Thank You Ma'am

Jay in Charleston

2011-04-11T16:01:00.002-04:00

My brother's name was Jay. He died last week, April 1, 2011, of a drug overdose. He was 24 years old. I wrote the following for his funeral.

My brother and I have not always been on good terms. Though we were very close as children, in the past few years we’ve had some knock-down, drag-out, hit-below-the-belt fights, some over things that don’t seem so important now.

I moved back to Charleston, SC in August, shortly after graduating from law school in Tuscaloosa, AL. At that point, Jay and I didn’t have much of a relationship. While I was falling back in love with Charleston, Jay was stumbling into situations he knew he shouldn’t have been. Finally, in January he realized he needed a new start in a new town, so he asked me if he could move to Charleston. Because of our troubled past, because I didn't trust him based on his past behavior, and because I felt protective of my life in Charleston, I almost said no.

At my best moments, when I'm thinking clearly and long-term and am able to separate anger from fact, I have a life philosophy that goes something like this. When I’m old and frail and I look back on the times when I made the wrong decision – everyone is wrong once in a while – I hope that I’ll have been wrong on the side of being too open-minded, too generous, or too forgiving. With that in mind, how could I refuse to help give my brother a new start, no matter what had happened in the past?

True to form, Jay made friends more quickly than anybody I’ve ever met. Within a week, I had to call Jay to find out what my friends were up to.

Jay & Cinnamon, clearly in love.

A waitress named Cinnamon at the Waffle House was convinced that Jay was going to ask for her hand in marriage. We took walks to the water, through the beautiful wealthy neighborhoods in downtown Charleston, and made a game of guessing how much each mansion cost. My neighbor, who we nicknamed “Cousin Curtis,” is an eccentric old man with several dozen birdhouses strung from the tree in his front yard. We spent hours making up Cousin Curtis’ totally fictitious background story. In our wild imaginations, Cousin Curtis' alarmed storage shed in his back yard was obviously a meth lab. That is, until we saw The Onion "Justice Shed" segment. From that point on, Cousin Curtis was a patriot hero; he obviously owned a Justice Shed.

Jay started a running joke. When employing it, he would get everyone’s attention and say “Hey guys, remember that time when I…” and fill in the rest with something completely, but endearingly, ridiculous. “Hey guys, remember that time when I invented windshield wipers?” “Hey guys, see that huge fish mounted on the wall? Remember that time when I killed it with a spear? Or was it with my bare hands?” "You guys, when I invented basketball I had NO IDEA it'd get this big!"

In one of our favorite restaurants in Charleston there’s a painting of a nondescript blonde woman in a black evening gown looking over her shoulder. Jay decided she looked like his crush, the celebrity Tara Reid, and had us laughing for ten minutes when he announced “Hey guys, you’ll never believe what I had to do to get Tara Reid to pose for that painting.”

Although Jay’s life did not play out like we all wished it had, I’ll always be tremendously grateful for the two months that he lived with me in the beautiful, healing city of Charleston. I experienced incredibly fun, revealing, restorative times with Jay, my brother who I'd grown up with. Until he moved to Charleston, I hadn't seen my brother -- with his true, untouched-by-drugs personality, in 4 or 5 years.

For a short time, free from the things that dragged him down during most of his recent years, I got my brother back.

______________________________________________________________________
*Added at a later date: If this had to happen -- and I don't believe it did, I don't believe it should have happened -- but since it did, my time with Jay in the few months before he died has saved me from spiraling into a depression I'd never get out of. Jay, in a way you saved your older sister. Just like I tried, and wish I could have succeeded in, saving you.

Chatting with Dov Charney, CEO of American Apparel

2010-06-16T19:52:00.005-04:00

Two days ago Gawker acquired an email from American Apparel referencing standards for personal appearance for its retailers, down to specifics like outlawing liquid foundation and nixing bleached eyebrows. This, combined with the past heat the company has faced over refusing to manufacture sizes that the general population wears, created a storm that would not quietly pass over. Instead, CEO Dov Charney made his private phone number available to the media and concerned customers. He was personally answering the phone all day yesterday, and spoke to me around 3:00 p.m. Central time.

Charney responded to Gawker’s leaked email in a statement on American Apparel’s website. The statement appears below.

American Apparel does not hire or retain applicants based on 'beauty.' Our main priority is finding people with a strong sense of style who can inspire customers as they make selections from our extensive line. This is an integral part of the job, and we look for people who will enjoy it as a creative outlet. It has never been the policy of American Apparel, as some blogs claim, to fire employees who are not "good looking" or any of the other accusations implied by the anonymous or unverified third party sources. The company legitimately reviews current photographs of job applicants and employees to consider their sense of style and the way in which they present themselves. Through personal interviews, we evaluate whether they possess the skills and personality required to successfully sell our products. This is a standard practice among fashion-forward retailers.

American Apparel has built itself on being open and honest, so we're happy to answer questions and personally address the concerns of anyone interested in having a dialog. You can reach our CEO directly at 213-923-7943 or at dov@americanapparel.net. And to address what has been most lost in this discussion, American Apparel is in fact continuing to hire in a major way (over 1,000 factory workers in recent weeks alone and hundreds more for retail internationally). We always accept resumes, and of course photos showing your personal style, either online or at one of our open calls worldwide.

The numbers seemed high to me considering the state of the economy. Charney differentiated between the 1,000 factory workers hired in the past 60 days and retail workers – the 1,000 workers hired in the past 60 days were on the industrial side. The company is still able to hire retail workers because of the high turnover rate that most retail outlets experience. He did not attribute any retail workers leaving their jobs to the email revealed by Gawker. American Apparel employs about 5,500 retail workers in 280 stores, half of which are in the US, and another 5,500 industrial workers worldwide. The CEO stressed that American Apparel is a growing company.

Still, advertising and answering your personal phone line for the general public is a ballsy move. Was there one final straw that made Charney propose this solution? He said he doesn’t remember exactly how it came about, but that Gawker took the controversy further than necessary. The specifics that Gawker published in its “leaked” email were untrue, according to Charney. There is no company policy forbidding liquid foundation or bleached eyebrows. If there were a policy about this type of thing at all, Charney said, he would ban perfume on the retail workers – which has nothing to do with appearance, technically. As of now, there are no such policies in place, and the company is not considering them.

Instead, Charney emphasized that the overall – sometimes indefinable aspects of -- appearance of his employees has a direct effect on his business, and American Apparel is within its rights to expect a certain dress code and professional aesthetic, just like almost every other company in operation. Appearance plays a role, and people want to pretend it's all about physicality because that makes a more inflammatory story, but in this case, it's not.

When I asked if the company was worried about lawsuits from fired employees or those who were never hired because of their appearances, he balked. Employment lawsuits only succeed when a protected class – gender, race, religion – has been discriminated against. Charney’s correct on that point of law, and the Abercrombie & Fitch situation from a few years back is a salient, but ultimately off-base, comparison. A&F hired models to work in the front and put others in the back, constructively discriminating against racial minorities. AA’s situation is nothing like that.

But what about ageism? Would a perfectly good employee be fired after years of service when their appearance could no longer keep up with American Apparel’s youthful image? Charney dodged that question, partially because the company itself is young and the issue hasn’t come up yet. It might be an issue AA should address in the future, however.

It takes a lot of confidence in your customers and employees to open up your personal phone line, and Charney's move was refreshing considering most CEOs are insulated from lower level controversies. I will say that after speaking with Charney, I’m satisfied that he cares about more than just the bottom line of his company. He seems to be involved at most steps, and is making the effort to calm the concerns of whoever wants to dial his line and speak with the CEO of American Apparel. Charney said he’s had the same number for 12 years and has no plans of changing it. So if you have a gripe, constructive criticism, or just want to speak to the CEO of your favorite retail outlet, he can be reached at 213-923-7934.

Evolution

2010-06-15T14:39:00.003-04:00

I used to be a little, well, intense. Uptight. Uptense.

That’s not really a surprise coming from the girl who wrote the grammar book. I played basketball most of my life, and I had a good -- methodical, reliable -- shot. Give me a play and I could run it perfectly, brush by the screen, peel off and hit my shot. Too bad most of the game – or life – doesn’t unfold according to the play. There are more variables than can be addressed by any one play.

In the past few years, though, I've relaxed some as I learned something important. With a lot of things in life, giving up a little control can lead to a better experience. Traveling is one example: you don’t get story-worthy experiences if you stick too closely to the plan. It’s the twists in the road -- the unexpected detours, the times when the Mykonos hostel was overbooked and you ended up sleeping on the beach, or you missed your flight and went walking and met the French family next door who entertained you for hours -- that are worth writing about. The trip isn't ruined by those things.

