I am able to adapt to most forms of debate however, be mindful of your speed. I can manage most speed speaking but it must be clear and understandable. If you speak unintelligibly I will not be able to take note of your points and will not be able to account for them when making a decision.

My focus will be on the points brought up during the debate. Please make sure to fit your speech within the allotted time as any arguments past time will not be accounted for (Unless otherwise noted)

Although it will not be majorly accounted for, the way in which information is provided and your speaking will also count towards my decision. If some information is too technically based it should have a brief explanation accompanying it.

My Experience: I teach English and have been coaching and judging speech and debate since September of 2014. My PF experience has mostly been confined to the beginning level. I was never a debater so most of what I know comes from coaching. I am definitely a lay judge.

I am a huge fan of specificity. The more detailed you can be in your args and evidence the easier it will be for me to flow and to vote on.

I lean tech over truth so make sure you refute your opponents’ args with the same specificity you construct your own.

I will flow the round but only at a reasonable speed. I believe spreading takes most of the educational value out of debate and, as such, I have a very difficult time judging it. That said, I will judge whatever you run, including Ks, theory, whatever you want. Just know, there is no substitute for a well-warranted, clash-heavy debate done at a reasonable speed.

I do not generally call for evidence and will only do so if my decision depends on it.

Be respectful to your opponents and demonstrate what you know.

Pronouns she/her.

Updates for 2023

I have not judged during the 2022-23 season so may be out of practice and unaware of new arguments.

Please be thoughtful about class, race and gender dynamics happening during the debate. My threshhold for abusive behavior in the debate space lowers every year and I become more and more willing to vote on theory in all formats. If I see abuse against an inexperiened team that doesn't know how to run theory, I will drop you all the same and spend my rfd time teaching them how to run theory.

For PF:

My flowing will only be as good as your sign-posting, tagging and articulation. I am not a fan of the pf cases that read like an oratory and are impossible to flow. I expect teams to extend tags, evidence and warrants. Offense is not sticky. I won't flow dropped arguments in later speeches so you don't need to tell me. I also expect teams to follow NSDA evidence rules.

I am open to theory arguments in PF as I see it as one of the only effective mechanisms for addressing some of the ills of pf. You should have a proper theory shell though.

Let's all be nice and generous and kind. I believe good PF debate should be a relaxed exchange of ideas as opposed to suppressed (or not) rage.

Don't give speeches during crossfire. I like a crossfire that is clarifying and illuminates areas of dispute. To that end, I prefer that everybody be super chill. Yelling, berating, and asking obviously abusive questions are all good ways to tank your speaks. You will never impress me by out-aggressing your opponent during CX.

I'm not a fan of blippy debate and tend to vote on the arguments that are fleshed out, well evidenced and that provide a clear path to the ballot. I personally think the emphasis on weighing overlooks the need to have a clear link with good warranting and strong evidence. I'm not entirely tech > truth because I can't always bring myself to vote on technical arguments that are not fleshed out enough to be plausible.

I think the second rebuttal should respond to turns but I'm okay with other responses coming in summary. I see defense as sticky. I like to see teams collapse and don't love the style of debate where final focus is an exact rerun of summary --would rather see that the debate has progressed or that your weighing and warranting has advanced b/c of clash.

For LD and Policy

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I can handle a fair amount of speed but haven't judged LD/Policy in a year so you may lose me if you are super fast. It helps me a lot if you make it clear when you are ending a card. I will say "clear" if I can't understand and "slow down" if I can't keep up.

For LD

I am open to different styles including LARP and K debate. Slow down for theory shells and K alts, especially if they are novel. I am much more likely to vote for an argument that has been well explained. I am less technical in the sense that arguments that do not have a clear story with warrants won't always win a round even if they got under-covered.

I am not a fan of silly theory arg's but they still need to be responded to. I will do RVI's in LD but I don't love them.

I am pretty familiar with a lot of the K literature and it is difficult for me to vote for debaters who use it so badly that it is nonsensical.

For Policy:

I like both traditional and progressive debate. I really want students to engage directly with the arguments, their underlying assumptions and areas of clash with the opponent. It is hard to be convinced by an argument you don't understand.

I'm open to role of the ballot/framing issues when weighing structural violence impacts.