Friday, July 31, 2009
Haiku Friday: Mrs. CL Style
Hi kind fellow Razor enthusiasts! This is Mrs. CL, and apparently, I have been asked to help babysit the blog while the great and powerful Os is off the grid. I am personally a great fan of indoor plumbing and electricity, so I am an “on the grid” kind of person, but to each his own.
It occurs to me that while I am a daily reader, infrequent poster and occasional subject of the Razor, y'all may not know much about me other than I am one half of the CL's. Please feel free to ask. I hope to take care of the lighter side of the blog and leave the heavy lifting to Iplawguy and Mr. CL. Haiku, recipes, and general silliness, I'm your girl.
The photo is a picture of one of my first patients taken at my first real job as an R.N. at Medical City Dallas in October 1994. She was a newborn with whooping cough and went home several weeks later.
So, I shall add blog babysitting to resume. You just never know when that might come in handy. This week's Haiku topic is Ode to Summer Employment, First Jobs or Slurpees. 5/7/5 kids!
Not really a first
But a sweet wee baby in
Costume. First real job.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
EXCLUSIVE: Razor Scoops Politico!
The post below, on the incomprehensible nature of the health care reform process was first posted at 11:47 EDT. Five hours later, Politico ran basically the same story!
IPlawguy
IPlawguy
Political Mayhem Thursday: Does Anyone Really Have the Capacity to Understand HealthCare Reform?
Greetings Fellow Razorites! I must say that I feel kind of like a substitute teacher who has no idea if he can control the Classroom.
Anyhow, the other day, I ran across Richard Cohen's syndicated column in the Washington Post. Now, personally, I think Cohen is a self-aggrandizing gasbag most of the time. But he does write well and when he's not shilling for the Democratic Party or some liberal politician he does offer some interesting insight.
Here he focused on how difficult it is for him to focus on the ins and outs of healthcare reform. He just doesn't have the patience, interest, time or dedication to really KNOW what's happening.
See the actual article here.
The fact is, I feel the same way. I live in the Washington, D.C. area and have since I was a kid. I used to work in politics and understand that THIS IS IMPORTANT. But I just can't get into it.
And I really don't have the time to really understand all the details either. I read the Post and the Wall Street Journal and even the NYT occasionally. I read several magazines and surf the net and I think I am probably better informed than most people.
How much time should the average American spend trying to figure this out? Are we all forming opinions based upon our own personal experiences battling insurance companies, nasty clerks at Medical offices and other bureaucrats?
-- IPLawGuy
Anyhow, the other day, I ran across Richard Cohen's syndicated column in the Washington Post. Now, personally, I think Cohen is a self-aggrandizing gasbag most of the time. But he does write well and when he's not shilling for the Democratic Party or some liberal politician he does offer some interesting insight.
Here he focused on how difficult it is for him to focus on the ins and outs of healthcare reform. He just doesn't have the patience, interest, time or dedication to really KNOW what's happening.
See the actual article here.
The fact is, I feel the same way. I live in the Washington, D.C. area and have since I was a kid. I used to work in politics and understand that THIS IS IMPORTANT. But I just can't get into it.
And I really don't have the time to really understand all the details either. I read the Post and the Wall Street Journal and even the NYT occasionally. I read several magazines and surf the net and I think I am probably better informed than most people.
How much time should the average American spend trying to figure this out? Are we all forming opinions based upon our own personal experiences battling insurance companies, nasty clerks at Medical offices and other bureaucrats?
-- IPLawGuy
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Au Revoir, Razorites!
Tomorrow, I will begin my annual pilgrimage away from the Razor and towards the remote wilderness in and around Osler Island. On the way, I am sure I will continue the tradition of making an idiot of myself.
Traditionally, during this period I have either leased the blog to the French or simply let it lay fallow for a few weeks. This year, I have a new plan: I have turned the blog over to IPLawGuy, CL Luvr and Mrs. CL Luvr. The new regime begins with tomorrow's Political Mayhem Thursday, which will be in the capable (and Republican) hands of IPLawGuy. After that, who knows, but I'm hoping for the best and thankful for the talents of my friends!
Dziennik!
This morning, I did an interview about the death penalty with the Polish newspaper Dziennik. From the context of the questions, I got the idea that many Europeans think we are, um, crazy.
