[eDebate] And so its official...you can apply now.

[Ken DeLaughder]

To everyone...

With no formal drumroll or fanfare, I will be going to law school in the 
Fall of 2006 and will not be returning as Director of Debate at Emporia 
State next year.  They are figuring out what the course of action will be 
right now, but I am told there will be a search for qualified applicants 
much similar to what happened when I was hired.

Official announcement forthcoming when I get wording and details.

*deep breath*

To my assistant: sometimes youre a pain in my ass, but you know what are 
assistants for.  GET YOUR DEGREE DAMMIT! :)

To my debaters: thanks for understanding, I love you all. You all kick ass, 
and we're going to have a good time in Dallas.

To my recruits: no reason to worry, someone great will take my place, and JT 
will still be around, and anybody tries to tell you the program is 
collapsing without me, they are full of shit, don't listen to their 
recruiting crap (some of you have already tried to do that... shame on you). 
  The program is bigger than me or any one person...

To my people:  I would thank lots of you, but you'll email me anyway, and 
I'd cry if I left someone out.  You know who you are, we still talk about 
things, maybe not as much as we used to, but you know... you do...don't 
worry, we're still friends :) Louie Petit has the biggest heart of anyone in 
debate.  What a champ (see I had to mention one person - Malcolm.. ok two), 
oh yeah Battlestar.. what the hell? was it a dream?

To the community at large:  You know I thought about what to say, but what 
really burns in my mind is what Doyle Srader said when he left, that he knew 
it was time when it was no longer fun to cut bunches of cards (Doyle, I 
listened carefully...).  This topic broke my heart, I was SOOOO looking 
forward to China.  Frankly, it sucks.  Same old contrived crud for the most 
part.  Standards for what passes for good argument have frankly just kinda 
crapped out as far as I'm concerned.

As I pass...Two things I want to share ... if you don't like reading my 
junk.. just hit delete and go on with your day.

STORY ONE: Title Vii of the housing discrimination act or something like 
that.

First story.. when I was at ENMU, we busted a top NDT program on a context 
challenge (Title VII topic - Wayne State as host) AT THE NDT - in round 8.  
My debater at the time didnt want to go out on a context challenge, but we 
got the original article from another squad who had debaters end their 
careers against their aff.  We lost on a 2-1 (we made the bust part of a 
"solvency advocate" arg), where one judge chided us for questioning the 
integrity of this program, another judge was FUMING and lectured this team 
abotu how they should be thrown out, and the third judge voted for the "NDT" 
program in question... they were confused and didnt want to pull the 
trigger.

The article was about Title VII of another act, not the Civil rights act we 
were debating.  I had judged this aff run by a "first round" team against a 
KU team where I almost voted against KU on this card that said their case 
only added "7 more cases" to the topic, since 7 other agencies werent 
covered by Title VII (of course the card was about another act...) I went 
and found the "first round" team to tell them if they ran that case again... 
Id bust them too.  They assured me they "jsut found out."  Apparently the 
story was no one bothered to look beyond the KWIC setting on Lexis when they 
did research, and the card just got passed around.  Yeah.

So the standing rules of the NDT say if any judge votes on an ethic 
challenge, one did, the NDT committee is supposed to meet or something and 
determine whether the team was thrown out.

Didn't happen, Bear tried to tell me to find them.. I didn't.. I was a 
coward... Everyone knew, and no one but Bear tried to help me.  The team in 
fact cleared at the NDT, while my Greyhounds lost their last round.  That 
has never left me...  I miss Bear, his voice was too loud at times, but he 
always spoke out.

I've always wondered if the roles were reversed and my team was busted by a 
first round if we'dve been thrown out of the NDT or at least someone 
would've talked about it.  Sometimes it seems like it never happened.. but 
it did.  and it sucked that no one helped us out.  I can't believe one judge 
actually yelled at my team for it.

STORY TWO: The Crappy DA

Phil Samuels on the Africa topic went and cut EXACTLY the same cards as a 
"first round" debater so that we could run this disad.  We highlighted them 
the same, read the same exact shell.. everything...   I heard two judges 
tell our debaters how shitty their cards were and how they were crappily 
highlighted.

The "first round" debater was top speaker, and ran the same damn disad.  One 
of the same judges read his cards and complimented him for the "hot disad."  
It still makes me laugh today.  Hypocrites.

When people ask me why its time to get out of debate I keep thinking about 
those stories.  I leave with a ton of great memories, greater people that I 
know, but its time to get out.  For those of you who love it.. stay and 
defend it. I'm done... I really am.   I heard rumblings at WVA JV Nats of 
folks who have good ideas, you should listen to them.  Joe and Darren... 
help those people get that stuff going.

MPJ... screw it... you can't win in the middle anymore, ESU  teams used to 
be able to go left or right, but now you gotta pick your judges so narrowly 
you HAVE to pick a side, or get crushed by teams that go deep both ways.  It 
makes me sad, what happened to adaptation?

Lastly...some of you will email me about the job, some of you are going to 
email me as a person, and some of you could care less I'm sure.  But you 
know, those of you I like the best... no matter what you do.. are the honest 
ones.  The ones for whom bullshit politics are just that, and like to take 
risks and speak your mind.  There are so many hypocrites in this activity 
who watch other people go down, or like to speak like they are the voices of 
purity who are just as tainted as the rest of us.  It's been interesting to 
see this semester go down, when I was thinking about leaving, because I got 
to hear so many of you just make asses of yourselves when you thought I 
would never find out what you were saying.

Hilarious... get over yourselves... really.

So, I'm glad all things considered that Darren and Joe were elected, I'm sad 
I will not be teaching public speaking - I really do love that class, and I 
pass on the torch to the next Head Hornet who will have to fight an uphill 
battle against folks who just wanna live in Lawrence or who can't avoid 
someone else's checkbook.  Good luck with that...I've left the cupboard full 

:)  I'm off to make more money to pay off my student loans, hopefully.


I love debate, for 22 years I have done it... at Sumner Academy, KSU, 
Missouri Southern, UCO, ENMU and now Emporia.  I love that I was the kid 
from the inner city in Wyandotte County that got to live a dream, and now 
I'm off to live another dream.  I'm sure I'll still be around, and I'm sure 
I'll need money in law school, but maybe it's time to see if I can help 
someone a different way.  Thanks to Sue, Ermo, Marlowe, Papa Duke, Schro and 
Glen for the chances. (sorry Ermo, I just decided today!)

Hey Stannard, I'll still do the co-op :)  fight the machine.

I'll end with,

BAGGINS - NO DATE  (Bilbo, Ring Bearer, LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring, 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120737/quotes, acc: March 16, 2006, KD)

"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less 
than half of you half as well as you deserve. "

Have fun :) now get back to your damned NDT prep! Except to watch Boston 
Legal.  In fact some of you would enjoy Boston Legal far more than your NDT 
experience.

P.S. - HA! Kiss my ass Gimley, oh yeah you can F*&% off too.

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