D1 Spring RookieNovice Invitational
2022 — Online, CA/US
Policy Debate Paradigm List
All Paradigms: Show HideHi! I am Isabel Jeronimo pronouns She/her/hers/ella. I competed in both traditional and circuit LD in high school and competed in Parli and Policy for Saint Mary's College of California (SMC) for four years between 2016-2020. The most recent partnership being with Kathryn Magee (SMC JM). I have coached LD and Policy at the high school level for about 7 years and coached Parli and Policy at the college level for 2 years.
General Preferences:
-Speed is Speed, go as fast as you want, I can handle it. Do slow down on tags, cites, Alts, plan texts. Those i want to have down verbatim. Judging over internet is kinda wonky though so air on the side of caution here
-I am probably more well know as a "K hack", which is probably true. I love the K, ran the K, coach the K, but that does not mean I won't vote on anything else. I am pretty well versed in sett-col, feminism, Chicano Futurism and Pessimism. I have basic understandings on pretty much any type of K out there at the time, but as I do not know authors or details so anything out of the specific lits i mentioned above will require some explaining for me. Me loving the K also probably means I have a higher threshold for Ks, I expect more out of the, so don't just run a backfile because you think I like Ks. You do you, I'll judge either way.
-Even though I did not really compete using "traditional debate", I am still good with judging that type of round. I won't say that I am happy about it, as I don't think its like the best way to be engaging in the debate space, but I won't hold that against you.
-If you misgender me, the other judges, or your competitors, or generally commit any acts of ableism/sexism/homophobia/racism/etc., I reserve the right to vote you down. I genuinely believe that the debate space has the ability to empower and bring about change, but it also has the potential to create serious damage or harm to people when certain things are done. I am willing to use my limited power as a judge to vote down behaviors that are deemed reprehensible and harmful.
Policy specifics:
-Yes I would like to be on the email chain: isabeljeronimo14@gmail.com
-I flow on paper so please give me pen time and time to switch between sheets.
-DAs/CPs/Plans: I'm down, just make sure its well explained
-Theory/T: So they aren't the same thing, but I do believe they should be structured the same way: Clear Interp, Clear Violations, Clear Standards, and Clear Evaluation/voters. Key word being clear. Good theory debates rock, bad theory debates are... well just bad.
-K V. K.: K's should always have some kind of framing so I know how I am supposed to evaluate the round, and this is especially critical in K debates. These debates often take me the longest to evaluate because framing gets so muddy, so the easy way to my ballot is through framing.
Isabella Avalos
I have been debating Policy for Southwestern College for a year.
I have been debating policy for a year but I'm not familiar with the K debates but I do know the basics.
I'm okay with spreading as long as you're clear.
Have fun :)
add to email chain: berryismichael@gmail.com
NDT/CEDA policy debate at Southwestern College for 2 years, NPDA parliamentary debate at San Diego State for 2 years.
- chat, just be cool. i'm not here to make you debate a certain way, it's your space. that being said, exploiting social power dynamics to win a debate sucks for everyone.
- any speed is great.
- please make a decision and collapse in the rebuttals! default to depth > breadth until you say otherwise.
- use real-world contemporary and historical examples on the k. i just want to know that you understand the lit base you're utilizing and can apply it beyond the theoretical. practice = praxis.
- tabula rasa = myth.
- i lean towards competing worlds bad until you give a warranted argument.
"War cannot be abolished until classes are abolished and socialism is created"
- Vladimir Lenin
Currently a debate coach at Cal State Long Beach. I debated for KU for a bit in college and at Emporia High in high school. I am pretty comfortable with most types of debate and will listen to almost anything in rounds.
Include me in Flashing and emails. Also email me for questions after the round if you have any.
brandon.boyce01@student.csulb.edu
Speed- Any speed is fine.
Disads- I believe that a DA needs to have some external impact to the plan and should interact with the aff's advantages. I find DA's to be the easiest way to win a debate. Generic links are fine as long as you can relate them to the aff through analysis. Turns case arguments are very promising for the negative team.
Counterplans- They have to be competitive. Negative teams have to prove why the perm doesn't work contextualized to the aff and counterplan. I also need some time of net benefit to pull the trigger. As a competitor I won with CP theory a lot and have voted for it many times.
