The start of a new school year always makes me think of Tom Hanks'
quote from
You've Got Mail about wanting to give Meg Ryan a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils. Last week was my first week of school, so I thought I'd tell you a little bit about my classes...
Public Interest Advocacy is a seminar about the public interest law movement. As a future public interest attorney (I hope), I'm excited to learn more about the history of the movement, and to discuss possible answers to tough questions, including what is in the public interest, and who gets to decide. My professor is arguing before the Supreme Court this semester, and invited us all to come watch!
I am both intimidated and invigorated by my
Law of War seminar. My professor used to run West Point's law of war program, and almost everyone in my class is active military (with an especially high number of Navy JAG officers). Meanwhile, I am taking the class because of my interest in how the law of armed conflict (a.k.a., international humanitarian law) interacts with international human rights. I think this class will challenge me to articulate my viewpoints, and will broaden my perspective on some arduous issues facing us in the context of 21st century terrorism.
My
International Law of Labor and Employment class is more along the lines of international law classes that I have taken in the past. Actually, it feels a bit like a throwback to my International Political Economy courses at Cal. However, I am new to labor law issues, and thus am looking forward to learning more about the ILO, sweatshops, migrant workers, child labor, and the plethora of multilateral treaties attempting to address these human rights concerns.
As I
mentioned back in April, I was accepted into the Human Rights Institute/Georgetown Human Rights Action 2010-2011 fact-finding mission on the safe repatriation of persons with mental disabilities. This includes a year-long
Human Rights Fact-Finding Seminar with two professors and a fellow for only nine of us students. It is going to be a lot of work, but well worth the effort. We'll be researching all fall, traveling somewhere (TBA, possibly Mexico or Guatemala?) for a week in January to do on-the-ground interviews with persons who have experiences these issues, and then writing our report in the spring, followed by advocacy efforts related to our findings. It's basically like running our own project within an NGO for a year, but getting course credit. I'm very excited!
I am also getting credit this semester for an awesome
externship, but my employers have asked us to refrain from publicizing our positions online. I will say that I am getting excellent experience in immigration law, and am thrilled to finally have broken into this field, as I am so interested in refugee and asylum issues. If you're curious, I'd be happy to discuss offline.
Lastly, I am taking a one-unit seminar on
The Practicing Lawyer and the Poor, which looks at the Catholic social teaching on the
preferential option for the poor. We'll be discussing the moral obligations of lawyers in the context of domestic and global poverty, which are issues very close to my heart. We only meet four times during the semester--including once at our professor's house!--so I cannot yet comment on the class itself. However, in preparation for our first class, I am currently reading Tracy Kidder's book
Mountains Beyond Mountains, which details the incredible biography of
Dr. Paul Farmer, a doctor-anthropologist who founded a health center and hospital in the small derelict village of Cange, Haiti. I'm only ten chapters in, but am already captivated by the questions that Dr. Farmer's actions raise for me--especially whether it is possible to give enough, or indeed, too much of oneself.
So, that does it for classes. My other major responsibilities for the year are Managing Editor for the
Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy, and Co-Chair of the Catholic Student Association. We had a wonderful time orienting our new staff editors for the
Poverty Law Journal last week, including a rousing game of Bluebook Bingo! (To my law school/lawyer readers: who else is excited about the Rule 18 revisions in the new 19th edition of the Bluebook, by the way?!) The CSA is off to a good start as well; we had a well-attended pancake brunch after last Sunday's Mass of the Holy Spirit.
I also had time for fun non-academic things last week, but ironically my academics prevent me from delving into them at this juncture. To be continued, with exciting tales of two birthdays, one symphony, and zero boredom!
In response to Burn a Qur'an Day, two of my friends from high school, Nathan and Isaiah Sage, put together International Read a Book Day. It's a great idea: instead of burning books, let's read them! Check out their video: