Use Me

I know there are those who can't get in touch with their loved ones on the Coast. Feel free to leave messages to try and reach loved ones- there's a good chance they'll never read it -because of the fact that this blog is so tiny- but it doesn't hurt to try.

Also, I changed my blog title to include the word "Katrina", so that should help with those looking.

I wish you luck.

Self-Service

Note: I in no way mean to belittle the great tragedy that is being played out along the Gulf Coast and New Orleans. When I describe the situation in Jackson, Mississippi, I do so only to report the events as I find them- a citizen journalist, so to speak. I do not comment on the crisis to the south because I am not there. This then, is my story.

There is virtually no gas within a thirty-mile radius of Jackson. The gas stations that still have gas are quickly running out. Today, on my way to Clinton, I saw a line that must have been roughly a half-mile long. Police were stationed to keep order.

My wife and I have had to separate in order to conserve gas. Her parents live closer to her work than we do, so we decided that she should stay there. My law school has closed until Tuesday, September 6th- like most school systems in the area.

Ice and drinkable water are also a concern for many. For the last few days, the radio stations in the area have basically become a sounding board- where to find ice, gas, food, etc. It's heartbreaking to hear people on the radio who are sitting in the hot darkness with no water and no sense of hope.

As I mentioned in a previous post, most people in Jackson are without power. The lights are coming back on, but it's a long and arduous process. Many people have special medical concerns (insulin, dialysis, etc.) that make the hiatus particularly painful.

I don't know how long we'll have to go without gas here. I'm staying here at the trailer to conserve energy. Hopefully, the shortage will end soon.

Like I said before, I'm fortunate. There are those with bigger problems than me. I'm just reporting what I'm going through, so that others will know.

I am one of the fortunate ones.

I have shelter. I have power and telephone service. I have three-quarters of a tank of gas in my car. I have food.

I have my health.

My loved ones are safe.

Draw a line along Interstate 20, and chances are that there aren't many people south of that line who can attest to those statements.

Everything south of Hattiesburg has been hit- and hit hard. Ninety percent of the structures between the beach and the railroad tracks on the coast have been destroyed. All of the casinos are gone- one of them sits on the highway. Oil rigs are either sinking or sitting on the bottom of the ocean floor.

The sick and sad irony of this is that New Orleans, for a few moments after the storm, thought it had been spared. At the last second, the storm turned north and slammed into the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Unfortunately, New Orleans had at least one levee break (some sources say two.) As far as I know, that levee has not been repaired. As a result, Lake Ponchartrain has emptied itself into the city. In some places, it is twenty feet deep. This is water that is toxic- full of raw sewage and the rotting flesh of those who didn't make it.

20,000 people huddled in the Superdome are being evacuated to Houston. Officials fear a health crisis on a massive scale.

New Orleans' mayor has said that its citizens will not be able to return for at least 14 weeks- over three months. When they return, they will likely find nothing but hulking carcasses of a city that once was.

Like I said, I am one of the fortunate ones.

Bad Moon Rising

I have a feeling that Rand McNally is going to need a good cartographer to redraw a state that begins with the letter "L." Mark my words- there will be parts of Louisiana that will never be part of terra firma again.

I hope that everyone has taken the necessary precautions. Hurricanes kill in several different ways, but they don't exactly sneak up on you. If you live in New Orleans and could have left but decided to stay, may God have mercy on your soul.

Katrina most likely won't.

She's about ten hours from landfall, I think.

It doesn't look good.

Nothing to Nail Down

I think that many of my peers in law school are having a grand disagreement with one of the fundamental truths in law school- that there are no fundamental truths.

Yes, there are "rules"- but the rules, due to the ambiguity of the English language have to be interpreted by courts. Which creates exceptions. Which creates more rules. The process begins again, and yet more exceptions and rules are created.

Many of my classmates are determined to know the law cold- which, although a noble endeavor, is nonetheless a quixotic quest. It is as foolhardy a task as memorizing a river- they change everyday.

More importantly, then, is to accept the new ripples (and the likely formation of new ones) with elegance and understanding. The swirl or eddy in and of itself is not tantamount to our learning of law; instead, the forces that caused the new permutation should fill our focus.

I think I've heard every one of my law professors use the term "seamless web" when describing our course of studies. I've dealt with Torts in Civil Procedure and property matters in Contracts. Everything connects in some way to something else; I believe this to be the "light" that so many people wait weeks to see. The compartmentalization of subject matter is merely a matter of efficiency; it would be difficult to teach at all if we tried to teach everything at once.

Come exam time, there will be countless papers that can describe every single element of a tort- yet they will be unable to accurately apply those elements (in a reasonable manner) to an everyday situation. The elements exist in a vacuum, and applying them to extemporaneous events requires a requisite amount of talent and skill.

Knowing the elements is expected by law professors- being able to precisely analyze any given situation based on those elements is what will be rewarded on exams.

