This Month in the Life of Michelle

1. I started semester 2 of law school.

While I'd like to say that I've mastered the art of accomplishing more than any human should be expected to accomplish in any one, I have mastered another -- looking as though I am accomplishing more than any human should be expected to accomplish in any one day.

More on this at a later date.


2. I moved to Oaklyn, New Jersey.

Two weekends ago I packed up my life in Trenton and moved it about 40 miles south to Oaklyn. It's been two weeks, but the majority of my things are still in boxes, I don't have a kitchen table (or chairs), a desk, a t.v., or a bookshelf large enough to fit more than a handful of books, and as my friend Adam says, the place "looks like a dump." It has great potential though, and with a few purchases and some organizing, it will be ready for company.


3. My brother left for Marine boot camp.

This past Monday my brother left for Marine boot camp. For those of you who have not experienced such an event you will be interested to know a bit about the enlisting process.

A recruiter calls your little brother and tells him wonderful things about the Marines. The recruiter then picks up your little brother at the house and takes him out all day, telling him wonderful things all the while. The recruiter talks to him frequently, telling him all wonderful things. The recruiter comes back one unsuspecting Saturday morning and takes your little brother out all day -- again. Your brother comes back around 5, and he is officially a Marine reserve.

About 2 months later, the recruiter comes back to pick up your little brother. The recruiter calls your little brother and tells him he is on his way to the house. The recruiter comes at 5 a.m. while it is still dark outside. The recruiter does not come to the door to say hello to your family. The recruiter waits in the driveway, in the pitch black, in a car you can't describe and waits until your little brother gets into the car. The recruiter takes your little brother from you for 13 weeks -- to swamp-land South Carolina, with Marine-made glasses and Marine-made boxers and tees.

Criminal Law

The other day in class my criminal law professor gave a 30 minute soliloquy in response to a student's question on note taking. Part of his droning included a particularly intriguing rhetorical question regarding the structure of the class itself: "why would I waste class time telling you what I think is important?" Hmm... waste time... telling us what is important... Interesting concept for a first year law class.

What's more interesting though is that all of us could probably say the same thing in most contexts. If I were to be more honest with myself (and myacquaintancess) I'm sure I could preface the majority of my conversations with a similar disclaimer -- "Don't worry folks - I won't waste any of your time telling you anything important. It will all be nonsense."

Just think of all the casual "hellos" and "how are yous" and "how was your break" and "your first week back at school" remarks. And then think really hard for second and try to remember what you told everyone when they asked you. Did you tell them any piece of your true feelings or just fill the air with vague niceties? We often respond with nonsense.

Even with our close friends and family it seems like it takes an awfully long time to get around to anything other than nonsense. And maybe it deserves a criminal-law-disclaimer. Maybe we should highlight the ridiculousness of the things we say.

"Listen folks -- I'm not going waste your time telling you anything important. I'll drone on and on about things that really don't matter at all. I'll try to capture you with my wit. I'll debate until I've lost interest. But important stuff? Hmm... maybe not today. No need to take notes."

I'm sure (if you're honest) you agree that our common paths to communication often leave us feeling as though we have not communicated at all. Our insecurities reign and we skip anything that might bring to light our true selves. In my case, there are few who hear my deep down inner thoughts, because it's much easier to stick to the oh-so-comfortable patterns of speaking in verses of nonsense.

As for my friends -- the only ones who hear something that might not sound like complete nonsense -- well, they're the most patient of people I know. And they must be, because the nonsense goes on until the late-night or the early morning hours -- until I'm suffocated by my desire to withhold all that's really important -- until the last man standing has put up with all the ridiculousness of a full day of droning and is still listening for some truth. That's when the life of the disclaimer fades fast, a soul unfolds, and criminal law finishes out for the day.

What Happens When You Have Too Much to Do

Winter weather finally came yesterday. It's been a long time since I've seen any real winter weather -- Honduras was a nice escape in January of last year. Yes, at this time last year I was sweating it out 90 degree weather and hoping that the water would be running when I got home so I could cool down.

This morning I had to leave the house by 9 A.M. because there is a funeral at the church across the street. Because of the high number of expected vehicles lining the street, my road is going to be closed from 9 to 1.

