Ah yes...with everything else that has changed over the last few months, it's nice to have good old sports. Fall = Football. Football! I can't say that it's exactly the same, because it's a little wrong when Sunday Night Football starts at 5:00. But still, ahh...the weekend rolls around and it's good old four downs, 100 yards, kickoffs, field goals and yelling at the refs.
The Steelers were on Sunday Evening Football this weekend which meant national TV, even out here in LaLa Land. Football in rotten weather, wind and rain swirling around. Just a little piece of home coming through the boob tube.
Watching the Steelers beat the Browns....ah, some things really do never change.
Just wait and see how happy I am when hockey season rolls around!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Oh Yeah...I'm in Law School!
Right...I have a blog. Hello!
So the one thing I haven't posted about (yes, just the one thing) is the whole reason I'm out here in the first place - law school! A bunch of people ask me how school is, and I give them all the same corny, drippy, silly answer: Absolutely fantastic. On so many levels.
The easiest is the return to academia. I've always said I was born to be a professional student, and I still think that's true. Listening, reading, absorbing, this is all right up my alley, and I get it in giant huge bunches here. The classes and the material are hugely challenging. The work is tough, and often being in the spotlight in class makes you squirm, but it's clear that the spotlight is there to challenge you and make you better.
On a deeper level, the atmosphere at UCLA is better than I ever imagined. The stereotypical image of law school is stuffy and tradition-oriented. The first year, the only goal is to weed out the weak; classes are handled with half an eye towards teaching, and half an eye towards getting the unfit to crack and fail miserably. Some schools cut as much as the bottom third of their students after the first year. Innovative thinking may be allowed as you progress (or maybe not) but in the first year, you're not presumed to have enough of a brain to think your own thoughts. These cultures also create a fierce competition among students, as everyone frantically struggles to step on everyone else so as to not be at the bottom. For those who aren't worried about being on the cut list, everyone else is an obstacle in the way of your six figure firm job. As far as public interest work goes, every school pays lip service to it, but the feel is more that we owe it to chip in a few hours of pro bono work now and then, and let the little people have a taste of our brilliance.
Much to my surprise, at UCLA I've found myself able to put the words "law school" and "nurturing" into the same sentence. Right from the get-go, the culture has been positive, supportive, and encouraging. The convocation speeches were a giant pep talk, all about how, as we go through stress and uncertainty in the next few years, remember that we rock, the school rocks, the faculty and administration rock, and when we get done we'll be able to do thinks that rock. (In contrast, MG's description of her convocation speeches was: "The next three years will be hell and a bunch of you will either die or fail.") Over and over, we hear the message that if we need support--whether personal or academic--the faculty, administration and other students are here to help us. They make no bones that the next three years will be difficult and won't always be fun, but they make it equally clear that their goal is not to break us, but to push us to excel. There is no thought of separating the wheat from the chaff.
This atmosphere of support spills over into the student body. Yes, there are those who are still hyper-competitive and gunning for that firm job. There is a mandatory curve on the first year, although the thought of mandatory cuts is downright absurd here. But there also seem to be just as many students who have no interest in such competition and mistrust. Help is offered freely, notes are shared, tips and tricks are passed around, class outlines obtained from a 2L or 3L are forwarded along for others' benefit. Although not everyone shares it, enough students feel that there's room for all of us to be successful in the end. One person's success doesn't come at another's expense. That feel is also passed along by older students and alumni. We've heard repeated often that the next three years are only as cutthroat as we make them.
As far as public interest and innovation go, this is where it is singularly personally fulfilling for me. UCLA has twice the percentage of graduates that go into public interest work as many other schools (8% vs. 4%), and this is a reflection of the academic and extracurricular activities they have here, and the effort that they put into developing a solid culture of progressive, social justice-oriented thinking. These opportunities are available from the start; even though we can't do anything academically yet (all 1Ls have a standard class schedule), they immediately welcome us in and encourage us to begin making connections. The number one detriment to law students maintaining their ambitions of social justice is the larger culture of law as a means to a lucrative career and personal gain. The programs here recognize this and provide us a place to meet others who are like minded right from the get-go. And, they encourage students to come up with their own ideas and actively contribute to both the administration and the activities of the school. I've counted at least four different legal clinics so far that only just started over the last few years, entirely at the initiative of students who saw a need and had the support of the school to try to fill it.
