Springtime

This was a long week. My Legal Research and Writing brief, worth 50% percent of my grade, was due yesterday. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep the past couple of days--especially since I had spent the prior weekend anticipating and celebrating Easter, rather than writing. To top things off, today we had a make-up Criminal Justice class, which meant that my schedule went as follows: Contracts, 9:00 - 11:00 am; Criminal Justice, 11:10 - 1:00 pm; Property, 1:20 - 3:20 pm. Ouch. Plus, all three classes were in the same lecture hall! What a day.

When I emerged from room 207 after six hours of lecture, it was absolutely gorgeous outside! 70 and not a cloud in the sky. I dropped off my stuff at my apartment, grabbed my camera, and went on an adventure to the National Cathedral on a whim. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the visit (or, see the whole album):

Flying buttresses!

The front of the National Cathedral.

The Space Window, honoring man landing on the Moon.

Cats, birds, and squirrels?!

Now, I have to apologize in advance for what I'm about to write. As I was walking through the beautiful neighborhood near the National Cathedral, admiring the front yards of the houses, I couldn't help myself but to write a poem. Yeah, I know--what could be more cliché than an English major writing a poem inspired by flowers in bloom in spring? Nevertheless, I thought I'd share. (It is my blog, after all.)

The nameless flowers of my youth
Were not quite such as these:
No daffodils in my backyard;
No tulips made me sneeze.

At home, the plants did bloom year-round
In gold and white and blue.
But here, the flowers come and go;
They know not what to do.

And, what about the purple trees
That line some D.C. streets?
I know that they won't last for long--
For now, they're quite a treat.

I yearn for spring in Sunnyvale,
Yet stay, to my chagrin.
But, I'll be back before too long
For springtime's fervid twin.

I was just on C-SPAN!

I WAS JUST ON C-SPAN! So cool! Last month, Catholic Forum, along with several other student groups on campus, put on an event called Faith on the Hill, which was a panel discussion with the House and Senate chaplains. It started out as a small idea, but quickly blossomed into a quite large event with media coverage. C-SPAN finally aired their footage of the event this evening. I can be seen right at the beginning, walking in at the last second because I was handing out programs at the door, and then I'm full-screen at 28:15:


AAAAA! I was on C-SPAN! I... I have nothing else to say.

EDIT: I'm also in the shot when Sr. Dorinda (sitting on my right) asks a question.

Let It Rise

Let the glory of the Lord rise among us.
Let the glory of the Lord rise among us.
Let the glory of the Lord rise among us.
Let us rise. Oh, oh, let it rise...

Today, there was a little taste of Berkeley-style campus ministry here at Georgetown, because Catholic Forum, in conjunction with the Christian Legal Society and Campus Ministry, organized our first-annual Easter Brunch! I'm going to be on leadership for Catholic Forum next year, so I volunteered to coordinate the event. I was impressed by how things turned out: we had over 75 people in attendance, tons of food, and the whole thing went off without a hitch. Fr. Alexei even made a lamb out of butter! (Apparently, butter lambs are a Polish Easter tradition.) I'm glad that I got a chance to learn the ropes of Georgetown's student organization bureaucracy this semester, rather than having to figure it all out next semester after this year's leadership graduates.

About 16 of us walked over to St. Aloysius Church from school for Easter Mass this morning before the brunch. (We didn't have Mass here on campus because our chapel congregation is so small.) I had never been to the church before, but I liked it! They had a great gospel choir, and a very lively congregation (e.g., much clapping, calling out of "Amen!"). It really warmed my heart to see so many of us walking to Mass together this morning--especially a few people that don't normally attend Mass at our little chapel. It gives me hope for next year's ministry, in spite of such wonderful people graduating, and the lack of interest in some of the more spiritually-oriented (as opposed to social) events that Catholic Forum has put on this year. Alleluia!

One Ha' Penny, Two Ha' Penny...

Hot cross buns! I've always wanted to participate in the tradition of baking hot cross buns for Good Friday, so, when my Lawyers in Balance meditation group organized a reunion brunch for today, I decided that this was a fantastic opportunity. I had never eaten a hot cross bun before, and certainly had never baked them before, so I relied upon a recipe that I found online.

I think they turned out pretty well! Everyone at my brunch certainly liked them. I'll definitely make them again. I love baking: kneading dough with my hands, the smell of yeast, and watching the dough rise... It's so cool! I mean, who was the first human to figure out that yeast could be used to make bread rise? Wikipedia suggests that it may have been an accident. What providence!

Holy Thursday Mass at the National Shrine was very good last night. Pietro Sambi, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, presided. I liked his homily; of particular note, he was describing the most profound thing that a devout and well-educated person had ever learned--"Jesus loves me, this I know, because the Bible tells me so." The quote was so out of nowhere that it delighted me immensely. The choir and the organ were very dramatic.

My favorite part was at the end of the service, when the Eucharist was transferred to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. The choir was singing alterating verses in Latin and English, and processed to the side chapel, which made the acoustics incredible. It's funny, because I always initially take umbrage at John 10, where Jesus calls us sheep. I'm not a sheep! I'm independent, I think for myself, I'm strong! But, as I, with the congregation, followed the Eucharist to the side chapel, not knowing exactly where to go, when to kneel, how long to pray, I realized that we are, in some sense, sheep. I ended up copying whatever the few sisters from the Missionaries of Charity were doing, frankly. (I figured, you could do worse than following women who belong to the order founded by Mother Teresa.) But, in light of the utter humanity of the moment, there was something beautiful in all of us, gathering together, none of us really knowing what we were doing, but pulling together to follow Jesus.

On that note, back to the Shrine for the Good Friday liturgy. Blessings.

Transaction Costs

During a discussion this morning in my Contracts class about efficient breaches, Pareto efficiency and the Coase theorem came up, leading to my professor to say the following about us lawyers:

We are walking transaction costs, so be careful what you say about transaction costs.

Ouch. That makes me feel nearly as indignant as my professor was about contract law being treated as a "second-class citizen" compared to tort law with regards to punitive damages.

Impact of the Downturn?

From a recent New York Times editorial, With the Downturn, It's Time to Rethink the Legal Profession:

The downturn will probably rein in salaries at the high end. [. . .] Lower pay should mean that associates will not need to work the grueling hours many have been forced to. And it will mean less pressure to go into private practice for law graduates who would rather do something else.

I disagree. I think the downturn will have the opposite effect: rather than lessening the pressure to go into private practice, it will increase the pressure to go into public interest and government jobs because they are the only options left--other than unemployment. What I've seen this year as a 1L has been a public interest summer internship market that is significantly more competitive than prior summers (according to my 2L and 3L friends).

Speaking of jobs, my own summer internship search has come to an end! I had mentioned a few weeks ago that I might be working for East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, but things have changed. After a very successful phone interview last week, I will be spending this summer in San Francisco interning with HomeBase, a non-profit, public policy law firm working on homelessness! I'm very excited about this opportunity, because it will help me to learn more about what it means to work for a non-profit while honing my research skills and working for a good cause. Plus, I'll be able to commute from Sunnyvale by Caltrain and Bart. While a long commute--1-1/2 hours each way, ouch--it will save me tons of money, which is an important factor when you're an unpaid intern living on a small public interest stipend. I'm also glad to be close to my family, whom I've missed very much while in D.C. this year.

Kite Festival

The Kite Festival at the Washington Monument was a little underwhelming because of the poor weather, but I still enjoyed walking around and people watching. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the day (or, check out the whole album here).