The same principle is also true with things like dancing, or riding passenger on a motorcycle. Risk looking stupid in public; if you’ve already decided to get on, trust the driver. Lean into the curves, and you’ll have a better ride.

Platform Magazine Interview

2010-06-02T19:43:00.003-04:00

"I judge you when you use poor grammar." Is available here.

Daring Greatly

2010-05-31T09:28:00.012-04:00

It's time I did a post on graduation, huh?

The law school's graduation ceremony was a few weeks ago, and it ended up being a bittersweet experience. When I was writing the grammar book during 1L, the law school was kind enough to let me drop a few classes. I'm taking summer classes to make up those hours, so graduation wasn't the grand finale of my law school career. However, it was symbolic and meaningful, and a wonderful chance to celebrate with the people I care about.

Our valedictorian focused his speech on different, mostly funny, memories of our time here. He mentioned (my very favorite Talladega native) Reid Carpenter's "trick balloonist" comment from Prof. Randall's Torts class. To those who weren't there, ask me to explain it in person. It was a highlight of 1L year.

Jan Crawford, who is the chief legal correspondent for CBS News, served as our commencement speaker. She went to UA for her undergraduate degree and went on to get her JD in Chicago, and because she's basically doing my dream job it was a sort of validation of my career choices up until this point. More than that though, she was thoughtful and inspiring. She thanked the families who were at the ceremony, because without them (or all the other supportive people in our lives) there's no way all of us would have made it through law school.

Her speech focused on this quote by Teddy Roosevelt (or -- you know -- his writers. Just giving the writers some credit!):

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.

[Formatting and emphasis mine.]

To me, the most poignant part of the quotation is the "daring greatly" point. I understand that writing a blog is not "daring greatly" in the same sense that fighting wars, or running with the bulls, or risking your heart on a Great Love is. But I do sincerely feel that I've taken chances, learned lessons, and even lived in a better and greater way by sharing my writing on this platform.

If you read the comments, you know I have many critics. Anyone who's worked hard on something can empathize with the vulnerable feeling that rises up every time writers let someone else read a piece of work -- by sharing it with a friend or by turning it in to a boss or by simply clicking "publish." But along with the critics are many, many loving and supportive people who have encouraged and mentored me along this process. I'm not saying goodbye to blogging, and I'm certainly not abandoning writing. I don't know what the next phase of life will hold, but I can say a couple of things.

I hope I'm good at my job. I hope I can pay my bills! I hope I live by the water. I hope the locals will tolerate my dancing. I hope I get to keep writing. I hope I'll be lucky enough to continue to know wonderful people.

I hope it requires daring greatly.

Disdain for Poor Grammar Brings UA Student Success

2009-12-23T17:45:00.007-05:00

Lovely article by Wayne Grayson in the Tuscaloosa News.

Sharon Eliza Nichols’ quiet, polite voice doesn’t sound like it belongs to the type of person who would author a book called “I Judge You When You Use Poor Grammar.”

But when Nichols begins to talk about the experience of writing a book, a more fun, even mischievous, side comes out.

Click here for the full article. It's one of my

favorites so far.

Death to Dead Law

2009-12-09T21:30:00.003-05:00

Dead law is dead. Thank goodness. The exam was today, and I honestly feel like there was nothing else I could have done to prepare. My friend Bud and I pulled an all-nighter, which I think was his first, just to memorize as much as we could (the exam was closed-book). He also calmed me down when I was close to tears this morning because I felt so unprepared (and I've been studying this for weeks).

[SIDEBAR: I've mentioned tears several times in the last couple days. Something about exams and lack of sleep makes them happen; I'm usually not "that girl crying in the hallway."]

Do you ever get that feeling, though, that right when the proctor says "ok, pencils down and stop typing" that you missed something? I got that feeling and then remembered right away the third duty that a trustee has: loyalty, prudence, and impartiality. I couldn't remember impartiality! I remembered that it started with an "i" and was a fairly long word, but I couldn't deduce impartiality from that. Ugh. Hopefully that won't count too much against me.

The rest of the test was fairly straight forward, but it does no good to analyze my performance at this point. It's done; I can't change anything, and I'm stuck with whatever grade I got.

Tide Fans

2009-12-07T11:37:00.002-05:00

My friend Barron at The New Republic pulled up this article by Howell Raines for me, about legendary Coach Bear Bryant (which goes nicely with this article by Jason Zengerle, addressing racial relations at the historic university).

I bring this up because I was reminded this weekend, the weekend of the SEC Championship game in which we beat the heck out of Florida, just how far Crimson Tide fans will go for their team. I know people planning road trips to Pasadena, CA, where the National Championship will be. That's somewhere around 29 hours of driving.

In the freshman class there seems to be a rush of both girls and guys named Bryant. So the crazy fans aren't just naming their pets after the team or a coach -- they named their kids after him. My favorite is an infant in the church nursery named Crimson. Crimson, the color, like Crimson Tide.

Talk about devotion to your team.

Shout Out

2009-12-04T13:07:00.006-05:00

This is so flattering, and I'm so thankful to Aaron Latham and Jeb Richter for doing it. The law school put a little bio on the homepage with links to my blog and the Amazon page for the book. How nice is that?

(You should be able to click on the screenshot for a bigger view, or just go to the law school's homepage if you want to see it.)

"There was no reflection on this habit, no idea that God deserved better than cliches."

2009-12-04T08:42:00.004-05:00

Quote of the day:

Now there was no antidote to the stock phrases I had been hearing over the years that had begun to pain me whenever they were uttered. 'The Lord has really laid a burden on my heart for you. How's your walk with the Lord? She has a heart for single mothers. Let's just lift these things up to Jesus. We just pray, Lord, for your wisdom and guidance.'

It all sounded like effeminate earnestness. It was lingo. People picked up the phrases and passed them around like a contagion, which meant they were perfectly happy to use what was lying about and say what everyone else was saying. There was no reflection on this habit, no idea that God deserved better than cliches. -- Not That Kind of Girl

I like this quote because it expresses my frustration with organized, especially evangelical, religion. God deserves better than our words, and He certainly deserves better than cliches.

Deep Fried Babies

2009-12-01T20:23:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago a girl in the newsroom said something so funny I almost fell out of my chair laughing. We were talking about how southern people will deep fry just about anything, and she said:

My grandmama would fry a BABY if she could. She'd then proceed to CAN that baby, because she cans everything in sight -- pears, apples, babies, if that were socially acceptable.

I think that adequately illustrates the southerner's love of fried food and canning food to preserve it.

We now have a quote sheet on the wall of the newsroom to keep track of quotable moments like this one.

Alabama Election Law

2009-12-01T17:07:00.004-05:00

My biggest exam this semester is dead law -- technically titled Decedents' Estates -- and it's about wills and trusts. The other big exam I have is in Alabama Election Law.

I know this is a long shot, but if anyone has an outline for Alabama Election Law, it would be greatly appreciated and I'd return the favor in (almost) any way I could. Email me at Senichols [at] gmail.com.

Exams and Root Canals

2009-12-01T14:52:00.004-05:00

Has anyone had a root canal? I had to have one a few weeks ago, and while it wasn't painful during the procedure (they gave me so much Novocaine my face was numb up to my eyes), it hurt very badly afterwards. Root canals are done in two stages, so I go back for the second part tomorrow.

To anyone who's had one: What should I expect? Will it hurt as badly afterwards as it did the first time?

This came at a particularly bad time, right before exams. Ugh. At least my biggest exam is nine days away.

Fun With Word Verification

2009-11-29T18:11:00.012-05:00

Facebook has been making me type in word verifications to send messages lately, and I'm amused by how strange the combinations are. It's always two words that don't go together at all. Some examples from today:

Putty tale
Together plump
Senile tame

I'll start taking screenshots of the funnier ones. For some reason, they make me want to use them as phrases in sentences. I have dead law (wills and trusts) to study, but you guys go for it -- use them in

a sentence.

Alternatively, if you've seen any funny ones lately, leave them in the comments.

UPDATE: Facebook gave me this one today.

"The afloat."

This one doesn't even use real words! Blintzes forma? Challenge: make up a definition for "blintzes forma."

Last one: "Antidote ADA."

Posting More

2009-11-29T10:36:00.005-05:00

I've been told I need to update more, and I'm making a commitment to do that now. So here's an update.

The semester has been really great. I went to Las Vegas to visit a friend and his family, and that was wonderful. It made me want to be part of a big Hispanic family, speak Spanish, and have cousins and uncles who are really just family friends (they call everyone "cousin" and "uncle").

Here are some pictures of a light show in old Vegas. My camera broke, so I took them with my iPhone.

