NYC, Part IV

Ooh, David posted photos from the trip! Here are a few of my favorites, to supplement my posts...

In front of the Guggenheim. It was windy.

In the lobby of the Guggenheim.

We found bears at the Met! Go Bears!

The obligatory Wall Street bull photo.

A view of the city from the Staten Island ferry.

NYC, Part III

Sunday morning, David and I made crepes with Nutella and strawberries. I used to make crepes a lot in high school, so I was delighted when David made the suggestion. Mm, Nutella.

We had intended to go to Mass at St. Paul's, the Paulist church in NYC, but the subway failed us, so we ended up going to a service at St. Patrick's. During the collection, David and Daniel were chosen to be ushers, which was rather bemusing.

David and I then went to the MoMA. I was really excited about the MoMA, because I love modern art, but I was not terribly impressed by the first few floors, which featured the contemporary and special exhibits. Part of my displeasure resulted from the decision of the installers to cluster a variety of works by different artists on each wall, creating a collage effect that made it all but impossible to view any one piece independently. It was too distracting. The fifth floor was the best, as it had paintings and sculptures from the 1880s to 1940s. So much good stuff: Picasso, Miro, Matisse, Mondrian, Rothko, Cezanne, Chagall, Dali, Magritte, etc. Oh, and van Gogh's Starry Night is there, which I didn't realize. I was nearly dumbfounded when I saw it, since I wasn't expecting to see it there. It was much smaller than I would have anticipated.

After MoMA, David and I got some dinner, and then he walked me to my bus stop. We said our good-byes, and I took a wonderful nap on the ride home. The weekend was exhausting! It was a lot of walking for someone with a cold, and pretending not to be sick is not the most effective way to heal oneself. I'll probably pay for it this week, but the trip was well worth it. It was a legitimate miniature vacation. There is something refreshing about a change of location, even for a little while. Hm, perhaps I'll have to do some more exploration of this coast.

NYC, Part II

David and I began Saturday morning with some delicious blueberry pancakes and coffee. We then set off for a day of museums! To get to the proverbial Museum Mile, we walked through Central Park. The park reminded me very strongly of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, and made me feel a bit nostalgic for California. It's too bad that DC doesn't have something akin to Central Park. The National Mall is just a bunch of scraggly grass... Though, I guess the monuments make up for it.

Our first museum of the day was the Museum of the City of New York. As with other museums, I was duly tagged. Honestly, the museum wasn't breathtaking. However, the Legacy exhibition afforded me a different perspective of the city, as it was a photographer's examination of the wild side of the city--that is, its parks. I don't think of greenery when I picture NYC, but it really is more than skyscrapers.

My absolute favorite museum that we visited was the Guggenheim. Wow! First off, I loved the design of the building. One of my biggest pet peeves about museums is when their floor plan doesn't clearly lead you through the exhibits. I hate worrying about missing something. Well, no such issue with the Guggenheim, which is one big upward spiral! It was a bit tiresome to shuffle up a ramp for seven stories, though; by the end, I really wanted to be on level ground. The perpetual balcony created some great people-watching opportunities, as well.

The current exhibit at the Guggenheim features the life works of Vasily Kandinsky, one of the first modern abstract painters. He is fantastic. His use of color was mesmerizing. He had a fascination with the parallels between painting and music, a synesthetic inquiry which resonated with me as a color-graphemic synesthete (I see numbers as having very specific, consistent color associations). For example, Kandinsky apparently associated bright yellow with the blast of a trumpet. As students, we got the audio tour for free, which really enhanced my understanding of his works. The exhibit was set up chronologically for the most part, which allowed us to see the progression of Kandinsky's works, not only through his own biographical story, but also through different periods in history--especially, the world wars. Seriously, check out the Guggenheim's online exhibition.

After a break for lunch, we tackled the Met. Oh, my gosh, the Met is huge. We spent several hours there, seeing everything from African masks to Roman statues to Picasso paintings. It reminded me of the Louvre--the attempt to see everything was futile, but I felt a drive to attempt to see as much as physically possible, to the detriment of my comprehension of what I saw. The Met is a good museum for locals with a membership, I would imagine, but it seems to be a nearly hopeless endeavor for visitors with a limited amount of time.

