I'll fizzink the liz-inks tomorrow. If anyone else has a homepage or something they want up there, send an e-maizal.

'Bout North Ams. We probably won't have our names in on time - I don't even know if people are going - ask him if we're allowed to make our own hotel arrangements when we know the names / headcount. It might buy us some more time. We can figure out the finances.

Stella, my project was something really dumb about educating the citizens of Middlebury about modern day life in the former-Soviet Republics (assuming that the average, uneducated, townsperson still held grudges because of the whole Cold War thing). Of course, I have no first-hand knowledge of this subject either. Once I got there, they allowed me (all of us) to change. So I formed a group with some Russian kids who did debate and we talked about doing an exchange (I actually tried to get a trip to Moscow approved, it never panned out). I still email them from time to time, I sent them our handbook, I saw some of them at Worlds last year. Andrew designed a project about promoting outdoors activities with kids. As far as I know, that never happenned. He might have intended to do the project to do it while abroad. My friend Nate (from northwestern) went last year also, his project was to hold some mixers to raise awareness of the slavic studies major. He actually did that and said they were successful. The project doesn't have to do with Russia.


Okay... I am actually on the verge of having an all-nighter at home. This is sad, but I want this Nelson paper in by tomorrow, dammit and it's already after 2am. I am going to catch up on my MTV next week, maybe I can see the Midd reference. I always feel like I go to a cool school when it is mentioned on TV for any reason, even as Jack Tobin's former stomping ground.

For sheezy.... my handle is beatlejce. Bringing Midd debate together through every form of electronic communication.

1. FB - you can mail your passport in to get a visa, but the turn around time might be longer than jterm would allow for. If nothing else, I promise you the day you get back we can talk to Charlotte and put a rush on your visa. (Maybe there's a place in Vermont to get your visa on site??) As long as it coincides with a team trip, we've paid for visas for international students in the past.

2. Dan, did you request the McGill deposit check? If not, can you email Charlotte the amount / address for 6 teams. First come, first served after all.

3. New Year's Resolutions... who's got 'em??

touche.

Way to go Stella...

Agreed - Dan needs help. Now Secretary is a thankless job, I did it once officially and I now sort of do some of the jobs unofficially. It's basically an excuse to speak to Dan at least three times per day (this is why I keep up with it) and you get to send a lot of email and voicemail, if you get off on this, it's perfect. The most important part of the job is depenability, you'll need to meet with Charlotte regularly, and it's good if you don't lose reciepts.

WHO WANTS A FREE TRIP TO STANFORD?? There is a really great conference at Stanford for a week this spring called Democratic Partners. Read up on the details, but basically it's an organization that sponsors 15 Americans and 25 Russian student leaders to come together for a week, share experiences, do workshops about groups, fundraising etc... it's a lot of fun, it includes a trip to beach, impressive speakers (Gary Hart, Condoleeza Rice..). It's free, you get to meet some accomplished people, and there's a lot of debaters who get involved. I went two years ago and last year, Andrew "in abstenia" Gustafson represented, so I can answer any questions you have. They prefer to take people who have a demonstrated interest in Russsia / who study Russian language, but they are eager to get student leaders from any academic background too. You need to propose a "community project" to get accepted, but they never follow up, so Andrew and I never fulfilled this requirement, so keep that in mind when you are preparing your app. You also need to miss a week of school, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat, it was wonderful, my professors were understanding, and it was my first trip out west since I was 2 years old. Give it some thought and if you end up applying, I'll gladly send an email on your behalf, it's worked for 2 past attendees.



It's just me and "the prince" tonight (aka. the spoiled rotten little dog who may be deaf).

Anyone watch Survivor?

I will say that the Amazing Race finale last night was action-packed and far superior to the crappy season-ender of Survivor Thailand. I admit that I don't follow these shows with the same religious fervor I once did, but still, Survivor was crappy, the people were crappy, and the nail-biting final came down between a red-neck southern hick AND a used car salesman (these were two separate people, although in most conversations, they'd be reduced to one mulleted humanoid blob). I won't spoil the ending, in case any of you are purposefully in suspense, but it was, as the general theme of this post might suggest, crappy. But all of these travel friendly reality TV shows make me all that much more embittered that I am not getting on a plane to South Africa in six days.