Worst Camps, 2009
This summer I have noticed signs for a proliferation of summer camps for kids. Some sound great-- this Camp Half-Blood, for example. Others, not so much. Here are the three least fun camps I have seen signs for:
3) TAKS Camp (Waco)
What could be worse than failing the standardized TAKS test for Texas students? Spending your summer studying for the next test. Ugh. I would imagine that the teacher gets hazardous duty pay.
2) Beauty Camp (Waco)
I saw the sign for this just outside a run-down beauty salon. I'm not sure I want to be near a 12-year-old girl who spent the day at beauty camp. Further detracting from that camp's appeal was the corpulent lady wearing sweat pants and smoking just outside the door; which somehow undercut the theme of "beauty."
1) Camp O' Fun (Grosse Pointe)
The really scary thing about the Camp O' Fun is that it meets Monday through Friday all summer from 7:30 am to 6:15 pm. Nothing can be fun for eleven hours a day. Yikes. Also, it is pretty much a given that something called the "Camp O' Fun" will be no fun at all. I suspect it really is just day care provided by bored and/or deranged high school students, but "Camp O' Fun" just builds up unfair expectations of either a trip to Ireland or a jolly headmaster named Mr. O'Fun.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Poetry at its best
The Times Today
As some of you may remember, part of my work this summer has involved a bill in Congress which would eliminate the sentence of Life Without Parole for juveniles. To my surprise and delight, the lead editorial in the New York Times this morning took up our cause. Yay!
The Bikini Trucks
This week, I am up in the teeny town where I spent most of my childhood-- Grosse Pointe Shores. It's a suburb of Detroit, really just a sliver of land along Lake St. Clair. Like every other municipality in Michigan, though, it is apparently suffering from a budget crunch. People are near panic, and there is even a recall petition for some Village Council members.
Among all the budget-cutting talk, though, no one seems to have mentioned the amazingly inefficient trash-collection system used here. In short, here is how it works: The trash truck is accompanied by two or three little "Bikini Trucks" (pictured here) which zip up your driveway and get the trash out of your garage for you, then deliver it back to the mother-ship trash truck out in the street. I suppose the idea is that it saves everyone the trouble of walking the trash out to the curb (and there are some very long driveways in town).
Still, really? Little trucks that come up to your house for the trash? I grew up here and never gave it a second thought, but at the moment it seems kind of silly.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Bellatrix and cell phones
Two random thoughts from the weekend:
1) Why is it I am kind of attracted to Bellatrix Lestrange? She destroys schools, cackles wildly, tries to kill children, and pretty much is a total witch, but somehow seems oddly appealing.
2) I'm confused by cell phone laws. No one has ever died because someone used a cell phone on a plane or a gas station, but hundreds of fatal car accidents are caused each year because people are talking on their cell phones. Yet, it is illegal to use a cell phone on the plane or a gas station, but totally legal in every state (though some require a headset) to talk on the phone. Frankly, in Waco, it seems to be mandatory for women over 35 to use a phone while driving. There is a strange policy motive there somewhere...
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Execution, Bravery, and Sad Acquiesence
Even though I should have known this happens, I was still shocked by the execution of a woman in North Korea for distributing the Bible:
Ri Hyon Ok, 33, was also accused of spying for South Korea and the United States and organizing dissidents. She was executed in the northwestern city of Ryongchon near the border with China on June 16, according to a report from an alliance of several dozen anti-North Korea groups.
Ri's parents, husband and three children were sent to a political prison camp in the northeastern city of Hoeryong the following day, the report said, citing unidentified documents it says were obtained from North Korea.
Obviously, I think this is shocking and wrong. Like many of the stories uncovered by groups such as the International Justice Mission, it reveals an aspect of the human experience that I wish was not a part of our world.
But what of us who live in places where Christianity is the dominant faith? Sometimes I hear Christians say that they feel oppressed in the U.S., but the fact is that this is probably one of the safest places in the world for that particular faith. Rather, it seems to me that rather than oppression, in the U.S. we have a dominant Christian culture that encourages adherents to not live their faith where it conflicts with dominant culture.
For example, sticking to the core teachings of Christ himself, consider his repeated teachings that we keep the Sabbath. If anything is clear in the gospel, it is this. Yet, do we take note of this? Does it matter? We live in a society where Sunday is a shopping day and/or a working day for most Christians. Many Christians make no accommodation at all for the Sabbath beyond going to church. While Christ may have authorized healing the sick on the Sabbath, there is no question that he meant the day of rest to mean something, but too often we (myself included) let his words slide by.