Kritiks- I'm fine if you read them but I'd like you to explain them. I am a fan of security, neolib, and biopower. I am almost 100% not voting for a Baudrillard K unless it is conceded by the aff. I also am unconvinced by death good arguments. Link debate needs to be good on the K flow. I'm a fan of permutation arguments on the K flow and will probably lean aff on that side of the debate. I will vote on linear DA's. Alt Solvency needs to be proved to me, I as a judge will not take a "leap of faith" for the alternative. I find rejection alternatives awful and there is a low chance of me voting for it.
Theory-I love theory debate. As a competitor, I went for theory several times and am extremely willing to vote for it. Perm theory is compelling, perf con is a voting issue, and so is most CP theory. I am not likely to vote on condo, but it is possible. It's an uphill battle for anything less than 5 condo advocacies but after 5 it starts to become viable. Dropped theory is a pretty big deal so if you concede a theoretical reason to the reject the team then the debate is probably over. If you go for theory in 2A/2N you need to have explained impacts on the debate world.
T/FW- I [usually] believe affs should attempt to be topical and should probably read a plantext. It is the neg's job to prove a violation not the affirmatives to prove they are topical. Tell me how to frame the T flow and I will listen to you. Standards debate is really underrated and needs to be a focal point of the debate if you're going for T/FW. (As time has gone on I have become more open to critical affirmatives, while I never ran these in my own debate time, I am finding myself more convinced by external impacts to reading critical arguments. I still prefer policy-centric rounds, however K affs no longer have an uphill battle to win my ballot. Just please keep in mind that I never ran these arguments myself).
Clever arguments are the best arguments. I enjoy jokes so make me laugh please. Be respectful to the other team. Have a good debate!
Background: I competed in parli and a little policy in college and have been coaching debate (mainly Parli some dabbles in NFA-LD and policy) for almost 10 years.
Policy/CEDA and NFA-LD: I do not have speed over the internet. Go as fast as you want through your cards but please slow down for your tags/cites/analytics/per-written blocks. Yes I want to be in the speech drop or email chain I flow on paper so I also need pen time. (I will call slow in prelims. I will NOT call slow in outrounds unless asked to)
Please give me judge instructions. I take forever to make decisions because there often a bunch of arguments that I don't know what to do with. I want to judge the round the way you want me to so please lay that out/tell me what I should evaluate first, which arguments matter, etc. The is especially important for K/performance debate.
Kritiks/K-affs/Performance debate Love all of it (even when I don't understand it)! My favorite kind of debate! K v K is especially awesome! That said, please assume I know nothing about your lit/authors/performance/etc. Alternatives need offense against the perm (I've voted for a lot really terrible perms because defense alone isn't strong enough)
Policy affs/DA/CP. It's cool, do your stuff. Please assume I know nothing about the topic.
T/Framework I'll vote on either way in policy v policy rounds, debate it out. In T/FW v K, the easiest way for the K to get ahead in front of me is impact turns. I'll almost always buy that the aff can use their case as offense/weigh against against the K. Beyond that, something has to go very wrong for me to vote on FW against the K. I'm much rather you went had offense against the K-aff/K than tried to argue why it's bad here. (Side note: the more I'm in academia the more I want alternate epistemologies/methodologies. That means good analytics can take out carded evidence in K debates for me).
The later in the day we are the worse my explanation of the RFD becomes.
Happy to answer any other questions.
Send docs to: tuggdb (at) gmail (dot) com
Debated:
East Los Angeles College 2009 - 2011
California State University, Fullerton 2011 - 2013
Coached:
Assistant Debate Coach: Fresno 2013 - 2016
Assistant Debate Coach: Fullerton 2016 - 2019
Assistant Director of Forensics @ CSU - Fullerton: 2019 - Present
// Spring 2025//
Lol. Bruh.
// Fall 2024, again //
Once Human!
// Fall 2024 //
CS2 OUT HERE.
// Fall 2022 //
just_waiting_for_mw2
update mw2 is out fr
// Spring 2021 // We still in COVID mode
COLD WAR
Offense matters.
Still your debate and your choice.
Plans and topics exist. Tell me why they don't.
Like and subscribe.
// Fall 2020 // COVID EDITION
Call of Duty Warzone tbh.
Offense offense offense.
your debate. your choice.
audio quality matters. read the zoom room.
// Fall 2019 //
World of Warcraft (CLASSIC)
// Spring 2019//
Apex >
//Fall 2018//
like and subscribe
- team comp matters (2/2/2, 3/3)
- stay on the payload!