I went outside at 8:55 A.M. , thinking that was plenty of time. But, as noted, winter had come.

I put the key in and unlocked the car door. I pulled the door handle up. I broke the door handle. I went to the passenger side door. I hit the door repeatedly. I rammed it with my shoulder. I hated it with all my passion, but the ice did not budge. I tried the back door. I tried coercing it into a cooperative state. I tried imagining that I was in Honduras. All I accomplished was an exercise in futility. I wasted 15 minutes.

Plan b. Hot water. Works like a flash. Genius. No more broken doors. And no sign of a road closing. I check the news. Funeral scheduled for tomorrow, January 16, 2005.

Law School Grades Part I - A Measure of What You Know

At Rutgers the process for receiving law school grades is equivalent to some forms of gross torture. One at a time. With no notice of approximate posting dates. They come at random. Any time of the day. Any day. No one tells you when they will come.

Instead, at the moment of posting, an email is sent to you advising you of its presence. You've seen this email before. In your nightmares. It tells you the grade has been decided. It tells you it's available for your eyes. It tells you to sign on to view it.

Two choices.
1. Immediately sign on, in the presence of whomever is with you and your laptop in whatever location the nightmare has befallen you.
2. Or sit in terror while everyone frantically signs on.

Now maybe it would be better to wait until sitting in a quiet, private location where no one could see the disappointment on your face. Maybe it would be better to steal away where cries could not be heard. Maybe it would be better to refuse to look until the three years are over.

Maybe it would be better if they sent them all at once so you didn't have to do this four times.

In my mind, it only gets worse with time. I sign on immediately. The grade is what it is. I make a mental note. I can cope. Not everyone can be genius.

Yes, not everyone can be genius, I tell myself. In fact, there probably weren't that many A's. Maybe a few A-'s. Perhaps a B+ or two.

The distribution list. Part two of gross torture in law school. Provided to relieve you of any notions of the rest not rising to genius. A quick link to showing what everyone else achieves.

I click. I am a letter. I fit in right there, between those other letters. There are more A's than expected. An A+ in fact. I measure my worth in a moment. I am a grade. I belong here. This is how much I know. I will be scrutinized by this letter, converted into a number. I am a number.

Revenge of the Mouse

Getting law school grades is not fun - but this article is hilarious... a lesson in humane treatment of even the smallest creatures.

Mouse Thrown Into Fire Sets Home Ablaze
By Associated Press
Published January 9, 2006, 11:46 AM CST

FORT SUMNER, N.M. -- A mouse got its revenge against a homeowner who tried to dispose of it in a pile of burning leaves. The blazing creature ran back to the man's house and set it on fire.

Luciano Mares, 81, of Fort Sumner said he caught the mouse inside his house and wanted to get rid of it. "I had some leaves burning outside, so I threw it in the fire, and the mouse was on fire and ran back at the house," Mares said from a motel room Saturday.

Village Fire Chief Juan Chavez said the burning mouse ran to just beneath a window, and the flames spread up from there and throughout the house. No was hurt inside, but the home and everything in it was destroyed.

Unseasonably dry and windy conditions have charred more than 53,000 acres and destroyed 10 homes in southeastern New Mexico in recent weeks. "I've seen numerous house fires," village Fire Department Capt. Jim Lyssy said, "but nothing as unique as this one."

Copyright © 2006, The Associated Press

Finding an Apartment in the Most Dangerous City in America

Recently Camden was designated America's most dangerous city for the second consecutive year. And so, true to the logical nature of human enterprise, real estate agents in the University district of Rutgers - Camden, have raised average rent prices to roughly equivalent the price it would cost to live comparably in Philadelphia. I have spent the past three days scouring the Cooper Street Historic neighborhood in hopes of finding something reasonably priced. Here's what I found:

1. A renovated firehouse for $790 a month on the first floor of the building. It's a true loft layout which means that everything but the bathroom is in one small room. Parking was included. Electric and heat were not. There are no bars on the windows and the owner suggested I keep them locked - year round.

