Not-so-Secretly Scavenging

What recession? The much-discussed economic downturn has resulted in some uncertainty about summer jobs...those who want to work in the private sector are being encouraged to spread their net as widely as possible, pulling some geographic strings if possible; those who were thinking public sector/government/non-profit work are suddenly faced with more competition for their spots as previously firm-oriented people look elsewhere for employment. We're blessed to be a bit more isolated than perhaps students at some other schools, and certainly nobody is reaching panic mode yet, but it's still a little disconcerting to find what might be the perfect opportunity, only to be told "Sorry, we can't hire 1Ls this year." Bah humbug! So the search continues...

One thing that's not lacking - even as endowments spiral south - is free food. I have to admit to being a bit spoiled in that regard. In my pre-law school life, I never cooked all that much (because I didn't have to in college, and because I went out to eat a lot in "the real world"), so I came in anticipating the need to sharpen my culinary skills (to save money, etc.). I was sad to be moving somewhere far away from my beloved Whole Foods, but I figured Trader Joe's was a fair substitute. I was pumped to make use of my pots and pans.

I'd heard, of course, that law school was basically a non-cook's dream - free food at lectures and lunch presentations and dinner meetings and weekend conferences. But I was planning to reserve judgment: I'd also heard that an awful lot of these free food opportunities featured pizza. New Haven pizza. Let's be clear - New Haven pizza & I have a complicated relationship. And by that, I mean that the last three times I ate pizza here before starting school, I threw up. So lots of pizza would be like lots of brussel sprouts: the equivalent of no edible food. And a renewed requirement that I procure my own sustenance.

Truth: there IS a lot of pizza. But people have gotten smart: students get tired of pizza. You have to offer something else if you really want people to show up to a non-obligatory event. In New Haven, that means food from any number of Thai, Indian, Mediterranean, Chinese, or Italian places. Every day, there are numerous lunch events that offer free food, usually to accompany a visiting speaker or a career panel. At dinner time, it's inevitable that two or three school-wide emails go out alerting people to the presence of leftovers from club events - you don't even have to go to the event to get food! A few entrepreneurial 3Ls bring tupperware and stock up for later. Smarties.

Today I had TWO scrumptious free Indian meals: lunch at Thali Too and dinner from Sitar. Lunch was courtesy of the Dean of Student Affairs, who took a small group of us 1Ls out to lunch to see how the semester was going. The food was so good, I didn't really want to go back to school for con law (it became pretty obvious that none of us really wanted to be there/we'd all been out late together last night when halfway through class people stopped talking...but I guess such is the case the day after oral arguments?). For dinner, I had the pleasure of hosting a small group dinner with a handful of fellow YLS women and one of my favorite new-to-YLS professors; he came over to my apartment and talked to us about his experience when he was in school here and what it's like being a professor. He asked us all what we want to do with our lives, and kept us entertained all night with jokes and stories. Best part about hosting the dinner: I got to keep the tasty leftovers. Yum!

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Activity Avalanche

I had thought law school was a bit overwhelming from week 1, but we've shifted into hyperdrive and exams aren't even on the horizon yet. Like SB, we're picking which activities to join. My section-mates seem to all be members of three journals, two student practice organizations, and are doing another six things on the side. After recovering from a miserable headache I got at the student activities fair, I have concluded that there is no way I am capable of that. In fact, I'm not sure I'm capable of doing anything besides school and some coaching, but I'll take a stab at it.

Although....things are not looking too good. Already my tea intake has jumped from one cup a day to four. Plus, I keep having these horrible dreams about ordinary activities that weirdly become competitive. Like last night, when I dreamt that in order to eat lunch I had to get into a pizza eating contest. I lost, obviously (although I guess I got lunch regardless). Is this some Greek-style omen darkly portending my future? I don't know, and I think I need another cup of tea.

Can Men Be a Part of Law Women?

Over the past week or so, we've been bombarded with invitations to participate in various activities: secondary journals, pro-bono legal assistance projects, volunteer projects, mentorship programs, ethnic/religious affiliation groups, music & drama clubs...the list goes on and on, and at a big university, there are also myriad things to get involved with in the other graduate & professional schools. Next Saturday, I'm participating in a Day of Service event, where I'll be helping with a community art project at the city's public library. Helping people = good. Getting up at 8am on a Saturday to do it = hardest part of the day, I predict.

In any case, quick update: WE FINALLY HAVE INTERNET SERVICE. After a bazillion hours on the phone with a very nice woman named Denise, we finally have uninterrupted, legally-gotten DSL in our apartment. Thank goodness. We were about to go crazy. We quite seriously contemplated telecommunication terrorism in the form of pulling all the other apartments' cable/Internet wires from the central hook-up, just to incentivize their servicemen to actually come to our building to set up our service. Luckily, before that happened, the red light magically turned green - and here we are, 100% more connected to the world, 85% less productive than before, at least as far as law school reading goes.

In the process of getting situated and choosing from among the various groups open to us, I've found myself in a very troubling place. Suddenly, the academic workload, at least as far as time out of class goes (for reading or whatever) is head and shoulders above what I've ever experienced before, at least if I want to actually understand anything that's being written. Why can't law scholars write like scientists?!?!? I never thought I'd actively miss reading science journals, but here. I. am.

The problem arises then: What to sign up for? What to commit to? What to pass on this time [unfortunately, in the midst of the Internet debacle, I wasn't able to apply in time for one thing I had kind of wanted to do...maybe it was just a sign that I'd be over-extending myself??]?

If there's one thing we've learned so far, it's this general rule: Don't rule out anything that offers free food. Luckily, almost every single symposium, lecture, and student group meeting offers lunch or dinner - if you're lucky, it's of the non-pizza variety. I've made or bought food maybe once during the past academic week, and I probably won't need to for the rest of this week or next, based on my current plan. Best of all, at this point, since most of the student group meetings are just informational, there's no commitment, and still - lots of free food.

One group for which there was literally no commitment: Law Women's annual welcome dinner. All you had to do was be a woman. That was easy! We all got on buses and drove to a professor's house out in the suburbs...there was great food, good drinks, and fabulous dessert - just for having been born into (or, you know, currently claiming membership in) the near-half of the population that is female.

Great quote from the dinner:

"When you're sitting in class, not saying anything out loud, and some *guy* raises his hand and says something stupid, you're probably thinking, 'That's wrong!' Well, let me tell you, we professors are thinking he's saying something idiotic, too! We just can't say it. So, please, raise your hand and point out his stupidity!" - Host Professor

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