Meyer,+Nate

Nate Meyer - Judge Philosophy – As of 12/13/12

__In short:__ Do what you are best at and tell me why it wins you the round. Other than the speech times, I see everything as up for debate (that’s why we’re here, right?).

__In long:__ __Delivery__: Watch me. Or have your partner watch me. If necessary I will give verbal prompts if I can’t flow you, but I really don’t like to have to do this. Even if you don’t know how to pronounce them – do your best to state the names of your authors clearly rather than at top speed so they get mixed in with the content of the card. Author + date is enough. BUT if you are citing an organization identified by an acronym or abbreviation rather than a single author – define the acronym/abbreviation the first time (at a minimum). “Citizens Oh-Six” is not a sufficient (speed) cite. __Procedurals:__ I am definitely willing to vote on Topicality or a Theory argument as long as it is impacted (though admittedly on theory args I often give a lot of weight to “reject the argument, not the team position”). __Disad/CP__: Your typical policy stuff. Totally down. Of course I prefer specifics to generics and want lots of clash. __K/Performance:__ I consider myself quite familiar with critical theory and theories of performance, theories of language, etc. based on my professional orientation. At times, this makes judging rounds very enjoyable, but at the same time, having a judge that knows your evidence can cause issues for you. So make sure that if you are running these arguments that you know your evidence and know what it means, I am less likely to be persuaded by an impressive vocabulary and more likely to be persuaded strong warrants presented in a straightforward manner. So, no matter what literature you engage – your task as the debater is to put it to work in the round.

__High School:__ I debated four years of policy at Mankato West HS, in MN. Over the course of my debate career I used a wide variety of styles – from PMAs and Inherency to Performance. I have been judging on and off since graduating in 2002 and coached at Mankato West during the 02-03 season. At this point, I have never judged LD or Public Forum. Presently unaffiliated.

__Personal Stuff:__ I have chronic back pain and sitting in standard desk chairs aggravates it the most. This means two things for you: 1) if I ask you to trade chairs, this is why and 2) if I stand up or switch chairs or sit on the floor during your speech, keep going – assume that I am flowing unless I tell you to stop. Presently I am a Doctoral Candidate in the anthropology department at the University of Minnesota. In 2013, I will officially begin my dissertation research - an ethnography of high school policy debate. My dissertation looks at debate along three lines: the language-in-use; the education taking place – both intentionally and incidentally; and categories of social difference. More specifically, as a linguistic anthropologist I am interested linguistic features that constitute the forms and styles in policy debate, the metalanguage that surrounds these features, and the ideological patterns in which they are embedded.