Imagine, then, that suddenly the law required people to work on Sunday-- weekends would switch to Friday and Saturday, and the work week would begin on Sunday. We would have a fit, of course. That kind of legal oppression of the dominant faith would be a crisis. That is not the nature of our oppression of Christianity, which is deeper and sadder, perhaps. Instead of the government decreeing that Christ's injunction be violated, we... just do it ourselves, each of us, by letting the river of commerce wash us down with everyone else. It is the oppression of not caring, of prioritizing what we want to do over what we should do, of not making Christ real in our lives.
In North Korea, the symbol of oppression is an execution. Perhaps in America, it is the Christians flowing into Best Buy on Sunday afternoon, because the flyer in the paper said that flat-panel televisions would be a little cheaper today.
Ri Hyon Ok, 33, was also accused of spying for South Korea and the United States and organizing dissidents. She was executed in the northwestern city of Ryongchon near the border with China on June 16, according to a report from an alliance of several dozen anti-North Korea groups.
Ri's parents, husband and three children were sent to a political prison camp in the northeastern city of Hoeryong the following day, the report said, citing unidentified documents it says were obtained from North Korea.
Obviously, I think this is shocking and wrong. Like many of the stories uncovered by groups such as the International Justice Mission, it reveals an aspect of the human experience that I wish was not a part of our world.
But what of us who live in places where Christianity is the dominant faith? Sometimes I hear Christians say that they feel oppressed in the U.S., but the fact is that this is probably one of the safest places in the world for that particular faith. Rather, it seems to me that rather than oppression, in the U.S. we have a dominant Christian culture that encourages adherents to not live their faith where it conflicts with dominant culture.
For example, sticking to the core teachings of Christ himself, consider his repeated teachings that we keep the Sabbath. If anything is clear in the gospel, it is this. Yet, do we take note of this? Does it matter? We live in a society where Sunday is a shopping day and/or a working day for most Christians. Many Christians make no accommodation at all for the Sabbath beyond going to church. While Christ may have authorized healing the sick on the Sabbath, there is no question that he meant the day of rest to mean something, but too often we (myself included) let his words slide by.
Imagine, then, that suddenly the law required people to work on Sunday-- weekends would switch to Friday and Saturday, and the work week would begin on Sunday. We would have a fit, of course. That kind of legal oppression of the dominant faith would be a crisis. That is not the nature of our oppression of Christianity, which is deeper and sadder, perhaps. Instead of the government decreeing that Christ's injunction be violated, we... just do it ourselves, each of us, by letting the river of commerce wash us down with everyone else. It is the oppression of not caring, of prioritizing what we want to do over what we should do, of not making Christ real in our lives.
In North Korea, the symbol of oppression is an execution. Perhaps in America, it is the Christians flowing into Best Buy on Sunday afternoon, because the flyer in the paper said that flat-panel televisions would be a little cheaper today.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
A new sport for Baylor!
At the end of this year's regents' retreat this week, Baylor announced that it will have a new varsity sport-- competitive varsity cheerleading.
It turns out that only two other big schools have competitive cheerleading as a varsity sport. I'm not sure how that will work in terms of competition, given that neither of the other two schools are in our conference, the Big 12.
If nothing else, cheerleading is both dangerous and athletic. Like other sports (figure skating, moguls skiing) that feature subjective judging, I never really trust the results, but there is no doubt that the gymnastic aspect of it is physically challenging.
Meanwhile, the NCAA is introducing women's beach volleyball as a varsity sport. Here are some other NCAA sports, with the number of schools participating in Division I:
Women's Bowling: 33 Div. I schools
Women's ice hockey: 35 Div. I schools
Women's rowing: over 50
It turns out that only two other big schools have competitive cheerleading as a varsity sport. I'm not sure how that will work in terms of competition, given that neither of the other two schools are in our conference, the Big 12.
If nothing else, cheerleading is both dangerous and athletic. Like other sports (figure skating, moguls skiing) that feature subjective judging, I never really trust the results, but there is no doubt that the gymnastic aspect of it is physically challenging.
Meanwhile, the NCAA is introducing women's beach volleyball as a varsity sport. Here are some other NCAA sports, with the number of schools participating in Division I:
Women's Bowling: 33 Div. I schools
Women's ice hockey: 35 Div. I schools
Women's rowing: over 50
Crackin' Good!