We had Thanksgiving at my parents' house in Northport (about 20 minutes away), and my grandma and aunt came. It was a nice family get-together, and a great break from law school.

Today my friend Matt and I are going to church then school to start the hardcore studying. He's my accountability friend for today. You don't necessarily need to be studying the same thing to be studying "with" someone, you just need someone who'll sit with you and put pressure on you to get some real work done. He's that for me, and hopefully I'm that for him (although I don't think he really needs it -- he's more disciplined than I am).

In any event, it's church time. Have a great Sunday, everyone.

Students Sniff Something New

2009-10-28T15:38:00.002-04:00

I'm working at The Crimson White, UA's student newspaper, and when we stay late (usually) we get loopy and funny things happened.

Last night we were trying to come up with a headline for a story about police officers staging an event where they burned something that gave off the smell of weed, so people would be aware of what it smells like (kinda redundant for college students, don't you think?).

Proposed, and rejected, headline: Students sniff something new.

SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas at the Law School

2009-10-28T14:13:00.002-04:00

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas came to the law school to speak the other day. He lead two sessions: one in the morning geared towards the 1Ls, and one in the afternoon for everyone else. I couldn't make the afternoon lecture, so I sneaked into the 1L session and listened in. He mainly did questions and answers, which I thought was semi-risky for such an important public figure. I guess because he's not a politician, and because he's experienced at doing this, he has more latitude to speak off-the-cuff.

Here are some quotes I wrote down:

CT: First year [of law school] was clear as cement!
CT: You'd think I was in a concentration camp or something and I had to find a way to fill my time -- law school.
CT: In the 18 years I've been there [on SCOTUS] I've yet to hear an unkind word in our conferences.

Q: How many hours a day do you work?
A: Less than 24 hours a day.

CT: I don't like excerpts because people have agendas when they excerpt cases. (Kinda true, right? I've never thought about it. Our books are filled with excerpts from cases mixed with explanation from the authors, but now that I think about it, you can't really present part of a case without showing some bias. It's like piecing together quotes -- you can get them to mean whatever you want.)

Q: What do you think the future of affirmative action is?
A: It'll always be on shaky ground because of the 14th Amendment.

CT: [Totally nonchalantly]: One thing lead to another, and I ended up on the Supreme Court.

Here's the question I asked: It seems like, the more I learn, the more I become aware of how much information there is out there that I don't know. That, coupled with the fact that law school has trained us how to argue both sides of cases, and it's made it harder for me to take a firm position on an issue. How do you decide when it's close, when both sides are persuasive?

CT: You just have to vote. You have to take a position. That part doesn't get any easier for some cases. Don't think we're any different from you in that sense.

That's been my main question in law school. How do I prepare myself to argue both sides of any issue, but keep some personal positions consistent? His answer wasn't the most satisfying, but it was practical.

Q: What do you think about the RIAA cases where damages for illegal downloads are outrageously high?
A: Hey, it's California, it's Hollywood. Who knows!

CT (jokingly): I'm off my medication, that's why things are so fascinating.
CT: I don't like politics. I like law, I like rules.

Q: What's been the biggest change in your life as a SCOTUS justice?
A: Well, people look at you everywhere you go. You start to feel sorry for the animals at the zoo!

He raised some good points about excerpts in casebooks that I'd never thought about. I'll continue to ask my question, because it's been the central quandary of law school for me (and growing up in general). But I did like his answer -- sometimes there are no answers that are satisfying and perfect. Sometimes you just have to make it work, Tim Gunn-style.

Facebook-Friending Professors

2009-09-21T18:15:00.003-04:00

As my friend Bud, who has a blog about FSU football with a huge following over at Tomahawk Nation, observed recently: "Blogging isn't hard, but being consistent is." Very true.

As I work on my consistency (and I welcome submissions about the law, law school, or even posts by outsiders of this little legal world: email them to Senichols (at) gmail.com), here's something funny that happened a few days ago.

We're bombarded with articles about how technology and the professional world can clash, but here's a first-hand example.

I posted on Facebook the following status: I can't help but think "gubernatorial" is a funny word.
Comment by friend "C": Is it bad that I giggled a little every time we used the word "seamen" (TO REFER TO SAILORS, YOU DIRTY READERS) the other day in class?
Comment by professor of said class, "Prof. N": Yeah, I heard the giggling.

I guess it's good to keep in mind that I'm Facebook friends with professors now.

Oh, Emails

2009-09-08T20:50:00.001-04:00

Favorite mass email of the day, from a guy who lost the power cord to his computer:

"Bring it to me and I'll teach you ALL the Rush lyrics I know."

Tempting to you?

Autographing

2009-09-02T16:24:00.003-04:00

Patrick Fisher is a Facebook friend who helped out a lot on the grammar book, which comes out September 29th. In return for his help, I promised a signed copy of the book. He just sent me this Facebook message as a reminder:

Hi Sharon! I see that your book is coming out in a monthish, so I am going to have to claim my just deserts. If you recall, you promised me your hand in marriage. However, we agreed that would never work due to my annularphobia (fear of rings) and your "condition". I believe we settled on an appropriate substitution of: One copy of your book, signed by you, sent to me at my location at time of publishing. My address is:

[Insert address]

For the inscription, I would diffidently accept, with no alterations:

---------------------------------------------------
Dear Patrick,

I know I told you I would marry you, but please accept this small token as a humble substitute for my eternal love. Know that I will always treasure our brief tenure as lovers.

XOXOXO
Sharon
---------------------------------------------------

Thank you in advance, it's been quite enjoyable planning this for eight months.

Patrick

This message is hilarious. I kinda love Patrick, and I'll do exactly as he asks when I get some extra copies.

Gmail Down for a Couple Hours

2009-09-01T21:58:00.000-04:00

Gmail is ...fallible? Don't say it's true!

Senioritis

2009-09-01T21:51:00.006-04:00

I've just been relaxing and enjoying this -- the last senior year of my life -- senior year of everything. It's very likely that I'll never, ever be in school again, so why not enjoy it while it's here?

I've also been working a lot at UA's newspaper, The Crimson White. I'm taking a lot of what I learned about journalism this summer and putting it to use at the school paper. It's cool to watch the process and see everything come together. We publish four times a week: Monday, Wednesday Thursday and Friday.

I do realize that, at some point, I have to get serious about looking for a real (adult! ahh...) job, but not right now. That can wait till closer to Christmas.

For now: ROLL TIDE!

UA Football Player Shot: Can He Play?

2009-09-01T21:46:00.006-04:00

An Alabama football player, Brandon Deaderick, was shot last night in an attempted robbery. He's expected to fully recover, and he was released from DCH medical center today.

Football fans are freaking out about whether or not Deaderick will be able to play. What I overheard in the newsroom just now:

"If Deaderick plays this Saturday, I will do his laundry for life. And let him name my first-born child."
"Hell, if Deaderick plays this week, he can HAVE my first-born child."

I love Tide fans.

Arlington x 2

2009-08-23T15:35:00.002-04:00

Better picture of Arlington.

Is our Children Learning?

2009-08-23T15:32:00.001-04:00

"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?" -- W. in Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000

Arlington

2009-08-23T15:21:00.002-04:00

Arlington National Cemetery.

Twitter x 2

2009-08-22T19:50:00.002-04:00

The other Twitter post got buried in subsequent posts, so here it is again. Follow me on Twitter: Senichols.

Election Law

2009-08-19T18:55:00.002-04:00

We're going around the class explaining why we wanted to take this class, and towards the end of the 30ish people in the class the reasons get kind of repetitive--except for this one: "I thought it would be a better use of my time than...I don't know, joining a gang."

I applaud this kid's creativity. Well done.

Higher Education and the Law

2009-08-19T16:42:00.002-04:00

Prof. Murphy: “Strict grading curves are necessarily an infringement on my freedom to decide what grade your paper really deserves.”

Agree or disagree?

Picture of the Day

2009-08-19T13:56:00.002-04:00

Float from the DC Gay Pride Parade in Dupont.

Twitter

2009-08-19T13:55:00.001-04:00

Follow me on Twitter for even more 140-character updates from the life of a 3L: Senichols.

Can I get a witness?

2009-08-19T01:07:00.002-04:00

Just because something can be announced on Facebook doesn't mean it should be announced on Facebook.

Am I right? Can I get an amen?

Legislation

2009-08-18T18:47:00.003-04:00

First: no exam! Yessss.

This is going to be a fun class. Prof. Neiman has it set up so that we'll do mock appellate arguments every week on different statutes, using various methods of statutory interpretation, and deciding the cases ourselves. It sounds like a trial ad class, but he says he'll tailor it to statutory issues.

