Current Head Coach at Lansing High School in Kansas, Previously Head Coach at Buhler High School in Kansas (traditional-style debate 4A school). I judge rounds regularly, and have for the last 10 years.
I did not debate in High School or College but DID participate in Forensics @ Eudora High

General Things

Speed - clarity is important, Im more on the slow end of fast debate. Add me to the email chain and I can usually keep up ok. larissa.maranell@usd469.net

FYI: I have a degree in Biology, this is included b/c my threshold for answering crap science args is low. Im not gonna do the work for the opponent but they wont need to do much. Also bad logic hurts your ethos.

In Policy Rounds -

I am pretty Tabula Rasa but default to a flow policymaker with a high regard for stock issues if no one tells me how/why to vote.

Kritiks: I enjoy them but you have to make sure it makes actual sense, If you cant make sure your opponent understands the K its not productive to the round, to you, or to anyone. You also need to explain the logic of the K for me to vote on it. (TLDR- don't be lazy and I will weigh it)

I love a good T debate :)

In LD Rounds -

Value and Value Criterion are not just buzzwords, they are central to the LD form of debate, if you read them just to move on to your policy framework that isn't the point.

In PFD Rounds -

PFD is not Policy.

Make sure you give me framework in the 1st speech, Judge instruction is key.

Caroline Erickson

cm.erickson2521@gmail.com

I'm somewhere in between a lay and a flow judge these days: I did policy debate, but it's been quite a while. I cannot emphasize this enough—don’t spread. I will not be able to keep track of the round if you do.

Kritiks: Your arguments must be understandable to someone unfamiliar with your literature--I will say, my grounding in fem/gender/queer theory is decent, but still, you want to be going really slow and careful in front of me, no matter what the K.

K Affs: I'm willing to hear a K Aff, but you do risk losing me in the framework debate. See the above about unfamiliar literature.

Disads/Case: Pretty much all the usual fare for DAs and case arguments are fine by me, including generic links (within reason).

Evidence: It should be good, it should support your arguments, and if the other team’s ev does not support their arguments, call them out on it.

Counterplans: I'm EXTREMELY rusty on CP theory, so make sure you make your theory arguments are VERY clear if this is what you're going to try and win on.

Theory: I value theory in the debate, and will listen closely to it. In-round abuse needs to be reasonably proven, and potential abuse will probably be hard to win in front of me, unless you can explain really, really well why this team’s actions don’t hurt your ability to debate, necessarily, but do still hurt the debate space in possible rounds that aren’t actually happening right now.

Topicality/FW: I’ll be entirely honest, I love a good T debate and, while I’m less familiar with FW, I will still listen carefully and enjoy it. These both will play a big role in my decision making process. Again, potential abuse as a voter will still be difficult to win.

DO:

• Create clash. Make my job easy!

• Frame in terms of offense and defense. Whichever team has the most offense by the end of the round is the team I will vote for.

DON’T:

• Be rude.

• Steal prep.

LD Paradigm

I did LD a couple years in high school, but 1) I’ve been out of high school for two years now, and 2) the LD circuit in Kansas is pretty small and not the most competitive. With those things in mind, your best approach in front of me is SLOW, above all else, and more in the vein of traditional LD, if you can. LD is about deciding an ethical question, not passing a plan, and I will approach it as such.

I judge on an offense/defense paradigm, so make sure you’re articulating why your offense trumps your opponent’s and why your defense holds up against your opponent’s offense. Basic stuff, I know, but I want to make it clear.

For any theory arguments, assume I have no prior knowledge, because I don’t for LD. See the theory section under my Policy paradigm for further information.

I debated 4 years at Hutchinson High School and debated for a little bit in college at KCKCC 14-15; Currently assistant coaching for the 5th year.

Background: I ran exclusively policy arguments during high school, in college then I switched the arguments about identity, non traditional ("performance" if you want to call it that), I.E- Latina knowledge production, queerness,and womanism. I am familiar with lots of different arguments from all sides of the spectrum so feel free to run what you will in front of me I will listen to anything- Do you.. Like I said I've done debate on the policy and critical sides of the spectrum.

Yes! I want to be on the email chain: hhsjuarez14@gmail.com

T: As far as topicality, you need impacts. You're saying this team should lose the debate?? That seems like a pretty steep punishment. Give a reason and not just a generic basic reason prove to me that there's a real impact in the round

I expect you to make comparative impact claims, Don't just do a small extensions of cards and think that's good enough b/c more than likely it's not good enough to a/t the argument. I expect you to explain what your evidence (assuming you choose to read evidence/ if not explain why your argument is important to the debate.) and most importantly I want you to tell me what matters in the debate and what I should vote on or frame the debate on how the debate should be judged on.