It is looking more and more like cocaine sentencing will be totally reformed at some point this year... the culmination of a lot of work by a lot of people. Details here.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Deep Blue Haiku Friday
For some reason, the cycle of my years has very often been that summer is a sad season of loss, and fall is the season of rebirth. It is that kind of summer, too; the heat has taken the life out of too many things.
The brown yard next door
Calls out to me for water
Brown color of death.
Now it is your turn. Have fun!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
_B_ has a blog!
Check it out here.
It's called "I don't like jellyfish," which is kind of funny since I was just talking to someone who is fascinated by jellyfish...
It's called "I don't like jellyfish," which is kind of funny since I was just talking to someone who is fascinated by jellyfish...
Political Mayhem Thursday: Stimulus, debt, and politics
From the time last year that George Bush started throwing money at things through the contemporary "stimulus" binges, I have been heartsick that our politicians, of both parties, seem so convinced that spending a lot of money is the solution to nearly everything. The Soviets are powerful? Outspend them! The economy is dipping? Spend more! Times are good? Keep it going with more government spending!
As I have said before here, I do not understand part-time capitalists-- the people who believe in private profits and socialized losses. If you truly believe in capitalism, then you have to let the bad companies die, whether it is AIG or Chrysler. Similarly, government spending in the willy-nilly fashion we are seeing is not the answer to anything, and it turns out we are not even very good at throwing money around willy-nilly, as only about 5% of the stimulus money has even been spent.
There is a fundamental way that I am a conservative-- I believe in conserving our nation's tax money for the most important governmental functions. Sadly, neither the Republicans or the Democrats share this view, if we are to look at their behavior in office. Eventually, the debt we are amassing will cause us incredible trouble, in the form of inflation, destabilization, or war. Perhaps worse, it reflects a collective moral failing few of us want to see: Our nation suffers from a lack of self-control and we have become the Veruca Salt of nations.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Ni Hao!
Uh-oh! A few days ago, IPLawGuy tipped me off that the Razor's #1 source for news, The Onion, has been purchased by the Chinese. It turns out that this is not only true, but that the purchaser is Gordon Davenport's Yu Wan Mei Corporation. Having been through a similar trauma myself (the failed purchase of the Razor by The French, leading to a poor impersonation of me and incomprehensible posts), I certainly hope for better luck with this venture. Of course, by working together in a spirit of unity, much can be accomplished:
Police Still Searching For Missing Productive, Obedient Woman
Police Still Searching For Missing Productive, Obedient Woman
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Yum! Eel Milk!
I have found much to like in the latest catalogue from the Yu Wan Mei corporation, though I am sad that they had no sentencing-related products. It is my understanding that Gordon Davenport is one of the individuals who have brought Yu Wan Mei to America.
Good, Good, Bad.
I love the idea of putting a bounty on information about real drug kingpins, which is what the federal government is now doing. As many of you know, I think we waste far too much money on lower-level drug defendants and don't do enough to go after the true key men in the operation. Good!
At the same time, as Doug Berman reports, major crime is down. This is great news, and unexpected-- usually we associate a down economy with an increase in crime. Berman speculates that the decrease may be related to more guns or more hope, though I doubt the answer is so simple. Good!
Meanwhile, racial profiling seems to be alive and well as prominent Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested after pushing open the door to his own house. Bad!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Mad Props to...
Fellow blogger and 13-year-old Micah, for his trenchant and intriguing musings on the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, which includes this observation:
Right now, the tiny, cheap-o red Samsung phone sitting in my pocket probably has more computing power than the computers that sent a man to the moon. I live in a generation that, no matter how much I try to deny it, is shaped by YouTube and MySpace as much as it is shaped by exploration and adventure. If most of the kids in my class were to have a choice between watching the final space shuttle launch and a video of a puppy falling off of a skateboard on Facebook, they would, without fail, pick the latter.
His review of the new movie "Harry Popper and the Half-Prince" was also much better than one would expect from someone who still is two years away from matriculating at Northfield High School.
Huzzahs!
