Author Archives
The Risk of Affirmative Overstretch by Stephen Babb
It’s impossible not to understand the temptation for Affirmative debaters to crowd the 1AC with as much stuff as possible. And yes, there’s good reason to maximize the value of those precious six minutes.
But that’s where people start to disagree—what exactly should we be stuffing that 1AC with?
The trend of late has looked a lot like a Jackson Pollock drip painting—a lot of splatter with no rhyme or reason—we’ll call it “overstretch.” Read more →
Why Local Tournaments Matter by Stephen Babb
I distinctly remember reaching a point in high school at which attending local tournaments came to feel like more of a burden than opportunity. To be sure, my sentiment was and is shared by a number of students and coaches alike.
Reasons to feel this way abound, of course. The judging at local tournaments is typically inconsistent at best. The competition may be less of a challenge when compared to national invitationals. And it should go without saying that traveling across town is rarely as exhilarating as packing one’s bags for New York, Los Angeles or Chicago.
These instincts aren’t wrong—they’re just incomplete. They fail to acknowledge the unique advantages of debating locally, benefits that affect both students individually and our broader community. First and foremost, these tournaments are opportunities to build rapport with other teams, coaches and judges that you can actually interact with face-to-face on a regular basis. Given the extent to which debate has thrived as a virtual online community, it’s easy to forget it can thrive in real communities as well. There’s no limit to the kind of good these relationships can do for you, both in terms of debate and in terms of life. Read more →
A Time for Plans by Stephen Babb
Even those who find themselves skeptical of plan usage in LD should reconsider their positions when a topic like March/April’s “targeted killing” comes along.
First, there’s no unique advantage to broadening the scope of a particular debate on this topic. Anything that can be learned in the abstract about targeted killing can just as easily be learned through concrete examination of a proposed targeted killing. Read more →
Where I’d Like to See CX Go by Stephen Babb
Perhaps more than any other speech, cross-examination represents LD debate’s unique opportunity to have a truly discursive experience. With rapid speech frequently eroding the communicative dimensions of the 1NR or 1AR, CX gives debaters a chance to slow down the conversation and seriously engage one other’s positions.
Unfortunately, the fact that CX isn’t comprised of recorded arguments as such often leads debater and judge alike to assign the speech diminished importance. Debaters rarely seem to care about the results of the exchange and their judges follow suit.
Here are five recommendations for making this speech time worthwhile—not even the most efficient debaters can afford to do otherwise. Read more →
A Summer Debate Calendar by Stephen Babb
Summer might be vacation time for mere mortals, but it’s something else entirely for high school debaters.
Sure, a little time off might we well-deserved, and it’s certainly preferable to burning out half-way through your junior or senior year. But there’s plenty of room in the average daily planner to make this off-season count for something.
Here are a few item to pencil in to your to-do lists. Read more →