Lewis,+Kristen

Kristen Lewis [This is written by my daughter for Valley 2016] I am a parent judge with experience judging Public Forum debate. My daughter is in her fourth year of circuit LD, so I understand the structure of LD but **am not at all comfortable flowing speed above a conversational pace**. I will not vote on theory, Ks, extinction scenarios, or arguments requiring lots of prior knowledge of debate jargon (this includes DAs and CPs if their function in the round isn’t very well explained). I am a social science researcher so will appreciate interesting substantive arguments and good comparative evidence debates. I’ve worked for the United Nations, so I understand international relations and human rights based literature. Please give a clear road map, slow down, and give thorough overviews and crystallization. I will not vote on any argument I do not catch in its entirety in the first speech, so it’s to your advantage to err heavily toward clarity over speed (in fact, don’t prioritize speed at all since it’ll probably just earn you low speaks and a loss). Please be nice to one another and have fun! Also, you can ask questions after the round, but because I’ve so clearly laid out my aversion to circuit style arguments, jargon, and speed, I think there shouldn’t be any surprise when I vote for the easy to understand debater with a strong grasp of the topic literature. Speaks: 30- perfect, should win the tournament 29- excellent, should bid 28- good, should have a winning record and may break 27- solid, even or possibly winning record 26- needs some improvement 25- was offensive or rude