Leon,+Patricia

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**Maine East high school Assistant Debate Coach & Alum, class of 2015 / Northeastern Illinois University, class of 2019** =====

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**About Me:** My name is Patricia Leon and I am an assistant debate coach for Maine East high school. I debated for three years at Maine East in the national circuit and was in outrounds/bid rounds at various tournaments. I am a third year undergraduate student studying environmental science at NEIU in Chicago, IL. =====

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-I prefer big picture over small technical issues. I can't stress this enough: Framing is super important and provides more concrete reasons for me to vote for you. This is especially important for me in rebuttals. Key questions you should ask yourself and explain to win me over: What arguments are you winning? How does this help you win the debate? What does this mean for your opponent's arguments(that is, why should I prefer them less and why are their arguments insufficient)? =====

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-I enjoy all kinds of arguments, but for more complex ones I will need more explanation before I can feel comfortable voting for you. I have limited knowledge of this year's topic, so unless you are running something generic, don't act like I automatically understand the terms and acronyms that are common in this topic. =====

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**Kritikal debate:** I enjoy K arguments very much. I have decent knowledge of generics(cap k), Feminism kritiks(K's of western/white fem), Queer Theory, and kritiks of Racism, Ableism, etc. BUT- I have found that when debaters go for arguments under the spheres of postmodernism, poststructuralism, and existentialism (think Nietzsche, Deleuze, Bataille, Baudrillard, etc.), their speeches are filled with useless jargon and incoherent arguments. If you wish to go for these arguments in front of me, PLEASE go in depth on explanation and go beyond unnecessary jargon. =====

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I absolutely hate buzz words or fancy jargon. So please- explain your argument the way you would explain it to a friend! This makes it significantly easier for all of us to be on the same page and avoid confusing cross-x. =====

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**Policy debate:** Be sure to have proper overviews that explain them more clearly to me. For affs- the 1ac tags should (hopefully) be coherent enough to help me understand your aff. I love it when counterplans/disad's are specific to the affirmative and are explained in depth. =====

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Impact defense is certainly necessary for case, but internal link turns are the strongest case arguments. Impact turns are interesting, but usually have low-quality evidence/warrants. =====

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**Topicality:** I have a high standard for this. Topicality has been one of my favorite policy strategies, so I will try my best to help you improve. You absolutely need standards or reasons to prefer your interpretation - saying "topicality is important because affs need to be topical" does not make sense and appears to be a circular argument. Focusing on even one standard like limits or ground could help you out. Affirmatives should only work on impacting their offense. If your argument has multiple interpretations, be sure to make clear what you are going for (all or some of the interpretations). Simply re-reading your 2AC block will not help you in the round. =====

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**Framework vs K aff's**: This is, in my opinion, an uphill battle for neg teams. I'd rather you engage the affirmative mainly because the fw arguments I've seen revolve around circular reasoning like "it's not fair because they're a k aff and that's bad." Of course, that doesn't mean it's impossible for the neg. Framing, impacting out arguments, and overall in depth explanations from either side will help me the most in any of these scenarios. =====

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**Cross-x:** Cross-x should be where you poke holes in the other team's arguments, not for asking questions because you are forced to. If you are the one asking the questions in cross-x, you should have taken at least 3 minutes before their speech ended to prepare your questions. Being prepared in cross-x will not only clarify issues in the round you did not understand, but will(or should) signal to me, the judge, where you are going with your strategy. =====

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**Other notes: I always have items like bandaids, tampons and pads on me. If you don't have access to any of these at a tournament we're both at, contact me! Find me in my room if I'm judging or email me.** =====

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If you ever want to email me any questions or resources (I'm a college student so I have access to various sites that you may not), send me an email at patricia.l.leon27@gmail.com or me.lolpatcat23@gmail.com! =====