reconsider your silence.

Our professor urged us to reconsider our silence at the end of the last class, after a discussion of pornography and freedom of expression. We were assigned a few Supreme Court cases as well as the anti-pornography ordinances that Catherine MacKinnon (my idol, remember?) and Andrea Dworkin wrote. It was a moment when I should have spoken up and said I agreed with the ordinances that treat pornography as sex discrimination and allow women to bring a civil suit against anyone that produces these loathsome materials. No one said they supported the statutes, and our professor seemed disappointed, as was I... in myself for not piping up. So in 9 minutes we have class again, and the topic will come up in the beginning of class, and I feel like it's one of those decisive moments in my career, where I can get through the next hour and fifteen minutes of class, or actually say something that is important to me. And it ought to be important to all of the women around me. We'll see..........

idol

Catherine MacKinnon. The more I read about her, the more I want to follow in her footsteps, and speak up, and study harder, write things that matter for the women of my generation.

cold-called. brr.

Of course I had prepared the cases that we were assigned that day of class. I had just finished a thorough reading before class. But that's the thing about law school. Being prepared for today's assignment is not enough. So my professor turns to me after lecturing for half an hour and asks for a run down of a case assigned over a week ago. Mind immediately went blank. I have no idea what you are referring to. Umm. I start turning pages, probably looking frantic and changes colors in the face. Luckily my neighbor whispered to me the appropriate page and I start rambling little highlighted sentences from my book, and looking to my inadequate brief that shone in front of me on my laptop. Not to get into the nitty gritty, but once I realized what case we were on, things got better, and I made a couple good points. I can only hope that tomorrow I will be called on again to finish the case, and maybe dig into the next one. I loathe when I have all this information and good points to make and am asked about the one thing that isn't at the level of understanding or accessibility that it should be. Damn, I sound like I'm about to get anal about the whole studying and preparing before class thing. Maybe not. Maybe moral of the story is to speak up more in class so as to play down the detractors.

Everything is speeding up and I am trying to keep it calm, get 'er done, and enjoy myself as much as possible in law school. Not necessarily hardy partying, but maintaining a sense of mental well-being. Exercise, yoga, healthy-eating, and good friends are the most important elements for the mental upkeep. And shleeeep. Time to get some.

on rights.

So nobody is probably going to even this see this blog, but I just wanted to take a second to address something really disturbing I read in the news yesterday. It was an article about an Iranian woman, a fellow blogger, named Fariba Pajouh, who has been held in solitary confinement by the Iranian intelligence ministry for over three weeks. Ms. Pajouh worked for a reformist newspaper, and her arrest is an obvious attempt to silence the voice of opposition. My sympathies go out to her and her family, and I hope she is freed soon. It is hard to believe that such blatent violations of human rights are happening every day. I guess that forces us to question whether freedom of speech is a basic human right. Should it be one of the prioritized rights that each society promise to its citizens? By prioritized, I mean to say that I do feel that some rights are more important than others. In our country, for example, I think due process is more important than owning a rifle. Not that I'm against the right to bear arms (heck! the men in my family have always been hunters), but I don't think it is thee most crucial. I suppose it's only natural for my discussion of human rights to lead to the Constitution. Since I've already wandered down this path, it's interesting to consider the order of the Amendments in the Bill of Rights. Right there, at number one, freedom of the speech and freedom of the press. In making the new nation, the framers of the Constitution felt it was a priority to protect these freedoms, and perhaps it's one of the rights we take for granted. In Zambia, the editor of The Post has also been imprisoned for sending photos of a woman giving birth outside of a hospital to the vice president and health minister. Sadly, the newborn did not survive the birth. The editor did this in order to demonstrate the failings of the nation's health system, but was charged with distributing obscene materials. Really? You leave a woman with no choice but to give birth in the streets, and then call it pornography when faced with the reality of the consequences?

Cases like these demonstrate the necessity to protect rights such as freedom of speech, press, and due process. But how to intervene or influence the basic rights and values of other nations seems a precarious task to undertake. The challenge does not mean that we can turn a blind eye.

motivation.

Thank you to the student organization who did not vote for me to be the committee chair of their newsletter. I won't be bitter. I'm a writer, and yes, I really wanted that committee chair. And although I did not realize that we were going to have to give a little shpeel about ourselves and why we wanted respective positions, I delivered an off-the-cuff little run down of who I was and my experience and goals for the newsletter, and I think it did the job. Got'er done. Smiling faces looking back at me, expressing approval. I mean, it was no Obama speech, but it was good, if I might say so. And the other female gave her shpeel with less enthusiasm, albeit she did have comparable qualifications, and was voted the 1L committee chair for the newsletter. Seriously, I'm not a sore loser, but first off, she ran for two positions, lost the other, and had a second opportunity to expound on her qualifications. And secondly, I think people have a bias against stylish females, and tend to think they're not as serious professionally speaking. Well that did it for me. It's like I have to work harder to prove myself a competent, intelligent young lawyer. I wonder if things would be different if I shaved my head, and went for the full-on feminist, activist look. Seriously, I think the election would have taken a different twist. But that's ok. I will take it as even more motivation to work my ass off and assert myself.


