| (no subject) |
[Aug. 1st, 2008|06:38 pm] |
DONE! with these exams, that is. and i'm certain i didn't fail, which is always a plus.
tonight there's a fancy farewell dinner, then some time at the college pub.
right after exams i ran out to the shops for the obligatory souvenir shopping and to be a full-fledged tourist and take pictures of all the extravagant statues, spires and gargoyles. Did the shopping, but instead of clacking away with the camera i just wandered around and admired the surroundings without looking for the picture angle. relaxing, peaceful and for no other purpose. lovely. |
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| surrounded by droids and pod people |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|11:53 am] |
found a couple of great people who are as determined to do legitimate HR work as i am
found one other person who is about as radical as i am
found one other person who is at my school who is decently radical
find the fact that after 2 1/2 weeks of learning someone can say 'governments don't know about human rights problems, unless it's systemic, but we don't have that' indicates a massive failure on the part of the program
i keep struggling with my long-ago-proven-wrong assumption that this place was going to be a haven of HR folks looking for ways to push the envelope. I know it's not, but every time it is proven i am so very angry.
move along now, these folks are the droids you are not looking for |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 13th, 2008|11:07 pm] |
ok - so i need to moderate my last post/rant - i am here today to say that there are lots of great, insightful and interesting folks in the program who really do have a desire to 'do good'. the professors are giants in their fields, incredibly inspiring. and of course it is quite amazing to read the footnotes of an essay and discover your lecturer listed among the quoted sources or the additional reference reading. i have done what i always do, and that is to find some sub-group which is enlightened and contemplative and courageous and challenging the status quo, and I inexplicably expect far more consensus than any group of humans is capable of - I expected mostly agreement on how and where to push the envelope of human rights - a sort of unified strategy of the human rights command. I also always expect that there is a vastly generalized 'enlightened' state - that those challenging societal boxes in one way are doing so in all ways - here that is more present than most places, and there is definitely a determination to expand and protect human rights. but still there are the trappings of the elite life that may not be wealthy, but is still the group sitting at the table in their fancy dress clothes while the other fetches them water and whisks away the soiled dishes. i mean we are at oxford after all.
( Read more... ) |
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| me and the salmon |
[Jul. 10th, 2008|11:45 am] |
day 1 - swimming in my natural environment of human rights created by inspiring insightful lecture
day 2 - drowning in too much reading, that was barely comprehensible because of being all focused on regressive arguments
day 3 - swimming upstream - once again, even here, against the tide of my classmates who cite manifest destiny and individualism and caring for others through voluntary charitable charitable contributions because we should not be forced through taxing to ensure others don't die of starvation or exposure but instead should still have the freedom to drop the quarter in the cup as we throw down $5 for our twice daily latte.
i am inspired by the readings, and finding there the steps, arguments, thoughts, ideas and ideals that could enable us as human rights advocates to move beyond our enculturated myth that somehow we can have a meaningful 'right' to life without a right to the bare minimums necessary to to stay alive - water, food, shelter, clothing.
i am outraged that once again i am surrounded by self-serving, self-interested unreflective wealthy cads who say it's wrong that people are starving in one of the richest countries in the world, but in the next breath say that whatever we do about that it shouldn't be to make a base line right to subsistence level nutrition. clearly that won't ever be workable. never mind the countries where 'bread rights' are and have long been in place. lets go to starbucks.
thanks for reading the rant - and for your comments last post. it means a lot to me to be in contact, even in this limited way
woohoo to peter for your great job news! you'll be excellent. karen and i have an unspecified commitment to get together - i think here in oxford so she can play tourist too. will be back in DC towards the end of august - let's really do make plans to have coffee or such, Alric.
for travel i'm torn between bath (for it's history, as puckmls points out) and white horse/cliffs (which i may be incorrectly conflating - are they both in Dover?) I've been to Avebury circle/Silbury Hill / Kennett longbarrow - amazing and profound, and i'd love to visit again but after i've seen some more.
love to you all |
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| aspiration to obligation |
[Jul. 8th, 2008|11:51 am] |
totally immersed in human rights discussion, learning, reading, analysis - i feel i am suddenly swimming in a world that makes sense, where we talk about things that actually mean something and are worth our time, thought, breath.