Aside from the obvious reasons that this is fulfilling, for me it's a dream come true. Going back to school, I expected the next three years to be a necessary evil to my eventual goal of working in a social justice capacity. I figured it would be three years of swimming almost entirely against the grain, with occasional support here or there, finding my own way among a culture pursuing purely corporate and political aspirations, with little opportunity to have immediate impact. Instead, everything has been exactly the opposite, even in terms of immediate work.
A month and a half ago, I was sitting in my cube feeling like actual work to do good was a million miles away. Then I got here and find that everything I've ever wanted to do is in my immediate grasp. "You want to change things? Here. You want to help people? Here. You see things you don't agree with? Here." Next week I'm going to my first clinic, helping rehabilitated (-ing) ex-convicts navigate legal hurdles in the course of getting re-established in society. I'm also signed up this semester to work a few days at a mobile legal clinic that sets up at a local food bank, helping people there address problems they've had such as minor offenses related to homelessness, and denial of rightful benefits. As if that wasn't enough, I'm also slated for a third clinic that helps people with HIV and AIDS find and keep affordable, livable housing.
And oh yeah, I go to class, too.
At any rate, this post has become ridiculous. I'm sure you have something to go do, and I certainly have reading to do. To quote something I saw recently (although I'll be damned if I can remember where...maybe LT?) I can't promise to try to post more often, but I promise to try to try!
So the one thing I haven't posted about (yes, just the one thing) is the whole reason I'm out here in the first place - law school! A bunch of people ask me how school is, and I give them all the same corny, drippy, silly answer: Absolutely fantastic. On so many levels.
The easiest is the return to academia. I've always said I was born to be a professional student, and I still think that's true. Listening, reading, absorbing, this is all right up my alley, and I get it in giant huge bunches here. The classes and the material are hugely challenging. The work is tough, and often being in the spotlight in class makes you squirm, but it's clear that the spotlight is there to challenge you and make you better.
On a deeper level, the atmosphere at UCLA is better than I ever imagined. The stereotypical image of law school is stuffy and tradition-oriented. The first year, the only goal is to weed out the weak; classes are handled with half an eye towards teaching, and half an eye towards getting the unfit to crack and fail miserably. Some schools cut as much as the bottom third of their students after the first year. Innovative thinking may be allowed as you progress (or maybe not) but in the first year, you're not presumed to have enough of a brain to think your own thoughts. These cultures also create a fierce competition among students, as everyone frantically struggles to step on everyone else so as to not be at the bottom. For those who aren't worried about being on the cut list, everyone else is an obstacle in the way of your six figure firm job. As far as public interest work goes, every school pays lip service to it, but the feel is more that we owe it to chip in a few hours of pro bono work now and then, and let the little people have a taste of our brilliance.
Much to my surprise, at UCLA I've found myself able to put the words "law school" and "nurturing" into the same sentence. Right from the get-go, the culture has been positive, supportive, and encouraging. The convocation speeches were a giant pep talk, all about how, as we go through stress and uncertainty in the next few years, remember that we rock, the school rocks, the faculty and administration rock, and when we get done we'll be able to do thinks that rock. (In contrast, MG's description of her convocation speeches was: "The next three years will be hell and a bunch of you will either die or fail.") Over and over, we hear the message that if we need support--whether personal or academic--the faculty, administration and other students are here to help us. They make no bones that the next three years will be difficult and won't always be fun, but they make it equally clear that their goal is not to break us, but to push us to excel. There is no thought of separating the wheat from the chaff.
This atmosphere of support spills over into the student body. Yes, there are those who are still hyper-competitive and gunning for that firm job. There is a mandatory curve on the first year, although the thought of mandatory cuts is downright absurd here. But there also seem to be just as many students who have no interest in such competition and mistrust. Help is offered freely, notes are shared, tips and tricks are passed around, class outlines obtained from a 2L or 3L are forwarded along for others' benefit. Although not everyone shares it, enough students feel that there's room for all of us to be successful in the end. One person's success doesn't come at another's expense. That feel is also passed along by older students and alumni. We've heard repeated often that the next three years are only as cutthroat as we make them.
