Debate 18: Trinity University, San Antonio, TX.

Having been picked up Jarrod Atchison and sampled some delicious Cajun cooking we continued down to San Antonio for our next debate. Jarrod was a policy debater of some renown in the 90s and is now in his first year teaching and coaching the debate squad at Trinity. He is trying to expand the program from a small policy team to a much more inclusive squad that also covers public debate. This was the first time the tour had been to Trinity – which is a small but very well respected liberal arts college which constantly ranks very highly in lists of US schools.

Jarrod immediately won us over by putting us up in a beautifully appointed flat just off the campus. The debate itself was also in an interesting room with floor to ceiling windows that looked over San Antonio – we proposed taking US troops out of Iraq in 60 days. In opposition were Jerrod and Martha who is a 6”2’ Basketball player. This was Martha’s fist debate and she and Jerrod put up a spirited defence of the issue.

For a full review of the debate please refer to the report in “The Trinitonian” – the independent student newspaper on campus

The next day was a truly delightful rest day. For Brunch the debate team took us to a local burger joint that is apparently a popular stop on political campaign trails. The local speciality was the “Macho” Burger, which as you will note from the photo above, was larger than Ali’s head!

Jarrod took us to see the site of the famous Alamo – where a small band of troops from around the world defended Texas’s independence against a massive Mexican army. We had Margarita’s at a bar on the picturesque River Walk (a man made river lined with restaurants that snakes its way through downtown San Antonio) and enjoyed more tasty BBQ – although Alex was rather shocked by the size of his appetizer! That night Jarrod and his wife took us to the local cinema complex where we watched the new George Clooney flick – “Michael Clayton”. Alistair was generally deemed to be over critical and snobby about the film, but we all had a good time and enjoyed the large buckets of popcorn on offer. Later that evening as we sipped beer and watched Comedy Central in our little apartment we were both struck with how nice it would be to stay a few more days, but life as Debating Rock Stars is tough and the next morning (after sampling the best Breakfast Tacos in the country) we were dropped off at the airport to catch our flight to the west coast.