Link work in general: if you have bad link stories- It will be hard for you to win the round, you will have to put in work on why your link matters and why it should be weighed in the debate but at the end of the day I like/ look for good link cards in the round.

CP: I think generic CP's without specific solvency evidence are bad and while and if you want to win on it you'll have to do more than just read your blocks.

DA: In terms of impact calc, I think probability is generally the most important weigh it out and remember good link cards

Kritiks: I’ll vote for it. In order for you to get the ballot, the K, like any other argument has to be well explained for me to vote for it. I also believe that in any good K debate their needs to be an obvious link to the case and the alternative of the K must be well explained.

Things you should know/ if you care:

Speed: I'm okay with speed just be clear or I'll yell out clear.

I will vote you down on speaks if you are blatantly offensive/ Rude for no reason I don't want to see/ hear it.

I like hearing historical examples are great ways to contextualize your arguments and show off your intelligence, it will impress me and help me get on board with your argument. Let me see what you know!

Arguments I don't like/want to hear is racism good/ not real, rape good, etc. Just being honest. It will also largely implicate your speaker points.

If you have any questions just ask me!

I did four years of 4A debate, and three years of mixed styles of collegiate debate (NPDA, IPDA, NFALD). We did fast debate, we did not do speed. I understand the difference. However, flashing me speech docs/email chains and being clear about when you switch cards has made my adaptation to you easier. I also understand that I'm not the target DCI/speed/critical judge, so I'm fine with being sped away from rounds if it's a strategic decision; I do my best to keep up, and I haven't squirreled because I've missed something yet.

I'm fine with all argument styles, there isn't anything I reject at face value argument-wise. I'll always give more weight to specific link analysis, especially if this is continuously pulled through with analysis through the debate. I'm also a big fan of impact framing and actually comparing the impact framing of the aff/neg as an additional lens to impact calculus. Putting lots on the flow is good, working the flow to your advantage is much better. However, I'm also very likely to vote on how you treat your opponents in round. For example, if you read a 15 card block to why I shouldn't care about trigger warning args, but ask the team "So, how triggered are you really?" in CX, I'll vote you down if the opp team makes it a voter.

I work for Pfizer. I do have a bias to not buy medicine/science DA's that aren't really rooted in science. Also, if you make claims like "AlL BiG PhArMa BaD" without any nuance or warrant, I probably won't be very happy. Sorry, they pay my bills.

I am a HUGE SpeechDrop truther, please do not use an email chain.

I am the head coach at De Soto (KS).

Tech/Truth, Ev Quality

For both of these things, I try to limit judge intervention as much as I possibly can. I'm probably 70/30 tech v truth and I think your evidence should actually say what you claim it says. That being said, because of my intervention philosophy, you need to call this out deliberately in the round for me to evaluate it. I will absolutely vote on "untruthful" arguments if there are no responses (or responses too late in the debate) claiming otherwise. However, I am increasingly realizing how much I dislike meme-y arguments in debates so at least make an attempt to say things that are moderately real, otherwise I might embrace my grumpy old man mentality and vote it down on truth claims.

K

I will listen to and evaluate critical positions. I have become a lot more K-friendly over time, but please don't interpret that statement as a green light to read something just because you can. Accessibility is a very important (and, in my opinion, undervalued) part of any kritik. As such, be very explicit on what the role of the ballot is and what the intended impact of the alt and/or performance is. I will vote on no link to the K and I will default to policy impacts if told to do so. Don't be a moving target or change advocacy stances between speeches (obviously you can kick out of the K but some of those things might haunt you on other flows). Perf con arguments are very persuasive to me.

CPs

Competition > nearly everything else. For this reason, I really have a hard time voting for advantage CPs. I am typically persuaded by PICs bad arguments unless the neg can prove competition/lack of abuse in round. Be sure to have a clear net ben (internal or external) and articulate what it is: I've seen far too many CPs without them gone for. For the aff, I don't love hearing a laundry list of every perm you can think of. Read and articulate perms that actually test competitiveness (i.e. "perm do the aff" isn't a thing) and explain how the actions can coexist.

DAs

DAs should be unique. Generics are good but link quality is important.

