Background

Hi!

I’m Rowan (he/him)- judge, Rowan, supreme overlord, and señor are all acceptable. Mr. Gray is my dad.

I started my career in PF for two years- first year was mostly on the local circuit and second year was mostly on the national. I had some moderate success, qualled to TOC, got some speaker awards. I ran mostly stock args but also ran a Jewish humor performance aff and prepared a Queer rage aff. However, since I ended my career in LD think of me as an LD judge. Most of the opinions I had about PF have changed since LD enlightened me.

I switched to LD my senior year where I was more successful- I full qualled and got some speaker awards, semid a tournament, and went 6-0 once. I was a K debater, focusing on East Asian litbases (specifically Daoism and Buddhism) but I also ran some cap and Quakerism (think baudrillard + oatmeal).

I’m down for pretty much any debate in any event. I’ve heard pretty much every argument and I know enough about debate to be able to evaluate most things.

People who have shaped the way I think about debate- Vishal Sivamani, Sean Wallace, James Song, Lukas Krause, Holden Budkowski, Anish Iyyavoo, Marshall Thompson, Bill Batterman, Zion Dixon, Leah Yeshitila, Jannat Verma

Guide to this paradigm

The first section applies to any event I judge. After that is my LD paradigm and finally is my PF paradigm.

General

Speed

I’ll clear you if I can’t understand you- after 3 clears I stop flowing. That said, I did nat circ LD so you can go pretty fast.

Send speech docs- always. If you don’t do it in LD I'll nuke your speaks.

Speaks

I give speaks based on strategy. The better and more well-executed your strategy is the higher speaks you’ll get. Here’s a few things that will modify that.

If you’re being a jerk, I’ll nuke your speaks

If you don't cut your cards, I'll nuke your speaks

In irl rounds if you bring me food I’ll boost everyone’s speaks by 0.5

If ur a pfer that discloses on the wiki- lmk and I’ll give you 0.5

Content Warning Policy

Content warnings should be given for graphic explicit depictions of violence and/or self harm– ie the kind of performances some antiblackness/queer theory affs use.

IF you don’t provide a CW to these things I will nuke your speaks and if your opponent reaches out to me and tells me that you’ve made them uncomfortable I will drop you with zero speaks (if this is you please reach out through contact information, I’ll keep everything anonymous)

I genuinely think it’s kinda funny that PFers are running theory on people saying the words ‘sex trafficking’. That said, if you wanna exploit my tolerance for questionable arguments and have an opponent who’s so incompetent that they lose on the flow then feel free.

Misc

I disclose every time, even when the tournament bars me from doing so.

Please post round me. I want you to understand my decision and if it was a bad decision I want to understand why it was bad.

If I screw you because I overestimate or underestimate my judging capabilities, please contact me after the round or postround me to change my paradigm

Flex prep is always good

L20s

Any bigotry at all

If you straight up lie about what your evidence says *not misinterpret, lie

Contact Info

Hit me up on facebook with any questions and add me to the email chain

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011539506658

rowan.a.gray@gmail.com

LD Paradigm

My pref sheet is a mixture of how competent I am and how much I like the arguments

These Ks-(cap/setcol/sec/edelman/apess/semiocap/psych/mollow/racial capitalism/weheliye/buddhism/daoism)/Deleuzian Stuffs/Performance- 1

Larp/Theory/Other Ks-2

Actual Phil- 4/5

Trix-S

My favorite debates to watch are KvK but please don’t change your style if that isn’t you. I’d much rather watch a decent larp round than a bad KvK round

Defaults: comparative world, reasonability, no rvis, presume neg

I'm impartial on T vs k affs. Hard to say whether I err one side or the other since t debates vs different affs can and should be very different

PF Paradigm

This event is kinda cringe lol- please try to make the rounds interesting for me or I might fall asleep

Anything you don’t frontline in second rebuttal is conceded

No new rebuttals in 1s

No new rebuttals or frontlines in 2s

Defense isn’t sticky now that summary is 3 minutes

I’ll give you 1 minute to find a card, after which I won’t evaluate it

Junior at Byram Hills in NY.

3 years of PF experience with some LD mixed in.

I will evaluate any argument (progressive, traditional, whatever else) as long as it is properly justified.

Please weigh and don't make me intervene, I really don't want to.

YOU MUST SIGNPOST BEFORE SPEECHES.

To me, logic is as good as carded evidence. Warrant your claims with either: make it make sense.

I'm A-OK with spreading, but I will require you to email me and your opponent your case and anything else you are spreading

Feel free to email zach.g.honig@gmail.com with any questions

Auto 30 speaks if you can tell me the differences between Sukarno and Suharto and their impact on Indonesian politics today at the end of the round

+2 speaks for mentioning either name in a coherent sentence somehow relating to the resolution

Note: if get no weighing in the round, I will flip a coin on camera to see who wins. Aff: heads, Neg: tails

I am currently a high-school Senior and I am a Varsity PF Debater.

I am a tech over truth judge, and I will judge by the flow.

I can handle speed for the most part, just make sure you are clear and articulate.

Time yourselves, I will not keep track of prep or speech time unless asked.

Parallelism is important from summary to Final Focus, if it doesn't get extended into summary, don't extend it into final focus, I will not evaluate it.

Don't argument dump during rebuttal. Well explain 1 response rather than drop 5 surface level rebuttals.

Analytical arguments (that are un-carded) will be considered equally to carded arguments unless you tell me why not to.

BE CLEAR WHERE YOU ARE ON THE FLOW. SIGNPOSTING IS CRUCIAL AND WILL IMPROVE YOUR SPEAKER POINTS. (tell me the argument you are responding to before each response.)

Feel free to ask any questions.

Other than that, lets keep it civil and respectful, and Good Luck.