Month: November 2008

Domestic social issues are issues that extempers never want to discuss. Extempers dread walking into them and feel even worse after they have competed. Speaking on domestic social issues well is a fine balancing act between taking a moderate approach on issues, so as not to offend judges, and having a knowledge base that can cite specific examples of how approaches have worked in the past and could work better in the future.

This brief will be shorter than most, simply because the Thanksgiving holiday does not allow for any tournaments to occur this weekend. However, I would hope that most extempers would use the days off of school to get caught up on current events and knock out some heavy reading.

Extemp Questions for the Week of November 18th-November 24th, 2008

On November 18, 2008

In International Extemp, U.S. Extemp, Weekly Questions

questions 1. Does the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo warrant intervention by neighboring African states?

2. Should the international community launch a joint naval mission to protect commerce off of Somalia’s coast?

3. Why did Jerry Yang leave Yahoo?

4. Should the Republican Party stop its opposition to the auto industry bailout?

5. Is centrism growing in Latin America?

6. What should be Barack Obama’s first priority as President?

7. Is the world forcing Tibetans to become more violent in their struggle with China?

8. Are proposed constitutional changes in Russia necessary?

9. How should the Supreme Court rule in Pleasant Grove City v. Summum?

10. Will the Democrats achieve a filibuster proof majority in the Senate by the end of December?

Topic Brief: The U.S. Auto Industry

By geniao44446

On November 18, 2008

Extempers have been busy over the last several months trying to understand the different elements of the current financial crisis. In the midst of understanding credit markets, bond markets, the $700 billion U.S. bailout package, and deteriorating housing market, it was easy to ignore the problems of one of the most crucial industries of the U.S. economy: the auto market. Within the last several weeks, the problems of the auto industry’s “Big Three”, General Motors (GM), Chrysler, and Ford have become dire, as the auto companies say they have spent most of the $15 billion they held in reserve during the third quarter. Faced with slumping sales at home and in the midst of restructuring their operations, GM has warned that without government aid it will not be able to make it through the year and Ford has warned that it will not last long into 2009 without government aid.

Faced with this situation, and a lame duck session of Congress, as well as for President Bush, you have the recipe for a tense political battle that will have ramifications far into the future. You also have the stage set for what will be the last major battle of the Bush presidency, and one that could make President Bush even more unpopular before he leaves office.

This brief will give a summary of the current woes facing the automakers, the different solutions proposed by each side, and ramifications for the eventual solutions that could be prescribed for the auto industry’s woes.

Extemp Question Central National Points Race (November Standings)

In National Points Race

by Logan Scisco

There have been three tournaments counting towards the inaugural Extemp Question Central National Points Race since our October edition, one occurring at the University of Pennsylvania Liberty Bell Classic and the other at the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational, where both the United States and International extemp tournaments counted for points. To see a breakdown and basis for the Extemp Question Central National Points Race, please look at previous issues of The Ex Files that can be accessed on the Extemp Question Central website.

The University of Pennsylvania Liberty Bell Classic, held on October 18-19^th, and the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational, held on October 16-19^th, featured diverse fields of competition. The inclusion of these three additional tournaments into the rankings, which have already included the Wake Forest Early Bird and the Yale University Invitational, helped to break the tie that existed in the number one spot in the rankings in our last issue. To view the results of the Liberty Bell Classic and the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational, please look at the results section at the back of this magazine.

Topic Brief: 2008 Presidential Election Recap

by Logan Scisco

The 2008 elections, an election cycle some extempers have been speaking about for the last two and a half years has finally come to a close. The election result, unlike 2000 and 2004, was announced at the end of evening, with Senator Barack Obama of Illinois becoming the first African-American to be elected as the President of the United States. Obama won the election by a large margin in the Electoral College, at last count 365 to Senator John McCain’s 162, and also won a commanding margin of the popular vote, 52% to 46% (independent candidate Ralph Nader won 1% of the vote). Obama’s share of the popular vote was the first time a Democratic candidate has won over 50% of the popular vote since Jimmy Carter defeated Gerald Ford in 1976.

Obama’s victory was accompanied by Democratic triumphs in Congressional races across the country. In the House of Representatives, Democrats expanded their majority by twenty seats and in the Senate, the Democrats added to their majority by six seats, with three races in Georgia, Minnesota, and Alaska being subject to recounts, absentee ballot counts, or runoffs. If the Democrats win all three of those contested races they would have a 60 vote, filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, which would be intact for the first two years of an Obama administration.

This topic brief will give a brief analysis of why Obama managed to win, why McCain lost the election, and where the Republican Party goes from here for the 2012 elections.

Topic Brief: Poverty

By admin

by Bill Thompson

Preface: While the point of this brief is not to advocate for Universal Healthcare, it is not an unfair expectation to suggest that children should NOT suffer medically because of their socio economic status. According to the US Census Bureau 34% of those in poverty in 2007 were children.