Condo

I have no threshold for the amount of conditional CPs or Ks or whatever the neg wants to run. However, if the aff wants to read abuse or condo bad I will certainly listen to it. Watch out for those pesky perf cons.

T

Explain your definitions and make sure the card you use has warrants that actually state (or strongly imply) your interp. Competing interps need to be evaluated in terms of both the definition's contextual value to the resolution as well as the warrants of the definition read. Explain your limits/ground. No laundry list here; articulate how exactly in-round abuse has occurred or how what the plan text justifies is bad. Explain your voters. If you want to read and actually go for T, I need to see contextual work done early and often.

Theory (General)

In terms of other theory arguments like spec, disclosure, etc. I need to have clear voters. Make sure to articulate the sequential order of evaluation when multiple theoretical stances are being taken. On this note, RVIs are a *silly* thing and I will *begrudgingly* vote for them but they need to be weighed against the initial theory claim well.

CX

I don't flow CX. I view CX mainly as a means to generate (or lose) ethos in the debate, not necessarily to win arguments on the flow. Don't make this a shouting match please, otherwise I'm just going to ignore both teams and nobody wants that. We're all friends here.

Speed

I am okay with speed. However, if your argument is 1) intricate and requiring significant analytical explanation 2) not in the speech doc or 3) rooted in accessibility literature slow it down. It will help you if I can understand what's going on. I'd prefer you be organized, clear, and slow instead of messy, unintelligible, and fast. I won't ever give up on your speech if you have a hard time with clarity, but just know I may not pick up all of your arguments (obviously a bad thing for you).

Update 2021: Haven't judged a round all season!!! Proceed with caution. Literally googled the resolution yesterday.

Email chain: ivanmoya007@gmail.com

Debate Background: 4 years policy in Kansas DCI circuit. 4 years Parli at Washburn University. Former Assistant Coach at Garden City, Kansas (2 years). Out in the real world now as a Prosecutor. Probably don't know much about the topic. It's been a minute since I've had to listen to a round.

Overview: I try to be reasonably deferential to both team's wishes to debate to the style they feel most comfortable with. I will listen to and evaluate almost anything. I consider myself a traditional high-flow judge. I’ll default to a net benefits paradigm unless you specify an alternative framework. Speed isn’t a problem however I’ll only yell “clear” twice if I can’t understand you. I will stress a second time, its been over three years since I judged on a regular basis, so I might not be up to date with all the cool, hip debate arguments.

Specific Arguments:

Topicality/Framework-I’m a big fan of the T debate. I give the aff a decent amount of leeway when it comes to reasonability. If you go for T, the procedural debate needs to substantively articulate the abuse (whether real or potential) that happens in the round. How does the T interact with your other arguments?!

The neg needs to do work on the standards debate beyond “the aff steals our ground”. The 2NR needs to spend a decent amount on T if you want me to vote for it. I’m the minority of people that do believe that T is inherently a voting issue. Tell me why that’s not the case, aff.

Counterplans -Counterplans are fine. Make them either textually/functionally competitive. I’ll vote for most types of CP’s but there’s a few types that start behind for me (Consult CPs).

Disadvantages- I hate that I'm a sucker for Politics DAs. In general, the difference between a good DA to a bad one is that a good one has a fleshed out bottom half that constructs a timely, and nuanced internal link with a clear impact. I don’t think enough DA’s do that.

Neg team, how does the DA interact with the aff case beyond the link level? Does triggering the DA problematize the coherency of the aff?

Kritiks-I’m down for a K debate. I enjoy listening to them and truly believe in their potential to open up a meaningful dialogue about real world policies and the debate community writ large. A big let-down is when the link level of the K is weak. Crystalize the actual reason you chose to critique something within the round beyond reading a card that says “cap bad”.

I am not a walking encyclopedia. I don’t know all there is to know about Bastaille, Baudrillard, Zizek, Object Ontology, etc. I’ll keep up on the flow level but keep a coherent narrative and simple thesis. Explain the narrative of the K and expand on it. I don’t assume that the K is an apriori issue. I’ll evaluate the impacts of the Aff against it unless I’m told not to. Impact calc is very important. Keep the flow of the K in a neat order for me.

Theory-Just as with Topicality, I’ll usually default some sort of reasonability-type argument (i.e reject the arg not the team). However I’ll vote on condo/dispo bad stuff if you want me to. You just need to do a lot of work on this if you are going for it in the 2NR.