The Spectre Shows His Face...

Well, I survived.

The first two days of law school are over.

As luck would have it, my first professor in my first class on the first day of law school chose to call on me. He asked me what the plaintiff in the first case was litigating over, and I had no idea. It said "trespass on the case", which, unbeknownst to me, is an ancient term for modern-day negligence. You can bet I'll never forget that again.

The funny thing is that I knew the rest of the case backwards and forwards. I knew it was based on subject matter jurisdiction and that a voided judgment can be reversed. I pulled the information from it that would be helpful and relevant to future cases- precisely what a lawyer is supposed to do. Regardless, the professor probably sees me as a clueless moron who knows nothing. Oh well.

My only saving grace is that it was the first day, and as such he probably appreciated the ability to humiliate a number of students. He would probably have been displeased if I had known all the answers.

My other classes went by without incident- I have a front-row seat in most of them. Since I have mild ADD (I think), it helps if I sit near someone with authority.

I think that time management will be the biggest key. The trick is to do every assignment the day it is assigned. Since our classes are on Monday/Wednesday/Friday and Tuesday/Thursday, it's a real temptation to put off work for a day and take a break. To do so is deadly. Already I know of a few of my peers who are falling dangerously behind in their work. Like an avalanche, it's crucial to stay ahead of the falling snow.

And you can bet the farm the workload is only going to get worse.

Luckily, I don't really feel that I'm "working." I actually enjoy briefing cases and learning about the law. As such, I think that the next three years will be quite the enjoyable experience.

High School Lite

(Those who don't want to read my first attempt at being a policy wonk- feel free to skip this entry.)

MSNBC just published an article on their website announcing that a lot of students have deemed their high school classes "too easy".

This is not a good thing.

If it's gotten to the point where even the students realize they're not being challenged, that means that the status quo has been less than adequate for some time now. From my years in teaching, I can see how the expectations would slowly drop every year until they almost didn't exist.

Increasingly, our students are facing "High School Lite", where responsibilities disappear and leisure time is at an all-time high.

Some of it is behavioral- it's difficult to expect much from your students when they willingly staple their own arms and hit each other at a moment's notice. You can't (realistically) fail them all, so you create a fake goal that you hope they can reach. In my class from hell, for example, I placed the bar so low that I'm sure there are mentally disabled chimps who would stand a chance at passing, had they tried. (Amazingly, a few of my students did fail after all.)

There is also a financial element.

Wealthy parents who constantly bribe their children with brand-new cars and every technological gadget on the market shouldn't be surprised when their child displays no signs of inner drive- why move when the good stuff is sitting in your lap?

On the contrary, poor students often suffer the same fate from a different direction. Why push yourself when you see your parents work hard everyday and yet they still struggle to pay the bills? Is it not better to just slide by and struggle to pay the bills? You're still broke, but not quite so tired. (Understand that this is not a logical statement, but an example of how an underprivileged child might construe the situation.)

That leaves the middle class- that group who has enough money to always eat and yet too little money to forget its worth. Our leaders will rise from them.

But wait- that group is beginning to disappear-

Is it a coincidence that the middle class is largely disappearing right around the same time the "healthy workhorse" mentality is leaving our schools?

I doubt it.

Lastly, there's a perverted sense of latent racism surrounding our schools. Most (white) teachers subconsciously expect less form DeMarcus than Hunter, which impinges upon DeMarcus that not succeeding is okay- the norm. This is inherently deadly, and I'm guessing partly responsible for the phenomenom I saw in high school. I call it "acting white", and I witnessed it more times- while attending and teaching- than I care to admit.

Briefly, "acting white" occurs when a black student attempts to work in class. Almost immediately his peers, anxious and threatened by his efforts, label him as "acting white" and he is separated from the group until he returns to mirror their behavior. This is an incredibly powerful tactic. By doing this, they reaffirm the stereotype society has labeled them with, partly because it's understood and comfortable. Most of the time, I was helpless to stop it- I can't compete with the acceptance of someone's friends. Precious few things can.

If I were on the advisory board of the NAACP, I would definitely bring this to their immediate attention. If they're not careful, tradition will take hold and it will be generations before certain black students push themselves- fostering, especially in the inner city, "High School Lite."

Plato is Non-Toxic, They Say...

Yesterday I officially registered and received my books. They certainly look impressive enough, with their heavy bindings and muted colors.

The real blogtastic event, however, occurred when one of the professors gave our class a survey of Legal History. She began by gently canoodling the Socratic method out of her bag of tricks.

First she asked the seemingly innocuous question, "Why is it wrong to kill someone?"

Someone responded, "Because it's the law."

I almost died right there. I can see my fellow peer living in a world where legislation is passed that outlaws breathing, and the poor chap in a civil frenzy suffocates himself with a pillow.

Some other answers were proffered but my head was swimming from the response before, so I tuned them out. I could tell from her body language that the answers- whatever they were- didn't pass the smell test.

