Miscellaneous

At Velocity Test Prep, we are acutely aware that the American legal and social systems are not now delivering, nor have they ever delivered, on the promise of equal justice that is meant to undergird the American experience. We believe it’s past time for us to do our small part to help.

I have a pretty good example this week of why you should do what you want to do in college, instead of doing what you think will make you a better candidate for law school. First, because doing what you want to do will make you a better candidate for law school. But we’re not here to talk about that. We’re here to talk about video editing.

Here’s a thing I’ve learned this summer; DHS (the Department of Homeland Security) and USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) rival the IRS in the number, scope, complexity and inanity of their forms. I’ve become very familiar with:

In the dream, our impulse was to welcome rather than to turn away. We wanted to be a shining city on a hill,¹ not too far away, not impossible to reach, with a draw like an electromagnet. We were not pollyanna-ish about it. We knew that we must protect ourselves because there are always threats.

Yesterday we went to tax court!

One more exclamation point: !

OK. Two together now: !!

Nice.

I went to General Sessions Court yesterday, and to Juvenile Court today. I’ve been to both places before: GS Court in my own county for a traffic ticket (I WAS FRAMED I TELL YOU) and Juvenile Court in a nearby county many times as a CASA volunteer (you can really help out some kids, your local court system, and therefore the larger Cause of Justice if you can spare some time to volunteer for CASA.

Well, the first week was interesting, and the second week was a weird series of adventures (well, that’s a generous characterization. I started to catch a cold Friday of Week 1, and by Memorial Day, it had turned into a sinus infection. I went in to work Tuesday and got sent home. I stayed home Wednesday too, and Thursday decided I had to actually go to a doctor (ugh). Loaded up on antibiotics, and Friday I carpooled with the other 1L summer clerk to the firm’s state main office for a day of training.

Well, I wish I had used a more automated system for tracking my time this semester. I mean, like a spreadsheet. Instead I just kept notes like a dummy, which means I just spent several minutes adding up numbers in my head (faster than retyping them into a spreadsheet).

But enough about how big a dummy I am. Cut me some slack, man, is what I’m saying.

We spent 15 weeks in classes this semester at Mavis Staples (plus two weeks of finals, which I’ll deal with separately at the end, and one week of spring break, which I’ve totally ignored for reporting purposes here).

Well, last week was the last week of classes for my 1L year. As I write this, my first final (Contracts II) is tomorrow morning. Then I’ve got two days off, then my second final (Civ Pro II), then two more days off, and final three (Property) followed by two more days off, then the final final (Torts II) of my first year of law school.

This is probably going to be a very short post. I’m in the last week of class (meaning next week finals start! IT FLEW BY), and I’m feeling lazy.

But I was thinking about the way I’ve read for class this semester, and how it’s different from the way I read for class last semester, and especially different from the first half-ish of last semester.