Berl,+Alexandra

I debated LD at Los Alamos High School, went to Nationals twice and have experience on the national circuit. I now lead the Parli team at UC Berkeley. (If you bond with me over Berkeley things, you get a high five.) I’m a chemistry and materials science major, if that information is at all relevant.

If you’re reading this right before the round, the shortest blurb I can give you is that I’m open to any position you can run, so long as you run it well and you’re not rude to your opponent. Warrant your arguments, weigh your impacts, and you'll probably like where the round goes. If you do these things and tell me exactly what I should vote on, you should be golden. I'll most likely err on the side of your analysis of evidence and not on how many cards you read. You should make the round as clear as possible - giving me a neat RFD will do wonders for your speaks. Bonus points if you make me laugh.

Other than that, I try to be as noninterventionist as possible. However, I get that most judges – particularly former debaters – have specific eccentricities in their philosophies, so I’ll try to explain mine.


 * __Speed__**: If you have a half-decent word economy, you shouldn't have to spread to win the round - you know how to weigh your evidence; do that instead of trying to dump as much as possible on the flow. If you prefer spread I’d recommend sticking with 75% of your top speed with me, and I’ll yell “clear” and “slow” if necessary. It might be helpful to know that I don't spread in my current league, so I'll probably be out of practice with flowing spread for the earlier rounds. If I'm still holding coffee, go slower. Enunciate and we shouldn't have a problem. (Hint: If I need to yell "clear" and/or "slow" more than three times, I’ll probably just check out and start playing tic-tac-toe with myself on the flow until I can keep up again).
 * Edit 1/28/16**: IThe older I get and the more distanced I am from spreading, the less fond of it I am. I can still flow a decent spread, but you should be warned that my patience for poor spreading diminishes pretty rapidly.


 * __Ks, PICS, etc__**: Critical theory is my jam, but it’s not any more likely to win than a traditional LD case. Run progressive stuff to your heart’s content if you understand it well and spend time explaining it. You should probably slow down for the really heavy philosophy and any tags or card names.

If you must bring out a shell: I drop the argument unless heavily persuaded otherwise.
 * __Theory (1/28/16)__**: If you go all in for theory because you're ~surprised~ to hit a CP at a national circuit tournament and will be angry when you do not win the round, I am not the judge for you. In the countless rounds I've judged, I think I've voted solely on theory fewer than five times. Please don't do this. Do not run theory to waste your opponent’s time. I get that fairness and education are important things and will not be impressed if these are the only impacts in your shell. I’ll be jazzed if you can show that your opponent has violated their own theory shell at the same tournament.


 * __Etiquette__**: If your opponent asks for a copy of your case, please do flash it efficiently. If you refuse to flash and your opponent has to peer over your shoulder to keep up with you, you look like a butthead and had better do a hell of a job warranting and analyzing your arguments if you want the ballot.


 * __Framework__**: Whatever you want it to be. I don’t really care if you provide a traditional framework, but provide some type of burden that tells me how to vote.

These are just some things that arise as issues in debate or that I just find annoying during rounds, but I stand by my earlier statement that debate is my life, and you can (and should) run whatever you want to. Debate is a really important community, and I just want it to be accessible to all. I also want to bake a cake full of smiles and rainbows so we can all eat it and be happy. I also love puns.

Here's a photo of how I remember myself during debate prep:

Have fun, be pleasant, and kick some butt.