We gave ourselves a brief reprieve at Starbucks, where we met up with David's brother, Daniel. We were debating between walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and taking the ferry to Staten Island, and the ferry won out. I had a delicious pumpkin spice latte, my first of the autumn season. It was in the 40s and raining the entire weekend, which was not ideal weather for traipsing across the city, to say the least. However, there is something refreshing about this type of weather, and it added something to the tone of the city, with everyone bustling about in their winter coats.

Before we boarded the ferry, we walked down Wall Street, where we saw the New York Stock Exchange, Federal Hall (the first capitol, where George Washington was sworn in), and the Wall Street Bull. It was a little surreal, to be honest. Seeing the NYSE was kind of like seeing the Capitol for the first time--one of those, "Wow, really important stuff happens here" moments.

The Staten Island Ferry was great. We took it round trip without doing anything on Staten Island. Our main purpose was to catch some great sights of the city at night on the water. It was great to see the Statue of Liberty, and we all made jokes on the return trip as though we were immigrants coming to America for the first time. But, seriously, it made me stop and think about the experience of my Polish relatives as they came over. Wow. Here's a video panorama of our view from the stern of the ferry on the trip to Staten Island:

NYC, Part I

I took a bus to New York City Friday morning to visit David at Columbia. I was very excited about the trip, not only because I hadn't seen David in over a year, but also because I'd only been to NYC once before. That trip was centered around visiting law schools, and allowed for only a whirlwind look at the city.

I've been meaning to take advantage of my proximity to other East Coast cities. Indeed, taking a Chinatown bus to NYC has been on my DC to-do list since last year! The bus ride was pleasant, speedy, and uneventful. For those of you who watch Conan O'Brien: We passed through Newark, and I think that Conan's critiques are well-founded.

My bus let me off near Madison Square Gardens. David met me there, and we went for a walk, checking out Times Square, Rockefeller Center, and St. Patrick's Cathedral. At St. Patrick's, we accidentally attended Mass... It was just starting as we arrived! We later realized that it seems that they do Mass continually, because another Mass started up right after ours ended. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the church, because there were a lot of people there to visit, which made the place feel like a community in a way that I haven't seen other cathedrals accomplish. Then again, a guard searched my bag at the entrance, which was a bit of a detraction from that feeling.

It was great to walk through the city. David has a very good grasp of the important buildings throughout the city, and gave me an informal tour as we explored. The tone is very different from DC because the buildings are so much taller; in DC, nothing is allowed to be taller than the Capitol (roughly 12 stories). The pedestrian traffic is more... Intense? Bustling? I can't quite put my finger on it, but there seems to be a sense that everyone has somewhere important to be, and they're nearly late. Basically, it is a city full of rabbits from Alice in Wonderland.

David and I took the subway to get to Columbia. It's not as nice as the Metro, because it is dingy, and seems to have quite a learning curve. I just blindly followed David as to where to go. I'm glad that my daily Metro commute isn't like the subway here.

Columbia has a nice campus. They have a statue of Alma Mater, and she has a little owl hiding in the folds of her robes! I am perpetually surprised by how small some university campuses can be, but I suppose that Berkeley's gigantic campus is the exception, not the rule. The law school building is very nice. They have a lot more random study spots with cushy chairs scattered throughout the building than we do at Georgetown. Their lecture halls are prettier, too. We have a better cafeteria, though, and a nicer campus overall, as our three buildings have grassy quads between them. My California sensibilities still prefer plant life to a formally urban landscape.

David and his brother Daniel have a pretty cool apartment in the grad student housing. They painted some of the walls burgundy and taupe, and have lovely furnishings to complement the color scheme. They're on the first floor, though, which I wouldn't like, because of street noise and such. The apartment layout is a bit odd... Very closed. We were discussing it, and determined that a modern apartment would never be designed like this, as people have such a preference for open spaces.

Friday afternoon, we visited the Studio Museum in Harlem. It is located across the street from the iconic Apollo Theater. The Studio Museum features a contemporary collection of works by black artists. I really liked their Hurvin Anderson installation, which examined the varied use of the space of a barbershop. This was the first museum that we visited, and it taught me a couple of things. First, museums in NYC, unlike museums in DC, are not free. And, second, museums like to give you little buttons or tags to wear, as though you are an animal that they are studying and then releasing into the wild to continue to track. Very strange.