Next she asked, "Why is it more wrong to kill an animal than a human?"

Oh my- I can already tell this isn't going to be good. Suddenly hands shot up around me, and you'll be glad to know I recorded their answers so you could enjoy them too.

"Because animals don't have souls."

Ponder on that statement a bit. I can actually see this person imagining that scientists have developed a device that examines and analyzes souls. Do they really think that our system of law and government is based on something that can't be seen or proven except by faith? Furthermore, how does he know humans have them and animals don't? There are so many things "wrong" with this response I don't even know where to begin. The professor was nice about it, this being orientation, but during school I bet he would have gotten his head sent back to him on a platter, a la John the Baptist.

"Because humans are capable of abstract thought?"

It is nice to know that I can kill people who are in comas. Also, apparently I have to administer an intelligence test to a deer before I can hunt it. Anyone who thinks that animals can't make decisions is insane. I'm sure you can come up with some more reasons on your own why this is such a bad answer.

At this point, it took everything in my power to keep my mouth shut. I suppose I'm a closet "gunner", one who wishes he could always comment yet doesn't. The last thing I need my peers to know is that I can throw a sentence together that sounds good and has a decent thought behind it. The second they realize I have a scintilla of intellect at my disposal, they will leech on to me in the middling hope that they can ride my intellectual coattails to success.

I'm done teaching, if you haven't noticed. I want nothing to do with anyone that has nothing to offer me.

So I play the fool in this Shakespearean play, until that time during the final act when I throw off my mask and display my gift.

What's Up With Thursday?

After monitoring my blog traffic, I discovered an interesting statistic- for the last three weeks, there has been a sizable spike in visitors on Thursday. This week for example, I received 146 hits on Thursday, but only 60ish the day before.

This, of course, makes me curious- what makes Thursday so unique?

If for some reason you only view the blog on Thursdays please leave a comment so I can figure this little chestnut out. I'm glad to have visitors anytime- I'm just trying to discover the rationale behind the data.

Law School Poem

Those dull and listless legal tomes
With words that wrench and tear the heart
Do grievous harm to those bones
Who made the trip by horse-drawn cart

To be laid to rest; a final doom-
No thought as such to hope and breath;
No offer of a mournful mood
For those who longed for delayed death.

Forbear your logic, meek and mild-
Seek ye out the gangly truth-
For Passion is a half-grown child
That will crow in a tongue uncouth.

To put it plainly, leave the lines-
They are nothing but a thing to read-
Know only of the Sun that shines
Not how, but why the light to see.

Monster in the Grass

Yesterday, I was cleaning up my yard due to the fact that one of my dogs has a predilection for tearing open garbage bags and examining their contents. Thinking I was finished, I took one last look around and saw a piece of trash about twenty-five feet away. Walking over, I bent down to pick it up until I realized it was not a piece of trash but instead a gigantic green moth sent to terrorize my dreams.

These things are HUGE. The websites I've visited say their wingspan is around four and a half inches, but apparently entomologists have yet to see the Mississippi Delta variety, as they appear much larger. At any rate, anytime you see an insect from twenty-five feet away and mistake it for a piece of notebook paper, you're dealing with a pretty large bug. This thing approximated the size of a small bird, for crying out loud.

On a tangent, there's a small moth that appears to have decided that I'm its mother. Almost every day when I go outside, it sits on my hand and stares at me. After a while I get freaked out, due mostly to the fact that its proboscis keeps extending and retracting across my flesh, and I shake it off. Unfortunately, this is not an acceptable outcome for the moth, who very quickly returns to the exact same spot. On one occasion, this happened at least ten times in a row.

Now if I could only get it to fetch, I'd be a shoe-in for Letterman...

No More Mr. Nice Guy...

1. At my school, the median GPA a 1L receives at the end of their first year is a 2.6- which correlates into roughly three Bs and two Cs. Earning all Bs places you somewhere in the top 30% of the class.

2. Most of my fellow classmates came directly out of undergrad, with little or no work experience.

3. Most of my fellow classmates have no clue how to behave in formal settings. Today, all of us had to go on stage and introduce ourselves to the rest of our peers. We were asked to state our name and an interesting fact about ourselves. One of the girls stated her name, mentioned that she went to the University of South Carolina, and then yelled out, "Go Cocks!" All of this occurs within ten feet of the dean. If she doesn't think a mental note was made, she's sorely mistaken.

4. To continue the theme from #3, an inordinate amount of people decided to instigate various college football rivalries when talking about themselves. A person from Ole Miss would mention the Rebels, and then someone from LSU would come up and basically attack what the other person had said. It got to the point where the Dean made a note between introductions to mention something else besides football. Completely oblivious, several people after that continued to mention football. Idiots. See #3.

5. Corollary to #3 and #4: Most of my peers view this experience as an extension of college, regardless of how adamantly the professors attempt to convince them otherwise.

