Tech note first: Since I've been struggling with the RSS problem for a long time, here are some solutions.

If you haven't already, you should delete the eye-fight RSS feed off of your reader, and then use the link on the right sidebar "eye fight RSS" to re-add. If you don't want to use a RSS reader, you can also subscribe to updates via email by entering your email in the form on the same sidebar (under "Subscribe)". Then you can follow the blog through your email without missing an update, and never be spammed ;)

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[[DISCLAIMER: There is going to be a lot of debate in this post. Approach at your own peril, or just scroll down to the pictures. Whatever you prefer.]]

Baaaaaack from Canada! Brown sent 3 teams (6 people) to Toronto to debate at NorthAms, the first tournament of the season where we could just have fun. And have fun we did. Although we obviously debated as hard as we could, there wasn't really any compulsive pressure to break (make it into finals), since the tournament was stuffed with America & Canada's best teams and hardly any full-novice groups. This is always a good thing since my greatest fear when it comes to debate is that I will turn into one of those hyper-competitive debaters who takes losing too hard and can only be satisfied with complete triumph.

Toronto - or at least, the tiny tiny fraction of Toronto that we got to see - is a really nice city. The air is surprisingly clean for such an industrial area, the skies are blue, and although the cold bites through your skin, if you can survive that you'll love the laid-back metropolitan area. We were really lucky because one of the girls on our team, Lydia, actually lives in Toronto - so we got to stay in her house, enjoyed a free tour around the city, and had a heated car at our disposal as opposed to all the other teams holed up in the Holiday Inn. TRIPLE SCORE!

A famous museum (I think it was a museum. I've forgotten the name, oops) redesigned to have a giant crystal sticking out of the side. Canadians were apparently mixed on the concept, but I really loved it.

Gorgeous, eh? A lot prettier than the disappointingly-meh Frank Gehry-designed art building, which I didn't even take a photo of because it looked so cheap and uninspired.

Debate-wise, I had a ton of fun. My original partner Allegra cancelled on me because she got an infection and couldn't get on a plane for fear of her ear canal exploding (no joke!), so I partnered with the delightfully passionate and deadpan sarcastic Doug & had a low-pressure, high-intensity good time. NorthAms is a tight link tournament - for all you Malaysian debate minions reading, this should be more like what you did at school - which means that no one brings their own cases, but one resolution is released to the general assembly 15 minutes before a round begins. I honestly think that as fun as it is to write your own cases, tight link makes for much better quality of debates. The opp still can't completely anticipate what the gov team will come at them with, but they have some time to consolidate philosophies, and it spreads the burden of proof more evenly across the two sides since the gov team has had just as much time with the resolution as the opp.

Lydia & I in GA (general assembly) 

The only problems come when you get opp-tight resolutions, like "This house would support profiling based on immutable characteristics for airport transport security". Yes, Doug and I had to argue for racism. Yes, we found it very hard to make jokes during this round as we were essentially supporting a pointless and ineffective system based on dehumanizing correlations. Yes, we lost hard. But in the end, a better team would probably still have been able to win as the gov team, so it's all good.

Best moment; when faced with the resolution "This house would not allow Ashley Madison and other ads promoting extramarital affairs to be shown on public transportation". As opp, Doug & I had no idea what Ashley Madison was, and built a loose case around the assumption that Ashley Madison must be some sort of ad starring a cheating spouse, or a spokesperson who had had a public affair...since "obviously there isn't a company that SELLS INFIDELITY, right?"

Well, turns out there is. Turns out Ashley Madison is a sort of e-harmony friendfinder specifically built for people who want to cheat on their spouses. Who knew? (But we still won, so Ashley Madison can suck my non-cheating dick :P) Fun debate.

On the way, we also Rick Rolled the entire auditorium of NorthAms by slipping this gem onto the projector they used to put up pairings and resolutions. ("This house is never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, and will never desert you.") Props to Mike & Doug for the idea - Thomas, Amirul, and Ryan, I expect comments of praise for this! Or-else-I'll-lose-the-game-OH-WAIT-I-ALREADY-DID.

Lydia de-linted me between rounds. We are very fashion forwards.

 Tournament ended with a formal banquet and dance. I wore my mother's dress and clapped whenever appropriate, and between the six of us we ate about a thousand tons of carbs. There may or may not have been a couple of unwelcome guests at our table that tried to hit on everything that moved. But nevertheless: no one parties like the Brown team. Especially when you have Lydia around to chauffeur a liquor-store-trip after rounds...

David & I. Brown novii love :) So glad you came!!

Some of my favorite dancing shots of our team on the dance floor...that's right, we know how to break it down (baby going down, down, down, down dowwwwwwn)

Team shot! L-R: Doug, Lucas, David, me, Lydia, Mike

Zhiheng & I...my favorite drinking Harvard boy. The stand-up comedians York hired were so bad that the two of us were forced to polish off a bottle of the nice Russian stuff in order to endure their 20 minute spiel.

Epic debate partners! Also, please check out my dress: both because I'm vain as nails aaand because this is the only photo that captures it properly. It took a whole fucking bunch of sucking-stomach-in to fit into this thing!

Don't forget our time spent at Lydia's home bar: we mix a mad mango martini (we also played scattergories, where I would have gotten mega-points for all the alliteration in that sentence)

As a final souvenir of our time at York, I took a table-marker off of the banquet table and named it the Official NorthAms Scepter. Then I proceeded to carry it around obnoxiously for the rest of the trip.

Lydia at the airport lounge with the Scepter

Me with the Scepter at South Station, Boston.

Life doesn't get any better than that. NorthAms, I miss you already. Great start to the debating season & to the semester in general...except now I've got to catch up on my classes. Gonna be a "fun" week.

Also, blog, I've missed you too. You're welcome. Thanks to all you darlings that still read this, and GOOD LUCK to all my forensics babies heading out to SEA in KL right now! Being able to debate is one thing, but being able to have fun is the one that really counts. That's what SEA was to me for four years, and although NorthAms is no substitute, it's great in its own way and I'm so glad I've been able to find something like this even at Brown. I may be a geek, but I'll be damned if it's not exciting.

love, yvonen