Okay, I haven't started my Nelson paper yet - proving the one truth I know to be true about the liberal arts mentality - why do today what you could do tomorrow in a rushed, half-assed, bullshitariffic kind of way.

***In order to stimulate the dialogue (this is actually the theme of my liberal arts paper: dialogue, conversation, and inquiry) on this time waster du jour, I am going to send another invite to all the debaters who don't currently participate in our self-arrgandizing, self-effacing, and self-important talks. I know that "being home" will get old for everyone by Sunday, so this is the perfect thing to do to keep your mind sharp.***

I am in favor of Dan's jterm vision. I think that he's laid out a very clear plan and the right stakes for any on-campus debate tournament that would be popular and "classy." I guess it's just a matter of what we want to debate. I think people would be more comfortable going into the debate with a sense of what the sides / issues are. Just like doing a debate in class, it's nice to know what you are talking about and if you are pro or con. I think that gets stale (and the reason why I do parli) but in order to appeal to some self-conscious underclassmen types, it's probably a good idea to make this familiar.

I also think that the casebook plan and more mock debates are the key to improving our debating. Sad to say, we also need to start staying for more outrounds, which will mean less grand lunches and coming back to Midd later on Saturdays. We can make a trip-by-trip decision on how late we're willing to stay, but ultimately it'll make us more familiar with the breaking teams, see what makes them successful (so we can "poach it") and ultimately whip those pale weaklings. I'll say this much, Midd debaters have charisma, you can't fake that. But with a little practice and some solid gov cases, charisma and smoothness might translate into more shiny things and prestige. In order to achieve these goals, we need to nip some old habits in the bud. Please remind me on Friday night that I want to be sober for Saturday debates. Just because I want to go to a restaurant that's "good" and far away, vote that down. Not that debate won't continue to be fun, but I've been setting a lousy example, so this is my New Year's resolution to make debate better, and gosh darnit, for the 2 trips I have left, I'll try to stick to it.** (Although as far as McGill goes, no promises on behaving Friday night). So read up over break, bring back all the magazines collecting dust in your living rooms, and everyone come back with some articles, files, ideas and we'll be ready to go in January.

**being home made me remember how grumpy and boring my parents are, how little there is to do socially around home, and confirmed that I will be a regular hybrid for hire, a free agent, and a presence at most of the CT-area debate tournaments this spring, my impending job-schedule, withstanding.

If it makes anyone feel any better... and there is absolutely no reason why it would make anyone feel anything at all because empathy is way out of vogue these days, I pissed away an entire unproductive evening, went to bed at 4, and now I find myself at 8:30 forced to do the take home final I've been looking for the last 9 days. Hopefully leaving by 10:30 - some would call that ambitious, I call it all too willing to accept the crappiest, piss poor, bullshitty, response ever, don't so much chaulk this up to endurance or ambition, this is the opposite of that.

Coincidently, I finished two grad school applications last night. So Jeremy, I am in fact hoping to do all of this shit again, but I need to do with a smile on my face while feeding bananas and cocktail weenies on fancy toothpicks to the pyramid of masturbating monkeys because I want those bastards to pay for it too. It beats "do you want fries with that??"

That was all she wrote.

It amuses me what a great level of intellectual discourse and generally admirable work habits we instill to our novices and the Middlebury College community as a whole.

Merry Christmas, Dan.

Carruthers, MacArthur, Eubanks, and I thought long and hard on what to get you this Christmas since you've been so good to all of us, especially Eubanks. We decided to let you pick. Just let us know.

(Since MacArthur and Carruthers have gone back to Rye and New Canaan respectively, I guess you should just send your preferences to me).

God Rest (easy) Ye Merry Gentlemen… at least those who have been in my room lately...

It seems that I've acquired someone else's knit greenish-brownish winter hat. I suspect that it belongs to a debater because I doubt any of my invisible male callers would have been forgetful enough to leave such an important item behind. Claim it by Tuesday or prepare to have chilly ears until 2003.


ps - Yoshi, here's the back up plan if jobs / grad schools don't pan out. You in?