6. Big law firms, apparently, are not interested in facial hair. Thus, I had to shave today for a picture being taken tomorrow.

7. I look better with a goatee.

8. I have to report all "moving violations" that occurred within the last TEN years on my Bar application, which includes two speeding tickets and an expired tag citation.

9. Virtually no one at my law school has done any preparation at all. When our "Star Mentors" mentioned the Examples & Explanations series, no one else in my group had even heard of them, whereas I currently own four.

10. A lot of really bad advice is being disseminated to our class. I won't go into detail, (I have no longing urge to enlighten them) so suffice it to say that a lot of them are already heading in the wrong direction.

11. Most of my fellow classmates, it appears, are attending this particular law school because their grades weren't good enough to get in anywhere else. I am positive that 50-75% of them would attend the cheaper and more prestigious state school if they had the grades. As a result, most of them are looking to transfer out. (I was accepted to seven law schools, including the state school. I chose the one I'm attending because I wanted to stay near my family and practice in the general area.)

12. Almost everyone I've talked to is obsessed with partying and/or drinking. I heard the words "Casino Night" uttered at least ten times. Here's a toast- may you all get so wasted every night that I have no competition.

If you haven't noticed, this post has an "edge" to it more reminiscent of my old "disgruntled teacher" posts. Something about academia turns on the old instinctual drive to succeed. Needless to say, the lazy summer blogger you're used to has disappeared- the gloves are off.

Let the games begin.

Mission

Tomorrow, for all intents and purposes, I start my law school career.

I wish, that in my weak power, I could write something befitting such a grand occasion- however, my words fail me. There is precious little I can do to aggrandize such a momentous event. It would be like tossing a match into the hellish sun.

What I can do, however, is honor the opportunity by rising to my utmost- meeting the challenge halfway and carrying the day. This means pressing onward regardless of how many hours I study; reading the case again and again until the message is crystal clear; shaking off that all too human cloak of desperation when so many around me hide in its comforting folds.

For the first time in my life, there will be no excuses for a poor grade. Throughout high school and college working was a financial necessity- I used that situation as an excuse to earn less than lackluster grades.

Now, there is only me and a curriculum. No jobs to hold my attention or time. For the first time in ages, I have only myself to congratulate- or blame.

I want to earn all As my first year at law school.

Not for a job, not for bragging rights-

I want to do it for myself.

I hope more than anything that this happens.

I hope I am the student I truly believe myself to be.

I hope.

First Blog Contest

I am quickly coming up on my 200th post, which is hard for me to believe.

To celebrate the occasion, I'm creating a contest-

Comment below as to what topic you would like to hear me pontificate about- I'll pick the one that interests me the most and write a piece about it. If I have to, I'll even do outside research on the topic until I'm able to comment on it with a modicum of intelligence. This is just as much your blog as it is mine, after all- without readers, this whole little venture is pretty much pointless.

For that reason, let me know what you want to read. I'll be more than happy to oblige.

(Don't worry if your comment isn't chosen- it still stands an excellent chance of being explored at a later juncture.)

Psychosomatic

I've always hated the first day of school, regardless of whether I was the student or teacher.

Almost inevitably, that first morning brings a bout of stomach churning- think butterflies on steroids.

The funny thing is that mentally I'm prepared for the challenge- but my body, following some prehistoric urge, creates anxiety. I know, without a doubt, that everything will be fine- but it's impossible to deliver that message to the body. It operates, apparently, on a completely different wavelength from the mind.

This feeling only lasts until I make it to school- I suppose it's the anticipation that triggers it. But for whatever reason, the feeling subsides the moment I begin the task before me.

Usually, this feeling only occurs the morning before the event- for some strange reason, I'm beginning to feel anxious rumblings over a week before the first day of law school officially begins. This is not good news. It's almost as if my body, realizing that law school is a "bigger deal" than the first days of years past, has decided to intensify its protest a bit.

Luckily, I know from past experience that this is at best a minor convenience, as it should disappear the second I actually begin the process. Once the mind is able to show the body that all of its worrying has been for naught, it quickly fades into the background.

Kickin' The Habit

Somewhere around the end of May, I became a smoker. To this day, I feel vindicated in that choice, as I had to do something in order to relieve the stress that came with my particular situation. (Anyone who goes back and reads those old posts will certainly understand why.)

But now it is time to quit. Law school is starting, and smoking is the last thing I need to worry about. So lately, I've been following a simple plan to quit. I smoked six cigarettes on Wednesday, five on Thursday, and today I'll only smoke four. Monday should be the last day I smoke, if all goes according to plan.

I don't think it will be that difficult to quit for two reasons: I've only smoked for a relatively short amount of time, and I didn't start until I was in my mid-20s. I'm not a scientist, but I think the body of a 15 year old probably handles nicotine differently from someone who's pretty much grown. My body "knows" that nicotine isn't a necessity; it didn't "need" it for a quarter of a century. A body still growing, however, might become more dependent on the drug, not realizing that it's not necessary.

