October

I completely neglected to post last month, which is a testament to the busyness of this semester.  Here are some highlights.

I saw the National Symphony Orchestra perform Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, which was incredible.

I went to Paradise Springs Winery in Clifton, VA, with Brad and Marie, and enjoyed a gorgeous, lazy afternoon in which we were only slightly harassed by bees.

I was an usher at the Red Mass.  I escorted important people (e.g., diplomats from other countries) to their seats, and even got to shake hands with Justice Scalia!

I met some awesome Dominican brothers at an event the CSA held for the Feast of the Holy Rosary.

For Columbus Day weekend, I went to Boston for the first time, and saw Matthew and Tiffany!  Highlights included Harvard Square, the JFK Presidential Library, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Boston Public Library, the Boston Symphony Orchestra (performing Mahler's Symphony No. 2, Resurrection), MIT, the Freedom Trail, Old Ironsides (a.k.a., the U.S.S. Constitution), the Museum of Science, and apple picking with Theresa. See all of my photos, with lovely captions, here.

I went for a hike with Jess and Gabe at Great Falls Park.  Photos here.

I had a job interview through DOJ Honors to be a judicial law clerk with the San Francisco Immigration Court.  Keep your fingers crossed!

My Fact-Finding Mission officially decided that we'll be going to Jamaica in January to do research related to the repatriation of persons with mental disabilities.

Jess and I saw All's Well that Ends Well at the Shakespeare Theatre Company (and thus, I get to check that off of my D.C. to-do list, yay).

I began to study for the MPRE, the lawyer's ethics exam, which I will be taking on Saturday.

I rallied to restore Sanity!

I went as Brian Wilson for Halloween, and the Giants WON THE WORLD SERIES! Coincidence? I think not.

That's all for now, folks.  November shows no signs of slowing down.  Four weeks until finals?  Madness!

Thinking About What I Saw

Today, I decided to spend some time at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). The permanent exhibition is divided up into three floors: the Holocaust (1933-1939),  the "Final Solution" (1940-1945) and the Last Chapter. The Nazi propaganda about the so-called "science" of race was disturbing, as was the scale model of the gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The exhibition allows you to walk through a musty rail car, inviting you to imagine what it would be like to be crammed in and shipped off to a ghetto, concentration camp, or killing center. The USHMM has a much different feel from other museums in DC; while crowded, it was very quiet, and there were very few children. There seemed to be a collective understanding amongst the museum-goers that we had come to be ongoing witnesses to the atrocities that had occurred, and I was impressed by the respect and introspection that ensued.

Beyond educating the public about the horrific events of the Holocaust, what impresses me the most about the museum is how it connects those events to the contemporary considerations of international human rights, including genocide, crimes against humanity, and protection for refugees. In particular, I think it is important to explore the Holocaust in terms of the world's failure to provide asylum to the Jewish refugees attempting to escape from Germany. The United States' immigration policy, for example, was exceedingly slow to change to accommodate the significant number of refugees, leading to tragedy, as with the voyage of the St. Louis. As the USHMM Holocaust Encyclopedia explains:

In a highly publicized event in May-June 1939, the United States refused to admit over 900 Jewish refugees who had sailed from Hamburg, Germany, on the St. Louis. The St. Louis appeared off the coast of Florida shortly after Cuban authorities cancelled the refugees' transit visas and denied entry to most of the passengers, who were still waiting to receive visas to enter the United States. Denied permission to land in the United States, the ship was forced to return to Europe. The governments of Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium each agreed to accept some of the passengers as refugees. Of the 908 St. Louis passengers who returned to Europe, 254 (nearly 28 percent) are known to have died in the Holocaust. 288 passengers found refuge in Britain. Of the 620 who returned to the continent, 366 (just over 59 percent) are known to have survived the war.

I cannot imagine a world without the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, which prohibits the refoulement (return) of refugees to places where their life or freedom would be threatened on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. Visiting the USHMM today was an affirmation for me of the importance of refugee law issues to which I hope to devote my legal career.

When I stepped out of the USHMM, I was momentarily stunned by the relative brightness of the sunny day. I went for a walk to mull over what I had seen, and took some photographs along the Mall.  I'll conclude this post with a couple of classic shots.

Koi Oh Koi

In the right-hand column of my blog, as you can see, I have added many new items to my DC to-do list.  Having covered most of the more obvious DC adventures to be had, my list grows ever more obscure.  Actually, I've already checked off a few of the new items on my list!

For instance, Jess and I had lunch at the Mitsitam Café of the National Museum of the American Indian a couple of weeks ago.  The Native American food is organized by region, and is so delicious!  I opted for the Indian Taco, a dish from the Great Plains region that consisted of buffalo chili on fry bread with pickled chiles and pinto beans, lettuce, tomato and shredded cheese.  Wow, just wow.  First off, fry bread is incredible; it's kind of like naan, but much thicker and softer.  Also, I very much enjoyed the buffalo meat.  It seemed leaner than beef, and the flavor was great in the chili.  After lunch, I explored the museum itself.  I loved the art, and was particularly amazed by the bead work on display.  I bought myself a little owl made from a gourd in the gift shop, which has made a happy little home out of my school locker.