Prof. Neiman is a practicing attorney, which I like. I've had good experiences with teachers who are currently practicing. Their perspective is different, more practical, than a teacher immersed in academia. They usually understand that time is valuable, and so they don't keep a class over time or feel like they have to fill up an hour when the material's already been covered.

I'm also excited about this class because it should provide some blogging material. Anytime students are center stage, funny things happen.

ADDED: I like professors who state the obvious: "If you're planning on skipping out on a lot of classes, this isn't the class for you."

That wraps up my first day as a 3L, and now I'm off to get my edit on at the Crimson White's office. To a good year: cheers!

Secured Transactions

2009-08-18T18:38:00.002-04:00

Second class of the semester, and I think I'll end up liking it. It's related to contracts, which I understood and found practical. The teacher, Prof. Lee, didn't feel the need to use the microphone, which I really like. I find the mic malfunctions distracting, and when a prof doesn't feel like they need to use it, they probably don't. Seems like a small thing, but it means a lot to me when the professor is commanding and confident enough to lead a large class without a microphone.

On to the last class of the day: Legislation!

Kelly Horwitz for School Board

2009-08-18T12:13:00.008-04:00

Kelly Horwitz, wife of my favorite law professor at UA, Paul Horwitz, is running for school board in Tuscaloosa. If you live in district 4, which includes the law school and areas close to it, get out and vote for her in the election on August 25th.

Dead Law

2009-08-18T11:58:00.003-04:00

My first class of 3L year is Decedents' Estates. We refer to it as "dead law" because it's about dead people's estates. Hopefully that doesn't also refer to how it makes you feel to learn it.

I'm anticipating this being one of my harder classes because it's closely related to property law, which I found difficult. Our first section, however, is on health care decision making, so that should be interesting. I'll live through the first part of the class, at least.

Coming back to school this year felt very different from coming back last year. I guess it's comparable to coming back to high school for senior year--you know everyone important by now, they know you, and it's not scary anymore. This is our school and our year. For most of us, it's our last year ever in school, and I intend to enjoy it.

Summer In DC: Great Success

2009-08-16T12:20:00.009-04:00

I’ve been thinking about how best to structure this summary of the summer, and an “I learned…” approach probably works best.

First, I learned how to behave around pseudo-celebrities. In the first week there, our boss took the interns out for happy hour at the Fox and Hounds, a place for which Barney Frank and I apparently share the same affection. He was seated at a table over from us, and I was a little starstruck. “Sharon, stop staring.” “Sharon, stop giggling like that.” “Sharon, stop trying to take his picture with your phone!” You get the idea.

The editor of TNR is Frank Foer, a kind of celebrity in himself. His brother is Jonathan Safran Foer, who wrote Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

I also learned that interviewing people is a lot different from being interviewed. You have to kn

ow your subject and ask your questions confidently, and when the interviewee doesn’t give a good answer, there are a couple tactics you can take:

1) “The Elise”: Get comfortable with silence, because most people aren’t. If you just don’t respond, most people will fill the silence with their own ramblings, sometimes giving up interesting information.

2) “The Dylan”: Calmly ask the question again. Hey, they didn’t answer the question—they deserve to be spoken to like a child. Ask it again and again until you get a satisfactory answer (or hung up on). Or, you can ask the question in subtly different ways so they feel more comfortable answering it.

3) “The Chris Matthews”: Play hardball. Point out the fact that they didn’t answer the question, and ask it again. If they still don’t, ask them for historical examples of the point they’re trying to make. If they can’t do it, laugh.

4) “The Friend”: Give a little piece of information about yourself that seems personal but actually isn’t, which should make the person feel more comfortable and they might censor their thoughts less and give better answers.

There are probably other strategies, but those are the ones I picked up on. Also, journalism in general is much more difficult than you’d imagine. This was my first experience in interviewing people and writing in a journalistic environment, and I learned so much. Journalism is tough to get into and make a stable living in right now, but my bosses were very encouraging. The day I left TNR, Greg Veis (web editor, my direct boss) called me into his office and basically offered to help out in the future if I needed it. I will need it, Greg, and I appreciate you being interested in the success of your former interns. Zvika Krieger is the other web editor, and he was every bit as helpful as Greg.

I learned a lot about how to write for the web. Academic writing is so much different from journalistic writing. It’s less formal and brevity is valued. In my last week there, I wrote a health care piece for Jon Cohn about insurance companies and the practice of “purging” customers who the insurer deemed not worth covering (too expensive, too many claims). Summarizing the relevant laws and fitting it to the style of a blog was more difficult than I thought it would be, but I think the post turned out pretty well. Jon was on The Colbert Report a few nights ago promoting his book, Sick. Check it out.

I lived in GW’s dorms, which turned out to be a much better experience than expected. I had my own room, the people in my hall were outgoing and fun, and we had a roof with a view of the Washington Monument. It was about three blocks from the White House, and when I walked to and from work (it was about a 30 minute walk--sometimes I took the metro) I walked past the White House. Here's a picture I took of it on my last walk home.

MTV’s Real World was filming in DC while I was there, which added a layer of potential excitement to any venture out. I only saw them once, coming out of the movies in Chinatown, and it was only a couple of the cast members surrounded by cameras. My friend from law school, Barbi, actually ran up and rang the doorbell to the Real World house. She said a cast member answered, gave her a weird look, and shut the door. At least she was brave enough to do it.

TNR does a regular thing called TNRtv where they interview politicians or experts, or debate an issue among the writers. On my last day, we took a picture of the wide view of the little studio they film it from:

And here's what it looks like up close, the way they film it:

(It was very hot in our office and extremely casual.)

The summer was a complete success, and I can't overstate how much I learned, but I am glad to be back. This will be my last year ever in school. It won't be nearly as difficult as the other years of law school, and I'm looking forward to enjoying the last year I'll ever be a student. Roll tide!

"Until Logic Did Them Apart"

2009-05-28T10:01:00.003-04:00

I've been at TNR for a little over a week, and in DC for about two weeks. I'll post pictures and descriptions of things here later, but for now I want to link to Jonathan Chait's article on the illogic of gay marriage opponents.

In it, he says "There's a word for social policy that disregards the welfare of one class of citizens: discrimination."

I tend to agree, so argue with us. Tell me why that's wrong in the gay marriage context.

Great Places

2009-05-12T19:28:00.008-04:00

Three days until I leave Tuscaloosa for Washington, DC for the summer. I'm done with all of my 2L exams, and all I have left to do are the finishing touches on a seminar paper on health care liability. I am beyond excited.

My little sister graduates from high school this weekend, and last weekend my parents had a graduation party for her. Her principal came and his gift to her was my the most original and thoughtful graduation present I've ever seen. He gave her a copy of the Dr. Seuss book "Oh, the Places You'll Go" and wrote something nice on the inside.

Here are the lines from the first page:

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.

You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

I think it's appropriate for anyone who's graduating right now or starting a new adventure. Congratulations, everyone. You're off to Great Places.

An Attempt at Positivity

2009-05-03T20:59:00.004-04:00

When you live in a competitive, demanding environment, it's easy to fall into "poor me" thinking. While I don't want to diminish the work that law students do or characterize it as "easy" to any extent, I do want to express how lucky we are to be here. We're lucky to have the resources available to take advantage of this level of education; we're lucky to have the natural ability to be able to do the work. We're lucky to have professors and fellow students who challenge us to produce great work.

So while you get some sleep tonight, think about how very lucky I am to get to stay up all night learning Criminal Procedure with flashcards and ten different colors of pens and highlighters.

I'm trying very, very hard to be positive here.

Flash Rave: Part II

2009-04-30T20:51:00.003-04:00

Last year I posted about a group of students (hundreds of them) from my alma mater, College of Charleston, who stormed the library during finals and had a flash rave. Within a minute the library was packed with students waving glow sticks and playing rave music from boomboxes, then a few minutes later, they all disappeared. According to an email I got from the student government president at CofC, it's happening again tonight.

Things like that make me miss college. I hope I never get too old and stuffy to appreciate a flash rave.

UPDATE: And the rave has occurred. Here's the updated story about it.

Update

2009-04-29T18:29:00.003-04:00

No, I haven't stopped blogging, I just took a break for a while. My first exam is tomorrow, and since it's Contracts II (the 1L class I dropped last year), I've been stressing over it. The 1Ls seem extremely on their game, and the fact that 1L classes are curved makes it extra important to do very well. Contracts is one of my favorite subjects -- it just makes sense to me -- but the sheer amount of information to learn makes it intimidating. The good news is that I really like the professor and the exam should be fair. Difficult, but fair.