Like I said, I'm not a scientist- it's just a hunch.

For the remainder of the period, I will only post on this matter if I (a) don't stick with the program, or (b) after Monday, I go two days without smoking. In this way, I won't bore you (hopefully) with trivial details.

(Just to dispel confusion- I'm not quitting because of Peter Jennings' death. While I admired him, I knew that smoking causes lung cancer long before his untimely passing. The two events are merely a coincidence. Also, I have a sinking suspicion that most of the thousands who have vowed to quit after hearing the news will be lighting up by the end of next week. These people are reacting out of passion- and passion always cools.)

Here's a Quarter...

Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Company, Inc.

Supreme Court of the United States

Written Opinion: O'Connor

District Court, Kansas to Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit to Supreme Court

Summary: Rural sued Feist for copyright infringement, as Feist used Rural telephone listings to add listings to its directory, using information that Rural had previously refused to sell.

Procedural History: Lower courts ruled in favor of Rural, Supreme Court overturned ruling and ruled in favor of Feist.

Holding: Inherently unoriginal compilations of fact are not protected by copyright laws.

Notes:

This case seems rather straightforward, but there are several key issues that warrant significant cogitation.

First, facts are not copyrightable. Ever. However, compilations of facts can be copyrightable, but only so far as to the original expression in the compilation- not the facts themselves.

For example, if I say: Jackson is the capital of Mississippi, that is a fact and can be repeated ad nauseum. But if I say: That illustrious and burning beacon of justice which is Jackson serves not only as a capital but also as a Mecca for learners of the law, the way in which I expressed the facts is copyrightable. The basic facts however, still are not protected by copyright.

Secondly, apparently the original copyright statute (from 1909) was terribly ambiguous and the lower courts used it to support- erroneously- the notion that telephone directories were generally copyrightable, using the "sweat of brow" doctrine, which basically rewarded the compiler for his effort. The Supreme Court specifically used this case to stamp out that idea. (The old copyright act was "improved" in 1976.)

The Supreme Court held that a simple phone book listing did not contain the prerequisite modicum of originality necessary for it to pass copyright muster. Therefore, there could be no copyright infringement on the part of Feist.

(On a tangent, the case stated that a few of the names in Rural's directory were purposely fictitious, as a safeguard against their listings being stolen. As these listings were fictitious, they were creations, and should have been protected by copyright. As four of them were included in Feist's listings, one could argue that copyright infringement did occur. However, I assume O'Connor was more interested in the broad effects of the law- commenting on that issue would have made a confusing issue to the lower courts even murkier.)

If you infer further from this ruling, it is not too far a leap to say that one can basically take pre-established telephone listings and use them for free. (Feist paid all of the other directories for the information.) Even if Rural tried to add originality to its listings, only the originality would be protected, and not the basic information.

Thus, even if they changed Larry Roberts, 123-4567 to Snazzy Larry Roberts, 123-4567, the competing telephone directory could simply parse out the facts.

So, in essence, telephone directories are screwed.

They can- you guessed it- call somebody who cares.

How sad is it that I like this stuff?

Sign of the Times?

My sister found this... don't worry it's not real. Still somewhat funny, though.

Autobiography

I have all these things- shiny machines, stacks of books- but they don't define me.

And yet I glance out the window and see a herd of cows passing through the mist, and I feel the ink of a new sentence, recently written, begin to dry.

I am transfixed.

My View on Abortion

Part of going to law school, I'm told, is that your beliefs get tested. For many students, this entails an upheaval of their old value system. Even though I've yet to begin classes, I think this process has already begun. The more I learn about the law, the more my opinions change.

There was a time not too long ago when I felt that abortion should be illegal.

That has changed. Here is my new opinion:

Abortion, while morally reprehensible, should be kept perfectly legal.

The government can legislate morality, but it is helpless to legislate nobility. There will never be a law requiring me to wave to my neighbor, feed a stray dog, or donate blood. All of these things, I believe, should be done- but it's not the government's place to ensure it happens.

To illustrate my point, let me present a hypothetical. An infant is wandering dangerously close to a cliff. A man, totally unrelated to the child, is sitting on a nearby park bench and watching the entire incident. It would take him thirty seconds to get up, redirect the toddler, and sit back down. Yet he does not. The infant wanders over the edge of the cliff and drowns.

According to every court in our country, this man has committed no crime- and rightfully so.

The government is hesitant to compel us to act because to do so would impinge on our personal liberties. The idea of the individual is so strong in our society that we give greater weight to the stranger's choice to be left alone than his heinous decision to let the child die.

It is the same with abortion. The Constitution is commanded to guard our liberties- if it could force someone to not get an abortion, then the very ideal of personal liberty erodes into nothingness. Like it or not, the government has to value the person's autonomy more than whatever moral mistake they might choose to make. For they are free to do with their bodies what they wish- even if it means ending a human life that lives inside of them.