Post Office Box
This video proves the old adage that Americans love it when pundits talk about a "post office box":
New Live Poll Allows Pundits To Pander To Viewers In Real Time
New Live Poll Allows Pundits To Pander To Viewers In Real Time
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Sunday Reflection: On Receiving Gifts
The picture above depicts my sister, Kathy, receiving a chocolate chip cookie from my brother, Bill. We were re-creating a classic Osler home movie, "The Hand," in which my sister, then 3, sits on the beach. Periodically, a hand enters the frame from the left and hands her a chocolate chip cookie. The film then shows her eating the cookie until "the hand" enters the scene with another cookie. How long was this movie? Oh, about eight cookies.
Real gifts are like that. They enter our lives from a caring hand, and are given freely. Some people, though, really struggle with receiving gifts. They fuss about how much it costs, or how much trouble it was, all of which obscures any actual gratitude.
Giving freely of what we have (to those close to us and to those who are not) is part of the Christian imperative. Repeatedly, Christ stressed this ethic of charity. But what about those who receive? What is their moral duty?
One duty is gratitude. Another may be an honest recognition that what is received was given, not earned. That is not a denigration of the gift, simply a fact.
What is the right way to receive a gift?
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Sotomayor and Sonorous Tones
Earlier this week, I did a radio interview on the confirmation hearings, which you can listen to here. Derek Smith of NPR in Waco was the reporter, and I have to say... does this guy have a great voice for radio, or what? He's knowledgeable and asks good questions as well, but those things in combination with a great voice is rare. In contrast, I sound like reindeer with a head cold, as usual.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Haiku Mayhem Friday
It's time to live life fully. It's summer. Take off the tie. Jump in the pool. Drink something cold. And let's haiku without restrictions. I don't care how many lines you have! It doesn't matter how many syllables! Pick your own topic! It can be about summer, trees, Mr. Magoo, whatever!
Here is mine:
Dream of Robert Frost:
Laughs with me,
Sailing.
Now it is your turn...
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Political Mayhem Thursday: What other SNL people should be in the US Senate?
Today's hearings on Sonia Sotomayer's appointment to the Supreme Court featured Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) in his first real appearance as a U.S. Senator.
If I were a resident of Minnesota (which, given our weather this week, I wouldn't mind), I would have voted for Franken over Norm Coleman. That said, I kind of can't believe he is actually a senator. That is partly because I can't see him without thinking of Stuart Smalley and then Milano cookies, but also because of the year 2000 incident in which he and I comprised a pretty poor defensive backfield. I seem to remember being beaten out for a pass by a 7th-grader.
Which brings up two related questions:
1) What other SNL actors should be in the Senate?
2) What characters from SNL skits (ie, the Church Lady, Gumby) should be in Congress? What district or state would they represent? And what question would they ask Judge Sotomayer?
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Who else needs an intern?
It occurs to me that others besides Mrs. CL may need an intern. If you are one of those people who think you might make good use of a non-paid employee, please describe what you might need in an intern in the comment section below.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Mrs. CL needs an intern!
Lately, Mrs. Celebrity Luvr has been agitating on the Razor for an intern of her own (apparently, Mr. CL has several at any given time). That's Mrs. CL pictured above, with two unidentified individuals. From what I gather, the intern's responsibilities will include some or all of the following:
1) Laundry
2) Accompanying Mrs. CL to the Ridgewood pool, and making sure that she is well provided for in all aspects of her pool experience
3) Shooing the paparazzi
4) Ensuring that celebrity news freely flows to and from the CL household.
Mrs. CL, is there anything I missed?
Monday, July 13, 2009
Greatest Hits!
Over the past three years of blogging daily, I look back and two posts have received far more hits than any of the others. Sadly, those two have nothing to do with Baylor, sentencing, pandas, or haiku. What they are tells us a lot about the internet and how it works.
By far, the post which received the most hits was positively inane: It was this piece in which I ranked breakfast cereals. You may wonder why this rose to the top, and the answer is simple: It was linked on a far more popular site than this one, Brian Leiter's Law School Reports blog. Intriguingly, though, many of the people who first migrated over to check out the cereal listing now return regularly.
