Cramerus,+Rebekah

I am a current member of the Class of 2014 at Pomona College, and I did debate throughout my high school years, dabbling in Lincoln-Douglas, Student Congress, and Public Forum, with Original Oratory consistently on the side. I went to high school in the Houston area of Texas. I started judging debate in the first semester of my freshman year, and have as of now only judged LD.

I always do my best to flow, so a really good indicator of whether or not you are going too fast is if you see me writing or not. If I'm not writing very much, then I'm not understanding enough. I went to a high school without a policy team, so I'm not used to spreading. If you spread and I don't understand it, I won't take any of what you might have said into consideration. I don't think it is a good thing to ask for the opponent's case during prep time, because I feel that everything should have been understandable and taken down while the speech was being delivered.

I tend to like debates in the more traditional style. A value and value criterion debate is absolutely necessary, and I tend to not have a positive view of theory unless it involves pointing out abusive debate. I do not like Kritiks and I like non-topical cases even less. I am familiar with some jargon, but it may be better to give an explanation if it involves some facet of theory (which I would not prefer). When I give speaker points, I don't refer to the cases themselves, but rather how they were presented. Eye contact (with the judge and not the opponent) and good posture (please stand up and if using a laptop, don't bend over it) are important.