Jess and I had a great time at the National Arboretum yesterday.  Though there were trees aplenty, I was blown away by the koi pond and the bonsai trees.  Here are a few of my favorite photos:

The Arboretum sells koi food from a gum-ball machine dispenser.  For only 25 cents, you can entice dozens of koi to swim right up to you!

Their colors were gorgeous, and some of the koi were huge!

These bonsai trees are incredible.  Some of them are over 350 years old!

My favorites were the bonsai trees that looked like small forests.  This one has its own little path!  As Jess aptly put it, they look like dioramas.

After the Arboretum, we checked off another item on my to-do list by eating French fries with ranch dressing at The Tombs, a popular haunt for Georgetown undergrads.  The fries were just as delicious as they rumors had made them out to be.  The atmosphere of the place is... well, an undergrad bar/restaurant with sticky floors and no windows (because it's in a basement).  Some people tout the place as a great study spot, but I could not see myself getting work done there, even with free wifi.

We rounded out our Saturday afternoon with a spontaneous trip to the National Cathedral.  I had last visited in the spring of my 1L year, so it was nice to visit again.  The stained glass is so beautiful.  The Bishop's Garden seemed a bit small after the Arboretum--right down to its tiny koi pond--but it smelled wonderful, and we loved the little boy who shrieked with unadulterated delight when he got to pet two lovely chocolate brown labrador retrievers.  All in all, Jess and I had a fantastic, relaxing Saturday that renewed our spirits for the inevitable busyness of the week to come.

International Read a Book Day

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:



I love this idea, and decided to participate by reading an excerpt from The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis:



I hope that you, too, will reject Burn a Qur'an Day by reading a book on Saturday. Also, check out the Facebook group and YouTube channel for International Read a Book Day!

Bouquet of Newly Sharpened Pencils

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!

Three-El

Yesterday, at a happy hour for public interest students, my friend introduced me to someone as a 3L. All summer long, I've been referring to myself as a "rising 3L," which made yesterday a bit of a shock as I realized that 3L year is officially beginning. I'll be done with law school in nine months... Ridiculous.

I flew in to DC on Sunday. Fortunately, Susan (subletter, archivist, and Cal fan extraordinaire) was able to stay in town for a few days so we could spend some time together! On Sunday, we took advantage of Restaurant Week by dining at 701 Restaurant. Our first course was rabbit rillettes with red wine candied hazelnuts, cherries, pea shoots, and grilled baguette. This was my first time trying rabbit; it was pretty tasty, with a subtle taste that wasn't gamey at all.

For our main course, we had bourbon braised lamb shoulder with cornbread crust, sweet onion puree, and green beans. The lamb was so tender that it fell apart on the plate, and melted in my mouth. I wasn't in love with the sweet onion puree, but it worked. The green beans were lightly battered and fried like tempura, which was delicious.

For dessert, I ordered chocolate raspberry tart with vanilla bean sherbert. The tart was the decadent consistency of mousse, which was exactly what I wanted. They had a lovely presentation, with little dots of raspberry sauce all over the place, which I immediately proceeded to destroy in my attempt to give some of my tart to Susan. Amazing though my dessert was, I think Susan's was even better: cornmeal churros with corn ice cream and berry compote. The churros were little fried balls of doughy goodness, wow! If I had a deep fryer, I would definitely figure out how to make them.

On Monday, Susan and I took a trip to Mount Vernon. I love Washington's home so much; to wit, as I have a membership, my ticket called me a "friend of Mount Vernon." We toured the house and surrounding buildings, the tomb, the slave memorial, and then took a stroll to the pioneer farm site. There were a bunch of sheep, displays of different types of fences, crops, and even a 16-sided barn with costumed actors toiling away in what I can only assume was an historically accurate fashion.

When we got back to Arlington, I invested in a Scrabble board--can you believe I didn't have one out here?!--and we drank wine and played Scrabble. We also watched (500) Days of Summer, which is one of my favorite movies (and soundtracks).

On Tuesday, Susan and I went on an adventure to find the post office at L'Enfant Plaza (apparently the Bermuda Triangle of DC), and then went to the West Building of the National Gallery, which houses the classical art. I really enjoyed the Beat Memories gallery, which featured the photographs of Allen Ginsberg. I always think of him as a poet, but he also had a great eye for photography. The bottom of each black-and-white print featured Ginsberg's scrawled notes about the subject of the photo, which were fantastic to read. The photos were all portraits of people he knew from the Beat generation, including Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs. Incredible.

Although there were many more things to see in the Gallery, Susan and I decided over lunch that we had art-ed ourselves out, so we changed gears and saw a movie. We saw The Switch, in which a man who is in love with his best friend clandestinely (and drunkenly) switches her artificial insemination donation so that he is the father of her child. It was very interesting to see Jason Bateman's character interacting with his son (played by the delightful 10-year-old Bryce Robinson). Both father and son are similarly neurotic, to great effect.

