Chen,+Jonathan

Jonathan Chen  School Strikes: College Prep  Experience- 4 years of high school debate for College Prep, Debated 3 years at Macalester College...our program got cut my senior year (1 NDT appearance).

As of December 29, 2016, I have not judged a debate in about 2 years, but I've been keeping up with the topic so I know how the topic has been shaped over the last few months, and I can still keep up with speed. That being said, I have no idea who the top teams are, or what the trickiest arguments are. Either way, debate your best and show me why you won the debate. Do what you do best and I look at debate as a game, so do whatever you think you need for the W. Now for the specifics:

 Topicality/Theory- I generally default to competing interpretations, so make sure you have an interpretation for your topicality violation/theory argument/answer to a theory argument. If you go for T and another argument, there is a good chance you may lose. HOWEVER...if a team drops an independent voter and you extend it properly, I will be inclined to vote on it. Finally, in both cases, make sure to impact the argument like you would another off-case position. Explain why I should reject the team (or argument if that's what you want). What standard should come first, why do limits outweigh predictability, why does education outweigh fairness...these are issues that have come up in rounds that I've judged before and my decision would have changed had the work been done.

 Counterplans and DAs- I have found myself leaning more towards policy strategies as a 2N, and I am more inclined to these strategies than people think I would be. The more specific the better when it comes to solvency and links/net benefits. I think tricky counterplans and PICs are great, so feel free to advantage CP, uniqueness CP, etc. K net benefits are also ok. If your strategy on a DA is a card battle, I won't hate you for it, but please be clear about how the arguments/cards interact with the bigger picture.When it comes to comparing evidence, I expect that you do it for me...compare warrants of evidence and prioritize what you want me to look at first (uniqueness, links, etc). Not only will this prevent me from arbitrarily picking one that I value more, but it also means that calling evidence is less of a hassle.

 Kritiks- Just fine. I have a good deal of experience with them in HS and college. If you are running an alternative, tell me what my ballot does that makes it more important to vote for than the aff. If you are running the K as a case turn, tell my why the impact turns the case. Ultimately, if you don't win the alternative, I have less of a reason to vote for you than if you did. I don't care if you read a generic K, but make specific link arguments to the aff. The more of a link that you can articulate based off of the 1AC that you can, the more I will like your K.

 Performance Affs- I will listen, but I'll be honest, I may not be your best judge, especially since I am not as familiar with the state of debate as a forum in the status quo. If you plan on kritiking debate or talking about an issue that you argue is more important than debate, you need to be EXTREMELY persuasive as to why I should vote for your project/advocacy/performance over traditional policy debate. By the end of the round I need a clear explanation as to what my BALLOT is doing and how that impacts the debate community/community at-large/specific group that you are talking about. Sometimes I hear these affs and have no idea what I'm voting for. Rest assured, I have to voted for these types of affs before.

 General Jiving- A lot of times teams like to be a lil shifty, and here’s my stance on it: If you can defend it, do it, but don’t be a jerk about it. If the aff wants to kritik the disad, please do so. If you want to kick a framework late in the game, please note that I will give the other team some form of cushion in terms of answering it. If the other team wants to argue that they are bad for debate, they are free to do so. If the other team concedes a voter, you can go for it (I’ve seen many teams just ignore it, when they could’ve gotten me out of the round a lot easier).

 Most of all, have fun, and please be nice in the round. If you are being a total jerk, your speaker points will reflect it. If you ever have any specific questions about specific arguments, please don't hesitate to ask.