As far as public interest and innovation go, this is where it is singularly personally fulfilling for me. UCLA has twice the percentage of graduates that go into public interest work as many other schools (8% vs. 4%), and this is a reflection of the academic and extracurricular activities they have here, and the effort that they put into developing a solid culture of progressive, social justice-oriented thinking. These opportunities are available from the start; even though we can't do anything academically yet (all 1Ls have a standard class schedule), they immediately welcome us in and encourage us to begin making connections. The number one detriment to law students maintaining their ambitions of social justice is the larger culture of law as a means to a lucrative career and personal gain. The programs here recognize this and provide us a place to meet others who are like minded right from the get-go. And, they encourage students to come up with their own ideas and actively contribute to both the administration and the activities of the school. I've counted at least four different legal clinics so far that only just started over the last few years, entirely at the initiative of students who saw a need and had the support of the school to try to fill it.
Aside from the obvious reasons that this is fulfilling, for me it's a dream come true. Going back to school, I expected the next three years to be a necessary evil to my eventual goal of working in a social justice capacity. I figured it would be three years of swimming almost entirely against the grain, with occasional support here or there, finding my own way among a culture pursuing purely corporate and political aspirations, with little opportunity to have immediate impact. Instead, everything has been exactly the opposite, even in terms of immediate work.
A month and a half ago, I was sitting in my cube feeling like actual work to do good was a million miles away. Then I got here and find that everything I've ever wanted to do is in my immediate grasp. "You want to change things? Here. You want to help people? Here. You see things you don't agree with? Here." Next week I'm going to my first clinic, helping rehabilitated (-ing) ex-convicts navigate legal hurdles in the course of getting re-established in society. I'm also signed up this semester to work a few days at a mobile legal clinic that sets up at a local food bank, helping people there address problems they've had such as minor offenses related to homelessness, and denial of rightful benefits. As if that wasn't enough, I'm also slated for a third clinic that helps people with HIV and AIDS find and keep affordable, livable housing.
And oh yeah, I go to class, too.
At any rate, this post has become ridiculous. I'm sure you have something to go do, and I certainly have reading to do. To quote something I saw recently (although I'll be damned if I can remember where...maybe LT?) I can't promise to try to post more often, but I promise to try to try!
Friday, September 5, 2008
With All Due Respect to MG
MG, I love that we can agree to disagree.
And I love Jon Stewart. Nods of thanks to LesbianDad for posting this.
And I love Jon Stewart. Nods of thanks to LesbianDad for posting this.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Let's All Pause for a Moment
...and cry for Diddy, or whatever he has decided to go by this week. No, really--let's be sad for him. Forget the 47 million Americans without health insurance. Forget the people in the Gulf who couldn't even worry about their homes being washed away by Gustav because they were still living in FEMA trailers three years after Katrina. Forget the kids struggling in areas with impoverished tax bases that can't support adequate school systems, whose families don't have the luxury of turning to private school. Forget the 400,000 dead and millions displaced in Darfur. Forget the people starving in the midst of food crises throughout Africa and parts of Asia.
Yes, instead let's be sad for Diddy because he has to fly first class. I mean, I know when I was worriedly checking the news this morning to see what was happening in the Gulf, I quickly forgot all about such mundane matters when I saw this heartbreaking news.
And also, let's all be thankful to Diddy for settling the confusion over whether or not fuel prices had gotten really high. The millions of people struggling just to fill their tanks, let alone cope with the rising costs of all manner of goods and services, will be happy to no longer have to wonder.
Yes, instead let's be sad for Diddy because he has to fly first class. I mean, I know when I was worriedly checking the news this morning to see what was happening in the Gulf, I quickly forgot all about such mundane matters when I saw this heartbreaking news.
And also, let's all be thankful to Diddy for settling the confusion over whether or not fuel prices had gotten really high. The millions of people struggling just to fill their tanks, let alone cope with the rising costs of all manner of goods and services, will be happy to no longer have to wonder.
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