Morally, I can't condone it; legally, we have to allow it.

Torts Haiku

A tort has intent
So the errant knife in fist
Garners negligence


Assault, Battery
Illegal Imprisonment
Trespass- all transfer


If a harness rips-
Surprise! Liability
For the Maker strict


When your case is weak
Res Ipsa Loquitur can
Get a tort to keep


If you raise your fist
You've committed assault if
I choose to worry-

Longwood

Yesterday my wife and I headed down the Natchez Trace to visit (unsurprisingly) Natchez.

This historic road began as an Indian trail and eventually became an important highway running from Natchez to Nashville. People who made their fortunes running logs down the river used the trail to head back north, since it's somewhat more difficult to float up the Mississippi. Since this road was often traveled by men flush with cash, thieves quickly sprang up to attack unsuspecting victims. Fortunately- for the travelers, at least- most of the thieves were eventually caught and killed in one way or another.

Nowadays, the Trace is a beautifully manicured Parkway maintained by the National Park Service. It is a favorite of bicyclists, since the speed limit is 50 m.p.h. and traffic is generally light. Another interesting feature of the Trace is that it always has right-of-way, which means that if one had a large enough gas tank, you could drive from Nashville to Natchez without stopping once. No traffic lights, no yield signs, no stop signs. Either everything succumbs to the Trace's authority, or the Trace elegantly goes over or under the imposing obstacle.

After a wonderful two hour drive, my wife and I stopped to tour Longwood, a famous antebellum home. As you might can tell from the picture, the home is octagonal. It has six floors total, and would have contained 30,000 square feet of living space.

I say "would have" because the man who built the house, a certain Dr. Nutt, had the misfortune of beginning construction just a year before the Civil War began. Since the artisans and tradesmen came primarily from the North, they hurriedly finished the basement before the War began. It was assumed by those on both sides that the War would be over soon, and the men could just return and finish the job. In the meantime, Dr. Nutt and his family could live in the basement. As a result, the top five floors were left in mid-construction. Unplastered brick walls and exposed lumber contrast sharply with the elegance below.

Before you begin to feel too bad, keep in mind that this is no ordinary basement. Alone, it encompassed 10,000 square feet. Each room contained a marble fireplace and hardwood floors. Also, there is a couch (or its historical equivalent) in the parlor given to Dr. Nutt as a present from Rutherford B. Hayes.

To make a long story short, Dr. Nutt went bankrupt during the Civil War, all of his other houses burned down, and he died in 1864 of pneumonia. After a number of years, the house was bought by a conservation society and placed on the National Historic Register, which means it can never be finished. The top five floors will always contain only naked timbers and a glimmer of the grandeur that might have existed. It is a silent witness to the power of war.

Lost At Sea

Right now seven Russian submariners are trapped at the bottom of the sea.

In order to conserve oxygen, they are laying on their bunks and moving as little as possible. Since power is also being conserved, they are lucky if they have any light at all.

I can't imagine the sheer horror that they must be going through. Imagine- hour after hour, unable to move, unable to know when-or if- help is going to arrive. Constantly trying to force yourself to remain calm when every instinct in your body tells you to breathe. If any one of the seven men panics and wastes oxygen, it will likely spell doom for all of them. They must trust in each other- and people they don't know to save them.

I can imagine the hatch must taunt them; in their state, delusion is probably setting in, making them believe that they can make the 500 foot swim to the surface. It would almost certainly lead to tragedy. Yet toward the end, if no help arrives, they may try it only because a probable death is better than a certain one.

This has happened before. Last time, the sailors died because Russia lacked the equipment to save them, and perhaps because it was considered top priority to keep nautical technology a secret from foreign eyes. Fortunately, Russia has learned from its past hubris and asked for international help. Almost immediately, American and British rescue groups loaded equipment into cargo planes and headed toward the fallen mariners.

Here's hoping they reach the sailors in time. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Alphabet Soup

The following is a footnote from one of my law school prep books. See how many times you have to read it before it starts to make sense. If you understand it clearly on the first try, I proudly proclaim you a genius.


"The reasoning may take this form: A falls more appropriately in B than in C. It does so because A is more like D which is of B than it is like E which is of C. Since A is in B and B is in G (legal concept), then A is in G. But perhaps C is in G also. If so, then B is a decisively different segment of G, because B is like H which is in G and has a different result from C."

Coyote Scary

Earlier tonight I was sitting on my back stoop when, suddenly, a small dog began howling in the adjoining cow pasture and startled me. This at once struck me as strange, since I had never heard a dog back there before. The nearest house in that direction is a good half mile away, so he was awful far away to be roaming around at that time of night. Also, I could just make out the sounds of the neighbors' dogs as they bayed and moaned in the distance- so I was fairly sure my unwanted visitor wasn't theirs.

