The Summer They Bridged the Gap

It's hot as hell in Texas this week. It's hell in Afghanistan this decade. So what's new? Clayton James Goss is what's new.

Our country has been at war since he was 10 years old. He's grown up thinking the middle east was an impossible place to go unless you had camo and a big gun. He's grown up being taught that things there can only be fixed militarily. He's grown up knowing that Afghanistan is a thousand worlds away and ten lifetimes back.

Clayton never joined the army or ventured to fight anyone. He talks. A lot. In fact, he's the International Public Debate Association's national champion. Finding solutions and selling them like cool water on a hot day is what he does best. This summer, he joined a cadre of other debaters from our circuit to make history. They've rejected everything they've grown up with and been taught. They chose to create their own path and find a new way to bring our countries a little closer together. They've joined forces with one of the universities in Kabul to teach their students IPDA debate.

At 4:24am our time, a battle was won. Clayton ran the first IPDA debate round in the history of Afghanistan. As the nation around us rallied behind war as the only solution, five young debaters went to a war-torn country to teach students to accomplish change through argument. Armed with pens, flow pads, and sharp suits, they carved out a little piece of history for themselves and the US. They fought back against stereotypes of college kids, young adults, and Afghanistan. They built a bridge across an expanse that no one else saw.

Today we honor the soldiers who have died throughout history and fought to the end for each other, for their country, and for the American dream. But, today I'm also honoring those five debaters who shoot words like bullets and drop smiles like bombs. They, too, are forging ahead into the unknown.

"Pioneers! O Pioneers!

For we cannot tarry here,
We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger,
We, the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend, Pioneers! O pioneers!"
- Pioneers! O Pioneers! by Walt Whitman

NaPoMo QOTD This Poem IS America. And This Video Is Awesome.

"When I had no roof I made
Audacity my roof.When I had
No supper my eyes dined."
 - Samurai Song by Robert Pinsky* (PoLau '97-'00)

I love this poem because it's basically the American dream, but it sounds prettier. The idea that audacity can be my roof is such a lovely invitation to go out and create fearlessly. And let's be honest, who doesn't dine with their eyes on a daily basis? The whole poem is beautiful and Robert Pinsky is such an admirable poet. He served three terms, more than anyone else, and did more than any other PoLau as far as grassroots get-up-and-go type stuff. We're talking consistently holding a schedule of three readings a day all over the country. I would love to see what a PoLau with his drive and 2011's technology could do.

And now for something COMPLETELY different:

I was thinking about cool ways that poetry sneaks into our lives. Be it Robert Frost's poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening making an appearance in the grindhouse film "Death Proof" or learning rhymes to remember multiplication tables or seeing quotes on inspirational posters with pictures of wild animals and landscapes you'll never see.

This one is my favorite, though. Levi's Go Forth ad campaign is phenomenal. They captured the feeling of Walt Whitman's Pioneers! O Pioneers! and didn't try to undermine its power with ridiculousness. And, no lies, it totally made me go out and buy a pair of Levi's. They're super comfy. And they make me feel adventurous.

*From The Poets Laureate Anthology, published by W.W. Norton in association with the Library of Congress. Poem copyright Robert Pinsky.

Sunday groove: Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself"

"I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fiber your blood.
Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you."

Walt Whitman printed 795 copies of Leaves of Grass in 1855.

About two dozen sold.