My friend Rakesh and I are competing to see who can be the worst law student in America. He told me today that he was working on an outline and I think that means I automatically win. But then, my teacher told me today that I "must really love the law." And he wasn’t saying it as a command, he was making a comment, indicating that I appear to "really love the law."
Now, I know you are wondering what I could have possibly said to provoke such a comment. The class – Business Crimes. The class book – White Collar Crime. The Professor – Ponsoldt. Okay, so this class is very relevant to the world today, and my professor loves to discuss current events. We spend most of the class talking about current events. I find this very helpful because I don’t like to read newspapers and I like to listen to everyone’s thoughts. There are only about 12 people in the class (I am one of three girls) and everyone gets a chance to talk. All Ponsoldt asks is that we bring in current events. And anything can be a current event (we have spent a lot of time talking about the debates). We talk about everything from university politics to the presidential campaign and lots of things that don’t have to do with politics. I haven’t brought anything in yet, and I found something last week that I thought would apply.
As I think I have said before, I read Notes from the Legal Underground, and one of the recent posts discussed a lawsuit that some crazy is filing against Evan (the author). The pending lawsuit involves a post Evan made in May – commenting on an article from the New York Law Journal about a lawsuit against two law firms in New York involving client stealing. The original law suit is interesting, but what I found interesting is that the pending law suit against Evan could impact the right to blog (I didn’t think of this, the attorneys who commented to the post brought this up). If the bar association or the courts start to have things to say about blogs then there are going to be all sorts of problems – mostly first amendment stuff. I have to confess that I don’t understand most of this (con law is not my thing), but I thought that it applied to Business Crimes.
So, I sent my teacher an email about it, and I got to be the current event today. I was under the impression that my teacher read a lot of blogs and that he might already read the legal underground, but I was wrong. But my teacher really liked the fact that I read this kind of stuff. He made me explain to the class the concern over being able to write what you want on your blog, and then went over requirements for libel. I wasn’t prepared for all of the questions, but I think my teacher liked it. This was the point where he made the comment, "wow, if you read this stuff you must really love the law." Which is where I disagree. I read it because it is interesting in general. I like law in general. I just don’t like it in particular. Like particularly at the end of the semester when I have exams. Particularly when I have to know all about one subject at one time.
In other notes today, the bugs are after me. I have seven new bug bites and I was almost stung by a yellow jacket about six times. Also, I made a comment in con law today and got away without looking stupid. And I didn’t even read. Don’t worry, I’m a professional. The trick is to make the comment when it is something you do know something about, and then the teacher is less likely to call on you later. And you might be able to convince your classmates in the process that you aren’t a moron.
the thin line between optimism and delusion... 
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