A Nice Momento by Smiley

 A moment from the dean’s luncheon captured by Smiley

Finally! A Graduate!!!

So after 6 years of hard work and little sleep, I graduated from Marquette Law School's part-time program today. #marquettelawyer

The First Day of the Last Semester of Law School

Gawd I look awful.  But I look awful on the  first day of the last semester of law school, the (presumed) end to a long and difficult six year process.  So there's that.

Done

Boom. Twenty pages done and turned in,  two weeks ahead of schedule. #BeholdMyGreatness

An Argument in Class

In my law seminar the professor helpfully compared Republicans to Joe McCarthy and the Salem Witch trial accusers. A bevy of liberal classmates jumped on that train, with one even bragging about her father literally urinating on McCarthy's grave. IDC what politician you are, I can't conceive of pissing on your grave. Disrespectful and boorish. So I opened my mouth, and for the next forty minutes it was heated and uncomfortable. As I got into the elevator afterwards a classmate said "Dude, that was AWESOME!" but it didn't feel "awesome" - it felt like every conservative paranoid fantasy about the liberal academia presented itself at my front door. Ugh, that class SUCKS.

This is Great

Good for the Bucks. OTOH the law school perimeter is littered with bird corpses, and it's new enough and expensive enough that the design should have addressed the issue.

Words of Encouragement

The older Gas Station attendant I see almost everyday applauded me for sticking with law school.  Apparently he was a lawyer in Pakistan, specializing in intentional business, and tried the part-time program I'm in at Marquette, but could not balance the trio of work,  school, and family and dropped out.  He said he's too old to try now,  but he's pulling for me.

Like dude, what?

For giggles, I carefully tallied the number of times my classmates said "like" and "dude" when answering questions in a 3L law seminar.  The record? 11 "likes" and 2 "dudes" in a single 48 second reply.  Oh,  and one shout-out to Beyonce. Remember,  this time next year we're the people that stand between you and the klink. Be afraid. 

Sad Facts

I despise legal research so of course I seem to have a knack for it - at least, it seems that way, as I complete my assignments days early and without the drama indicated in the class emails. Generally, I seem to be stuck being very good only at things I don't enjoy. That seems very not-nice of our Creator.

I Speak Up

It is inherently dangerous for a conservative to speak their mind on campus. That was true back in my first-go-round, and it's doubly true now, even in the entitled air of law school. But today, for the first time ever, I had to speak up. I was in a seminar, 20 people around a single conference table, discussing of all things Ben Franklin's autobiography. To my shock the professor and the class all berated the man. His success? No doubt due to exploitation. His lifelong study of character and its application to the self? A façade to hide his sins from view. His lifelong aversion to alcohol? A lie to cover addictions.  His voracious appetite for consensual sex? Misogynistic, sexist, and, there's that word again, exploitive. He was even blamed for delaying the onset of the American novel.

 Said the professor: "I would say we were all in a agreement, but from some of the facial contortions in the room I'd say there is opposition. Dan?" And boy, out it came. "This is the new Americanism, this cynicism. We aren't allowed to have heroes anymore. We worship failure and disparage success. We bat around labels that I doubt anyone here can actually define and slap them on everyone, even 300 year old dead men. I'm supposed to believe that anyone at this table can sleep with whoever they want, in what quantity and position they want, and it's ok - and I'm not saying it's not - but I'm supposed to judge a man for having sex 250 years ago?  We all absorb and repeat 90% of what society says is ok in 2018 but somehow magically think someone in 1740 should feel the same, or that we'd be any different? It's bunk. It's wrong, and it's unfair to a great man. And for the record, he writes 10x better than Melville."  Yeah, I said it. A few ums, a few stammers, a few commas in the wrong place, but I said it.  Cue silence. Then a guy across the table, who had nodded as I ranted, finally spoke up and agreed with me, and the guy next to him nodded his own affirmation. But let me tell you, the ride on the elevator with some of the other classmates was AWKWARD.

Oh Boy

Normally,  Marquette Law slams you with reading and assignments that are due the very first day of class.  So as I start my final year tomorrow,  I was excited that two classes, per their class page,  had neither assignments nor textbooks to purchase (some classes rely on handouts or the web). And . . . then came the emails today from two profs saying the school was in error.  $400 of textbooks later,  I now have chapters of law text to wade through by tomorrow afternoon. Yay Marquette!

 Grades for fall were finally posted at 5pm today. I am pleased with the results.

I'm Bitter

The spring semester starts today. I'm so sick of law school I could vomit. I wish I had the funds to quit work,  go full time,  and finish this already.  But I don't.  So I will once again go sit among millennials who complain about the rigor of their largely parental-supported existence,  and bide my time.

Whew

That went surprisingly well. I think, worst case scenario, i finished the Internet Law final with no worse than a B. Worst case. #FamousLastWords

Lord knows I don't object to class being dismissed a half hour early. I'm not a fool. But when you get up on two hours of sleep, drive halfway across the city, and struggle for parking, all for a mere 45 minutes of instruction, there is a part of you that screams WTF.

The First Day of Classes

The first day of classes is done.  One of my classes is internet law,  where I spent 75 minutes listening to twenty-somethings bemoan the pre-internet age, as if civilization and relationships began with the web.  My ears nearly bled.

 I'm sitting three blocks from the law school trying to dredge up the gumption to make the walk on an aching hip. I'm not having a good day so far, but there are 16 hours left to change that.

 I attend class with a 20 year old who is a second year law student. If you don't think that is worthy of near Doogie Howser-ish wonder, then you are a lost cause Sir.

 Spring semester of law school has begun.

The Semester is Done

The last final of the semester is now complete. It was brutal, despite the prior assurances from the Professor that it would be mild and comforting. Bah. I fall back on the old reliable: I'm never *the* dumbest person in the room, and The  Curve Shall Set Me Free.