We attempted to visit Grant's Tomb, but it was closed. I was bummed--now I'll never know who is buried there! Instead, we strolled about the city for a little while, then reconvened at the apartment before attending vespers at the Church of Notre Dame. The church had a beautiful grotto (check out this virtual tour). We finished our evening with dinner at a diner, and then watched A Beautiful Mind back at the apartment.

Spiritual Deafness

What a beautiful morning! I am sitting in my living room on my kelly green couch, sipping some freshly brewed coffee, and soaking up the morning sunshine. I've had a bit of a cold all week long, but I am finally starting to feel better today, thank goodness.

Last Sunday, I attended the Red Mass and John Carroll Society brunch. The Red Mass is a special Mass for the legal profession, attended by many members of the Supreme Court, and the John Carroll Society is a professional organization for Catholics in Washington. The coolest part was seeing Justice Sotomayor. At the brunch, everyone gave a standing ovation for Sotomayor, but not for the other justices--including Chief Justice Roberts! Heh, whoops.

Bible study is still going well. Last night, we went through Chapter 7 of Mark. In response to verses 31-37, we had a discussion about spiritual deafness. What causes spiritual deafness for you? How do you know when you're deaf? How are you healed? For me, spiritual deafness is when things just don't feel quite right, when my heart feels clouded with guilt for the ways in which I have been neglecting my relationship with God. Spiritual deafness also manifests itself in my prayer life when I fail to listen to God, instead rambling my prayers thoughtlessly, or else by not taking the time to pray at all. In Mark, "people brought to [Jesus] a deaf man," which resonates with me: it is often the accountability and encouragement of others that opens the door to reconciliation for me. Thankfully, I don't feel spiritually deaf right now, though I do want to work on the consistency of my prayer life. I think I need to commit to some regular daily devotional exercise, like the Rosary or the Liturgy of the Hours or something. Any ideas? What has helped your prayer life to become more consistent?

September Digest

I didn't post last month because I was out and about doing stuff! So sue me. (Though, I wouldn't recommend it, seeing as I'm studying law and whatnot.)

I had a nice birthday, even if it was the second day of school. (Tax Law lecture = best birthday present ever! Or, not.) Jess and I went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner, which was delicious. Especially memorable was the Chocolate Oreo Mudslide cheesecake (chocolate Oreos baked in creamy chocolate cheesecake with a chocolate-almond brownie crust), complete with a candle and singing waiters.

I am really enjoying being on the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy. My grammatical nerdiness is finally paying off--I love being a staff editor! I also like that we do community service together as a journal, living out our mission. We did some cleaning at Central Union Mission last month, and I'll be doing some work with S.O.M.E. (So Others Might Eat) later this week. Also, I'm on the Article Selection Committee, which is exciting, because I have some input on which articles we choose for publication!

Things are going well for the Catholic Student Association. (We renamed the Catholic Forum, to clarify our purpose.) I'm a co-chair, and am very excited about the enthusiasm I've seen from students about this year. Attendance at our weekly Bible study has been more consistent than last year. We're going through the Gospel of Mark, which has been very interesting. To supplement my understanding, I am reading Mary Healy's fantastic book on Mark, written for the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture.

A few of us attended a lecture by Fr. James Martin last week on "Laughing with the Saints: Joy, Humor and Laughter in the Spiritual Life." It was great--he told jokes the entire time, but with a good message: that laughter is good for your spirituality. You may recognize Fr. Martin as the author of several excellent books, including My Life with the Saints, and as a guest on the Colbert Report. In fact, you can watch his lecture on YouTube. I especially appreciated the discussion in the context of my confirmation name, Sarah, because she gives birth to Isaac at a very old age, causing her to remark, "God has given me cause to laugh, and all who hear of it will laugh with me." (Genesis 21:6) Indeed, Isaac means "he will laugh."

I checked out the National Postal Museum on a whim a few weeks ago. I've been meaning to do so for ages, because it is only a couple of blocks from campus, and now I can finally check it off of my D.C. to-do list. I must say, it was a lot more exciting that I had anticipated. Honestly, I was expecting a museum with postage stamps framed on walls. Rather, it was very interactive, and a good place to take kids, although it felt like the museum hadn't really been updated since the mid-1990s. I especially liked the exhibit of F.D.R.'s stamp collection.

