Competing
What to do in cross-ex?
A common question new debaters ask is, “So, what do I do in cross-examination?” This is of course a question with as many good answers as there are coaches and competitors. Here are my guidelines for cross-ex: 1) Only ask questions if you already know the answer. An exception to this is when you’re clarifying [...]
Open Thread
I’ve seen this on other blogs that I follow and was wondering if it’d be helpful on here as well – what questions do you have for the Southern California NFA-LD community before APU? Leave any questions in the comments and I’m sure someone will reply…. They can be on coaching, judging, competing, evidence, observing, [...]
1st Workshop vodcast
Down at the coach’s conference, I was talking with Danny about putting together some videos to make a kind of “virtual workshop” that this site could use in the place of traditional workshops. The traditional ones are great, but in addition to travel times and hosting stress, we also have the problem of some schools [...]
A Good Place to Start
One of the reasons I support NFA-LD debate is that each year I get to learn so much about the particular topic being debated. Whenever anyone brings up Greater Horn of Africa, renewable energy, Cuba, transportation, etc… I feel so knowledgeable and almost always can engage in a discussion regarding possible policy solutions and their [...]
Season Sweepstakes 2010-2011
Last year we tried for the first time to run a season sweepstakes. I still have to get trophies to the winners but they are in process =) here is a recap of the award winners: Lincoln Division (Highest % of adjusted wins in at least three tournaments) 1 Biola University 2 University of California, [...]
Next year’s topic area: Mental Health
From the March NFA Newsletter: LINCOLN DOUGLAS INFORMATION A call for topics was included in the January, 2010 Newsletter requesting that each school interested in and an intent to participate in LD Debate, to submit topic areas for consideration to the Chair of the LD Committee. The briefs that were submitted were contained in the [...]
Critical Thinking
Throughout higher education critical thinking is a central tenant of most college classes. Most students must complete a “critical thinking” requirement in order to get their degree. Debate is certainly one of the best activities to teach critical thinking and is one of the reasons it is my passion to teach and share with other [...]
Case Idea?
Have your case adopted by the federal government already? Looking for a new winning affirmative after your 1AC went 0-2 last weekend? Here is an interesting idea that I read about today on the New York Times – roundabouts. It’s pretty clearly topical – I’m not sure how much more reforming of roads you could [...]
Interesting comment
From the Sunset Cliffs post an anonymous person writes: all the preparation is wasted. opp strategy is always Topicality, procedurals, and counterplans. the debate doesn’t start until the 2nd speech. at least thats what it seems like. If true, I think this is a very damaging to both the future adoption of the event by [...]
Sunset Cliffs – Open Field Report
The Sunset Cliffs Invitational, hosted by Point Loma Nazarene University in sunny San Diego is now just a week away. As of Sunday afternoon, there were 40 teams representing 14 schools from eight states. This is truly a phenomenal field – by far the largest and most competitive in Southern California this year. I’ll start [...]
One Small step for… NFA-LD?
Alright! Our first poll is finished at SoCal-LD.net and our community topic for next year that we’ll submit is on Space Exploration. Here are the requirements for the brief due by Jan 31 – so we have about two weeks. In order to be accepted for consideration, the topic area must be in the form [...]
Freight Mobility Case
Here is another case idea that I’ve come across – a case surrounding freight mobility. While the article is rather light on specifics I imagine if you did a little bit of research you’d be able to find some policy recommendations. Panelists discussed the need for a national freight vision as critical to the future [...]