Number two was this rant about General Motors. The traffic was driven by the post's appearance on Yahoo's front financial page, for reasons I don't know. Interestingly, after that I had (and still have) many visitors and commenters from GM.com addresses. If you pull up the GM posts, you will see that the GM apologists argued that things were great right up to bankruptcy. In fact, one of the great ironies was that the execs who dragged the company into the dirt argued in the end that if GM went into bankruptcy, the company would be liquidated and the process would take years. Oops. The company is now out of bankruptcy, after 42 days, and many of those executives are now gone. Hopefully, they will spend more time on designing and building cars and less time monitoring what bloggers are saying.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Sunday Reflection: Sentencing and faith
A lot of my work has been at the intersection of faith and sentencing, which may seem to be a strange place-- many people feel that they should not intersect at all. Law in America is wholly secular, certainly, and I both understand and agree with that. I also know that the American government is not founded on the Ten Commandments or any other religious document (I wrote about that here). However, we can't ignore that individuals, as voters and a legislators, make decisions that are grounded in their faith.
Should it matter at that level? It seems that to insist on secular motives even when we act as voters is to require that we compartmentalize our faith from our actions in an unacceptable way. Is it really faith if it does not affect the most important decisions we make? If our faith teaches compassion, should we set that aside and not consider compassion of the candidates when we vote?
What about legislators? And, most difficult of all, what about judges? How much should their own faith affect the choices they make? If we insist that they set aside their faith entirely when they act as judges, won't that mean we will end up only with judges for whom faith is secondary in their lives?
Should it matter at that level? It seems that to insist on secular motives even when we act as voters is to require that we compartmentalize our faith from our actions in an unacceptable way. Is it really faith if it does not affect the most important decisions we make? If our faith teaches compassion, should we set that aside and not consider compassion of the candidates when we vote?
What about legislators? And, most difficult of all, what about judges? How much should their own faith affect the choices they make? If we insist that they set aside their faith entirely when they act as judges, won't that mean we will end up only with judges for whom faith is secondary in their lives?
Saturday, July 11, 2009
I'm just sayin'....
If William and Mary really needs a mascot, and we can't have Col. Ebirt, how about this guy? I like his attitude...
Friday, July 10, 2009
Haiku Friday: Summer reading
Why read Proust or something by the Brontes at the beach when there are books like "Bratfest at Tiffany's" being produced? Summer reading is just different... it's like the warm weather gives us permission to read total trash, whether it is silly novels or magazines from the checkout counter.
Personally, I have read some books in the summer I am too embarrassed to mention. I've never sunk so low as to buy one of those book covers to keep it secret, but... I have been tempted. Last summer, I even read an "Archie" comic book, which was shockingly relevant to our modern society.
So, let's haiku about summer reading. Here is mine:
"Bratfest at Tiffany's"--
The meaning is different
Up in Wisconsin.
Now, please, you take a turn...
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Political Mayhem Thursday: What to do about North Korea?
Apparently, North Korea has now engaged in cyber-attacks against the U.S. Given their known links to the panda community, this means that even the Razor may be under threat.
Seriously, though, what (if anything) should the Obama administration do about North Korea? I think a good argument can be made to ignore them publicly while having our intelligence network track what they are doing internationally (to prevent them from selling nuclear arms or technology to terrorists).
Seriously, though, what (if anything) should the Obama administration do about North Korea? I think a good argument can be made to ignore them publicly while having our intelligence network track what they are doing internationally (to prevent them from selling nuclear arms or technology to terrorists).
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Ebirt lives!
I was tipped off by GED3 that my undergrad alma mater, William and Mary, has been searching for a a new mascot. About four years ago, the NCAA denied the school's appeal to keep using their "Angry IPLawGuy" mascot. After that, the school unofficially adopted a green fuzzy thing-- kind of like a friendlier, less competent Oscar the Grouch-- called Ebirt (which is "Tribe" spelled backward). He appears in the video below at about 1:17, failing to read a book just like a real W & M student. I love Ebirt.
However, it looks like they may go with either a tree, an asparagus, or a bird. William and Mary doesn't exactly have a distinguished sports history, so any of those might fit. Legend has it that Lou Holtz left W & M after three years, saying there were "too many Marys and not enough Williams."
However, it looks like they may go with either a tree, an asparagus, or a bird. William and Mary doesn't exactly have a distinguished sports history, so any of those might fit. Legend has it that Lou Holtz left W & M after three years, saying there were "too many Marys and not enough Williams."
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Theory of beauty
What is beautiful? How do we know it? I woke up thinking about that, and I don't have a good comprehensive answer.
Perhaps I need more artist in me...
Perhaps I need more artist in me...
Monday, July 06, 2009
Unified Theory of Work
There are a lot of things I have explained on this blog, but I'm not sure I have ever gotten around to explaining some of the most important things.
