The worst part about winter in Minnesota isn’t the cold – it’s the dark. And it’s already starting.
It was pitch black before 7pm today.
The worst part about winter in Minnesota isn’t the cold – it’s the dark. And it’s already starting.
It was pitch black before 7pm today.
I get a text from Alejandro:
Alejandro: “I’m in hotlanta for a while and for some reason it makes me think of you.”
Me: “I’m glad I’m associated with class and elegance.”
Alejandro: “More like ‘slightly less trashy black people with money’ I think. Like Nene from real Housewives!”
Great.
What a week. Long days at school, a weekend at work, and the first signs of frost and fall. Despite my packed schedule, I still made it to the lakes this week to enjoy the last of the green:
Oh public schools.
Last year the grad students marched about student fees, and this year there is more of a general tuition protest. There are angry fliers, people pounding on drums, yelling. General pissyness.
I went to a super-pricey private university, so I’m unsympathetic. My theory is this:
On a full scholarship. I passed up big, but less than full-ride scholarships at Georgetown and NYU because I knew that I needed even more aid and that I would probably go into debt for law/grad school afterward. The point here is that there are many options and no one is entitled to a certain fee or tuition level.
You can’t even get a public sector job with your fancy degree? Well, higher education in obscure or unprofitable fields is a luxury, not a right. If you major in something like early modern Peruvian art history (or law) you can’t demand that the state pay for it via reduced tuition.
Alesus and I ended the week eating oysters on the rooftop patio of Stella’s Fish Café in Uptown Minneapolis.
Minnehaha Falls is the new place to walk the dogs. There are tourists, yippie dogs, BBQs, and of course the waterfall:
My schedule is a disaster.
I scheduled afternoon classes so I could exercise and work in the mornings. That plan feels ridiculous now.
The problem is that my professors love scheduling and re-scheduling things for the 12:15-1pm time slot, which makes the 30 minute drive to the office not worth it if I wake up after 7am. (Which happens a lot.)
I also underestimated the amount and type of work I signed up for. Sure, I only have 12 credits, but my schedule is beholden to weekly assignments and “special projects.” I am constantly in the library cursing the decrepit computers and lack of staples.
The odd weekday schedule meant that my weekend consisted of marathon days at work. I’d walk the dogs, spend 8-10 hours at work, come back, walk the dogs, and veg out on trashy reality TV. Hardly the relaxed 3L schedule I imagined.
Despite the odd schedule, I still made time to make an appearance at Lush bar with a gaggle of law students, and I also attended Classafrass, the drag show at the Townhouse bar:
Some weirdness went down at that show – one of the drag queens who looks like Tila Tequila decided to perform Madonna’s “Erotic.” Tila’s performance was… well, true to the song.
And then comes a barefoot old man with the old-man shakes. Tila makes him part of the show. It’s unspeakably awkward. Pictures after the jump.
It’s noticeably cooler now. The days are shorter, but I still make time to take the dogs to the lakes.
I read for my federal tax law procedure class at the Freighthouse Dunn Brothers, which is one of the cutest cafes in Minneapolis (pictures here).
Things got real bad on Friday night.
I come back from work around 10pm and find Mark, who lives on the second floor, waiting by the building door. Mark tells me that his sink kitchen clogged, so I call the emergency plumber.
The plumber dredges Mark’s sink while Alesus and I skip over to the Showplace ICON theater and watch the new Resident Evil1 movie.
We come back to my apartment, watch Jersey Shore, and go to bed around 2am.
I hear a knock on my at 4am. It’s Heidi, the tenant who lives under Mark. Her kitchen is completely flooded with stinky black water that is shooting from her kitchen sink. Heidi’s bathroom ceiling is also leaking.
I run into strange characters during my dog walks. One of these characters is a short man that I always find near the Wedge Co-Op on my morning dog walks to Lake of the Isles.
He usually sits on a retention wall with a large beer can. This is usually around 9am so I guess these are his breakfast beers. This guy continually tries to start conversations with me. I smile and avoid eye contact.
He told me that he is from Mississippi. He just got out of prison and he doesn’t know anyone up here. He also likes rottweilers.
I now avoid that area on my morning dog walks and haven’t seen the felon in a month.
So I was surprised this afternoon when I opened my apartment building’s door and saw the felon and a cracked-out woman. They were lurking by the door, waiting to be let in.
