What a Cross!

With the debate behind me now, my level of nervousness about being on television and debating a topic that I'm not too thrilled about has calmed down and I will get back to this blog.

The Debate: If you could be reborn, would you prefer to be a man or a woman?

Our position: We would prefer to be a woman. (That position was given to us, I promise.)

I did the opening statement and just nailed it. I know it went well and I set the tone of the debate with my argument. I was confident that we would sail past our opponents. Then came the cross and it was bad. Glen (my British bud) and I realized that not only had we not really prepped the debate, but we didn't even know the entire format. We had nothing prepared for the cross. When it was our turn to drill them, we just looked at each other and I went into the long-winded "question" about societal genderization that ultimately did not land. It was bad. Luckily, that gave Glen some time think about it. Then, we had to field questions from the audience (which consisted of mostly middle-eastern-ish grad students) and the two academics who served as commentators. And finally, Glen did the closer. I knew that we had dominated the opening, lost the cross and now it was all on Glen. He did a good job and I was confident that we had gained some ground back after that shaky cross.

The audience votes after each round and while the people on TV get to see the results after each round, we don't. In the end, the wacky yet insightful host got the results and started reading the scores. He didn't tell us who won each round, but in the end... WE WON!

It'll be on TV this weekend. I'll try to get a copy and post it on here.

Fun Facts: Not only did I have to wear heavy make-up, but I also had to have my hair straightened and waxed. Trying to avoid looking the camera is interesting. Never have I been more nervous then I was last night. Between the academics, educated audience, doing the opener, bright lights, camera's, being the center of attention to hundreds of people on set and the desire to not look like a douche to the thousands of people who watch the show, I was overwhelmed, but I think I kept my cool and we delivered a solid argument. So solid in fact, that we did not need to cross-examine. Ha!

They did ask us back, and I will be on the show again in the next few weeks.