- definitely need a shield
- dps flex
//Fall 2017//
IDGAFOS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JmNKGfFj7w
Email:
traviswaynecochran@gmail.com
Affiliations - Present:
The Harker School
2023-2024 Updates:
- Everyone should slow down. Debate would be better. Does this mean you might have to read less in the 1NC? YES! Does this mean that 2As might have to make less/better answers? YES! Does this mean you need to slow down on prewritten extensions and analytics? YES! I want to fully grasp EVERYTHING in the debate and not just get the gist of things. If you do not want to adapt to this, then you have prefs and strikes. I suggest you use them accordingly ...
- Debaters that flow and give speeches from their flows, as opposed to their prewritten speech docs, are the gold standard.
- Great debaters use the full spectrum of human emotion to persuade judges. Anger, sadness, humor, fear, hope, love, and all the other things we feel, connect us to the arguments we're making. If your debates only have one emotion (or none), then it will probably be pretty boring.
Top Level Stuffs:
1. Speech docs: I want to be included on any email chains; however, I will be flowing based on what I hear from year speech and not following along with the speech doc. I will use my flow to determine the decision, which can be different from speech docs, especially if you aren't clear and give me enough pen time. Also, I never was the best flow as a debater and I still am not as a judge!
2. All of you are smarter than me. I'll work hard to be a good judge, but I won't promise I will get everything that is happening in the round. Your job will be to explain very complex concepts to a very simple mind.
3. I'm an only-parent of two young children. Always a chance that something happens where I have to take a few minutes of judge prep. I'll work hard to minimize these instances, but cannot promise they will not happen.
4. The "ideal" number of off-case positions in a round for me when I am in the back of the room is anywhere from 0-5. You can absolutely read more, but I get angrier as the number of counterplans in the 1NC rises. I think 1-2 counterplans in a 1NC is reasonable. I prefer 1NCs without throwaway positions but still have a lot of block/2NR optionality. Basically, I am a fan of clash and vertical spread.
If you still think it's good to have me in the back of the room after you know this, then continue reading and see if you still feel that way when you're done.
Argument Feelings:
Topicality: It is up to the debaters to determine how I evaluate topicality. I tend to default to reasonability. Slow down a tick on T or you will make me sad. I cannot keep up with you reading your 2NC/1NR blocks at full speed.
Counterplans: The more specific the better, but I’m game for whatever. Consult CPs are fine. Delay is fine. Conditioning is cool tooI. PICs are the bees knees. However, I am open to theory arguments that any of these should not be allowed. I do not like counterplans with a lot of planks that the negative can jettison at will. Such counterplans will leave me sympathetic to affirmative theory arguments.
Counterplan Theory: Sketchy counterplans should lose to theory. However, theory violations should be well developed and it is up to the affirmative to prove why I should reject the team and not the argument. It's no secret that I am not the quickest flow, so slow down for me on theory debates. I'm more favorable to limited forms of conditionality and/or no conditionality compared national trends.
Theory in General: I almost always think that education > fairness, but ... I think negatives are getting away with too much. People can run multiple contradictory counterplans/advocacies all they want in front of me and I will not automatically vote them down for it. However; I am sympathetic to well articulated theory arguments as to why it is a bad educational practice, as well as sympathetic to affirmatives that use negative shenanigans to justify affirmative shenanigans. Play dirty pool at your own risk in front of me…aff or neg. I do not like cheap shot theory. I try to not vote for cheap shot theory arguments, even if they are dropped. However, I will use cheap shot theory arguments as a way out of difficult rounds in which both teams were making my job painful. I try not to let cheap shots determine the outcome of rounds that are well debated on both sides. I reward good smart debate. No New AFFs is not a good arg in front of me. Pref Sheet Disclosure is not a good arg in front of me.
**** If you're reading this as an LD'er: I am a very bad judge for Tricks debate. Very bad ...
Disads: The more specific the better. I prefer 1 or 2 good uniqueness cards to 10 bad uniqueness cards. I prefer 1 or 2 good warrants to 10 bad uniqueness cards. Disads are great and are a fundamental part of policy and/or critical strategies. Yayy DAs!
Criticisms: The more specific the better. You probably know more about your specific criticism than I do. However, debate is not about who knows the most about a topic; it is about how much you can teach me within the time limits of the round. If I cannot explain your position back to you at the end of the debate, then I cannot vote for it. I believe that AFFs get perms, even critical AFFs. I believe that Ks can win based on winning 100% defense, so, yes ... you can kick the ALT and go for presumption in front of me. On framework, I default to a "middle of the road" approach where NEGs get ALTs & links to whatever, but AFF gets to weigh their 1AC as defenses of their ontology/epistemology/axiology. Only get "links to plan" or "ALT must be competitive policy option" is an uphill battle. Same goes for "you link, you lose" or "they can't weigh their AFF!" For me, those questions are best resolved on link level, alt level, and theory of power level.
