Nostrum is a fictional look at the high school debate universe, written by Jules O'Shaughnessy and the Nostrumite, originally published in weekly episodes until the two, well, ran out of ideas. Along the way they published enough material to make Tolstoy think twice, but until recently it had all been lost in the mists of AOL. Now, thanks to the dedication of Jim Menick, who obviously has nothing better to do with his time, the episodes are being republished, both as print versions and audios. Choose your poison, then sit back and enjoy the ride.

For your pdf reading pleasure:

Our adventure begins in New Jersey, with the Andrew Johnson Reconstruction Memorial (and the Little Johnson)

• 1   The Young and the Clueless
• 2   All My Debaters
• 3   Things to do in Denver When You're Just Feeling a Little Sickly
• 4   "Lucy, I'm Home"
• 5   Don't Cry for Me, Nighten Township
• 6   Bless Me Father for I Have Tabbed
• 7   Keep the Aspidistra What?
• 8   Reservoir Hot Dogs
• 9   The Rights Stuff
• 10   On the Road Again
• 11   Policy is the Best, Honestly
• 12   Them's the Breaks!
• 13   The Envelope, Please
  

Hiatus -- prepping for The Messerschmitt College Mess O' Forensics!

• 14   Don't Give up Your Day Job
• 15   Personally, I Prefer Werewolves of London
• 16   My Dinner with Buglaroni
• 17   In the Room, Forensics Come and Go
• 18   Sylvia? Who is she?

The Miami Messerchmitt Mess O' Forensics -- the first big college tournament of the year has finally begun. All we can say at this point is that there will be at least one arrest. Everything else is up to the judges.

• 19   It's a Debate World After All
• 20   Road Trip!
• 21   Do You Like Miami, Dear? Kindly Tell Me If So
• 22   Beware the Jabberwock, My Son
• 23   I Say, Jeeves, Pass the Komodo Steaks, That's a Good Fellow
• 24   You're Either On the Bus or Off the Bus
• 25   Brillig and the Slithy Tove
• 26   Moby Dick 2, Or, The Other Whale
• 27   Have an Eggroll, Mr. Goldstone
• 28   Because the Night...
• 29   What's Good About It?
• 30   But in the Morning, No
• 31   Sisterhood Forever!
• 32   Break, Rattle and Roll
• 33   PDA
• 34   One to Hold the Bulb and Five to Twist the Ladder

The Messerschmitt is over, but the debate season is just getting into full swing. The new LD topic is about to be released, there's romance in the air, and of course, there's the aftermath of the Messerschmitt to be unravelled.

• 35   A Most Excellent See, Your Excellency
• 36   Put This in Your Tub and Smoke It!
• 37   Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spammetty Spammmmmm! Spammetty Spam.
• 38   Tell Me On a Sunday, Please
• 39   I Don't Think They Mean SATs for Labrador Retrievers
• 40   Any Place I Hang My Hat is Holy
• 41   At Least It's Not the Christian Coalition
• 42   Paradise by the Dashboard Light
• 43   And You Call Yourself an Immortal?
• 44   A Pound of Flesh, Two Pounds of Carrots, and a Nice Baguette
• 45   Another Reason for Sticking with Bruce Willis Movies

This weekend it's a little tournament, an NDL/CFL at Toulouse-Lautrec High School for newbie debaters and all stripes of Speechies. Not much will happen...

• 46   So Is Teeny Todd Really Sweeney's Little Brother?
• 47   In the Heart of the Hibernian Metropolis
• 48   Mine I'll Leave to Chance and Chemistry. Yeah, Chemistry.
• 49   How Now, Kurosawa?
• 50   By George, I Think She's Got It
• 51   Song and Dance

The NDL/CFL is over. All eyes now turn to preparations for the Manhattan Lodestone OriginalVaganza (All Other Vaganzas are Merely Extra)!

• 52   Make Him an Aff Case He Can't Refuse
• 53   I'm in Love with IMs, Baby, or, What's the Story, MorningGlory@aol.com
• 54   I'm Calm, I'm Calm, I'm Perfectly Calm
• 55   Hand Me De Construction Paper / Papier De Hand Me De Construction / Paper De Hand Me Of Construction
• 56   You Da Man, Girlfriend!
• 57   Things That Go Bump in the Day -- A Nostrum Pot Pourri: Celluloid Heroes; The Seth Will Rise Again; Nancy Drew and the Missing of the Case
• 58   What Becomes an Invoice Most?
• 59   A Night at the Telephone: Welcome Back Kotter; Pass the Eggs Benedict, Arnold; The Fundamental Rules Apply
• 60   I Wake Up Screaming; Da, Da, Da, Da, Da, KICK!
• 61   And Quiet Flows the Don (Provided He has a Flow Pad) / Bunburying / Which Came First? The Chick or the Yegg?
• 62   Hooray for Hollywood! / The War Between Debates / Totally Moly
• 63   It's Not the Black Spot, but it Will Probably do the Job / Someday My Prince Will Come
• 64   Godsapoppin / The Old Dawg's Network / Old Trick, Young Pup Division / He Walks in Nightly, Like a Beaut
• 65   The Magnificent Sevens
66   Dialogues: When I Take My Saccharin to Tea / He's Back and She's Mad / Salome and the Dance of the Seven Veils (of Ignorance) / The Feline Dialectic
• 67   The Dons' Last Do
• 68   The Nostrum Musical Players Proudly Present the Round Robinskis in "On the Town"
• 69   But Is He Worse Than Her Bite? / Did Somebody Say Conversion?

The Manhattan Lodestone OriginalVaganza (All Other Vaganzas are Merely Extra) gets underway.

• 70   How to Run the Perfect Tournament: A Hands-on Guide for Average Humans Wishing to Achieve Forensics Immortality
• 71   Musical Chairmanship: Well, Maybe This Particular Lady is a Tramp / Keglers in the Night / If I Can't Make it There, I Can't Make it Anywhere, but at least I can Audit
• 72   Houston, We Have a Problem
• 73   Awakenings
• 74   If LA's Such a Lady, Why are You Here? / Strangers in the Morning / Witchcraft
• 75   September Song, Give or Take a Few Months
• 76   Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week / Strangest in the Night
• 77   Here Comes Everybody: Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome / In Debate There are no Mortal Sins / Take a Train, Take a Boat, Take a Plane, Ride a Goat
• 78   The Other Imperative
• 79   Hey, Good-Lookin', or Words to That Effect, if I Could Only Think of What to Say, and if I had the Guts to Say It
• 80   Is This How Roy Met Sigfried? / Dazed and Confused
• 81   Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em / The Rough Guide to Forensics
• 82   Winning Isn't Everything / We Do Robert a Disservice
• 83   As the Sun Sets Over Beautiful Manhattan Lodestone...

As the Manhattan Lodestone OriginalVaganza fades into history, and the Round Robinskis conga back to Chickamauga, life goes on -- sort of -- at Nighten Day, Bisonette, and the rest of the northeast. The next event is a wee sma CFL Speech tournament, the Blessed Moly.

• 84   It Worked for the Lunts, Too / Birds Gotta Swim, Fish Gotta Fly
• 85   The End of Rico / Now Hear This!
• 86   Say It Isn't So, Jutmoll / Did He Who Made the Lamb Make Thee?
• 87   Not That Infernal Nonsense Pinafore! / Telephone, Telegraph, and Tell a Forensician
• 88   Where Are Those French Translations When You Really Need Them? / Computists of the world, unite!