The Main Piece
Growing up Nile became accustomed to having the tradition of monthly debates with her neighboring community. Around four to five families would meet at one house, but “honestly, everyone was invited to come join and debate. Even children!” They would have debates on religion, world problems, anything making the news. Although some topics could be considered explicit they still allowed children to sit in because the parent’s felt it was necessary for them to be informed on what was going on in the world, despite how graphic or cruel it could be. Nile also added that they usually do not go into too much detail with explicit topics until later, when the children have gotten bored and leave the room to do other things. Everyone is able to contribute their own ideas and opinions, these debates would often go until two or three in the morning.
Background Information
My informant is Nile Jones, a current undergraduate and close friend of mine at USC. She enjoys having these monthly debates because it allowed her to keep updated on what is going on in the world. It also pushed everyone to look into certain topics more because if one was asked their opinion on a certain topic, but did not have anything to contribute they would feel embarrassed. She participated in this tradition since she was six years old. It started because whenever her family would throw parties. Many times families would spend the night and they wanted to be entertained. The Jones’ clever way of keeping their guests awake and interested would be opening up these debates. Thereby, it became a tradition in which many were involved in. Her grandmother was the first one to suggest it and it has been continued ever since.
Context
Nile told me about this tradition as we were eating dinner together one night. I asked her about any stories she had of home and she remembered having wild debates with her family members back home in Georgia. She says that compared to home, life at USC is not as hectic.
Personal Thoughts
Hearing about Nile’s monthly debates warmed my heart. It made me wish that my family had more parties and celebrations, gathering together others from our community. I often felt disconnected from our other neighbors because my brother and I would always be indoors. Having these types of debates would have allowed us or any family to open up to a larger group. However, it made me wonder if these types of debates ever caused problems between the debaters, if their pride ever got in the way of their friendship and good sportsmanship. When I asked Nile this, she simply replied that “everyone knows to keep their cool.” Overall I think this tradition is great and hope to be able to implement it in my family in the future.