i have made a metaphor of my room location - from where i sit working i look at the original city wall of Oxford - from the outside. At first i was petulant at not being one of the few students housed in the older buildings (mine is also ornate and very old by american standards) within the sanctuary/structure/citadel. But later, while observing the archer slits in the ancient stone, without thinking i said i would more likely be one storming these walls than defending them, and realized the truth of that, and its many resonating implications. still i am cognizant that i am very fortunate to be assailing the walls from the vantage point of my comfortable room with it's own position of history and power
so very many thoughts from the lectures already -
how the progression of human rights law (and society, and culture, and even other forms of law particularly our own civil rights / constitutional law) are truly described a slow evolution from aspiration to obligation.
Prof expressed that a lawyer with the knowledge of human rights law has an obligation/duty to use that knowledge to support, expand human rights as a doctor w/ knowledge of the functions of the human body has a duty to use his knowledge to benefit physical health. so now, how do we establish an attorney/legal version of the Hippocratic oath - so that it would be no more acceptable for an attorney to work in support violations of human rights than it is for a doctor to preside over torture sessions.
my new idea/thought/recognition that rights began as what the powerful took for themselves by force, then claimed as a right, then as power structures shifted and the once powerful fell, how they seek to retain for themselves or by their still powerful friends, the 'rights' they enjoyed as the powerful - something similar as to how diplomatic immunity evolved from granted to the representative of a powerful ruler and the expectation of how friends/family of powerful people were to be treated by other powers. even the early laws requiring particular care and courtesy from 'common carriers' (coachmen) and innkeepers reflect the beginning codification of how the wealthy/powerful expected to be treated - which is slowly expanded to the the rest of us.
how namaste (which i seek to follow/be guided by)- the recognition of the deity in all is the spiritual version of ubuntu - used by nelson mandela as the idea that there is an essential element in all that requires we do not harm
i am not without my demons, of course, but working hard at asking for what i need, and being thankful as those entreaties manifest positively
and, in other more social news - i am looking for suggestions as to how to spend my final weekend abroad. so far i have one vote for brighton (beach and music!), one for Bath, one for visiting the white cliffs/horse. Any other (cheap!) suggestions?
thanks for listening |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 24th, 2008|02:44 pm] |
A LAW SCHOOL THEME SONG - COURTESY OF JUDAS
(and it does feel like i must be judas to be singing this!)
Some men are born to live at ease, doing what they please,
Richer than the bees are in honey
Never growing old, never feeling cold
Pulling pots of gold from thin air
The best in every town, best at shaking down
Best at making mountains of money
They can't take it with them, but what do they care?
They get the center of the meat, cushions on the seat
Houses on the street where it's sunny..
Summers at the sea, winters warm and free
All of this and we get the rest...
But who is the land for? The sun and the sand for?
You guessed! It's all for the best... |
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| immorality |
[Jan. 15th, 2008|10:27 am] |
a bright young very innocent looking law student has just finished talking about how she works for a company that was helping the big money folks using and abusing haitians as slaves in sugar plantations in the domenican republic - how she got information from a priest who was trying to help the workers, to give to their enslavers.
how the company does 'personal lobbying' - hired by foreign dignitaries to get them meeting with the power elite of this country - past client - the new director of the IMF
how she does research on Nigeria - going to think tank meetings and saying she's just a student - to give their info to oil and gas companies funding the atrocities
how she's now researching to protect someone who 'was just trying to advance us foreign policy interests in eastern europe' by investing in really shady dealings. DOJ is actually after this client of theirs -
she says "The DOJ guy just wants to get him because he thinks he'll get a promotion. it's so disappointing - even the good guys have their own motives"
my stomach hurts.
GODS - the back of my mind is full of what happened from the delivery of that information - i am so heartsick at this - WHAT IS WRONG WITH US! |
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| passing in the dark of the year |
[Jan. 7th, 2008|02:18 pm] |
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thank you to all who kept my grandfather in your thoughts. He passed peacefully on Thursday the 20th after more than three long years battling asbestos lung cancer. he was a gentle man, whose identity was built upon the craftsmanship ever emerging from his hands. Sometimes too selflessly, he continually created and expended his energies in efforts he intended to benefit his loved ones. Though I have not much felt his presence in conscious time, B tells me that several times since his passing I have been smiling and laughing in my sleep - surely a blessing from him. I will take up his legacy of quiet dedication to the craftsmanship of the work I choose. may he bless your lives as you eased his passing days - namaste |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 9th, 2007|04:28 pm] |
IMPORTANT!