Another item completed on my to-do list: the National Zoo. My Corporations class was canceled last week, so I went to the zoo instead! My favorite part, of course, was seeing the owls. They had adorable little burrowing owls (pictured at right)! The owl on the left kept flying around, perching on a tall cactus to survey the area, while the owl on the right was sleepy. The zoo also had two barred owls, who were serene and dignified.

My dear roommate and I have had our share of fun this month, too: watching Cal football with the Cal D.C. Alumni Club, meeting up for lunch and shopping at our local mall, giving some Iraq Air Force vets (one of whom was a friend of Jess from home) a tour of D.C., a spontaneous late-night trip to 7-11 for Slurpees, attending an Oktoberfest in Maryland via water taxi, cooking together in our beautiful kitchen, and watching House, M.D., in spite of the fact that we don't own a television. Good times.

The ultimate testament of how much better 2L year is to 1L year: I actually am finding time for a bit of light reading. Fr. Alexei (one of the Catholic chaplains for Georgetown Law) recommended The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, so I'm reading it right now. In a nutshell--Jesuits in space! I think the Amazon review sums it up well:

In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet which will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question the meaning of being "human." When the lone survivor of the expedition, Emilio Sandoz, returns to Earth in 2059, he will try to explain what went wrong... Words like "provocative" and "compelling" will come to mind as you read this shocking novel about first contact with a race that creates music akin to both poetry and prayer.

Well, that is my September digest. I attended some other museums and events, and caught up with a lot of people whom I hadn't seen all summer, but I think you get the gist of how September was for me--busy, but in a good way. Tune in next time to read about going to Red Mass with the Supreme Court (and possibly the President), celebrating Jess's birthday, and even attending a congressional hearing for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee!

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Um, where did September go? Well, I wrote the following post last week, and then things got busy, and I never finished editing it, and thus it was never posted. Oh, dear. I'm going to post it as-is, and move on.

*****

I think it is safe to say that this year is so much better than 1L year. I feel like I know what I'm doing, academically. Certainly, the courses continue to be a lot of work, but I no longer feel unsure of myself, unsure of how to study, unsure of what to expect. Let me tell you a little more about my classes.

Corporations. I never took any courses in undergrad related to business, so this course is really helpful. I feel like I'm learning stuff that "adults" should know, especially with regards to basic corporate structure. This is one of those courses that isn't required curriculum, but is strongly recommended by most professors. I think it makes sense, because corporations are such an integral part of how our economy--if not our society--functions.

Professional Responsibility. I am really enjoying this class! In a nutshell, we meet for two hours each week and debate moral quandaries presented as hypotheticals. I think the discussions have been fascinating, especially when a classmate argues that the ABA's Model Rules of Professional Responsibility are at odds with his or her personal convictions. The course is taught from a public interest perspective, which brings an interesting perspective, as the Model Rules often fail to address issues that fall outside of the traditional role of a lawyer.

Tax Law. I am utterly shocked by how much I love this course. I dreaded taking this class--in fact, I didn't want to take it, ranked it really low on my choice of classes, and considered it to be bad luck that I had gotten in. Boy, was I wrong about this class! First of all, I comprehend the material... which, in all honestly, I was afraid would not be the case. However, what I failed to realize is that the beauty of a dry topic like tax law is how clear the law is. Instead of murky common law, we have the Internal Revenue Code! And, if that's not good enough, we can check out the regulations! It's so simple! I find the course surprisingly refreshing after the ambiguity of much of what we learned 1L year. That being said, I don't see myself becoming a tax lawyer anytime soon, but I think I'll be far more adept at handling my own finances after this course.

Transnational Law Seminar. Pretty much everyone gives me a blank stare when I tell them that I'm studying "transnational" law, so allow me to explain. It is also known as private international law, or conflicts of law. Private international law deals with private parties, as opposed to public entities (e.g., state governments, the EU, the UN). This course fulfills my writing requirement, and I'm tying it in to the note that I will be writing for the Poverty Law journal by writing about the 2007 Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support.

My schedule is pretty nice: no class on Fridays, and only Corporations on Mondays and Wednesdays. I've been attempting to stick to my 9-to-5 work mentality for homework, which has been a good system thus far. Whenever I'm not in class, I go to the library to get work done. I also come to campus on Sundays for Mass, and stick around to get work done afterward. The best part is coming home without textbooks on the Metro, because I'm already done for the day.