WGBH Forum Network; Wisenheimer: A Childhood Subject to Debate
Description:
Mark Oppenheimer, journalist, and author, for a discussion about his unlikely childhood and his new memoir, Wisenheimer: A Childhood Subject to Debate.Have you ever met a child who talked like an adult? Who knew big words and how to use them? Was he a charmer or an insufferable smart aleck--or maybe both? Mark Oppenheimer was just such a boy, his talent for language a curse as much as a blessing. Oppenheimer describes what it was like to have a gift with no useful application. Unlike math or music prodigies, he had no way to showcase his unique skill, except to speak like a miniature adult--a trick some found impressive but others found irritating. Frustrated and isolated, Oppenheimer used his powers for ill--he became a wisenheimer, pushing his peers and teachers away. Then, in junior high, he discovered the world he was meant for: the debate club. His skill with language was finally being channeled, refined, and honed into something beautiful.As Oppenheimer blossomed as a person, he also became a world-champion high school and college debater. His journey from loneliness to fulfillment affords a fascinating inside look at the extraordinary subculture of world-class high school debate and at the power of language to change one's life.