Framework: Sure. You can go that route, but please slow down. I prefer substance to theory, meaning that I almost always believe education > fairness. I don't find the procedural fairness stuff that persuasive. Institutions good and training is a much better route with me in the back. TVAs are persuasive to me. So, will I vote on framework? If it is based on why you have a better educational model, then absolutely! If it is based on procedural fairness, then I might still vote on it, but it's an uphill battle. Most of the time I vote on procedural fairness it is a result of some AFF concessions, which is why it's important for me to have a good flow if this is your strategy. I almost always think the better approach is just to take them up on the case page or offer a counterplan.
Performance/Nontraditional/Critical AFFs: I’m cool with it. I don't find your argument persuasive that these AFFs shouldn't get perms. If I can't explain your AFF back to you then it will be really hard for me to vote for you. I have no problem voting NEG on presumption if I don't know what you do or if the NEG has a compelling argument that you do nothing. Honestly, I think that NEGs versus various critical approaches are in a better position with me in the back to go for case turns and solvency arguments. K v K is wonderful, too! This is just my heads up to the policy teams that want my ballot - case, DAs, & CPs are more strategic when I'm in the back than FW.
Case: I honestly think that a well developed case attack (offense and a heck of a lot of good defense) with a DA and/or critique are much more effective than a big off 1NC. Case debate is good and underrated. This is true for policy debaters and k debaters. This is true for policy AFFs and K AFFs.
I’m open to any kind of argument you have as long as it is intelligent, arguably true, and not problematic.
My Idiosyncrasies:
One thing that everyone should know is that I naturally give a lot of nonverbal (sometimes verbal) feedback, even in the middle of rounds. If I think your argument is really smart then you will probably see me smiling and nodding. If I think your argument is not smart or just wrong, my face will look contorted and I will be shaking it in a different direction. If this happens…do not freak out. Use it to your advantage that you know which arguments I like and do not like. Other times, I look unhappy because I am in pain or very hungry (my health ain't the best), so this might throw you off ... sorry! Debate tournaments are hard on all of us. I'm not going to pretend like I'm a machine for longer than two hours while I judge your round.
I will also intervene in cross x if I think that a team is being particularly evasive on a point that needs to be clarified to conduct a good clean debate. I do not believe that the gold standard for judging is to avoid intervention at all costs. I believe intervention is almost always inevitable ... I'm just one of the few people who are willing to say that out loud. Interventions, like the type above, are very rare. I am fully willing and happy to led debaters take the lead and let me render a decision based on the round that happened without me saying a word until the RFD.
Additionally, I usually make fairly quick decisions. I don't scour through evidence and meticulously line up my flows all the way until the decision deadline. Sometimes I will do that if it is warranted to decide the round. However, for me, it doesn't usually require that. I believe that debate is a communication activity and I judge rounds based on what is communicated to me. I use my flows to confirm or deny my suspicions of why I think someone is winning/losing at the conclusion of the debate. Typically, I am making my mind up about who is winning the round and in which ways they might lose it after every speech. This usually creates a checklist of what each team would need to do to win/lose. While listening to 2NRs/2ARs, I go through my checklist & flows to see which ones get marked off. Sometimes this is an easy process. Sometimes it takes me a lot longer to check those boxes ...
I KNOW that you all work VERY HARD for each and every round. I take that very seriously. But, me deciding rounds quickly is not dismissive of you or your work. Instead, my "thoughtful snapshots" of rounds are meant to give some sort of fidelity to the round I witnessed instead of recreating it post hoc. Some people go to concerts and record songs to remember the experience later. I don't. That's not out of disrespect to the artists or their art, rather, it's my own version of honoring their efforts by trying to honor the moment. Some of y'all think that is some BS justification for me to do "less work" after a round, and that's fine, you're entitled to that opinion, as well as where you place me on your strike sheets.