That night, Susan and I took a three-hour Segway tour of the Mall! I had my reservations about going on the tour, mainly because I always silently ridicule tour groups. (We locals are such snobs about tourists.) In spite of myself, however, I had a blast! Riding a Segway is fantastic. We practiced in an alleyway for a few minutes, and then we were on our way. You control speed by leaning on your toes or heels, and turn by guiding the handles to the left or right (more of a side-to-side motion than a turn, per se). We rode in bike lanes, sidewalks, and even the gravely path of the Mall. It was an evening tour, and I never tire of seeing the sites lit up at night. The tour is very expensive ($70), but I would definitely recommend it if you're looking for a quick abridged version of a city.

Susan flew out yesterday, and since then I've been doing actual work for my journal, the Catholic Student Association, and classes (which start on Monday). Also beginning on Monday is my externship with the Arlington Immigration Court! I'm excited to start the new year.

A Smattering of July

Hello, gang.  It's been a while.  July was a pretty awesome month!

Robert and I took a spontaneous trip up to San Francisco to see Wicked a few weeks ago.  It was great!  I had never seen (or heard) the musical before, so every plot twist was a surprise for me.  I've got to say, Glinda was my favorite character.  Alli Mauzey was so wonderful!  Especially in Popular, she was a delightfully high-energy mix of Valley Girl and Elle Woods.  It was also interesting to think about Wicked in the context of the war in Iraq, with anti-animalism as a metaphor for Bush's desire for an enemy; as the Wizard puts it, "Where I'm from, the best way to bring people together [. . .] is to give them a common enemy."  That line gave me chills.

My uncle was kind enough to treat my dad, brother and me to tickets to Paul McCartney's Up and Coming tour!  He--Sir Paul, not my uncle--played to a sold-out AT&T Park.  We were in the nosebleed section, but that was fine with the big screens on stage.  The Chronicle wrote a great review of the concert, observing that Paul hadn't played in San Francisco since 1966, so the whole concert had a "welcome back" vibe.

Paul impressed me with how adorable and down-to-earth he was, which especially came out during his little stories, like the one he told about Hendrix playing a tribute to him and getting his guitar out of tune.  Some of my favorite songs of the night were Paperback Writer, Eleanor Rigby, Jet, Day Tripper, and Helter Skelter.  I also loved seeing Paul at the piano; everyone sang along when he played Hey Jude.  My absolute favorite song of the night was Blackbird.  Paul talked about writing it in response to the civil rights tensions of the late 1960s in America.  When he came back out for his first of two encores, Paul ran out waving a huge California State flag.  (Go Bears!)

I took a weekend trip to Portland, Oregon, with my dear friend Alissa to see our dear friend Morgan get married.  Portland is a great city; it reminds me of Berkeley, but bigger and more urban.  Morgan's wedding was awesome: a five-minute ceremony, followed by three hours of samba dancing, complete with backup dancers!  It was lovely to see friends from middle and high school whom I had not seen in a while.

The last day of my internship was Friday.  I absolutely loved working at the Law Foundation this summer, and was sad to see it end.  I actually did substantive work, including memos, mediation statements, and motion practice.  I attended a lot of interesting proceedings, such as depositions, mediations, and a settlement conference.  I now know a ton about housing discrimination and predatory lending.  And, my colleagues were friendly and fun-loving, leading to many coffee outings and urban food adventures, not to mention an afternoon in Santa Cruz and a San Jose Giants game.

It was great to know San Jose this summer.  If you're in the area, you have to check out Broken Door Espresso (try their Vietnamese iced coffee), Falafel's Drive In (try their baba ganoush), and Día de Pesca (try their breaded halibut burrito).  Also, I have fallen in love with the Farmers' Market in downtown San Jose at San Pedro Square.  They have the sweetest strawberries and nectarines I have ever tasted, along with fresh hummus, samosas, kettle corn, and spring rolls!  Simply delightful.

Yesterday, my dad, brother and I went to the Brit for the premier of At the Beach, an awesome skateboarding video featuring my very own brother!  Dan is an avid skateboarder, and it was great to see him in action in the film.  Watching the premier at the Brit in a huge crowd was especially meaningful, because everyone cheered when Dan landed tricks.  It's cool how there is a skateboarding community, and everyone supports one another.  The photo (at left) is from the Thrasher (skateboarding magazine) website.  Dan got their Stoke of the Day a couple of months ago, which is ridiculously cool.

Up next: the removal of all four of my wisdom teeth, to take place Tuesday morning.  What a joy!  I have stocked up on soft foods such as pudding, applesauce, and rainbow sherbet, and my mommy is going to take care of me.  I'm a little nervous about the procedure, as I have never done anything like this, but it'll be fine.  Besides, I'll be sedated.  Hopefully the recovery will be easy... Keep me in your prayers, please!