FRCP Section 1391(d) an alien may be sued in any district
!!!
now just get them to sign the waiver of service the next time they're checking the anal probe and you've got'em! |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 23rd, 2007|10:49 am] |
it's mad lib justice time! ok kids, lets use rabid conservative scholars arguments about why we should PUNISH people, to show why we should eradicate societal inequities. the statements are remarkably conducive to this - makes me go back and forth between wry, head-shaking to marking outraged exclamation points in highlighter in the margins.neither are particularly satisfying, or effective, so lets try a mad libs version -
if we as a society label ___________ in a manner that depreciates its significance, we communicate to _________ by implication that we do not understand their suffering.
Have Fun! |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 22nd, 2007|05:21 pm] |
lest we think the U.S. is the only one using the terrorist label to fight their empire battles . . .
Last week in Aotearoa /New Zealand, Maori sovereignty campaigners,
environmental, peace and social justice activists(mostly Anarchists),
were targeted in military-style raids under the post 9/11 Terrorism
Suppression Act, and are being painted in the media as terrorists.
Police raided homes, confiscated possessions and imprisoned at least
seventeen mainly Maori activists in a military-style operation.
( Read more... ) |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 17th, 2007|07:28 pm] |
thanks to all who sent good wishes during my exam. right now i don't have a clear idea of what grade will come back - i think a B is a possibility. my emotions are riding a lunatic pendulum right now - as i careen wildly between thinking i'm some kind a hotshot and thinking i'm struggling to hit the average. i won't have any feedback until maybe a week before thanksgiving. by then i'll either have gone entirely insane about it, or, on the theory of immersion, have exhausted my ability to neurotically obsess over it.
last Thurs i delivered a closing argument in criminal law - now i'm trying to gather the correct mental state to go get feedback from the professor.
this week there are no classes, but i'm working two days at my internship, doing some legal work for a protest fri - sat and writing the first draft of a 12 page memo. not so much a vacation, as lesson in how quickly 5 days can fill up.
anyone inclined to send healing strengthening thoughts to my grandpa Bill Cote would be great - he's at a low point in his long battle with asbestos-caused lung cancer, and fighting an infection. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 16th, 2007|09:08 am] |
in just a few minutes i will be taking my first law school exam.
((positive thoughts and wishes for flashes of inspired wisdom appreciated)) |
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| i love having a circus named after me! |
[Oct. 3rd, 2007|03:42 pm] |
ok - technically it was before, but this is my universe, so . . .
soleil needs (from the google school of divination)
1 - A DRIVER/RUNNER!!!! (and yes it was written just like that -perfect for every law student!
2 - cirquadors with cashier experience (who doesn't?)
3- skateboard artist (once again, who doesn't?)
4 - YOU!
5 - dishwashers (there's only 3 glasses & 2 spoons in my sink - ok so they've been there a month)
6 - to quit clowning around (yeah, ok google, i know i should be reading torts)
7 - to be seen to be believed (i'm not even kidding)
8 - eddy current septum. magnets to. carry. out its booster injection-extraction and its. storage ring injection schemes (so that's what i've been missing!)
9 - 3 elliptical undulators (can i get kicked off LJ for this?)
10 - injection and extraction kicker systems with fast transition times, good flat top and low jitter, to allow a satisfactory ... (i did NOT add that elipse!)
and just because it was next
11 - help
12 - me
13 - a lot of work
14 - a massive job creation program
15 - to be promoted among students and workers
(clearly these last are the deeper/long range section of the divination)
thankyoushakti! |
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| i think i'm gonna sue for defamation |
[Sep. 18th, 2007|06:16 pm] |
i just have to say, i am SO offended. ; >
just now in class, we were talking about torts (wrongs) arising from sexual conduct. Prof said, in this case it doesn't seem to him that it was the act that was offensive to the party complaining, but that she had come to view the other person as offensive because he was having an affair.