Then it struck me- it had to be a coyote. You think I would have figured it out sooner. The howling went on for a good five seconds at a time- a low, plaintive sound that cuts through your heart. He was crying.

He couldn't have been more than two hundred feet away. Fortunately, my dogs decided to forgo the inevitable chase. Instead, they just staked out the corners of the property and listened to his howls. I can't say as a blame them. He sang with a sweeter voice than most humans I've ever heard.

It was fitting he chose the blues, this place being so close to the Delta.

Continuum

I love the fact that I can look out my window and know I'm looking at a scene that hasn't changed in over a 100 years. A Civil War soldier in full regalia could come walking through the field, and he wouldn't look out of place.

There's something special about continuity; it connects us to the past and helps us know who we are. This is something our fast-paced society has forgotten, however. We want things new and shiny that light up, display our email, and play music. Then next month we want the better version. This process, by definition, will never stop. They'll always be something better.

The only way to stop is to climb off the ride and be content with what you have. I'm going to spend my life enjoying what I have rather than constantly chasing after things I don't.

The China Problem

A history teacher (whose name I can't remember) told me once that history is the story of power shifting constantly westward; from Greece to Rome to Germany to France to Spain to England to America. There are often wars to dispute this flow of power, but they only serve to delay the inevitable.

It is hard for me to imagine that only four hundred years ago, Great Britain practically ruled the world. Now, in our current culture, she is just a friendly island floating above the waters of Europe.

All empires die- when will ours?

As empires go, we are untraditional. We underwent a spate of territory grabbing early on, and then added a few knickknacks here and there to keep up appearances. Largely our empire is based on our reputation. We are America, and the rest of the world knows it. We spent the Soviet Union into submission and there is no one left to challenge our dominance.

Enter China, stage right.

It is only a matter of time before China outshines us on the global stage. At present (to carry the metaphor further) she is training her voice and content to be the eager understudy- but she is learning fast. She knows, in her ancient wisdom, that it is easier to watch us get old and fat than attack. If it takes us to long to do so, however, a quick push down the stairs might be the answer.

Eastern culture is so vastly different from Western culture that I won't even begin to pretend to be an expert on the former. I do think this much is true, however- in the East, time is seen VERY differently. They think in terms of centuries rather than days. Whereas we look to next week, they are planning out the next five decades.

Partly this stems from cultural roots- yet it also has a practical purpose. The Chinese remember well the defeat of its neighbor Japan, who foolishly attempted to take America's power before the time was right. China will make no such mistake. If they attack, it will have the surprise elements of Pearl Harbor but none of the restraint. They will not be seeking to defend.

China is in the process of gobbling up American companies and annually increasing its defense budget. In this way, it will successfully mitigate the two advantages that America has generally maintained in war- superior equipment and production. Hitler learned the hard way that in the time it took him to shoot down an American fighter, our factories had produced ten others to take its place. Just like Russia, we spent and produced them into the ground.

There will be heightened tension between the two countries as China attempts to climb higher and we resist her efforts. Right now China is happy in its role, quietly growing and building strength. But the moment China tires of playing the "little kid, big kid" game is a day I hope I never have to see.

Looking at history, I see two possible outcomes- total nuclear war or a long, protracted struggle in which the casualties of WWII appear trivial by comparison. This might take place a hundred years from now or a thousand. But it will happen.

And China will win. For power always shifts west.

Chromatics

I liked the yellow background, but it was just a little too... autumnal for the middle of summer. And although using the yellow from a legal pad was relevant, it was bordering on mania. So I threw it out.

I think the new design is much more aesthetically pleasing and easier to read.

(Sorry about all the meta-blogging lately; later tonight I'll post something substantiative and mildly interesting.)

5000

If things continue the way they're going now, today will be the day I hit 5000 page impressions. I never imagined when I created this beast in early February that it would be even mildly successful.

In even better news, the stats on the blog are hitting an upward swing- meaning she's doing better now than in the past.

Thanks to everyone who has ever visited (even by mistake) and especially to those who find the time to visit everyday. If you keep stopping by, I'll keep writing.

Here's hoping the blog hits 10,000 by the end of the year!

Anxious

I've known for over a year now that I would be attending law school somewhere. That fact hasn't really hit me until just recently, however.

With nine days left until the process actually begins, I'm beginning to grow anxious. It's not a fear, really, just a small worry that sits in the gut. It doesn't even stem from the fact that I'm afraid I'll do poorly- it's more the anticipation of the thing.

I'm sitting on the starting line, waiting for the gun to go off. Worse yet, I don't even know what the racetrack looks like. Is there a curve up ahead? Are we dealing with asphalt or grass? How long is the course? How well do I need to place? How fast are the other runners? What does the weather hold?

I know that no amount of anxiety can answer these questions- yet that doesn't stop them from popping up. I guess my only recourse is to be a nervous wreck for the next nine days.

