Things I've Been Doing Instead of Studying for Finals

I only have two final exams this semester, because a) I'm in a clinic, which only gets a credit/no credit designation; b) see a), but for a journal; c) one of my classes was finished halfway through the semester, so I took the exam just after spring break.

As such, I am now doing everything BUT studying for my two exams. [I don't really feel anxious about these two exams - yet - in part because it's kind of arbitrary, I think, whether I'll get an Honors or a Pass grade in both of them. I *could* work hard to get an H in either/both, but I'm just not sure I care that much.]

Some things I've done instead:
* Graded papers for the undergrad class that I'm TAing. This is torture. Some of these kids CAN NOT write. They're juniors & seniors at Yale, and yet they have trouble forming complete sentences or creating logical arguments. Sometimes I wish that I read the papers while slightly buzzed, but that would be irresponsible TAing, I imagine, and I'm not getting paid the big bucks to be an irresponsible TA. If you want to talk about being irresponsible, look no further than one of my students, who after getting a week-and-a-half extension on the only graded assignment of the semester, insisted at 11pm that she needed a "few more hours" to polish her paper that I had told her was do-or-die due at 12 midnight because I needed to read it & grade it before going to bed/getting up uber-early to get on a train [see below]. At 1:08am, my plea of "Please, for the love of my sleep schedule, send me what you have now!") was met with "Just 15 more minutes, promise!" Those 15 more minutes turned int0 30, which resulted in a not-too-happy SB. The paper was, to put it lightly, underwhelming. I found out today that she's taking the class pass-fail. "Underwhelming" = she passed (and with a pretty good grade!), because I'm a really really nice TA. [To be fair, a couple of the papers have actually been quite good. Hooray!]

* Went to NYC. Twice. In 30 hours. I have to get a special tourist visa to travel to South America later this month because the Consulate General of a certain soccer-crazed country demands outrageous fees and rather excessive procedure, in retaliation for the US doing the same to their citizens. Fair enough, I suppose, but I don't make US immigration policy! In any case, I had to either make two trips to NYC to drop off and pick up my visa, or pay a bundle to a private company to do it for me. It turns out to be cheaper to take the Metro North and do it myself. Ironically, the first studying I've done this finals period happened when I opened a Property hornbook on the train and again in the Consulate waiting room.

* Packed my room and moved my stuff into storage and a different apartment. Our subletters needed our apartment on a certain date, which just so happened to be a date before we really wanted to vacate. So I'm now subletting someone else's apartment for the week, because I figured I'd be more productive here in New Haven than somewhere more exotic. Productivity has not been particularly high, however. On the upside, there are nice neighbors & it kind of feels like being in a hotel for a week.

* Organized a few summer events with YLS alumni for a student group I'm involved in. Wished that I'd actually be in densely-populated cities this summer, so that I could go to the events.

***

Election Day

It's been approaching for a mighty long time, but it's finally here! The steps that the law school has taken to accommodate it have been pretty sweet. They're taping all the classes so that people can feel free to campaign, vote, go home, whatever. We're having a school-run election party, at which we've been promised, and I quote, "a non-lame" gift. And of course, the fact that one of the candidates is an alumni of the school hasn't hurt at all.

Unfortunately, my feelings on election night are basically mixed. I've already voted by absentee ballot in a state where my vote will make no difference. I hate watching the returns come in, because I find it super stressful. Plus, the fact that I have to get up the next morning and go to class is kinda sucky. Still, happy election day! Go vote!

Addendum on November 5th: It was pointed out today that the law school now controls two out of the three branches of government (presidency, majority on the Supreme Court.) I can't decide if I find that troubling or not.

Love at First Sight

This weekend was alumni/reunion weekend at school. A bunch of old people (and a few young people) showed up to see their former classmates and professors and to see what the school is like today. They got to sit on panel discussions and hear lectures, take tours of the law school (and the building acquired by the law school, to be opened in a few years - presumably, to encourage them to donate to its development). They also got to hear a particularly esteemed fellow graduate talk on Saturday afternoon - your good friend and mine Bill Clinton stopped by to talk a bit about his time in law school, the current financial crisis, the upcoming election, and his work since leaving office. Overall, it was a really good speech - we heard about how he met Hillary in the law school library (she couldn't come this weekend because she's campaigning for Barack - something "much more important" - a comment about which received thunderous applause from the audience), and about how he missed class a lot to help with campaigns. It seems he was quite a maverick in his time.

To put it simply, I am absolutely in love with Bill Clinton. I have been in love with him forever. I'll admit, my 14-year-old self was somewhat enraptured when the Starr report came out - I read the whole thing cover-to-cover in one sitting [and I'll freely cop to having been more than a little bit jealous of Monica]. I was flabbergasted when a friend of mine quit his job with Bill's office in Harlem last fall - who says no when asked to off Bill's dry cleaning and getting his watch fixed?!? I may have gotten a little teary-eyed when, on Saturday, he told us all to "do what [we] like, and help others" because that will ultimately make us happy.

It's really amazing to spend the weekend surrounded by people - Fmr. President Clinton is just one example - who have made such awesome contributions to society after having sat in my chair, taken my classes, and been in my same student groups. It's simultaneously encouraging (look at everything you can go on to do!) and intimidating (can you ever achieve the scale that these people have?)...but it's thrilling, regardless.