Olsen,+Maria

Updated for UNLV Golden Desert, 1/25/16

If I've judged you before, it's probably worthwhile to read this again. I’ve had a number of my opinions change since I last updated this.

I try to provide my general feelings about debate here. I don’t want to write a novel, and I know you don’t want to read one. Feel free to ask me any questions at all before the round, and if you need something clarified while doing prefs or after a debate, I am always available at mariacolsen97@gmail.com.


 * General Etiquette**

I used to have this long rambling section about being not being a racist, making people feel welcome, etc., but I eventually realized that y’all don’t actually care what I wrote there. Instead, I’ll just say this: Be kind to people. I often drop speaks on exceptionally rude debaters, and although I have not done it yet, I will not rule out dropping a ballot in extraordinary circumstances.

Flashing is not prep. I don’t believe timing your flashing will make your computers any faster, but I do ask you attempt to be quick.

Prep is 8 minutes.


 * LD**

Sometimes I judge LD, though not very often. My opinions about debate //do not change// because it is an LD round. When I entered in LD in high school, I went progressive, but I like and often pick up traditional debaters. You just have to win the arguments, and those standards do not change. I am not sympathetic to theory arguments that rest of the idea that Policy is a more suitable forum for X.


 * Aff**

Run whatever you want. I really like K affs, I also enjoy “straight-up” affs, particularly innovative ones. It’s more entertaining for me, though innovative and cool policy affs are equally enjoyable (particularly if they’re very technical on the policy-implementation side).


 * DA**

Go for it, though don’t assume I’m familiar with your evidence because I’m probably not. A lot of debaters read various DAs and don’t really explain them. For example, a big offender here is politics. I probably didn’t read the latest updates, so please explain them to me if you go for it in your rebuttals.


 * CP**

Again, go for it. I think process and agent CPs are really interesting, as are PIC/Ks. If there’s going to be theory on the CP (or anything really), please include that in your order before the speech because I’m putting it on another sheet of paper and will lose some of the content at the top as I shuffle for a new sheet.


 * K**

I mostly debated on the K, I’m familiar with a number of authors/arguments but certainly not all. Don’t assume I’m going to understand some very technical evidence without clear explanation on your part. I tend to think Ks are a prior issue to most affirmatives, but I won’t go there unless you make the argument that I ought to believe that. I've also become more skeptical recently of K debate's value than I was previously. This is a good thread that echoes a lot of my thinking: https://twitter.com/FuckTheory/status/796702038176464896 This isn't to say that you shouldn't run your K in front of me. I really hope you do! I just //also// hope you've seriously considered the K and the value it brings.


 * T/Theory**

I don’t really like to vote on this when it’s not well explained or contextualized. I tend to be skeptical of broad claims about education, fairness, ground, etc. That said, I do vote on these arguments quite often, and they do require a serious response. I’ll be much more likely to vote on T/Theory that is innovative or contextualized to the round/issues at hand.