prof then said 'there could be lots of ways he could have become sexually offensive to her that don't involve an affair - he could be looking at child pornography - or he could be out dancing naked in the woods with the Druids'
what a comparison - i think i'm going to sue for defamation . . . |
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| time's flying |
[Sep. 17th, 2007|11:30 am] |
wow -can't believe it's been three weeks.
seems i swing from panicked flurry to momentary pause. this is a pause.
over the last two weeks i became the secretary for the human rights law society, restarted the national lawyers guild chapter at the school, organized a legal observer training, spent this saturday observing at a anti-war demo, joined two study groups (for now - maybe i'll only keep one, maybe none) and started an internship with the Advancement project, the DC justice center that does the bulk of the work in the NOLA legal battles.
Harley and B have arrived, and both are working hard at settling in, harley in his new home and B to a new city, a new job (hopefully), and both B and I to finding our balance living in the same city but apart while i fight through the work of law school. i am often a crazy, rabid thing - the lack of sleep and the stresses of social interaction and of having to work so intensely to maintain my perceived position in the accomplishment curve leave me teetering on the precipice of Severe Emotional Displays of Disturbed Behavior. i am more prone to temper tantrums and minor breakdowns than since i was a teenager, and poor B gets the brunt of it, because of course i am on my best behavior with everyone else.
for the most part the work is interesting, and i'm finding some good folks. never quite enough time for all i want to do, though. still haven't made those repairs to my backpack that i planned in July.
the NOLA work is highlighting depositions, and it has further convinced me that mostly people just want to go back to the NOLA that was, not that they really are cognizant that physically getting back to nola is not going to bring them 'home' - but they do express it after gentle conversation.
and in case anyone hasn't heard, the big deal in louisiana is not NOLA at the moment, but Jena (pronounced GEE-nah) where good ol' fashioned racism has been informing a reaction to schoolyard fights based in racism. I heartily recommend reading about (and supporting, if you can) the "Jena 6". and don't believe the johnny-come-latelys Sharpton and Jackson - they just started getting involved. The Nation of Islam and the LA ACLU are the only support these kids have had until very recently. check out http://freethejena6.org/ and get the details of how a 'white' tree hung with nooses and a schoolyard fight with only bumps and bruises equals a DA bringing charges of attempted murder on 16 yo football hero with a spotless past. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 26th, 2007|05:21 pm] |
spending most of the weekend plugging away -trying to get ahead of schedule because wednesdays are just impossible - 5 classes from 10 to 7:30 with homework for three the next day. under all advice, that's three hours of homework for each one hour of class, meaning 9 hours of homework to find time for between Wed night and Thursday morning.
in some amazing news, that i don't expect any prof to believe -
the comments i made in crimlaw on tuesday, that i was so proud of, are pretty much part of some written commentary of the case in a study guide i read late saturday night. so i guess my thoughts won't be believed to be evidence of my natural genius in law, but only as the effects of over-studious achievement. what's a girl got to do to get some applause around here! ; >
best of all, got to hug aiden today - and chat for a minute, which is probably the limit of what will be, given our schedules. so good to see you though - really makes this feel like home |
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| this is the week that never ends |
[Aug. 23rd, 2007|04:48 pm] |
i am exhausted, my sleep is filled with dreams processing so much, and i feel i have been in law school for months. for every new idea in the reading, every class, every chance to answer, my heart beats a little faster, and i am fully alive.
my intention to journal every day was buried under the mounds of reading and writing i do every night to prepare for the everpresent threat of cold calling. This, in case anyone is wondering, is when, in an effort to force every student into the participation fray, professors completely ignore those who want to say something, and instead pick a student at random by closing their eyes, spinning around, and calling on the first person they see upon stopping. or some method quite similar. what it means is you have to be ready to answer any question, any time.
there are so many things i want to write about - how in torts long ago i was outraged to read a justice writing that it would be outrageous if anyone who was hurt by a stagecoach accident might be able to hold the builder responsible. how kant ranted that come the end of society, before we all leave the island we should kill every single person in jail, because they deserve nothing but punishment. how morris claims we live in a world where criminals by their crimes gain an unfair advantage over those abjuring crime, because criminal upset the 'balance' of the 'fairly distributed benefits and burdens' system.