It is entirely possible that there is no task more daunting than trying to explain “Poverty” in a single extemp brief. Before I begin I would like to preface that I have a larger investment in this issue than most who will read this. For the last 7 years I have worked with homeless and abused teens in my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. I have seen firsthand the toll that poverty has on its victims and the gravitational pull that it emits, making it at times like a blackhole pulling in those who get too close to it. Poverty is also not just an issue because of America’s current economic woes. “From 1975 to 2001, the U.S. child poverty rate did not go below 16%. For much of that time, the child poverty rate was at or above 20%.” (National Center for Children in Poverty, Low Income Children in the United States: A Brief Demographic Profile, March 2003)

I suggested this brief to Logan because in the 16 years I have judged extemp I can count on one hand the quality extemp speeches I have seen on the topic. This is due to a few causes: 1. Most extempers have an aversion to the subject that causes them not to take poverty questions or write them when they become coaches. 2. Those who do take poverty questions address them in a very narrow manner and do not understand the many facets of this subject. I say this because there is no way in a single brief that I will be able to adequately navigate all the causes and effects of poverty. However, it is my hope that by first addressing what poverty is and how it is measured and next the side effects of poverty on American citizens that those reading will have a better understanding of poverty and it’s toll on America.

Glenbrooks Preview

In Tournaments

by Ian Panchevre

A typical prep room experience does not involve recognizing someone from the nationals final round video. At the Glenbrooks, however, this sort of encounter is typical. The Glenbrooks can be an intimidating tournament. But you will learn that the excitement of the tournament can easily overcome most apprehension. The Glenbrooks offers an incredible learning opportunity and I hope to share with you what I got out of it, but in order to do so, I’ll have to break the spirit of extemp. Instead of covering three distinct points, I will begin by addressing the sort of preparation I did and then precede to reveal the attitude that I had throughout the tournament. In the process, I hope to address specifics about the tournament.

While preparing, it is important to keep in mind what really matters. You have a limited amount of time and therefore you have to be selective in regards to how you devote yourself.

Reading is obviously important. I encourage extempers to increase their reading load before a tournament such as the Glenbrooks. However, be realistic about how much you can read and what sort of knowledge will be useful in rounds. Reading a journal article about the fishing industry in Fiji will have little applicability. Moreover, trying to go through an entire book is probably unrealistic. In addition to regularly reading The Economist and Foreign Affairs, I would read the entire domestic and foreign section of The New York Times for about a week and a half before a big tournament. Also, while filing, I would set aside articles that clarified situations I did not completely understand to read at a later time. If you have the time to read a journal, go for it. Otherwise, stick with more general news.

Keeping Their Attention: A Judging Analysis

By admin

In Strategy

by Colin West

Every extemper has, at some point, received a ballot after a tournament and wondered “was my judge even listening to my speech?” I know I have. But now that I have moved from the realm of high school competition into the pool of college judges, I can tell you the answer. They weren’t listening. At least, not to all of it.

Of course it is rarely the case that judges are simply tuning out for long passages of your speech. More likely, they are distracted by writing comments on your ballot, by trying to remember what time signal to give next, or because you said something so clever that it caused them to spontaneously recall an article they read in last month’s New Yorker. But the result is the same: a few seemingly random moments from your speech will have a great deal of influence on your final score; the rest is simply background.

What this means for you, as a competitor, is that you need to think more like your teacher does when he or she prepares a lesson plan. After all, it’s not easy to get teenagers to focus on anything for more than 15 seconds, unless “Pimp My Ride” and “Panic! At the Disco” are somehow both simultaneously involved. Applying this strategy starts at the very top of your outline, with the intro. Of course, it’s a well-known fact that the introduction serves as an “attention getter.” But such devices generally serve as just this and nothing more: they grab the judge’s attention momentarily, but relinquish it moments later when the speaker moves on to more substantive (read as: “boring”) issues.

The Shark, The Guppy, and the Jobber

In Strategy

by Hunter Kendrick

People who know me realize that I do not mince words. I say what I am thinking at the moment I think it. For example, I once remarked to my coach in practice that, “So many of the world’s problems could be solved with a handgun and a well-placed café waiter,” (a viewpoint I would not recommend espousing in a round). Sometimes my candidness is good, other times people hate me. But, at least I am honest and upfront. Now and then, the people I express my opinions to are somewhat surprised at the words that flow forth from my mouth. One such incident happened at the 2007 NFL National Tournament.

The conversation occurred sometime between the octafinals rounds and the semifinals postings for US Extemp. The conversation involved me and a good friend of mine, Jack Grennan, from North Alleghany Senior High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jack had asked me a very simple question. My answer, however, wasn’t as simple.

“Do you think that (name has been omitted for obvious reasons) will do well?”

“Oh yeah, he’s a shark.”

“A shark?”

“Um-hum.”

“Ok, ok… What about (see above parentheses)?”

“Hell no.”

“Why?”

“He’s a guppy.”

“A guppy…”

Topic Brief: 2008 Presidential Election Recap

By geniao44446

On November 12, 2008