Next year I'll be the chief copy editor of The Crimson White, U of Alabama's newspaper. I wasn't a journalism major, and since I want to write after law school, the experience will be very good for me. This week is our first week of production for the new team -- kind of like a trial run so we can learn the editing system before next year. It's my first time working in a newsroom, and so far I really like the process. It's satisfying to take articles that are already written and make them better.

Other than that, I'm just preparing for the move to DC for the summer to work for The New Republic. I'm ecstatic to have the opportunity. The other interns are Dylan Matthews, a freshman at Harvard who writes MiniPundit, and Elise Foley, a journalism and political science major at Northwestern. Both are younger than me but have a lot of experience. Dylan has already worked for Slate and interned at The American Prospect. I have a lot to learn this summer, but I'm confident that I have a lot to contribute as well.

Exam Essentials

2009-04-26T16:21:00.005-04:00

Oprah publishes a "My Favorite Things" section every month in her magazine with pictures of things that we simply must own to have a fulfilling life. The problem is that these are like $1,000 candy bowls, $899 pumice-stone foot-softeners and other overpriced baubles that reasonable people wouldn't buy from a dollar store.

Law students have their favorite things too, especially around exam time. And good news! You can buy these from normal people stores.

1) Coffee

2) Post-It tabs.

3) Colorful Highlighters

As simple as these things are, we could not survive exams without them.

Overheard in the Law School

2009-04-17T18:38:00.002-04:00

"Okay, so this is something I've been thinking about. What if you got scared half to death...twice?"

"The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."

"What if it were, like, a TRICK balloonist?"

I can't explain all of those quotations (and I think they're funnier out of context), except to say that the stress probably messes with our heads. Clearly exam time is upon us.

Strategery

2009-04-16T17:08:00.003-04:00

(The title of this post is from my favorite SNL skit of all time, when Will Ferrel was playing George W. Bush debating Al Gore. At the end of the debate, the moderator asked both candidates to sum up their campaigns in one word. Gore said "lock-box" [which I suppose counts as one word] and Bush said "strategery.")

The seminar I'm taking is on health care liability, and we all have to do 50-minute PowerPoint presentations on the papers we've been working on all semester. My friend Robert just gave his, and the last slide had a picture of our professor on it alongside other "great Americans" (his words).

I have to give mine next time, and I'm thinking that flattering the professor is not a bad way to go.

From the Anti-Fun Section of the Alabama Criminal Code

2009-04-07T19:04:00.004-04:00

From the Alabama Criminal Code, Section 13A-14-3:

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, association or corporation to promote, advertise or conduct any marathon dance contests, walkathon contests or similar endurance contests, by whatever name called, of walking, dancing, riding or running, and it shall be unlawful for any person to participate in any marathon dance contest, walkathon contest or similar physical endurance contest by walking, dancing, riding or running continuing or intended to continue for a period of more than eight consecutive hours, whether or not an admission is charged or a prize awarded, and it shall be unlawful for any person to participate in more than one such contest or performance within any period of 48 hours.

Watch how long you dance in Alabama. Your marathon dancing just might get you 30-90 days in the county jail. Also funny: This section is right after one prohibiting "maiming one's self to escape duty or to obtain alms."

The Pope, Billy Graham, and Nick Saban

2009-04-01T10:37:00.004-04:00

My Contracts teacher just said this in class:

"If you really get a sense that someone has been defrauded, like if the Pope, Billy Graham, and Nick Saban all came to you and said they were tricked..."

Yes.

Broke but Experienced

2009-03-24T18:44:00.003-04:00

The usual race for summer employment for law students begins when first semester grades are given. That means a lot of my classmates have had their summer plans in place for months. Although magazines and newspapers do offer summer internships, their timelines are way different from legal ones. Most of my friends had employment figured out months ago, and I was still crossing my fingers over Spring Break.

But the finger-crossing paid off. I found out today that I'll be interning with The New Republic in Washington, DC for the summer. The internship is unpaid, but if we write something they print we'll get paid like freelancers (so not much, but something). I'll still be broke after this summer, but I'll be a broke person with some great experiences. Woo-hoo!

From the shaking hands of a caffeine-addled 2L...

2009-03-12T11:40:00.003-04:00

Last night was pretty much an all nighter. Does it still count as an all nighter if you got 3 hours of sleep? I say it does, because I was back at school at 2 am to finish up the draft for my Health Care Liability Seminar paper. It's due at noon, but at this point (10:45 am), I think I'm done.

One of my pet peeves is writing just to write, just to fill space so the paper is as long as the professor wanted it to be. Although this professor didn't set a certain page limit or minimum, my paper is shorter than I expected it to be. But after going over it a dozen times fixing little things, I think it turned out just fine. I'm jealous of people who can take complicated concepts and explain them in very few words, so I hope that's what this paper turned out to be.

More likely, though, I'll get a list of things I need to discuss in it for the final paper and presentation. Which is fine...that's why they call it a "draft."

Sometimes, shortcuts are not okay.

2009-03-08T17:19:00.006-04:00

This is a screenshot of the law school's online store. It features my friend Reid, who I assure you is not a woman, but who is apparently modeling a woman's fleece.

Whoever put the website together used the same picture for the men's fleece as the women's, so I'm sure they did it to save time/effort. But sometimes SHORTCUTS ARE NOT OKAY.

*ADDED: If you click on the picture so you can get a better look, you'll see that "fleece" is spelled as "fllece." To that, I give the same response (minus the caps, because I'm tired): Sometimes, shortcuts are not okay.

Pop Quiz

2009-03-06T09:07:00.003-05:00

Pop quiz: How many people actually live in Washington, DC?

I lost a bet last night because I thought the population was over 1 million. Although the DC metro area has more than 5 million residents, the District itself only has around 500,000 residents. If you include the Baltimore metro area, there are more than 8 million people.

Bonus fact: NYC has a little over 8 million people.

Is that what you expected?

Distraction

2009-03-05T10:02:00.005-05:00

This is my little sister, Grace, with John Parker Wilson, who was the starting quarterback of Alabama's football team this past year.

Such pretty hair, on both of them, huh? JP's hair might be shinier than mine.

Interesting Article

2009-03-05T09:56:00.000-05:00

Dahlia Lithwick on judicial bias and impartiality. [Slate]

Setbacks

2009-03-05T09:27:00.002-05:00

Well, we're not allowed to take bags or computers into the room to watch, which will limit my coverage of the arguments. I can take in a notebook and pen, so I'll record some observations old-school style.

Also, because the Court is hearing only civil cases today, my professor "the Judge" doesn't think letting us hear the arguments is important enough to cancel (or even allow excused absences from) his Criminal Procedure class today, even though most of us have never seen a state Supreme Court case before. So I'll be getting there late in the first case, if there's a seat left.

The Alabama Supreme Court is Coming!

2009-03-05T07:59:00.004-05:00

The Alabama Supreme Court is hearing arguments on two cases at the law school today. The first case is Ex Parte DBI, Inc., and is about whether DBI, a seatbelt supplier to Kia, has sufficient contacts for the Alabama courts to have jurisdiction over it in a case about the malfunctioning of a seatbelt.

The second case, Riley v. The Joint Fiscal Committee, is about whether the legislature has the authority to protect certain agencies from proration if state resources are not enough to fund all state appropriations.

To me, the first case is the more interesting of the two, but unfortunately I have an 8:30 class which will cause me to miss some of it. The law school told us that we could come in and out all day, but I'm still not sure there will even be a seat left if I come late. I'll do my best though, and I'll cover it on the blog if I can get in.

If you're interested, here's the Alabama Supreme Court's website.

I've never seen a big case argued in person before, so this is kind of exciting to me. I know, I'm a huge dork. But I'm a huge dork who's going to see a state Supreme Court case argued today!

Well Played

2009-03-04T13:00:00.005-05:00

Prof. Marsh is not afraid to call people out for saying something stupid. He's my Contracts professor, and the other day he said something hilarious to a student:

Student: "Well, you might be able to make the argument that..."
Prof. Marsh: "You MIGHT be able to? I don't care what you MIGHT be able to do. Ha, I MIGHT be Elvis."

Prof. Marsh: 10 points

Student: 0 points.

There's Always Next Year

2009-03-04T00:00:00.004-05:00

I just got back from the most frustrating basketball game.

First, the good stuff. Alabama played our rivals Auburn tonight at home, and at halftime, Nick Saban was there to accept the Iron Bowl trophy. At halftime, they made Auburn's class president sing the Alabama fight song from beginning to end. Then the announcer came on and said, "In case you need a refresher, Alabama beat Auburn 36 to ..." and never gave Auburn's score. That was kinda funny.

