Min,+David

American Heritage School ‘18 Duke ‘22

I debated for American Heritage School for 4 years. I cleared at the TOC my sophomore year, qualified my junior year, and amassed a total of 7 career bids.

I will try my best to be tabula rasa. I primarily debated theory and phil on the national circuit, but I want you to read whatever you’re most comfortable with. This is your round and I think that you should be allowed to set the terms of the debate. I will intervene as little as possible and put away my personal biases when evaluating rounds. Do what gives you the best chance at winning.

This is somewhat embarrassing, but I am absolutely terrible at flowing cases. I’m good with rebuttal speeches, but I would definitely like to be on the email chain for the AC and NC. Slow down for tags and interps (if I have the doc with explicit tag/interps then go as fast as you want).

Here are my thoughts about some particulars:

1. My defaults are (I’ll default if there is literally no argument with a warrant made in the round) truth testing, drop the debater, no rvi, competing interps, fairness/ed are voters, presume aff, and epistemic confidence.

2. Don’t be mean or offensive. If you’re not sure about something, just don’t read or say it. If you impact turn racism, sexism, oppression, etc. you will lose. I think arguments that claim X author is racist or Y is exclusionary are certainly subject to contestation, however. If you’re qualled to the TOC and debating a local debater, make the round educational.

3. I had the utmost respect for debaters who made intelligent strategic decisions in round, spoke passionately, and were flexible. I will award speaker points simply on how good I think you are. I like efficiency, smart decisions, interesting positions, and clarity. I am willing to give you .5 more speaker points if you make a good debate joke in a speech or send a funny speech doc.

4. I have always been extremely impressed by LARP and K debaters, but I could never pull it off myself. I think K’s should have frameworks/ROBs and extinction first arguments are ehh at best. I am probably not best at evaluating hyper-technical LARP and K rounds, but that will never be a reason for me to vote you down. Just help me out pls!

5. I didn’t disclose my freshman and sophomore year. I disclosed my junior and senior year. I definitely get both sides of the issue and do not have a personal bias about disclosure debates. However, I don’t want to vote for unverifiable things like out of round concessions or anything related to judge prefs/tab.

6. Misc. Stuff. Be quick on extensions of conceded arguments. I will vote on bad warrants if the argument is uncontested. Sometimes I look mad but I’m just thinking about something presented in round. Some of my favorite judges were Tom Evnen, Becca Traber, and Nick Smith and I will try to emulate their judging styles.

Definitely feel free to ask me any questions you have before the round!