My Law School Book Collection

1. Torts, 3rd Ed. by Edward J. Kionka

2. Law 101; Everything You Need to Know About the American Legal System by Jay M. Feinman

3. A People's History of the Supreme Court by Peter Irons

4. How to Succeed in Law School by Professor Gary A. Munneke, J.D.

5. Law School Confidential by Robert H. Miller

6. One L by Scott Turow

7. Law School 101 by R. Stephanie Good

8. Legal Writing in Plain English by Bryan A. Garner

9. The Words We Live By; Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution by Linda R. Monk

10. An Introduction to Legal Reasoning by Edward H. Levi

11. The Nature of the Judicial Process (The Storrs Lectures Series) by Benjamin Cardozo

12. From Here to Economy: A Short Cut to Economic Literacy by Todd G. Buchholz

13. Planet Law School: What You Need to Know (Before You Go), But Didn't Know to Ask... and No One Else Will Tell You, Second Edition by Atticus Falcon


My goal in reading these books, for the most part, was to give myself a comprehensive overview of the legal process. This, I feel, is more important than learning the black letter law. That will be my focus during the semester, and hopefully the goal of the professors at my law school. Yes, black letter law is the poured concrete foundation of our legal society, but such a foundation is worthless without the bedrock of common law upon which it rests.

Why the economy book, you might ask? From what I gather, it is extremely helpful to have a working knowledge of economics in the law school classroom. Just like almost everything else, the law is about money- protecting it, dividing it, etc. The entire basis for torts in civil law, for example, is the belief that wrongs can be completely compensated through money.

Whether any of this will help me, of course, remains to be seen.

Stone Notes

I love cemeteries. It is a rare occasion when I enter one and don't leave with a greater sense of self. This picture was taken from a historic cemetery in downtown Atlanta. When it was created in the 1800s, it was outside the city limits- now skyscrapers cast shadows over the graves.

I think it's interesting that graveyards of the past and current burial sites are so different. A hundred years ago, we revered the memories of our loved ones with at best a huge vault, and at worst a small stone that stood up and proudly bore the lost one's name. Nowadays, sadly, things are different. Graves are usually mere squares embedded in the ground. They create no profile, no marked interest to the wandering eye.

Why do this? Certainly people had less money in the past than they do now, so money must not be an answer. If we can afford PlayStations and iPods, certainly we can afford a stone. The answer lies in efficiency.

Yes, mankind's march to make life more efficient has even bleeded over into the sacrosanct world of death. Flat headstones allow the groundskeeper of the graveyard to callously ride over the graves as he cuts the grass. In older cemeteries, he has to do the unspeakable act of using a weed whacker and taking care as he works around the monuments.

I know that in the grand scheme of things I'm not worth too much, but I'd like to think that I'm worth enough to not ride over in a lawnmower. My wife feels the same way, so we both agreed to make sure that our graves are substantial enough that they won't be disturbed. Even if that means hauling my body out to the woods, digging a hole, and placing a concrete pipe over it. Anything's better than a plaque.

The Lost Art

It seems in our society that we've forgotten how to actually communicate with people. In our computer-driven world, communication is seen as the simple transfer of data, and we all too often preserve this absurd notion when talking to human beings. There are people on this planet (and down the street) who have been married for twenty years and talk to their spouses as if they are robots. As communiction goes, it works, but it ignores the spark which makes us alive.

The great orators of ages hence knew this lesson well. William Jennings Bryan was able to electrify the crowds by letting them feel his passion for the subject. He did not tell them what to think, but instead made it perfectly clear that he thought intensely about what he was thinking. We've lost our intensity. During the last Presidential debates, both men looked as if they could have been ordering a rye sandwich. They're discussing nothing less than the direction of the free world and they both look like they need a good nap.

The greatest trait a lawyer can have is empathy. This one, above all others, will propel him to the greatest heights. The ability to emote effectively is generally lost on the general population, however. This is why teenagers in school lash out and grown adults find it perfectly okay to never talk about their problems. Thus, when our society finds someone who can empathize, we latch on to them with a mixture of adiration and awe. John Edwards, despite all of his successes, would never have been made Kerry's VP pick if he hadn't shown at least a little of this trait. He wasn't perfect at it, but he was light years ahead of Kerry.

It also explains why Edwards was such a great trial lawyer- he could bond with the jury. Trial law is about presenting your argument in such a way that the jury responds- a jury which is usually populated with people the average lawyer would never meet. In a split second, an upper-class lawyer with a suit has to be able to connect with the sharecropper and the mother of three who never has time to paint her fingernails. This is not achieved with rote knowledge of the black letter law. It will be achieved through sincerity, and nothing less. It is hard to fool a jury. The same people who you have the hardest time connecting with are also the most disciplined judges of character- they'll peer into your soul, and if you're found wanting, you've lost half your case before you've even started.

The book I think all law students should read? How to Win Friends and Influence People. That should be at the top of any 1L's reading list- the nutshells and overviews can come later.