But, despite being ahead for most of the game, we lost it in the end. And the main thing that lost it for us was FREE THROWS. I'd be surprised if we hit 30% of our free throws. That's something that is easy to fix, and we lost to our rivals because of it.

There's always next year, right?

Here's a picture of Nick Saban accepting the Iron Bowl trophy.

The Benefits of Mass Emails

2009-02-26T17:35:00.004-05:00

You can warn each other of traps that police set to catch speeding drivers. Although I guess you could categorize this as mischief, it's mischief of the helpful type. Email of the day:

The motorcycle cop has been hiding near the law school a lot lately writing tickets to students (end of the month, I guess). So be on the look out. He seems to be hiding the most at the stop sign near the track stadium on the shortcut road between Hackberry and the parking lot. Also, he has been getting speeders on Bryant behind Newk's and near the main entrance to the law school.

Thank you!

So True

2009-02-26T14:48:00.004-05:00

In Contracts yesterday we had some visitors. I think they were college students visiting the law school, and they went to Contracts to see what a typical law school class was like. It was not a typical class.

Right in the middle when Prof. Marsh was speaking, the power suddenly went out. The batteries on our laptops kicked in and the only light in the room was the blue glow from illuminating our faces from our screens. Prof. Marsh quipped, "Today's the day we have visitors, and now they probably think we didn't pay our power bill last month."

But my favorite comment was from my friend Felipe.

Prof. Marsh: Did the wireless internet go out too?
Felipe: No, thank God. Now that would REALLY freak us out.

So true.

An Unmarried Woman

2009-02-23T14:02:00.004-05:00

Is this just in the South? I've been looking through the documents pertaining to our house. My parents bought it, but my name is on the deed. But guess what phrase is also on the deed:

A corporation...in hand paid by the grantees herein, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, the same grantor does by these presents, grant, bargain, sell and convey unto... Sharon Elizabeth Nichols, an unmarried woman,...

Is that relevant at all? Do they do that in other states?

Book Update

2009-02-16T08:49:00.002-05:00

On Friday I saw the first print copy of the book. It's one thing to work on a book by putting together pictures and captions on a computer, but it's way more exciting to see your work actually in print. St. Martin's (the publisher) sent me a draft copy to look over, and so far it looks great.

Since it is a book about grammar, I'm taking my time to look over it carefully and make sure there are no mistakes. It would be incredibly embarrassing for the book to go to print and then for us to discover that there's a misplaced comma or a word spelled incorrectly (can you imagine?). There is no spell check accurate enough for this.

The release date is still set for September 29, 2009, and you can pre-order the book on Amazon. Go ahead and do it. You know you want to!

Valentine's Day

2009-02-16T08:42:00.002-05:00

The worst part of two holidays, New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day, is the expectation that the day (or evening) will be spectacular. People always seem to have sky-high expectations for those two days, and since those expectations usually aren't met, we get disappointed.

My Valentine's Day this year was the exception. I'm with the "Valentine's Day is a holiday made up by Hallmark to sell cards and little teddy bears (for WAAAYY too much money)" camp, and all I expect from the day is maybe one rose. This year, we went out to eat at a new place in Tuscaloosa. The food was great and at the end of the meal, I got two roses. My expectations were exceeded, so it was a wonderful Valentine's Day.

How was yours?

iPhone Blogging

2009-02-14T16:44:00.002-05:00

So I got an iPhone last week, and this is my first attempt at blogging from it. We'll see how it works!

"Words"

2009-02-04T10:42:00.007-05:00

As a philosophy major in college, we were always making up words to describe concepts that we wrote about. You know how Word underlines non-words, and you can right click and select "add to dictionary"? I had to do that all the time in college, and now I'm finding that we have to do the same thing in law school. These aren't fictional words to the same extent as philosophy words were, but I guess they're unconventional enough to be left out of Word's dictionary.

Here's a list of the words (or "words") that Word doesn't recognize, just from today so far:

Promisor
Promisee
Promissory
Disaffirmance
Appellee
Estop
Estopped

Those are just from today, and I'm sure I'll find many more to add to that list.

ADDED: One of the commenters found more legal "words" to add to the list.

Dilectual
Dispositive
Liberative

Grand Central

2009-02-03T14:05:00.002-05:00

In my post about the business card problem, a commenter suggested that I use Google's Grand Central. The problem is, I need an invitation from a current user to join. Anybody willing? If so, my email address is Senichols[at]gmail[dot]com. Thanks!

MSNBC

2009-02-03T13:09:00.003-05:00

The Facebook group got a shout-out from MSNBC in an article about how stress from the economy is pushing "spelling snobs over the edge." Here's our small part:

But these newly hip word warriors are doing more than writing odes to apostrophes and posting tips for people who don’t know their like or as from a hole in the ground.
The 350,000-member Facebook group “I Judge You When You Use Poor Grammar” encourages its members to “seek out the infidels (grammar offenders) and … document their acts of terror. Take pictures and post them in this group to serve as examples to all.”

Kinda cool, even if they did call us snobs.

A Picture's Worth

2009-02-01T18:42:00.004-05:00

Michael Phelps gets caught, and ends up apologizing for, a picture being circulated in which he's using a bong. (Yes, you got me; I read Perez Hilton.)

I've often wondered what's going to happen to all those ill-advised Facebook pictures when my generation starts holding political office. It's starting right now, actually. I'm 24, and the youngest congressman currently in office is Adam Putnam, the 27-year old from Florida's 12th district. [The GW Hatchet] I'd say he qualifies as being in my generation.

So was Putnam just more forward-thinking, wiser than the rest of us in his college days? Those pictures of Joe or Jane doing a keg stand don't just disappear. My guess is if they don't catch up with Mr. Putnam, they will start haunting other young people with political ambitions very soon.

The next question is this: How will that type of picture be categorized by the public? Will they be brushed off as a mistake of youth, something that most of us engaged in and then grew out of, or will they be blown up and held as evidence that a particular person is unfit for office? President Obama didn't have to deal with the proliferation of cameras that are around now, but he was candid about his drug use, and now he's president. That's evidence that the public is holding public officials to the lower, albeit more realistic, standards to which most of us hold our peers.

But photographs have a different effect on the senses than words do. Would a picture of President Obama snorting that line of white powder have had the same effect as his verbal admission? The picture would have had a more powerful negative effect, right?

I guess we'll see in the next few years. The moral of the story? It's the same as my dad always told me growing up: Don't do anything that you wouldn't do with your parents standing behind you. My own addendum: For goodness' sake, don't do it in public.

Question:

2009-02-01T18:32:00.003-05:00

How important is a phone number on a business card for a writer? I just ordered new business cards about a week ago, but unfortunately, I had to change my number unexpectedly a few days ago and the new cards have my old phone number on it. Should I just suck it up and order new ones?

I Heart Gmail

2009-01-29T19:50:00.002-05:00

Could Gmail and Google possibly get even better? Apparently, yes! [CNN]

Law School and Aging

2009-01-29T17:08:00.009-05:00

The US president has, I would argue, the most stressful job in the world. This is widely believed to contribute to the drastic aging they experience in appearance over 4 or 8 years. BoingBoing has an approximation of what President Obama will look like in 4 years:

Here are two pictures of former President Bush, taken in 2000 and 2007:

(Found via Google image search from a random website: SurfCasting.)

I wonder if law students go through a similar transformation, although to a lesser extent. I've noticed that I absolutely look older than I did at the beginning of law school, but I don't know if that's just because I am actually older or if the stress has made it more severe. Law students (or professors) out there: What do you think?

Red Lights

2009-01-29T16:51:00.003-05:00

If you've ever visited Tuscaloosa, you probably noticed a difference in the way people drive from most of the country. Not that we have awful drivers, but there is one problem that stands out: people run red lights ALL the time here. My theory explaining it is that in the Northeast, red light cameras are much more common. When it's common knowledge that there might be a camera to catch you running a particular red light, you're less likely to push it. Here, there aren't any red light cameras that I know of, and therefore people take advantage of the lack of accountability and run the lights more.

In Criminal Procedure this morning the Judge (Judge Colquitt) was commenting on it, and he said that in his conversations with the police in Tuscaloosa, they've just said that there aren't enough resources here in terms of the number of officers to focus on traffic violations. I know that bigger cities have more financial resources, but they also have more crime (in general), right? In Baltimore, where the murder rate is pretty high, shouldn't the police officers be focused on bigger problems than traffic violations? I would have thought that police in Tuscaloosa, where the most common problem is corralling the drunk college students, would have more time to monitor smaller things like traffic problems.

I've only had experience driving on the East coast and in the South. What are drivers like in other parts of the country?