I had already opened the door when I noticed them, so I was screwed. They rushed the door:
Crackella: “Excuse me, I left my shrimp upstairs.”
I started my 3L year today. My first class is called “Great Cases” and it is a survey of 22 noteworthy Supreme Court cases and sensational trials. The class has an interesting mix of students: there are 3 Scandinavian exchange students, two Chinese LLMs, and some people randomly auditing the class including a Chinese girl from Dartmouth and a former state attorney.
We spent most of our time on course mechanics and trotting through the United States Constitution. I’ve taken two constitutional law classes but this is the first time that I was assigned the entire constitution. The only surprising thing was its brevity and how seemingly unrelated things are clumped together.
The second class of the day was a Death Penalty seminar taught by Professor D.
Law school orientation dominated the past week.
I was an orientation leader and spent the majority of my week convincing 1Ls that they can survive their first year of law school without being crazy. I also squeezed in some hours at the office, a movie, and even went to the Minnesota State Fair with Alesus.
It was my first time at the fair. I went primarily because the state fair is the only place I can buy Shoe MGK cleaner for my tacky white Aldo shoes. I also wanted to try camel on a stick.
Apparently the camel-sellers left the fair early, but I managed to buy the shoe cleaner, which was a life changing experience.
The Minnesota State Fair was surprisingly fun and great people watching.
There were cows:
Crowds:
Fancy kiosks with enormous light bills:
“You got served” style dance-offs:
Yesterday was the last day of orientation. It was only a half-day and the 1Ls were very grateful.
During the last session with our 1L section, we made sure to drive home the three main rules for law school:
…and hopefully some of those stick. I think they are ready for this Jelly.
The 1Ls were stuck in lecture sessions for most of the morning, so the orientation leaders just sat around, chatted, and stared at the Mondalelisa, which is the glamor shot of Walter Mondale in the law school entrance.
Mondale always seems to stare right at you, and his smile becomes a sneer after a while.
Creepy.
After orientation I went to work, and ended the night watching Machete with Alesus.
Today was a slightly shorter day of orientation. The 1Ls are still good troopers, but it was a personally frustrating day for some orientation leaders because we were constantly undermined by presenters:
On homework:
Orientation Leaders: “You’ll get your assignments on Friday, don’t worry about them now.”
10 minutes later:
Professor: “Read pages 1-5, 7-20, 30-36. Read EVERY WORD of the first case. It’s mostly Latin…”
On Professors:
1L: “I read on Rate My Professor that Professor Palsgraff is a horrible person who can’t teach and tortures bunnies. Is that true?!”
Orientation Leaders: “Well, everyone has different learning styles and everyone’s favorite professor is someone else’s least favorite. And although Professor Palsgraff may not be the most energetic speaker, she is at the top of her field, dedicated to her students, and surely only kicks the bunnies who deserve it.”
10 minutes later:
Student Speaker: “Oh and I heard you had Palsgraff for one of your classes! HAH! Lemme tell ya – you won’t learn SQUAT from Palsgraff, she’s a horrible teacher and wrings bunnies’ necks till the light leaves their eyes…”
The second day of orientation was epic. The 1Ls shuffled in at 8am, and left for the bar across the street around 5.
One of the most important things that happened today was the introduction to legal writing. Look at all those gleaming packets of knowledge:
Snazzy.
While the 1Ls were in hours (and hours) of sessions, I worked on less glamorous projects like stacking chairs:
Orientation leaders are flight attendants with manual labor duties: we smile, answer questions, give directions, mingle, smile some more, answer more questions, give peppy speeches, and haul tables and chairs throughout the law school.
At least the 1Ls aren’t crazy this year, so there were no Steven Slater moments so far.
I started the day as a greeter, and several of my 1L twitter followers and blog readers introduced themselves – which is always great when they don’t pelt me with oranges.
Although I don’t really know what the etiquette is for those conversations:
Alesus and I decided to take a nature-tour with the krakens. Of course the path near the river was flooded and the dogs had to charge right through the middle of the muck:
Every…freaking…time…
And I, being ever so prepared, decided to wear flipflops.
Good thing the dog harnesses made it super easy to throw the dogs in the river to torture clean them off.
And yes, the back seat of my car is a hot mess.