I have written here about my work, but not why I choose to do that work. There is, in fact, something that ties it all together. Many of you know that I love the message in Micah 6:8-- "What does the Lord your God require of you, but to love justice and to show mercy and to walk humbly with your God." That passage informs my work in two ways-- first in how to approach it, and second in what it should be.
First, I try to keep humility as a central value in my teaching and writing. In the classroom, I never want to humiliate a student as a teaching tool. At times, especially in practice court, I lost track of this, and I deeply regret it. I may know more about the subject than my students, but they are more important than I am-- their education is about them, not me. In my scholarship, I also try to avoid intellectual arrogance and present my ideas as one among many principled arguments.
Second, much of what I teach and write about has to do with the tension between justice and mercy, if justice is treating like people alike, and mercy is giving some a break or chance for redemption. It is very hard to reconcile those two goals within a sentencing system. What my work seeks is that at least there be elements of both-- that there be both justice and mercy. The areas I have attacked (crack sentencing, juvenile life without parole, the death penalty) are those where I feel there has been no room left for mercy. At the same time, I am not comfortable with those areas where mercy completely overwhelms justice, such as the (very rare) reversal of the conviction of a clearly guilty person because of the Miranda rule.
I am imperfect in how I pursue these two sides of Micah 6:8, but it does provide a unity between my faith and my vocation that lets me continue this work even when others disapprove.
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Sunday Reflection: God's Earth
Is conservation a Christian ethic?
I often hear Christians urge us to use less and live more cleanly as custodians of God's Earth, and I agree with their message. Jesus and the apostles certainly lived simply, even by the standards of their own day, and when Jesus sends out the 70 he commanded them to take nothing with them-- the simplest living possible. Some might say this is more a critique of materialism than anything environmental, but what's the difference? It seems like the major way out of our environmental problems is going to involve a decrease in materialism-- fewer cars, less packaging, less stuff. In other words, in the long term it probably won't be gadgets like the Prius that save us, but some fundamental change in our lives and values towards an ethic of simplicity. (I acknowledge that I am a LONG way from that shift in my own life, and know that it is an area I need to work on).
That change towards simplicity, whether it is chosen or forced upon us through environmental decay, may well provide spiritual benefits that could transform us into more whole and Christ-like creatures.
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Palin resigns!
Why? Justin, help us understand!
Query: The French
I have received an offer from The French to lease the Razor next month. Would that be ok with everyone? I just wanted to check.
Friday, July 03, 2009
Haiku Friday: Summer Houses
"Er...er...er...er...er...
Slam!" One sound marks that summer,
The screen door, closing.
Now, it is your turn.
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Political Mayhem Thursday: Which matters more- celebrities or politics?
To judge by the attention paid to each, it would seem that politics and the lives of celebrities are about equally important. Do either really matter? Should they?
And perhaps more importantly, are they pretty much the same- public obsessions with personalities?
And perhaps more importantly, are they pretty much the same- public obsessions with personalities?
The Top Five Tests (in terms of importance to lawyers)
in terms of importance of result:
1) Bar exam
2) LSAT
3) Torts
4) Property
5) SAT
the bottom five:
122) Any facebook quiz
123) Organic chem
124) Math
1) Bar exam
2) LSAT
3) Torts
4) Property
5) SAT
the bottom five:
122) Any facebook quiz
123) Organic chem
124) Math
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
The Mysterious Places
There are some places I feel I know, or at least feel comfortable in. New York, Waco, LA, Chicago, even Vermont-- these are places that seem knowable to me, even if I don't know them in whole. There are other places, though, which seem deeply mysterious to me, and I find them intriguing and compelling.
Even after four years of college there, Virginia remained an enigma. I did not understand even the manners there, what people meant when they were describing it, or the meaning of even some simple traditions. It seemed like a place buried deep in code, of which I knew only a few lines. It wasn't that people were rude or rejected me-- far from it-- it was that I felt nearly as much a tourist after four years as I did when I arrived.
Boston is that way, too, and Memphis. I will stop in Memphis, lost, and ask for directions. I am met with kindness and wit, yet I get a sense that there is deep mystery there, layers I do not understand, and that makes me want to get in deeper. I love songs about Memphis, but I can't say I understand them, even this:
Did I forget to mention, to mention Memphis
Home of Elvis and the ancient greeks?
Do I smell? I smell home cooking
It's only the river, it's only the river.
