Lesson 1A: Voluntarily responding to questions that are based on passages read collectively in class allows you to impress your neighboring classmates without admitting to your general cluelessness. Unless, of course, you lack the ability to resist disclosing your general cluelessness when complimented on your insightful comment, in which case, you simply resurrect your status as Queen of the Cliff Notes. This may or may not be something you should take pride in...I'm just sayin'.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Lessons from Law School #1
Always double check the edition of books purchased online (before ordering and then again after they arrive). You see, different editions may have nearly identical content, but are likely to have different page numbering. So, while you trudge through the latter half of the dissenting opinions in an obscure bug bite case from the early 1900s in the 3rd edition, your classmates may be reading through a fairly clear, complete, and historically significant case from the civil rights movement that appears on the same pages in the 4th edition. You, however, may not discover this divergence until the professor starts dissecting the case in class and you are forced to madly google summaries so as not to be completely and totally lost during your very first class of law school.
Confessions of a Non-Blogger
So, clearly, if anyone were to stumble upon this page and notice the timestamps of the heretofore one and only post, it would be clear that I am not a blogger. I like to claim that it is because I shun the exhibitionist tendencies of cyberspace--I'm simply too cooth and self-respecting to put my personal life on display for the masses. I also like to tell myself that I lack certain levels of narcissism--that I am clearly objectively aware enough to recognize that my opinions are not worthy of granting prophetic status via the interwebs.
The truth is that I'm a lazy, terrified writer. While I love having written something, writing sucks. It's painful and exhausting. Given the opportunity, I simply stop writing right after the, "hey, that would make a good essay/story/poem/etc." moment. Unfortunately, in my little heart of hearts, I am a writer. And, despite my fears and utter lack of creative productivity, I find it increasingly difficult to hide from that reality.
Perhaps more detrimental than laziness, I'm also a pansy. While i certainly support the shunning exhibitionism as a general tendency, as a writer, I recognize the value of honest self-disclosure. Philip Lopate voices the paradigm I adopt (albeit, usually only in theory): In focusing on the honesty of personal essayist, I do not mean to imply that they are relentlessly exposing dark secrets about themselves. We learn more about their habits of thought than about the sorts of abuses and crimes that spice our afternoon TV talk shows."
Of course, self-disclosure--true honesty--has always been rather terrifying to me. I don't really like putting my soul, even a small part of it, on display. I suppose that is precisely the reason that I stopped writing creatively around 7th grade. Professional and technical writing allows the same play with words, the engineering of a complex structure, but it allows the author to divorce herself from the impact of honesty.
And so, after nearly a decade of encouraging students to put in the hard work to write and to be painfully honest, I suppose its time to take my own advice and actually start writing. And, in the spirit of authenticity and honesty, I will admit, that having a whole new realm of potential procrastination (yay, law school!), I certainly have found increasing motivation to escape into my happy world of musings and linguistic acrobatics.
So, i'm not going to make too many promises, but my goal is to post something...anything...at least weekly. We'll see how that goes :-)
The truth is that I'm a lazy, terrified writer. While I love having written something, writing sucks. It's painful and exhausting. Given the opportunity, I simply stop writing right after the, "hey, that would make a good essay/story/poem/etc." moment. Unfortunately, in my little heart of hearts, I am a writer. And, despite my fears and utter lack of creative productivity, I find it increasingly difficult to hide from that reality.
Perhaps more detrimental than laziness, I'm also a pansy. While i certainly support the shunning exhibitionism as a general tendency, as a writer, I recognize the value of honest self-disclosure. Philip Lopate voices the paradigm I adopt (albeit, usually only in theory): In focusing on the honesty of personal essayist, I do not mean to imply that they are relentlessly exposing dark secrets about themselves. We learn more about their habits of thought than about the sorts of abuses and crimes that spice our afternoon TV talk shows."
Of course, self-disclosure--true honesty--has always been rather terrifying to me. I don't really like putting my soul, even a small part of it, on display. I suppose that is precisely the reason that I stopped writing creatively around 7th grade. Professional and technical writing allows the same play with words, the engineering of a complex structure, but it allows the author to divorce herself from the impact of honesty.
And so, after nearly a decade of encouraging students to put in the hard work to write and to be painfully honest, I suppose its time to take my own advice and actually start writing. And, in the spirit of authenticity and honesty, I will admit, that having a whole new realm of potential procrastination (yay, law school!), I certainly have found increasing motivation to escape into my happy world of musings and linguistic acrobatics.
So, i'm not going to make too many promises, but my goal is to post something...anything...at least weekly. We'll see how that goes :-)
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