paid the expenses the few times we had 2 or 3 students stay from Friday into Saturday). We sought out good competition and have had some good success. We are now trying to expand into debate. We have stepped outside of the comfort or the Milwaukee Debate League in order to widen our experience. Why is Emily convinced that I don’t want to give my kids a competitive schedule? Frankly, I’d love to take them to all of the National meets if time (theirs and mine) and money (theirs and mine) were no object.

I shared in this forum my concerns that the one meet a week travel schedule could kill my team. No one bothered to address that – in part because the thread shifted to a one big meet a month idea. Somehow, I was assumed to be an evil opponent to that fine idea.

3. Thank you Candace for acknowledging that my comments were about the struggles of starting a new team. You asked if UDL teams are joining the ranks of the WDCA. Last year, DeBois HS started attending WDCA meets. This year, as far as I can tell, my daughters’ school is the latest addition. There are a lot of schools with new coaches and programs. Some have expressed interest in joining WDCA once they feel a little more comfortable with the whole process. I have to be honest here – after this Welcome Wagon of incorrect assumptions and accusation thrown at me when I dared to express my opinion, I’m not feeling too comfortable myself.

I hope to meet many of you at State. I am not the evil, uninformed, or close minded person I have been made out to be.