Theater Majors

2009-01-28T16:57:00.003-05:00

Prof. Marsh teaches Contracts, and he's an old-school professor who says exactly what he thinks. He's not plagued by my generation's concerns that everything they say be PC, so he ends up saying some pretty funny things.

Today his target was theater majors. Five or six times he said things like "I don't care if you were a THEATER major, you should be able to understand this!" I don't know whether there were any actual theater majors in the class, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were.

As funny as that was, I hope he doesn't target philosophy next.

Pros and Cons of Publicity

2009-01-28T08:25:00.003-05:00

Ever since the ABA win, I've been trying to write about law school more. The problem is, ever since the ABA win, when bloggable things happen, I get disclaimers like "Don't blog about that!" or "That's off the record."

Thankfully, I have a few professors who either don't know about the blog or don't care if I post the goings-on from class. I'll post a few funny things that happened today in a little bit.

Update

2009-01-26T19:24:00.003-05:00

Two awesome things have happened in the past two days. I'll go with the most recent first: I got an iPhone! Although I recognize that this is bad for my concentration in almost any situation, I'm still excited. It's gonna be my crack, I know it, but it'll feel so good.

Second: The Tuscaloosa News did an article on the ABA blog poll win. I'm always nervous about newspaper articles; I'm afraid that they'll portray me or my writing badly, that the picture will be less than flattering, that a quote will be taken out of context. But this one turned out really well, and the only mistake was when they quoted the hit count on the blog. It's supposed to be daily, not weekly. But hey, who's counting? I'm just happy to get the coverage.

A third sidenote: I received an email from the president of the ABA, Tommy Wells, who happens to be an Alabama law graduate. Pretty cool, huh? UA should be known for something other than (well, in addition to) football, and I hope the law program gets the recognition it deserves.

Reads that Make you Cooler

2009-01-20T19:47:00.003-05:00

This might also help if you're a football addict and the DTs are setting in because you haven't had your fix in a while.

Jamarkus McFarland, a leading football recruit who Oklahoma and Texas were brutally fighting for, opened up his recruiting process to the New York Times.

Inauguration Day!

2009-01-20T18:58:00.005-05:00

Did you watch the inauguration today? I watched parts of it on CNN while I paid my bills this morning. But what I really, really wanted was to be there.

From the time when I was 12 until about 3 months ago, my parents lived in a suburb outside of Annapolis, MD called Severna Park. It was about an hour's drive to DC. Let's see, that means they lived there during W's first and second inauguration, and possibly during Clinton's second inauguration. I remember having an all out fight with my parents because they wouldn't let me take a day off school to go to the inauguration. Oh well, it'll happen one day.

As for the speech, I thought President Obama did exactly what he needed to do: he managed expectations. (Here's the text of the speech, via BizJournals.com) Right now, people see Obama as a savior for whatever ails them, and I think it was realistic and practical for him to address that and say that the road to a healthy nation is difficult.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old.

He did two things here. He managed expectations by invoking the values of hard work and courage. But he also very successfully combined his vision of "change" with the older "values" of loyalty, fair play and patriotism. Obama's a master communicator, and with these two sentences, he brought together the old and the new way of doing politics (according to him -- I'm not sure the "new" way is all that different from the old).

He also didn't shy away from religion. I especially like these two sentences:

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers.

That "patchwork heritage" can only be an asset if we can recognize the value in other ways of life. If tensions still exist that will cause disputes or violence, the asset turns into a liability. But I think the fact that we elected a man of darker skin color than ever before shows that we're willing to try a new way of life in that respect. Differences as an asset. I hope it can work.

Overall, I think the new president did a great job. I hope he can make the positive changes that he was elected to make.

Alumni Newsletter

2009-01-20T18:21:00.006-05:00

Today, the people who put together the UA Law School Alumni Newsletter gave me a shout out in the form of a link to my blog. Thank you for that, sincerely. I welcome all efforts that will expose my writing to a bigger audience.

But I thought now would be a good time to clarify the roles of the law school and of this blog. Obviously, since I chose to go here, I believe in this school. I believe it has a great program, but I'm just a student in this program. In this blog, I've tried to record and describe the experience of being a law student. You could say that I've endorsed this school simply by coming here and believing in it, but the school did not endorse this blog as the official UA law blog (or otherwise) when it sent out the link. It's just sending some reading to alumni that they might find interesting. We went through the same things, we will have the same alma mater, and we're bound by those shared experiences, so they might be interested in the experience of a 2L who's chosen to keep a blog and share what she's learned.

To repeat: the law school does not endorse everything I say on this blog, and I intend to keep the blog as an honest reflection of my time here. This might include some criticisms of the program, but it includes a lot of praise as well.

Every organization has its problems, and one reason I post my criticisms here is so that fellow students, past and present, can have a forum in which to discuss them. Otherwise, I hope the blog continues to give some insight into what it feels like to be a law student, and I hope I can make you laugh while you read. Either way, I hope you find something of value here. If you have an issue with something I've posted, you're always welcome to email me: Senichols@gmail.com.

Alabama Law Applicants get Free iTunes

2009-01-17T20:43:00.005-05:00

The Alabama Law Admissions Office is using a creative tactic to get students to apply. They're giving away $20 in iTunes! Dan Slater, at the Wall Street Law Blog, posted the partial email and then comments afterwards:

Admit it! You are an outstanding student. For a select number of students like you, The University of Alabama School of Law is offering some special incentives. But, don’t wait! . . .

For you, we’re making two special offers:

1. We’ll waive your application fee, and

2. We’ll present you with free iTunes® downloads in the amount of $20 if you apply!

We have no doubt that the Loyal Reader who received this generous music offer would make a fine law student — how could he not? he’s a Loyal Reader! — but of course we wonder about Alabama’s motives. Raise the number of applications? The number of rejections? Capitalize on what’s expected to be a big application year?

We await a response from Claude Reeves Arrington, Alabama law’s associate dean of admissions.

When I applied, the school knew that I had already bought a house in Tuscaloosa. They knew my brother was an undergraduate there, that I was born in Mobile, and that my grandparents lived in Birmingham. They knew I was very likely to come there. Is that why I didn't get my $20 in iTunes??

Why was the book publication date changed?

2009-01-17T20:30:00.005-05:00

I've been getting questions on when the book is coming out, why the release date has changed, etc.

The official release date for "I judge you when you use poor grammar" is now September 29,2009. The date was pushed back for several reasons. First, the economy is crap right now, and people are more worried about saving their houses than buying a gift for a friend. Second, Christmas season is the perfect time to market a gift book, and my publisher is shooting for that. Third, several of the stores that ordered the book raised their orders, and we needed more time to print the books.

I'm bummed about the extra wait too, but the date was pushed for good reasons.

Prime Time TV and Law School

2009-01-17T16:12:00.006-05:00

Grey's Anatomy has a plot this week that includes a serial killer with brain tumors who wants to refuse treatment. The doctors tell him that he can refuse to be operated on while he's conscious, but once he passes out it only takes the consent of two doctors to overrule the patient's wishes and force treatment.

Health Care lawyers out there: is this true? When the patient has stated, with witnesses (and he's sane), that he doesn't want treatment, why would the hospital want to force expensive treatment on him? Wouldn't that treatment best be saved for somebody who wants it, and somebody who society wants around (a non-serial killer)?

Despite the policy considerations of saving a serial killer, the Hippocratic Oath does command that doctors preserve life. Do they have to preserve life against the patients' wishes? Do the patients' wishes not matter anymore after they've passed out?

Top 25 Bushisms

2009-01-17T01:27:00.006-05:00

The 25 Top Bushisms, as compiled by Slate. A couple of my favorites:

"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family."—Greater Nashua, N.H., Chamber of Commerce, Jan. 27, 2000
"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"—Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000
"I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense."—Washington, D.C., April 18, 2006
"Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do it, that's trustworthiness."—CNN online chat, Aug. 30, 2000
"I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep on the soil of a friend."—on the prospect of visiting Denmark, Washington, D.C., June 29, 2005
"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream."—LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000
"They misunderestimated me."—Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000

And, finally:

"I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office."—Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008

In Good Company

2009-01-15T17:46:00.003-05:00

The Tuscaloosa News is writing an article about Thank You Ma'am's ABA blog poll win, and they sent a photographer to take a picture of me "where [I] usually blog." Where do I usually write? In class! We compromised and they took a picture of me in an empty classroom. I'll link to the story when it's online.

I have a friend who blogs on (and created) TomahawkNation.com, and I'm sitting behind him in the Health Care Liability class that I'm in now. He blogs in class too! Yay, I'm not the only one.

Health Care Liability Seminar

2009-01-15T16:57:00.002-05:00

First question: "health care" or "healthcare"?

