I've debated policy all throughout high school and have been judging for almost three years.

I'm open to any arguments as long as the team can articulate them properly. Please do not run a kritik unless you are familiar with the argument, and no generic links! Other than that, I have no bias to any style or argument of debate.

Yes pls email chain: sdlpeaks@gmail.com

West High School (SLC West) ‘18

Trinity University ‘22

Now an MA candidate in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies

General Thoughts

I have not judged in a few years, please make sure to explain things :)

Tech >> Truth

Evidence quality >> spin

Substance > theory

Racism good, genocide good, etc. will never win and will not translate into a speaker award

I'm a big fan of well researched impact turns with good evidence

K Aff’s

The only part of this you may actually read. I am willing to vote on K affs but I do have a rather high threshold for beating fw

-I really like line by line, so if that isn’t your thing or you think its racist or whatever, you’re SOL.

-If you make arguments by analogy I will be sad and recommend you get better disads to fw than “the neg is ICE.”

-You need a reason why your aff beats presumption

FW

-One of my favorite arguments in debate. If done well it can be a really interesting debate

-I don’t think fairness is an impact but my mind can be changed, skills are better

-Don’t be afraid to dismiss arguments by analogy. You aren’t the police and you probably aren’t building a border wall in this debate round. Anyone who says otherwise is silly.

K

*I think a specific k directly engages the aff can be one of the best arguments in debate. That being said, I'm less and less persuaded about blackness being ontological. If you read this, countering historical examples, responding to author indicts, and engaging with aff evidence is essential. Blowing off something like the Gordon card will not get you very far.*

-Link specificity is key – links to the action of the plan > knowledge production > actor > fiat

-Attaching specific impacts and turns case to individual links is excellent and will be rewarded. Links should also be offensive.

T

- I usually default to offense/defense or competing interps. Reasonability can be won but it doesn’t make a whole ton of sense to me

DA

-I really really enjoy in depth turns case analysis that exceeds “warming collapses the economy.” Historical examples and contextualization to aff internal links WILL be rewarded.

-The more you are winning the cp, the more I will think risk of a link is a thing

CP

-If it’s in the aff evidence, you don’t need a solvency advocate.

-Smart cps out of aff internal links will be rewarded and are highly strategic

-I will judge kick if it was in the 2nr

-Specific PICs are good but need to be theoretically defended

-I definitely lean neg on the majority cp theory questions. However, consult, process, delay, and cheeto veto style cp are probably bad.

Read the bold stuff if you're in a hurry.

Logistics: 1) Add me to the chain: knj522@gmail.com, and 2)both teams can insert re-highlighting of the other teams' evidence if they give a brief explanation of what they think the evidence actually says.

2023-2024 Topic Update: I'd love to see some wonky economics debates, whether it be a novel cap k or whacky interest rates DA. I'll bump speaks and I'll be able to give you targeted feedback, including ideas for argument innovation and specific authors. This was my major and how I enjoy spending free time.

SLC West '19
Trinity '23

Affiliations: Glenbrook North High School, Casady High School

Background and Thoughts on Debate:

I endeavor to be maximally impartial in making decisions. If judges interjected their beliefs into my debates, I got quite annoyed. Consequently, I won't consciously interject my beliefs into debates, with two exceptions.

First, be nice: interpersonal hostility sucks, especially in debate. I won't hesitate to nuke your speaks if you're rude. Debaters should show each other mutual respect for the work they put into the activity. Conversely, making small chat before the round and during dead time in the debate will boost your speaks.

Second, I (and everyone) will inject their unconscious biases into debates. There's three you should be aware of:

First, I'm an economics and political science data nerd whose primary debate strategies were tiny aff's, the cap k, generic counterplans, politics, whatever the topic DA was, and impact turns. Consequently,
my knowledge of much critical literature - especially critical literature authored by old, white, French guys - is lacking. If I can't understand your argument, I can't vote on it. If I were a critical team, I would pref me above "no plan, no ballot" judges but below most clash judges.

Second, my primary skill in debate was evidence production, not speaking. Good cards will have an undue influence on how I see the debate. Nonetheless, I acknowledge this is a bias: I strive to focus on what debaters, not the cards, say.

Third, I take a more big picture/embedded clash view of debate than many critics. Debate is about telling compelling stories. Far more important than the fact that 2NC #3b was dropped is how 2NC #3b fits into the narrative you're weaving. This has two consequences for you. First, isolating, weighing, and explaining how your external offense turns your opponents' external offense is critical. Second, I'm much more willing to "zero" DAs or advantages than most judges. If an advantage or DA is bunk for a very specific reason, tell me. Even good analytics can zero a DA or advantage.

Besides that, I see debate as a game that I evaluate based on the flow. From planless affs to process CPs - I'll strive to ensure the win/loss evaluation is based on who debated the issue better.

However, my evaluation of speaker points will be quite subjective. In addition to rating debaters' speaking quality, I use points to reward strategies and practices which I believe make debate fun and educational. These strategies and practices include:
1. Novelty in general, but especially in clash/framework debates
2. Methodological indicts of your opponents evidence (minimal sample size, correlation vs causation, etc) and methodological prodicts of your evidence (explaining the specific methodology and why it's reliable, reading a meta analysis of studies)
3. Really good cards - on anything. Be loud about it if you believe your evidence meets this threshold.
4. Unique, specific variants of the cap k (not just reading the cap k - finding a specific, weird Marxist tradition/thesis that rebuts the aff)
5. Impact turns - I love dedev and war good debates.
6. Straight turning an advantage or DA
7. Tiny, clever aff's with tricks
8. Huge, whole-rez style aff's

Email: nadia.sabry.155@gmail.com

Debated for three years at Bingham HS ‘19

General:

-Be nice, have fun

-I am very expressive so you can probably tell how I feel about whatever is going on at anytime

-Disclosure is important

T

I like T a lot but that means I have a higher threshold for it. I’ll evaluate through competing interpretations.

K Affs/FW

I usually lean neg on these debates because I consider fairness to be an impact and debate is a game. I love topic specific Ks that the debaters are passionate about. I see debate as a game, but you can convince me to vote otherwise

DA

Not a huge fan of politics. The more specific, the more I like it. If you are winning the counterplan, the lower the threshold I have for a link.

I like clear and thorough internal link analysis.

CP

I love cps that steal from the aff evidence. Explain what the perm is. Neg fiat is good.

K

I think framework is one of the most important things here. I’m familiar with many identity based arguments and enjoy postmodernist literature, so read whatever you want. Explain your alts.