2. Another first floor apartment without bars on the windows and no washer/dryer facilities or parking for $865 a month. With all the the shops within walking distance and safety at an all time high, who would want a car anyway? When I questioned the real estate agent on the exorbitant price of the apartment, he reminded me that for $60 a year I could park on the street within 1 or 2 blocks of the apartment after obtaining a resident permit (which requires that your car is registered in Camden - easy to do when you're also trying to park there immediately). He also indicated that if I were unhappy with the price of the apartment, I could live within the safety of the suburbs and commute a half hour each day. Which brings us to...

3. A quaint little place in the Collingwood area for $695 a month. Off-street parking, laundry in the basement, separate living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. Plenty of yard space for gardening. Utilities not included.

Now, it's a real toss up. The safety and spaciousness of living in the suburbs within easy commuting distance for a reasonable price; or living in the most dangerous city in America and paying like you're living in a thriving metropolis. Perhaps the developers are a bit confused about the messages they are sending about the City of Camden and the rate of the renewal they encourage if renting is ridiculously expensive.

St. Anthony

If you weren't aware, the news is generally strewn with everything bad that has recently happened, and if you hadn't begun to notice the general malaise within your own life, you could certainly find it on the front page.

That is, unless you've chosen to bypass the "frontlines" and take a breather to read up on BBC's "Also in the News" section (go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/ and look right). Today's features include a piece on a French specialty bakery that bakes only for dogs and a convincing article on how going back to work after the holidays will make us all happier.

My favorite piece came some months ago, however, and was entitled "Patron of lost items goes missing." While the remainder of the article was stoically serious about the event, I couldn't get over the humor in the title. The patron of lost and stolen items had himself been stolen. Do you think the thieves saw the irony of their act?

I recently looked for an update on the fate of the patron and to my surprise, he had been recovered. After 2 1/2 months, a couple found the statute in a rubbish tip. Do you think that the couple had prayed to the patron of lost and stolen items in order to find the patron of lost and stolen items? Whatever the case, he reappeared, a bit disheveled, but back on task. Let's hope he keeps a better tab on himself in the future.

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For the full story on the patron St. Anthony go to:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cambridgeshire/4342034.stm

No Such Luxury in 2006

This past semester I began to understand the meaning of the phrase "the luxury of time" in whole new way. I had once had it - and it was gone. Even in the busiest of times in my "prior life," I had countless moments to waste on television or email or meeting up for tea, but this all changed in August of 2005 with the start of my new life - law school. Before I had friends and varying activities. I ate well, I enjoyed music and writing and thinking of things to do with my time. I wondered about how to live my life and what all my decisions meant and who I could visit on the weekend and how far I could drive and still make it back for Monday morning work. I budgeted to create a whole block of time to waste in foreign countries teaching organic gardening. I was an organic gardener. Now I am a law student and have law school; and though I tried my best to hold onto my inner humanity, gardening season ended in early September this year, all exercise ceased sometime in early October, I put down my guitar (with a few sporadic exceptions) from September through December 21st, and my list of friends became frighteningly tied to the law school.

So yes, most of my fancies have dwindled away in the abyss of first semester at law school, and now having a moment to breath (sort of) over my winter "break," I am met with the disturbing fact that I have become less human. My passions and hobbies have been pushed aside, I see my friends at 4 month intervals (if that), and when I do have free time, I've forgotten how to relax, so I no longer even enjoy it. So in the spirit of New Year's resolutions, I am resolving to take "it" (my humanity) back. Here are a few tips for myself, which I'm sure I will break, but at least they're written down, glaring and hopefully inspiring during the months of grueling studying to come.

1. Study all day - play at night.

2. Get a full night's sleep every night.

3. Move to Camden, so that sleep is a possibility.

4. Take a walk every day that "real" exercise is not feasible.

5. Play music, passionately.

6. Write notes to friends and family when you are unable to visit.

7. Remember why you started this thing, breath and find power in the inspirations that brought you here.

8. Eat healthy meals at a reasonable speed. Eat lots of vegetables.

9. Start a manageable garden in March. Love it and care for it.

10. Be gracious and kind to others. Be patient and helpful always - even when pressed for time.

11. Be active in passionately pursuing the kind of justice you believe in.