Second question: We're talking about how staph infections get resistant to antibiotics, and whether doctors should be held liable for over-prescribing antibiotics. But really, do we need to see a slide of pictures of staph infections?

This discussion is interesting to me because it may be relevant to something that happened last year. During exams I was sick, but I brushed it off as just a cold (law students are pretty susceptible to getting sick, especially during exam time, because of stress). The bottom line is that I let it go too long before I went to the doctor and when I finally went I had a fever of almost 105 degrees. I ended up in the hospital for 3 days while they pumped me full of antibiotics, did a spinal tap, and ultimately never figured out what was wrong.

So, did an extra-virulent strain of bacteria have something to do with that? Maybe, but we'll never know.

My Orientation

2009-01-13T18:37:00.003-05:00

The third class in my schedule is Trial Ad I. Two funny things from this class:

Professor's first question: "Is anybody offended by bad language?"
"My orientation is one of a criminal lawyer." I just think it's funny that he describes his occupation, his day job, as his "orientation."

Judge Colquitt

2009-01-13T09:08:00.003-05:00

I've never taken a class from Judge Colquitt before, but I hear that he says some pretty funny things. Right now I'm taking Criminal Procedure from him, I'll be here to document the Judge's funny comments and save them for you guys to read.

He just walked in, and the Judge is wearing a traditional suit. I'm disappointed that it's not seersucker. His voice, however, fully lives up to my expectations. He has what's called an Old Southern accent. It sounds like sweet tea, huge front porches and old money. This means he says things like "VER-mont" (instead of "Vermont"), and "the triiii-al it-sayelf" ("the trial itself.").

It's capitalism, baby.

2009-01-12T10:04:00.005-05:00

I've been demoted.

Last spring I was working on the book, so the law school let me drop a class. I dropped Contracts II so I'm having to take it now with the 1Ls. The 1Ls aren't that insufferable or anything, but it does feel odd to be dropped into a section of new(er) students who all seem to know each other.

Prof. Marsh is teaching the class. I took a class of his last semester, and while I don't have my grade back from that class yet, I did really like his teaching style. He's very practical. Right now he's talking about efficiency and studying for exams, and I appreciate that he's emphasizing how important efficiency is. You could spend years mastering the material for one law school exam, but that's not what we're asked to do. Since you have to learn it in a semester, and since the volume of material that's assigned is so enormous, you have to learn how to read and study effectively in the least amount of time. Academics tend to get caught up in romantic descriptions of "long term" and "short term" learning, and while there may be some truth to those labels, the real world rewards efficiency. If you can get there by spending 100 hours (or, say, $100), but I can get there in an hour (or $1), I win. It's not me; it's capitalism, baby.

(Sidenote: When you raise your hand and begin an answer with the word "Briefly, ..." that's a clue that it's not going to be brief. It's also annoyingly sure-sounding and makes me want to argue against you. Just sayin'.)

Anyway, I'm going to go take notes on arbitration now, but I'll update throughout the day. Cheers.

ABA Poll

2009-01-07T17:59:00.003-05:00

Wow. I just got the email that Thank You Ma'am won the student category for the ABA's best blog poll. Thank you so, so much to everyone who voted!

Are some people talented at (almost) everything?

2009-01-07T10:41:00.006-05:00

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's medicine man, is being considered by president-elect Obama for Surgeon General.

Dr. Gupta probably wouldn't be where he is, with a prominent spot on CNN, without being a good doctor. But his position on CNN has something to do with his likeability -- his appearance and ability to communicate well on camera. Are those qualities that we really value in a SG?

He could just be a brilliant doctor and a great communicator. One of my non-law student friends was asking me the other day about my peers in school. I told him that they're extremely intelligent, and he asked if they also have interesting personalities. Are they smart and the type of people you'd want at your party? My answer was, generally, yes. It's very intimidating, but my class (and the other classes at my school too, I'm sure) are both intelligent and well rounded. They're the type of people you're jealous of in high school and college: football team captain, speak 3 languages, double major in chemical engineering and political science and a model on the side. Seriously? Ugh.

Maybe Dr. Gupta is just one of those all-around talented people. And that can't be a bad thing in a SG.

Sorta Sweet

2009-01-06T22:59:00.006-05:00

Last week, I went to the Sugar Bowl with my dad in New Orleans. It was played at the Superdome and Alabama took quite a beating. It was disappointing watching our team lose to Utah, but Utah played a very good game and we just didn't. Next year, baby. Next year.

If you're in the 20-28 age range, the Superdome in NOLA is probably a symbol to you for something very different than football victories and defeats. It was strange being in there post-Katrina. I'd been there before Katrina and thought it looked like a fun spaceship, but now it just represents natural destruction and human fallibility.

It's tempting, of course, to look at it with a negative slant after losing a big football game inside the dome. The rest of New Orleans, however, is looking great to me. Neighborhoods that were obviously devastated are coming back, and Bourbon street sure hasn't lost its "charm." I have a soft spot for cities on the water, and NOLA is one of them. I'm definitely in its corner, and I hope it continues to rebuild, both physically and otherwise.

I Judge You When...

2009-01-06T21:14:00.000-05:00

Google Chrome

2008-12-31T17:29:00.002-05:00

Chrome, Google's internet browser, came out a while ago, but I just downloaded it today. Usually I use Firefox, but it's been disappointing me lately with its glitches.

Chrome seems to load pages more smoothly than either IE or Firefox and I like its tabbing design, with the tabs at the very top of the screen. It'll take some more time for me to form a solid opinion about it, and I admit to being biased in favor of all things Google, but so far I really like it.

Have you guys used it? What do you think of it compared to IE or Firefox?

From the Gossip Pages

2008-12-29T22:35:00.002-05:00

Continuing the trend of writing about purely frivolous topics over Christmas break, Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol gave birth to a baby boy today. The name? Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston. Surprisingly normal (it's no "Apple"), but it is a bit of a middle-name overload.

Well, "Easton" does sound like a town instead of a name, doesn't it?

Gimme Some Sugar...

2008-12-29T17:20:00.002-05:00

...I am your neighbor.

I'm going to the Sugar Bowl, in which Alabama is going to give Utah a beatdown. It's technically on January 2nd, but I'm counting it as my New Year's celebration. What are you doing for New Year's?

Name the Celebrities

2008-12-29T16:43:00.003-05:00

Celebrity number 1:

Celebrity number 2:

Here's your hint: one of them is Zooey Deschanel (the girl in Elf), and one of them is singer Katy Perry. Can you tell them apart?

Reminder:

2008-12-28T16:44:00.001-05:00

The Future of Journalism

2008-12-27T18:16:00.001-05:00

What will the news look like once newspapers disappear? [Good/Blog].

PS:

2008-12-27T17:23:00.003-05:00

All these posts, except the one from my neighbor's yard, were done at the Krystal off highway 59 in a suburb of Birmingham called Trussville, AL.

THAT'S commitment.

Getting in Your Professor's Head

2008-12-27T17:18:00.000-05:00

Now that I’ve slept for 18 hours of each of the past 5 days, I’m ready to use my brain again. Before coming to my grandparents’ house where I knew there would be no internet, I downloaded copies of my spring semester professors’ law review/journal articles that were relevant to the class I’m taking from them. Hopefully, by reading those, I can get in their heads to some extent and go into the course knowing what they consider important.

Maybe my plan won’t work, but it’s worth trying.

Top Fives

2008-12-27T14:55:00.002-05:00

Does anyone have any data on law school students and their undergraduate majors? I’m writing this post at my grandparents’ house with no internet at all, so I can’t look it up. But here’s my guess. Top majors:

English
Philosophy
Physics
Political Science
Econ

Go ahead and guess the top 5 before you look it up. Then look it up and leave the link in the comments, and we’ll all see how right or wrong we were.

PS: Top 5s remind me of the movie High Fidelity. What are some other law-related top 5 lists we can do?

Used Book Stores

2008-12-27T14:51:00.001-05:00

I love used book stores. I love thrift stores that have a used book section. I love going through other people’s book shelves.

Books are meant to be read and re-read, and while it’s impressive to own your own library, it makes more sense to sell/donate your books to places where other people can read them. I’m not talking about your absolute favorites that you re-read once a year or legitimate reference books that you need. I’m talking about the novels and poetry collections that you have no special attachment to, and therefore should give them up to someone who might discover value in a book in which you did not.

I stopped on my way to Birmingham yesterday while looking for a post office and stumbled on a used book store. It was wonderful! I bought a sack of books for $20, and they all have promise. But rest assured, if I find that some aren’t so great or aren’t my favorites, I’ll give them to a library or other used book store so somebody else can make their own decision.