Week 2 is going really well. It's nice having a small section with 35 people. We're forming a little fam, and I see us becoming a great support network throughout the year. Hopefully we'll get good and drunk together a few times also.

My favorite course at this point is Contracts. Surprise! I never would have expected that. Well, I guess I like all of my classes in different ways. Constitutional Law is challenging, but very intellectually engaging, and Torts is fun because we think up all of these crazy hypotheticals for situations when people can be held liable for things. My professor is this hilarious, gregarious, highly respected torts scholar, that is just impossible not to love. Or at least laugh with several times each class.

This has been the densent 2 weeks of my life. But in a good way.

goals. see below

What are your goals for this year?

I think it's a constructive thing to ask yourself every so often, especially at the start of something new. As a compulsive list maker, I have already written down my goals. They are:

* To improve my public speaking, namely to become more eloquent. Getting over the nerves is no longer enough.
* Enjoy law school. Stay positive. Appreciate the entire experience.
* Mindful, careful eating (and cookin!)Also, getting to the market once a week to eat fresh, seasonal, and local.
* Enjoy breaks. Find complete reprieve from work and stress.
* Focus on becoming a good advocate for people.
* Learn french! Ok, this one's auxiliary, but definitely in the next 2 years.. Perhaps I will study some in Pariiis.. One thing to work towards.

Enough about me. What are your goals? To become a better brother/sister/friend/lover/mother/spouse? To plant a garden? To, for once, not kill a houseplant? To learn to play the mandolin? I'm interested in others' goals, and how they succeed in accomplishing them.

This is going to be a tough year. I know I started out all "whatevs, I can totally get through without freaking out", and treating it as if it were some potentially coool project. But now the material has turned out to be more interesting than I had imagined, and I want to become a thoughtful, strong, bad-ass lawyer. I mean, seriously, lawyers are the people who make the laws of society, just as much as legislators. They write the contracts, argue over important social issues, and are the voice of people that might otherwise go unheard. I really want to get the most out of my classes and do well, and not just to "beat out" my classmates. Speaking of whom, there have been some uneventful social events for 1Ls, which have resulted in the typical getting drunk and unveiling of true characters from beneath the orientation facade. Booze-fueled ice breakers if you will. Designated are the class skank, sleeze, capitalistic networkers, brains, drunks, etc etc. Yes, it can bring you back to high school if you so desire.

So, anyway, back to the original idea : What are your goals?

not-so-bad

Day one. (cue scary music) dun-dun-dun-dun ... honestly folks, it ain't that bad. Well, there was an unexpected day minus-1 as well, some orientation events which included (dun-dun-dun-dun) Intro to the Socratic method... one of the aspects of law school I had been fearing during the past 2 years. So, naturally, I volunteered instead of waiting to be called on. I said, "shooot, i ain't sitting 'round here shakin in my boots," (in my head), and the professor laughed and said I had been on his hit list anyhow. phew. That, my friends, is called pre-emptive attack.

So the actual day one started with a surprisingly comforting class in lawyering, with a kind, soft-er spoken professor who emphasized creating a safe learning environment, and doesn't want any of us coming in feeling nervous about being cold-called on. We just sat back and listened. I think it will be a really challenging class, but one that I will really enjoy - the name sounds so dry, lawyering, but I am excited about the writing, research, and honing my public speaking skeeelz. It was nothing like I had imagined my first class of my first day of law school.

I had a couple more classes and met more nervous and excited 1L's. We really do have a diverse class, with people from all over the world, each with a unique background. Everything from teachers, to consultants, to publicists, to paralegals, journalists, waitresses, mountain climbers, and travelers of the world in general, like myself.

Just to make my first day even more memorable, the water pump thing-a-ma-jig at our apartment broke the night before and I couldn't even take a shower before class. Yup. Brushed my teeth with a jug of water. To celebrate my roommate and I went out to a nice dinner, and I ordered an Indian ratatatoulle that was less than delicious, but we had a good laugh recounting the days events. And I had a well-deserved glass of red wine.

Well, here goes day 2 with Constitutional Law (yea! excited about this one) and Civil Procedure (dun-dun-dun-dun). Talk soon playas.



SONG FOR INSPIRATION:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQdC7h609k8