Oh Marc! I can’t believe he’s turning 19 today, while I have yet to turn 18. He certainly has the capacity to act his age, though I would dispute the claim that he always acts it.

Like most guys I know, he’s changed a great deal since I first met him in maybe 6th grade. His face has filled in but simultaneously hollowed out. His voice has certainly gotten deeper, and yet there are still the best aspects of young Marc peeking through.

Last summer, we went to the same debate camp, and partnered through the majority of our camp experience, finishing really strong at the camp tournament.

I’m really proud of how much he’s improved and “expanded his horizons;” any debater that knows Marc that reads this will know what I mean – cough, cough, Cap K and neolib,
cough.

Maybe this sounds a little one-sided considering that this is just me speaking about him, but hopefully if you ask him, he can confirm that I also did indeed improve a deal over the course of summer camp.

What I remember from our summer partnership brings a smile to my face.

Marc slept in a hammock because this boy knows how to construct a hammock! Yet he never seemed to actually sleep. He’d text at 2AM and tell me the next morning, with an energy drink in hand and slightly bloodshot eyes, about some documentary about capitalism or whales that he’d watched the night before, or a lengthy article about Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves in which he immersed himself.

His computer was the biggest piece of crap I ever saw, but he loved the life out of it, even when it couldn’t survive without being plugged in for more than like 2 minutes.

In Michigan, there’s always this huge art fair, and Urban Outfitters offers its clothing virtually free, so naturally, I went shopping every single day of that sale.

One early morning, I was strolling and stopped short, spying a Captain America t-shirt. I called Marc on a whim and asked if he wanted to buy one with me.

The joke’s that we always made arguments about why the US’s benign hegemony can engage other countries and we finally had a way to display our passion!

So we did. On the day of the camp tournament, he wore it under a dress shirt and I literally went from round to round broadly showing off how in love I was with America (ironic, I know)

I wear that t-shirt all the time, even to school; remembering why I bought it always evokes a chuckle within me.

Within a robust debate team, I always loved Marc for this essential balance that he brought to the table; his mood-lightening grin and the way that his hands are always shoved in his sweatshirt pockets, the way that he listens intently to everything someone has to say, the tendency that he has to make friends with judges and debaters alike are truly indicative of how wonderful he is.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!