Wednesday in crim law i am flying - the Prof is a philosopher of principles and i am delighting in his soaring. his questions forcing students to look at their stated beliefs close up and from every angle. doesn't hurt that he is brilliant, and kind enough, and quite beautiful - and continually uses the pronoun 'she' as the general standard, as in 'under retributivism a free actor is punished because she deserves to be punished.' After he grilled several people on their beliefs about legal punishment, he called on me, because i, along with a few others, had said the person in question shouldn't be punished. when i used the case to challenge the idea of punishment, that's where he moved the lecture. I was pretty self-satisfied.
this all changed today, when, despite the fact that i didn't volunteer myself, he called on me by first name out of the blue for a similar question. i am quite certain this was on the strength of my comments wednesday. unfortunately for this question, i disapointed. my ideas were not formed, and i flailed around a bit until forced to follow one of his question paths like everyone else, at which time he stepped back behind his podium and said, almost to himself, 'and so you are a retributivist after all,' with almost palpable dismissal. I had been thinking it was only a matter of time before he pinned me on something (people have described Socratic law style classes as competitive intellectual jujitsu where the instructor not only has a black belt, but also calls all the points) but i thought i might have made it a LITTLE more difficult. after class i thanked him for the challenge, and told him i'd do better next time. now i have to push to keep up the pace i myself set.
most important is a moment in torts - after illustrating for several minutes how the law cannot be taught in lecture and fact and rule, because it is constantly shifting, turning and changing, he then said, 'this, of course means that YOU can change the LAW.'
love to all of you, and thanks for the encouragement . . . to everyone but oneberdache. ;> |
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| exhorted to journal |
[Aug. 17th, 2007|06:41 pm] |
today in our final orientation speech event we were all exhorted to journal for 15 minutes a day, to keep in touch with our selves now, in case we felt we felt we ourselves changing in undesired ways. so today i'm going to virtually jump up and down because not only do i have the rockstar of Torts professors (Banzhaf - see previous post) my section (group of 110 students who will all have 3 classes together) somehow also apparently drew the rockstar of Contracts (prof Maggs, who has a facebook fan club and is rumored to have a bobbleheaded doll in his honor/likeness) and the rockstar of Criminal law (Butler - who has three times in the past few years been named the most impactful and inspiring professor in their GW career by the graduating students). i am thrilled beyond belief, and absolutely bubbling over.
that's the good - here's the sad, then next the ugly.
the (somewhat) sad is that i of course am still me - struggling with my social awkwardness, and since much of this week has been about forced socialization, it's been pretty challenging. i've done much better than i might have, (in part thanks to some gentle and practical advice from a friend) but of course, as i said, i am still me. i don't make fast friends with peers, not in the ultra quick pairing and clique-ing some do, but i've got some friendly connections that mean some people chat. what i do seem to have is a knack for really engaging the faculty and staff, so i am trying to focus on that, and remember that those connections and mentor associations will be extremely valuable and fulfilling in my work. i also was able to make some nice conversation with the student reps of different groups tabling at the inappropriately named 'pro bono fair' today (inappropriate because much of the tabling was not for any public interest cause but for regular student groups). i've lots of hopes for working with a few related groups and helping them magnify their effect by threading their work together. i have an in with the new dean of clinical programs through one of my mentors from NOLA/boston U and might be able to work with her to involve 1st years in more than academics.
the ugly is that my fab laptop with its fab and incredibly powerful wireless card just refuses to work with the law school network system. many suggestions and much help is forthcoming from the lovely B and the omnipotent G may yet triumph. otherwise, it's off to buy a downgrade in wireless cards. |
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| i am soooo in the right place! |
[Aug. 16th, 2007|09:10 pm] |
despite the fact that every student rep i have interacted with so far has been totally sorority cheerleader, and i don't have enough appendages to count the official references to partying/drinking/kegs or to wealth/money/power - and since i always have to keep after the universe for yet another 'yes, this is the right thing' -
check out the bio behind the cut - i have this amazing human being as one of my profs this semester!
( Read more... ) |
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soleilfire's journal