Powell,+Logan

Logan Powell, University of Michigan class of 2013, Dexter High School class of 2009

Hi to those of you who read this. I'm guessing that you're getting ready for your rounds at the U of M camp tournament. Props to you for checking out my paradigm. First a little background about me that is also helpful: I debated my junior and senior years in high school (Africa and alt energy) and I attended the MNDI debate camp before my senior year. I am not a college debater. I did teach for the Urban Debate program during my freshman year at U of M and I may teach more in the future. What this info should tell you is that I don't have as much experience as many of you, so don't assume that I'll be able to fill in the blanks or even understand complex args just by name. This will make things easier on all of us.

The most important thing to know is how I look at debate as an activity and how I view myself as a judge in round. I view debate as a very real world thing. If you are making an argument that wouldn't make sense to your high school gov teacher or foreign affairs teacher I probably won't like it. This means I DON'T LIKE MOST K ARGS. The reason for this is that they tend to not make sense in the real world. the Senate will not vote to kill everyone. they may vote to kill everyone if it will happen later than the other options, but they will not vote to kill everyone over not killing everyone. That isn't to say that I won't vote on the K. There are certainly good arguments that are centered around psychology and philosophy and morals and all that good stuff, but it needs to make sense. If you read a shell and the only author is the philosopher whose work you are citing, I probably won't like it and I possibly won't understand it. I need the K to be explained using everyday diction. If you know what you're talking about and can explain it very clearly then you shouldn't have to worry about this part of my paradigm. If you are reading a K because you don't know what you're talking about but you think you're hot stuff and the other team won't understand it and drop it, I won't like you. As a judge, I will vote on anything as long as you prove to me why I should vote or think a certain way about something. Again, it needs to make sense. Also, my default view of the world is that I am a policy maker in congress. Unless you convince me that I should view the debate as if I was not a policy maker, I won't like weird arguments. And when I say you need to convince me, you usually have to work pretty hard to change me from being a policy maker.

Basically if you treat me like your mom or dad it will make things easier on all of us.

Another big thing is that I don't particularly like spreading. I am of course OK with it; a lot of you if not all of you wouldn't be able to debate without spreading. It is however very important that I hear all of your tags. post marking and altering your speed helps a lot with this. If I tell you to slow down, please do so. Keep in mind that I haven't been in or watched a high speed debate round for over a year, excluding the demo debate, so my ears will not pick up everything at first. The other team will have to slow down for me too so don't worry about being buried. Additionally, you shouldn't win debates because you're faster than the other team and they dropped an arg. If you are the better team than prove it by making better args and making the args they make look stupid. So after the constructive speeches slow down and capitalize on your winning arguments. There's no need to read 17 add ons, just pick the one with the best cites. you get the idea. I hear a lot of people practicing their spreading every night. I don't think this is as good for improvement as finding new evidence and learning the best args to counter other args. One good piece of evidence can take out a whole shell of bad evidence. So please slow down.

That's the important stuff. I like it when your arguments make sense to me. I like it when i can understand you. I like it when you make smart arguments.

If you have any specific questions, or general questions, email me at nagol@comcast.net

Thanks, and good luck.