Finally, I am unabashedly human. I am open to the whims of fatigue, hunger, emotions and an overwhelming desire to do what I think is right, no matter how inconsistent and possibly misguided at the time. I try desperately to live my life in a way where I can look in a mirror and be okay with myself (not always successfully). I do the same thing when I am a judge (again, not always successfully). This is just a fair warning to any of you that will be inevitably upset if my decision seems to vary from this judging philosophy. I'm not a robot and sometimes my opinions about my role and this activity changes while judging a round. The truth is that y'all are good at what y'all do, and sometimes you make me change my mind about things. These are the facts of having me in the back of the room, and these facts, no matter how fact-y they might be, are facts that y'all have to deal with :-)
Debate is fun…at least it should be. If it's not, you're doing it wrong!
I am an average judge to be honest. I do try to do my best but my biggest problem is that I do not really have a stable set of rules or frames for how I judge. Each round is different and I don't always see things in the same way from one round to the next.
Some of the more important things you should know about me as a judge are...
- I am not the fastest flow in the world so make sure you explain your arguments and provide me some idea of how you want me to prioritize your ideas
- I don't have a specific style of debate I prefer but I can probably say that I am a bit more capable contemplating ideas rather than calculating drops on a flow sheet
- I have so much respect for all the work that you all do to become good at this activity so whether you agree with my decision or not please know that I always challenge myself to be fair to you even if we see the debate differently
- I have been judging policy debates for over 17 years now from novice to the ndt
- Have fun and do you. I will try my best to give a decision that accurately reflects the debate I watched to the best of my ability
Eric
email chain —-> amedinazambrano@gmail.com
** Head speech and debate coach at Torrey Pines HS, I am currently competing in CEDA for Southwestern and I have 3 years of parli/LD experience prior. If you have specific questions about literature bases I’ve read or are familiar with; just send me an email and I’ll get back to you. If not, ask before the round or just read it and explain it to me. Read my entire paradigm if you can, otherwise scan for the bold text for the “Reading My Paradigm during Prep Time,” version.
1. I'll vote on anything (so long as it's not morally abhorrent). I am not going to create an exhaustive list of every morally abhorrent position but trust me, if your arg falls under this category you will be able to tell via my facial expressions in round.
2. I have a lower than average threshold on Theory. I’m biased towards potential abuse being enough but a case can definitely be made for a proven abuse burden. With a few exceptions I typically defer to a framework of competing interpretations unless told otherwise so tell me otherwise. If you’re deliberately spreading someone out of a round, I am likely to pick up their speed procedural regardless of who is winning the standards debate. Inclusivity and access are important. If it’s egregious, I’ll drop you on sight.
3. K debates are cool coming from either side. FW is a valid strat v Kaffs.
4. I don't have strong feelings for or against any specific type of counterplan. Just shoot your shot and be ready for the theory debate.
5. I think turns are very underused, while also being very under-explained, "straight" turns probably need to be paired with an argument on the uniqueness level otherwise they are functionally defence but with that being said, the opposing team needs to do that work in round.
6. There’s a really good chance I may have to intervene if you don’t tell me what I’m voting for in rebuttals (you probably dont want this) so git gud and do the explaining. Your rebuttal should write my RFD. Tell me about what impact scenario beats the other team’s. Give me framing and calculus. PLEASE. Whether it be the theory level or the link level or thesis level or alt solvency, whatever. Why are you winning this round? If you’re right, you’ll know it.
7. Pls remember that your framework can determine how (if at all) your arguments are received and interpreted.
8. Collapse.
9. I’m super down to have a faster than normal debate. You probably won't be able to lose me from speed alone but pls be as Clear as you can. If I am judging you in an ev. based format I care much less but I’m gonna ask that you slow for tags or send me a copy of the speech doc. (amedinazambrano@gmail.com)
10. Pls don’t make me judgekick a plan or theory shell. Tell me what to do with it, Bc you’ll be mad when I vote on the perm or rvi that was left unresolved. If you make shadow extensions from something said earlier that’s chill.
11. Abusing Power Dynamics will not win you this round. I like a sassy debate, I love seeing two close friends hash out a tough round but both opponents must be on the same page. If you’re a guy shouting down a girl in cross ex Bc you think it’s “dominating” or any other form of “machismo,” to put someone else down, I will tank your speaks and have a hard time voting for you and I will probably drop you. Ask for pronouns, names, etc. Also time yourself. I should be able to trust y'all.
12. Partner to Partner comm is fine but make sure your partner wants the help. Pls don’t control your partners speech time, I will not flow what the partner says, you gotta say it.
13. Have fun and feel free to ask me any questions about things I should be comfortable with in your round, Bc remember, it’s your round. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
PS: Shouts to Khamani Griffin from whom I stole the format for this paradigm.